The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures

by Mike Ashley (ed)

  proprietor of the shipping office. He proceeded to regale me with a catalogue of his mercantile misfortunes, until I could redirect his conversation towards more germane matters."

  "I would surely have recalled if either of the Atkinsons had bought a ticket," he said, "especially in light of subsequent events."

  "As I suspected," I murmured to myself. "Thank you for your time."

  "However," he went on. "I do recall an occasion when someone from the Atkinsons' estate purchased two one-way tickets for Calcutta. I thought nothing of it at the time, though since I have wondered if it were at all relevant ..."

  "Can you describe this person?" I asked.

  "He shook his head with an affect of great sadness. 'I am an old man, and my memory for faces fails me ... However, I do recall that it was a young Sinhalese, and I wondered at the time now an estate worker might come by funds enough to purchase two such tickets.' "

  "Can you recall the departure date of these tickets?" I asked.

  "Now let me think," said the old man, rubbing his bristled chin. "Perhaps, if my memory serves me, around the middle of February."

  "The middle of February, I mused: just two weeks after the disappearance of the brothers Atkinson."

  "I thanked this veritable sage for his information and made my way to the waiting trap, confident that at last my enquiries were bearing fruit."

  "More news awaited me upon my return to the estate. It was late afternoon and Trevor was seated upon the verandah with the first drink of the day at his elbow. 'Will you join me in a sundowner, Holmes?' said he. He despatched a boy with orders to fetch a second drink. "And how went your inquiries?' "

  " 'As well, if not better, than expected.' I told him about the tickets purchased by the worker from this very estate."

  " 'In that case the affair is solved!'Trevor cried. "The brothers left upon the boat bound for Calcutta!' "

  "I rather think not," said I. "You see, Sergeant Mortimer had men checking all the ships leaving the island for two weeks after their disappearance."

  "Then what the deuce became of them?"

  "We sat in silence for some minutes before Trevor recalled

  that he had news to impart. 'By the way, Holmes, you'll be glad to learn that the Anya girl gave birth at noon today. Mother and child fit and well. A little boy, so I'm told.' "

  "I lowered my drink. 'I would like to pay them another visit,' I said."

  "Trevor stared at me. 'I didn't have you down as a sentimental type, Holmes!' he laughed."

  " 'I assure you that my interest is purely professional,' I said. `I suggest that we make haste.' "

  Trevor eyed me dubiously. "Very well, Holmes. If you insist."

  "He called the boy to ready the trap, and five minutes later we were rolling down the hillside towards the hospital bungalow."

  "I took the opportunity to broach a rather delicate issue. 'Trevor,' said I, as my friend manhandled the reins and we rounded a sharp bend. 'I learned today that the brothers were in debt, and moreover were rather partial to an occasional flutter." '

  "I recalled my friend's reaction, the day before, when I observed that their card games involved the exchange of money. `I put it to you that you played the brothers at cards for more than mere pennies.' "

  "Trevor stiffened. He would not even glance at me. 'You're right, Holmes. I should have known better than to hope you might not find out ...' "

  "How much did you win from them over the course of your encounters?"

  "Trevor huffed and puffed for some time, before muttering, 'Some £500, all told.' "

  "Very well. That is all I wished to know. You obviously had an agreement, and after all the game was conducted between gentlemen."

  "We continued the ride in uneasy silence. In due course we arrived at the hospital and hurried inside. The elderly doctor showed us to Anya's bed, beside which was a crib bearing the newborn baby."

  "One glance at the infant was sufficient to confirm my suspicions. Beside me, Trevor gasped. 'Good God, man! I never thought ...' "

  "The sleeping child had skin a tone lighter than his mother's, though that was not the clincher. The boy also possessed a fine head of luxuriant blond curls."

  "From the bed, Anya was staring at us, tears falling from her massive eyes."

  " 'Bruce,' I asked her, 'or William?' "

  "It was some minutes before she could master her emotions and bring herself to reply. 'Young master William,' she said. 'We were in love. He promised that when our baby was born, we would go away, far from here, and start a new life together.' "

  "She broke down in another fit of tears, and I glanced at Trevor." 'But does this have any bearing on their whereabouts?' he asked.

