Sherlock Holmes In New York Part 14

He moved cautiously but certainly up the steps. Light leaked around a door at the edge of the landing, and he knew that here was where the final confrontation must be. Once at the door, he did not hesitate, but pushed it open.

Professor James Moriarty, a gun trained squarely at Holmes' chest, and grasping Scott Adler about the throat, sat crouched behind his desk.

"Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" said he in venomous, husky tones. "I thought it might be you."

"I've no doubt of that at all." Holmes looked about the room, and a touch of grim amus.e.m.e.nt pa.s.sed across his face. "Well, well! A little touch of London far from home, I see! You must really feel at home in that chamber of horrors to want to duplicate it wherever you go." He took one step nearer the desk. "You may release the lad now, Professor. I'm the one you want, and here I stand. Let the boy return to his mother."

Moriarty sneered. "Dare you cross the room to fetch him?"

Sherlock Holmes took another step. With the speed of a striking cobra, Moriarty let his pistol fall to the desk, gave a sudden tug at one of the levers protruding from its edge, and s.n.a.t.c.hed the weapon up again. Holmes leaped to one side just in time to avoid the smas.h.i.+ng plunge of the heavy chandelier to the floor.

"Wrong, Mr. Holmes!" cried Moriarty in shrilly triumphant tones. "I've got what I want-the boy!" He indicated the open pa.s.sageway with the pistol, then returned it to its bead on Holmes. "D'you see that pa.s.sage? It leads to the river, where a steam launch waits! The boy comes with me, and you'll never see him again, neither you nor his mother! That's the revenge I'll have of you, Mr. Holmes! You'll neither of you ever see this precious boy again!"

Holmes' leap had brought him next to the mantelpiece, on which, he noticed, stood a vase identical to the one he had smashed in the Professor's London quarters. He reached for it-and flung it squarely at the hand which held the gun. It shattered, and Moriarty gave a howl as the weapon spun to the floor. In making a grab for it, he momentarily released his grip on Scott.

"Scott! Run!" Holmes cried, leaping at Moriarty. "Back down those stairs to your mother! Quick, lad-show me your heels!"

As the boy disappeared, Holmes and Moriarty grappled in what each meant to be their final struggle. The Professor s.n.a.t.c.hed the gun from the floor as Holmes closed with him, forced his arm upwards, and the pistol fired harmlessly into the ceiling. Holmes was able to wrench it away from him, and flung it aside; then Moriarty broke free, grabbed an umbrella from a stand and brought it down in a vicious arc armed at his opponent's head. Holmes parried the blow and struck the umbrella from his adversary's hands.

The struggle had taken them almost to the fireplace, against which the Professor now violently shoved Holmes. Then Moriarty darted back to his desk to pull another lever, which sent a knife flas.h.i.+ng across the room to within a fraction of an inch of the detective's head. Holmes grabbed up a fire iron and advanced on Moriarty, but was obliged to leap backwards to avoid the impact of a heavy suit of standing armor which the Professor attempted to tip over onto him.

With another bound to his desk, Moriarty gave a final tug to a lever, and the section of flooring immediately behind Holmes-in fact, partly under his heels-dropped away, leaving him teetering precariously. Moriarty gave a savage roar of triumph and rushed for him. Together they grappled, and swayed on the edge of the open trapdoor, as they had on that May day ten years before, on the brink of the Reichenbach Falls.

Outside the warehouse, the police driver had just returned with a half-dozen reinforcing constables, when we heard a shot, and then saw Scott Adler suddenly appear in the doorway. Irene Adler cried out and ran to him, dropping to her knees and enveloping him in her arms.

"I'm going in there, Inspector," said I firmly.

I strode for the door, somewhat relieved to see that Lafferty and his men were hard on my heels. We took the stairs at a run, and burst into the room at their top-to see Holmes and Professor Moriarty locked in a precarious struggle over a gaping trapdoor.

Lafferty drew a pistol and shouted, "Professor Moriarty-throw up your hands!"

Unhappily, this diversion startled Holmes more than it did the Professor, who seized the opportunity to force him over the edge of the trap. With a yell, Holmes dropped from sight-but then I saw his fingers, still grasping the edge of the flooring.

