Part 18 (1/2)

'All right,' Macfarlane announced 'Let's see your party trick'

Twentythe wall, all with their hands behind their backs They ranged froe to a handful in their sixties They all had dirt ingrained in their necks and in the backs of their ears, and crude blue tattoos on their forear hair down to their shoulders, so their scalps

Sherlock went up to one end of the line Instead of walking along and looking at their faces and their clothes, which he suspected Macfarlane was expecting him to do, he crouched down and examined the first man's shoes as closely as he could He could hears titters of laughter fronored the shoes and boots and the turn-ups of trousers

When he got to the end of the line, he straightened up Theat him with fascination and, in so aht,' he said He walked back along the line, pointing to five of the twenty men 'You, you, you, you andyes, you Step forward' He glanced across at Macfarlane, atching hiular basis The other fifteen don't'

'You're right You're absolutely right' He gestured to the men to return to the crowd 'How did you know?'

'They work near salt water,' Sherlock said, 'and that's what gives theet splashed with the water froular basis I've noticed it before Seawater does two things When it soaks into shoe leather and dries out it leaves white marks behind, where the salt has been deposited in the leather itself Also, when drops of water collect in the turn-ups of trousers and then evaporate, they leave crystals of salt behind These five men either have white marks in their shoe leather or salt crystals in their turn-ups, or both'

'I'm suitably impressed,' Macfarlane admitted 'You seem to have your wits about you, which isthe ht then a I'll take you up on your offer Have to tell you, though, that you haven't got long It's a' he checked his watch a 'nine o'clock now, give or take A ed with the men ant your Aot five hours, no lanced at Ainia's white face, then at Matty Matty gave hiot, then that's how long it will take,' he said griestured to one of his e out front right away You and Brough go with the kid Take hio and find hiet him back here for two o'clock Understand?'

The men nodded

'The butler at Sir Benedict Ventham's house is aclient offor h I can't think what you'll find now'

'Neither can I,' Sherlock h, but turned back to sinia 'I'll come back for you,' he said

'I know you will,' she replied

Brough was a thinof freckles across a bald head His lips were twisted in a sneer, as if he could sh the rooh before Whatever was in the pit was snuffling around behind the fence on the far side as they passed, but in the next roo blows slohile standing close together, notapart from their arms They looked exhausted, and their faces were swollen and covered with blood The dog fight had ended, and the croho had been gathered around it were dispersing Money was still changing hands

They headed towards the door to the outside, eh rain-heavy clouds Sherlock turned around to look at the building they had left Based on the flagstones, the tapestries, the ani an old manor house at the very least, perhaps even a castle, but he was ae and anony other warehouses The area looked deserted It was probably located somewhere near the docks where thoselooked like sorain would be stored, not the central base for a cri could be h trouble over it

Dunloas already waiting outside He was older than Brough, shorter and wider, but he gave the iely muscle rather than fat The two e

Half an hour later they drew up outside a buildingroof of black slate tiles The ere barred A carving in the stone above the door read Edinburgh and Lothian Police

'This is where the boss's sister is being kept,' Dunlow said His voice sounded like stones grinding together He looked uncoo in and see if they'll let you talk to her'

'Is that likely?' Sherlock asked 'I , and even if you claim I am, they'll know as soon as I open oes on in these parts in letting citizens with spare change observe criminals in their cells,' Dunham replied darkly 'The middle classes like to see the poor in police custody a it lets theeant a shi+lling and tell hilish lord He'll be happy to let you have ten minutes alone with her, no questions asked' He saw Sherlock's shocked expression and snorted 'What, you think the police are any better than the criminals? The only difference is that they have uniforms and we don't'

He walked off into the police station and came out five minutes later

'There's a constable on the desk who'll take you to the cells,' he said 'Be out in quarter of an hour, otherwise they'll want another shi+lling'

Dubiously, Sherlock entered the police station It smelledjust inside the door He had mutton chop whiskers and a bushyeye contact 'Fifteen minutes to look at her and talk to her No funny business, you hear?'

