Part 34 (2/2)
”Hoy, what's all this?” deuard and bulldog He ly on Holmes, fists raised
”You really have no idea?” Holmes answered calmly ”Co to You, after all, are just as much a part of this as Miss Volteface”
I assumed Holether this pair were responsible for the disappearance and possible dee an apparent suicide, after having kidnapped the financier and indeed caused his death, either through n
It struck erous and potentially desperate criminals, and I had had sufficient experience of that to know that violence was likely to ensue This would not be the first time that events had taken an unexpected, unforeseeable turn for the worse during one of our investigations; and Hol men we used to be, ever ready to ed We had slowed
My heart began to race I foundI was still in possession of my trusty old service revolver
Whereupon Miss Volteface said, ”It's all right, Jack We ht as well come clean This is Sherlock Holmes, isn't it? A faured it out, there's no point trying to string hi any further”
The ressive posture ”What's he doing snooping around anyway?” he barked ”It's none of his business”
”No,” said Holmes, ”but it is your wife's business, Mr Markinswell, and she has ave Jack's beard a fir the features of a e Greasepaint had been applied to the upper portion of his face, lending it the rough, reddish complexion of someone orked outdoors and perhaps drank more than was healthy The bare skin beneath the beard, aside froum, was pale and smooth
”Mr Jacob Markinswell, I presume,” said Holmes ”Not dead Far fro on a new life with a neoman”
Markinswell's face fell The financier slu into his lap
”The jig's up then,” he said in altogether hed ”I thought we'd got aith it, Jenny my dear Clearly I am not the thespian you are”
”You did fine, ly ”You were ed There wasn't much to be said Markinswell had become s her perform Relations with his wife had beco They had, as a couple, settled into that kind of marital complacency which in some breeds contentment and in others boredo had caused them to drift further froe together Lack of the excuses for myself,” said Markinswell ”But with Jenny I discovered a passion, a love, that had been reat delight, reciprocated I was ready to give up everything for her Everything And I did I have done She, for her part, has been willing to take me as I am, unencuain from scratch”
It was Jenny who had co Markinswell's death But how to ht, before witnesses? Pretend to be him, that was how Wear his clothes, impersonate him, feint a suicide, then duck into a hawthorn thicket and come out moments later as a woman Jenny was the ”pretty little creature” the Country Squire had ate the story that aMarkinswell's description had thrown hie at Beachy Head
”And nohat do we do?” she asked, taking Markinswell's hand Whatever else I thought of these two, the love between thes they exhibited were
”That,” said Holmes, ”is not up to me I shall leave it to you and your own consciences For what it's worth,in its illicitness, I' run Confess all to your wife, Mr Markinswell Put the poor woman out of her misery It will be hard for you but kinder to her”
We left the two of the room to debate their future and decide on the best course of action It was none of our concern now Holmes was fir
Out in thewarmth of the late afternoon, we returned to the proun just a few hours earlier
”A rather tawdry little affair, don't you think?” re it up as one of those tales you hawk to Greenhough Se of that, Holmes,” I said ”What it does de”
My friend arched an eyebrow ”Oh? And how do you arrive at that conclusion?”
”You told ulf lies bethat people seem to be and what they are, and the difference is usually a disappoint to that effect”
”But weren't these two, Markinswell and Jenny, uises and the trickery and the deceit, behind it there are two people deeply in love”
”Markinswell is rich That could be herhim”
”But he has sacrificed all he has for her, and she knows it It is, in its way, as pure a ined”
Hol ”You, Watson, are a hopeless romantic,” he said ”And I wouldn't want you any other way Now, I don't know about you, but I ae in East Dean, serves an excellent partridge pie and a range of thirst-quenching Sussex ales We can be there in under an hour if alk briskly” He ainst the low sun ”Shall we?”
And side by side, corove was born on Christh on 40 books His novels include The Hope, Days, Untied Kingdo Pantheon series and Redlaw and Redlaw: Red Eye, the first two voluhtmares, the first of two Sherlock Hole Of Voodoo, plus a collection of three novellas, Age Of Godpunk
James has sold athered in two collections, Ihts and Diversifications He has written a four-voluers, The Clouded World (under the pseudonym Jay Amory), and has produced a dozen short books for readers with reading difficulties
Ja the Arthur C Clarke Award, the John W Campbell Memorial Award, the Bram Stoker Award, the British Fantasy Society Award and the Manchester Book Award His short story ”Carry The Moon In My Pocket” won the 2011 Seiun Award for Best Translated Short Story Jaes His journalism has appeared in periodicals as diverse as Literary Review, Interzone and BBC MindGaular reviewer of fiction for the Financial Times and contributes features and reviews about coazine Comic Heroes
He lives with his wife, two sons and cat in Eastbourne
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