The next morning I found myself in front of Radnor
House, the mansion of Lord William Radnor, who was more popularly known in
criminal circles as the Professor. The manor was situated on the top of a hill
in the outskirts of London. From the front gate, we could see the whole of
London below us.
“James-” I began.
“Please, call me Jim.” Said Moriarty.
“Jim, there is one thing that I don’t understand.
Why is it that the Professor did not kill you straight away? You see, the last
time someone talked to the Professor the way you did, it didn’t end well for
him.”
“Are you disappointed that the Professor didn’t kill
me?”
“No. Of course not! I just couldn’t help wondering.
I mean, why should he risk his reputation by giving a first timer a
‘contract’?”
.jpg)
“Maybe he didn’t think I would accept the challenge.
Or maybe he needed a replacement for Thomas Morton.”
I just couldn’t help laughing. Here is a guy who has
not yet committed a crime and he is comparing himself to the famous (or infamous,
depends on the way you look at it) Thomas Morton.
“Don’t kid yourself, Jim. If the Professor wanted to
replace Thomas Morton, he has enough candidates to fill that spot. Nobody
replaces a queen with a pawn.”
“If the pawn is ready to go the distance, then he
will one day become the all-powerful queen. Don’t forget that, my dear friend.”
“That’s not the point, Jim. I am beginning to wonder
if there is any client waiting for us in this mansion. You so the grounds,
didn’t you? The gardener was busy digging holes. I wonder if one of those holes
is for us. I mean no one would be willing to risk a client on a rookie like
you…unless he doesn’t care a penny for his client’s life.”
Just then we reached the front door. The butler
opened the door for us and led us into the drawing room. It was a spacious well
lit room.
“Good morning, Moriarty. I really didn’t expect to
see you today.” said the Professor as he entered the room. He seemed to be in a
jovial mood.
And then the Professor saw me. His smile vanished.
Clearly, I was an uninvited guest. It suddenly dawned to me that I might have
made a ‘grave’ mistake in accompanying Jim today. So grave, that I may end up
in the grave.
“This is my friend Sebastian Moran, sir.”
But the Professor was not pleased. How did I know?
Because I was staring at the wrong end of the Professor’s pistol. Actions speak
louder than words!
“Mr. Moriarty, I do not remember inviting this
gentleman to my manor. I know you very well, Moriarty. You have been working
with me for the past three years. That’s one of the reasons you are still
alive. But that doesn’t give you the right to bring every tramp and mole to my
manor. So I will give you one chance. Tell me all you know about this man.
Convince me why I shouldn’t pull this trigger right now. Or both of you will
not leave this room alive.”
I looked at Moriarty. He was staring at me as if he
was trying to deduce my past from my looks. I gulped. When did I decide to
become partners with this idiot? Twice in twelve hours I am at the wrong end of
a gun. Yesterday, Lady Luck was on my side. Moriarty had never killed a man in
his life. Therefore he was ready to offer me a chance. This fool made a foolish
offer and I was idiotic enough to fall for it. But today things were different.
The Professor had enough blood in his hands to put even Count Dracula to shame.
He had murder in his eyes. He wouldn’t flinch for one moment before he pulled
that trigger.
As for Moriarty, what the hell did he know about me?
He might have heard that I was good with guns. Nearly everyone in the Club knew
about my reputation as a hunter. But that’s all they knew about me. I hadn’t
told anything more to Jim and neither had he asked. So what was he going to say
to the Professor? That he had heard that I was good with guns and so brought me
along with him. This fool would get us both killed.
“Sir, I really don’t know much about Sebastian Moran
except that he is one of the greatest marksmen in London.” See, I told you that
fool would get us killed.
“Is that all you know about him? Some gossip? For
all I know, he could be a police informant. If you pick your partners with such
recklessness then you are a danger to me as well.”
The gun was
now aimed at Jim. For a moment, there was complete silence. Nobody moved. Then
finally Jim broke the silence.
“Well, I know a few other things. I do not know if
this is really important but he was born in London in 1840 as son of Sir
Augustus Moran, whom you may remember as the British Minister to Persia at the
time. Moran did his education in Eton and Oxford and then joined in the army.
He served in the Jowaki Campaign as well as in the Afghan Campaign. He rose to
the rank of Colonel in the 1st Bangalore Pioneers. He retired in
1879 and pursued his life as a hunter in the jungles of Hindusthan. He arrived
in London last year and has been a regular visitor of your Club for the past
few months. In between he has written two novels on his hunting experiences in
India.”
“How do I
know that what you say is true? I need proof?” said the Professor. But his grip
relaxed and a small smile was playing in his lips.
Jim checked his watch. Then said, “Sir, if you have
a contract for us, then introduce us to the client. I neither have the time nor
the interest to go through your silly tests. You know as well as me that the
person standing before you is Colonel Sebastian Moran.”
“What makes you think so, Mr. Moriarty?”
“For one, Mr. Moran is an open book. And two, if you
didn’t know him, then we would have been dead even before we set foot in this
room.”
“Good. I am impressed. I think our client will be
pleased to meet you.” So saying, the Professor left the room, leaving me once
again in the company of Jim.
Truth be told, I was dumbstruck. How the hell did he
know all these things? Very few people in London knew about me in such detail.
Here is a guy whom I just met yesterday and he stares at my face for a minute
and comes up with my biography. I really didn’t know what to say. I had heard
about a clever Inspector in Scotland Yard who could pull that trick. He could
tell the history of a person from minute facts which a normal person would
ignore. Now what was his name? Yes, I got it. Lestrade. (At the time I didn’t
know that Sherlock Holmes was behind all of that). Could this be Lestrade? Had
he gone undercover to capture the Professor? Of course not. Lestrade had just
solved a crime and was in the news all the time. He couldn’t be in two places
at the same time. But there were a lot of questions that were left unanswered.
How did Jim know all those personal details about me? What did the Professor
mean when he said that he and Jim had been co-workers for three years? And who
could be the client whose life the Professor was ready to risk? What had he
done to anger the Professor? And what the hell did Moriarty mean when he said I
was an open book?
No comments:
Post a Comment