Sherlock Holmes 15 The Torment of Sherlock Holmes by Val Andrews

Author:Val Andrews [Andrews, Val]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781846179808
Google: dQBVGQAACAAJ
Publisher: Linford
Published: 2007-12-14T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Five: The Secret of Mon Repos

To my relief Holmes greeted the single police sergeant that I had produced with great courtesy. It was explained to him that the sergeant would need more evidence before sending to Arundel for Inspector Cummings.

‘What is your name, sergeant?’

‘Cooper, sir, and might I say that it is a great pleasure to meet you. I have long admired your methods of deduction and detection as chronicled by your friend, the doctor.’

‘Splendid, Cooper, then let us investigate this little matter together.’

I would not myself have chosen the phrase ‘little matter’ to describe the possibility of two illicitly buried bodies, but Cooper did not pick up on that point. Instead he asked for a brief résumé of the events that had led up to the suspicions. Holmes did this briskly, leaving out entirely the reason for our visit to the locality, save that he had needed a rest, which was true enough.

‘During the course of a visit to our friend, Miss Adler, we discovered a woman’s dress which was not Miss Adler’s beneath a cushion. Alerted by the bloodstains I found a butcher’s knife in the kitchen drawer which could have been an instrument involved in some kind of attack upon the wearer of the dress . . .’

Holmes went on to explain about the bloodstains under the table and something of his theory concerning the delivery, live birth, demise of the woman and later demise of the child after attempts had been made to save it. He showed the glove to Cooper who was bright enough to grasp the possibility of its use as a feeding medium for an infant. He had to have the possibility concerning the tracheotomy explained very carefully, but eventually grasped the significance of the bloodstained tear at the neck of the dress. He examined all the objects carefully and made copious notes. Then he closed his notebook and asked to see the suspected burial sites.

‘You will notice, Sergeant Cooper, how the marine shrubs have not prospered in just two places.’

He understood the point. ‘I think, Mr Holmes, that we should start with the smaller grave, or such as you believe it to be. After all, we might find some other logical reason for the plants being unhealthy? Doctor, if you would be so kind as to pass me the spade that you discovered, I will begin the gruesome task.’

He pushed the edge of the spade into the sandy shingle. I could scarcely describe it as soil. He lifted the roots of the plants and then started to dig away the stones, earth and sand. He did this with great care and eventually found something, and not more than about eighteen inches or so down. He paused and suggested that Miss Adler should absent herself from the scene, little knowing that she was made of stern stuff for a woman. When she protested that she did not wish to leave, he shrugged and continued to disinter that which he had found.

Dear reader, I am as you know, a medical man and used to seeing many a bizarre and gruesome sight.

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