Chapter Three


Emma: Okay, who's Weldon? Who was Cornell? Who was Raleigh's twin? Who's Raleigh?

Meg: You'll find out!


We found Toby waiting for us at the entrance to the masoleum. "I thought as much," said Basil. "Good boy Toby. But where's his leash?"

"I couldn't get it," I explained. "The Master was still awake."

"And he didn't notice you?" said the detective, practically gaping at me. He shook his head. "I'll figure that out later. Now what happened while I was gone?"

I explained to him all that had happened as we got aboard Toby and took off through the cemetery. "Now tell me what's going on," I said when I had finished, my arms tightly around Basil's waist to keep myself from falling.

He held on to Toby's collar as one would to a lifesaver in a storm, struggling to keep aboard Toby as the basset hound tore down cobblestone streets. "Major Kingsley Weldon came to me two days ago. He told me that a Nathan Raleigh had hold of an document that revealed a family scandal for nearly half a century, and if it got into the wrong hands it would ruin Raleigh name. Weldon asked me to come along for the safe transportation of the document from Raleigh to Josiah Cornell, a lawyer from Edinburgh. He was the unfortunate man who was killed this evening."

"What did he have to do with this?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," Basil said. "I have a few theories, but nothing definite."

We did not speak for several minutes as Basil directed Toby in a sharp voice. Eventually we arrived at a nice hotel on King's Street. "Shouldn't we go back to Baker Street?"

Basil shook his head. "First we need to pay Major Weldon a little visit."


Major Weldon, a stout mouse with completely white fur, sat in front of the open window of his suite when Basil burst into the room. "Weldon, I demand to know why you never told me the real purpose of this midnight excursion."

He looked at Basil and his wet clothes in slight surprise. "What happened to you?" His eyes then fell upon me, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Your message came one half hour after I had left. I was already at the location when Mrs. Havers here gave me the warning, and by then it was almost too late."

Weldon stood up. "It couldn't be helped. I only received information of Nathan Raleigh's death only two hours ago. Where's Cornell?"

"Dead," Basil said shortly. "Weldon, I want real information. I don't play guessing games with my clients. What is going on?"

Weldon gave a grim smile, got up from his chair with a small groan, and turned back toward the window. "Take a seat, Mr. Basil and... ma'am," he said to me. "I will tell you all that I know.

"Nathan Raleigh's real name is Landon Colhart. His father, John Colhart, was English, and his mother French. He has an older sister, Celeste, and a twin brother, Marcus."

"Ah, Marcus Colhart," Basil said softly to himself. I glanced at him in surprise.

"I say, do you know the fellow?" Weldon asked taken aback.

"I've had a few run-ins with several of his cohorts. But please continue."

Weldon cleared his throat. "The Colharts have a large fortune. Landon's father planned to divide the fortune evenly among his three children. As the children grew older, however, Marcus took to boisterous ways, frequenting gambling halls and racetracks. Marcus and his father fought constantly over his habits, and eventually the father disinherited him from the family fortune.

"When John Colhart died two weeks ago, I, as an old friend of the family, went to the Lacasa Manor, just outside of Paris. It was Mrs. Colhart's childhood home, and where she raised her family.

"I found Landon in a state of anxiety. He had received several threatening notes since the death of his father, and he was certain that they had come from Marcus. He feared for his safety, as well as the safety of his sister. Celeste, who is married to a duke of Bohemia, feels that she is safe where she is. But Landon begged me to find someone who would bring his brother to justice and discover if his brother had plans to make good on his threats."

"Pardon me, but 'brought to justice?'" I asked. "Has he done anything illegal up to that point?"

Weldon folded his arms and turned towards us. "Marcus is a blackmailer by trade. That is how he gets the money to gamble. Landon had known of this, but they had been best of friends ever since their childhood, and he ignored his brother's flaws. When Marcus was stripped of his inheritance, he also broke off relations with Landon. After he received the threatening notes, Landon no longer felt the need to keep his brother's occupation a secret from the Parisian gendarmes, but they botched the entire arrest up and Marcus escaped. Landon had hoped that he could find protection with you, Mr. Basil, while you tracked down the brother and arrested him."

"So you wanted me to meet him in the Colhart family mausoleum, under cover of darkness, and keep him safe from his brother's wrath?" said Basil.

"Yes."

"How did you know that Landon Colhart was dead?"

