"Are you saying we don't have any leads right now?" John asked as they exiting a cab after stopping by at a pub to get dinner.
"I'm afraid not." Sherlock looks gloomy.
"Sherlock.."
"I know we're running out of time. Let's contact Lestrade and Mycroft, they might have any useful info.."
Sherlock words are stopped by the appearance of a guy in his front door.
"Well, hello again." James said in cheerful manner.
"Did Mycroft sendtyou to deliver a message?" Sherlock asked coldly.
"I'm afraid not. I came by my own will." he said.
"Is there any progress?" John asked hopefully.
"I'm so sorry, Mr. Watson." he approach John and held his hand. "But I assure you if there is anything I will give the news to you in an instant."
John, surprised by his gestures, quickly pull out his hand.
"Why are you here then?"
"I'm just checking on you guys. If there is anything I can do to help, you know, without your brother consent, please don't hesitate to call me."
"Indeed. And how we do that?" Sherlock mocked. Suddenly Sherlock's and John's phone ring.
"My number." James said still in his positive cheerful manner.
"Why are you trying befriend us?" Sherlock asked curiously.
The guy in question only lift his shoulder. "Didn't I say you sound fun before?" he said.
"Nobody ever said that." Sherlock replied.
"That is true. No one ever said that." John agreed.
"Well having one isn't too bad, is it? Cherrio then." And with that James walked away from Sherlock and John.
"I hate that guy. He makes me look like.."
"Like he's the jock at school, and you are the nerd one?" John suggested.
Sherlock just quickly brushes the idea.
"So what are we going to do then?" John asked as they arrives at the living room.
"Right now we need to sit down and think." Sherlock said.
John opens his laptop as he plans to update his blog.
"Oh dear.." he said.
"What's wrong?" Sherlock asked.
"I think my laptop is broken.. or maybe the screen, I don't know.." he then shows it to Sherlock.
"Look at this. This is the third time today. There's some sort of glitch on my computer."
Sherlock examines John's computer. "It's not the screen, if you move to another page the flickering is gone." Sherlock said.
"It's a weird glitch." John said.
"How so?" Sherlock asked.
John laughs. "You might think I'm crazy, but it almost as if.."
"What?"
John chuckles a little and then stopped, as his eyes begin to teary.
"You know that nursery song, I think it's quite famous." John explained "Molly used to sing it for Rosie, and it calms her down when she is tired or upset, so Molly teach me the song. You know children's song, when you sing it again and again it kinda stuck in your head even if you not sing it aloud."
Sherlock patiently waiting for John's answer as he sees his friends is getting emotional.
"Right.. ah, the blog, yes.. The glitch, it seems rhymed just like that song Rosie love. Cause we sang it with clapping our hands. The wheel on the bus goes round and round.. round and round.. you know the song? no?" as John begins to sing he embarassely stopped.
Sherlock face turns pale as his eyes widen.
"John, are you sure.. about that?"
"Y..yes, what is wrong with that?"
Without answering, Sherlock quickly close John's laptop and put on his coat again.
"Come on, we need to see him." he said in a serious tone.
"See who?"
"Craig."
"The hacker?" John confusedly wiped his teary eye and follows Sherlock. "It better be not the dog we're seeing." John said.
Sherlock is not answering. He holds John laptop, not even bother to shut it down.
***
They arrives at Craig's place just before dinner.
"I'm really sorry for crashing in like this, Craig." Sherlock said at the door.
"No, not all. We're just having dinner." Craig said.
When Sherlock and John enter the house, they see Toby is eating a big plate of dog food.
"Evening, Toby." greet Sherlock.
"Sorry for the sudden interruption." John said.
"That's alright. Actually, I'm really sorry about your wife. Mary was a lovely lady." Craig said.
"How did you know?" John asked confused.
"He's a hacker, he knows everything." Sherlock said, cutting in. "If you don't mind, Craig, there's something we wish you could check upon." Sherlock continued.
"I'm sure that's why you're here. What is it?"
"Here." Sherlock shows John's laptop to Craig. "There's a some sort of glitch, flickering colour, on my friend's blog..." Sherlock stopped his sentence. "It's gone.. The glitch is gone!"
"Let me see." John said. "Well, it did happens a couple times but not continuously." he explained.
"Why didn't you say so before?" Sherlock shouted in frustration.
"Aren't you the one who hurryly came here? I just said it was a weird glitch." John argued.
"Weird how?" Craig asked.
"Well.. it was kinda, you know it might sounds crazy. But the glitch is.. some sort of.."
"It rhymed." Sherlock cuts in impatiently
"Rhymed? Like what?"
"Mmm, my daughter and I.. we used to sing this nursery song, it calls "The Wheel on The Bus"." John answered.
Craig types something in his phone. "You mean this one?" he googled the song.
"Ah yup, yup, that is the one. So every time the song reach "go round and round, round and round, round and round" my daughter and I used to clap on that part of the song, 3 times." John explained.
"I really do hope this going somewhere." Sherlock said sarcastically.
Craig silently thinks. "So it kinda like knocks, is it?"
"Knocks?" Sherlock asked.
"Yeah, like knocks on the door. Three times." Craig said.
Sherlock and John stand there thinking.
"That aside, do you mind give it another deeper look into this. Checks everything in case it happens again?" said Sherlock.
"Sure. Do you mind if I borrow your laptop for a while?"
"Off course. Text us if you find anything." Sherlock answered, ignoring John disagreement.
And with that they going back to Baker Street.
John is still agitated leaving his laptop behind.
"Are you sure we really need to left my laptop there?" John asked.
"If you want to update your blog you can do it with your phone." Sherlock said.
"What are we going to do now?" John said taking his phone out eventually.
Sherlock didn't answer. He just close his eyes and put his fingers on both hands together. As if he is meditating.
Suddenly the door bell rings. The sound of Mrs. Hudson comes to the door can be heard from above. A moment later she climbs up the stairs to the living room.
"Sherlock dear, there's a package for you."
"Ah, I see. Thank you, Mrs. Hudson."
"What is that?" John asked while Sherlock opens the package.
"Now we waiting for Craig to checks on your blog and computer, I think I might want to catch up on my reading." Sherlock said.
The package turns out to be a book. John stands up to see the title.
"Picture of Dorian Gray. Classic isn't it?" John commented.
Again Sherlock doesn't answered anything as he begins to read the first page.
The boys are now drowned between book and blog.
***