For John Watson

[howdull]

[Sherlock is still finding pieces of the melted laptop in the carpet.

It had actually been quite an ingenious booby trap to be devised by a fourteen year old boy with only household chemicals to work with but, as Sherlock surmised, rather overkill to keep his mother from finding his extensive porn collection. Not one of their more illustrious cases, but it had been quite entertaining to watch both the boy and mother's faces as he revealed that he did know the how and why. He lost interest after the mother started shouting and John started shouting and the whole thing turned tedious.

He rather thinks John won't actually be doing a full write-up of this one on his blog.

It's been two days since their last case and he's beginning to get more than a little antsy. Lestrade has sent him nothing, just a boring hit and run that he refused to even leave the flat for, and nobody interesting has appeared through the blog. Said blog he is currently scrolling through on John's laptop, having borrowed it again.

He did ask, it's not his fault John hadn't been in the room at the time.]

Bored, John.

[He doesn't even know if his flatmate is even in, but that's hardly a necessity for him to actually speak to John. Frustrated, he throws the laptop across the room to hit the wall, where it summarily breaks. Which is where he can be found whenever John appears, sulking amidst pieces of laptop, both from the melted one of their last case and John's poor broken one.]

Comments

[howdull]

[Sherlock doesn't even notice when John leaves, he's already too deep inside his mind palace. Mycroft believes it's just an aid to memory, but there are things that he can do with it that Mycroft has never been able to. He finds himself sat, cross legged, on the floor of their flat. Destroyed now, but not in his mind.

An alphabet book with torn out pages floats around him, the different meanings for the letters scribbled into place, along with the clues that they already know. Some pieces don't fit in - why does Caroline Matthews want John discredited and arrested for war crimes? It doesn't make sense, it doesn't fit with the rest of what she wants and why. Moriarty can't want it, his interest is only in Matthews and John to get to Sherlock.

He needs to separate them out, two different cases.

Sherlock needs to solve them one at a time. Matthews first, she's easier to deal with than Moriarty and might give them time to recoup until they're pitched against the consulting criminal again. There are a number of ways to go about this, but even he finds some of them distasteful. And he just can't let go on why John's being arrested for war crimes and how they managed to get that through the stringent military legal processes.]

John.

[His eyes snap open, and John isn't even there. Damn it, where is he?]

JOHN!

[jumpthegun]

[John's out in the hallway, sipping coffee as he ferries another cup for Sherlock to the room. He hears the shout of his name and picks up his speed to a jog. A part of him is thinking this is a false alarm, but the other part is worried something's happened to Molly.

He all but skids to a halt outside and sucks in a sharp breath as he shoulders the door open.]

What? What's happened?

[howdull]

War crimes.

[He almost shouts it as John enters, a beaming smile on his face. He's not sure what it means yet, only that he's pretty positive that it's the clues that they've been missing until now.]

Caroline's husband wasn't disgraced in his career, I'm sure he was medically retired with honours, why ruin yours? Why try to get you locked up for war crimes, it doesn't make sense!

[jumpthegun]

Say it a little louder. [That's said in a harsh whisper as John hurries forward so that he's standing close to Sherlock.]

None of it makes sense. She's a bloody loon.

[howdull]

All of it has made some sort of sense so far. She has removed your family, because she lost her family. Removed your home, because she has lost hers through debt after her husband's death. Poisoned your friend, because her friendships became poisoned and died in the wake of her grief.

But this? This makes no sense. It doesn't fit with the pattern, don't you see?

[jumpthegun]

Maybe it's... I dunno, Jim's thing? Get me discredited when we found out who he was.

[howdull]

No.

[He just sounds impatient now, why isn't John as excited by this as he is.]

It had to have been in the works before that, could your Major friend be involved?

[jumpthegun]

No.

[Firm, immediate. There isn't a shred of doubt in his mind about Major Sholto's character.]

James is an honorable man, and he has... nothing for Jim to bargain with. Doesn't have kids, lives alone, people hate him, but he thinks he deserves it, so saying he could fix it wouldn't do anything.

[howdull]

Then there's someone else in the mix.

[Some unknown variable that they haven't tapped yet, he's sure of it, or else this all falls apart.]

Go through the alphabet again, and everything that happened therein. A was for Alcoholic - your sister, erasure of family due to her losing her own. Simple. Then...

[jumpthegun]

[John doesn't particularly want to review everything he's lost so far.]

B is for Baker Street... and bank card. [God, he still feels awful hanging onto Sherlock's card. This man is his flatmate and his friend, not his... sugar daddy. He pushes aside the anxiety about money to focus.] Destroy my home, take away what I have like she's lost what she has.

[howdull]

Not bank card, John, don't start that again.

[He doesn't care that they're both using his money, it's not like he's using it for anything else. Why would he care?]

Carry on, C.

[jumpthegun]

[He just shoots the other man an irritated glance.]

