II. TELEGRAM ACTION.
On the 4th of January he received it.
- "A telegram to this address madam, 221 Baker Street", he heard the voice acute and at the same time raspy from the pigeon, and adolescent no less; had he bothered to look out the street he would have also seen the zits on his face.
"Sun yesterday. Move Fr."
See that was easy to decode, or at least Holmes thought so and hoped he was right, not that it was essential, what was important was that the telegram was supposed to be arriving to the post office in Wellington to be picked up by a Mr. Kane.
He went there, hovered, he really didn't know what to do, how to know who was Mr. Kane without awaking his suspicion? The window for complaints was right beside the one where he should get his telegram; so he decided to pull his hat as much as he could over his face and make up one complaint after another, neither of which would be heated. – "I did not receive a letter that I should have at least the 28th of December, I live in 248 Great Wild Street… Yes go check, thank you… They sent it to me from Blomfield Road… No I don't know the number… Mmh… Yes, yes, I'm sure… How about one from Belsize Road?... Yeh, I didn't receive that one neither… For the 2nd… Yes go check, I'll wait, no problem." Until not too much time after Mr. Kane was showing silently his ID and Holmes was catching the "k" from the corner of his eye, when the employee said: -"From Bruges to Mr. Kane."
Mr. Kane seemed to be around 25 years old and that didn't adjust; yet he followed from a prudent distance to see him enter the gates to King's College. Afraid to lose him in the numerous turns of a college he lost the prudent distance and was close enough to hear him say to the guard outside one of the entrances (who was there as there are so often in colleges, so that no one steals nothing): - "I have a telegram for Moriarty at the office 78 of the Mathematics Department." And the guard let him go in. Now Holmes looked around the building, saw an open window…
A minute later he was going into King's College just like at Parliament, walking as if he was in his own rooms and he hadn't had his hat knocked off when the brim hit the window's frame, catching it in an impressive circus-agile shoot forward of his arm. He walked by the hall in front of office 78 which door was opened letting him see it was empty, he rounded the corner, took the problematic recovered hat off, and when no one was going by he used a very small mirror to look at the hall. It was by the mirror that he saw him entering his office; he yet wanted to make sure it was him so he walked by the hall and looked at Moriarty picking his papers sitting behind his desk, from the corner of his eye, the plaque before his desk "Moriarty"… It was the 4th of January, not many people were around and Moriarty knew all the teachers and administrative personnel there; he saw Holmes in a flash and didn't care much, yet he didn't forget his face and general demeanor.
"The Head" had thus a last name in his head, 'Moriarty'. He zealously wanted him to be the last link in the chain, or rather, didn't actually want it to end that soon, but intuition told him it was him the last link; through reason he also knew that Moran had only had about an hour to talk to his chief before requesting permission to depart, an hour… that was a fast decision, it couldn't have gone through many levels, and that Alfie Gray was clearly important.
He thought of having definite answers already, go behind Moriarty, never giving him a break; but that same January 4th he received another telegram, from the post office in Wellington Street to a hotel in Bruges.
"No problem: no com."
And getting more clues gave him certain quietude. There was also the fact that if Moriarty was "the head" he was certainly one with a big brain, and if when following him he was discovered he would be risking everything; so he decided to wait for more telegram evidence.
"You crossed my path on the 4th of January"; Moriarty would tell him later, in the sitting room, his own, that at Baker Street. And "On the 23d you incommoded me".
Holmes kept receiving the telegrams though it was obvious Moran wouldn't be in Bruges anymore, "move France", and too many people from general France spoke with people in London; but now he received all those that "Mr. Kane" sent and received from the post office at Wellington.
On the 15th January:
"MO like us Fr Ita; smells: Rez is happy. Trouble."
And the response:
"Huge moron. If you can't alone, send me the details by letter."
…
III. THE MATHEMATICIAN WITH THE THICK GLASSES AND THE YELLOW TEETH.
…
Now intercepting a letter that was different… he would have to open it and how to erase the trace of such violation?... Holmes hired a mathematician.
