'I was mistaken,' Holmes said. 'He is not dead. I told
you that.'
'You told me? But when? Where?'
'In my letter, man! The Berlin case- every third word! A
very easy hidden message, Watson. I thought even
you ... Oh, it doesn't matter. The fact is, Moriarty is
alive and free in London. He killed a woman only
three weeks ago. He will kill again if I do not stop him.
It is a fight to the death between us. Come with me
and help me, Watson. Say that you will come!'
'Of course I will come, old fellow,' I said.
He smiled and lay back in the chair. In a second, he
was asleep. Quickly, I gave him an injection to keep
him asleep. Then, with the help of my cook, I put him
to bed and locked the bedroom door. After that I
had a drink and sat down to think about what I must
do.
Perhaps I did not understand Holmes's hidden
messages, but I did understand what was happening
to the man. He was mad - I knew that now. All that
was evil in him he called Moriarty. The fight with
Moriarty was a battle that was taking place inside his
own head.
I had hoped that Jack the Ripper was dead. He was
not, and now another woman had been murdered. I
felt that her blood was on my hands. The time had
come when I must tell Holmes what I knew about
him. First, I had to be sure that I understood
everything.
I took a cab to Baker Street, and went into HOI2:!e5
S:-~ I did not know what I was looking for, but I began
.c ~ The rooms were untidy, full of old newspapers. I
searched for four hours but found nothing. At four
o'clock in the morning I stopped. I went to the
window and looked out at the dark sky.
Suddenly, I knew what to do. The house opposite,
where Holmes had once seen Moriarty. I ran across
the street and broke the lock on the back door of
the house. Every room was empty, all except one
bedroom. This contained a bed, a cupboard and a
box full of papers. All the papers were about the
Whitechapel murders. Some were cut from
newspapers, others were written by the killer himself.
He described each murder with a sick enjoyment of
what he had done.
Under the papers I found some glass jars of the kind
that are used in hospitals. In them were pieces of
women's bodies. In the last jar was the worst thing of
all- pieces of the body of a little unborn child.
When I saw that, all the friendly feelings I had ever
had for Sherlock Holmes died inside me. Now I could
go straight to Lestrade and ask him to arrest Holmes,
but I chose not to do that. I did not want all England
to know what Holmes, once a good and wise man,
had become. Some evil things are best hidden from
the world. I, and I alone, would face him and his
crimes.
I went out into the cold morning air. I felt strangely
calm, but also excited.
Holmes was still asleep. I searched his clothes for
drugs and guns, but found only a little money and his
silver snuffbox. Then I wrote a letter to Lestrade. I told
my cook to take it to my bank manager. If I failed to
return, I asked him to send it to Lestrade. In the letter I
told Lestrade everything that I knew about Sherlock
Holmes and the Whitechapel murders.
I was very tired, but I knew that I had to stay awake. I
had to watch Holmes all the time. I decided to use
the cocaine he had given me. I added water to the
drug and put it into a medicine bottle. Then I
injected some into my arm.
It was time to look in on Holmes. As I opened the
door, I saw that his bed was empty. He was behind
the door. He tried to hit me, but the drug made me
quick, and I jumped out of the way. 'Watson!' he
cried. 'Dear fellow! I thought you were Moriarty. One
of his men is in your garden. We must go now! It is too
dangerous to stay here!'
The man who he had seen was William, my
gardener. 'I will go and pack,' I said.
'No luggage! He must not know what we are doing!'
'Let me take my doctor's bag,' I said. 'He will think
that I am going to visit a patient.'
'Excellent!' Holmes said. 'I had the same idea myself.'
He did not know that I had packed the cocaine,
money and a gun in my doctor's bag.
Holmes sent me out before him to find a cab. We
drove through the streets, jumped out of the cab,
ran some way, and found another cab. But at the
station, Holmes said, 'Moriarty is here. He has followed
us. We must change trains as soon as we can.'