The Case of the Three Species by A S Croyle

Author:A S Croyle
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: sherlock holmes, mystery, crime, british crime, sherlock holmes fiction, sherlock holmes novel
ISBN: 9781787054011
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2019-01-10T00:00:00+00:00

23

Lestrade sent Hopkins to bring back Shore and the mysterious person who had dealt with these criminal gangs before and, out of nowhere, Rattle showed up at the station.

“Rattle, what have you learned?” Sherlock asked.

“Sherlock, when did you... how did he - ?”

“Poppy, there is little that goes on amongst the street arabs that doesn’t travel at lightning speed. I am certain Wiggins had someone keeping watch outside of Maggie’s place for intruders. For all the good it did Wiggins. I suppose none of the urchins would have thought anything about one of Maggie’s ladies returning to the house with escorts.”

He turned back to Rattle. “Well?”

“Wiggins is gonna be fine. Your uncle, Miss,” he said to me, “’e said t’ tell yer that there was no in... inter...”

He was obviously groping for the right word. “Internal?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Internal. No internal problem.”

“Thank God,” I whispered.

“Mr. ’olmes,” Rattle said, “Wiggins knows the bitch who did it. ’e’s seen ’er before.”

I was a bit taken aback by such language from a child but shouldn’t have been. Rattle and most of the others had lived on the streets all their lives. “’e’s seen ’er round. ’e knows ’er.”

“Is he stable enough to talk to us?”

Rattle nodded.

Within minutes Sherlock and I were in a hansom bumping its way to Bart’s to speak with Wiggins.

We were advised that Wiggins was in an out-patient room and that “all arrangements for his care had been taken care of by Dr. Sacker.”

God Bless Uncle.

A short time later, Uncle came out of surgery. Taking off his bloody apron and handing it to his dresser, he looked tired and worn out. “Come along,” he said. “I’ll take you to Wiggins.” He spoke to Sherlock. “But he needed a dozen stitches and he’s very tired. He needs rest.”

When we got to Wiggins’ bed, I hesitated. His face was pale. His eyes were closed. “We should not be disturbing him,” I told Sherlock.

“We must see what he knows. He would not want it any other way, Poppy.”

I sat down next to him and gently took his hand. A large bandage covere4d the sutures in his torso and he had several stitches on his cheek where Polly’s diamond-ring knuckle-duster had cut deeply into his face. “Archie. Archie, how are you feeling?”

“Awright. Been better.”

Sherlock pressed him for details. The gist of it was that Wiggins knew Polly and further that he had been approached by members of the Forty Thieves but he always turned them down. He’d seen them hanging around the Elephant and Castle pub in Southwark. They often looted stores like Selfridges on Oxford Street and Gamages in Holburn Circus. Their clothes were designed for theft. Slits in the outer garments fed into pockets cunningly sewn in into the layers beneath. They easily concealed loot in their coats and muffs and skirts and bloomers. Some had sidelines - blackmail and looting homes. They used false letters of reference to get hired as maids and then robbed the houses. They seduced men into brief affairs and then blackmailed them with threats of ruining the men’s reputations.

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