Furthermore, despite being retired, I keep informed upon police matters. Since you are unfamiliar to me I assumed you are not of the Yard and thus an operative of some other government agency. That you are right handed is such a childish observation that I almost did not mention it.”
“My holster is on the left side,” supplied the man.
“Precisely. For the final two points, I must admit to engaging in some careful guesswork. The scar on your face could have come from any number of activities. However, the wound was deep and prominent, and I took it that you received the wound during your official duties, which must be hazardous if they require carrying a firearm. Even experts cannot tell the exact age of a scar, but a clever man may place the age safely within a five year period. If my initial supposition was correct, then you have been an agent between three and eight years.
“As to your time in Japan, your colour will attest that you have recently been to a foreign country with a sun harsher than England’s. The scent you are wearing did the rest. I have made a point to be able to recognize eighty perfumes. The cologne you are wearing originates in Japan, and is rare in the extreme in London and the surrounding areas. It was not a great leap to assume that you brought a supply of it with you from Japan.”
“You’re correct on every point,” said the man. “Since you know so much about me, you might as well know the rest. My name is Bond. James Bond. I’m an agent in his majesty’s secret service. I’ve come to-day to ask for your help. I’m sorry to do this so suddenly after your brother’s funeral, but I figured I would have a better chance of enlisting your help if you weren’t home. I doubted if I approached you at your house I would have been able to pull you from your bees.”
“You seem to know something of me as well, Mr. Bond.”
“I have your biographer to thank for that.” Mr. Bond held his hand out to me, and I gladly took it. “It’s nice to meet you, Dr. Watson.”
“The pleasure is mine,” said I. “I am glad you were able to benefit from reading my publications of Holmes’ adventures.”
“If your knowledge is limited to those publications, Mr. Bond, you will discover that your knowledge will not always be correct,” said Holmes.
“Just the same, I think that you can help me on a particularly important case. The best men in MI6 can’t figure the case out, and if your skills prove insufficient, I’m afraid the result of the affair will turn out rather messy.”
“I am sorry to disappoint you, but I am too old to be of much use to anyone save bees these days.”
“I don’t think so, Mr. Holmes. A mind as sharp as yours will not dull so easily. You have just proven that.” I could not contain my smile. Surely Bond had read in my publications that Holmes is sometimes vulnerable to flattery of his talents.
“I would be lying, Mr. Bond, if I said that I do not hunger for the stimulation of an interesting case. Let us retire to my home and I shall listen to your cause.” Back in Holmes’ living room, Mr. Bond began to tell of his case.
“The situation, Mr. Holmes, is delicate. Some criminal organization has been obtaining and distributing delicate information from the British government. I have been to several countries, most recently Japan, trying to trace the information’s final destination. I have been successful in preventing certain parties from using the information.
“Meanwhile, my domestic counterparts have been able to determine that the information is being distributed through a small restaurant on Harley Street.”
“By Jove! That is but a few blocks from my old residence on Baker Street.”
“That was one of the reasons that you came to my mind, Mr. Holmes. Since I’ve been involved with the case, I have been asked to help in the local investigation. We have discovered that the owner of the restaurant, who also acts as the cashier is one link in the chain. We obtained a piece of paper, which has been compared to other examples of his handwriting, such as his signature and several numbers written on a bill. The handwriting matches.”
Mr. Bond handed the piece of paper to Holmes. As it exchanged hands I saw that there were several lines of numbers written on it.
“This is a copy of the paper. The original was returned before it was missed.”
“It is obviously a code. There is no indication of any key, and there are no numbers larger than twenty-six. I should think it is a simple alpha-numerical switch.”
“You’re correct. I’ve read your monograph on cipher analysis, Mr. Holmes, and I’m sure it wouldn’t take you more than five minutes to break the code. Suffice it to say, the lines reveal secret information about government operations, and the information is quite correct.
“We think that the numbers are not meant as an encryption, but rather as a simple way to convey information.”
“Then low numbers would correspond to the most commonly used letters, for ease of transmission.”
“Correct again. ‘1’ is ‘E’, and ‘2’ through ‘5’ are the other vowels. Somehow, someone is conveying information via this code to the cashier. The government could move against him at any point. However, it is obvious that one of the patrons must be sending him the information. There are four people who eat at the restaurant everyday. Agents have been discretely observing the restaurant for weeks and have determined with near-total certainty that it is one of these four people conveying the information to the cashier. We have all the links in the chain from the cashier on, but my people want to determine who is providing the information to him. If we apprehend the cashier, his informant could have time to escape before we can extract the information from him. We need to move against the cashier and his informant at the same time.”
“Your observers have had no luck in determining who it could be?”
“None. Despite careful observation of all four patrons, both at the restaurant and elsewhere, none of them have given any indication that they are the informant. However they’re transmitting the code, the method must be ingenious.”
“And the cashier has given no indications either?”
“I don’t think he knows he’s been discovered yet, and he is very careful. He realizes that there are three people other than his informant who eat at the restaurant daily. He can use them as cover, just as he is doing. He makes it a point to stare at each of the four patrons an equal amount of time. He writes nothing down at that time. We assume he memorizes the code and then writes it down later.
