The Casebook of Sir Sherlock Holmes
Page 3
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
Holmes said That poem helped free an innocent man from being convicted of the murder of his fiancee. He sent it to her with a personally ordered bunch of red roses. The florist was able to witness that he was nowhere near the crime scene at the time his fiancee was killed.
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4 The Case of the Half-Blood Prince
I begin to think, Watson, said Holmes, that I make a mistake in explaining. Omne ignotum pro magnifico, you know, and my poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I am so candid - The Red-Headed League - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Sherlock was following the car of a husband whose movements he had agreed to determine for a most delightful, and somewhat voluptuous, woman, who believed her husband was planning to kill her to inherit her fortune.
The husband turned out to be not a nice man, she said, and he has threatened me several times. I am not able to trust him any more, she added sadly. So how could Holmes refuse, even although he found the task somewhat distasteful.
However, after he had watched from hiding, and photographed a substantial amount of money change hands from the husband to a rather rough and unsavoury-looking character, Holmes decided to follow the scruff and then he would follow the husband again later.
The scruff parked near a closed gun shop, put on a pair of gloves, broke in, selected a pistol a box of bullets, and then went home to a dingy ground floor flat, where he lay down to rest.
Holmes phoned Inspector White at Berrimah, and told him what had happened.
The scruff was arrested, the woman’s husband also taken into custody, and she provided a statement of her suspicions and how she had hired Sherlock Holmes to investigate.
*******
Holmes had been well paid for his work, and had made a friend into the bargain, so he was feeling quite contented with his day when King Roman came to visit.
Holmes liked Roman. The king had had a few disappointments in his life, and major challenges, but he kept himself busy writing and helping people where he could, and he had a longtime good companion in his wife Lady Fele.
Any word from Lithuania? said Holmes when they had settled down with fresh juice and delicious cream cake.
President Dalia has not responded to any of my emails or letters, said Roman.
What a bitch, Holmes said sympathetically to his friend.
It’s very disappointing, said Roman. I try to get somewhere with the Lithuanian government, and all it does is to ignore me.
I guess it’s a tactic, said Holmes, but it’s hardly cricket. In fact it’s decidedly rude and discourteous, and it reflects on the sort of people they really are behind the political masks. If you are eventually successful, what will you do with these enemies?
Well, it would have been off with their heads in days of old, but I think my success would be sufficient to shame them, said King Roman.
You’re too nice, said Holmes.
*******
Dr Hudson had joined them, and suggested that the only way he could see Roman’s succession recognized would be to get an international lawyer, but then Roman had said he had already tried that and no one would help.
Is it at all possible, said Holmes, that you are wrong about your heredity?
In the beginning, I wondered that myself, said Roman. However, the more things I learned, the more certain I became, and I don’t believe any longer that there is any real room for doubt.
Why are you so sure? asked Hudson.
My father’s tomb says Count of Lubraniec and Grand Prince of Lithuania, some would say Grand Duke, said Roman.
But suppose what is on the tomb is wrong, said Holmes.
I thought of that, said Roman, and I found that some Prussian has claimed the first title, Count of Lubraniec. However, we have a family document dated 1748 from Augustus III, King of Poland, which confirms the title to a family ancestor.
So much for the Count title, but doesn’t your father’s tomb say Grand Prince of Lithuania Gedroyc? said Hudson.
That threw me too, said Roman, until I realised that without the original hereditary name I would not have discovered the truth.
Clarify, said Hudson.
Gedroyc is the origin of the Grand Prince title, said Roman. The title was apparently first given to Prince Gedroyc in 1569 to enable him to rule Lithuania for the Polish King Zygmunt II. I have, however, been unable to track down the confirmation document from King Zygmunt.
So how does it pass to Dambski of Lubraniec? asked Holmes.
In 1927 my father had a civil marriage at Lwow with the Lithuanian heiress Princess Paulina Gedroyc, and she took my father’s name. This made him a prince, said Roman.
Can a man inherit title from a woman by marriage? asked Hudson.
Most certainly, said Roman. There is even a powerful Lithuanian example, when Grand Duke Jogaila married Queen Jadwiga of Poland in 1386, and became king of Poland.
That’s interesting, said Holmes, go on.
