Chapter 1: Clarifications and Insights
As this is likely the last case I will write regarding Sherlock Holmes, it seems both right and appropriate that I finally set the record straight on some of the aspects of my time with Holmes that have either been omitted or passed over in all my previous narratives. While this is not a confession, it does seem like some editorial candor is in order at last. It is a level of honesty that might shed additional light on my working relationship with Holmes, while also making some of the elements of this case more understandable.
It should be very clear to most of my readers by now that while Holmes and I lived together for years, and I was privileged to help him on numerous cases, there were numerous striking differences between us. Many people, those we knew and associated with, and countless readers as well, were puzzled as to how Holmes and I managed to not only live together, but actually thrive in the same space. The answer is quite simple. We were both very private people with markedly different personalities and interests. We decided very early on in our relationship that we would mutually honor each other's space, lives, and privacy. Holmes in particular was rather insular and very much preferred to keep his personal life and affairs to himself. That is why it took years for me to discover some basic facts about his past including his childhood, upbringing, his parents and even that he had an older brother who lived and worked in London. Holmes did not offer information, and I did not ask. In turn, Holmes did not pry into my personal affairs - at least not in any way that I was able to tell. Over time, I slowly became aware that Holmes knew and was able to deduce far more about my life and history than I was about his, but he never went out of his way to openly pry or intrude. That which Holmes knew he was able to learn simply through observation or from the context of things we would talk about in passing. I did not begrudge what he was able to learn. In fact, I was surprised at how much he left alone, especially considering how much he could have deduced had he put his mind to it. A deliberately cultivated and respectful distance was one of the cornerstones of our relationship. It allowed us mutual toleration while allowing each of us the benefits of companionship when we felt the need for it, solitude as necessary, and the reasonable friendship that developed over time. The friendship then developed further through shared experiences, and shared confidences when we each finally offered more of our private selves to the other.
It's appropriate to clarify that Holmes and I spent a lot of time apart, perhaps more than my narrative of past cases would indicate. Most of those cases chronicled our times obviously spent together but beyond those cases, we spent large parts of our daily lives apart. Once I became reestablished as a practicing physician, most of my waking time was spent in the countless daily activities of a medical man. Even before I established my own practice, I spent many days as a locum for numerous family practitioners across London while also putting in months at Bart's hospital, and several other London medical institutions. Capable doctors with significant experience and a cool head were in considerable demand. Once my war wounds were sufficiently healed and my confidence returned, I never had to search too long to find employment, even if it was not always ideal. If anything, my time in Afghanistan gave me hard-won skills and medical insight that many of my peers lacked - especially pertaining to significant injuries and overwrought patients. Cases that might overwhelm other doctors were quite routine for me. Once you have successfully treated wounded men while under fire, the majority of 'the daily worst" of London's hospitals appeared quite tame.
Outside of my daily medical practice, I had a considerable range of activities that took my spare time and numerous places to spend that time. I spent several nights a week at my club where I socialized with army veterans of all ages from wars past and present. When I wasn't at my club, I often went to local pubs near Bart's or the hospital where I was working. Usually, these establishments were frequented by doctors, and other medical practitioners and administrators whom I considered colleagues. When the weather permitted, I attended rugby, football, and racing events. While it is true that I sometimes lost my money gambling on horses or matches, I often came out ahead. As I grew older (and wiser in my betting choices) my odds improved considerably. I even became known as a somewhat canny member of the betting community - someone who won far more often than they lost. While I never won enough to live on, usually because I was savvy enough not to bet too much, my winnings became far more of a long-term asset rather than the embarrassing short-lived liabilities of my earlier days.
While I deliberately left much of my professional and personal history out of our narratives, my omissions about myself pale in comparison to what I omitted about my friend and roommate. Holmes has always been far more private than I ever was. As a prerequisite for writing any of his cases at all, I made it clear to Holmes that I would leave as much of his personal and private affairs out of all stories as possible. It is only now at the last, with Holmes long retired, that I feel able to provide a little bit more background and context.