“We are getting desperate, Mr. Holmes. We cannot allow many more messages to be transmitted, yet we want to apprehend the informant at the same time as the cashier. As a last resort we could apprehend all four patrons and interrogate them all, but the three innocent people could cause ugly press for our government. We need you to help us determine who the informant is.”
“It seems a simple matter.”
“Then you think you will be able to help?”
“I said the matter seems simple, Mr. Bond. That is not necessarily encouraging. Cases that appear simple are often the most difficult to resolve, while cases that seem hopeless often wrap up quite easily. In any case, I shall coöperate with you in this matter.”
“Thank you, Mr. Holmes.”
“I should first like to observe the patrons at the restaurant. When do they dine there?”
“They all eat dinner there. The first man arrives at noon, and the last arrives at two o’clock.”
“I shall go to-morrow alone. On Friday we shall all meet at Watson’s house. Hopefully I shall have some news.” I spent the next day in anticipation of being able to again take some part in one of Holmes’ adventures. He and Mr. Bond arrived at my house in the forenoon on Friday.
“Any luck?” Bond asked.
“Some. But I wish to go to the restaurant again, with you two accompanying me. Hopefully three pairs of eyes will have better luck than one.”
Holmes did his best to extend our dinner to allow us sufficient time to observe three of our four targets. He had me send my meal back to make our lengthy stay to seem less suspicious.
“This is unpalatable,” cried I. “I have not tasted swill like this since my time in the service. You will kindly make me a new dish, and be sure that it meets the standards of edible food or I shall quit your establishment.” I am no actor, but I may say that I played the rôle of a pompous old veteran with some skill. I felt sorry for the young man I had harangued, for he was a helpful enough chap, but I made up for it in some part by leaving a large gratuity.
While Mr. Bond and my friend carefully observed the patrons, I observed the pair of them. I could tell that they were struck from the same mould. Both shared the skill of being able to speak with only the slightest movement of the lips. No observer would have been able to determine what they spoke of by sight. The men spoke only of the business at hand; Holmes asking questions while Bond told him of what was known of the four patrons. I took no part in the conversation, save to make some unimportant comment or reply when the two men spoke loudly of trifling matters as a cover for the true conversation.
Three possible targets were in the restaurant, with the last man not due to arrive for half an hour. The three patrons present were very different sorts. The first was a curmudgeonly old man; the second a much younger man with a crippled leg; and the third a young woman of great beauty. Even in my old age, the effect of her beauty was not lost. It was toward this woman that Holmes steered the conversation.
“Speak no more of the first man,” said Holmes. “I have eliminated him from my investigation.”
“How?” Bond asked.
“Through two close readings. You observe that the man is reading the Times. So he was yesterday. I had also read the Times front to back, and could tell from the article on the page that faced me and the angle of the man’s eyes what article he was reading. I was all attention when he began to read the article recounting the events of Wednesday, which you will recall were quite beneficial to our country’s navy. I am something of an expert in reading facial expressions, and it can only be a true patriot whose face would flush with pride such as that man’s did when he read the article. Such a man would never betray his country. I am seldom deceived by facial expressions, and unless all other avenues of investigation fail I shall not consider the man to be a possibility. Tell me more of the young woman.”
“Isabelle Hudson is in all respects a, well, respectable woman. She holds a job as a tutor in a nursery. She teaches in the morning, and afterward she eats dinner here. She then goes straight home. She lives alone in a house on Brooke Street, which she apparently inherited from her father. She seldom leaves her house, except when she goes to the theatre on Friday.”
“Does she go to the theatre every Friday?”
“She has three of the past four weeks.”
“Did she stay in the other week?”
“No, she made a walk toward the theatre, but stopped when she reached the beggar. She dropped some coins into his hat and returned home.”
“Did that strike no one as slightly queer?”
“She gives money to the same man every Friday, on her way home from the theatre. Last week she gave him several pounds.”
“That is very generous for a woman of her salary, which must be exceedingly low.”
“Do you think it has a bearing on our case?”
“Perhaps. We are fortunate that to-day is Friday. At what time does Miss Hudson leave for the theatre?”
“Around seven o’clock.”
“Then I suggest we pay our bills and retire to Watson’s house until then. I have one final question, Mr. Bond. You say that the cashier attempts to throw off possible observers by staring at the four patrons for an equal length of time?”
“Yes.”
“Capital. Let’s be off.”
As we waited for evening in my rooms, Holmes would not speak of his
suspicions, despite efforts by Bond to coax him. “I must make a few enquiries,” said Holmes. “Stay here and I shall be back shortly.”
“I should have known from your tales of him,” said Bond to me, “that I wouldn’t get anything out of him until his theory is complete. He only said that we have to search Isabelle’s house to-night.”
My friend was never stopped by the illegality of his actions when he thought them justified. It is fortunate for the inhabitance of London that Holmes never turned his skills toward burglary, for no house would be safe.
Holmes returned long before the appointed hour, but we did not set out until half past seven to ensure ourselves cover of darkness. I was glad that Holmes insisted I accompany him, despite protests from Mr. Bond. [Continued]Back to Vrs Page Page 1 Page 3
