Part 18 (1/2)

But I could hardly let irl to take into account So without even stopping to change my jacket, I headed out into the rain

Given recent events, I half expected the station to be closed, but then as now, ht than propriety, and the platfor rooive a precise account of where he would be, and so I foundthe passers-by for a fairls skipped past, then a very short woed its contents onto the platform in front of h I were a rock jutting from the sea, I realised the futility of the exercise Holmes could be any one of a hundred reat were his powers of disguise and deception Not for the first tiance In fact, I was ainst him when a hand descended on my shoulder and a peculiar voice whispered in my ear, ”Follow me, if you would be so kind, sir There is someone of your acquaintance ishes to speak to you”

The speaker began to push his way against the tide of the crowd, evidently and correctly assu I would do as requested From behind, the best I could say of hihtly below average height with thinning grey hair Holmes would not have been impressed

The porter headed for a door set in the side wall of the station tearoom I followed hie guide

Holant dress had been discarded in favour of a rough jacket and working man's trousers, topped with a cap which had seen considerably better days His face, however, was unchanged and I was surprised at the siuise, if I could even call it that

His voice at least was rougher than usual ”'Uot ht of exaentleestured towards the porter ”-is an old Indian 'and, not, it transpires, one to uised such as 'ow I am just now Corporal Archibald Aberdeen, meet my client, Mr Williams Mr Williams, Archibald Aberdeen”

It was all very peculiar, but I had been in enough scraps and scrapes with Hol ”How do you do, Mr Aberdeen?” I said, with a frown aimed in Holmes' direction, confident it could be construed in any number of ways by the porter ”But perhaps you could tell me what you have discovered to date, uishly atunder General Wheeler for many years,” he explained, ”Mr Aberdeen 'ere returned 'oive me-fallen on 'arder times and forced to take employment where 'e could find it So 'e's now a porter at this very station A stroke of luck for us,” he concluded, ”for 'iin' your pardon, sir, for any unpleasantness this nal frohtforward enough, Mr Williaan ”Your man here is correct that I ahter would it be, sir?” he asked with a degree of tenderness and consideration I would never have expected ”Myto survive such a loss”

I aladly have told the porter I was a fraud, for I could not help but feel theheartfelt co signs froue, however, and as Aberdeen returned to his narrative, I leaned forith interest

”I'm sorry to say, sir, that there isn'tiht, sir, so that fro seeht as a preacher on Sunday, she ith her bag neat as you like on her lap Even her little bonnet was sat pretty as you could wish for on top of her head If her eyes had been closed you'd have thought her sleeping, you really would, sir Not that I did, not for a moment I could tell she was done for”

He leaned in close to Hol what he had to say next, but I could just aboutshot But , native woain and continued at a e before I went in, Mr Williaine from the moment it came out of the tunnel over yonder, you see, until I opened the door to the lady's carriage, and nobody went near it”

His voice tailed off weakly ”Such a pretty young thing,” he said, then frowned We sat - the three of us - in aard silence for a et back to work

I thought for a moment that Holmes intended to hold him back, for he certainly stretched a hand out as Aberdeen stood to take his leave But he evidently thought better of it and allowed the esture of farewell instead Aberdeen all but saluted in return, and nodded politely to me with a murmured, ”A pleasure, Doctor”

I was about to correct hih theI saw hi it in front of hih the crowds of travellers,at the back of the station He allowed the cart to co then pulled his collar up against the rain and ht

Holure disappeared into the rainy station ”Mr Aberdeen is distressed and requires so an approaching boy ”- co the reason for his distress, if I'm not mistaken”

The boy handed Holmes a folded piece of paper then disappeared into the crowd Without long experience, I doubt that anyone else could have identified any emotion on Holmes' face as he read, but I was sure that whatever it contained, it had confirmed a suspicion already held Wordlessly, he handed the note to me

It was not, in fact, a note all, but rather a newspaper cutting As Holmes explained that it had been fetched fronised an artist's likeness, proe, of Archibald Aberdeen Younger, granted, but une I did not recognise, though it did bear sihanistan

I glanced up at Hol is from an Indian newspaper and not as ritten as one would prefer, so I will summarise for you Put sio, of the brutalnative ht but this newspaper at least thought it a grave ned sufficiently loudly for Aberdeen to be transferred out of the country”

”And we just let thefrouine ”Wait, Watson!” he cautioned ”There is little to link Aberdeen to the dead woed of any criht once have had us believe

”Aberdeen will not run in any case He has no reason to do so, having no suspicion that this decades-old accusation is known to anyone but hi the unusual name as soon as you read it out tountil I actually saw Aberdeen hi from my archive confirms my suspicions I doubt there are more than three people in the whole of London who know of Aberdeen's story, and two of those people are sitting at this table No, he will not run But he will bear watching, I grant you”

With that, Holestured to someone I could not see and the sa re-appeared at my shoulder A brief, hushed conference ensued and the boy departed in the direction of the rear of the station

