09.01.2004 - 1:08 p.m.

The Un-Mystery of the Orange Heart

Holmes put down his violin as Watson hurridly entered the drawing room, a curl of smoke rose over his head and he studied his arrival with some disapproval,

'There's no need to behave like a wildman Watson, remember who you are' he said,

'Sorry Holmes, but I've been running since I left Bow street and I seem to have gained some momentum' he paused for a moment to catch his breath 'your presence has been requested by the Commisioner of the Yard to solve a crime of evil significance that has just been reported'

Holmes rested the violin against the music stand, paused to re-fill his pipe, gathered up his overcoat and hat and strode from the room. Once out on the street he hailed a cab and they were soon on their way to the Yard.

As the cab clattered through the fog bound streets of London, Holmes turned to Watson,

'Did the Commisioner give you any indication as to why I should be required at the Yard in such short notice ?'

'None whatsoever Holmes'

Holmes drew on his pipe and stared at the passing buildings, for a few minutes there was no sound save the horses hooves and the muffled cry of the street vendors, finally he took the pipe from his mouth,

'I think we may have an old friend back Watson, this could indeed prove to be a testing time' Watson looked lost for a moment, then gathered his thoughts and said 'Old friend Holmes, whatever do you mean ?'

'Do you remember Dr Tutoris, Watson ?'

'It'd be hard to forget him Holmes, he damned near killed twenty policemen before they caught him, evil bastard right through. I thought we'd got rid of him by shipping him to Australia' Holmes was nodding slowly as Watson spoke,

'I think he may be back in the country again Watson, this is grave news indeed' Watson's jaw flapped a few times and then his voice caught up with it,

'How do you know Holmes ? I've not been told and I came directly to you'

'As you know Watson, I keep some contacts who would prefer not to be named, they have informed me of some strange occurences overseas, I'll wager the Commisioner has just received the same information'

'My word Holmes, you are a man of resource' The cab slowed and came to a rest outside the Yard, Watson paid the cabbie and they climbed the stone steps and entered the building. At the front desk, the orderly waved them to a door on the left and they climbed the stairs to the Commisioners office.

'Evening Holmes' boomed the Commisioner, he had retained the ruddy complexion from years on the beat, his voice which seemed to start deep down within his barrel chest finally surfaced with 'Bloody awful news has come to me this evening and I think you're the man to straighten things out' They all sat down and Commisioner Gordon started to sort through some paperwork on his desk.

'I think I can short cut your paperwork Commisioner' said Holmes 'I believe your news relates to Dr Tutoris, you have received a communique from the Govenors Office of Australia via the East Indies, there was an incident of significance involving the death of a large number of convicts three months ago and another series of strange deaths in Singapore, all the bodies were found missing all their internal organs but there was no sign of the damage to the bodies externally, no-one has been caught despite a large reward and now there has been a disappearance in the Netherlands of a prominent politician' Gordon looked like he'd just been slapped,

'Well bloody hell Holmes, that's a damn sight more than I had to tell, I trust you already have formed a plan of investigation ?'

'I have indeed, we shall sail with the tide for Rotterdam tomorrow morning, Commisioner I need not tell you that this is a terrible turn of events, Tutoris is back in europe and heading for London, he has a large number of scores to settle with some important people and no-one is safe until he is bought to justice once more. I would advise that you double the number of men on the street and quietly assign some bodyguards to the people on this list' He took a piece of paper from his inside pocket and placed it on the desk 'We shall be back within three days by which time I fully expect Tutoris to be in London and planning his revenge'

'Well there's nothing left for me to tell you Holmes, good luck to the both of you and God speed you to your destination'

Holmes and Watson stepped out into the chill of the night, Holmes turned and said 'There is a boat leaving from pier six of the India Docks at five tomorrow morning, it's named the Isabelle, we have passes to travel to Rotterdam, I shall meet you there.' With that, Holmes walked along the street and soon vanished into the fog, Watson looked at his pocket watch, made a quick mental calculation before walking round the corner and into the local bar frequented by off duty policemen.

In the breaking dawn of the early morning Watson strode purposefully across the India docks, one thing he'd learnt early on in his life is that a man striding purposefully through an undesirable area is less likely to get battered than someone constantly looking over his shoulder, it was just after four in the morning and the fog was still hanging around, there was no wind to disturb it and it slouched over the docks like a lazy cat, deadening noises and filtering the boat lights to small orange halos. The Isabelle was a sixty foot sloop and laden with bales of wool under a dirty tarpaulin, there were a couple of the crew in the bow tidying ropes and what looked like the first mate sat on a barrel on the stern smoking a pipe. As he clomped up the gangplank the crew gave him a glance and Holmes' head appeared from a small door,

'Ah Watson, glad you could make it' He smiled as though he'd just made a joke, 'We'll be sailing within the half hour, there's a space below for your baggage' Watson looked at the large holdall he was carrying and went below to stow it away. When he returned Holmes had found a slightly less dirty place on the tarpaulin and had sat in the relative comfort of the wool and was now methodically cleaning out his pipe.

'The problem with people like Tutoris' he said to no-one in particular 'Is that they think they are smarter than everyone else. Now while that may be true for the people immeadiatly around them it is never true for a population in general, there is always someone, somewhere who is smarter than oneself' and as if to underline that, he rapped the pipe sharply against the deck and peered into the bowl. 'Let us hope dear Watson that Tutoris is as conceited as he is evil'

The sound of the gangplank being dragged onto the deck and a slight wobble as the boat was cast off signified they were on their way, both had found comparatively comfortable places to sit on the bales at the front of the boat and they watched as the India docks became the Thames which gradually opened up in to the Thames estuary, they were being pulled with the retreating tide and within a half hour were past the naval dockyards at Chatham. The north kent countryside peeled away to their right and the wind became brisker but the fog was clearing with the wind and a warm sun was beaming through,

'Quite pleasant eh Holmes ?' said Watson cheerfully, he liked being out of London, away from the eternal smell and choking fumes. Some seagulls followed the boat for a short while before wheeling away, they were far from the english coast now and if he stood up Watson could just about see a hint of France to his right, but the Netherlands were over the horizon ahead. He settled back into his seat and pulled out an old book of medical notes and read through them, making annotations as he went. Holmes was clealy also happy with the current situation, the sun was warming them and the earlier fog had given way to a clear blue sky, there was just the hint of a smile around the pipe as his sharp eyes sparkled as he took in the passing seascape.

It was in the afternoon before the Dutch coast opened up before them, there were a great many ships and boats around here as befitted an international port and soon enough they found themselves being steered through a maze of floating pontoons, large Clipper ships and even larger Man'o'Wars at anchor near the harbour wall, the smells as they came closer to the harbour became stronger, spices, tea, incensce and flowers all mingled together, there was still the ever present smell of thousands of people living in a small area with little regard for each other but with the still strong sun brightening the busy scene it was quite agreeable. Within an hour they had docked and disembarked.

To Be Continued.......

Here !