The Mammoth Book of New Sherlock Holmes Adventures - Mike Ashley [264]
Holmes turned to Lord Eversden. “Someone in this room killed Simeonov, but he is no murderer. The only murderer among your guests was Simeonov himself!”
Except for Mycroft, we all gasped with astonishment. Count Balinsky sat forward in his chair and his expression looked more hunted than ever. Leonticles looked paler than usual. Colonel Yusufoglu covered his face with his hands.
“Yes,” said Holmes, looking in turn at the Greek Consul, the Turkish Colonel and the Russian Count. “You know the truth of this. When Colonel Yusufoglu said that Count Balinsky knew the truth, he was speaking the truth, was he not Count?”
“You dare to accuse a member of the Czar’s Government of killing –” he began, rising to his feet.
“Control yourself, Count,” said Holmes, harshly. “No one has accused you of killing Simeonov. Your crime is far more diabolical.” The Count opened his mouth to reply, but all eyes turned towards him, and no sound came from his throat. He sat down, his face working.
“When the colonel said that Count Balinsky knew the truth, he meant that he knew that Simeonov was a murderer. Count Balinsky understood this very well, but preferred to pretend he did not, for reasons that will become clear presently. In fact, Simeonov was shot as he was about to commit another murder. His intended victim was ready for him and the tables were turned. The revolver lying on the ground was the one with which Simeonov intended to commit murder, not one that he drew out to defend himself.
“When I examined Simeonov’s belongings, I discovered a small box containing what appeared to be greeting cards. So they were – of a kind. I hope I will be forgiven for distracting attention by pretending to see something through the window, but it was necessary for me to extract them without being seen to do so. Each card had the letters vmro on it.” Holmes drew one out of his pocket and held it up. The letters were very large and were easily visible across the room. Holmes turned to Count Balinsky: “You recognize these symbols of the notorious Balkan anarchist organization with no name, do you not, Count? I imagine everyone else in this room does as well. However, only three people here present knew about Simeonov’s murderous past and of his membership of that organization. When Watson and I broke into Simeonov’s house, I discovered three other cards, each with the letters IMRO printed on it. Imro is a rival anarchist organization, bitterly opposed to the first. One card had the following written on it in Bulgarian: “Death is near. You have been warned.” My translation was kindly confirmed by Orman Pasha when I showed it to him yesterday. The card also bore the December date on which Simeonov was assaulted in the street. His would-be assassin on that occasion was a member of the opposing criminal group.
“Understanding this helped me to understand the rest. Baron Nopchka overheard Mr Leonticles urging Colonel Yusufoglu to act, but the colonel was urging restraint. The Baron was worried by this because he thought that Mr Leonticles may have been referring to a planned murder of Simeonov, but he was wrong. Mr Leonticles wished to expose Simeonov for the criminal he was, whereas the colonel was probably urging Mr Leonticles to wait until they were at a meeting in London, where the building would be guarded by policemen, making it difficult for Simeonov to escape once he was identified. Count Balinsky barged noisily into the room while the colonel was speaking, but it is my belief that he had overheard enough of the conversation to understand its significance. He then told Simeonov what he had heard and Simeonov determined to take matters into his own hands.
“It was Mr Leonticles who recognized Simeonov. He was in Thessaly when Colonel Yusufoglu was serving there as the Governor’s Deputy and they were both involved