Sherlock Holmes: The Coils of Time & Other Stories (Sherlock Holmes Adventures Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

your brother’s disappearance,” Holmes urged.
    “It was four nights ago,” Sir Reginald began.  “He was inspecting some newly berthed ships at the Albion Dock.  It was a simple enough task, easily completed well before the advent of night, but the dockmaster reported he did not leave the dock until very late.  Instead of heading straight home, it appears he stopped at a tavern called The Neptune, one of those sailors’ haunts of which my brother was inexplicably fond.  An enquiry agent I hired reported that William departed the tavern alone, but I thought it possible he attracted the wrong sort of attention with his flash, was followed out, then set upon.”
    “Your agent could find no evidence of that though?”
    “No.”
    “There was no sign of him in the hospitals or in any of the other establishments in the area?”
    “No, Mr Holmes.  They were all thoroughly checked.”
    “The morgues?”
    “That, too, sir,” Sir Reginald replied, shifting nervously.
    “There have been no demands for ransom, I take it.”
    “That is correct.”
    “Is it conceivable that your brother finally gave in to the yearnings harboured for so long?”  Holmes asked.  “If he really wanted to run away to sea, he would hardly do so on one of your own ships.  Have you explored that possibility?”
    “Yes, Mr Holmes,” he answered.  “Thoroughly.”
    “Which brings us to the likelihood that your brother is indeed the latest victim of the Vanishments,” Holmes mused.
    “That is my fear,” Sir Reginald admitted.  “I avoided even considering it until there was no escaping its probability.  I would much rather believe that William is knocking around some tropic port, even that he is ensconced in some foul opium den in Limehouse, but I have never been good at self-deception.  I believe in facing problems full on.”
    “You have already consulted New Scotland Yard?”
    Sir Reginald’s brow furrowed deeply.  “And of less than no help they were!  This whole matter of the Vanishments is casting a bad light upon them, and what they don’t want now is yet another victim, especially one not poor and wretched.  They ran me every which way to Sunday in an effort to convince me William had run afoul of everything but the Vanishments.  And don’t mention the East End Ghosts, I was warned, unless you’re the Home Secretary himself.”
    “Some view the so-called Ghosts as being no more real than the Vanishments,” Holmes pointed out.  “And none admit to a connection.”
    “Well, there was one fellow at the Yard who didn’t seem to be chasing his own tail,” Sir Reginald admitted.  “He told me on the sly he thought there was a connection between the two, swore he would look into William’s disappearance.”
    “His name?”
    “Inspector Charles Kent.”
    “Ah, Inspector Kent,” Holmes murmured.  “By all accounts, he’s too bound by convention and his own prejudices at times, but he’s a good man.  True to his word, methodical, tenacious as a ferret.  What has he discovered?”
    Sir Reginald shrugged.  “When I tried to call upon him the next day, I was told he had been reassigned.”
    “Kent has a talent for infuriating his superiors when he feels he is on the right track, and it goes against their grain,”  Holmes said.  “But I’ve never heard of him going against his word.”
    “Be that as it may, Mr Holmes, I cannot sit around and wait,” Sir Reginald declared.  “I must know what has happened to William…even if it is the worst.  Will you help me, Mr Holmes?”
    Holmes glanced at the clock.
    “I will.  Do you have a likeness of your brother I may keep?”
    He reached inside his jacket and retrieved a small photograph.  “This was made less than a month ago.”
    “Thank you, Sir Reginald.  Now, if you will excuse me, I must bid you good night,” Holmes said, walking his visitor to the door.  “Try not to worry.  I will do everything in my power to find your brother and