The Curse Of The Diogenes Club (34 page)

“Well done,” praised Sherlock.
“You put together the missing links: where the man was killed, who
killed him, when he was killed, how his body got into the pump
house, and how it then got into the lake. The facts speak for
themselves.”

Mycroft could not refute the
facts as stated. “I agree it looks as if Isadora Klein organized
the bombs but the evidence against de Merville is circumstantial
and weak. I cannot condemn a decorated war general on such flimsy
evidence.”

The Countess conceded the
evidence was weak. “This may help to convince you, though it is
also mere conjecture. When the men were duelling in the wood, de
Merville did not react to the bombs until the third bomb went off.
The first two didn’t seem to bother him though his most beloved and
only daughter was somewhere inside the pavilion. I suggest he knew
the first two bombs were for show, merely to blow the roofs off the
two end domes and give Mycroft a bit of a scare. I think this is
what Isadora told him in order to get him to set the timer on the
first bomb. But when that third bomb went off he ran as fast as he
could toward the pavilion, terrified for Violet. I think the third
bomb was a complete surprise to him.

When he was intoxicated he was
saying things like: third bomb, doll under the stairs, oracle over
a barrel, an honest dog…and so on. They are all jumbled allusions
to Diogenes and what took place on the night of the ball or
thereafter.

And that explains his sudden
addiction to whiskey. He is a hardened soldier and yet he was more
distressed after the night of the ball than any young lady in
London. I think he was trying to drown his guilt, his fear of being
found out, his regret at the part he had played in setting off the
first bomb, and his regret at being duped by Isadora Klein.

She enquired after his health
and made sure to emphasise to Violet to let her father know she had
enquired. It was as if she was sending a message to de Merville to
hold his nerve. I wouldn’t be surprised if she paid him a visit
when she left the tennis court (she had ample time before meeting
up with Major Nash) and threatened him with exposure or threatened
harm to Violet and that’s why he went down to the cellar again –
perhaps to drown his sorrows, perhaps to end it all.”

Dr Watson was nodding. “Yes, I
heard him muttering the same sorts of things. They made no sense at
the time but it was clear his conscience was deeply troubled.”

Major Nash, still flushed at
being so-named, agreed with the Countess. “I recall he didn’t want
to come to Longchamps. He didn’t want to discuss the bombs and yet
he would normally have been the first to convene a meeting to
discover all that he could to find the men responsible for such a
heinous act. In all the years I have observed the general inside
the club house I have never known him to drink to excess. He is
definitely troubled. And in my defence…”

“Shut up, Nash,” interrupted
Moriarty, “before you make an ass of yourself. No one here believes
you were genuinely interested in Isadora. We know you were acting
under orders to work your magic charm on the bitch or doing some
special undercover work of your own. Let’s leave it at that.”

Moriarty could afford to be
magnanimous. The Countess had all but declared her love for him. It
was only a matter of time before they were spoken of in terms of
having an understanding, marital or otherwise.

Besides, Nash was going to come
out of this looking like a hero for inventing this little
get-together and the Countess was going to thank him kindly for
giving her the opportunity to figure it all out, but he wasn’t
about to let Nash take the floor and recount how much he had
sacrificed in the name of Queen, country and club house.

Magnanimity only stretched so
far!

“So,” said Sherlock, getting
back on track, “we are all in agreement it is Mrs Klein behind the
threat to kill my brother?”

“Yes,” agreed Major Nash, who
had suspected the haughty Spanish beauty since yesterday. “And if
she is behind the bombs, she must also be behind the dog attacks.
Her two footmen could easily have signalled a man to bring the dog
to the front of the house when they spotted Mycroft standing under
the porch. Once this fog lifts, a search of the cottages will
probably reveal the hiding place of the dog.” He looked earnestly
at his boss. “Something will have to be done about her, sir.”

