Young Sherlock Holmes_ Fire Storm - Andrew Lane [58]
‘Burke and Hare killed a woman in their lodging house named Marjory Docherty, but until they could get rid of the body they hid it under a bed. There was lodgers there, an’ they got suspicious. When Burke was out of the way they checked his room, an’ they found her. So they called the peelers. Burke and Hare got the body out of the house before the peelers turned up, but they took it to Dr Knox’s place, where the peelers found it later. Hare turned Queen’s evidence and testified against Burke in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Burke was hanged, an’ his body was publicly dissected at the Edinburgh Medical College – perfectly legally, of course.’
‘And what happened to Hare?’
‘Vanished. Never heard of again.’
‘So he might still be here, in the city?’
Matty nodded as he opened his bedroom door. ‘Might well be, although it’s more likely that he went back to Ireland.’
The next morning there was still no word from Rufus Stone. Disconsolate, Sherlock and Matty ate a breakfast of oat porridge served by a silent maid. It was so thick that Sherlock could have cut it into slices with a knife, and it looked like pigswill, but it was surprisingly tasty, and filling as well.
‘What’s the plan?’ Matty asked.
‘I’m going to find a bookshop or a library,’ Sherlock replied. ‘I need a map of the city, and I need to find out more about the place. I feel lost here. I can’t find my bearings. Why don’t you go and check the places you used to know, see if there’s anyone who remembers you and can help us. We’re going to need all the help we can get.’ He paused for a second, thinking. ‘That park, up the street from the hotel – let’s meet just inside the front gates at midday.’
‘I ain’t got a watch,’ Matty pointed out.
‘Then ask someone.’
Having finished their porridge, they said their goodbyes and went out into the street.
Sherlock found a library a little way along the main thoroughfare. Inside, the dry smell of the books was comforting. It reminded him of Uncle Sherrinford’s library. He always felt at home with books. Moving to the section devoted to Scotland, he pulled an armful of volumes off the shelf and settled at a nearby table to read.
Within an hour he had a much better idea of the geography and the history of Edinburgh, and its place within the wider history of Scotland. The town was built on seven hills, he discovered, which he supposed would explain the fact that every direction seemed to be either uphill or down.
After a while the close black print started blurring as he tried to read it. He closed the book and shut his eyes for a moment. The problem was, he thought, that the kind of information he wanted wasn’t the kind that went in reference books. Where did people go in Edinburgh when they were on the run? How did they avoid detection when someone was looking for them? Who was in charge of the local criminal fraternity, and were they more likely to help a person on the run or the people chasing them?These were the kind of things that Matty was more likely to find out from his contacts, but unless it was written down and kept up to date then it was the kind of information that would just slip away. Sherlock decided that he needed to write down all the little snippets and facts that he or Matty unearthed along the way. Maybe if he kept them on file cards then he could access them the next time he needed them.
A sudden, disturbing thought struck him, and he shivered. What he was proposing wasn’t that different from what Josh Harkness had done – collect information on dubious and illegal activity and keep it. The only real distinction was that Sherlock wouldn’t be using it for profit.
He checked the watch that usually hung from a chain on his waistcoat. It was half past eleven. Time to start thinking about meeting Matty.
As he returned the books to their shelves he noticed that there were maps of Edinburgh for sale at the front desk for sixpence. He bought one and took it back to the table where he had been reading to open it. His gaze scanned quickly across the details: the shape of the city and in