The Secret Files of Sherlock Holmes (28 page)

I did not have long to wait.

Within the hour, Holmes arrived and, at his suggestion, we carried two of the chairs into the overgrown garden where we sat in the sunshine and where, on his insistence, I told my part of the account first.

‘And now, Holmes,’ said I, when I had finished, ‘I have been patient for long enough. It is time you explained your “chain of reasoning” and the meaning of your nine enigmatic headings.’

‘Indeed I shall, Watson,’ he replied, lighting a cigarette, ‘although I feel I owe you far more than that. However, if an explanation will suffice, let me begin.

‘First there was Japan, where Sir Douglas Callister served for a time as a diplomat. Mycroft gave me this first link in my chain when he referred to the monograph which Sir Douglas had written on the use of masks in Noh drama, an entirely Japanese art form. As you will recall, Watson, I spent a morning in the Reading Room of the British Museum where I discovered that Sir Douglas had published other monographs, including one on the fishing communities on some of the Japanese islands, the relevance of which I shall shortly make clear to you.

‘My second heading concerned France and referred to Maurice Callister’s curious visit to that country last summer in which he moved from one provincial town to another. What, I asked myself, could Callister find to interest himself in such places and was there any link between them? A telegram to an old acquaintance of mine in Paris soon provided the answer. A search by him in the provincial newspaper records established the fact that a small touring circus had visited each of those towns during the relevant period. Among the performers was a certain Pierre Leblanc with whom Callister struck up a friendship and for whom the second arrest warrant was drawn up.

‘Leblanc was the link with my third heading, Callister’s interest in the circus, and led to the fourth, Miss Mai’s weekly grocery orders – too large for one elderly lady to consume on
her own. I assume you do not need me to explain that connection?’

‘Oh, that part is simple! The extra food was bought for Pierre Leblanc who was living in hiding at “The Firs” and whom Callister had met in France and had brought back to this country. But I still fail to see the connection between Leblanc and Japan.’

‘Do you, Watson? Then let us pass on to links five, six and seven – the lighthouse, the fishing-boat, and the contents of the picnic basket and the bucket.’

‘The picnic basket contained a seabird, as we found to our cost.’

‘Exactly, my dear fellow. But it was a very particular type of seabird; a member of the Phalacrocorax carbo species; a cormorant, in short. And there lies the connection between France, Japan, the circus and the last two links in my chain. On certain of the Japanese islands, cormorants are trained by the local fishermen to assist with the catch. They are naturally endowed with a small gular sac or pouch in the throat in which they can retain a fish. Before the bird is put over the side of the boat, a ring is placed round the neck to prevent it from swallowing the fish once it has caught it. Then as soon as the cormorant has done so, it is taken back on board and disgorges its catch.

‘Now we have already established the fact that Leblanc was a performer in the circus which Callister followed so assiduously from one small French town to the next. His act? Surely you can deduce that for yourself, my dear fellow? No? Then allow me to explain. He worked with birds – doves, in that particular instance, which were trained to remain hidden inside different receptacles and to perform tricks at given signals.

‘Watching Leblanc’s act must have given Callister the idea of how he might smuggle information concerning the secret Admiralty research he was engaged on to his old boyhood friend and fellow scientist Otto von Schlabitz-Hoecker in Germany, believing, as Callister did, that all scientific knowledge should be freely available, regardless of national boundaries. If Leblanc could train a dove, why not a cormorant,
a seabird
*
with a natural capacity for holding a fish in its throat sac and later disgorging it?

‘He had all the necessary props for such an act, the isolated house, the abandoned lighthouse and an abundance of wild cormorants which nest about the headlands. For a financial consideration, Leblanc proved willing to co-operate and the plan was put into operation.

‘While in France, Callister contacted von Schlabitz-Hoecker, explaining the scheme and suggesting that a Dutch-registered boat should be made available at a later date. Leblanc was then brought secretly to England last summer and kept hidden at “The Firs” where he was set to training a young cormorant which was no doubt trapped in some way and hand-reared.

