The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes

by June Thomson

  ‘How did you manage to contrive his disappearance from “The Firs”?’

  ‘Oh, quite easily, my dear fellow. Once he learned of Callister’s death and knew we had evidence of the treason, it did not take much to persuade him to write a letter to Miss Mai, explaining that he was frightened about the police inquiry which would follow and that he was leaving immediately to walk into Portswithin where he would try to take passage on a boat back to France.’

  ‘Ah, yes; I see, Holmes,’ I said. ‘This accounts for Miss Mai’s search of the house when I returned with her to “The Firs” this morning. And what will happen to Leblanc?’

  Holmes took out his pocket watch.

  ‘At the moment, he is being driven back to London in an official car, accompanied by Inspector Drury and Sergeant McGregor. On arrival, he will be taken to Mycroft’s office in Whitehall where he will be questioned further and a statement drawn up. After that, the matter is in Mycroft’s hands. No doubt Leblanc will be held for a time in prison until some agreement can be arranged between the English and French governments, after which he will be deported to France as an undesirable alien who was in this country unlawfully.’

  ‘Supposing he talks? Could he not sell his story to the newspapers?’

  Holmes smiled sardonically.

  ‘It is quite obvious, my dear Watson, that you have no understanding of the way in which governments work. They can be quite Machiavellian in the conduct of their affairs. Leblanc will not talk. He will return to France with some threat hanging over his head which will ensure his silence. You may trust Mycroft on that.

  ‘As for the Margretha, after she was boarded and searched this morning and the crew questioned, including von Schlabitz-Hoecker’s agent, a man called Zeiss, she was allowed to return to Holland, after certain papers were removed which are also on their way to London in the good Inspector Drury’s pocket. No charge of smuggling will be preferred. His Majesty’s Government, anxious to avoid an international incident with its Dutch counterpart, will let the whole matter quietly drop.

  ‘We come now to your part in the affair. You are prepared, are you not, Watson, to stand as witness at the coroner’s inquest which will have to be held on Callister’s unfortunate death?’

  ‘Well, yes, I suppose I shall have to, Holmes.’

  ‘There is no need for you to feel any anxiety, my dear fellow. Mycroft will see that everything is so arranged that no awkward questions are asked.’

  Holmes was correct in this prediction. In Mycroft’s hands, action was swiftly taken to cover up the truth.

  Holmes, who was too well-known to have his name connected with the case, quietly disappeared from the scene, together with Drury and the other police officers, while I, plain Dr Watson, who had happened to be in Cornwall for a short holiday, was the only witness to Callister’s death.

  My story, in which Mycroft himself coached me in his office at Whitehall, was quite straightforward. As he explained, the simpler the deception, the more likely it was to be believed, especially as I was clearly a poor liar.

  I had been rowing in Penhiddy Bay, intending to indulge myself in a little solitary bird-watching, when I had seen a figure plunge to its death from the top of the lighthouse. Mooring my boat, I had landed and tried to give medical aid. Unfortunately, the man, who was a stranger to me, was dead.

  The last three facts had, at least, the merit of being true.

  My account must have been convincing because it was accepted without question by the coroner’s court at Portswithin and a verdict of accidental death was recorded.

  As soon as my evidence was heard, I left discreetly by a side door and was taken straight back to London by official car.

  This subterfuge proved necessary for present in court were not only Hugo Callister, Member of Parliament for Dowerbridge, but several Fleet Street journalists, including Archie Beal, chief reporter of one of the so-called popular newspapers, the Daily Planet, which specialised in the more sensational and scandalous stories.

  Someone, no doubt Hugo Callister, had informed Beal that Maurice Callister was a scientist who had worked on clandestine Admiralty research for the following morning the Daily Planet carried the story on its front page under the headline: ‘Secret Scientist In Mysterious Death Plunge’, while the report itself hinted that the fall was not accidental and that the Government had conspired to cover up the truth.

