Work Text:
There was one thing about LeStrade that puzzled Sherlock. In almost every way the man was an open book to the consulting detective except for one damned elusive tattoo.
It wasn’t the existence of the tattoo that so intrigued Sherlock; he put it down to a misspent youth or overindulgence in alcohol. No, the enigma lay in its design.
It was clearly symbolic; the design was too uniform and the tattoo in too significant a position to be simply random art. It was not Masonic, Sherlock was certain of that fact, but he could find no trace of the symbol in any reference.
He had made extensive study of emblems, glyphs and sigils that may bear some significance on a case some day, but at no point had he come across this one.
So it came as a great surprise to Sherlock when he discovered LeStrade talking to another man who bore the exact same tattoo in the exact same place.
Now fascinated to the point of infuriated, Sherlock resolved that he would determine the meaning of the circular tattoo on LeStrade’s wrist no matter what it took to accomplish.