Mycroft nodded grimly. “Yes,
the French king of the day may have to go into exile. A quiet word
in her ear about the Turkish Baths might be enough to see her
decide to take a long holiday abroad. If she is obstinate, a small
leak to the press about what goes on in the private massage rooms
will put the wind up her. I imagine quite a few gentlemen will be
very upset, upset enough to employ the services of Colonel
Moriarty. A full blown public scandal would see her declared
persona non grata amongst the sort of society she craves for the
rest of her life.”

“And General de Merville?”
pursued the ADC.

Mycroft grimaced, thinking of
the general’s Khyber Pass fame. “A bit trickier considering his
reputation. Exile from the Diogenes Club is probably the way to go.
He poses no threat to my position if he is not a member; he is
never going to be elected primus baro. Resign he must. He loses
face, of course, but it will appear to be sour grapes at losing the
election. The Carlton Club does not have the same prestige but
Damery is there to console his wounded pride.”

Sherlock was in agreement with
his elder sibling and decided to paraphrase the ancient
philosopher. “If Diogenes can live without de Merville, then de
Merville can live without Diogenes!”

“Pure hubris,” added the doctor
sadly. “Ironic that he was probably motivated by status, and status
is what will now be lost to him!”

“Isadora would have done it for
the power and the money,” condemned Moriarty, wondering how he
could profit from the dirty Turkish Baths business and take on
several rich clients for the one hit. It would be the most
lucrative and enjoyable contract of his career.

The Countess recalled what
Major Nash said about the parallel between the Diogenes Club and
the world’s bankers. The thought of having someone like Isadora
Klein pulling the strings of the primus baro (de Merville) was
quite terrifying. But she was mindful of Mycroft’s wrath should she
mention it. “I think exile from the Diogenes is the best way to go.
Violet will not have her matrimonial prospects ruined by scandal.
Now, should I go on and outline my theory on the death of the
princess?”

The five men, all slouching in
their chairs, suddenly sat up. They had presumed the business that
brought them to Longchamps had been satisfactorily settled. They
had long forgotten about the body in the bath.

“I bite my friends to save
them,” she reminded, holding out her hand for the ‘J’ cufflink
which Sherlock extracted from his pocket. “Here goes,” she said,
placing the cufflink on the small table that centred the seating
area where it glittered in the flickering firelight.

“The princess had numerous
lovers - Damery, de Merville, Cazenove - and that is just for
starters. This ‘J’ cufflink which Sherlock found in her bedroom
could have belonged to any one of them: James, Josiah, Jonathan,
Jantzen, John.”

Several men shifted awkwardly
in their seats but chose not to call attention to themselves by
voicing a protest.

“It could also represent the
patronymic Ivanovych as in Prince Sergei Ilych Ivanovych Malamtov.
Ivan is the Russian version of John. However there is no letter J
in the Cyrillic alphabet but there is in Serbian and the princess
came originally from Belgrade. A gift to her husband? This is a
solid gold cufflink. Prince Sergei wears only gold jewellery. He
may have visited his wife’s bedroom on the day she died and dropped
this cufflink. In fact, that is what I think happened.

I believe this cufflink was
dropped the day she died because hotel rooms of the standard of
Clarges are cleaned thoroughly and yet this valuable cufflink was
not swept up. I agree with Sherlock that when the husband entered
his wife’s bedroom, having procured his own key, he discovered her
in bed with a lover, but not one of the men named. The princess
also slept with women which I was slow to recognize, and I thank
the colonel for pointing it out too me. I think the person in her
bed that morning was Isadora Klein.”

She waited for the gasps to
subside.

“Why do I think so? Isadora
Klein had a Matryoshka doll in her possession. I presumed Major
Nash gave her the doll. I presumed the major had slept with the
princess and thus acquired for himself a doll. I did not think
Isadora acquired the doll for herself. But I now believe she did. I
apologise to Major Nash for suspecting him of lying.

