Part 16 (1/2)

'And her brother?'

'Little Ross? Yes, that was us It was a horrible thing to have to do, Mr Holht it upon himself The boy stepped out of line and we had to make an example of hiht'

Henderson laughed a second tiood huh custoot it all figured out, haven't you!'

'Of course'

'And when that old bird sent you up here, you knew she'd been waiting for you?'

'The fortune-teller spoke to ue, not to ?'

'Cross her pal'

'I expected another trap, yes'

'Let's get it over with,' the ed

'Not yet, Jason Not quite yet'

For once, I did not need Hol I saw it all too clearly forthe stairs, there had been a crowd gathered around the shooting gallery with the shots ringing out belo, for thefor the crack of the rifles to recounshots up here Murder is theis capable, but this coldblooded, calculated, doublehad left ed myself to my feet, determined that I would not be killed by these ht as well put down your weapons and give yourselves up now,' Holan to wonder if he had indeed known all along that the twoto be no killing tonight The shooting gallery is closed The fair is over Do you not hear?'

For the first tian had stopped The crowd seemed to have departed Outside this empty and derelict roo about?'

'I did not believe you the first time we met, Henderson But then it was expedient to walk into your trap, if only to see what you were planning But do you really believe I would do the sauns down!' a voice cried out

In the next few seconds, there was such a confusion of events that, at the time, I was barely able to un round,to fire either at er was never able to tighten on the trigger At the saun flashi+ng white, and he was literally thrown off his feet, a fountain of blood bursting from his head Henderson's associate, the man he had referred to as Bratby, spun round I do not think he intended to fire but it was enough that he was armed A bullet hit him in the shoulder and another in the chest I heard hi out of his hand There was a clatter as his walking stick hit the wooden floorboards and rolled away He was not dead Wheezing, sobbing in pain and shock, he cruround There was a brief pause, the silence alone before

'You left that very late, Lestrade,' Holmes remarked

'I was interested to hear what the villain said,' the same replied I looked round and saw that Inspector Lestrade was indeed here, and three police officers with hi on the men who had been shot

'You heard him confess to the murders?'

'Yes, indeed, Mr Holmes' One of his men had reached Henderson He examined him briefly and shook his head I had seen the wound I was not surprised 'I'm afraid he will not face justice for his criht say he already has'

'Even so, I would have preferred him alive, if only as a witness I've put ht's work could still cost me dear'

'It will cost you another commendation, Lestrade, and well you know it' Hol up, Watson? Are you hurt?'

'Nothing that a little embrocation and a whisky and soda won't cure,' I replied 'But tellthat this was a trap?'

'I strongly suspected it It seemed inconceivable to me that an illiterate child would keep an advertisement folded beneath his bed And as our late friend, Henderson, said, we had already been deceived once I a ?'

'They used you to find me The men who followed you to Holborn Viaduct were not police officers They were in the employ of our enemies, who had provided you hat appeared to be an irresistible clue in the hope that you would know of my whereabouts and would deliver it to me'

'But the nato do with it?'

'My dear Watson! Silkin is not so uncoate Circus or Silkin the ti that would have us believe ere closing in on the House of Silk It was only necessary to draw me into the open so that they could finally be rid of me'

'What of you, Lestrade? How did you come to be here?'

'Mr Holmes approached me and asked me to come, Dr Watson'

'You believed in his innocence!'

'I never doubted it froate Square it soon beca crooked about the affair Inspector Harriman said he was on his way from a bank robbery on the White Horse Road, but there was no such robbery I looked in the report book I visited the bank And it seemed to me that if Harriht be prepared to lie about quite a few other things too'

'Lestrade took a gamble,' Holmes cut in 'For his first instinct was to return me to the prison authorities But he and I know each other well, whatever our differences, and have collaborated too often to fall out over a false accusation Is that not true, Lestrade?'

'Whatever you say, Mr Hol an end to this affair and to bring the true culprits to justice'

'This one is alive!' one of the police officers exclai, they had been exa our two assailants

Holmes crossed over to where Bratby lay and knelt beside him 'Can you hearlike a child in pain 'There is nothing we can do for you but you still have time to make some amends, to atone for some of your crimes before you an to sob

'I know everything about the House of Silk I knohat it is I knohere it is to be foundindeed, I visited it last night but found it empty and silent That is the one piece of infor foran end to this business once and for all For the good of your own salvation, tellsilence Despite e of pity for this h he had intended to kill me and Holmes with me just a few minutes before For all e theht,' he said And died

Holhtened up 'At last fortune is on our side, Lestrade,' he said 'Will you accompany me a little further? And do you have at least ten men with you? They will need to be steadfast and resolute for, I proet e are about to reveal'

'We're with you, Holet this over with'

Holun I had not seen when he had retrieved it, but once again he pressed it intoI nodded and together we set off

NINETEEN

The House of Silk We returned to the highest reaches of Hae School for Boys Where else could the investigation have taken us? It was from here that the flyer had come and it was obvious now that somebody had placed it under thethat he would bring it to us, drawing us into the trap at Dr Silkin's winter fair It was, of course, always possible that Charles Fitzsi and that he was part of the conspiracy, too And yet, even now I found that hard to believe, for he had struck me as the very model of propriety with his sense of duty, his concern for the welfare of his boys, his respectable wife, the anguish hich he had greeted the death of Ross It was hard to iine that all this had been no more than a masquerade and I felt sure, even now, that if he had been drawn into soe or inclination

Lestrade had brought ten es that had followed each other, silently cli the hill that seee of London He was still carrying a revolver, as were Holmes and I, but the rest of his men were unar for a physical confrontation, speed and surprise would be of the very essence Holes stopped a short distance froined, but the square building on the other side of the lane which had once been a coach-builder's factory Fitzsimmons had told us that it was used for musical recitals and in this, at least, hethe truth for there were several coaches parked outside and I could hear pianofrom within