"Sherlock would you at least come check it out!?" Lestrade begs.

"boring. A simple murder is no fun" Sherlock scoffs.

"Gosh, I know you better than that you oaf! There's a bloody message on the wall and a scary-looking wound that was done by god knows what! Of course, it's not boring. Bloody hell." the detective practically yells. 

Sherlock's expression changes as he frowns at the detective's outburst. A sly grin appears on his face as he hops up from his chair. 

"JOHN!! We've got a new case!" the curly-haired man yells. 

"gosh Sherlock you don't have to yell, I was just in the kitchen," John mutters before grabbing his coat and following the two men out the door. 

--- 

"Oh yes this is good, very good," Sherlock mutters as he enters the dead man's flat.

The first thing he spots is the message written in crimson red across the wall. 

"Don't worry...he's a bad guy"  

As if to sign the message there was a lipstick stain in the shape of a perfectly placed kiss.

"Blood is it? How cheesy," Anderson states, rolling his eyes.

"No you bloody idiot, It's women's lipstick. Any dumb ass could see that!" sherlock scolds as he runs his gloved hand over the message. 

Anderson scoffs as he takes a look at the corpse on the hardwood floor. Sherlock turned away from the message and watched Anderson's expression change before looking at the body himself. 

"This is disgusting... it's as if his insides were drilled in," Lestrade points out, gagging at the sight. 

"you may be right...but by what," sherlock mutters as he bends down to take a closer look. 

The wound still somewhat fresh showed sherlock exactly what he needed to know. He took a look at the man's head and then down at the distorted figure. 

"Alright...this is one clever killer. The large wound you are all drawn to was done using the heel of a shoe, clearly a set of high heels with a sharper point at the end. Judging by the small shape of the middle of the wound the heel breast was quite thin making it easier to cause damage, you can also obviously tell because of the small spots of blood left around the floor by the top of the heel. It would seem our killer enjoyed this part of the killing as they had a bit of fun twisting their nice shoes just to make a deeper dent." sherlock explained, his eyes still scanning the body.

"Bloody hell, is that all? How did it happen do you think?" John asks. 

"Well, that's not all that went down. I believe the killer planned to knock out the victim first to make it a cleaner kill but was unsuccessful. He has a large gash on the side of his head, not large enough to be a rock or heavy object but enough that when hit with force could damage you to a large extent." He continues.

 "There was a shuffle and the man fought back and pushed the killer against the wall here," he points out a small dent in the wall. 

"Anyways, the victim clearly misunderstood the skill of the attacker as they seem to have turned the tables, snapping his thumb and taking advantage to kick upwards to the man's gut, ending in well this." he finishes. 

"well, that's settled then. Do we have any evidence on the killer?" Lestrade asks. 

"All we can assume is that our killer is female and stands at 5,9 in heels. Now they could be a man but judging by the lip stain and the somewhat flirtatious message we can assume they are most likely female."  

"We could follow her bloody footprints?" Anderson states. 

"The footprints end before the stairs in the hall you idiot." the curly-haired detective sighed.

"Come on John, this is going to be fun!" sherlock exclaims before fleeing the scene.

----

I chuckle to myself as I step into my car outside the crime scene. what a smart ass. I hadn't seen sherlock since he saved my life that day. The problem is Mycroft has a point I do still care for that bloody sociopath despite all the time that passed since I last saw him. He was so grown up, solving cases for the police and not even getting paid. Letting out a long sigh I start my car and follow the detective's taxi. The trip was short as the taxi had pulled up on baker street in front of a small set of flats. I watched as the two men walked inside and were greeted by a familiar face. Shit...

Mrs. Hudson.

Well, Lily did tell me to say hi to her aunt so may as well while I'm here.

I park my car on the side of the road about a block away and step out into the now pouring rain. I half run to the door, my arm above my head as if it would stop the water. I had made sure to remove my crimson lipstick so as not to raise suspicion if I did somehow run into the two men. With that, I knocked on the main level door.

While I waited I made sure to note I was known as Val most of the time, especially around people like Mrs. Hudson.

"How may I help y- oh! Val! do come in lovey! lily did mention you might stop by!" The women said enthusiastically. 

"thank you," I say as I step inside the building. 

"would you like some tea?" she asks. 

"that'd be great!" I respond.

I hear her chuckle a little to herself. 

"something funny Mrs. Hudson?" I ask with a smirk.

"Nothing it's just I love your accent, we don't get a lot of Irish ones round here as much" she chuckles.

I hadn't thought about how my voice sounds to other people... I didn't think it was that strong either but I guess it comes out here and there. 

"Ah, I see," I laugh.

"Mrs. Hudson, do y- whos this?" a short man asks as he enters the kitchen.

It was the man who had been seen with sherlock. He had short dirty blonde hair and had thin lines separated around his face. Everything about him screamed trauma, war maybe? 

"Oh! John this is Val she's lovely, born in Ireland too!" Mrs. Hudson says sweetly. 

I watch John's gaze look me up and down, his eyes stopping to examine my shoes. Hmm, not a dummy I guess...

"Nice to meet you, John..?" I begin.

"Watson, Dr. John Watson," he says reaching out to shake my hand.

"Valerie Lane, a pleasure," I say sweetly.

 I watch his gaze flick to my shoes once more before meeting my gaze. I smirk.

"Where in Ireland were you born?" he asks abruptly.

"Mullingar, small town," I reply.

"Ah, I see..." His tone was suspicious, how rude. 

"Anyways Mrs. Hudson thank you for the tea! but I think i'll be going now," I sigh. 

"Oh, alright. Come by anytime!" she exclaims as I brush past John and towards the door. 

------

Sherlock awaited John upstairs as he watched the woman leave through the window. Her head turned both ways and then once behind before continuing down the block. 

"Sherlock I just had th-" John begins but was cut off by the detective.

"who was that woman? did you speak to her?" Sherlock demands.

"if you had let me finish we would have been through this already," John mutters.

silence. 

"Yes I did, I think we may have a lead to this case of yours" John begins. 

"Go on." sherlock encourages.

"She was having tea with Mrs.Hudson, her name is Valerie Lane and she was born in Ireland. But that wasn't what was suspicious obviously. She well, her heels were stained, now they were black but I've seen my fair share of bloodstains and I'm pretty sure that's what that was." John explains. 

"Did she wear lipstick?" Sherlock asked.

"Uh no, I don't think so," he replies.

Sherlock turns to his computer, searching up any Valerie lane from Ireland. No use...

"John, she doesn't exist. There is no Valerie Lane that matches your description." Sherlock grumbles.

"what that can't be!? She told me straight to my face!" john said. The shorter man grabbed Sherlock's laptop and began to look for himself. 

"John, there is no Valerie Lane."