‘The rest of my chain surely needs little explanation. You yourself witnessed the method by which Callister carried out his plan. He took the cormorant, by now trained to obey certain signals, to the lighthouse concealed inside the picnic basket and carried it up to his laboratory where, later that day, he fed it with a small packet containing a piece of paper on which were written details of the latest development of the submarine and which was wrapped in several layers of oiled silk. A ring placed round the cormorant’s neck prevented the bird from swallowing the package. The basket was then carried down to the water’s edge where Callister opened the receptacle ostensibly to take out some bread which he fed to the gulls.

‘You will recollect that the cape he was wearing conveniently hid his hands and arms, thus concealing his exact movements, which, at the same time as he removed the bread, were to release the cormorant into the water where its presence would pass unnoticed among the other birds waiting to be fed.

‘His next action, you will recall, was to cast the lines of his fixed fishing rods into the water, a signal to the cormorant to begin to swim out to sea, lured towards the
Margretha
by the man who stood on deck smoking the pipe.

‘You recollect my remark that, on this occasion, the man had only one arm on the rail? The other was at his side, out of sight as he reeled in the line to which the lure, in the form of a brightly-coloured, artificial fish, was attached and to which the cormorant was trained to respond. As the bird neared the boat, the second man appeared on deck with his bucket, apparently to empty it overboard and fill it with sea-water. You may also recall that as he lowered the bucket into the water, he banged it against the side of the boat, another signal to the cormorant to dive under the water, swim into the bucket and be hauled on deck. Once it was on board, the bird was carried down to the cabin where it disgorged the small packet containing details of the plans.

‘The following morning, the procedure was put into reverse operation. The bucket containing the cormorant was lowered over the side, only this time it was carrying in its pouch a message from one of von Schlabitz-Hoecker’s colleagues who was on board the
Margretha,
requesting further clarification of one of the submarine engine parts.

‘Meanwhile, on the lighthouse rock, Callister, who was apparently baiting his fixed fishing rods, reeled in the line to which another similar lure was attached. If you recollect, he appeared to have difficulties disentangling one of the lines, a pretext to give him time to attract the cormorant towards him. Once he had done so, he took the bird from the water and placed it inside the basket, his actions again hidden by his cloak. He then carried the cormorant back to his laboratory where it disgorged the message. That was the piece of paper I found rolled up on Callister’s work-bench. The system of the lures had, of course, been set up much earlier, before Callister was suspected of treason and was placed under observation.

‘Had we not surprised him this morning, I have no doubt that the cormorant would have later been taken back to “The Firs” inside the basket to be kept there until the next occasion when the
Margretha
anchored in the bay. Callister would then have answered the message, sending the further clarification of the engine part which von Schlabitz-Hoecker had requested,
together with fresh information on any other research which had taken place in the meantime.

‘Ingenious, was it not? I have Leblanc to thank for confirming the details of exactly how the operation was carried out when we interviewed him this morning at the police station in Portswithin.’

‘How did you manage to contrive his disappearance from “The Firs”?’

‘Oh, quite easily, my dear fellow. Once he learned of Callister’s death and knew we had evidence of the treason, it did not take much to persuade him to write a letter to Miss Mai, explaining that he was frightened about the police inquiry which would follow and that he was leaving immediately to walk into Portswithin where he would try to take passage on a boat back to France.’

‘Ah, yes; I see, Holmes,’ I said. ‘This accounts for Miss Mai’s search of the house when I returned with her to “The Firs” this morning. And what will happen to Leblanc?’

Holmes took out his pocket watch.

‘At the moment, he is being driven back to London in an official car, accompanied by Inspector Drury and Sergeant McGregor. On arrival, he will be taken to Mycroft’s office in Whitehall where he will be questioned further and a statement drawn up. After that, the matter is in Mycroft’s hands. No doubt Leblanc will be held for a time in prison until some agreement can be arranged between the English and French governments, after which he will be deported to France as an undesirable alien who was in this country unlawfully.’

