The two men chuckled, shrugged and told the steward to lead the way.
After warming myself by the fire, I found a secluded table where Holmes, Miss Norton and I could discuss the day’s events without being disturbed. It was not long before they walked in side by side. Neither appeared to be in the best of spirits.
‘Watson,’ said Holmes, draping his overcoat on an empty table and flopping down in a chair, ‘I hope that one day when this story can be told, you do not mention these long stretches of failure. My enquiries today were less than successful.’
‘And I would prefer that you kept my name out of it entirely,’ said Miss Norton. ‘This is not one of my better moments.’
Unlike me, Holmes and Miss Norton had changed and were wearing more comfortable attire — that is, assuming they had taken the time to dine.
‘I just ordered a brandy,’ I said. ‘But it appears that I should have ordered three. Please remember, we might have been more successful if we had not been interrupted by a political incident.’
I saw the steward and waved him over to our table.
‘Yes, sir, I will bring your brandy right away. And may I bring anything for the rest of you?’
The commodore and Miss Norton also asked for brandy.
‘With or without ice, sir?’
‘Without ice, by all means,’ said Holmes. ‘I am still shivering from being out on deck.’
Miss Norton nodded.
‘Very good,’ said the steward, before heading off in the direction of the bar.
‘Where have you two been all evening?’ I asked. ‘I have not seen hide nor hair of either of you.’
‘Miss Norton has been kind enough to keep an eye on our chief suspects, and came back with a very satisfactory report, I might add,’ said Holmes.
‘Did you not see me in the restaurant? I was there,’ Miss Norton smiled. ‘I assumed you must have been distracted.’
I ignored her remark and asked a question that had been gnawing at me since dinner.
‘Did you see the baron approach Moriarty on deck?’
‘I did.’
‘And where was the baroness at the time?’
‘I am uncertain. She was with the baron just before he ran off to catch up with Moriarty. Then she bustled off in the direction of the stairway. I decided it would be better to keep an eye on the two men.’
‘Following the baroness might have been more interesting,’ I replied. ‘Did you hear that Moriarty’s cabin was broken into this afternoon — at least that is what he said.’
‘I did,’ said Holmes. Miss Norton looked surprised. ‘I did not have an opportunity to tell you as we walked in, but I would say that Frau Von Stern is at least our chief suspect in this burglary, and perhaps your break-in as well, Watson.’
‘If she was looking for the plans, that means the Von Sterns do not have them,’ I said.
‘That would appear to be the most likely hypothesis, but still...’
Holmes was interrupted by the arrival of the steward carrying three glasses of brandy on a tray.
‘There you are, gentlemen, Miss. That should take the chill out of you.’
‘Let me give you something for your trouble... ‘ I reached into my jacket pocket for some change. Instead, I removed a few items of miniature furniture.
Holmes handed a few coins to the steward, who smiled and walked away.
‘What have you there, Watson? Are you planning new furniture for your flat?’
I laughed, and emptied the full contents of my pocket on to the table.
‘Tommy’s toys. I had forgotten all about them. I put them in my dinner jacket pocket in hope of returning them this evening.’
‘Tommy?’ said Holmes.
‘A small boy I befriended. Miss Norton has met him. He left these toys when he ran off to church. Incidentally, he is a great fan of yours. And listen to this – he asked to become a Baker Street Irregular. Can you imagine that? He could not believe that all the Irregulars were grown up now.’
‘Well, if I were not in the guise of Commodore Winter, I would introduce myself... But on to the matters at hand.’ Holmes examined the toy sofas, tables, cabinets and fireplace casually as he spoke. ‘As I mentioned earlier, my efforts were less than successful today. There is a sad lack of evidence on the disappearance of Mr Strickley. I tried questioning the crew and others who might have been witnesses, but that too produced dismal results. Tomorrow we must reassemble and...’
Holmes was staring intently at the toys on the table. He had arranged them in a pattern. It appeared to be a formal setting of some kind.
‘What is it, Holmes?’
‘Do you recognize it, Watson? Do you see it?’
‘See what, Holmes?’ Miss Norton appeared puzzled as well.
‘My God, Watson, look around you!’
I looked more closely and ventured a guess. ‘The smoking room? The furniture does look familiar, but...’
‘I tell you, Watson, if I am right about this, I will personally decorate your friend Tommy as the greatest Baker Street Irregular of them all.’
‘Finish your drinks quickly. We are going to take a trip down to the reception room.’
Miss Norton and I stared at each other in wonder. ‘The model of the
‘Locks can be opened,’ he said. ‘In fact, I would consider it to be highly likely that the late Mr Bishop had a key.’
‘Is not that a little far-fetched, Holmes? You think someone might have cleared out a section of the model and hidden the plans inside?’ asked Miss Norton.
‘If I am wrong, I will be duly embarrassed. But at the moment it is the best hypothesis we have.’
‘We will need a key, Holmes, and the captain is asleep.’
‘We will go down and take a look first. If it appears the thing has been tampered with, we may have to wake him up.’
‘I would hate to be the one to do it,’ I said. ‘Hell hath no fury like...’
At that moment, we felt a jarring motion and the toys began to move across the table. So did our brandy glasses. At the same time, there was a low, continuous noise, which could best be described as something between a whine and a roar. It went on for a nerve-wracking period of time. In fact, it was less than a minute.
‘What the devil was that!’ I shouted. Other passengers were looking excitedly about the room. Even the marathon card game was temporarily interrupted.
‘If we were not out in the middle of the Atlantic, I would say we had run aground,’ Miss Norton suggested. ‘You do not suppose something is wrong with the engines, do you?’
Holmes had risen from the table. ‘Let us go on deck.’ He appeared calm, but there was a distant, somewhat concerned look in his eyes.
We left the table and made our way quickly to the promenade deck on the starboard side of the ship. That is when we saw it. In the starlit night, a mighty tower of ice was visible directly behind the ship. Rising just above the boat deck, the iceberg did not appear to be particularly menacing. Yet we had clearly made contact, perhaps below the water. The three of us stood at the rail and watched the iceberg disappear from sight.
The few of us who had been on deck and had actually seen the iceberg became instant celebrities. Latecomers were eager to find out what had happened. We explained what we had seen. As I was pointing out the direction of the iceberg to an excited passenger I felt a hand tugging at my forearm.
‘There is no time for this now, Watson, we have work to do.’
Holmes, Miss Norton and I walked quickly along the deck to the forward end of the ship. As I glanced back to take another look at the gathering crowd, I found myself slipping on a solid object and falling backwards. Fortunately, Miss Norton caught my arm and I regained my balance.
Holmes, who was well ahead, stopped and looked around. He saw the white chunk of ice gliding forwards on the deck. Stopping it with his foot, he picked it up and walked back towards us.
