Part 10 (1/2)

Kyte stared Sherlock in the eye for a long e in any way that he had been seen After a few seconds he slowly drew back, into the shadow cast by a structure in the centre of the platfor, and the air seemed to catch on an obstruction in his chest every time he tried to take a breath

He had to tell Rufus Stone! He had to tell Mycroft! He didn't knohether Mr Kyte's presence indicated that the Paradol Chamber were involved in A Sherlock because they bla was a complete coincidence, but the fact was that Mr Kyte was there, watching hied The situation was not the same as it had been just ten minutes earlier

A blast frohts back on track The train was about to go He started to get up out of his seat, aware that neither Rufus Stone nor Matty had returned, but just then the door to the co a pork pie in one hand

'What's the host'

'Close enough Where's Rufus?'

Matty frowned 'I thought he'd be back here by now He was a minute or so ahead of ain 'Saw a pile of these on a market stall just outside the station The bloke as selling theave h time to swipe one'

'But a' Sherlock started, then stopped This was no ti He pushed past Matty and headed out of the coth of the carriage There were doors at either end leading to the platform He ran to the nearest one and looked out of the

All along the platfor back on board, but there was no sign of Rufus Stone

The train whistle blasted again Within uard, as glancing back and forth along the length of the train, waiting to wave his flag

Sherlock stared left and right Rufus Stone wasn't in sight Sherlock wanted to jump off and search the station for his friend, but the train was e and alking through the train at that ot off, then he would be the one asStranded on a station where the Paradol Cha hiht Rufus Stone? There was certainly unfinished business between Stone and Mr Kyte

The train jerked into life The engine pulled away froes behind it Withinbehind the out of the city and into the countryside

Sherlock made his way back to the co the corridor, hoping against hope that Rufus Stone would appear, casually sauntering along in that infuriating way of his After fiveto appear He was still at Newcastle Station, probably the prisoner of the Paradol Chamber

'What's the story?' Matty asked as Sherlock re-entered the compartment His lap was covered with pie-crust cruot left behind,' Sherlock said griirl? Typical if he did He's got a roving eye, that one'

Sherlock shook his head 'No, I think he met the Paradol Chamber'

Matty's face screwed up in disbelief 'What, the people that the French Baron bloke orking for?'

'And the ones who framed Mycroft for murder and tried to kill his friend in Moscow'

'What were they doing at the station?'

'Theyus,' Sherlock replied He felt powerless, unsure what to do 'There's no way of knowing frouesses are worse than having no infor way'

'So what are we going to do?'

Pausing only slightly to think, Sherlock said, 'We're going to keep on for Edinburgh If a train guard coot left behind at Newcastle and we're worried that he e sent froet to Edinburgh we'll head for the hotel Mycroft booked for us If Rufus et away from the Paradol Chamber or whoever has taken hi the train, then he knows that's where we'll be'

He settled back in his seat, folding his ar his chin on his chest Matty just stared at him for a while, then turned and looked out of theDespite his friend's presence, Sherlock had never felt so desperately alone

'We could just go home,' Matty said after a while His voice sounded very sht had already occurred to Sherlock, but he had rejected it 'We could,' he replied, 'but that doesn't help Mr Crowe, or Virginia, or even Rufus Besides, the Paradol Chamber knohere we live Our best bet is to hide out in Edinburgh until we can get this whole inia,' Matty pointed out 'They ran away and hid as well'

'I know' Sherlock didn't look over at Matty 'I know But I wish I knehy I can't ih to round'

At soland to Scotland, but if there was a sign to mark the moment then Sherlock missed it

The stations slipped past more rapidly now and the naland The landscape was rougher, wilder a craggy, dark hills in place of rolling fields Even the sky seemed more overcast

A ticket collector eventually appeared, and Sherlock explained about their friend not having made it back on to the train The man tutted several times, and said he'd have a ith the station, or whether one could be sent back to Newcastle It was, Sherlock knew, too little too late It was unlikely to produce a result

Time seemed to slide slowly past The ticket collector returned later to say that there was no news of Rufus Stone, and Sherlock felt hisout of the , he noticed that they were heading through more houses than he'd seen in one place for a while Rather than being e blocks of grey stone It gave them a serious, permanent look The sun, which was balanced on the horizon, cast an orange light over the to a halt just as it cao on for h

'We're here,' Matty said sis They took Rufus's too Sherlock pulled Matty to one side and stopped He wanted to watch the rest of the passengers leaving, just in case he recognized someone a like Mr Kyte or, hopefully, Rufus Stone

The station was a tee mass of people in different varieties of clothes, from top hat and tails to hairy tweed jackets and patched trousers There were even a and Sherlock had to suppress a gasp at this askirts

Matty noticed Sherlock's reaction 'Yeah,' he said, 'sorry a I probably should have mentioned that Took me by surprise when I was here a few years back'

'Men with skirts? Well, ht I wouldn't notice'

'They're not skirts,' Matty said firmly 'They're kilts'

'Kilts' Sherlock sampled the unfa worn by the Scottish clans' He sniffed 'A ”clan” being a posh name for a family, as far as I can tell Anyway, the clans used to be perpetually at ith each other until they all decided to get together and hate the English, and apparently the kiltAnyway, they're coloured in different ways depending on which family you come from'

'Presumably,' Sherlock said, 'so you canis from another clan and not your second cousin twice removed'

'Probably,' Matty replied

Sherlock filed the information away in his brain Different coloured kilts for different faation You could look at aout his na hih and know straight away that his na to know

'Anything else I should know?' he asked

'That purse-like thing that hangs down in front of the kilt is called a ”sporran”, and it's used to store things likea kilt then there's an odds-on chance that he's got a small knife tucked into his sock It's called a ”dirk”'

'Got it Thanks' Sherlock continued to look around, and to listen Many conversations were going on within earshot, but the words were accented, difficult to understand Sherlock was used to local accents of course a people in Farnham talked differently from people in London, and the various Aland, but he hadn't expected there to be an accent within a train ride of London that was so thick it was almost inco the passing conversations with Matty standing patiently by his side, until he had the basics sorted out Once your ear was attuned to it, the accent see the words coers walked through the barrier and he stared along the eo and find the hotel'

They went outside and took the second cab they could find The driver see two boys by thes fro as they could pay, he didn't care what age they were

Sherlock had already looked inside the envelope that Mycroft had given them, and he called out the hotel's name to the driver