The Deadwood Stage 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: 9781780923239
Publisher: Andrews UK
Published: 2012-11-19T16:00:00+00:00

The Formidable Mrs Everest

“Well,” I said, as Billy closed the door behind Mr Taylor. “What are our conclusions? Do we believe our Mr Taylor? Or did he kill the young man on the slab at the coroner’s?”

“I don’t think he did, Doctor,” said Wiggins. “He was shocked when he heard that the man was not Aaron. He spoke true when he talked of his love for his son. It was in his eyes, like.”

“He lied, though,” said Churchill. “When Cresswell Minor at my school in Brighton lies, his eyes are right on you, you wouldn’t guess a thing: he is an accomplished fibber. Mr Taylor’s eyes were all over the room when he talked about Bobby’s reason for running away. He looked in the ceiling; he looked at his feet. Mr Taylor lied in an amateur fashion. But I agree with Harry that he’s not the killer.”

“I admit that Mr Taylor made a good impression,” I said. “But we cannot be guided by impressions.”

I was reminded of the handsome young lady in the elegant carriage in Piccadilly. I wondered whether Holmes was indulging in one of his occasional embellishments when he said that he knew her to be guilty of murders by poisoning. Notwithstanding his awareness of her misdeeds, Holmes had doffed his hat, and she had acknowledged him with a smile and a bow in return. Could it be -

“Ahem,” said Churchill. Both boys were looking oddly at me.

“Could it be,” I said, “that Taylor did the foul deed thinking the young man was his servant, Aaron Long? I have to say that Negroes, like Orientals, look alike if you are not used to them. There was no love lost between him and Aaron. He accused the young man of inveigling his son to run off.”

“I don’t think Taylor would mistake a servant if he knew him well,” said Churchill after a long pause. “He said that Aaron had come with him from Milwaukee, and had been in his employ there for six years, then for several months here in London. We have two footmen at Blenheim who are brothers from Balham. They have been with the Duke for just two years, but despite the uniforms and powdered wigs, we can all tell them apart - except for Grandmamma, the Duchess of Marlborough, who calls all servants, ‘You there’.”

Wiggins and I digested that slice of aristocratic life chez Marlborough.

“The dead man looked enough like Aaron to be his brother,” said Wiggins.

“Mr Taylor is old to be the father of a thirteen-year-old,” I said. “Although he perhaps looks older than he is.”

“Why did Bobby disown him?” asked Wiggins.

“Perhaps Taylor was cruel to him,” I said. “He admitted beating the boy, but that is not unusual. He had rough-and-ready manners, but I do not think he is a cruel person. He had ambitions for his son to be a gentleman.”

“My headmaster at Ascot carried himself like a gentleman,” said Churchill stiffly. “And he was a fiend.”

Wiggins and I looked blankly at Churchill.

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