Sherlock Holmes and The Scarlet Thread of Murder (25 page)

A while later, under the complete cover of darkness, we came to a point where we could see the vast Lake Tahoe. It sparkled like crystal in the twinkling moonlight. I cannot recall ever seeing a more beautiful clear lake in all my life.

“That must be The Castle,” said Holmes, interrupting my thoughts.

I looked in the direction he pointed, and I saw it under the star-lit sky. Built into an alcove of the hillside was a large stone structure, brightly lit. The name suddenly made perfect sense. This was no house, nor a mansion. It was indeed a castle in the hill. Directly in the middle of this structure rose a tall tower from which I could see a balcony. To the right and left of the central tower shot off two wings with two smaller towers on opposite ends. Holmes dug into his pocket and pulled out a telescope.

“What do you see?” I asked.

“Movement in the windows. Pemberton must think himself safe; there is no visible obstruction, though I am sure hidden somewhere in the towers are gunmen.” After a brief pause, Holmes turned and looked at me. “Watson, our plan will be simple. Get Miss Adler out. We can take care of the rest afterwards.”

“Agreed!”

We pressed on towards The Castle. As we did, I made sure to keep to the right of the road as the left side became treacherous with a sudden and steep drop. The night air was quiet and cold as it blew across the hills. I could, on occasion, hear the sound of birds chirping and coyotes howling. As we grew closer, I could not help but think of Miss Adler, and Holmes' deduction. She had done such a brave thing. I could only hope that Maxwell was true to his word and no harm had befallen her, so that I, too, could return the favour.

We approached the entrance to The Castle at just near midnight. There were two men standing by the pillars holding lanterns.

“State your name!” called one.

“I am Sherlock Holmes, and this is Doctor John Watson. We are here as requested by Maxwell Pemberton.”

“Dismount and leave the horses!” they called. Holmes and I obeyed. We walked slowed towards the two men. I could see both holding pistols. “Search them,” said the man to our left. The one on our right approached and patted both of us down, checking for weapons. My service revolver was taken, as was Holmes's gun.

“This way,” said the man on the left, waving us on with his firearm.

We walked up a flight of steps which lead to a grand entryway with large arches. A man dressed in a fine suit stood in front of a large wooden door.

“Through here, gentlemen,” he said, opening it.

A yellow light spilled out from behind the door as we passed through. The foyer we found ourselves in was vast and most elegant. The hardwood floors shone to a point that we could see our reflection in the panels. Ahead to our left was a swooping staircase that led to the balcony we saw from the outside. The doors were shut. Further along was an entrance into another room. As we moved forward, my gaze was fixed by a large bison head hanging on the wall. Dark green, textured wallpaper clung to the walls, and many more animal heads: deer, buffalo, coyotes. There were several stuffed squirrels upon various wooden cases filled with hunting rifles, axes, and knives. There was a large painting hanging on the wall behind us, depicting miners during the gold rush.

Holmes and I were offered seats on a large curved sofa before a lit fireplace. As we sat, the man who led us in departed, leaving us with the two men we had first met. Holmes and I passed glances between ourselves, but did not speak. Instead we sat in silence, listening to the wind blowing and the crackling of the fire as we waited.

I could hear the sound of feet on the stairs, and then towards us. Holmes and I stood and turned to see Miss Adler walk in, she looked a mess, her gentlemen's waist coat was missing a few buttons, and her trousers dusty, as if dragged, and there was a fresh cut on her lip. She was led by a bulky man, who was sporting a twirled moustache. He was dressed in a well-pressed white suit, and held a black cane with what appeared to be a golden hand on top. Miss Adler looked at us both and nodded.

“Gentlemen, I am Maxwell Pemberton. I am sorry to have met you under such unfortunate circumstances,” said he with a smile. “I admit that this has been quite the game, Mr Al-ta-mont Jones, or should I say Mr Sherlock Holmes? Don't look surprised, I know you were posing as a Pinkerton. Did you think that you were lucky enough to get all the information you wanted so easily when you visited my office? Isn't that right, Dog!” Looking pale and in great discomfort, was wheeled in in a chair. He gave us a fiendish smile.

“You should have killed me,” said he.