  Nor did the affair stop there.

  As Mycroft had feared, Hugo Callister raised the matter of his brother’s death in the House of Commons, demanding a full official inquiry and, although the Prime Minister, with characteristic aplomb, managed to brush the whole affair aside with a slighting reference to the unfortunate influence of the ‘yellow’ press on back-bench members, Callister’s action added fuel to the fire.

  It was for me a most uncomfortable time. My rooms in Queen Anne Street were besieged by journalists and, on Mycroft’s advice, I moved out temporarily into a quiet Bayswater hotel under a pseudonym.

  It was while I was staying at the hotel that my rooms were broken into and my papers searched.

  As no attempt was made to take anything of monetary value, I can only assume that the outrage was the work of no ordinary burglar even though the felony was carried out with professional skill. A window at the back of the house was forced open, the lock on my desk was picked and certain pages from one of my note-books were torn out. As these covered my activities during the Cornish trip, the connection with the Callister affair should need no further clarification. Fortunately, the memoranda contained nothing more significant than train times, details of the weather and short descriptions of the countryside, notes I had intended using should I ever write up a full account of the case.

  I have discussed the whole matter with both Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes and we have come to the conclusion that someone must have paid an experienced criminal to perpetrate the deed.

  It was Mycroft Holmes who suggested that Hugo Callister might be behind the burglary. I consider this a little far-fetched on Mycroft Holmes’ part and that he has become obsessed with Hugo Callister’s attempts to discredit the Government. It may be naïve of me but I find it difficult to believe that a Member of Parliament, who is distinguished by the title of ‘Honourable’, should behave in so discreditable a manner and I am more inclined to see in the attempt to tamper with my papers the grubby hand of the gutter press.

  However, as I am in no position to judge these matters, I have been forced to accept Mycroft’s explanation and to acquiesce in his handling of the situation.

  From his Whitehall office, Mycroft has put a rumour into circulation among the West End clubs, the Royal Enclosure at Ascot, the more exclusive Turkish baths and the dinner-tables of the most distinguished society hostesses – anywhere, in short, where people of influence and power are likely to gather – which purports to be the true account of Maurice Callister’s death. By making sure that this story is supposed to be strictly confidential and must under no circumstances be repeated, he has guaranteed its widest dissemination.

  Mycroft’s version of the events is as follows: Maurice Callister had unlawfully smuggled into this country a French circus performer, a young man with a most disreputable past, whom he had kept concealed in ‘The Firs’ and with whom he was conducting an unnatural relationship. Blackmailed by his lover and fearful of his own good name and his family honour, Maurice Callister had committed suicide by jumping from the top of the lighthouse.

  As a final touch, Mycroft Holmes, who shares with his brother Sherlock a rather strange sense of humour which I have remarked on elsewhere,* added a detail about the cormorant, embellishing his tale with a description of how Callister made his death-leap carrying in his arms his French lover’s favourite pet, a tamed seabird, which symbolised for him his own entrapment in the tragic relationship.

  Mycroft Holmes also prevailed on me to include a cryptic reference to this account in ‘The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger’, coupled with the threat
of its exposure. This was directed specifically at Hugo Callister with the intention of dissuading him from pressing for an official Parliamentary inquiry, Mycroft being of the opinion that, as the popular press would soon lose interest in the story of Callister’s death and would pass on to other scandals, his chief adversary in the affair was the Honourable Member for Dowerbridge.

  Mycroft Holmes’ assessment of the situation was perfectly sound.

  Shortly afterwards, the attention of the editor of the Daily Planet was directed towards a most regrettable rumour concerning His Majesty, King Edward VII, and a certain countess who shall be nameless, and the reports on Maurice Callister passed from its pages.

  As for Hugo Callister, the threat of the publication of the so-called ‘true’ account of his brother’s death and the subsequent scandal it would cause was sufficient to make him withdraw his charges of a Government conspiracy and the whole matter was discreetly forgotten.

