The Wilhelm Conspiracy (A Sherlock Holmes and Lucy James Mystery)

by Charles Veley

  “He predicted that letters would come from his masters,” I said. “That part of his story has now come true.” I showed the letter I had received. Holmes scanned it in a moment and passed it along to Lucy.

  Lucy’s eyes widened. She pulled a letter from her reticule. It was printed in the same capital letter hand. The message directed her to come to room 504 at the hotel, also at 7:30 p.m.

  Harriet wordlessly showed us a similar letter, directing her to come to room 604 at the same time.

  Holmes gave one of his wry smiles. “It seems I have not been neglected in this wave of correspondence. Here is the letter that arrived in my room early this morning. ‘First payment acknowledged. Bring Tesla to the Friedrichsbad. 7:30 p.m. No one else.’” He turned up his palm. “Apparently they know Tesla is here in this hotel. The maître d’hôtel informed me that he arrived last night.”

  “It appears they want to divide us,” said Lucy. “The question is whether we comply with their request.”

  “I do not like this,” said Harriet. “Someone is making it plain that they know where we are and that we are under their command.”

  “I think we must tell the Colonel,” said Holmes. “If the instructions of these letters are to be obeyed, then he must permit each of you to go where you have been directed. He cannot take you into his custody.”

  Holmes’s assessment of the Colonel’s position proved to be correct. The Colonel agreed to allow Lucy and me to remain at liberty, although he did enjoin us to stay within view of himself or his men. The next step was to notify Tesla that his presence would be required that evening.

  The Colonel, who had escorted Tesla from the railway station upon his arrival the previous evening, led us to Tesla’s room on the sixth floor. Clad in a black silk dressing gown, Tesla recognized the Colonel and, of course, the rest of us when we knocked on the door. Calmly inviting us inside, he perched on the arm of an overstuffed sofa. On the low table before him was a silver tray with a half-eaten rusk and a half-empty china teacup.

  After Holmes had explained the situation and shown Tesla the letter he had received, Tesla appeared puzzled. He said, “I do not understand why my presence is required at some clandestine rendezvous.”

  “Possibly because your expertise is necessary to verify the authenticity of the jewel box,” said Holmes. “Whoever wrote this note evidently believes that neither of the governments seeking its return will pay for an unauthenticated device.”

  “But the contents are Kerren’s invention. I can make no assurances that his device will work in the way he described. My mind operates in a different fashion. I have considered the problem, of course, for several years. I had even, as I may have mentioned, set down to writing some of the visions that had come to me—”

  “Quite so,” said Holmes, interrupting. “But we are here to recover Kerren’s jewel box and we need you to accompany us.”

  “We would prefer that you do so voluntarily,” added the Colonel. “You will do so, yes?”

  Tesla said, “If I were to be suitably compensated—”

  “I will discuss compensation with my superiors,” said the Colonel. His face was impassive, and I tried to read in his eyes whether he was telling the truth. I was beginning to feel oppressed by the knowledge that we were all under continued surveillance. I felt certain that we could not trust the Colonel, who clearly had no interest in protecting me. I felt sure that he and his men only wanted to stay close to us in order to recover the jewel box, and that as soon as it was in the Kaiser’s possession, the plan for a trial of the weapon on Dover beach would be abandoned. I felt the alliance proposed by both the Prince and the Kaiser was only a chimera of hope, an illusion each man was creating so as to lull the other into complacency. I reminded myself that I ought not to allow my emotions to colour the facts.

  “Where are we to go?” Tesla was asking.

  “The Friedrichsbad,” said the Colonel. “It is a popular destination for foreign cure-seekers who wish to purify themselves.”

  Holmes said, “The time indicated on the letter is 7:30. That is well past sunset. Is there lighting in this Friedrichsbad?”

  “The facility is closed to visitors at that hour. But I can arrange for lighting.”

  “I remind you that the message I received did not say I was to arrive with a military escort.”