An actual mathematician from University College who turns out, was also "his biggest admirer" - so he said -. He stepped into his cubicle and introduced himself without further ado: - "Professor Connelly, - (the fact that Holmes had taken off his hat at that point and made it roll in the tips of his fingers before gripping it, only served to increase Mr. Connelly's fandom)- my name is Sherlock Holmes."
Professor Connelly gaped, his eyebrows arching over his thick glasses incredibly high; he gasped, he grinned, he stood up and rushed to him offering his hand. – "Sherlock Holmes! What an honor!" He shook his hand so enthusiastically. – "I'm your biggest admirer! What brings you over here? Crime at the University! Oh please do not say so!"
- "No, no, please do not worry. Am I right to think by what you say that you have read everything Watson has written about me? And so a lucid mind such as yours would remember that he made a list of my knowledge limitations."
- "Yes I do, I could even quote: Literature, Philosophy, Astronomy: nil; Politics: feeble; Botany: variable, well up in poisons, haha!, that made me crack!; Geology: practical but limited; Chemistry: profound; Anatomy: accurate but unsystematic; Sensational Literature: immense; you practice the violin, box, singlestick and sword, an expert he said; and good practical knowledge of British law. Hahaha!, how could the Doctor not be confused?, hahaha!"
- "Exactly!, exactly!" He said smiling to be conveniently nice. –"Now he didn't speak of mathematics but I'll let you guess."
- "Am I supposed to deduce it? Oh no!, I could never!"
- "No, no, you don't have to deduce, just guess."
Professor Connelly winced as if expecting a hit, hit that would be him not guessing correctly - "Nil?"
- "Exactly! Beyond elementary counts: adding, subtraction, multiplication and hardly good division, you lose me, I'm an absolute ignorant about mathematics."
- "Oh surely you exaggerate!, you're too humble; besides, you have other such great qualities!"
Holmes hurried to mollify Connelly's embarrassment, to be able to get to the point. - "Yes I don't doubt that, see I wasn't belittling myself. My point was and is, that I am in dire need of a mathematician, a good one; I have heard you're it."
- "Mr. Holmes I am so flattered!"
- "Do you know the work of Moriarty, his treatise upon the Binomial Theorem…?" His moving hand said it was an enumeration.
- "Absolutely I do! I have read everything he is done."
- "Perfect! Do you know Moriarty?, personally I mean."
- "No I haven't had the privilege."
- "Wonderful!" He rubbed his hands smiling, swung back and forward on his heels once. – "You soon will."
As he revealed to Professor Connelly that which he needed him to do, this one felt increasing jitters getting hold of him. Holmes assured him he should be safe as long as he didn't betray he had come to see him; he anyway gave him tips about how to be properly cautious, and if in danger or suspecting danger he only had to contact him.
So the post office would notify him when a letter to either Mr. Kane, office 78 or to the residence (which he now knew) of Professor Moriarty arrived to the Postal District. The letter was actually supposed to arrive to Wellington on the 23rd to be picked up by Mr. Kane. He sent a telegram to Connelly telling him it was time.
They saw the messenger "Mr. Kane" deliver the letter, a moment later Moriarty should have opened it. Connelly went to the Office of Personnel and insisted on talking with him: "no he wouldn't go to his office, he would get lost", "but somebody ought to tell him that he had refuted each and every point of his last work". Holmes waited…
A man arrived, stood at the door and said to Moriarty: - "There's a man at Personnel saying he has refuted your entire work, Connelly I think; he wants to see you."
– "What? !" He strode out and Holmes smirked.
He was right in suspecting Moriarty was proud about his work; he was enraged and distracted while discussing with Connelly, walking by the halls of the college, mathematic terms shouted. Holmes in a disguise whatever, during a particularly heated point of the dispute picked the letter from his coat's pocket, and Moriarty, who was pulling his own hair, didn't notice.
Away from them Holmes was smiling, unfolded the paper, lowered his head to begin reading it.
