The Fall (15 page)

Gazing at the crystal phial, I wondered what kind of murder weapon was hidden inside. Not wearing the perfume would be seen as an offence, or worse, could reveal my suspicion that scent was the catalyst for the dogs’ killing instinct.

I washed and pulled the stopper to apply a few drops between my breasts. Patchouli and Ylang-Ylang harmonised well.

I was surprised to see Moriarty waiting at the table, with breakfast already set. His shoulders were relaxed, and he appeared particularly well-groomed. I tried to unclench my stomach with the good smell of scrambled eggs, warm toast, and tea.

‘Ylang is derived from Tagalog, the official made-up language spoken in the Philippines, where blossoms of Ylang-Ylang are harvested. Do you know what it means?’ His deep voice softly curled around my throat, leaving goosebumps in its wake.

‘No.’

‘Ylang means wilderness.’

‘Trapped in a bottle,’ I noted and walked around the table to take a seat. His expression darkened. I would not make it easy for him, but I couldn’t make it impossible either.

Sharp-eyed, he held my gaze and replied, ‘The question relates to whether it is merely trapped in a bottle as you said, or whether its essence—the purified form—is held there to prevent loss.’

‘It does not matter. Wilderness fades away in captivity. There is no exception to that rule.’

He tilted one eyebrow but did not reply. We ate in silence, interrupted only by the crunch of teeth sinking into toast and the clink of cup against saucer.

Once I arrived at the medical school, I dropped a glove into a frozen puddle, stepped on it, stumbled, swore quietly, and picked it up without glancing around.

It was approaching seven o’clock and supper would be served soon; I had only a little time left. With a pencil I scratched a message for Holmes on a small piece of parchment.

“
Tomorrow, I will deposit a crystal perfume bottle in the library, behind Antony van Leeuwenhoek. I require an exact copy of the flask, filled with an aqueous solution of arsenide and belladonna, final concentration of 1% and 10%, respectively. Investigate the following warehouse locations, owners probably involved with M — (A) Limehouse Dock, at the end of Fore Street. (B) Cuckolds Point. (C) Tunnel Pier, very close to the river. (D) Langley Place Basin close to the reservoir. (E) At the docks at Shad Thames, close to the river. All should be two-storey buildings and in better condition than neighbouring warehouses, if there are any. Yours, A.
”
 

I rolled it up, placed it into a glass vial I had taken from the laboratory, and sealed it thoroughly with candle wax. After it had cooled in my hand, I slipped it inside my stocking and opened the door.

‘Mr Durham, I need to go to the water closet.’

He nodded and walked me around the corner.

I bolted the door and sat down to urinate — too suspicious if flushing were the only noise I produced.
 

I held on to the pull chain, pushed my fist with the vial far down into the ceramic tubing, and flushed. The water level in the bowl rose quickly and just as it threatened to overflow, I yanked my arm back and let the flood carry my message to Holmes.

Later in the dark, I assessed the situation of the woman next door and how her and my fate might be connected. Moriarty was playing with my fears. He knew that he, his manservant Durham, and his friend Moran scared me. He used this fear and fed me more of it, only to deny the danger seconds later. I wondered about Moriarty’s style — was he a murderer? Moran surely was. But would Moriarty command Moran to kill for him, or would he manipulate him into doing it? Probably both.

Moriarty seemed a master of the human psyche, knowing where to push and where to pull to mould men and women to his liking. I felt his force, too. His weakness was obvious, though. He believed I would not be able to harm him physically and that his superior mind was impossible to deceive. I was, after all, but a woman.
 

The solution seemed so simple. I would be, after all, but a woman.

— day 59 —
 

‘D
on’t you look beautiful!’ I hummed, just after the lavatory door had fallen into its frame and the bolt was slid into place. He was rather thick at the waist, with a roll of abundant bosom, hair dishevelled, and dark rimmed eyes overshadowed by sorrow and a hat.
 

His cheeks reddened in spite of the powder covering them. ‘Thank you. I suppose both of us are at the height of our femininity.’

‘Progressing age has not dampened your wit.’ I quipped, punctuating with a curtsy. Although he looked like a fifty-year-old housekeeper, he couldn’t be more than ten years my senior. ‘By the way, you smell of mothballs, Holmes.’

It felt good to see him smile and for a moment, no worries were weighing me down.

