The Norwegian Missionary (Sherlock Holmes in the Country of the Saints Book 1) by Daniel Bay Gibbons

Author:Daniel Bay Gibbons [Gibbons, Daniel Bay]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sixteen Stones Press
Published: 2015-01-09T05:00:00+00:00

"Holmes sat down beside the girl and looked into her face."

We all ate in silence, but during the meal I could not help but notice the profound silence that had fallen upon our recent convert from Berlin, Brother Heinrich Borgwaldt. Whether it was his shock at finding a murder victim, or his concern about the girl whose hand in marriage he hoped to win, I sensed that something deep and profound had changed inside his soul.

By the time we had finished our late meal, there was a knock on the door, and Wachtmeister Bruhn and the doctor were invited into the apartment. They agreed to accept a little Abendbrot, but were disappointed and puzzled that there was no tea to drink.

"I just have one or two questions," said the Wachtmeister. He was sweating profusely and out of breath from mounting the staircase to the fifth floor. "Who discovered the body?"

"We did," said Fritz. "That is, Heinrich and I discovered her, sir." He then recounted for the Herr Bruhn how they had lost the key to the fifth floor apartment, had ridden up the coal elevator, and mistakenly entered the fourth floor apartment of the deceased.

"And what time did you discover the body?"

"About 9:30," said Fritz. "We were down in the Altstadt until around 8:30, and then walked up here. By the time we had gotten around to discussing it and then trying the coal elevator, it was 9:30. Right Heinrich?"

Heinrich nodded his head.

"Very well," said the Wachtmeister. "That will be all."

"And what have you concluded?" asked Mr. Holmes, speaking the first words he had uttered since sitting down at the table.

"Murder," said the Wachtmeister. "Name is Anna Timmermann. She is about twenty-five years old. She was sitting at her table when she was stabbed in the back with a dagger of some sort, probably by someone standing behind her. She fell forward, causing a great deal of blood to come upon the table cloth."

"Did the poor maid shed any light upon the murder?" asked Holmes, with a little smile and a flash of his eyes.

"She was out during most of the evening. She came in at about 8:30. She said all was quiet and she thought Frau Timmermann had gone to bed. She had collected the evening letters on her way into the apartment building, and placed them on the table for Frau Timmermann. Then she went to bed."

"She saw nothing?" asked Holmes.

"No," said the Wachtmeister. "You see the murderer had concealed the body almost completely behind the curtains."

In perfect German, Holmes said, "Herr Wachtmeister. That was a rather singular thing for the murderer to do, don't you think? To conceal the body?"

The Wachtmeister stood up straight, and focused for the first time on Mr. Sherlock Holmes. He squinted his eyes, then blinked and said, "He obviously didn't want the body discovered until he was well away from the scene of the crime."

Holmes merely nodded at the German police officer.

"It doesn't matter much either way, as I see it. And besides, we have a prime suspect already," said the Wachtmeister.

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