I could hear the smile in Alice’s voice when she said, “God, you’re like her. You’re just like her.”
I did my best to control my expression as I ended the call and turned back toward Lock, just in time to witness another pool of liquid expand until it was threatening to overtake the edges of the carpet sample. Lock didn’t ask about the call, which meant we were back to him playing mad forensic tech and me playing fascinated observer. But the longer I watched him moving around the room, the more I wondered whether or not I should tell him about the witness, about my impending trip into custody for questioning. Would it be a welcome distraction or just another stress on top of all that he was already dealing with? Wasn’t his need for distraction the whole purpose of his experimenting when he should have been in class?
I watched as Lock flicked the cap from his pen to write an observation on a glass board standing behind him and then popped it back into place before moving on to a new pipette and the next beaker. He was so fully immersed in his task, I felt like I had somehow merged into the background of the room. I wasn’t sure he was even aware I was there anymore. Or perhaps he was. I thought he would pour out the liquid onto the shaggy rug sample that was up next, but instead Lock looked up from his experiment and right into my eyes. He immediately set the pipette down, straddled a rolling office chair, and propelled himself across the floor to me, stopping only when he was close enough that I could smell vinegar on his hands.
“What is it?”
I ignored the question at first, instead focusing on his proximity and the complete lack of emotion in his expression. While he wasn’t impeccably dressed, he wasn’t rumpled like Mycroft had been. He was normal rumpled. Everything about him was normal—or might have been, if I hadn’t known better.
He seemed to find my silence entirely amusing. “Or remain unfathomable. Either way.”
I wanted that playful quirk to stay on his lips, so instead of telling him about me, I said, “I’ve decided to be mad at you for ignoring me, like a proper needy girlfriend.” It felt weird to use the title, but Sherlock seemed pleased to hear me say it.
“Very well.” He stood and swiveled the chair around before plopping back onto it and draping one long leg over the other. “I’m sure you’ve a long list of grievances. Have at me.”
I stared at him blankly, then looked over his shoulder to stare at the blue flame coming out of a lit burner that had no reason to be lit, at the half of a rag draping out of his autoclave, like he’d only just started to sanitize it before moving on. There were pipettes lined up, each with a little white pill sitting in the bottom, but only half had been filled with liquids. Everything half done. Useless. He was desperate for distraction and nothing was working. Some kind of pain flared in my chest, and I had the sudden urge to throw my arms around his neck and hold him until it faded.
“Come on, then,” he challenged.
“I’ve no intention of ‘having at’ you.”
“So, is it to be silent seething then? You are so lovely when you seethe.”
“I really am.” I reached across the space between us to smooth his hair down. “But it’s neither today, I’m afraid. I’ve somewhere I need to be.”
I got up to leave, but he kicked his foot out to block my way to the door.
“Don’t go. It’s no fun if you go.”
“You’ll have plenty of fun staining carpets without me.”
He stared at me for a few seconds before a thoughtful expression replaced his playful arrogance and he stood suddenly, blocking me with his whole body and forcing me to look up. “Tell me?”
I shook my head quickly and made sure my grin didn’t drop. “Last week of school. I can’t miss all my classes.”
He nodded, but he didn’t move out of my way. “I have somewhere to take you after school.”
“Not today. I promised Alice I’d be home. I probably won’t be able to come to the hospital tonight either.”
Sherlock’s expression went blank for a few moments, and I almost told him about Mallory right then and there. I wondered if learning about this new evidence against me would make him worry for me or if he’d just be fascinated to see another piece of the puzzle. But then he smiled again, and I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
“I’ll take you tomorrow,” he said. “You’ll like it, I think. I may finally have an answer to our great mobile phone heist.”
“Jealous girl secretly in love with your client and hoping to steal him from his first love?”
Lock’s smile widened. “You’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Is this your ploy to get me to come with you this afternoon? Did you think I’d be too curious to stay away?”
“Is it working?”
“Sadly, no. But we’ll go tomorrow for sure. Our lover boy deserves a proper ending to his torment.”