Young Sherlock Holmes: Knife Edge Read Free Page B

away from the harbour, and into the town, Sherlock asked: ‘How exactly did you know when the
Gloria Scott
would be arriving in Galway? And if it comes to
that how did you know that it
would
be arriving in Galway? There are other ports where we might have docked.’
    ‘Ah.’ Mycroft shifted uncomfortably. ‘You have, as is your wont, arrived straight at the heart of the issue. There is a job here that I need to do, and I need your help to do
it.’

CHAPTER TWO
    Galway was a small town with plenty of character. As the carriage clattered along the winding cobbled streets, past shop fronts and taverns, past women in shawls and men in
rough corduroy jackets and flat caps, Sherlock kept having to remind himself that he was home – well, nearly home – and not in some far-flung foreign port.
    Mycroft was silent for a while after his admission.He seemed to be avoiding Sherlock’s gaze, and instead stared out of the carriage window with a pensive expression on his face.
    ‘I must confess,’ he said eventually, ‘that I have not told you the entire story.’
    ‘You surprise me,’ Sherlock murmured. He had already worked out that there was more to Mycroft’s presence in Galway than his brother had revealed.
    Mycroft glanced at him witha raised eyebrow. ‘What exactly do you mean?’
    ‘You once told me that you rarely do anything for only the one reason. You consider it lazy and wasteful of time and of resources.’ Sherlock gazed at his brother, who was attempting
to keep a fixed expression of supercilious amusement on his face and failing. ‘I know that you hate travel, and that you hate having your normal routine disturbed.I would have expected you
to send someone else to meet me – perhaps Rufus Stone.’ He paused, considering. ‘In fact, now that I come to think of it, Galway is not a port I would normally have expected the
Gloria Scott
to visit. I recall that we were originally scheduled to make landfall in Liverpool, but the Captain’s plans changed. In fact, I remember that he had a visitor, an
Englishman,when we docked at Cadiz. They had a meeting in the Captain’s cabin. Shortly after that he said that we would be changing our itinerary.’ Sherlock felt a small bud of anger
begin to unfold in his chest. ‘Mycroft, did you ask the Captain to change his course and call in at Galway just because you had other business in Ireland, in this town, and it was
convenient
for you to combine your triphere with meeting me and checking that I was all right?’
    Mycroft stared at Sherlock for a few moments without speaking, and then said: ‘Well done. I see your mental faculties have not withered to compensate for the obvious over-development of
your body. Yes, I have known for a while now that there was . . . let us say an
event
. . . in this area that I would be obliged to attend at thistime. I had been tracking the course of
the
Gloria Scott
homeward by means of various agents I have in ports around the world, and predicted that you would arrive in England at roughly the same time that I had to be in Ireland.
I cabled one of my agents and told him to meet with the
Gloria Scott
when it broke its journey in Cadiz and talk with Captain Tollaway. He offered the Captain . . .well, let us say a
small but not insignificant amount of money to change his plans slightly, to dock here, in Galway, and to try to arrange things so as to arrive here at a particular time.’ He raised an
eyebrow at Sherlock’s expression. ‘You are angry, I perceive.’
    ‘Yes, I’m angry.’ Sherlock tore his gaze away from his brother and stared out of the window. ‘I thought for a little whilethat you had made the effort to come all this
way on my behalf, because you had missed me, not because I could be moved around like a pawn on a chessboard because it suited you.’
    ‘I confess,’ Mycroft said heavily, ‘that I did not take your feelings into account when I made my plans. That was a mistake. I am sorry. Please accept