“You wanted to be sure I did indeed have the papers you sought,” confirmed Holmes.

“And we watched you until we knew, and to make sure you did as we asked, he took your little lady,” said Pemberton. “Would you boys like a bite to eat? I would. Let's move this into the dining room, shall we? Dog, you go get some rest.”

Holmes, myself, and Miss Adler were seated together with Pemberton's watchmen looming behind. He sat across and looked over us with a devilish grin. Pemberton had cold meat, bread, and cheese laid before us and a bottle of bourbon.

“So gentlemen and lady, tuck in!” said he. “There's no need for worry: you give me what I want and I give you what you want.” He pointed toward Miss Adler.

“Why did you kill Norton?” Holmes asked.

“Me? No, no, I did not. He brought it upon himself, sir.”

“You killed him because he had the documents,” said I.

“Funnily enough, that wasn't my original reason for going after him. See, when he stumbled on my little trade when I first met him, it wasn't too hard to shut him up. Put a little extra money into his pocket and showed him a good time.”

“You got him addicted to opium!” accused Miss Adler.

“He took it of his own free will, let me be clear on that!” stated Pemberton, taking a bite of bread and cheese. “After he and I smoothed things over, I offered to set him up with my associates in New York City, The Society. Told him of the club's exclusiveness and that it'd be good networking for him. He did something nice for me so I did something nice for him.

“Well, apparently after a while he found The Society to be less enthralling. Worried about his pathetic reputation or something like that. He wanted out. Of course Ivory, who ran the club, never lets a man go for free. Norton came to me asking for money to help him. So it happened that I was in need of a favour myself. An associate of mine found himself in jail, something to do with a prostitute. Important thing was I wanted Norton to clear him. He said he wouldn't do it and then, oh boy that man, Norton, played quite the devil. He says that he has information that would incriminate me and my operation, and if I didn't get him the money he'd release the information!” Pemberton slammed his hand upon the table and laughed wickedly. “I told him he had a week to get me the papers or I would come after his little lady here, and skin her alive.”

Pemberton's voice suddenly changed to a cold, heartless tone. “So I began sending him warnings. It was a few days later I learnt from Ivory that Norton went to him for help. We decided to bleed him dry. Ivory requested that Norton give him some very expensive jewellery, earrings of some repute I think, in order to keep his wife safe, but when Ivory told me Norton had failed to deliver to him too, we found it best to simply have him killed. So, we staged the suicide and that was that. As a good will gesture, I had his house searched in case the incriminating papers were somewhere there. When they failed to turn up, we let it lie, until you, Mr Holmes, showed up and started snooping around - and that's just where things got out of hand.”

“Out of hand?” said Miss Adler. “You blackmailed and threatened my husband, you drove him into a state of panic as he tried to protect me, and then you murdered him when he fought back!”

“Why tell us all this?” I asked.

“Because he does not intend to let us leave alive,” said Holmes.

“That is correct,” said Pemberton, grinning.

Goodnight Irene

Everything happened so terribly fast. As Pemberton leaned forward, I saw a plate shoot across the table and crash into his face. Then, I saw my own plate pulled from before me and be hurled at the two men behind us. Holmes scooted his chair out and used it to pin one of the men as the other, who had recovered from the thrown plate, was pinned by me. Miss Adler leapt atop the table, her boots rattling the dishes with every stomp, and dashed to the other side to apprehended Pemberton by wrapping her arm around his neck. Holmes and I rendered the watchmen unconscious. We took their guns into our possession, and I recovered my service revolver. Pemberton, for the first time since meeting him, had a look of true worry upon his face.

“What ya going to do, lady? You got the guts to kill me?”

Adler heaved the man's chair back, and he fell to the floor with a reverberating thud. We stood over him, feeling victorious, having brought the fiend to his knees. The kitchen maid burst in, saw the scene, and immediately let out a piercing scream before turning and running away.

“We should leave!” demanded Holmes, but Miss Adler began to kick and punch Pemberton who cowered upon the floor as he attempted to swat away her thrashings.

We could hear the sound of men shouting, and we were rushed to get out. I wrapped my arm around Adler's waist and pulled her off Pemberton. We ran. Dog had wheeled himself to block our exit, holding a gun. With no time for talking, I took quick aim and fired my last shot at the hand holding the pistol. Dog cried in pain as his pistol fell to the floor.

