Read Online Becoming Holmes by Shane Peacock - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Shane Peacock
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the morning, he sends a note round to Mycroft, asking him if all is well at the Treasury. He is relieved to receive a message back that evening with the following words:
Interesting question; all is tranquil
. Grimsby’s superior must still be at his desk, neither dead nor missing.
Holmes is ready when Saturday dawns. He will have the whole day to himself. He must strike now; he must go back to the suburbs and discover more while he can; he must take whatever chances are necessary. The Fat Man ruse may not work many more times.
He knows that the best course is to arrive at precisely the same hour as last time. The English are creatures of habit – witness the Governor’s tight schedule at the Bank ofEngland. Sherlock is guessing that the woman, whether the man is there or not, and whether he travels to work on a Saturday or not, will go out with the person in the wheelchair at about the same time. It must be their routine to take the air at that hour.
He is also guessing that they will walk to that park. So, he wears different clothes under the Fat Man costume this morning, the paraphernalia of a dustman.
Bell and Holmes execute their shop escape perfectly again, and Sherlock arrives at the little Hounslow street on time. The woman comes out when expected with the wheelchair and her companion. The man does not appear. Without waiting for them to pass by, the boy quickly makes his way to the park ahead of them. He has brought a broom, a dustpan, and a sack, all easily concealed in the Fat Man costume, and is hard at work cleaning the park when the other two arrive. Trusting that they didn’t see him on his last visit and in his ability to play his part, he plans to get very close to them.
The park is rectangular in shape and not very big, about one-quarter the size of a football pitch. A rather clumsy statue of the Duke of Wellington sits in the middle, with six gravel footpaths leading to it like spokes in a wheel. Sherlock heads toward the center to gain the best vantage point in the park. Six black wrought-iron benches with wooden seats face the statue and six more are stationed looking toward thelawns between the footpaths. Each of those lawns is decorated with a bed of flowers.
The person in the wheelchair is confined to it and only goes out of doors briefly. So, where will they go first? She will be taken to see the flowers. Which ones? What are the probabilities? Likely, the most beautiful bed before the others. She won’t want to wait, and the woman pushing her, having to contend with an invalid’s frustration over being confined to a chair, won’t deny her, will want her happy immediately. I must be there before they arrive. I cannot appear to be seeking them out in any way
.
Sherlock quickly evaluates the flowers. Each bed seems to be the same size and features the same blossoming brilliance of colors in this mid-June morning.
Which one?
He thinks back to what he knows of the people in that home, the little he knows. He pictures the exterior of their house, summoning a clear photograph in his mind.…
Geraniums! That’s what they have in their flower boxes. They must be the favorite of someone in that house. Dickens loved red ones. They have been mentioning it in the papers. It is in the news. There is a high probability that they will look for geraniums
.
Sherlock surveys the park and finds a bed bursting with blood-red geraniums. He begins to walk slowly down a footpath toward the bench closest to it. His shoes crunch on the gravel. He smells the sweet fragrance of the flowers on this dewy English morning and heads out onto the grass behind the bench. He assumes the wheelchair will be positioned right near here, directly in front of these beauties.Though he doesn’t look up, he uses his peripheral vision to see that the woman pushing the chair comes to a sudden halt when she enters the park and notices his presence. For a moment, he wonders if she will turn back to the house.
No!
But she moves
Interesting question; all is tranquil
. Grimsby’s superior must still be at his desk, neither dead nor missing.
Holmes is ready when Saturday dawns. He will have the whole day to himself. He must strike now; he must go back to the suburbs and discover more while he can; he must take whatever chances are necessary. The Fat Man ruse may not work many more times.
He knows that the best course is to arrive at precisely the same hour as last time. The English are creatures of habit – witness the Governor’s tight schedule at the Bank ofEngland. Sherlock is guessing that the woman, whether the man is there or not, and whether he travels to work on a Saturday or not, will go out with the person in the wheelchair at about the same time. It must be their routine to take the air at that hour.
He is also guessing that they will walk to that park. So, he wears different clothes under the Fat Man costume this morning, the paraphernalia of a dustman.
Bell and Holmes execute their shop escape perfectly again, and Sherlock arrives at the little Hounslow street on time. The woman comes out when expected with the wheelchair and her companion. The man does not appear. Without waiting for them to pass by, the boy quickly makes his way to the park ahead of them. He has brought a broom, a dustpan, and a sack, all easily concealed in the Fat Man costume, and is hard at work cleaning the park when the other two arrive. Trusting that they didn’t see him on his last visit and in his ability to play his part, he plans to get very close to them.
The park is rectangular in shape and not very big, about one-quarter the size of a football pitch. A rather clumsy statue of the Duke of Wellington sits in the middle, with six gravel footpaths leading to it like spokes in a wheel. Sherlock heads toward the center to gain the best vantage point in the park. Six black wrought-iron benches with wooden seats face the statue and six more are stationed looking toward thelawns between the footpaths. Each of those lawns is decorated with a bed of flowers.
The person in the wheelchair is confined to it and only goes out of doors briefly. So, where will they go first? She will be taken to see the flowers. Which ones? What are the probabilities? Likely, the most beautiful bed before the others. She won’t want to wait, and the woman pushing her, having to contend with an invalid’s frustration over being confined to a chair, won’t deny her, will want her happy immediately. I must be there before they arrive. I cannot appear to be seeking them out in any way
.
Sherlock quickly evaluates the flowers. Each bed seems to be the same size and features the same blossoming brilliance of colors in this mid-June morning.
Which one?
He thinks back to what he knows of the people in that home, the little he knows. He pictures the exterior of their house, summoning a clear photograph in his mind.…
Geraniums! That’s what they have in their flower boxes. They must be the favorite of someone in that house. Dickens loved red ones. They have been mentioning it in the papers. It is in the news. There is a high probability that they will look for geraniums
.
Sherlock surveys the park and finds a bed bursting with blood-red geraniums. He begins to walk slowly down a footpath toward the bench closest to it. His shoes crunch on the gravel. He smells the sweet fragrance of the flowers on this dewy English morning and heads out onto the grass behind the bench. He assumes the wheelchair will be positioned right near here, directly in front of these beauties.Though he doesn’t look up, he uses his peripheral vision to see that the woman pushing the chair comes to a sudden halt when she enters the park and notices his presence. For a moment, he wonders if she will turn back to the house.
No!
But she moves
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