The Detective and the Woman Read Free Page A

complained of stomach discomfort and went to bed. I was relieved because he did not insist that I accompany him. I ate a relatively pleasant dinner under the eyes of the servants and went to my room to allow my maid to undress me for the night. Before she could do so, Godfrey’s valet came rushing to the door to alert me that my husband was in unendurable pain and needed the doctor, who was immediately sent for. I went to Godfrey’s room and found him sweating profusely and swearing while clutching his chest. I was in a daze. It hardly seemed possible that a figure who held such terrible power in my mind could be lying powerless against some invisible malady. Wild thoughts of murder rushed through my brain, thoughts of the ease of doing away with him in such a weakened condition, but I stood and stared at him as they came and then passed like cooling firebrands. The doctor arrived from the village an hour later and pronounced Godfrey’s condition serious. He gave him something for the pain, but that was all he was able to do. My husband died later that night, at about midnight. His death was attributed to heart failure, and the inquest was conducted quickly and seamlessly.’
    ‘I was free, Holmes, and the law guaranteed me the return of my money. In the three years we were married, Godfrey had been so concerned about house and grounds that he had been scrupulously careful with my fortune. Had he wished, he could have taken action, I know, to connect the money to the estate more firmly, but he was so convinced of his own ability to manage every detail that he had not yet done so.’
    ‘I was tempted to fly immediately, as I think you can imagine, but I maintained an appearance of genteel mourning until all the legal steps were completed. Once my solicitor, James Barnett, assured me that my money was again my own, I arranged to travel to America. Music has been the one friend who never betrayed me, so I took it up again. Singing was my livelihood in the past, but I saw no reason why I could not return to it for different reasons. I planned my life very differently, Holmes, but this is what I have left, a voice and a fortune.’ I could not help the slightly bitter note that crept into my voice near the end, but I supposed he expected it. He had helped too many unfortunate women to be unaware of the usual results.
    ‘There you have it, Holmes,’ I finished, sitting back in my uncomfortable chair and looking at him full-on, my eyes challenging him to betray his inner thoughts. He gradually roused from his apparent torpor and sat up straight, his eyes meeting mine without judgement or comment.
    ‘Thank you, Irene,’ he finally intoned, sounding slightly awkward over my name. ‘I had surmised the greater part of your circumstances correctly, but your narrative has supplied key details of which I was otherwise unaware.’ He stared at me for a moment, his eyes curiously bright. ‘It is not my usual practice to disclose my methods to anyone except Dr Watson during a case, but I am confident that in you I have a listener who will be able to ascertain and comprehend what I say. In short, Irene, I hope that by the end of my tale, we will be allies.’ His eyes presented a challenge as open as mine had been.
    ‘That is a somewhat extraordinary hope, Holmes,’ I shot back, ‘considering our previous interactions.’
    ‘Not at all,’ he returned, with the ghost of a twinkle in his eye. ‘It is merely a logical assumption.’ I smiled at him, unable to stop myself, remembering the night I had dared to greet him in the street while dressed like a boy—an unnecessary greeting for an extraordinary man, a man who had been entirely impossible to ignore. Three years had changed me a great deal but seemed to have changed him not at all.

Chapter 2: Holmes
    Irene Adler was an unusual woman. That was hardly necessary to consider. Holmes had been aware of it since the moment he’d recognised her as the successful mastermind of his