"Holmes! Great heavens!" I cried, and flung myself down, managing to get a grip on my friend's wrists. "Here! Give us a hand, some of you!" I called over my shoulder, and Lafferty and his driver each got a hold on one of my legs and hauled backwards, perforce drawing Holmes out of the open trap.

Many hands now reached out to help us both to our feet, but abruptly Sherlock Holmes whirled and pointed to an open pa.s.sageway in the wall.

"Quick! He's getting away!"

We turned and saw Moriarty slinking down the pa.s.sage. Holmes leaped to follow, but Moriarty, with a high-pitched cackle, threw a lever protruding from the wall, and a closely-knit mesh of steel wire crashed down, blocking our entrance.

"Good night, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" the Professor called out.

Inspector Lafferty gave an inarticulate roar and emptied his revolver at Moriarty-who could, after the volley, be seen standing unhurt behind the mesh curtain. His taunting voice came through it clearly.

"Let the victory be yours this time, Mr. Holmes. But there will be other battles and other battlefields, and victory's so temporary a thing, is it not? Good night, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!"

Professor James Moriarty seemed to s.h.i.+mmer in the gloom of the pa.s.sage, and then was gone.

"Where in the world can it lead to, Holmes?" said I.

"To the river, Watson-where a steam launch waits." My friend's voice was quiet, and weary.

Inspector Lafferty was fuming. "I'll have a police vessel in his wake within the hour!" he exclaimed.

Sherlock Holmes shook his head. "Within half that time, he'll undoubtedly be beyond the limits of your jurisdiction. No. The final encounter between the Professor and myself is yet to come. In any event, I am a.s.sured of the boy's safety." He faced me and set one hand on my shoulder. "Watson, I am once again deeply in your debt. That tide would soon have carried me to my certain end."

I was pleased almost to bursting at his words, but could find nothing better to say than a mumbled, "My pleasure, Holmes. Don't mention it."

He turned back to the Inspector. "Our quarry may have eluded us, but his evil scheme has been thwarted. At what time is the transfer of the gold to take place?"

Lafferty scanned Holmes' face anxiously.

"At eleven tomorrow morning!" he answered.

Holmes smiled at him. "Then let us all be there to witness it. I a.s.sure you that I am not jesting, and that you shall not be disappointed."

Chapter Fifteen.

The lift that connected the ground floor of the Bouwerie National Bank with the gold vaults below it was thronged to capacity the next morning, with Holmes and myself, Inspector Lafferty, Mortimer McGraw, three Exchange employees, and one representative each of the German and Italian banks who were concerned in the approaching transaction.

Although both Lafferty and McGraw were clearly close to panic with anxiety, Holmes was chatting amiably with the latter.

". . . Yes, Lord Brackish, Managing Director of the Bank of England. He was to be murdered mysteriously, and his death was to cause panic in the world's financial circles. This theft was to be the culmination of a grand scheme. I was able to foil the murder of Brackish, and I am now able to forestall the theft of the gold."

"Mr. Holmes," said McGraw tensely, "I certainly hope your confidence is not over-expressed."

The lift shuddered to a halt.

"You may test its validity at your convenience, Mr. McGraw, for we seem to have arrived. Be so good as to unlock the door."

McGraw closed his eyes for a brief moment, as if in prayer, then opened them and, with less than accustomed expertness, worked the combination lock and pushed the heavy steel door open.

The Italian and German representatives, who were familiar with the vaults, saw nothing out of the ordinary. As expected, there were the neat rows of cells, each door tightly shut, the dull glint of gold visible through the bars on each, the whole culminating in a very solid and unbreached rear wall.

The effect on Lafferty, McGraw, and the three Exchange employees was considerably different. Though, in varying ways, they all expressed stupefied surprise, it was quickly controlled, lest it raise questions in the minds of the foreign bankers which they would find it awkward to answer.

Holmes, clearly savoring all this, leaned down and whispered in my ear, "Last night, round about midnight, I slipped into the false chamber and removed the bars that kept the lift from descending to its rightful place. Good job no one saw me, eh? Think what the papers would have made of that!"

He turned to the still-speechless Lafferty and McGraw. "Well, gentlemen," he half whispered. "All present and accounted for? No delusion, no sleight-of-hand, no mirage? If you're satisfied the gold has been returned, Dr. Watson and I have a busy day ahead of us, as it will be our last one before returning home."