  “It is imperative that you and Tesla be protected. We do not know who will be waiting there for you. And, Herr Tesla, whoever has the jewel box may wish to abduct you. We cannot rule out that possibility.”

  “Why would they want me?” Tesla folded his arms and shook his head.

  “To force you to use your genius for their purpose. Or to keep you from doing so for others’.”

  “I am not afraid.” Tesla turned away from the Colonel. “I shall accompany Mr. Holmes and we will address any difficulties when they occur.”

  “Then I would suggest,” said the Colonel, “that we take advantage of the remaining daylight hours to visit the Friedrichsbad and acquaint ourselves with the terrain. The knowledge may prove useful when we return.”

  Lucy said, “Harriet and I will come with you.”

  I said, “And I as well, of course.”

  The Colonel gave a fleeting smile. “We shall all visit the Friedrichsbad. My men and I will keep to ourselves, but we will be close enough to see you at all times, and to intervene if there is any reason to do so.”

  Harriet said, “I will not go. That message says Holmes and Tesla are to come alone. I will not contribute to a failure by disobeying the clear instructions that we have received. If these people are serious—and the attack on Dr. Watson ought to tell us that they are—you will spoil the opportunity to recover the jewel box. And I for one do not want to have to explain why I was part of the failure.”

  “I take it you have not had a reply to your wire to London,” said Holmes.

  Harriet shook her head.

  “What will you do?” asked Lucy.

  “I may go out for a time. There are architectural features here that I would like to memorialize in my sketchbook. At 7:30 this evening, I shall obey the instructions I received.” She got to her feet, her eyes downcast, toying with her purple scarf. “I shall wait for you in the foyer, following whatever transpires in room 604.”

  35. A COMPULSORY INVITATION

  Shortly afterwards, we approached the Friedrichsbad, the centre of medical treatment activity at Baden-Baden. A massive and ornate sandstone structure, it resembled Buckingham Palace, at least to my untrained eye. Along the broad front walkway, people were waiting to enter. Some appeared weary and forlorn, bereft of hope, while others moved with expectant looks. I wondered how many of each group had been helped by the procedures they were about to undergo and how many were taking the hot baths and other “cures” for the first time.

  The Colonel and Holmes were about forty feet ahead of us. I saw the Colonel stride confidently past the line of patients, up the wide granite front steps, and through the broad entrance. Holmes, however, joined the queue with Tesla, who had drawn his hat down over his forehead so as to avoid being recognized by any of the visitors who might have seen his photograph in the papers. Holmes turned as we came up beside them. We waited in the queue for a few minutes. Then Holmes said, “The Colonel is beckoning to us.”

  “So much for his remaining out of view at all times,” Lucy said under her breath, as we walked past the disapproving stares of the waiting patients.

  The Colonel fairly beamed with pride as we joined him. He motioned us to walk with him into the Friedrichsbad. The interior resembled the spa at Bad Homburg, but was far grander and more ornate. When we were out of earshot of the other visitors, the Colonel stopped and turned to me.

  “Dr. Watson, I am instructed to convey the Kaiser’s personal apology for the rough treatment you endured at the station yesterday. I have arranged—the Kaiser has ordered—that you be given a therapeutic treatment for your injury.”

  “I am perfectly wel
l, I assure you.” In fact, my head still throbbed, and the back of my skull, where the attacker’s blow had struck, was quite tender.

  “Nonsense. The Kaiser insists. He wants your opinion concerning the efficacy of the clinicians and staff. Your medical opinion. He also wishes to make it plain that he has graciously forgiven you and the lady for escaping from his quarters at the Schloss.”

  The idea came to me at once that the Kaiser still wanted us as hostages for Holmes’s performance, and that it was now perfectly plain that he had us under his control once more. We were hostages, and had been so since we entered the town less than twenty-four hours earlier.

  Holmes took my arm and led me out of the hearing of the others. “This cannot be as benevolent as it appears,” he said.

  “At least they are not holding Lucy.”

  “They may try to extract information from you.”

  “I shall tell them nothing. Perhaps I can learn something.”

