The Great Game (52 page)

             
"It had already been removed by the police.
"

             
"
True." Holmes sat back down.

             
"What was on this written list?" Duke Albermar asked. Moriarty turned to his adjutant. "Madeleine?" Madeleine raised her eyes to the ceiling. "Seven numbered items:

-

ONE: TWENTY-FOUR AND TWENTY-FIVE APRIL;

TWO: THAT WEDNESDAY;

THREE: UNKNOWN;

FOUR: ENGLAND, FRANCE, GERMANY, AND RUSSIA;

FIVE: UNKNOWN;

SIX: THIRD AND FOURTH OUT OF SIX;

SEVEN: YES."

-

             
The duke's eyes widened. "And on this nonsense lies the fate of Europe?"

             
"Someone was prepared to pay a thousand kronen for that nonsense," Moriarty told him. "Herr Loge, the man who gave that nonsense to your son by mistake, was subsequently murdered. Your son was framed for an assassination, and his girlfriend was murdered, quite possibly because of that nonsense."

             
"I see. Go on," the duke of Albermar said.

             
"This is but one corner of the picture. Before I attempt to discover the meaning hidden in that list, let me show you a few of the other items that came to my attention. The next bit of information came from Jenny Vernet, this charming young lady to my right."

             
"
Your
Grace," Jenny Vernet said, doing her best to curtsey without getting out of the chair. "Mycroft Holmes sent me to make friends with Graf Sigfried von Linsz, whom he suspected of being highly placed in the organization Sherlock Holmes had come to Europe to investigate. He said it might represent a grave danger to the established order. Mycroft is Sherlock's brother."

             
"Yes, I know who he is," Albermar said. "He sent you—a mere slip of a girl—on a dangerous task like that?"

             
"If you thought that was the best way to get the information you needed, and you believed it was for the good of your country, wouldn't you?" Jenny asked innocently.

             
Holmes laughed. "Man, woman, boy, girl, it would make no difference to Mycroft. He would instinctively use the best tool for the job. He'd go himself if he wasn't too fat to move about easily. He'd prefer to go himself, as he never really trusts anyone else's intellect to be up to the task."

             
"And you were held prisoner?" Albermar asked, looking with sympathy at the lovely singer.

             
"Not at first. I was von Linsz's companion for several weeks, but for some reason he grew suspicious of me. Then, although I remained his companion, I was also his prisoner. He began to have me watched unobtrusively. Then the watching became more deliberate. I was actively discouraged from going anywhere away from him, and when I did there would be someone with me. At first I thought it was jealousy, but it was more than that, although that was certainly an element of it. I worked to convince him that I was not interested in anything he did, no matter how bizarre, unless it involved my career or our relationship; which was one of, let us say, very close friends."

             
The duke, a man of the world, knew better than to inquire as to the exact relationship implied by "very good friends." He went elsewhere. "What sort of things do you mean? What did he do that was bizarre?"

             
"Well, he ordered people around as if he owned them. One time he whipped one of his servants for not dressing properly.
And yet most of the time he was quite a proper gentleman.
Then there are his suspicions: he is always convinced that people are listening in on him and spying on him."

             
"Ah!" Moriarty said.

             
"But he's got a whole great mob of people out spying on everybody else. I overheard him giving some of them instructions on one or two occasions. And then, of course, he's the one who kidnaped Mr. and Mrs. Barnett. And he did it with this incredible air of
élan
—of privilege—as though he had the right to do anything he wanted to anyone he chose at any time. It was truly frightening. That was when I decided that the man was utterly mad. I did my best to act as though I thought that whatever he did was none of my business, that I was a mere woman who did not interest herself in the affairs of men; that I could accept his kidnaping an occasional stranger as of no more importance than his ordering champagne or changing his cravat. And he had no trouble accepting my supposed indifference; he wasn't in the least surprised. That was one thing he never cross-examined me about.
Although he was dreadfully concerned with whom I wrote letters to, and what I said."

             
"Tell His Grace what you learned," Moriarty suggested.

             
"What I learned. Well, I learned that the graf has this insistent belief that Professor Moriarty is out to get him. He thinks the professor is the head of the British Secret Service, and has agents all over Europe, especially among the criminal classes. He almost killed a man whom he thought was a pickpocket—not because of his pocket picking, but because he assumed him to be an agent of Professor Moriarty."

             
"I am honored at the attention. What else?"

