Chapter 2
A Nice Quiet Walk
They finished their tea and walked across to Regent's Park when Ellie broached the topic she was most interested in hearing about.
"So, Martha, tell me what has your lodger Mr. Holmes been up to lately?"
Mrs. Hudson shot Ellie a sideways look and an accompanying smirk in response. Ellie thought it must be so exhilarating to have the great Sherlock Holmes living in your home, she simply could not imagine that there were drawbacks.
"Oh, he has been up to his usual shenanigans… just this week he tried to burn down the house - again - with one of his experiments."
"But Martha, all of England reads and follows his exploits! And he is right under your roof; certainly, there must be some element of excitement in this situation for you?" asked Ellie, hoping for a small anecdote about life with the famous detective.
"Let's sit on this bench, and I will share a bit more about life with Sherlock Holmes," and the two women sat down on a park bench in the shade of a Foxglove tree. They noticed the gentleman sitting on a bench opposite who appeared to have been feeding the birds as a few pigeons still pecked at crumbs scattered about the walk.
"My dear Ellie, living at Baker Street with Mr. Holmes is never a dull affair. There are constantly people ringing at all hours to engage him, or else bringing him information, or evidence, or on occasion, a threat or two."
Of course, this was not the first time Ellie had asked about Mr. Holmes, but she was fascinated by every little piece of information that Martha was willing to part with.
Martha was giving Ellie an example when she looked across at the gentleman bird-feeder. He had failed to great them, which was odd for a gentleman. He certainly did not look comfortable in the position he was sitting, with his head down resting on his chest and his legs outstretched as if he was in a hammock. Was he sleeping?
"Sir…Sir… are you alright?" asked Martha.
Ellie, oblivious to the gentlemen, looked from her friend across to the gentleman.
"I wonder if he is ill because he does not look as if he is asleep," said Mrs. Hudson to no one in particular.
Martha stood up and slowly walked over to the gentleman bird-feeder. He was nicely dressed but was not wearing the quality clothing of a gentleman. She thought that he might be a merchant or a solicitor. The closer she got to him, the more anxious she became, as her instincts told her that something was not right.
She stood next to the man and reached out, placed her hand on his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake.
"Sir, I say, are you alright?"
And with that gentle shake, the gentleman bird-feeder started to slump over towards Martha who quickly responded by pushing against his shoulder in an attempt to keep him upright on the bench.
"Oh my, oh my! Sir…Sir!… Ellie come help me quickly!"
Ellie hurried over to the bench, and the two women managed to push the gentleman back upright into a sitting position; however, as they finished completing their task the gentleman's head lolled back so that he was looking straight up into the branches of the Foxglove tree. His hat fell harmlessly onto the grass and mud behind the bench.
He was eyes-wide-open, unblinking and fixed, with mouth open in a silent scream. He wasn't breathing.
"Good Lord!" exclaimed Ellie.
"Oh no, I don't believe that he is sleeping, Ellie."
"What do we do Martha?" replied Mrs. Buckley.
"We need to get some help…" said Martha as she cast her gaze around the park. Then she saw a couple of boys running a kite across the park lawn.
"Hello! Boys! Hello!" shouted Martha, while waving frantically at the two lads.
Then Martha heard an ear-piercing whistle and saw Ellie with two fingers in her mouth. She removed them, smiled at Martha and smoothed the front of her dress as if her hand needed to return to a more familiar task as an apology.
That certainly got the young lads attention, and they came running towards the two women and the seated gent who was most definitely not sleeping.
"Yes ma'am" the taller boy responded in a huff-and-puff voice.
"My boy, please run out to Marylebone Street and find a constable and bring him back here immediately. This gentleman here needs assistance" stand Mrs. Hudson with calm authority.
"He looks dead missus."
The two women looked at each other, then Martha handed the boys each a ha'penny for their trouble and sent them off at a run.
"Should we stay here and wait?"
Martha paused before she replied, and she thought a comment: what would Mr. Holmes do if he was here?
