Title: A Concerned Citizen

Author: Pompey

Rating: G

Universe: ACD (Baring-Gould timeline with an AU twist – see footnote)

Warnings: none?

Word Count: 448

Summary: The worst man in London tells his side.

Challenge: July 8 – villain pov


I know all their secrets, everything they wish to keep hidden, every filthy stain on every piece of dirty laundry. They are so proper and refined in public yet they engage in such sordid practices when they think the doors are closed! I almost blush to think of it. Of course, I do not think of such things unless I must. I, unlike some, take my morals quite seriously indeed and I am no hypocrite.

Isn't it odd, then, that they all think so little of me? I only ensure that they reap what they themselves have sewn, nothing more. My only crime is being born in poverty but possessing the wits and nerve to drag myself upwards. Well, and the secrets I gather, I suppose. The law is so short-sighted about my line of work.

One might expect Americans to appreciate my little Horatio Alger story more than my fellow countrymen. One would be wrong. I suppose that is because my current client is not a true American but rather an Englishman who spent some time in America. Quite a fruitful time he had too – establishing a medical practice and gaining a wife at the same time. It is quite a pity that only the former was transported back to England.

Oh, I have no doubt that do mishaps happen. The Atlantic is a wide stretch of water and messages may be lost or misinterpreted. Perhaps the lady disappeared into the wilds of her country. Perhaps the doctor believed he was a widower and free to marry again. Perhaps it was an honest mistake and not the act of a faithless cad. Nevertheless, the fact remains that he did take wed again when he was not free to. Bigamy, as the law so harshly puts it.

Now, as a concerned citizen, I could alert the police and show them what I have. This would result in a trial that would be highly embarrassing for both the doctor and his new wife. I have no wish to cause the poor lady any distress if it could possibly be avoided. My way is the far kinder one. I provide the quiet and private path to contrition. For a fee, of course, and in my client's case, it will be one of my larger fees. But please note that I never charge more than my client's means, not really. Not if they are willing to make a few sacrifices. Sacrifices that are far softer than the ones I had to make in my younger years.

I am confident he will pay. He is well-to-do and well-known, both thanks to his publications over the years. Oh, yes. The doctor will pay.


(1) William S. Baring-Gould, in Sherlock Holmes of Baker Street, claims that Watson was called to America to tend his sick brother in the early to mid 1880s. While there, he sets up a medical practice and meets and marries a woman named Constance Adams. Watson returns to England and later sends for Constance. She is wife #1 in the Baring-Gould timeline. She dies about nine months before SIGN. Mary then becomes wife #2. (And wife #3 happens around 1902 or so.)