  However, Holmes and I have been seriously troubled by the deception, necessary though it may have been for the security of the realm; I on the grounds that any untruth, even from the very best of motives, is not the manner in which His Majesty’s Government should conduct its affairs.

  Holmes’ concern is of a less narrowly political nature. Despite his deep patriotism, his sympathies have become more and more engaged by Maurice Callister’s belief that all knowledge, particularly that concerning research into weapons of war, should be openly discussed at international level. His argument runs that if all nations shared the same information, it would be futile for any individual country to develop its own weapons, the armaments race would therefore become unnecessary, war unlikely, and the huge sums of money thus saved could be spent on more peaceful research for the good of mankind.

  It is in this belief, he avers, that true patriotism lies.

  He expounded his theory for several hours only yesterday evening as we sat together by the hearth in the sitting-room at Baker Street, Holmes’ austere features lit up not only by the firelight but by the warmth of his convictions.

  ‘But what can be done?’ I asked.

  It was then that Holmes made the suggestion which I referred to at the beginning of this narrative.

  ‘Write up the true account of the politician, the lighthouse and the trained cormorant,’ said he, ‘and deposit it in some safe place where no one can gain access to it. Although its publication is out of the question for the foreseeable future, let us hope, my dear Watson, that attitudes will change and that a saner generation in years to come will have cured itself of this madness and that the true story can at last be placed before the public.’

  * Dr John H. Watson makes this threat in the opening paragraph of ‘The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger’. (Dr John F. Watson)

  † As Dr John H. Watson was living in Queen Anne Street in September 1902, the time of ‘The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger’, and as Mr Sherlock Holmes had already retired to Sussex by July 1907 when he undertook the investigation known as ‘The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane’, the events referred to must have taken place between these dates. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * Mr Sherlock Holmes makes this observation in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * This case occurred before Dr John H. Watson’s marriage although the precise date is unknown. (Dr John F. Watson)

  † Mr Sherlock Holmes’ information is recorded in ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * This case, which occurred in November 1895, was recorded by Dr John H. Watson under the title of ‘The Adventure of the Bruce-Partington Plans’. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * King Edward VII succeeded to the throne on 22 January 1901 and was crowned on 9 August 1902. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * This is not the only instance of a seabird being used for a special mission. During the First World War, it was suggested that seagulls should be trained to defecate on the raised periscopes of German submarines, thus rendering them inoperative. (Dr John F. Watson)

  * In ‘The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax’, Dr John H. Watson refers to Mr Sherlock Holmes’ ideas of humour as being ‘strange and occasionally offensive’. (Dr John F. Watson)

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  About the Author

  JUNE THOMSON, a former teacher, has published over thirty novels, twenty of which feature her series detective Inspector Jack Finch and his sergeant, Tom Boyce. She has also written seven pastiche collections of Sherlock Holmes short stories. Her books have been translated into many languages. June Thomson lives in Rugby, Warwickshire.

  By June Thomson

  THE SHERLOCK HOLMES COLLECTION

  The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes

  The Secret Chronicles of Sherlock Holmes

  The Secret Journals of Sherlock Holmes

  Holmes and Watson

  The Secret Documents of Sherlock Holmes

  The Secret Notebooks of Sherlock Holmes

  The Secret Archives of Sherlock Holmes

  THE JACK FINCH MYSTERIES

  Going Home

  Copyright

  Allison & Busby Limited

  12 Fitzroy Mews

  London W1T 6DW

  www.allisonandbusby.com

  First published in Great Britain in 1990.

  This ebook edition published by Allison & Busby in 2014.

  Copyright © 1990 by JUNE THOMSON

  The moral right of the author is hereby asserted

  in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

  All characters and events in this publication other than those clearly in the public domain are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent buyer.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from

  the British Library.

  ISBN 978–0–7490–1652–4