"Let's see if we can help the police and save them some time" replied Mrs. Hudson.
"First, let's see if we can find out who he is," stated Martha as she positioned herself next to the bench, just off to the dead gentleman's outstretched legs. She began to reach for his inside breast coat pocket when she noticed his white starched collar was marked-up and was out of place, while his tie was twisted and off to the side of his neck. She paused and looked closer, and saw that there was a thin line of discoloration around his neck, partially hidden by his upturned collar. She reached into the front breast pocket of his coat, felt a wallet, slowly removed it and opened it.
"Good Lord, there's over 50 pounds here… two gentleman's cards with different names… a pawn shop receipt… and two train tickets."
"Train tickets - where to?" prodded Ellie, suddenly less distressed by the dead man before her as she had been bitten by the curiosity bug.
"Nottingham…out of St. Pancras Station at 4:15 PM…hmmm look at that, they are for today."
She found a card case in his front pocket, removed a card and read it out loud.
Mr. Walter Solabrini
Printer, Typesetter
Mrs. Hudson put the card in her purse and put the card case and billfold back in Mr. Solabrini's pockets.
"Wait," she thought, "why did I keep a card?"
She paused and thought a brief moment, then she spied a semi-crumpled paper bag that was lying at the dead man's feet. She picked it up, straightened it out and looked inside. There were still a few bread crumbs inside.
"Look, Ellie, he was feeding the birds of course, but it looked as if he died before he finished."
"Do you think it was his heart, Martha?"
"I don't know El, but look at him, he looks no more than 30."
Mrs. Hudson absently looked at the gentleman, and around the bench, then she remembered the discussions she had witnessed between Mr. Holmes and the Doctor, or else one of the Inspectors, while she cleaned up, or brought in a tea service: discussions about crime scenes. Mr. Holmes was always going on about evidence, and the police ruining the scene, and his need to examine every little thing for meaning.
She froze.
"Ellie, don't move."
Then Martha started to look around the dead man's body and noticed that the pavement ended behind the bench and that there were heavy boot prints in the stiff mud directly behind the bench. It appeared that someone large stood behind the where Mr. Solabrini was sitting.
"Good Lord above Ellie, I believe that this man was murdered," said Mrs. Hudson is a voice just above a whisper.
The women looked at one another, the signs of surprise painted all over Ellie Buckley's face, while Martha's expression failed to betray her emotions.
"Look at this Martha, he's got something in his hand" stammered Ellie.
Martha walked around to the front of the bench and looked at Mr. Solabrini's hands and noticed that there was a tuft of brown hair clutched in his left fist. She bent down and looked more closely and could clearly see a knot of brown hair clutched in the dead man's hand. His fingers tips had blotchy black stains.
For some unknown reason, she reached out to touch the hair then stopped as she noticed that she still had the bird crumb-bag still in her hand. Call it intuition, but Martha decided to take a closer look at the bag and noted no markings on the outside, so she opened up the slightly crumpled bag to look inside. There, amidst the remaining breadcrumbs was a slip of paper! She took it out of the bag and unfolded it; there was handwriting on it!
"What is that Martha?"
"It's a note, actually its a slip, but it has handwriting on the backside. It says: 'Till tonight my Love' and it is signed off with a single initial - an 'L.'"
"Is the slip completed?" asked Ellie with a voice now full of enthusiasm.
"No, but if I am not mistaken, it is from Parklane Bakery." Martha held up the slip and showed Ellie a small Fleur-de-lis logo, then placed it back into the bag, and returned the bag to its rightful spot on the ground.
So this is what it must be like for Mr. Holmes she thought; summoned to places where the dead waited, and then looking over their bodies, searching for clues… for reasons.
Martha admired Mr. Holmes and the Doctor immensely, as she did the men of Scotland Yard. All the stories about the crimes and unusual situations the two men have solved, and the experiments, and the comings and goings of the hopeful. It was as if she was living inside a book, a fiction, but it was not a story, not a fairy tale. It was real. Still, it never really seemed real, until now.
