The Baker's Detective

| The Vault and the Couch |

Sherlock grabs Lily's arm and pulls her to the other side of the room, worried about what's about to burst through a hole in the wall. He readies his gun, waiting for moments that feel like hours as the old walls begin to break through.

A man pushes through, covered in debris, coughing. As he makes his way into the vault, he sees the four guns trained on him and freezes, hands in the air. His eyes are wide. Underneath the dust on his hair, Sherlock can see that it's red.

"Well, this is just great," he mutters.

"Lestrade," Sherlock says. The officer nods and arrests him in pure silence from everyone else. Lily looks at Sherlock uneasily. He shakes his head. "It's not him."

"What do you mean?" Lily asks.

"This is too easy."

"He's made it easy so far."

Sherlock sighs, walking over to Lestrade and the man. "What's your name?"

"I guess it doesn't matter," the man says, abject. "James Clay."

"And how, exactly, did you end up breaking into my vault, Mr. Clay?" Mr. Holder asks.

"We had it all planned out."

John's eyebrows raise. "We?"

"Archie Samuels. It was his idea, mostly. He was gonna cut me in."

"What do you mean was?" Sherlock asks.

"He didn't show up!" He tries to gesture, but his hands are cuffed. He huffs. "Do you see anybody else around here? We were supposed to break into the vault tonight and he didn't show up. I suppose he was tipped off that you would be here and neglected to tell me."

"No, I think he planned for us to be here."

"What?"

"Long story. You talk first. How did you meet Archie Samuels?"

"He came in here."

"Where?"

"The building. I work here; I'm a maintenance man. He came in here, started asking questions about the basement and the bank next door — and don't think I didn't think about it before. We got to talking, he had to cut me in. I have access to the basement, and I wouldn't squeal on him for using one of the offices."

"For noise, right?" Lily asks.

"Yeah. Get somebody to go in there and make a bunch of noise to cover up chipping through that wall down here. Anybody asked, that guy would say he's doing his job. He tried to make a chair, I think. Archie threw it out."

"Well, that's rude."

"Did he say anything to you today?" John asks.

"He confirmed the time we were meant to be here, and then he didn't show up." James sits on the box Lestrade had been using. "I don't understand it. He paid that man out of his own pocket, but he told me there was more money in this safe and it wouldn't matter anyway. He was gonna take two-thirds, I'd take one. He lost money on this operation."

Sherlock sighs. "I assure you, he got what he wanted."

"Yeah, out of jail, I guess. The rat." He stands. "Alright, Officer, let's just get this over with. It stinks down here."

"One more thing. What did this Archie Samuels look like?"

"He's a tall fellow, got dark, shifty eyes. His hair was red, but it was obviously a wig, you know? I figured it was part of the scheme or something. A weird character. Very persuasive, charismatic — and I fell for it. What a dunce I am."