Chapter Four:
Mycroft visible flinched, but it wasn't in response to her words. He dragged his vibrating mobile out of his inside jacket pocket, a frown forming like a thundercloud on his brow. Esther watched him read the caller ID and lift the phone to his ear.
"This had better be important."
He was now in charge of his facial muscles again, and she could read nothing from it about the call or its significance.
"Wait." He thumbed a key on the phone and stood up, reaching over to the open file. As he handed it to Esther, he said, "I have to take this call, which should give you sufficient time to digest this in private. I will be back shortly." Without a backward glance, he left the room, speaking quietly on the phone again, "tell it to me again. This time, put it in the correct order." It was the somewhat impatient tone of a man used to getting things exactly as he wanted them.
Esther opened the file and was instantly confused. Who was "Peter Wallace" and why was she reading his admission record? Worthing Hospital, 1.38am 18 August 1994, Emergency Department. Male patient, aged 15. Date of birth 06.01.79. Oh. That's Sherlock's birthday. Had he been admitted under an alias? She kept reading.
Three pages in, she felt an overwhelming need for something stronger than the tea she'd just had. How could I have missed this? How could the school not have said something to me, even if he couldn't – surely someone must have noticed? The healing bruises, the wounds would have still been visible when he started term a month later. No wonder he'd been uncommunicative, withdrawn and depressed. Damn, damn, damn! She was livid with herself. She'd taken Sherlock's word for it. He'd been injured when trying to free his beloved horse, which died. We all thought that was traumatic enough. She could not have imagined what she was reading. If it wasn't there in black and white, she'd find it hard to believe it of the teenager she'd talked to in November.
According to the third page, there was clear evidence of sexual assault- anal tearing and bleeding caused by "a foreign object." So, not rape in the traditional sense, just brutality. Something designed to hurt, to humiliate but not necessarily for sexual gratification? Not for the first time in her psychiatric treatment of Sherlock, she wondered about his father.
She flipped over to the next page to the description of the wounds on the extremities- the raw flesh ripped from his right hand at the wrist, the deep cuts made by something that pinned both ankles. Then the detailed description- bruises on the ribs, back and buttocks. All on the contusion harm scale between two and three, "likely to have been caused by a severe beating." The abrasions at the wrist and ankles were "consistent with ligature marks and forced restraint". The left hand, wrist and forearm had been…smashed to an extraordinary degree. The admission note by the ED doctor noted that police and social services would be notified in the morning. But there was no record attached of that happening. Instead, the next set of pages covered the detailed surgical notes regarding the repair of the damage inflicted to his left wrist and hand: broken bones, cartilage torn, ligaments ruptured, "inconsistent with a fall, most likely caused by blunt force trauma." Surgical details, first a delayed then an adverse reaction to general anaesthesia, were followed by a note describing his reaction when he woke, the hysteria, panic attack and sedation. The psych consult note followed: "patient unresponsive, unable or unwilling to communicate. Advise psych hold for further evaluation."
And then the most damning note of all, on the last page- "Patient discharged at parental request, against medical advice." But it wasn't Richard Holmes' signature at the bottom of the form, it was someone she didn't recognise- Frank Wallace.
When Mycroft returned twenty minutes later, she did nothing to hide the dismay and shock that she was sure she was showing.
"I had no idea, Mycroft. Do you know who did this? Is it possible that your father did this?"
"No-to both questions. Father was in Jakarta at the time; that's been verified again by me recently. And, no, I don't know who was responsible for hurting my brother."
"Who is Frank Wallace?"
"The estate gamekeeper. He has been questioned already. He found Sherlock and took him to hospital. According to him, it was father's idea to use the alias. He phoned him in Jakarta before the ambulance arrived."
"WHY, was he responsible for the injuries?" She let her outrage show, but before she could follow it up, Mycroft cut her off.
"It wasn't Frank Wallace. I've made absolutely certain of that. And unfortunately, he doesn't know who did this to my brother. He says that Sherlock knows but won't say. Mrs Walters never knew. She wasn't there and father forbade him from telling her or anyone else."
Esther sighed. "How could the school have missed this? Why didn't they tell me? Surely someone would have seen the bruising, the abrasions? The School doctor didn't say a word about this." She knew she must be voicing the same questions that Mycroft would have asked. She also knew that if he'd been able to find the answers, he would not have questioned her in the way he had. She tried to calm herself down. Being emotional about something that happened two decades ago was not going to solve the situation now. She needed to help and that meant she needed to think.
"Why were the police and social services put off? Surely they had to have investigated this, even if there is no record attached here."
He gave her one of his dead eyed looks. Oh course, he's already tried to find the answer to that and not found anything yet. She sighed, started to ask something else, but stopped herself this time. Finally, she closed the file. "What can I do now to help, Mycroft? Just tell me what you want me to do."
Mycroft's answer was almost instantaneous. "Come with me to Baker Street now. The only person who is able to answer your questions and mine is currently lying comatose on a sofa. We have to figure out how to get the truth from him- before it does any more damage."