Becoming Holmes Read Online Free PDF Page A

but not we. This is not my game. But I will tell you what I know. Father always said the most important thing to do at the beginning of a scientific problem –”
    “Was to ask the right questions.”
    “Absolutely. And the question you must answer at the outset is:
Exactly
how did this young thief, if he indeed is so, come by this job? That is your first move.”
    “I have no doubt that Malefactor is behind it.”
    “Well, I do not know of anyone by that name making decisions for the Chancellor of the Exchequer,” quips Mycroft.
    “No, I am sure it did not work that way. He has done it in some brilliant and secretive manner, behind the scenes.”
    Mycroft glances up and down the frontage of the Treasury. There are still few fellow employees about. He speaks more softly.
    “I can tell you that appointments in the Treasury are made by upper civil servants; the lower the position, the lower the civil servant who does the hiring. The upper positions, the important jobs, are filled directly by a committee, rather than the Chancellor.”
    “Mr. Robert Lowe.”
    “Yes, the albino genius himself, a favorite of Prime Minister Gladstone’s and said to be ruthless.”
    “But is he crooked? Could he be bribed?”
    “I doubt it, not Mr. Lowe. He is too ambitious and in love with himself. He would not allow a stain upon his character. And as I say, he employs a committee to make the highest appointments anyway, so there is no appearance of favoritism. The hiring of Loveland is a middling one, but not insignificant. The committee might or might not have done it.”
    “Who serves on that committee?”
    “A small roster of respectable financial figures.”
    “Chaired by whom?”
    “The Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Ramsay Stonefield.”
    “Could he reach his hand down as far as the position that our little Grimsby holds and see to it that a certain someone had it?”
    “I don’t see why he would.”
    “But
could
he?”
    “I suppose, but again,
why
would he?”
    “Yes, why would he?” says Sherlock, deep in thought. Then he shakes himself awake and takes his brother by the hand. His eyes are brighter than they have been for almost a year. “You have been most helpful. I wish you good day, sir, and hope to have some news for you before long.”
    Mycroft smiles. “You have little to go on from what I can see, Sherlock, mostly an inchoate theory, but I wish youwell. I must admit, this problem of yours amuses me. I shall betray nothing of my knowledge to one Ronald Loveland, since he may ask about you. In fact, I shall put him off your scent entirely. I shall tell him that I have browbeaten you unmercifully for confronting him and you are going home at this very instant with your tail between your legs, which is a falsehood in every detail, since you, sir, are chuffed and heading
east
, I deduce. All the best to you!”
    The brothers part and don’t look back – Mycroft up the steps to the Treasury building and his office, and Sherlock back along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and then east to the Old City and the Bank of England’s magnificent headquarters on Threadneedle Street.
    I must discover what got him that job, and then the rest will unfold
.

    At that very moment, Grimsby is summoning a boy to his desk. He is writing him a note to be delivered to an educational institute a good distance from London. It begins with the words, “Sherlock Holmes …”

5
THE GOVERNOR
    S herlock, of course, has already formed a plan. He will arrive at the great bank about half an hour before it opens. That will be perfect. He isn’t tutoring at school today, so he can do as he pleases. He moves quickly. When he reaches Fleet Street, passing by the offices of famous newspapers, all with black Dickens headlines displayed in their windows, pedestrian and carriage traffic has picked up considerably. The air smells of horse manure and burning coal, human sweat and urine. Wagons and hansom cabs and omnibuses jam the street,