Sherlock Holmes & The Master Engraver (Sherlock Holmes Revival) by Ross Husband Page B

we had gathered fitted most satisfactorily to support whatever theory he was pursuing with that remarkable intellect he possessed. For me, however, this welter of diverse new intelligence served for the most part, only to further confuse the mystery. I recalled the exigent question Holmes had put to Petch after listing the players in the puzzle: ‘Can you name one, or a union of several, who would not stand to profit from the illicit possession of authentic Bank of England printing plates and paper to match?’ And in truth this, too, was my quandary.
    That a key, or keys, had been used in the perpetration of the theft seemed eminently clear, which undeniably tended towards the notion that one or more of the partners were involved, or either or both of the watchmen.
    I could give little credence to the involvement of Petch, appearing as he did to have no conceivable motive to jeopardise his own comfortable station, his reputation, that of his business and its, no doubt, lucrative association with The Bank. But what of the two curiously, coincidentally missing and unreachable partners? And did they indeed, even leave the country at all? I recollected that Perkins was said to feel some ambivalence about his prosperity, and ardently laboured to raise a very substantial sum for his mission work... and Bacon certainly seemed to live a lavish, perhaps costly, social life; might he, through indebtedness or some indiscreet liaison with an inappropriate partner, have made himself vulnerable to coercion or blackmail?
    As we passed by The Ritz Hotel, I considered what we had learned of the two watchmen, the hook-handed Gunton and the simple Jeremiah Shadwell. While I could not immediately envision any possible motive they might harbour, beyond simple avarice and opportunism, the inescapable fact remained that while they probably lacked the wit or the resources to effect such a crime, between the two of them they surely had unfettered access to the entire premises, both day and night – and more sinisterly I suddenly realised, ever since the complete factory closure for Christmas; they certainly did not lack for opportunity.
    But if they were not themselves directly responsible, surely one of them would have had to be complicit to facilitate so audacious a theft? I recalled von Huntziger’s unsettling words:
    ‘...or of co-opting, how do you say it – an inside man? This is not unusual in large robberies...’
    Then, too, had appeared this curious, chameleon-like character Mr Asa Bormanstein; a smartly-dressed gentleman one day, a mean labourer the next; and possibly with a slight German inflection – von Huntziger? Or might he perhaps be the shadowy, moustachioed and unaccountable figure I had briefly glimpsed during my troubled night in Bedlam?
    But then, as a professional man, trained to the exacting disciplines of medicine and surgery, I could scarcely venture such a fanciful and wholly irrational trope to Holmes, who functions in every respect by means of the application of rigorous observation, scientific deduction and adamantine logic.
    I put the thought once more from my mind. Diffidently I ventured: “Holmes, I suspect you have learned much, and yet to me you have clarified very little!” My companion smiled insouciantly. “Oh, I would not say that; on the contrary my dear Watson, I believe we have clarified a very great deal.
    “A few exemplars for you – I have certainly established the day, and most likely the time of the robbery to within a few hours; too, I am almost certain of the criminals’ modus operandi; and incidentally, I am perfectly assured in my mind that Mr Nathan Madgwick, though a decent man, is sadly the gullible and unwitting dupe of a villain infinitely more cunning than he.”
    Presently we arrived at Richmond; all was as one might expect of a man of Mr Petch’s station; a fine big Georgian sandstone villa in large lawned grounds, set back from the road and a good distance from its neighbours.