Young Sherlock Holmes_ Red Leech - Andrew Lane [84]
Balthassar laughed: a clear, high-pitched sound that made the cougars cringe backwards. ‘How very enterprising,’ he said. ‘I think I like you, Master Sherlock Scott Holmes. Not enough to keep you alive, but I do like you.’
‘Ain’t you goin’ to do anythin’ to him?’ the big man, Rubinek, demanded.
‘For that?’ Balthassar asked. ‘No. If they were stupid enough to let a child get the better of them then good riddance. They have saved me the trouble of dealing with them myself. No, young Master Sherlock here will not see the sunset, but not because he thinned the ranks of my servants. No, he and his friends will die because I have no use for them here.’
Silence fell across the veranda.
‘So,’ Balthassar said quietly after a few moments, ‘now that we have all become acquainted, and now that you’re comfortable and you have refreshments, please be so good as to tell me how much the authorities know about my plans.’
‘We don’t know anything,’ Sherlock replied.
‘You are wrong on two counts,’ Balthassar said. ‘On the first count, you obviously know something, as you have managed to interfere with my schedules and kill two of my staff. Children don’t usually stumble into something this big, or if they do they back away very quickly. You, as I understand it, were first seen in the house in England where Mr Booth was being . . . kept safe. That, at least, is where Mr Ives and Dr Berle first saw you. The question is, why were you at the house in the first place? Were you there by accident, or were you looking for Mr Booth?’
Sherlock opened his mouth to say something, but Balthassar gestured to him to keep quiet.
‘On the second count,’ he continued in the same level, pleasant tone of voice, ‘it doesn’t matter what you know. The matter is of no interest to me. I have you all here, and none of you will escape. Within the next few hours, you will all die, and your knowledge will die with you. That I promise. No, the only important question is, what is known by the girl’s father, Amyus Crowe, and what is known by the authorities in England and here, in America?’ He paused, and turned the porcelain mask towards Sherlock. ‘Tell me, and tell me now, before I lose my patience.’
Despite the hot sun shining out of a cloudless blue sky, Sherlock felt a cold breeze blow across the veranda.
‘If you’re going to kill us anyway,’ Sherlock said carefully, ‘then why should we tell you anything? It’s not like telling you is going to save our lives. You’ve already said it’s not.’
‘A good point, well made,’ Balthassar conceded. ‘This country is built on the principles of trade and negotiation. Very well; let me make you an offer.’
He turned the porcelain mask towards Virginia. ‘Please, extend your hand,’ he said.
Virginia glanced at Sherlock, panic in her eyes. He didn’t know what she should do: obey Balthassar or ignore him? Sherlock didn’t know what the outcome of either action would be. Despite his pleasant exterior, Balthassar seemed to be walking on a knife-edge between civility and madness.
‘How tedious,’ Balthassar said. ‘Mr Rubinek?’
Rubinek leaned across from his chair and grabbed hold of Virginia’s wrist, stretching her arm out straight and letting her hand point towards Balthassar.
‘Excellent,’ Balthassar said. He spoke a few guttural words in a language that Sherlock couldn’t identify.
One of the cougars stood up and padded across to Virginia, skin sliding smoothly over slabs of muscle as it moved. She froze: breath suspended.
The cougar opened its mouth and stretched its neck out until Virginia’s hand was inside its mouth. Rubinek let go and moved back into his chair. The big cat closed its mouth until its teeth were pressing into the flesh of Virginia’s wrist.
‘One of two things will happen now,’ Balthassar said conversationally. ‘Either you will tell me what I want to know or my cougar will bite the girl’s hand off.’ The porcelain mask remained impassive, but Sherlock could sense a smile behind its smooth surface. ‘His name is Sherman, by the way. The other one is called Grant. My little joke.’
Virginia’s eyes were fixed on