Consulting Detective. You. It's another important person. Maybe she lost all her friends along with her family.

[howdull]

It seems only logical.

[It's still odd to be an important person to John. He wonders what it is about this unassuming army doctor that isn't repelled by his habits, like the majority of the population.]

Losing a spouse, losing custody of her children, and obvious declining in mental health; these are all things that would strain any friendship.

[jumpthegun]

And D is for Defamation... Dishonor... something like that. They had pictures of what looked like me with some random Afghan bloke, burned dog tags that might've been mine. I know you can fake all that, but bloody hell. General Kurtam, the officer they've put in charge... he thinks I'm guilty. I know he thinks I'm guilty. Whatever extra evidence there is, it's convinced him.

Maybe she feels like she didn't get a fair trial when it came to getting her kids back? So, I shouldn't get a fair trial?

[howdull]

No.

[Firm and immediate. He doesn't know why he's so sure that this doesn't fit with everything else, but he is positive. The answer is lurking at the back of his mind palace somewhere, he's sure of it, until then he just has to trust his gut instincts.]

That's wrong. The whole escalation of that is wrong. He was discharged honourably with injuries, this doesn't fit the pattern.

[jumpthegun]

Maybe he lost the respect of the people around him before he died. Something Jim said at the meeting. [John closes his eyes and tries to pull up the exact words.] He'd just turned up pretending to be James Davidson. I said... I said I didn't want him, I knew him, he wasn't suitable. He called me paranoid and delusional right in front of General Kurtam. I called him on it and they started talking about how I hadn't been informed about something. He must've got hold of my medical records, but there's nothing about delusions in those. I'm paranoid, yes, but I am not delusional. And I don't have recognition problems... Or memory problems. Not like what they were insinuating.

[He knows Sherlock is on his side, but the anxiety about that interview has been clawing at him as much as anything else. He just wants someone else to confirm that he's not crazy.]

[howdull]

[He has had memory issues when he first returned from Afghanistan, and he can have periods of hallucination linked to his PTSD, but these are all managed and not relevant in the here and now.]

So you believe they tampered with your medical records... why? That would be a detriment to discrediting you, surely, it would give you a legal defence of mental instability.

[jumpthegun]

I am not claiming mental instability. [He knows Sherlock's just making a point, but now he starting to get properly agitated, and that's really not helpful.] I don't know. She's not mentally stable. Maybe she thinks she's leveling the playing field.

[howdull]

[That just earns a patented 'John you're being a moron' look.]

Odd, too, that they involved your Major.

[jumpthegun]

He was the commander I served under the longest. Of course they'd involve him. They're trying to get hold of Bill, too. And Graves, one of the other blokes I served with. Major Sholto's just not one to ignore summons. How is this helping us? I doesn't make sense. I dunno why it doesn't make sense.

[He gestures a bit wildly with one of the coffees he's holding and scalding liquid goes flying, pouring over his fingers, as well, as he drops the cup and hisses.]

[howdull]

You know you're both making it really bloody hard to sleep.

[That's a low grumble from Molly, who doesn't even bother to open her eyes.

Sherlock doesn't notice, too caught in following this thread wherever it might lead, gaze a laser focus on John.]

Did they? Or did they just say they were getting hold of those men? We only know for sure that Sholto, one of the only men that a lot of people seem to think should have been dishonourably discharged but wasn't, has been involved.

[jumpthegun]

[John swears under his breath as he heads for a nearby sink to run his hand under the cold water.]

I'm sorry, Molly.

[Sherlock might be ignoring her, but John won't. He grits his teeth, trying to use the pain to at least ground himself again. He lowers his voice to something other than an angry shout.]

General Kurtam didn't seem like a liar. He said they were contacting them. The Army doesn't take war crimes lightly. If they're investigating...

[He trails off.]

F. F is next. Friend? James is my friend. If she's-if she's getting rid of everyone. He never comes out. He never travels, not ever. Do you think they're after him. The whole war crimes thing, it's just for that?

[howdull]

Perhaps, or perhaps D for Dishonoured is meant for someone other than you. If you served with Caroline's husband, then it stands to reason that he likely had contact with Major Sholto as well.

[He shrugs, this is pure speculation at this point.]

It stands to reason that some of her anger might be directed at his CO as well as the doctor who 'failed' to save him, for initially sending him into danger.

[jumpthegun]

People already hate him. He has nothing left for her to take. That's just-it's just stupid.

[Regardless, James may be in danger.]

And how does accusing me of war crimes get him dishonored? Why not just frame him in the first place?

[howdull]

That's the problem, isn't it? People already hate him, there must have been other attempts to discredit or dishonour him. Have him held to account for what people blame him for?

[This doesn't feel entirely right as a solution either, but it feels closer than just John being dishonoured.]

I'm not sure, John, but I know we're missing something.