"He was supposed to send a message to me around 10:30 tonight when he arrived in London, but it never came. I waited until 11 o'clock, hoping that the train was just late, but my messenger told me that it had been on time. In fact, the compartment he was supposed to be in was completely empty upon arrival."

"So you assumed the worst?"

"Yes."

Basil started to pace. "Why didn't you tell me all of this before?"

"Absolute secrecy. We feared that if Marcus knew that you were going to be involved that he would take violent measures against his brother all the more quickly to get his inheritance."

"What did Cornell have to do with this?"

"He was the lawyer who drew out the will. There's a loophole that allows Marcus to get the inheritance in the untimely deaths of his brother and sister. We had hoped to consult with him about fixing that little problem."

Basil stopped in front of me. "Meg, go to the front desk and ask the clerk there to telephone Baker Street. Ask Dr. Dawson to come here."


At the front desk, the clerk tried the phone. He shook his head. "Ma'am, the operator says that Lower 221B Baker Street has been disconnected."

My heart jumped. "What do you mean 'disconnected?'"

"That's what I was told by the operator."

"Can you try again?" I asked.

He attempted to call again, but after a few moments on the phone with the operator he hung up, shaking his head. "I'm sorry ma'am."

"Well, thank you," I said.

I walked to the elevator, but saw out of the corner of my eye someone running down the stairs. I turned my head and saw the familiar Inverness and deerstalker. "Basil?"

"Weldon's been shot!" he exclaimed. "Hurry!"

My eyes rose to the top of the staircase. Our friends from the mausoleum were at the top of the stairs, pointing to Basil and bolting down after him. Basil grabbed my arm.

"Basil, the telephone at Baker Street's been disconnected!" I cried as we rushed towards the door.

He pulled the heavy glass door open and pushed me in front of him. Glass shattered behind us to the accompaniment of gunshots.

We made it outside and got on Toby again. "To Baker Street, Toby!"


We arrived at Baker Street in minutes only to discover a crowd in front of Lower 221B. Basil jumped off the dog and pushed his way through the crowd. I followed as quickly as I could.

I gasped when I saw the front of the flat. The front windows were all smashed in, while Mouseland Yard officials swarmed around the inside of the house. I ran to Basil, who was arguing with an official. "You have to let me see Vole!"

"I can't let you do that sir."

"But this is my flat! I'm Mr. Basil!" the detective cried. He clenched his fists as if trying to restrain himself.

"Can you prove that?"

His restraints broke. Basil punched the official in the face. The man fell down on his back and stormed into the flat. I followed on his heels, but some more officials held me back. "Get back ma'am."

"Basil!" I screamed.


"Vole!" Basil barked.

The inspector looked up from behind Basil's armchair towards the figure standing in the doorway of the flat. "Basil! Where have you been?"

The detective waved his hand over the parlour. "What happened? Where's Dawson and Mrs. Judson?"

Vole motioned to the haphazard condition of the flat. "Dr. Dawson, Mrs. Judson, and some boy were attacked by two men. Your landlady and the boy were beaten. Dawson... well..."

"What about Dawson?" Basil snapped.

Vole flinched. "He was stabbed twice and suffered some head trauma."

"No..." Basil stood there, with a dazed look in his eyes. "He doesn't know..." he muttered. Then he marched into his bedroom.

"Basil!" Vole cried. "We can't let you in there, it's a crime scene!" Basil ignored him as he began to put bottles, small boxes, and clothes into a valise. "What are you doing?"

Basil closed the valise and brushed past Vole on his way out. "I'm finding the culprit."

"Can we ask you a few questions about the two men first? They took off, and we're trying to track them down."

"No."

"If you don't come in we may be forced to consider you a suspect!"

Basil turned on his heel and shot Vole a dark glare. "You know I would never stab Dawson. Do your job and let me do mine."

He met Meg outside. "Basil! What happened?" she cried. She then looked at the suitcase in his hands. "You're... leaving?"

"No. We're leaving."


Sarah: Haha, Basil punched someone in the face! Didn't see that coming!

Emma: Seems out of character to me.

Meg: Hey, if a bunch of crazy people have been shooting at you randomly in the past several hours, two people have been killed in front of you, and you don't know if your partner is dead, I think you would be irked enough to punch someone too.

JWJ: You always threaten to punch me, and you never do it.

(Meg punches him in the face.)

Meg & JWJ: Ow!