The Solitary Witness: A Sherlock and Lucy Short Story (The Sherlock and Lucy Mystery Series Book 20) by Anna Elliott & Charles Veley

Author:Anna Elliott & Charles Veley [Elliott, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wilton Press
Published: 2020-06-25T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 9: WATSON

We were all gathered in the Dales’ sitting room at Claridge’s hotel. Dawn had come. Tranquility had been restored for the moment. The window had been repaired and shut. The dove-grey satin drapes were drawn. Electric light sconces glowed steadily, illuminating the expectant faces of Lady Constance and Lord Anthony, each in satin robes, Mr. Phelps, and Lucy. They were all looking up at Holmes as he stood before the fireplace mantel. Leonie the maid was in the bedroom, but the door was open a crack and I suspected she was listening behind it. Two uniformed constables stood on either side of the entry door, inside the room this time, at Holmes’s instruction. Two more stood guard in the hallway outside.

Holmes and Lucy had formed a plan to expose the traitor who had revealed the transport arrangements this morning and so enabled the attack and kidnapping. I was not certain of their conclusions, or even if they had narrowed their target to only one person, but from what they had said I knew that they were planning to direct their initial interrogation towards Lord Anthony.

So I watched carefully as Holmes began. “There is a traitor in this room. One of you betrayed the substitution plan this morning. One of you is in collusion with the kidnappers.”

“Well, don’t pussyfoot around, Mr. Holmes,” said Phelps, his chubby hands clasping his capacious middle. “Who is it?”

“One of you has a strong financial motive. You, Lord Anthony, are in dire financial straits. You had squandered most of your fortune prior to your marriage, and you have begun your wastrel ways once more, accumulating more gambling debts—”

Lord Anthony turned on me. “You said you wouldn’t tell!”

“I said I would not tell your wife,” I said.

Holmes glanced at Lucy for a brief moment, then turned back to Lord Anthony. “With your wife dead,” Holmes said, “you would inherit her fortune, now held in trust. Your plan was to have her nobly volunteer as a substitute hostage for the kidnapped police officer, whereupon some fatal accident would befall her.”

“Certainly not!” said Lord Anthony. His eyes widened, and he gaped at Holmes in outrage and astonishment. “I would never do such a thing! And I nearly died when that shot was fired here in this room. Or I might have, if I hadn’t been reaching for the supper-tray—”

“You lie,” Holmes said.

There was a long pause, as we stared at Lord Anthony.

“No.” To my intense surprise, it was Lucy who broke the silence. She slowly shook her head. “No, he’s not lying. He really didn’t have anything to do with orchestrating the kidnapping.”

She turned to Holmes. “I had my eye on Lady Constance when you said that someone in this room was a traitor. Everyone else looked around quickly, wondering who the traitor could be. That’s the natural response to an announcement like that. But Lady Constance didn’t look around at all. She sat quite still, just staring straight ahead.”

Lucy took a step nearer to the chair where Lady Constance still sat.

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