  " 'I think perhaps it might.' I turned to the young girl. 'I take it, Anya, that you conducted your affair with William elsewhere than the house?' "

  "She nodded, sobbing. At last she said, 'We met every second day, at six, at the bungalow on MacPherson's Hill.' "

  " `To MacPherson's Hill at once!' I said to Trevor."

  "Anya grabbed my arm. 'William, Mr Holmes! Do you think ... ?' "

  "I feared the worst, but of course did not inform her. 'We can but hope and pray,' I told her without conviction."

  "We lost no time and hurried from the hospital. Trevor drove us at breakneck speed across the estate, each passing minute taking us higher and higher into the green-clad hills."

  " 'I wish you'd tell me what you fear and suspect, Holmes!' he cried. 'I am almost beside myself with worry!' "

  " 'I cannot be certain,' I told him, 'but I rather think that all is far from well.' "

  "We came upon a rise, and Trevor indicated a small timber bungalow situated a hundred yards further along the ridge. He whipped the horse to greater speed and seconds later we careered to a halt outside the bungalow. We jumped down and made our way into the building."

  "I looked about the tiny sitting room, while Trevor reconnoitred the adjacent sleeping chamber. 'Holmes!' came the sudden cry."

  "I hurried into the bedroom and beheld, placed upon the counterpane in the centre of the bed, a hastily scrawled note."

  "I picked up the note and read it. 'Much as I supposed,' I said to myself, passing Trevor the paper."

  "He read aloud: My Dear Anya — make haste to Master Trevor with this note. Trevor — for Godsake help us! We were taken by bandits three mornings back. They hold us in the hills, demanding a ransom of some £500, to be left beside the well on Chatterjee Hill. If constables are present, they threaten to kill us. Trevor, I implore you — pay the ranson and we will reimburse you in due course. Please look after Anya until our release.' "

  "Signed, William and Bruce Atkinson."

  " 'But of course,' said I, 'the day after the brothers disappeared, Anya fell ill and could not make the usual rendezvous.' "

  " 'Good God, man,' Trevor cried. 'What tragedy. They might lie dead with their throats cut as we speak. But what now? Do I go ahead and deliver the ransom?' "

  " 'I rather think that it is too late in the day for that,' I said." "The kidnappers have despatched them already?"

  "I refrained from answering him, but strode outside and climbed into the trap. Trevor rushed after me."

  "I said, 'You mentioned yesterday that six months ago, shortly after the brothers disappeared, you locked the outbuildings on the eastern fringes of the estate —' "

  "This I did. But I hardly see ..."

  "Get your men to open every one and search them thoroughly. Time is of the essence."

  "We returned to the house, and Trevor ordered his men to do as I willed. He distributed keys, and we once again boarded the trap and made for the eastern sector."

  "Fifteen minutes later we heard a cry from a native worker not 200 yards distant. He was standing with a crowd of other men outside the open double-doors of a storage shed. They stared into the dark interior, seemingly too fearful to enter."

  "We hurried across and approached the shed, and the noisome stench that a
ssailed my nostrils confirmed my gravest fears. Covering our lower faces with 'kerchiefs, we cautiously entered the storage shed."

  "Two bodies, dressed in tropical garb, were sprawled out across the floor. The heat of the shed had advanced their decay past the point of easy recognition. Trevor gagged and retched and hurried outside."

  " 'I swear,' he said at last, 'I swear to bring to justice the dogs responsible for this!' "

  " 'Look no farther than the two men lying dead,' said I."

  " 'What!' he cried."

  "Trevor, my friend — there were never any kidnappers, except in the wily imaginings of the brothers' minds. This is indeed a tragic business."

  " 'Do you mean to say ...' he gestured at the corpses of his erstwhile friends, speechless."

  " 'They manufactured the whole sorry business, Trevor," I said. 'They had gambling debts; their estate was failing ... they took the cowards" way out and came up with this disastrous plan to extract from you the £5,000. Of course they would never have reimbursed you — they planned to take the money and leave behind them their debts and the failed estate, leave in disguise by the ship to Calcutta and start a new life with their criminal gains. Of course, they were thwarted by ill-luck: they were not to know that Anya would fall ill, or that you would happen by this shed and inadvertently lock them inside. These buildings are sturdy constructs; they had no hope of escape.' "

  " 'Good God,' Trevor cried, stricken. 'Their cries! Those banshee wails reported by the workers ...' "

  " 'It was this detail that made me suspicious,' said I. 'I am a man of science, Trevor — I have no truck with ghosts and ghouls and such. Taken together with all the other small details of this case, the brothers' gambling debts, the failing estate, the tickets booked for Calcutta, and Anya's unforeseen illness ... I began to see what tragedy might have occurred.' "

  "I left him pondering these terrible circumstances and made my way to the trap. At length Trevor hurried after me. 'But one thing puzzles me,' said he. 'You said that two tickets were booked for Calcutta — and yet Anya says that William promised that together they would head for India to start a new life ...' "

  "I paused in the process of climbing into the trap, and stared Trevor directly in the eye."