The major also castigated me
for thinking Mycroft slept with the princess. He was right again to
do so and it forced me to revise my thinking. Mycroft, like
Diogenes, had long done away with the artificiality of human
relationships. That is not to say Mycroft does not make use of
people. When one ‘knows no trade but that of governing men’ one
makes good use of them, including the female of the species.

Mycroft’s concern for the death
of the princess hinted that she was most likely a double agent,
working for the Russians and the British, reporting specifically to
Mycroft. That is why she had numerous high profile lovers,
including her own estranged husband, and that is why Mycroft, of
all the men involved with the princess, had no doll of his own. He
therefore purloined the doll on the dressing table, a Matryoshka
doll that was warped and peeling as a result of being immersed for
hours in warm water.

Mycroft wanted a keepsake,
though he is no sentimentalist, no romantic, but sometimes we are
touched and we feel a close attachment to someone that defies
rational explanation, and when that person dies suddenly we are
bereft. We even choose their last resting place for them. We choose
a place which meant so much to us and was associated with, let’s
say, a small dacha where many hours were spent in their exclusive
company exchanging secrets.”

Again, the Countess paused for
the five men to take in the full extent of the words falling from
her lips. Silence filled the room except for the crackling of the
fire.

“Mycroft called me in when he
found the princess dead in her bath because he was genuinely
baffled for the first time in his life. Here was a woman who he
felt a close attachment to, a woman who was working as a double
agent and risking her life for him, a woman who was suddenly
dead.

Who had killed her and why?

We have the bottle of laudanum,
the jewels, the Matryoshka doll, the baby doll in the vulva – this
is not an assassination. This is deeply personal.

I think that when the prince
arrived unannounced in the hotel room and found Isadora in his
wife’s bed a threesome may have taken place. The prince was a man
of carnal appetite and so was Isadora. The princess was hardly
likely to object since one was her lover and the other her husband.
She must have been a woman of carnal appetite too, going by the
number of lovers she juggled.

When Prince Sergei claimed he
did not meet Isadora until the day of the ball it struck me as odd
that he said ‘day’ not ‘night’. Most people would say ‘night of the
ball’. But, you see, if he had met her that morning that’s exactly
what he would say. That is why they could arrange an assignation in
his carriage so easily. It was not the first time they had enjoyed
a physical tryst. And again here at Longchamps they continued the
mutual love affair with ease.

So, who killed the
princess?

If what I say so far is a true
assessment then it could only have been suicide.

Remember the Matryoshka doll in
the bath and the hidden baby doll - a message to Mycroft that she
is with child. But she must have had time to arrange it. And the
jewels? Here was a princess. Not conceited, but proud of her beauty
and status. She wanted to be seen in the best light even in
death.

Most likely the prince stayed
to watch over his wife and it was he who placed the bottle of
laudanum on the floor of the bath. Recall, he already knew about
the death before he arrived to speak to Mycroft that afternoon. He
did not need to see the body because he had already seen it. And
the birch bark? It was a loving gesture. Perhaps the princess had
some soft white bark from a tree that meant something to her, as
some women keep a lock of their lover’s hair. She may even have
asked him to arrange the peelings in her hair or she may have done
it herself.

I believe that when Isadora
left, and husband and wife discussed the unborn baby the princess
was carrying, the prince refused to acknowledge it as his own. He
knew he was infertile. She must have known it too. Other people may
also have known it. There was no pulling the wool over people’s
eyes. And the prince was proud. Some men do not wish to raise other
men’s bastards.

I believe the prince thought
the father of her child was Mycroft. But he was wrong. Mycroft
loved the princess but he was not her lover. If he had been her
lover he would have had a doll and I doubt he would have shared her
with other men, no matter how beneficial it may have been to Queen
and country.

The morality of our Age is such
that a middle-aged woman, married into a royal Russian house,
cannot have baby out of wedlock and remain in society. It is as
simple as that. And who was the father of her child? It could have
been any number of men. We will never know. If all her lovers came
forward to claim paternity the scandal would have been unthinkable.
The princess understood she had no choice. Embracing death was her
salvation.