Sherlock Holmes and Young Winston - The Jubilee Plot by Mike Hogan

Author:Mike Hogan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Sherlock Holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes novels, sherlock holmes fiction, sherlock holmes and winston churchill, young winston
ISBN: 9781780923260
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2013-01-21T16:00:00+00:00

7. A First Class Scandal

A Baddish Business, Mr Holmes

We arrived at our lodgings in Baker Street at dawn to find a sleepy police constable guarding the front door, and the house in an uproar.

Mrs Hudson, Bessie and Billy (in his shirtsleeves) waited for us in the kitchen. They led Holmes and I outside into the backyard to view the damage in the early-morning light. I coughed and spluttered; the stench of smoke and explosives was still strong. The windows at the back of the house, which looked out on to the yard, were roughly boarded up on the inside; most of the glass was missing. Our tin bath was upside down against the back wall, stained black and badly bent. The door of the outside convenience was off its hinges. Our poor plane tree had lost most of its leaves. Holmes examined the bath, the tree and the wreckage; he picked up a shred of what looked like cardboard from the lavatory roof, and another from the tree. Mrs Hudson, Billy and Bessie tried to tell their tale all at once causing a cacophony that sent Holmes scurrying upstairs.

“Mrs Hudson,” he called. “Come up.”

I left the maid and Billy downstairs with Churchill, and followed our landlady up to our sitting room. I ushered Mrs Hudson to a dining chair. She was pale - with fear, fury or both, I could not tell - and her hands were shaking.

“Mrs Hudson,” cooed Holmes. “My dear Mrs Hudson, from the beginning, if you please?”

I fetched a weak brandy and water that calmed her.

“It was yesterday evening,” she began hesitantly, “and we’d had our bit of supper. I was folding the linen in my little bedroom, Mr Holmes. Billy was on guard here in your sitting room, as you had ordered, and Bessie was changing the gas mantle in the hall: them flat mantles don’t last. I told Doctor Watson that we must get Suggs globes.”

“Indeed you did, Mrs Hudson. I shall do so first thing today,” I said.

“Well, it’s only for the hall as there’s a draught and we leave it on ‘till late.”

“Mrs Hudson,” said Holmes mildly. “Pray, continue your story.”

“There was a knock at the door, sir, and Bessie answered it to Mr Peterson, the commissionaire, with a package for Mr Holmes sent from Victoria Station half an hour before.”

“Addressed to me?” asked Holmes.

“Yes sir. It was dropped at Peterson’s station like the messengers do sometimes when it’s getting late. They leave it for the local man to deliver as he knows the area.”

Churchill slipped into the room, took his customary place at the table and opened his notebook. His eyes shone as he smiled across at me. Holmes gestured for Mrs Hudson to go on.

“Bessie paid a shilling charge from our five-bob float, and put the parcel on the bottom step for Billy to take up to your sitting room. A bit later, I made a cup of tea and called up for him. He came down, saw the parcel on the steps and had a look - you know what a curiosity he is, Doctor.

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