  " 'There are two scenarios we can deduce from the facts as we know them," I said. "One, that William would indeed honour his professed love for Anya: once they had picked up the ransom money, Bruce would leave the island by some other means, and William would spirit Anya off to India —' "

  "And the other?"

  " 'The other,' I said, 'is that William and Bruce were not the gentlemen you assumed; that they booked tickets for the two of them and planned to leave Anya here while they escaped with your £5,000.' "

  " 'And which', asked Trevor, 'do you suppose is the truth?' "

  "I made a hopeless gesture. 'I would like to think, for Anya's peace of mind, that William intended to take her with him ...' "

  "Trevor stared into the heavens, his countenance racked by anguish. 'Whichever,' said he, 'the company cannot have the truth of the matter spread far and wide! Why, the scandal ... You must promise me, Holmes, that your lips are sealed.' "

  " 'My friend,' said I, 'you have my assurance that I will breathe a word of the matter to no one.' "

  Mr Sherlock Holmes paused to refill his pipe. "There the matter ended," said he. "And, but for this letter, the details of the case might never have been known."

  "What did Trevor tell the company?"

  Holmes inclined his aquiline head. "I advised him to destroy the spurious ransom note, and concoct a tale whereby the brothers went one morning to check the storage shed, were bitten by a snake or somesuch, and succumbed before they might summon help. Their bodies were accidentally locked in the shed and thus the tragedy went undiscovered for six long months."

  "And what became of Anya?" I enquired.

  "Ever the romantic, Watson!" Holmes smiled at me. "When I returned in '94, Anya was working for Trevor on his estate, and her son was a fit and healthy six year old. I even, you will be astonished to learn, left a certain sum in trust to go towards the upbringing and education of the boy."

  His eyes twinkled at me as he reached for the bottle.

  "Would you care for another brandy, Watson?" he asked.

  The Adventure of the Fallen Star - Simon Clark

  Holmes was never comfortable in the company of women. There is no evidence that he spent any social time with Watson and his wife after their marriage except for the very occasional call forced upon him by business. Only once did Holmes meet a woman whom he believed was his intellectual equal, and that was Irene Adler, whose case is recounted in "A Scandal in Bohemia".

  It was after this case that Watson became closely involved with Holmes again, suggesting that either the gloss of his marriage had started to dull, or that Mary Morstan was remarkably understanding. For a period Holmes was involved in a number of small cases many of which he felt were important but lacked interest. Some were clearly bizarre. He refers to the Dundas separation case in which the husband had developed the habit of hurling his false teeth at his wife after every meal. None of these cases appear to have been written up, either because Watson was not around or Holmes rapidly lost interest in them.All that is, except one,"Th e Adventure of the Fallen Star". This began as one of those minor cases, which Holmes almost overlooked when he became wrapped up in "A Case of Identity", but soon after events unravelled themselves which presented Holmes a singularly unusual case. Its facts were unearthed by Simon Clark.

  "My dear fellow, you are puzzled; admit it," demanded Sherlock Holmes, as we sat side-by-side in the four-wheeler being briskly driven through the maelstrom of foot, hoof and wheel that is the Strand on a Friday noon.

  "Indeed I am, Holmes." I held up the stone, no larger than a grape, that he'd not two moments before handed to me. "You pass me a little pebble and ask me what I make of it."

  "Yes."

  "Well, I confess I make nothing of it." I smiled and shook my head. "Nothing at all."

  "Ha! That's because although you look, you do not observe. Remember, Watson: detail, detail, detail."

  "It has, I take it, a bearing on a case you are currently investigating?"

  "Only partly. But he's a curious fellow, isn't he?"

  "The stone?"

