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By Root 1034 0

had no father and was raised by women; as an adult he was badly injured, went into some sort of a coma, and came out with what he calls ‘the eternal stigmata of divinity.’ Damian was raised without a father, he was injured in the trenches, and the scars on his head might be considered Christ-like. The man in Testimony then went through a period of darkness before finding a ‘guide,’ who took his hand and showed him the way ahead. After Damian killed his fellow officer, he was sent to the mental hospital in Nantes; there he met André Breton, who introduced him to automatism. Damian's paintings and Testimony are both permeated with mythological elements, particularly the Norse god Woden. And, he has a self-portrait showing Holmes, Irene Adler, and himself with a sun, a moon, and a comet over their heads.

“Damian explains his art by saying that he became sane by embracing madness, finding beauty in obscenity. The book is both mad and obscene.

“Finally, there is the child's name. He and Yolanda named her Estelle, or star. Testimony makes much of stellar influence.”

“Possibly. On the other hand, Estelle was also the name of my mother. Our mother.”

I turned to stare at him. “Really? I never knew that. Would Damian have known?”

“One should have to ask Sherlock.”

And asking Sherlock would mean opening up this entire can of worms and setting it in front of him with a fork. Neither of us wished to do that without some kind of actual evidence.

We had crossed the Serpentine, where the good cheer of the crowd at the tea house made a mockery of what we were saying.

“What of evidence to the contrary?”

He was not about to admit that my damning list of links between Damian and the book was in any way evidence, certainly not for any court of law. Nonetheless, damning it was.

“First and foremost, it's nonsense. Intellectual trash. I can't think Damian's mind works that way.”

“Unless,” Mycroft said, playing devil's advocate, “the nonsensical nature of the writing is a deliberate choice, aimed at catching the imagination of a certain audience.”

“It's not just intellectual snobbery speaking when I say that it's deeply troubling, and frightening, to think that Holmes' son could produce such a thing.”

“So say the families of any of the world's spectacular murderers.”

“All right, what about this: Holmes has considered the possibility that Damian killed Yolanda, and rejected it.” Mycroft was silent, which constituted an agreement that this was a heavy weight on the side of innocence. “There is also the clothing Yolanda was wearing—an ugly frock, and shoes and silk stockings far too large for her. They were purchased by Millicent Dunworthy, under orders from someone, but there is no indication that she was making the purchase for Damian. In any case, he would have known the size of his wife's feet and the length of her legs.”

“Unless the clothing was intended to deflect suspicion, as well as raise a challenge to his father's intellect.”

There was no arguing with that.

He added, “There is also the possibility that Damian's involvement is secondary. That he plays a peripheral rôle in … whatever this is we are looking at.”

Nor with that.

“The author of that book,” I answered at last, “whoever he might be, is either a dangerous charlatan, or an even more dangerous psychopath.”

Mycroft said nothing: He was going to make me speak my thoughts to the end.

I went on. “In either case, he would strike one as both plausible and engaging.”

No response, which was the same as agreement. I took a deep breath.

“The question is, could Holmes be duped by such a person?”

“Any man may be duped, if he wishes to believe.”

This time, even a stranger would have heard the pain in his voice. I shook my head, more in denial than in disagreement.

“Yes,” he insisted. “Even my brother. The key to deceit is to find the weak point in one's target.”

“I've only spent a couple of hours in Damian's company, but I have to say, if he is the author of that book, I should look to madness, not duplicity. However—” I had to clear my throat before I could give voice