'No funny business,' Sherlock agreed, without knowing quite what he was agreeing to

The cells were down a set of stone steps that had been worn into curves by generations of feet They reminded Sherlock uncomfortably of the time he had visited Mycroft in a police station in London He hoped that this visit would have as successful an outcome as that one

The constable stopped in front of a door and unlocked it with a large key froestured Sherlock in 'Fifteen , so I don't think she'll do anything stupid, like attack you, but you can't tell with this sort If sheon the door I'll be just out here, waiting'

Sherlock entered The door closed behind him, and he heard the key turn in the lock He was alone with a potentialon a es and chains She looked up at him She was about thirty-five years old, with hair like straw and blue eyes There was so about the shape of her face that reh she was smaller and more delicate Her face was dirty, and streaked with tears, and her clothes were crumpled, as if she had slept in them a which she probably had

'I don't need a priest,' she said Her voice eak, but firm 'I am not yet ready to make my peace with God'

'I'm not a priest,' Sherlock said 'Your brother sent ht There was panic in her eyes 'He lanced towards the door, as if the constableoutside 'If the police think he has anything to do with this, they will chase him to the ends of the Earth and never rest until they catch him!'

'Don't worry,' he reassured her 'He's not involved I asked him if I could come to see you I want to find out what happened'

'What happened?' She looked away, eyes filling up with tears 'Sir Benedict is dead, and the police think I did it, sir That's what happened'

'And did you?'

She looked back at him, shocked 'I couldn't kill Sir Benedict! I'd worked for him for twenty years Sir, he was like a father to ht a then why do the police think that you killed him?'

She put her head in her hands 'Because I am his cook Or at least, I was his cook I prepared all of his food And he was poisoned, or at least that's what they say So if he was poisoned, then I must have done it It stands to reason, doesn't it?'

'But other people must have touched his food, or carried it, or been able to access it, surely?'

She shook her head 'Sir Benedict was veryuntrusting He believed that his business rivals were out to destroy him He was convinced that they would attack hiuards all around the house to prevent anyone getting in or setting fire to the place, and he took one with him whenever he left the house All the doors and ere locked and barred, and the only person he trusted to cook and serve his food wassound 'It was like a prison so for hi to hurt him Besides, he put it in his will that if he died of natural causes then I was to inherit five hundred pounds The saardener and all the guards he employed as well' She sniffed 'He knew that nobody could pay any of us to hurt him, or to let them into the house' She sniffed 'Not that the '

'So you prepared his food a by yourself a and you took it to hiht,' she confirht all the herbs and vegetables and milk from the market, and picked the meat from the butchers' slabs And I baked all his bread etables were poisoned, then anyone in the area buying them would have died as well a and nobody did'

'That's exactly the case, sir, and that's why I'allows'

Sherlock checked his watch Ti away Bryce Scobell was only a few hours fro Gahan Macfarlane 'And are the ot the raw ingredients?'

'Yes' She caught herself, hesitating 'Except for the occasional rabbit The gardener catches theut and skin them Sir Benedict loved a bit of rabbit in cream-and-mustard sauce a ordered it a couple of tiain 'That hat they reckoned killed hi died as well'

'Interesting His last meal was rabbit in cream-and-mustard sauce?'

She nodded

'And you prepared it all yourself?'

'That's right I bought the creaardener provided the rabbit himself It was still warm, so I knew it had only just been killed'

Sherlock racked his brains for so to mind He looked at the woman as she sat there on the hard rief-stricken, and yet hopeful She was depending on hiinia Crowe, Matty Arnatt and Rufus Stone were depending on hiie Macfarlane could be anything else but guilty If what she had told him was true, then Sherlock couldn't see any way that the uilty, wouldn't she have given hiht have been poisoned by soed because of her own honesty