Listening from the wrong end to what I had thought for the last three years as my friends last moments had a strange effect upon me. I felt like I was travelling out of my body, my own problems seemed laughable compared to the greatest mind of his generation hanging and stumbling on rocks thousands of feet above the chasm his enemy had just plunge into. For the longest time I sat there thinking how strange the evening had become, and something in my visage must have alerted my companion to my thoughts.
"Are you OK John?" he asked rubbing his thumb along the palm of my hand.
"Yes, I'm fine, really. What happened next? What did you do?"
"When you had all formed your inevitable and totally erroneous conclusions, you departed for the hotel, and I was left alone. I had imagined that I had reached the end of my adventures, but a very unexpected occurrence showed me that there were surprises still in store for me. A huge rock, falling from above, boomed past me, struck the path, and bounded over into the chasm. For an instant I thought that it was an accident, but a moment later, looking up, I saw a man's head against the darkening sky, and another stone struck the very ledge upon which I was stretched, within a foot of my head. Of course, the meaning of this was obvious. Moriarty had not been alone."
"It made sense of course a confederate, I had not traveled alone why should Moriarty? Even that one glance had told me how dangerous a man that confederate was, and that he had kept guard while his master had attacked me. From a distance, unseen by me, he had been a witness of his friend's death and of my escape. He had waited, and then making his way round to the top of the cliff, he had endeavored to succeed where his comrade had failed."
"I did not take long to think about it, John. Again I saw that grim face look over the cliff, and I knew that it was the precursor of another stone. I scrambled down on to the path. I don't think I could have done it in cold blood. It was a hundred times more difficult than getting up. But I had no time to think of the danger, for another stone sang past me as I hung by my hands from the edge of the ledge. Halfway down I slipped, but, by the blessing of God, I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the path."
My heart was in my mouth at the news of his adventure, as thrilling as any tale he had told me, or any case I had documented. I knew myself to be a fool but I sat on the edge of my chair, yearning for more information. I knew also that one day I would be able to tell my loyal readers of this tale, and was desperate to ensure that I missed no small part of his tale.
Sherlock continued a pace "I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence, with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me. Several times during the last three years I have taken up my pen to write to you, but always I feared lest your affectionate regard for me should tempt you to some indiscretion which would betray my secret. For that reason I turned away from you this evening when you upset my books, for I was in danger at the time, and any show of surprise and emotion upon your part might have drawn attention to my identity and led to the most deplorable and irreparable results. "
I nodded my understanding of this although blood and bile was up at his disregard for my own ability to choose my own destiny. I needed him, I needed our work, and the insufferable man in front of me decided to take that choice away from me. I also couldn't believe he had done this alone, there was a secret here he wasn't telling me about. For the moment I was curious enough to let him continue.
"The course of events in London did not run so well as I had hoped, for the trial of the Moriarty gang left two of its most dangerous members, my own most vindictive enemies, at liberty. I traveled for two years around Central Asia, therefore, and amused myself by visiting the Bhutanese monastery Jangsa Gompa in Kalimpong, and spending some days with the head lama. You may have read of the remarkable explorations of a Norwegian named Sigerson, but I am sure that it never occurred to you that you were receiving news of your friend. I then passed through Saudi, looked in at Mecca, then paid a short but interesting visit to The House of Saud, the results of which I have communicated to the Foreign Office. Returning to France, I spent some months in a research into the nuclear derivatives, which I conducted in a laboratory at Montpellier, in the south of France."
"Having concluded this to my satisfaction and learning that only one of my enemies was now left in London, I was about to return when my movements were hastened by the news of this very remarkable Park Lane Mystery, which not only appealed to me by its own merits, but which seemed to offer some most peculiar personal opportunities. You may be assured that I had read the papers with some attention during my sojourn in France, on the lookout for any chance of laying Moran by the heels. So long as he was free in London, my life would really not have been worth living. Night and day the shadow would have been over me, and sooner or later his chance must have come. What could I do? I could not shoot him at sight, or I should myself be in the dock. There was no use appealing to the police the CPS cannot interfere on the strength of what would appear to them to be a wild suspicion. So I could do nothing."
"I watched the rolling TV news religiously, knowing that sooner or later I should get him. Then came the death of this Ronald Adair. My chance had come at last. Knowing what I did, it was certain that Colonel Moran had done it. He had played cards with the lad, he had followed him home from the club, and he had shot him through the open window. There was not a doubt of it. The bullets alone would enough to confirm a conviction and so I came over at once. I was seen by the sentinel of tonight's adventures, who would, I knew, direct the colonel's attention to my presence. He could not fail to connect my sudden return with his crime, and to be terribly alarmed. I was sure that he would make an attempt to get me out of the way at once, and would bring round his murderous weapon for that purpose."
"I called in my own person at Baker Street, and threw Mrs Hudson into violent hysterics, and found that you had preserved my rooms and my papers exactly as they had always been. So it was, my dear John, that at two o'clock today I found myself in my old armchair in my own old room, and only wishing that I could have seen my old family surrounding me again. I had arranged my decoy in advance as to leave Colonel Moran an excellent mark in the window, and, having warned the police that they might be needed, shocking DI Donovan out of all sense by the way. I took up what seemed to me to be a judicious post for observation, never dreaming that he would choose the same spot for his attack."