             
"I learned that the graf is one of the ringleaders of this weird medieval group. They call themselves the Knights of
Wotan,
and they're plotting to do something horrible sometime soon. And there's some man that even the rest of them don't know about who's giving von Linsz orders."

             
"How did you learn this?" the duke asked.

             
"I hid in the cupboard while they were having their meeting. I heard one of them, I'm not sure whom, say, 'England, France, Germany, and Russia—and of course, Austria. Everything's in place.
The capture, the threat, the murders.
It will have the desired effect.' Something
like
that. The real boss came in after the rest of them left and congratulated von Linsz. And they're going to blame Serbia. Some Serbian independence group will be held responsible. I don't know for what, but it is to result in a general war with Russia, Germany, France, and everybody!"

             
"You see, Your Grace," Moriarty said.
" 'England
, France, Germany, and Russia.' Item number four on our mysterious list."

             
"Yes, but what does it mean?"

             
"You are going to a meeting when you leave here?"

             
"So?"

             
"Indulge me, Your Grace."

             
"When I leave here I'm going to the opera. The Vienna Opera is putting on a special production of Wagner's opera
The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
for the kaiser, although officially they're not supposed to know that because officially His Highness is not here. After that I'm going to a three-day conference, as I told you.
"

             
"
With whom?"

             
"The kaiser, Premier Joubert of France, Grand Duke Feodor of Russia, and Archduke Nicholas.
We are leaving tonight after the opera on a special train. The conference itself will take place at Mariasberg, Archduke Nicholas's hunting lodge outside of Innsbruck, to insure our privacy and to keep the proceedings as secret as possible."

             
"I'm afraid the secret's out already, Your Grace. Consider: England, France, Germany, and Russia—yourself, Premier Joubert, the kaiser, and Grand Duke Feodor."

             
"That list! You think it refers to our meeting?"

             
"What's today's date?"

             
"April twenty-fourth. Oh.
The first item on the list."

             
"It would be an unbelievable coincidence if the list referred to anything else."

             
"They plan to disrupt the meeting?
But why?"

             
"My best guess would be that they plan to murder you all or hold you hostage."

             
"My god!"
Albermar reflected for a second. "That would start a general war. It would indeed. The kaiser—the tsar's brother—the premier of France—the emperor's son! I'll be the least important person there, as popular importance is reckoned, and I'd like to think Her Majesty would hate to lose me, although I'm not sure she'd go to war over my demise."

             
Benjamin Barnett, who was sunk well back into his chair listening, suddenly sat up. "But why two dates?
The twenty-fourth and the twenty-fifth?
When does the conference actually start?"

             
"Tomorrow," the duke told him.

             
"And it goes on, you said, for three days. What's special about today—the day you go up to the hunting lodge—and tomorrow— the day the conference begins? Why not have mentioned the three days of the conference itself?"

             
"Because," Moriarty said, slapping his hand on the table, "they're going to strike on the trip
to
the conference." He leaned forward, his eyes fixed on the duke. "The trip is by train, yes? And it will go through the night, yes?"

             
"Yes. A special train has been arranged. We have a sleeping-car waiting for us at the station. The kaiser's private car will be attached on the way."

             
"Thus to the literal mind, traveling on both the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth.
And the cars, no doubt, will be the third and fourth cars in a six-car train," Moriarty said. "As item six on the list says."

             
Sherlock Holmes had jotted down a copy of the list, and now thumped his forefinger down on the notepad. "The man who gave the list," he said, "and got murdered for his troubles—he was responding to a list of questions. Question one: what date is the special train going to the archduke's hunting lodge? Question two—we don't know what that was yet. Question three: whoever made up the list didn't know the answer to that one. Question four: the leaders of what countries have been invited? Question five: again he didn't know the answer. Question six: if you're right, professor, and it is a logical assumption, what will be the position of the sleeping cars on the special train? Question seven: I would give a lot to know what question seven was."

             
"As would I," Moriarty agreed.

             
Madeleine Verlaine rose from her seat, her eyes closed. "A letter," she said, "I read a letter. It may help.
"

             
"
A letter?" the duke asked.

             
"Yes. I read it in the cloakroom of Schloss Uhm. While the professor and I were doing our act I went through the pockets of the coats for material—mind-reading is much easier if accompanied by letter-reading first."

             
"What did it say?"

             
"I can't quite retrieve it."

             
Moriarty stood. "Madeleine," he said.

             
"Yes, professor."

             
"Keep your eyes closed and listen to my voice. You must relax. Sit down in your seat and lean back."