  "Yes, the stone, lying there in the palm of your gloved hand." Holmes, in a playful mood, gave a devil of grin. "Come on, play the game, Watson. Read the stone. See its appearance, the markings upon its surface. Feel its weight. Gauge its constitution. If it pleases you, describe to me any clairvoyant vibration that may emanate from its stony heart."

  "You are teasing me, Holmes."

  "I am. Yes."

  I raised a questioning eyebrow.

  "Forgive me please, Doctor; I am teasing you, for the case I have taken is, if I'm not mistaken, nothing more than a tease, a practical joke, a whimsical prank."

  "Then I am all in the dark."

  "Ha! But soon all will be clear as day."

  "What possessed you to accept such a case?"

  "Normally, I wouldn't have glanced at it twice. However, I am acquainted with the gentleman involved."

  "A friend?"

  "Ah, I would describe you as my sole friend, Watson. This gentleman, although I have never yet met him in person, was of considerable service in the past when he furnished me with invaluable information on the constitution of certain metals, which enabled me to lay to rest the matter of the golden bullet murders in King's Lynne. In short, I owe him one small favour. By Jove! Look at that, London becomes busier by the day. Within a decade the city will become so congested the only sure transport will be by Shanks's pony!"

  "Then at least our slow passage northwards to Hampstead will give you sufficient time to tell me the facts of the case before we reach the home of your client."

  "Indeed it will. First, Watson, the stone! Pray focus your attention upon it. Read it as if it were the page from a book." With
that my friend placed the tips of his long fingers together, closed his eyes; only the slight wrinkling of his forehead beneath the brim of his shiny top hat betraying he would listen closely to my every word.

  I listed everything of significance I could discern from the stone. "Weight: let me see. An ounce, perhaps. Size: no larger than a grape. Shape: pear shaped. Colour: um, silvery. Odour: none. Appearance: smooth as glass; subjected to intense heat, I would surmise."

  "Where is it from?" asked Holmes without opening his eyes. "A furnace I should suppose, before that I dare not say." "Ha!" Holmes opened his penetrating eyes.

  "You know where the stone originated?"

  "Indeed. It came from the depths of the universe. The scorched appearance of the stone was caused by its headlong rush through our world's atmosphere. The speed being so great that the very air rubbing against the surface produced such tremendous temperatures those surfaces did in fact melt, hence the ablated base of the stone."

  "Good Lord, then it is an aerolite?"

  "Spot on, Watson. Yes, an aerolite, more commonly known as a shooting star or meteorite. Above us, in the heavens, are countless millions of stone fragments, whirling silently through the cold depths of space. Occasionally one falls to Earth. One might look up on a clear night and see the fiery trail one of these fragments makes. Only rarely do they reach the surface of the Earth."

  I looked at our stony visitor from the heavens with more interest. "Then it's valuable?"

  "Pooh, pooh, not in the least. A few shillings."

  "But you say it has a bearing on the case?"

  "Again I can only repeat partly. I brought it along as an introduction to the facts. This stone itself, I purchased along with a trunkful of other mineral samples many years ago." He took the stone from me, held it between the finger and thumb of his gloved hand, his face in profile to me, his striking aquiline features just inches from the stone as his heavy-lidded eyes gazed dreamily upon it. "Imagine though, Watson if you will. This slight chip of stone, so insignificant in appearance,

  has drifted between the stars for many millions of years. By chance it struck this world, where it whistled groundward in a fiery streak of light. Imagine if the stone were large enough for you and I to ride upon it as it flew high above continents and oceans. At night the lights of our great cities would shine like the dust of diamonds sprinkled upon black velvet. In those cities people live their lives — real people, Doctor! — not mere ciphers. There, sons of kings and paupers might lay awake at night vexed by worries, fears, jealousies. And in those cities housing million upon million of human souls there are enough men and women intent on crimes great and small to dizzy even the greatest statistician. Imagine if you will, Watson, our world revolving beneath you, like a classroom globe. And with every tick of the watch there are a thousand thefts; with every tock of the clock a dozen murders. Ha!" He tossed the stone into the air, deftly caught it in the palm of his hand, then slipped it into his waistcoat pocket. "So, Watson, why am I sitting here in a carriage, on this day in flaming June, sizzling like a Dover sole upon its griddle, engaged on such a trifling matter?"