It should be obvious by now to anyone who has read at least a few of my stories, that Holmes is, and was always, first and foremost a problem solver. Holmes is a person who gets his greatest satisfaction from finding a solution to a difficult issue. Holmes always had an active mind. When not solving a crime, he would be busy doing research: research on anything. Music history and theory, archaeology and ancient history, languages past and present, architecture, and natural phenomenon were all lifelong passions and areas of considerable investment in time and effort. For all the many areas where Holmes focused his energies, he produced monographs. Some were small and written to preserve what he had learned, not meant for publication. Others were significant academic treatises, well organized and superbly presented. By the time of the Great War, Holmes had almost 20 major monographs published, not including his much larger work on beekeeping. It is an indication of Holmes' sense of privacy that he rarely talked about his publications except to experts in each of the areas of research. It was always a bit embarrassing for me when Holmes would publicly insist that, "Watson is the writer, not me." Yet, we both knew he had very considerable writing skills and successes of his own.
Of all the areas where Holmes focused his time and attention after criminology and criminal cases, nothing else took as much time as chemistry. As faithful followers of all my narratives well know, I first met Holmes in the chemical laboratory at St. Bartholemew's Hospital (Barts) where he was conducting a sophisticated experiment to identify small traces of blood. Readers will also know that Holmes frequently conducted chemical experiments at our rooms at 221B Baker Street. His experiments were often long, complex, noxious, and occasionally dangerous - to the great annoyance of both me, and our dear long-suffering, ever-patient landlady, Mrs. Martha Hudson. What isn't so well known is how extensive Holmes' skills and experience were, or how much time he spent doing research - both practical and highly academic. It's fair to say that if Holmes had not been a detective, he would likely have had a fulfilling career as a research chemist, especially in the areas of biological, organic, and medical chemistry. His skills and insights, even at a very young age, were considerable. More to the point, he never stopped learning and applying what he learned, often in ways that were highly innovative, verging on genius.
Holmes spent far more time engaged in chemistry studies and actual analysis than I ever stated in my narratives. In fact, most of the chemical analysis Holmes did at Baker Street was only for answering immediate questions surrounding current activities and ongoing cases. The rest of Holmes' work required far more elaborate equipment and safety measures than Baker Street, or Mrs. Hudson would allow. Very early on, even before our association, Holmes had ongoing permission to conduct some of his research at Bart's, Charring Cross, and other London hospitals. In his early years he paid for the right to conduct experiments and research. Later, as his fame and reputation grew, lab space was willingly offered - especially when Holmes became known for lending his skills to students and researchers alike. What is not well known is that Holmes often supplemented his income in his early years, before his detective practice was well established, by helping other chemists in their research. He became a long-established, later revered, member of the research team at Blakes' Brothers Research Labs. When we first roomed together, I made a few quips to Holmes about, "3B's," (begging at Barts or Blakes,) which were poorly received. Later, as Holmes' skill and reputation grew not only did his access to Bart's and Blakes' Brothers increase, but he gained access to Middlesex and King's College Hospital labs as well as full rights to the laboratory at Scotland Yard.
Over the years, ongoing chemical research labs helped Holmes pay his bills. For all his fame, he often did not make enough money to cover his rather expensive tastes in entertainment, restaurants, and clothing. He also needed to pay rent to keep three separate bolt holes scattered across London. It was years before I learned that such locations even existed - let alone learned where they were. After learning of these places, I promised Holmes I would never even hint of their existence in any of my writing. These small hidden locations provided safety, a place to hide, rest, or change disguises. They were the reasons Holmes could be gone several days at a time during an investigation, only to reappear fresh, restored and often wearing clothes or disguises I had never seen before. In time, even I used these locations on rare occasions to regroup, or to meet up with Holmes secretly, particularly during those times when we knew our flat in Baker Street was under observation. His bolt holes saved his life on at least nine occasions I know of, and once saved me from the clutches of a criminal gang which pursued me halfway across London. They were an expensive but necessary part of doing business.