If Queen Elizabeth had taken Prince Philip’s surname Mountbatten, said Roman, Prince Philip would have become king on her death. But for some reason she did not want this to happen, and she refused his surname. So her son Prince Charles will succeed, not her husband.
I didn’t realize that, said Hudson.
Neither did I, said Holmes.
Anyway, said Roman, Princess Paulina was the eldest child of Prince Wladislaw, or properly Grand Prince Wladislaw. When Prince Wladislaw died in 1943 - and incidentally Paulina was presumed killed by the Nazis at that time and officially declared dead - my father succeeded. Dambski became the new Royal House of Lithuania in succession to Gedroyc.
Fascinating, said Holmes, a sentiment with which Dr Hudson concurred.
That’s where I first come in, said Roman. In 1942, I was born a half-blood prince to Grand Prince Roman Dambski, my father, and Katherine Mann of Edinburgh who was his de facto spouse for seven years. Nearly three years later they had a daughter also, my younger sister Christine.
So she is a half-blood princess then? said Hudson.
That’s right, said Roman. My father died in 1967, shortly after I emigrated to Australia, and I inherited Lithuania then. However, I did not know anything about my royal heredity until 1992, when I discovered his tomb in Warsaw and Princess Paulina asked me to restore the family titles.
Why didn’t they restore the titles themselves? asked Sir Sherlock.
They couldn’t, said Roman. I gather they tried, but you have to remember that Lithuania did not become independent from Russia until 1991, incidentally just a year before I discovered my father’s tomb and met Paulina.
So you came along at the right time to do something about the titles, said Hudson.
In the sense that Lithuania was now independent, yes, replied Roman.
Unfortunately, I did not really know what to do for some time, and then when I did, no one wanted to know.
So what will you do now? asked Holmes.
I have no idea, said Roman.
*******
5 The Case of the Missing Star
See the value of imagination, said Holmes ... We imagined what might have happened, acted upon the supposition, and find ourselves justified - Silver Blaze - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The evening was hot and the atmosphere humid at Dr Hudson’s home.
The fans were going full tilt, and Jess had just served Sir Sherlock Holmes and her companion Dr Hudson with tall glasses of freezer-chilled, ice-cold water.
/> Petty prejudice and determined prosecution result in the failure of justice, Holmes said to Hudson. Forensic evidence should be double-checked, and corroborating evidence required.
What do you mean? asked Dr Hudson.
Take as an example, said Holmes, the case of Lindy Chamberlain. Here was an innocent person, distraught at the loss of her baby daughter, yet sentenced to many years of hard labour for allegedly murdering her baby Azaria, simply because of unprecedented popular prejudice against her, determined police prosecution to find her guilty, and an unchecked finding by the police forensic unit at Berrimah that a stain was blood when in fact it was something else. After three years of hard labour, Chamberlain was released by a fluke, and by that time her marriage had gone down the drain.
They should have prosecuted the forensic expert who made the false finding and failed to check it, said Hudson. If the baby Azaria’s torn matinee jacket had not been found by chance at Uluru, Chamberlain would still be doing hard labour now.
That is why, said Holmes, such vital forensic evidence as the blood stain ought to have been double-checked, and the police should have been concerned to find the truth, not just Lindy’s guilt.
It was a case of guilty until proven innocent, said Dr Hudson, instead of the other way around.
The federal police did the same thing to King Roman, said Holmes. They were determined to find him and Fele guilty, hence their holding of documents for over a year after they had checked them out. In this case the innocence of their victims foiled their intentions, but the court conspired to exonerate the federal police from their illegal actions and to punish their victims with refusal of appeal documents and substantial court costs. Talk about an unjust judge!
And then, as you have pointed out, there is the conviction of Bradley Murdoch, although we know he was innocent of murder and was probably nowhere near Barrow Creek at the time, said Hudson.
Exactly, Hudson, said Holmes. He is now in prison for something he did not do, instead of for something he did. Another case of prejudice, and the misuse of trace DNA false statistics to convict an innocent man.
*******
You know, said Holmes, this raises an interesting question. DNA laboratories guarantee a 99.9% accurate DNA result from an inner cheek swab. Yet does this take account of the DNA from millions of bacteria which are swarming there?
I hadn’t thought of that, said Hudson. It almost seems like a con game, when you realize this.
