The Adventure of the Curse of Two
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the Sherlock Holmes stories, nor do I have any affiliation with anyone that does or ever did. xD
KS: Thank you for reading so far! I'm glad you're enjoying it! Here, at last, is the finale, the denouement. I hope it's clear. :D
Sherlock Holmes sat in the sitting-room of the Chatterton's home, his long thin legs crossed and his elbows resting on the arm-rests of the high-backed chair.
I was on his right, and William, looking quite saddened and puzzled by the discovery of his brother's guilt, was on his right. Charles was before us on the sofa, his leg wrapped in blood-stained bandages.
"It really was a simple case." Said my friend. "I knew before I left Baker-Street who it was—all that was left was to discover how he was escaping detection."
"But, did you know it was him, Mr. Holmes? I…I just can't believe it!" said William.
"I was fairly certain of the fact. For one thing, he was not the one to contact me, but you, and I knew that in all likelihood it was one of you, though it could have been a relative. You see, Mr. Chatterton, your brother was trying to get you out of the way so that he would inherit all of your family's money—isn't that right, Mr. Charles?"
Charles Chatterton glared at Holmes devilishly, but Holmes was unaffected.
"He was wondering how to go about doing it when a very ingenious idea struck him, given by extraordinary chance in that singular legend in your family. He would kill off the household, two at a time, and place the blame on some evil curse or something of that nature. It would be much more obscure than just killing you and your father and inheriting money, which would raise definite suspicion. When you told me that no trace of poison or violence had been found, I knew I must look for a more exotic method of murder. As I walked through the house, I noted that at least one of you had travelled by the relics on the walls, and kept the possibility of a tropical poison in my mind. When after questioning the servants I found that the food seemed no different, I knew that it was probably not poisoned, so then the idea of an object delivering the poison was developed. Then there is the matter of the dog. I suppose you noticed, Watson, that the dog barked furiously at me, a stranger, when I was near his kennel to study the marks? But when I questioned the servants, they had heard no such riotous barking, which indicated that I was right in my theory that one of the brothers—someone the dogs knew very well—had committed the deed. Mr. Chatterton had started with the lowest servant to make sure the poison worked properly, and dosing the dog with poison was a stroke of ingenuity—the dog wouldn't be autopsied, so he was free to use a normal poison, and if the dog died and the servant didn't, no one would question it. I also saw by the vague marks that the boots worn by the culprit was similar to Charles'—though that still didn't omit the other brother. But, I found Charles a more likely suspect, especially as he seemed remarkably sharp and bold—able to conjure an idea of this sort and see it through."
Charles Chatterton was sweating profusely now, and his face was severely flushed.
"I did it….yes, I did it. But you'll never hang me for it!" he stammered.
He raised the phial we had seen him with earlier to his lips, and Holmes started toward him to prevent him from taking it, but William got there first and tore it from his trembling hands.
"I'm not about to see you take the coward's way out, brother!" said he as he threw away the glass. "You've stained this family's name enough! I'll see you have your trial, like a man."
Later that evening, warm and safe in our rooms in Baker-Street, we sat before the fire, talking and smoking a pipe.
"I don't believe that there are many more common crimes than murder or fraud to inherit money." Said my friend as we sat.
"But, what of the red book? What did you see in that?" I asked.
"Nothing much. I saw the cook had died early, and I saw the hours of the servants, which would tell me the times Mr. Chatterton would take his risks and plant the thorns."
"That is something else—how did you know of the thorns?"
"I have already mentioned that, after coming to the conclusion that it was likely not the food that was poisoned, that it must have been an object. As I looked at the bed the thought struck me that all the deaths occurred in the night—while they were asleep. So the object that delivered the poison could very well be in the bed. If so, it would have to be a very small object, so that is what I searched for." My friend sat for a minute in silence, blue rings of smoke rising from his pipe.
"It was obvious from the start that it wasn't really a curse—as a rule, I think, the powers of darkness do not so openly meddle in the affairs of men. I had to see who benefited the most from these deaths. The answer was obvious. Whoever was killing knew of this strange family legend, was very close and free in the family, and the sons, by their own admittance, stood to inherit a small fortune from their father's death."
"It's so exceedingly simple, I cannot see how I didn't grasp it from the first." Said I.
Holmes nodded. "Everything is simple when it is explained."
And that is the end of the singular adventure of the Curse of Two. Charles Chatterton was condemned to death after his trial and was hung, and William Chatterton, devastated at first of his brother's death, recovered, and after he inherited his money, invested it wisely and started a school for boys in the West End, which has met with considerable success.
KS: And there is the end! I hope you enjoyed it! I had a good bit of difficulty in typing out the explanation—like Holmes said in STUD, it's difficult to explain how you know something, even though you know it, like explaining how you know 2 plus 2 equals 4. xD
Like Holmes said, it was exceedingly simple. I knew Holmes already had the case solved, essentially, but when he heard about the dog, I knew that I couldn't stretch this case out very far. XD
The next story to be up from me will probably be "The Turn of Sherlock Holmes," but possibly not. Thank you for reading!