Part 8 (2/2)

'Look,' Matty said, pointing across the road In a s the grass It was tied by a long halter to a fence

'That's Sandia,' Matty said

'Are you sure?' Sherlock asked

'Very sure'

'At least we know he's all right Virginia has probably paid someone at the station to keep an eye on him If she had time to do that, they can't have been taken forcibly They must have found out that soed to keep one step ahead of them' Suddenly Sherlock felt an awful lot better

'Are we going on to Ash Wharf now?'

Sherlock thought for amore than confirh in his deductions 'No, let's go and find Rufus Stone We need to tell hi to do, and then we need to talk to my aunt and uncle' He remeh residual goodwill there that they won't raise any objections toaway for a few days, especially if they know that Rufus Stone is going with o, but Sherlock reached out a hand and stopped hily

'What?'

Sherlock hesitated, wondering how to ask the question Wondering if he should ask the question 'That stuff you said earlier, about friendshi+p getting throhen tiht and money is scarce a did you really htened for a moment before he answered 'I've had friends before,' he said quietly 'I don't have them now They left, one by one, when it suited thes work'

'Not with inia'

Matty nodded reluctantly 'At least you've convinced o That's a start Now co away'

They found Stone where Sherlock had expected hi by himself up in the attic space The two boys could hear hi what sounded like a wild dance As they cliot louder and louder, until they entered the attic where it see with the lanky figure of Rufus Stone sawing madly with the bow in the centre If he heard then Eyes closed, he pulled wilder and wilder notes from his instrument until, with a final flourish, he finished The air appeared to quiver like a jelly for a split second before collapsing back to norly

'Very kind,' Stone said, turning and grinning at the two of theh I have to say, it sounds even better played by the light of a caht The trouble is that the older I get, the azed fro has happened, hasn't it? Tellin the facts and Matty filling the gaps with vivid descriptions, they told Rufus Stone the story His face grew griri him exactly what the two of the

'You really both intend going to Edinburgh?' he asked finally

'Yes,' Sherlock answered

'And there's nothing I can say to change your hed 'Then it's a good thing I keep a bag packed and ready by the door It won't be the first time I've had to leave a place at a moment's notice'

'The difference is,' Sherlock said quietly, 'that we'll all be co back With two extra people'

CHAPTER SEVEN

It was the next day before the three of the Rufus Stone into acco thely easy, Sherlock thought, all things considered a Matty had headed off to ements for Albert to be looked after while Sherlock rode back to Holmes Manor to talk to his aunt and uncle As he expected, they were still dazed and distracted frorace, and the personal freedoained as a result He presented the trip to the with it After all, they had previously agreed to hih was just down the road Or up it

Uncle Sherrinford did nearly throw the whole plan into chaos when he asked to be introduced to Rufus Stone 'I cannot,' he proclaimed, 'in all conscience, let my nephew travel to the far end of the country with aabout hi Rufus Stone's boheold tooth, Sherlock suppressed a grimace of concern If Uncle Sherrinford ever met Rufus Stone in person he would probably forbid Sherlock froain in Farnha with him to Scotland Sherlock had developed a lot of respect for his aunt and uncle a a respect that bordered on fa of people Grasping at straws, he said, 'If it helps, Mycroft has known Mr Stone for several years, and is currently e him to behis head 'In that case, I waive my requirement Your brother is a perspicacious ement when it comes to character' He peered sideways at his wife 'You know, I recall that Mycroft said that there was solantine the first time heto us He ht have been able to help'

'What's done is done,' Anna said, patting his hand 'The Good Lord does not place a burden on our shoulders that is too heavy to carry, and each burden er'

Sherlock dined with his aunt and uncle that night The food wasn't up to the usual standard a the shock waves frolantine's disappearance seemed to have echoed down to the kitchen staff a and there was little conversation Uncle Sherrinford and Aunt Anna seenitude of what had happened Even Aunt Anna's usual constant streaossip and commentary on the day's events was absent As soon as the meal was over, Sherlock excused himself and headed for bed He'd had a busy day, and he needed to regain his strength for what lay ahead

Sherlock, Matty and Rufus StoneEach of the necessities

'This,' Rufus Stone said with a grim face, 'is a remarkably bad idea My initial flush of enthusias into the earth Edinburgh is a big city, with a lot of people in it What you intend doing is a bit like searching an ant's nest for one particular ant It won't be easy'

'Nothing easy is hile,' Sherlock pointed out

'Touche' Stone sht them from Farnham to London, on the basis that they could buy the next set of tickets, froh, once they had arrived, and because it would be eerous to leave a trail behind them when Amyus Crowe hadn't Sherlock offered to use soed 'Your brother paysyou the violin,' he pointed out 'One way or the other, it's histhe tickets It doesn't really matter which one of us hands it over'