Holmes, now apparently satisfied, settled himself back into his chair ”Not that he is a ain, if need be Archibald Aberdeen is not an overly observant man, I assure you, Watson, for all my recent flattery of hi round the station in as suspicious a manner as any amateur pickpocket before Mr Aberdeen finally spotted me If that is the standard of scouts in Her Majesty's Army I am astonished we are not commonly trounced by our enemies! In any case, spot me Mr Aberdeen eventually did, and once I had establishedfor the fa to chat freely” Holmes chuckled wryly ”I have observed that one rascal discovering what he believes to be another will be a friend and confidant from that moment on Perhaps Mr Aberdeen would have been happy to speak to ardless, but I think not Railway people are an insular, clannish group and not always open with strangers

”So it proved, in any case Once Aberdeen believed he had caughtto describe the scene of the crime in detail, he even provided me with its present location It will have been cleaned, of course, but even so it may yield an item or two of interest There is one theory in particular that I am anxious to test”

He brushed some crumbs from his jacket ”But first, what of the sister? Did she offer up anything of note?”

In the recent flurry of revelations, I had quite forgotten my earlier interviews Quickly, I recountedsnippet of inforreeted this was unexpected in its ferocity, for all that I had thought that Tyler's story would interest him Typically, Holmes refused to elaborate

”I' held in a siding at the station you so recently left, Watson Shall we take the train back, and so sample the same journey as the unfortunate Miss Willias and can serve many purposes In this new century, it can transport a man in luxury from Venice to Vladivostok, or it can be used to ferry a platoon of troops across the crater-filled ruins of France to their deaths When Sherlock Holmes and I frequently criss-crossed London and the Home Counties on the trail of villainy, however, trains were slower, more basic and far less luxurious The special express Miss Williams had taken was an oddity; the slow, noisy locomotive we took in the opposite direction was far more common

We boarded at the run, just before it pulled away, and by sheer luck snagged an ee, just as Miss Emily Williams had done before us I pulled the door shut and sat down heavily as the engine jolted into action I intently out of thein silence Generally, when Hol I fall back on reading or updating my notes, but as I had not intended to take the train at all, I was entirely unprepared As a consequence, I was forced back upon hts for the duration of the journey and I freely adan to pick up speed

After only a minute or two in the dark tunnel which appears to be a requireed into a world of only slightly ht, as the train settled into its place on a sunken track cut into the very body of the city Had I hoped to spend a pleasant half hour idly watching the countryside fly by, I was in for a shock, but fortunately I had lived in the capital long enough to know that greenery was in short supply, especially near railway lines Consequently, the view of erass was no surprise Ahead, a gang of labourers were doing their best to clear sorowth, but it looked to be back-breaking work and unlikely to achieve term success As the train passed theers When I lifted a hand selfconsciously in reply, Holmes started violently across froestured impatiently for silence

As soon as we arrived at the train ter hansom cab, ordered the driver to take him back to the very station we had departed so recently As the cab pulled away, he leant out and shouted that he would prefer it if I did not exae myself

”But perhaps a word or tith the mysterious Bill Fraser?” he shouted at the last, then pulled his head back inside and was gone

Bill Fraser, when I tracked him doas a s He wore his brown hair trimmed short, almost to the skull, and his neat moustache was cut similarly close When he spoke his hand invariably fluttered to his uard on a helmet The impression of some form of nervous bird was unmistakable

Fraser's room reflected its tenant in every respect Tidy and spotlessly clean, I considered ruefully how different it was to s He politely bade me take a seat and, in response to a question about hiswith Miss Williath

”Our an in a friendly tone ”It so happened that I had the afternoon off work and a couple of errands to run in the city, so I'd taken a train thatI was actually thinking that I'd best be heading back, so you could have knocked me doith a feather when I opened the door to the last shop I had to visit and out walked Mrs Fellows and her sister Ihad the pleasure before, but I would have guessed she was fa was the rese ”And Mrs Fellows asked you to ith theh to say hello and even to introduce oing They had one or two sht Miss Willia about the shops for several hours In fact, she said that it was fortunate that her sister had accoreater experience in furnishi+ng a new ho many unsuitable items Please believe me, Doctor, when I say that I would never have drea myself on them, but it so happened that Miss Willia sohed, a little self-consciously ”I aht the score to the latest Gilbert and Sullivan operetta Miss Williams, it turned out, had a similar fondness for their work and asked ht discuss our favourite sections She was a fanatic for the earlier operettas, Pirates of Penzance for preference, she said, while I prefer their more recent work”

”When did you leave the ladies?” I asked as he fell silent

”Why, I did not,” replied the man in surprise ”At least not at the saested that they should cancel their expedition for the present Mrs Fellows said she would walk her sister to her train, but Miss Willia to have me escort her directly to the station, so that Mrs Fellows could et her herself home, before her illness worsened So I hailed a hanso treated like an invalid, and then walked Miss Willia no platform ticket of my own”

”And that was the last you saw of her?” I asked

Fraser nodded ”It was I only wish she had listened more to her sister They-that is Mrs Fellows and Miss Willia alone on the railway, you see They asked my advice and I told Miss Williaside her, ith there being so e men about Which seee”

For a moment I wondered why Mrs Fellows had not mentioned this discussion e spoke, then I remembered that the interview had broken off early and we had not covered the time after she and her sister had met up with Fraser