Young Sherlock Holmes_ Death Cloud - Andrew Lane [68]
The scale of buildings was immense compared with Farnham, Guildford and the other towns that Sherlock was used to. Many of them reached up five or six storeys. Several had columns supporting porticoes above their front doors and rows of sculptures along their rooflines, some obviously of human figures and others of mythical creatures with wings, horns and fangs.
Within a few moments they were heading across a bridge that spanned a wide river.
‘The Thames?’ Sherlock asked.
‘It is,’ Crowe agreed. ‘One of the most dirty, congested and evil rivers it has been my displeasure to experience.’
Clattering off the bridge on the other side of the river, the hansom made a few turns and ended up outside a long building constructed of orange stone. The driver hopped down and helped unload the bags. Three porters emerged from a rotating door at the front of the building and took the bags away.
Once inside the impressive lobby – white pillars with sculpted bases, a mosaic set into the ceiling and rose marble tiles on the floor – Amyus Crowe strode across to a long wooden desk.
‘Three rooms, for two nights,’ he said to the uniformed man behind the desk.
The man nodded. ‘Of course, sir,’ he said, reaching up to retrieve three keys from a board behind him. Turning back, he added, ‘Perhaps you would care to sign the guest book, sir.’
Crowe signed with a flourish, and the concierge handed him the keys. They were attached to large brass balls, probably so that they couldn’t be lost easily, Sherlock guessed.
‘Sherlock and Matthew, you will have one room,’ Crowe said, handing them a key. ‘Virginia will have a room to herself and I will have the third room. Your bags will be taken up to your rooms. Matthew, I suggest you and I head for somewhere we can get you some clothes and toiletries.’ He gazed critically at Matty. ‘And a haircut,’ he added. ‘Sherlock, Virginia – I suggest you take a walk outside. Turn right and walk to the end of the street, and you’ll find something that might interest you. Be back in an hour for lunch. If you get lost, ask someone to direct you back to the Sarbonnier Hotel.’
Taking Crowe at his word, Sherlock led Virginia outside and turned right. The two of them were immediately dragged along by the throng of people who were heading in the same direction. Worried that they might be separated, Sherlock reached out his hand to guide Virginia closer to him. Instead, her hand clasped his warm and soft, for a moment. His heart felt like it was beating twice as fast. He glanced at her, startled. She smiled back, uncharacteristically shy.
It only took a few minutes before they were at the end of the block of buildings. The road widened out into a vast open plaza which was dominated by a tall column which rose up from a central pedestal. For a moment Sherlock thought that a man was standing on top of the pillar, and his mind suddenly ricocheted back to Holmes Manor, and his uncle talking over dinner one night about the ascetic religious hermits who abandoned their lives and their families to live on top of poles, meditating on the nature of God and eating only what was thrown up to them by passers-by. A moment’s attention showed him that the figure on top of the column wasn’t a man, but a statue which had been carved to look as if it was wearing naval uniform.
‘Who is it?’ Virginia asked, entranced.
‘I think it’s Admiral Nelson,’ Sherlock replied. ‘Which makes this Trafalgar Square. It commemorates a famous naval victory in 1805.’
At the base of the pillar were two fountains whose spray glowed with all the colours of the rainbow in the bright sunlight. This was the heart of London. This was the central point of an Empire that stretched to the other side of the globe.
And somewhere nearby, Sherlock’s brother Mycroft was probably sitting at his desk, helping to run it.
They wandered around Trafalgar Square for a while, watching the people and looking at the fine buildings which lined the roads around, and then they headed back to the hotel. They were just in time: Amyus Crowe was standing in the