"om dgi dkqj kkajcnc emury iype gvvcpbgb qngpcrkmpq hp e ngmrjg ikjn yi y oytgq pqqug clf yp ypegjq kcpklq ecli qocnju ikjn pgx pm qrjct uca zwr tcxcpeg g mlqu yfgpg aqqvy hyognw ngxcu go rcikli rjco fqqvyicu sprkj hykp cetcgkglv lqr ygvfqsv wqst aqlucpr yykr amwp qpfctq"
- "What on earth?" He murmured. - "Damn mathematicians!" He was thinking he would only have to read it, but now he immediately took out pencil and paper and began to copy as fast as he could.
Moriarty didn't notice neither when one of the agile irregulars dressed as any student just as casually put it back. He returned to his office annoyed and with the firm conviction that Connelly, (despite what he had known before about the man) was utterly stupid, but oblivious of what had truly happened.
In Baker Street he felt his mind muddled; what was the solution to such a riddle? 'The letters substitute others' he thought and didn't congratulate himself, because sure, the letters substituted others and that took no genius to figure out; he sighed, rubbed his chin and turned the paper downwards and upwards again; he looked at the senseless text again with his mind blank and a grimace on his face. 'A mathematician would substitute a letter for another after a mathematical operation made with them'; so he took the ones that were alone: e, y, g; "e" was three letters away from "a"; "y" was harder, fifteen letters away from "I", let's not talk about "a"!, though now come to think about it, in reverse order it was one letter away from "a"; and then "g" in reverse order was one letter away from "I". He took then those with two letters: "yi", "pm", "go"; if he used the one letter away in reverse order they were: "ag" 'like Alfie Gray' he remembered; "nk", but if he followed the order of the alphabet for the "m" it could be "no"; "em", but if he did what he had done with the "m" for the "pm" with the first letter then he had "im" 'like in I'm' (the lack of punctuation was remarkable, so it was a given he had suppressed it). 'It is as if he skips one letter forward and then one letter back; which is a mathematical thing in the end, "y" plus two, "g" minus two.'
And so he used the skip one letter forward and back, the grimace gone from his face and his eyes shining, he got this:
"mo big fish michele costa gang extended operations fr c people kill ag a mario rossi and an angelo marino gang smells kill rez no other way but revenge I know where costa family lives im taking them hostages until fair agreement not without your consent wait your orders"
He bolted upright in his chair with a big grin, he was seeing (as any not-stupid person would) this:
"Mathéo Olivier is one of the big fishes of the Michele Costa gang which just extended their operations to France. Costa's people killed Alfie Gray, specifically a Mario Rossi and an Angelo Marino. Costa's gang smelled something fishy and they killed Rez. There's no other way but revenge; I know now where Costa's family lives; I'm taking them as hostages until a fair agreement is reached, but not without your consent. I wait for your orders."
Holmes was just as soon that same day in the post office at Wellington Str., sending a telegram to Moran in Italy.
"Do not question me, just move to St. Petersburg immediately."
By the time when Moriarty's answer by letter had arrived, he had received in turn a telegram from St. Petersburg saying:
"Here, what am I to do?"
A lot of wary communications were exchanged before they understood they were still talking to each other and that someone was onto them, someone who didn't want Costa's family to be taken as hostages. Holmes had heartily cackled reading their messages and Mrs. Hudson suspected he had changed drug to one that clouded his judgment and made him happy, more than hyperactive and paranoiac before plunging into lethargy.
I changed facts about Moriarty because this is a fic and a hobby and one can do what one wants.
I know the code was easy, but I just didn't want to spend hours codifying something with too complicated counts, and then again, let's remember they didn't think anyone would really get to see that letter, so in my mind, they also didn't complicate themselves when they didn't see the need of it... ha, you know, whatever.
And well, if you people out there signed in or not don't review because you don't like what I do, this is your opportunity to vent, I have a morbid curiosity to even hear insults from you; now if you don't review because you think "whatever", then it's alright, I can do without reviews.