I read an ultimate crime scene guide which said that even a perfect DNA match means nothing without corroborating evidence, because there are so many people with similar DNA results.
Really, said Hudson.
And Murdoch was convicted, responded Holmes, after the enhancement of trace DNA by a controversial method which is eschewed by the FBI, and because of the prejudice against him and his threatening and toothless appearance, and because the prosecution insisted it was much more likely to be him than anyone else. Where was the benefit of the doubt?
I think it would be a good idea if there was an independent check of police and court findings, said Dr Hudson. This could help avoid these instances of injustice.
I couldn’t agree more, said Holmes.
*******
Back at the office the next morning, Holmes was confronted at the door by a slim, well-dressed man who appeared flustered.
Come in, said Holmes, and tell me your problem.
Rose Marie has missed her gigs for the last two days, and I have been unable to contact her, the man said.
I have heard of Rose Marie before. She’s quite a show woman according to what they say. You are her agent? Holmes prompted.
Yes, he said, and it’s not like her. I’m worried that something has happened to her.
You have a special relationship with her? said Holmes.
Yes, we have been close for three years now, said her agent. It would break my heart if...
The agent could not continue, because he was choked up with emotion.
Did you ring the police to check her home? asked Holmes.
No, said her agent.
So, when was the last time you saw Rose Marie? asked Holmes.
Lunch at Sunset three days ago, the agent said.
And did she seem any different from usual at that time? asked Holmes.
Come to think of it, she did seem a trifle distracted, the agent said surprised.
Where does she live? asked Holmes, and can you give me a photo of her, and your card.
When the agent left, Holmes rang Inspector White, and reported the circumstances.
*******
Holmes knocked on the city unit door. The surroundings were pleasantly green and flowery and shaded. A sharp-faced young woman answered the door, and Holmes asked to see Rose Marie.
I’m Rose Marie, the woman said.
Unless there were two Rose Maries at this address, which would be an unprecedented coincidence, this one looked nothing like the photo Holmes had been given.
I am Sherlock Holmes, he said. Is there another Rose Marie here?
The woman looked startled, pushed past Holmes, and ran.
Holmes went inside and looked around, careful not to touch anything. There was no one there, but the place had been ransacked and there was no jewellry in the open casket.
When the police arrived, Holmes gave them a description of the woman he had met at the door and of the direction in which she had run.
They immediately rang in for an APB to be circulated to find her.
*******
Holmes returned to the office, where Rose Marie’s agent had left a message on the answering machine.
The agent had apparently received a call from a woman demanding $50,000 for Rose Marie’s safe return. The woman had said it was repayment for a debt Rose Marie had failed to pay.
It was as Holmes had suspected. He began to ponder further on the circumstances when he was interrupted by a call from Inspector White to say that the runaway had been apprehended and Rose Marie safely recovered.
Holmes rang her agent to give the good news.
The agent was tearful with joy, and expressed his indebtedness to Holmes for his assistance.
Later that day he brought a happy Rose Marie to visit Holmes, and they both thanked him.
Two more friends, Holmes thought.
*******
6 The Case of the Rajah’s Ruby
Work is the best antidote to sorrow, my dear Watson - The Empty House - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
*******
Business was poor, and Sir Sherlock Holmes was feeling a bit depressed, he wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was the weather. It was the Wet and, although the sun was shining, the humidity in Darwin was occasionally almost overwhelming.
Global warming was no doubt having an aggravating affect on the weather conditions Holmes was currently experiencing.
He began to think of the prediction of HG Wells that the world would end in 100 years, and the recent movie of a prophecy that this would be in 2012.
Of course, people had been making predictions about the end of the world for the past 2000 years, and each time nothing happened.
However, Holmes could not help wondering about Well’s predictions, which had often come true... except, at least so far, for his Time Machine.
But maybe that was just a fantastic story, not a prediction.
Holmes’ reverie was interrupted by a timid knock at the door.
Good, he thought, some action at last.
The words blonde, cute, sweet, petite, came to mind as Holmes welcomed his new visitor.
I’ve lost my memory, she said, matter-of-factly.
May I see your purse, said Holmes, taking from her the small, sequined, goldsilk bag she was holding.
No money, no ID.
Did you have a shock? asked Holmes.
I thought I saw an old boyfriend, she said.
Did he treat you badly? asked Holmes.
I think very badly, she said.