In several cases, I noted that frequently changing years, names, and locations was necessary to preserve privacy or secrets of a sensitive, national, or political nature. Another feature I frequently modified is Holmes' timing and event sequences. Readers of my narratives may believe that Holmes only worked on one or two cases at a time, bringing them swiftly and expeditiously to successful conclusions. This is not an accurate reflection of events. In truth, Holmes often juggled numerous open cases, shifting between them with a rather breathtaking speed and efficiency. It was common for him to balance the needs of five or six open cases. I once saw him working nine open cases at once: all of them were solved successfully. Balancing the needs of several open cases was just the logical thing to do. Many cases needed time to mature, or events to repeat themselves. Telegrams needed sending, people needed monitoring, or clues needed time to manifest. While such things simply reflected reality, they make for muddled, confusing narration. Even for me, who became used to watching Holmes pursue five cases at once, it was often a bit overwhelming to keep the details of each case separate and clear in my own mind, and in my notes. Both Holmes brothers had astonishing memories and could not only recall complex details easily, but they could also sequence many different events and activities simultaneously. While Holmes did keep notes, the vast majority of all the ongoing, day to day complexity was carried around in his mind.
Of all the many things I kept mostly to myself over the years about Holmes, nothing is as significant as the nature of the man, and how he behaved. Holmes' deep sense of justice, morality, and fair play, as well as his conviction that wrong should be addressed, and the weak and the powerless should not be taken advantage of, caused him to take far more cases for free - or for significantly reduced fees. I frequently have mentioned that Holmes told his clients that he worked for fixed fees unless, "I choose to remit them altogether." But what almost nobody knew, except for myself, Microsoft, Lestrade, Gregson, and Mrs. Hudson, was that Holmes remitted his fees for almost all of his poor clients - and he had a lot of them! Even when Holmes became far more famous, it was entirely possible that he would be working on a case of national importance, attempting to locate a stolen valuable for a high peer, and restoring the reputation of a scullery maid, all at the same time- often with the maid's case getting more effort and attention. This frequent turn of events would puzzle the inspectors of Scotland Yard while exasperating Mycroft Holmes, often driving Mycroft to heights of anger. Mycroft believed that Holmes spent far too much of his time wasting his talents when he should have been focusing his gifts on issues of national or international importance. He believed that once Sherlock had learned and honed his craft, there was no need or value in giving away his services for free. If the elder Holmes had his way, Sherlock would have long ago come to work with Mycroft at the Foreign Office on issues of international significance, or as a special investigator for the crown - perhaps a service director at Special Branch. Sherlock's insistence on remaining first and foremost a champion of justice, with a focus on the complex, odd, compelling and outré gave the elder Holmes fits. This difference in values and career choices became the primary disagreement between the two brothers and kept them at a cooler distance than would be expected for two brothers only a few years apart, and living in the same city.
A profound sense of justice, the pursuit of resolution for the powerless, a drive to set the wrong to right, these characteristics in Holmes were what made him so very admirable, perhaps even more than his extraordinary skills in observation and deduction. I wrote often of Holmes' aversion to emotion, especially when it came to the rational scientific process of deductive analysis. While it is true he kept emotions at a long arm's length, it doesn't mean he didn't have any, or that he could not feel. Holmes possessed a coolly logical mind but also a compassionate one, often profoundly so.
In the narrative that follows, I saw my friend reach great heights of deductive skill, but also face the darkest forces of evil we had ever known. It was only his patient perseverance, driven by his powerful sense of morality and justice that saw both of us through to the end.
Holmes' greatest success, or his most terrible failure? I have my opinion as the one who went through it with him from the beginning. Still, it's up to you to decide. By the time anyone else reads this narrative, both Holmes and I, along with everyone else we ever knew will be long gone. I dedicate this narrative to my dear, great friend, the best man I have ever known, and to the victims - powerless, voiceless, and lost, but not forgotten.
To the victims I say, "You may have suffered or even died but you were not abandoned. The greatest mind of our age fought for you. Wherever God in his infinite mercy has kept you, please know that your lives mattered and that ultimately there was a reckoning." Rest easy.