There wasn't a train for another hour, so Rufus suggested having a cup of tea and a bacon sandwich before they left The boys agreed enthusiastically The nearest tea shop was just across the road, but while the three of theh the shopand noticed twoaround One of them had black hair pulled back into a ponytail; the other had smallpox scars across his cheeks and forehead

'Are those the two you think are looking for A the direction of Sherlock's gaze

Matty nodded

They watched as the men approached the ticket office and asked the clerk a question He shook his head One of theelse, and slid some money across the counter The clerk tore two tickets froht tickets,' Rufus pointed out 'That means they'll probably be on the sah or they arethe search to Guildford Whatever the reason, we need to stay out of their way'

Finishi+ng their sandwiches and tea, they headed back across the road to the station A few side the platfor like some biblical demon The three of them found a compartment to themselves Sherlock kept an eye out for the two Aot on a if they had got on at all

Sherlock was used to train journeys by now For a while he let hi past, but when that grew too boring he waited until they arrived at the next large station a which turned out to be Guildford a and quickly left the train to buy a newspaper from a seller on the platforht down as part of a large bundle on an early train

The train was venting steam in a white cloud across the platform when he turned away fro wooden wall of the train carriages, an errant breeze pushed the stea across the platform It was the taller rey and the gnarled scar tissue where his right ear should have been He was co from the direction of the ticket office His companion a theby the carriage door, holding it open so that the train couldn't leave before his friend was back on board As the black-haired man approached his co for a which Sherlock suspected was some news on Aot back on to the train, and as Sherlock headed for his own carriage, he wondered whether the men knew about him and Matty and Rufus Stone Rufus hadn't spent ular companions of his Most people in Farnhaether at one tiossips a so that Josh Harkness had traded on It would only take a few pence changing hands, or the purchase of a pint of beer, for them to find out that Ahter If they had descriptions of Sherlock and Matty, then they nize them on the train The three of theot back to his carriage just as the guard on the platforers that the train was about to leave He settled himself back into his seat Matty was apparently asleep, and Rufus Stone was busy ers of his left hand auto the shapes of the notes in the air as he read Not wanting to interrupt them, Sherlock settled back into his seat with the newspaper

The pages were filled with politics and reports of international events Having heard his brother Mycroft speak disparagingly about newspaper journalists, and how little they really knew about the real reasons for things happening, he only ski a newspaper piece about politics was like reading a book revieritten by a man who had never read the book, but had been told about it by a couple of people that he had bues for reports of the British Ar He hadn't heard fros were busy out there, but he worried He couldn't help hie was filled with personal advertisements and he was about to skip over the unusual and he found hi them They were small pieces, usually ten or twenty words a written by readers of the newspaper who paid for them to be printed a but Sherlock found that they opened little s on to a world he would probably never know anything else about 'Dog o Will pay handsomely for return, dead or alive' Sherlock supposed that he could understand soet it back if it wentafter an obscure biblical character, and would want it back even if it was dead? It didn't ood references essential Must be able to play ocarina'? People needed good staff, obviously, but ould they need a footman with musical ability, and with such an unusual instrument to boot? Each personal advertisement was a slice of life, and he wanted to know more about the circumstances behind them Some were obviously in code a apparently random collections of letters and numbers a and he tried to use the skills that his brother and Aht him to unlock their secrets With soes, probably of people who loved each other but couldn't, for whatever reason, er One in particular made his blood run cold After he had decoded it, the words said simply: 'Joseph Lamner, you will die tomorrow Set your affairs in order Prepare to meet your Maker'

Sherlock turned reluctantly away from the personal advertisements before he became too obsessed with thees contained little snippets of news froed by one report in particular, which involved the city to which they were travelling

EDINBURGH Prominent businessht at his house on the outskirts of the city Police have stated thatthe contorted expression on his face and the colour of his tongue, and have said that they are close to an arrest Sir Benedict had ressive business techniques over the years He had lived recently in a state of fear for his life and only ever ate food prepared by his faithful and trusted cook, who had served him for almost two decades

Frustrated at the lack of detail, Sherlock wondered how he h He didn't think it had anything to do with Amyus Crowe's disappearance a it would have been a coincidence too far if an article in a newspaper he'd happened to pick up at a passing station was directly related to the reason he was on the train in the first place a but he wanted to get a feeling for the place he was going to a a sense of what Edinburgh was like, and what kinds of things happened there One of the things that Ah the woods and forests around Farnham was that the more you knew about your environot lost in a forest, would be hungry and thirsty within an hour or two and would have no idea of the way out Thanks to Mr Crowe, Sherlock nohich plants to eat and which to avoid, kne to follow animal tracks to find water, and also kneork out which as north