  Holmes nodded. We returned to the Colonel. Holmes said, “I shall resign from this case if any further harm comes to Dr. Watson.”

  “You need have no concerns on that score, Herr Holmes. We have arranged for Dr. Watson to occupy the Kaiser’s personal treatment suite. While he is there, you and the lady and Mr. Tesla are to be given a tour of the facility, and any treatments that you wish will be provided at no charge to yourselves, with the Kaiser’s compliments.”

  “I require no treatment,” said Tesla.

  “Nor I,” said Holmes and Lucy, almost simultaneously.

  The Colonel shrugged, and then nodded towards a tall bronze door directly behind us. The door squeaked on its hinges as a uniformed officer pulled it open. A tall man in white coat and trousers stood within. He said with a bright, professional smile, “This way, Dr. Watson.” He led me into a white-painted corridor decorated with a row of portraits, presumably of past administrators of the facility. “Our treatments employ the hot-water exercise methods that were pursued by the Romans nearly two thousand years ago,” he continued, dropping back to walk at my side. “But we also employ the hot-air techniques invented by a renowned Irish doctor—you will pardon me, please, but I do not recall his name. Nevertheless, the combination of the two treatments makes us unique in all the world. Please open that door. It is the Kaiser’s personal reception area. His personal attendant awaits you.”

  The surface of this door was also bronze, shielding the wood beneath, I thought, from the effects of the moist warm air that permeated the windowless hallway and the small room that I now entered. Another white-uniformed attendant, this one a young blond woman, was seated before me, on one of two dark-grey granite benches. Behind her a single large window admitted light through opaque glass. Along the white-tiled wall behind her, a channel for the hot waters had been cut at about waist level, where I could see vapours rising from the continuous flow.

  “Welcome to the Kaiser’s personal reception and libation area,” the woman said with a perfunctory smile and without extending her hand. I heard the door close behind me. The other attendant was gone.

  “Do not be nervous, Doctor,” she said. “You will not be disrobing here. You will simply imbibe a small cup of the thermal waters—very restorative I assure you—and then you will have your consultation with the doctor in the next room before you proceed with further treatments.”

  She took down a metal cup from a shelf along the wall and dipped it into the hot flow. “These are oxidizing waters,” she said, “coming directly from underground at a temperature of about one hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit—not even as hot as a freshly brewed cup of your English tea.” She smiled as she swirled the liquid within the cup. “The waters will oxidize the toxins in your system and improve your circulation. This will speed the healing process.”

  She held the filled cup out before me as though it were a holy chalice. At this close distance, the pungent odour of the waters was quite intense. “I feel fine,” I said. “I only have a slight bruising.”

  “It will be helped by the waters, I assure you.”

  “This drink smells of sulphur.”

  “Sulphur is very similar to oxygen in its chemical effects on the human body. Both substances act to burn up materials that have an ill effect on the life forces within us, thus enabling our bodies to perform their vital functions more readily.”

  “I have heard the same thing said of electricity.”

  “We here at the Friedrichsbad have decades of experience with these natural waters and believe them more effective than any man-made inventions. I drink the waters daily myself. Come, let us enjoy a toast together.”

  She dipped a second metal cup into the stream. She swirled the liquid around for a moment, then held it up and clinked edges with mine. The water was nearly scalding hot. I blew upon it to cool it and then drank a few sips.

  “The entire cup, please. See, I have done the same.”

  I did so.

  “Wonderful,” she said. “Now I can take you in to see the doctor.”

  She opened the door to the next room. A small, balding grey-haired man, bespectacled and with a shrunken frame, sat behind a desk. He had a very red, flushed complexion that was also apparent in his hands, which he clasped before him on his desk. His wrists, also flushed, were visible beyond the starched white cuffs of his laboratory coat.

  “Ah, Dr. Watson,” he said. “Please have a seat on the couch, if you will. I have only a few questions to ask before we commence your treatment. Your answers will determine the fine details of the course that we pursue.”