‘Supposing he talks? Could he not sell his story to the newspapers?’

Holmes smiled sardonically.

‘It is quite obvious, my dear Watson, that you have no understanding of the way in which governments work. They can be quite Machiavellian in the conduct of their affairs. Leblanc will not talk. He will return to France with some threat hanging over his head which will ensure his silence. You may trust Mycroft on that.

‘As for the
Margretha,
after she was boarded and searched
this morning and the crew questioned, including von Schlabitz-Hoecker’s agent, a man called Zeiss, she was allowed to return to Holland, after certain papers were removed which are also on their way to London in the good Inspector Drury’s pocket. No charge of smuggling will be preferred. His Majesty’s Government, anxious to avoid an international incident with its Dutch counterpart, will let the whole matter quietly drop.

‘We come now to your part in the affair. You are prepared, are you not, Watson, to stand as witness at the coroner’s inquest which will have to be held on Callister’s unfortunate death?’

‘Well, yes, I suppose I shall have to, Holmes.’

‘There is no need for you to feel any anxiety, my dear fellow. Mycroft will see that everything is so arranged that no awkward questions are asked.’

Holmes was correct in this prediction. In Mycroft’s hands, action was swiftly taken to cover up the truth.

Holmes, who was too well-known to have his name connected with the case, quietly disappeared from the scene, together with Drury and the other police officers, while I, plain Dr Watson, who had happened to be in Cornwall for a short holiday, was the only witness to Callister’s death.

My story, in which Mycroft himself coached me in his office at Whitehall, was quite straightforward. As he explained, the simpler the deception, the more likely it was to be believed, especially as I was clearly a poor liar.

I had been rowing in Penhiddy Bay, intending to indulge myself in a little solitary bird-watching, when I had seen a figure plunge to its death from the top of the lighthouse. Mooring my boat, I had landed and tried to give medical aid. Unfortunately, the man, who was a stranger to me, was dead.

The last three facts had, at least, the merit of being true.

My account must have been convincing because it was accepted without question by the coroner’s court at Portswithin and a verdict of accidental death was recorded.

As soon as my evidence was heard, I left discreetly by a side door and was taken straight back to London by official car.

This subterfuge proved necessary for present in court were
not only Hugo Callister, Member of Parliament for Dowerbridge, but several Fleet Street journalists, including Archie Beal, chief reporter of one of the so-called popular newspapers, the
Daily
Planet,
which specialised in the more sensational and scandalous stories.

Someone, no doubt Hugo Callister, had informed Beal that Maurice Callister was a scientist who had worked on clandestine Admiralty research for the following morning the
Daily
Planet
carried the story on its front page under the headline: ‘Secret Scientist In Mysterious Death Plunge’, while the report itself hinted that the fall was not accidental and that the Government had conspired to cover up the truth.

Nor did the affair stop there.

As Mycroft had feared, Hugo Callister raised the matter of his brother’s death in the House of Commons, demanding a full official inquiry and, although the Prime Minister, with characteristic aplomb, managed to brush the whole affair aside with a slighting reference to the unfortunate influence of the ‘yellow’ press on back-bench members, Callister’s action added fuel to the fire.

It was for me a most uncomfortable time. My rooms in Queen Anne Street were besieged by journalists and, on Mycroft’s advice, I moved out temporarily into a quiet Bayswater hotel under a pseudonym.

It was while I was staying at the hotel that my rooms were broken into and my papers searched.

As no attempt was made to take anything of monetary value, I can only assume that the outrage was the work of no ordinary burglar even though the felony was carried out with professional skill. A window at the back of the house was forced open, the lock on my desk was picked and certain pages from one of my note-books were torn out. As these covered my activities during the Cornish trip, the connection with the Callister affair should need no further clarification. Fortunately, the memoranda contained nothing more significant than train times, details of the weather and short descriptions of the countryside, notes I had intended using should I ever write up a full account of the case.