Chapter 9

Sherlock comes to a great realization, and brings back interesting news!

As Watson sat in his chair pondering the case, he suddenly heard footsteps slowly coming up the stairs.  He stood and stretched before walking towards the door, and as he did so, there was a knock at the door.  He opened the door to see a hunched over man, with a long white beard and thick mustache.  He was wearing a fairly thick coat, and carried a cane in his gloved hands, which trembled slightly.  

“Would Mr. Holmes happen to be about?” asked the old man, in a wheezing voice.  

“Not presently,” replied Watson, “and I am not sure when he will return, but you are welcome to come in and sit for a while.  Please, take some tea.”  

“Many thanks.” answered the old man. 

He shuffled inside, and as Watson helped him take off his coat, he suddenly stood up straight and tugged off his beard and mustache in one smooth motion, revealing none other than Sherlock Holmes.  

“Holmes!  Why have you come back in disguise?!” asked Watson, completely taken by surprise. 

“Shhh!” exclaimed Sherlock, “I have reason to believe that I was being followed this evening, but what I have turned up has proven to be most intriguing!  There are a few particulars about this case that strike me as very peculiar, but I have managed to come to a conclusion that both Mr. White and Mr. Rogers were being threatened for some period of time before Mr. White was shot.  Also, they were visited by two completely different people and it would have occurred at roughly the same time.”  

“Sherlock, I have come to the same conclusion from reading the journal, but how did you come to it?” asked Watson, in disbelief.  

“It’s quite simple really,” answered Sherlock, “first of all, I knew from reading that page of his that I revealed with the pencil that they were working together, and apparently succeeded in putting this man known as “The Weasel” behind bars, short time though it was.  Now, this begs the question; how would they have known who he was and how to catch him in the first place unless he had already established contact with them before?  The answer is easy, he was one of two people sent to threaten them into backing off of whatever it was they were investigating.  However, this leaves another question, and that is regarding who the second man could be.  Clearly this man did not give a name, or even show his face directly, otherwise he would have been recognized by either White or Rogers and been arrested along with The Weasel.  Now it is clear that they were both visited, or threatened, if you will, at the same time, for if it had been one man going first to one and then to the other, you can be sure that the first one would have called the second to warn him.  In that case, it would have been made known to the police soon after and they both could very well have ended up dead long ago.  So through deduction I can confidently state that it was two men, at the same time, and only one showed his face.  I would even suppose that since White was killed he would have been the one to see the face of the attacker, and would have been the loose end that needed to be tied up.” 

“Well,” began Watson, “you are correct on all counts but one; it was actually Rogers who saw the man, according to these pages in White’s journal.”  As he said this, Watson handed the notebook to Sherlock, who took it and read the pages with keen interest.  

“Humph,” he remarked after reading, “well I had all the important facts then, who saw whom apparently matters little in this instance. A good find Watson, I believe you reached your conclusions around the time I did and probably with less effort, but I won’t bore you with the particulars of my trip.  I will still share my findings, however.”  

“I should be very interested to hear about the discoveries you have made.” replied Watson. 

“Then I shall be obliged to tell,” answered Sherlock. “After I left you to the cab, I made my way to the main road, where I found a cab of my own.  I traveled to the wharfs and made my disguise from extras I keep in a locker at the wharf for just a time as this.  You see, I did not say anything earlier, but I have felt as if we were being followed ever since we left Mr. Rogers’ office this morning.  I said nothing because I wanted everything to proceed as normal and let whoever was following us play their hand first.  In my disguise, I wandered the streets as an old man, the least likely of people to draw any undue attention from someone watching me.  I was able to ask around about Mr. White and gather a bit of information on him and Mr. Rogers.  Both started preparing extra home security measures around the same time, according to a local locksmith I interviewed, particularly in the form of changing locks, adding secondary locks, and having the door and window frames reinforced and with thicker glass.  

This led me to believe it was not only White who personally encountered the man who broke in.  And now that you have told me Rogers saw this man’s face, I can reasonably assume that man was The Weasel.  From the other information we have, I can conclude that they were only silent for a few weeks to a couple months at best before they had enough and decided to lay a trap for The Weasel, which was successful, however, they had not expected anyone to pay such a hefty bail to have him released so soon after being arrested.  Now, as for the second man, I believe I have seen him.  In disguise as I returned here, I noticed a man on a rooftop down the block watching this direction.  Since there is no place of interest in this immediate area, and since my lodging is fairly well known, I firmly believe that man was tasked with tailing you, but that he also was the one who visited Mr. White that evening.  However, given the limited information we currently have regarding who they work for and why, there is little else we can do aside from preparing a trap for one or both of them.  But before we get to that, I have found a little case that may very well be a good diversion from our main efforts on this case.”  

“And what might that be?” asked Watson. 

Sherlock leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs and steepled his fingers in his customary fashion.  “Well, as I was feeling for information on the men that visited White and Rogers, I came across a case that has been largely covered up and kept from the public eye.  A man was found dead in his flat, however, his doors and windows were all locked from within and there was no sign of any entry.  The part that drew me to it was that the man was known to be right handed, but the gun was in his left, while the bullet entry hole was on the right side of his head, which is quite an impossible situation for a man to get himself into on his own.”  

“Can you solve that case as well?” asked Watson.  

“It is an exercise of the mind, I cannot live without brain work.  What else is there to live for?” answered Sherlock.

Reviews

[Kimberly Miller]

Excellent as always! Love Sherlock's last sentence! Sounds just like I picture him speaking! That was perfect! Well done!

[Jeremy Hiles]

Thank you! Haha yes, it is actually a slightly modified quote from one of the books and it fit in very perfectly here! Thanks again!