  He was looking at me with great interest. His bright-blue eyes fairly sparkled behind his metal-rimmed spectacles. “As a medical man,” he went on, “you may think it odd that I would attach such apparent importance to a case that involves only a bruising to the skull. Yet when I learned that the Kaiser himself has concerned himself in the matter, and that he values your opinion—” He spread his palms wide. “I am sure you realize that I will do all I can to make sure you are delighted with the results of your treatment here.”

  The room was becoming warm. It seemed to me that someone had put a kettle on a hidden stove and that steam was filling the room. Yet, I observed, there was no condensation on the doctor’s spectacles and his face, though flushed, appeared to be without perspiration.

  “We treat the entire patient here,” he was saying. “We do not address merely the troublesome symptoms, which are trivial in comparison to the underlying cause. I can see that already you are making excellent progress.” He took out a silver pocket watch and held it out, his elbows resting on the desk. The watch swung back and forth on its silver chain as though it were a pendulum.

  A wave of dizziness came over me. It seemed as though I had fallen into a pool of water. The light coming from the window and the tiled walls appeared to separate itself, as if the air within the room had the quality of a prism. I tried to look away from the swinging silver watch and focus on his face. I noticed a large red welt at the base of his neck.

  He said, “My name is Olfrig.”

  For the second time in as many days, I lost consciousness.

  36. A SECOND ATTACK

  When I awoke, I was lying on my abdomen on a hard, cold surface. The air around me was cold. Opening my eyes, I could see the harsh white gleam of floor tiles and wall tiles and realized I was lying on the floor in a corner of a room, still dressed as I had been. I wanted to move but my muscles were reluctant to obey. I had no sense of how much time had elapsed. Within myself I felt a strangely familiar inner emptiness. I tried to identify the sensation. It was a sense of loss. Something had happened, and that something was irrevocable. The feeling brought with it a swirling cascade of memories. Men dying under my care in cold tents as the dust-laden wind howled from the Afghanistan mountains. The roar of the Reichenbach Falls, when I had stood alone at the edge of the abyss, reading the farewell letter from Holmes. The last hours spent in the company of my beloved Mary, when all my medical skills could not defeat the i
llness that took her from me. Now the same hopeless feeling seemed overpowering. Something had happened. Now it was too late.

  What had I said to Olfrig? I could hear his confident, professionally friendly, soothing tones. “Only a few questions.”

  What a fool I had been! There had obviously been a drug in the cup when the woman had dipped it into the “oxidizing waters.” She had swirled the cup to dissolve the powder. There had been no drug in the cup she had selected for herself, but she had made the same swirling motion so as not to arouse my suspicions. The devilish part was that I had no idea what I had said while under the influence of the drug, so I had no idea of what the consequences might be. What could I guard against? What could I tell Holmes?

  All these thoughts crowded in on me during the few seconds after I awoke and before I heard the door opening. Then I heard heavy boot steps on the tile. Moments later, strong hands gripped the fabric of my jacket and turned me over.

  Above me loomed the smirking face of the blond giant Richter. As he picked me up by the lapels of my coat, I felt his hot, sour breath on my cheeks.

  I called out for help.

  “The Friedrichsbad is closed. There is no one to hear you,” he said. “Where is the jewel box?”

  “I have no idea. Let me go.”

  “I will very soon let you go. I will let you go to a most painful death. Alternatively, if you tell me the location of the jewel box, I will let you go free.”

  He was dragging me through the open doorway, past a painted wooden sign, into a large open space, cavernous in comparison with the cramped room in which I had awoken. Warm, humid air surrounded me, heavy with the sulphuric scent of the “oxidizing waters” I had imbibed I knew not how long before.

  “We closed the bathing pool when you arrived,” Richter said. “We turned off the cool water that moderates the temperature sufficiently for patients to bathe without injury. The temperature in this pool is now one hundred and fifty degrees on the Fahrenheit scale. That amount of heat to the human body will cause third-degree burns in roughly two seconds.”