Hello guys,
Here is the eighth episode of our story, retold by Anne Collins.
Enjoy!
Episode 8: The Murderer is Caught
A man was coming up the path. He was tall and handsome, with
a large, black beard. The front doorbell rang loudly.
‘Hide behind the door,’ said Holmes quietly. ‘This man is
very dangerous and we must be careful.’
We waited in silence and the man stepped into the room. At once,
Holmes put a gun against his head and Inspector Martin put handcuffs on his
wrists.
‘The man looked at us. His black eyes looked angry.
‘I receive a note from Mrs Cubitt,’ he said. ‘Where is she?’
‘Mrs Cubitt is badly injured,’ replied Holmes. ‘Her life is
in great danger.’
The man cried out he sat down on a chair and put his face in
his hands.
‘I didn’t know she was injured,’ he said. ‘I shot her husband
when he tried to kill me. But I would never injure Elsie. I love her more than
anything in the world.’
Suddenly the man looked up.
‘Wait,’ he said. ‘If Elsie is badly injured, who wrote this?’
He opened his hands and threw a note onto the table.
‘I wrote it, to make you come here,’ said Holmes.
‘You wrote it? But how could you know the meaning of the
dancing men?’
‘I worked out what the figures meant,’ replied Holmes. ‘But
now, tell us your story.’
‘All right,’ said the man. ‘If Elsie dies, it doesn’t matter
what happens to me.
‘My name is Abe Slaney and I’ve known Elsie since she was a
child. Her father was head of a gang of crooks in Chicago and I was a member of
the gang.
‘Elsie’s father thought of the secret writing of the dancing
men. The members of the gang used it to send messages to one another.
‘Elsie and I were engaged to be married. But Elsie hated her
father’s business and she didn’t want to be married to a criminal. So she ran
away to England. She met and married this Englishman, Hilton Cubitt.
‘I wrote to Elsie, but she didn’t answer my letters. In the
end, I came to England and stayed at Elrige’s Farm.
‘I knew Elsie understood the pictures of the dancing men. So
I left messages where she would see them. In the messages, I asked her to come
away with me. But her only answer was “Never”.
‘Then Elsie wrote me a letter. She said she would meet me at
three o’clock in the morning, when her husband was asleep.
‘She brought money with her. She offered me the money and
asked me to go away. I became angry and tried to pull her through the window.
‘Just then, her husband rushed in, carrying a gun at me and
missed. At the same moment, I shot at him and he fell down dead.
‘I ran across the garden. As I ran, I heard the window shut
behind me.
‘I have told you the truth, gentlemen. I didn’t know Elsie
was hurt. She must have shot herself after I left.
While Abe Stanley was talking, a carriage arrived with two
policemen in it. Inspector Martin turned to his prisoner.
‘It’s time for us to go, Slaney. Goodbye, Mr Holmes. I hope
I’ll work with you again one day.’
As the carriage drove away, I saw the note which Abe Slaney
had thrown on the table. This was what Holmes had written:
‘If you work it out, Watson,’ said Holmes, ‘you’ll find it
means: “Come here at once”.
‘I knew Abe Slaney would come when he read the note. He would
think Mrs Cubitt had written it.’
‘Well,’ I said, ‘criminals have used the dancing men to help
them in their crimes. But now the dancing men have been used to catch a
criminal.’
‘Yes,’ said Holmes. ‘The dancing men have finally done some
good.’
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