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.'
We jumped from the moving train, ran across fields, caught another train, and at last took the night boat from Newhaven. For five days we travelled through France and Germany in the same wild and crazy way. Holmes would not say where we were going. I never took my eyes off him during those days, but the right moment to talk to him never came. Holmes seemed stronger than ever, while I was getting weaker every day. Only the cocaine made it possible for me to stay awake.
Finally, sitting one night in a hotel in Switzerland, I knew that I could not go on much longer. I had told Holmes that next day I wanted to walk over the mountains to the famous Reichenbach Falls. I decided that I would tell him what I knew about him when we were alone in the mountains. The cocaine was almost finished. Whether I lived or died, the end must come that day.