‘Anna.’ The grit in his voice wiped away all lightness. ‘I have been trying very hard to track down your father. For months now I have been on Moriarty’s heels and that circumstance turns against us now. He is aware of my presence. If I were to get too close to his house so long as you are in it, I fear he would see through my disguise and you may come to harm,’ he said, filled with an odd mix of thrill and frustration. ‘He has taken great precautions and sends out four to five messengers with every assignment or letter. All of his boys set off into opposite directions and they are good enough to evade my street urchins. I cannot show my face at Kensington Palace Gardens too often without risking your wellbeing, nor can I split myself into five to track down each one of his runner boys.’

Leaning against the wall behind me, I tried to conceal the despair. ‘Are you giving up?’

‘Of course not! I will revise my tactic.’

The sharpness in his reply relieved me somewhat. I felt the perfume bottle pressing against my thigh. Turning away from Holmes, I pulled up my skirt and reached into my stocking.

‘Much better to give this to you in person than to hide it in a public place,’ I said, holding the bottle out to him. ‘I need an identical flask filled with the ingredients described in my message.’ Hesitating, he picked it from my hand.

‘Ah, expensive; Madame Rachel’s,’ he muttered. ‘You want to poison him, but he will expect it. Besides, there should be no need for you to turn into a murderer.’

‘I am a murderer already. I killed a woman a year ago, as you well know,’ I whispered.

‘She was killed by many hands. How much guilt you lay upon yourself is your own decision.’ After a moment of silence, he added, ‘Anna, should you ever spot me in public, disguised or not, and I look directly at you, you must run. Under no circumstances are you to question or hesitate then, do you understand?’

I nodded.

‘Should I come to knock down Moriarty’s front door, you will run in the opposite direction. We will meet at Baker Street or at your cottage, should London become too dangerous. If your cottage is too dangerous as well, you or I, whoever arrives there first, will smash a window as a sign for the other to hide elsewhere. I know the area only from maps, but I would think the forest behind your neighbour’s farm would be suitable.’

‘Yes. There is a large fox and badger den. You can easily find it at the southern end of the woods. Simply follow your nose. We could meet there.’

‘Excellent.’

‘Holmes, I have to give Moriarty something that shows him he can trust me, or he will never share information with me. I thought I should demonstrate the one weakness in his plan to keep me captive. Show how easily I could escape.’

‘No! Don’t do any such thing. Instead, give him what he desires the most.’

Wide-eyed I gazed up at him. He couldn’t be serious? The mischievous tilt of his mouth told me that he was.

The hastily exchanged words still rang in my ears half an hour later. I gave Holmes enough time to leave the premises without flying skirts. Then, I addressed my assistant. ‘Mr Goff, I am certain that, in case of an emergency, you have the means of contacting the Professor immediately?’ Goff’s throat blushed all the way to his ears. ‘Now is such an instance. I need to talk to him.’ He did not move. ‘I can accompany you, should you be worried about your assignments, Mr Goff.’
 

The redness spread to his cheeks. ‘That won’t be necessary, Dr Kronberg. I am certain that whatever it is you have to tell the Professor can wait until he finds the time to see you on his own account.’ With that, the anger had been ejected and he took up his usual position of hands clasped behind his back, face observant, mind at ease.

‘Well, it is your health you gamble with,’ I noted and turned back to the diseased rodents in front of me to puncture their brains with a metal hook. Eighty percent of the mice we had fed glanders germs contracted the disease within ten days. The infection rate of anthrax was even higher.

I took supper in my room, wondering whether Moriarty would let me wait to show that I was not in a position to demand a meeting with him. Durham had wiggled his nose and sniffed when I asked to see his master. He led me upstairs, bolted the door, and left.

Standing at the window, I watched the breeze ruffle the fog. Footfall, a rap on the door, and a bolt being snapped back announced Moriarty’s arrival.

‘You wished to see me,’ he said, framed in the doorway, his contour sharpened by the light from the corridor.

‘We may want to take this down to your study,’ I replied. He hesitated for a second before stepping aside.

While we walked downstairs, his gait appeared relaxed and I could sense no trace of his mad self. The door to his study closed, and I turned to face him. ‘I had the most extraordinary visitor today.’

His expression hardened.

‘Sherlock Holmes,’ I continued and his body gave a slight forward jerk, as though he meant to wrap his hands around my throat, but he recalled soon enough that I was offering this information freely.

‘Details, please,’ he commanded.

‘I went into the ladies’ lavatory this morning,’ I began, ‘and found a thickset woman staring at me. It was Mr Holmes in disguise… how interesting, Professor. You seem greatly surprised. I had thought you installed such a blind man as my assistant to obscure my view of other, more observant men you positioned behind him. Have they not noticed Holmes entering the hospital grounds twice in the past week?’