"Surely," said McGraw, confusion and wonderment still written on his face, "you'll do me the honor of dining with me?"

"I fear not, Mr. McGraw. This evening, we-and a young lad of our acquaintance-have tickets for The Second Mrs. Tanqueray."

He made as if to re-enter the lift, and Inspector Lafferty stepped in front of him, nearly frantic with curiosity. "Mr. Holmes! Aren't you going to explain how you did this?"

The detective gave him a gentle smile. "No. But I expect one day Dr. Watson will."

After the curtain had fallen on that night's performance of The Second Mrs. Tanqueray, its leading lady sat at her dressing table, removing her stage make-up. The light-framed mirror showed her a tall man in evening dress standing behind her.

To the image, she said, "Must you really leave at once?"

"I'm afraid so. So many things in England demand my attention just now."

"All of which you abandoned to race to my rescue. Sherlock, now that I'm rescued, can't you stay a while to enjoy your success?"

Holmes shook his head. "I wish I could. But the Etruria sails at midnight, and Watson will soon be along in a carriage to fetch me."

"What are you running from, Sherlock?"

"Running from? Inactivity, I suppose . . . boredom . . ."

The last of the make-up creamed away, she turned to face him directly. "Are you certain it's not . . . fear?"

"Fear? Of what?"

"Perhaps the unknown."

Holmes gave a mirthless chuckle. "My dear Irene, it's the known I fear! I seek the unknown. An unknown mystery, an unknown peril. I long for the unknown!"

"And for nothing else?" She looked intently up into his eyes. "Sherlock-is there nothing you would like to ask me?"

The man was silent for a moment, then spoke hesitantly. "Yes . . . but I cannot."

"Why?"

"Because of the answer I might receive."

"I see." Irene Adler turned back to her mirror, her face a little more set in its lines than a moment before. "Well, then, if you cannot ask it, I cannot answer it."

Holmes regarded her concentratedly.

"And if I were to ask it?" he asked quietly.

Her gaze came to him through the mirror. "And if the answer were the wrong one?" She smiled ruefully. "You see, perhaps I too am in fear of . . . the known." She inspected her face in the mirror, and appeared to find a trace of cosmetic missed before. "Shall we meet again, do you think?"

"I should be happy to believe so. Shall I continue to receive theater tickets?"

"So long as I continue to perform."

"And perhaps with a word or two included about the boy?"

"I'd be most happy to."

"Likable little chap, you know," Holmes said carelessly.

"Do you think so?" Irene Adler's brows arched slightly in wry amus.e.m.e.nt.

"What are his interests, mainly?"

She was silent a moment, and then said evenly, "He seems to have a fondness for music . . . and for solving problems."

"I see. Would you, perhaps, have an extra . . . picture of the lad?"

She turned once more to face Holmes. Then she opened the locket that hung at her throat, extracted a small oval of stiff paper, and handed it to him. "Take this one."

Holmes studied the miniature photograph. "But this must be your favorite."

"It is."

"Thank you. I shall treasure it." Holmes pulled out his watch, opened the cover, and placed the picture inside. Then he looked at the face of the watch. Irene Adler followed his glance, then nodded.

"I know," she said.

She rose and held out both hands to him. Sherlock Holmes grasped them, and stood silently for a moment. Their gazes met fully.

"Irene . . . ?"

"Yes?"

Holmes took a deep breath, then let it go. "Good-bye."

"Good-bye, Sherlock."

Rattling along in the four-wheeler that should set us down at the Etruria's pier in a few moments, I felt both exhilarated and let down. It had certainly been an eventful few days in New York, and I had found much to admire in the city. But, after all, it wasn't London! And, while new experiences are all very well, I find that the old ones, and the old, familiar ways of doing things, suit best in the end.

I noticed Holmes consulting his watch, and commented on it.

"Yes, by Jove," I said, "two hours and we're out to sea, a few more days and we're back in Baker Street-back where you can drink a proper cup of tea, even travel by Underground if it suits your purpose. This is said to be a splendid city, Holmes, and I dare say it is in many ways. But when it comes down to it, does it have anything worthwhile that we don't have in London?"

Holmes looked down again at his watch, and ran the tip of his forefinger gently over something in the case.

"Perhaps not, Watson. Perhaps not."