“Here!” I called out to Holmes, who was without ammunition, and tossed over a shotgun which sat across the mantel. Miss Adler and I took a couple of the rifles hanging on the walls. “I suppose we're lucky Pemberton keeps them loaded!” said I as we ran out.

When we approached the front door, a group of men wielding pistols burst in. Holmes turned and ran up the swooping stair, Miss Adler and I following quickly behind. The men chased us and fired. At the top of the stair, we carried on down a hall where we split up and hid in two rooms. Holmes and Miss Adler were together across the hall from me. Quickly taking aim, we waited for our pursuers.

When the group came around the corner, we fired upon them, taking them out one by one. I looked further down the hall and saw another stair. I could hear the sound of feet and shouts as Pemberton's men raced up both stairs. We ran further down the hall looking for a way out. We found back stair which led up. It was the only way.

We ascended several flights and came to a closed door at the top. I kicked it in, and realised we had found ourselves at the very top of the centre tower of The Castle. We ran to the edge and looked out. For a brief moment, I was able to take in the beauty of everything around. The rolling hills and stillness, with the shining stars and glowing moon reflecting on the lake, was breathtaking among the chaos.

“This way!” called Holmes.

On the other side of the tower was another door. While one group followed us up one stairway, we would be slipping down by another, I thought. Holmes opened the door and froze. To our disbelief, Pemberton was on the other side holding a pistol. Behind us, from the other door, came three more men, each holding a gun. Altogether the four men began to surround Holmes, Adler, and myself. I anticipated them to shower us with bullets and lay us to waste. But for the moment Pemberton held his pistol tightly and grinned.

“You forced me to abandon one of my more profitable opium houses, sending it up in smoke. You then take out Dog and his gang while also killing Homer Smith, and now you come into my house like you're trying to finish some asinine crusade.” Pemberton laughed. His relaxed manner set chills down my spine.

“How fast are you, Pemberton?” Miss Adler asked.

“Come again?”

“Clearly you're not very fast at all if you can't follow a simple question. I said, ‘How. Fast. Are. You?'”

“What ya mean, woman?”

“This whole thing started with you and Norton. You and me will finish it. Let's duel; we each get one shot at the other.”

“Little lady, you don't want ta do that with me.”

“No, really, I think I do.”

“I'm a darn fast gunman, you don't stand a chance!”

“Well, I've been dying to get my gun off, so let's see shall we?”

“Girl, you sure like to play games, don't you?” Pemberton said with satisfaction in his voice. “Fine, everyone back off. The lady and I will duel.”

Holding tight to our guns, we all stood back while Pemberton and Miss Adler faced each other to set up the rules of the duel. Pemberton's men stood behind Holmes and myself with their guns ready to fire in case any trouble broke out. The rifle she had previously held was swapped for a revolver. Pemberton and Adler agreed to take five steps before making their move.

“Are you ready?” Pemberton asked her as they stood back to back.

“As ever,” she replied with the turn of her head.

“Goodnight, Irene Adler,” said Pemberton.

“Speak for yourself,” Adler murmured.

“On the count of three, we walk.”

“Agreed.” She nodded.

“One!”

I could see Adler stiffen.

“Two!”

She threw a quick glance at Holmes.

“Three!”

All I recall was the bang of the gun and a flinch. Irene stood wide eyed and breathing heavily. Pemberton stood with his gun extended, his face contorted. Under the silver moon light I could see a dark patch upon his chest. He dropped his gun and coughed before stumbling back and falling. with a horrified look upon his face. His body hurled back, and slammed onto the stone floor of the tower. Pemberton's men looked upon the scene bewildered. Holmes and I made our move. One of the men fired a shot into the air as we broke out into a commotion. Miss Adler fired another shot, which sent one of the three men over the side of the tower. Holmes and I each struggled with the other two. I laid a blow upon my man that knocked him out cold. Holmes had his arm around his assailant's neck, and the lack of oxygen quickly saw the man fall to the floor. Once his adversary was down, Holmes quickly walked over to Miss Adler.