The Sign of Fear by Robert Ryan

Author:Robert Ryan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781471135132
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

THIRTY-ONE

Holmes was sitting up in bed when Watson came in to visit. Watson had changed from his soiled military uniform into civilian clothes, a rather fine dark chalk-stripe number that pre-dated the war. He came alone. The sight of Miss Pillbody, he reasoned, might well have triggered another cardiac incident in Holmes. Watson was not the only Englishman with good reason to loathe the German spy. He would have to break the news carefully to Holmes that the woman who had once tried to drown them was his new, if temporary, ally.

‘Watson! A sight for sore eyes as always.’

‘I’ve been told I can’t be long,’ said Watson. ‘Matron made that very clear.’

‘Sit down, sit down. The police were here, looking for you.’ There was just the slightest pause, almost imperceptible, before he pulled the name out of his memory. No other man might have noticed this hesitation, if that’s what it was, but Watson did. ‘Inspector Bullimore.’

‘I have sent a message that I am well, and for him to meet me.’

‘Have a care. I feel the police are not entirely to be trusted. There is pressure for results. It can lead to hasty assumptions.’

‘How are you feeling, Holmes?’

‘Impatient to be out of here, I can tell you.’

As Holmes peered at him, Watson felt the gaze of old, the one that seemed to pierce your innermost thoughts. There was colour on his cheeks and those dark smudges under the eyes had softened somewhat. ‘You need to rest, Holmes. You were lucky.’

Holmes reached over and patted his knee. ‘Lucky to have you, Watson. Now, where have you been? On the Dover Arrow case? Or chasing those villains who kidnapped the Compensation Board? Did Mycroft tell you about the nightwatchman?’

The colour on the cheeks had deepened and a flush appeared at the collar of Holmes’s pyjama jacket. ‘Calm down, Holmes. All in good time.’

He resolved not to mention Miss Pillbody after all. He would work around it. He gave an account of his evening, omitting the kidnap, making out he had been rescued from Trenchard by members of MI5.

‘It is you who were lucky, then Watson. You knew this Trenchard?’

‘I did.’

‘Did he strike you as the sort of man who would cut the hands off a famous surgeon? Or, indeed, be party to this?’

‘No.’

‘The man with the false hand? What news of him?’

‘None,’ Watson admitted.

‘If the hand was porcelain, then I could direct you to the two men who have pioneered the casting of realistic hands. Alas, non-articulated, but better than painted wood. One is in Stoke, the other is Reginald Coates at Sidcup.’

‘I have heard of Coates.’

‘He also practises at St Thomas’s.’

‘What are you thinking, Holmes?’

‘All in good time. There is something else you want to tell me.’

Watson explained to Holmes about the sinking of the Dover Arrow and the mysterious phantom bombing raid. He kept Miss Pillbody’s name out of it.

‘The assertion is that the Germans did not sink the boat-train?’

‘So I understand,’ Watson said cautiously.

‘And this came from?’

‘The MI5 men.’

‘Names?’

‘Names?’ Watson repeated.

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