‘Are you all right, Watson?’
‘Yes, I am not hurt. Is that what I slipped on?’
He handed it to me. ‘Indeed, here is a souvenir for you. A genuine piece of an iceberg. It must have fallen off when we made contact... Are you able to carry on?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then let us proceed. We must get down to that model.’
We returned to the interior warmth of the ship and walked down the main staircase until we reached the reception room on Saloon Deck D. The lights had been dimmed, but the room’s furnishings were still clearly visible. We could not see the model of the ship from the grand staircase. It was to the right, by a wall that surrounded the boiler casing below the first smokestack. I looked at the dining-room doors on either side of this partition, wondering whether anyone would enter unexpectedly.
Upon reaching the case, Holmes peered through the glass and examined the upper portions of the model in great detail.
‘I cannot tell anything from here. We will have to get inside.’
‘Shall I get the captain?’ I asked.
‘No,’ said Holmes, reaching inside his coat. ‘Let me try something else first.’
Holmes held a leather case in his hands. It was a case I had seen before while assisting Holmes on missions of questionable legality.
‘Your old burglary tools!’ I exclaimed. ‘I must say, you did come well prepared.’
Holmes selected one of several lock-picks from the case and poked it into the opening. ‘This one should do the trick. It is a relatively easy lock.’
Moments later, Holmes was lifting the glass lid from the case. He then reached inside and tugged at various portions of the model to determine where it might separate.
‘Do make haste, Mr Holmes,’ said Miss Norton. ‘Someone might come.’ We could hear, through the stairwell, voices and movement from the decks above. Passengers, who had been awakened by the encounter with the iceberg, were beginning to stir.
‘I am well aware of that. This should only take a...’ A long section of the boat deck came away in Holmes’s hand.
It was like opening a treasure chest. We all looked over the top of the case and peered inside.
‘My God, look!’ Miss Norton, who was not much taller than the case, was struggling to reach inside. ‘You were right, the plans! Thank God!’
‘Well, Watson, it looks like I will not be eating humble pie after all.’
‘I would not speak too soon, Commodore...or should I say, Mr Holmes?’ Baron and Baroness Von Stern were approaching us from the grand staircase. The baron was holding a gun.
‘Good evening, Baron,’ said Holmes. ‘Up a little late, are you not? I am afraid the dining room is closed.’
‘We are not looking for a midnight snack. My wife and I were following you. We had camped on deck, outside the smoking room and were about to retire for the night when the big iceberg passed...a magnificent sight, by the way. We saw you run outside, and then down along the deck.’
‘What have I always told you, Watson, persistence pays off.’ Holmes, while doing his best to appear calm, had raised his hands and was staring at the baron’s gun.
‘By the way, Miss Norton, I owe you my thanks,’ said Von Stern. ‘If you had not now mentioned Mr Holmes’s name, I never would have realized that I had defeated the great detective.’
‘Are you going to kill us?’ Miss Norton asked.
The baron appeared puzzled by the question, then glanced at his wife.
‘I am not sure. I suppose I had not really thought about that. Now, we cannot be having you go to the captain before we reach New York. Hmm, what do you say, my dear?’
‘I hear voices, Hans. Let us move into the dining room.’
‘I suppose that is a good idea. But first, Elisabeth, Miss Norton has something for us. Would you take the plans from her? And, my dear, please be careful not to walk into my line of fire.’
Miss Norton hesitated, then held out the plans. Frau Von Stern snatched them and walked back quickly behind her husband.
‘Scoundrel!’ said Miss Norton.
‘Scoundrel, you say? Need I remind you that the engineering principles that make your submarine possible were stolen from us by British spies. You did, however, seem to make some modifications that appear very interesting. We must take them back to Germany for more detailed examination.’
‘Hans!’
‘Yes, my dear, I know. Gentlemen, Miss Norton, would you please step inside the dining room. We will decide in there what to do with you.’
The baron waved his gun and I decided that we had no choice but to comply. As I opened the door, I looked at Holmes. I could see that his keen mind was looking for some method of overcoming our adversaries. But the baron was a trained agent. I did not think it likely that he would make a mistake.
The interior of the restaurant, like the lounge, was dimly lit. We stepped inside and moved back as the Von Sterns entered the room. The baroness closed the door behind her.
Von Stern looked around the room and pointed to a chair that was standing along the wall.
‘My dear, would you remove the small cushion from that chair and bring it to me? I think it is best that we deal with this problem in a prompt manner. But I do not want to make too much noise.’
I looked around and saw that a champagne bucket was resting on a nearby trolley. I began to reach for it, planning to make a desperate move to knock the gun from the baron’s hand. Much to my surprise, Holmes signalled me to stop.
‘What goes on here?’ said the baron. ‘Doctor Watson, I must insist that you keep your hands up. There is no point to your foolish bravado. I would have shot you before you had even reached that bucket.’
‘No, no, Baron,’ said a woman’s voice. ‘I am quite sure I would have shot you first. But let us not argue over trifles. Please drop your gun.’
Miss Storm-Fleming emerged from behind a post, to the baron’s right. She was holding a silver revolver.
‘Miss Storm-Fleming, you realize, of course, that I am pointing my gun at your friends. Surely you do not want to see them die.’
‘You won’t shoot, Von Stern. The moment your gun fires I will kill both you and your wife. And in case you did not know, I too am a trained marksman.’
The baroness, who had the cushion in her hand, suddenly threw it across the room in Miss Storm-Fleming’s direction. As it went sailing by, the baron began to turn. Miss Storm-Fleming’s eyes remained fixed on the baron. She fired her gun and the baron’s body was jolted back by the impact. He reached for his chest, looked back to his wife and fell to the floor.
‘Miss Storm-Fleming!’ I exclaimed. ‘I am very glad you arrived, although I am uncertain as to what is happening.’
‘Did I not tell you to trust me, Doctor Watson?’
Holmes smiled at Miss Storm-Fleming and delivered a cordial salute. He walked over to the baron’s body, pushed it with his foot, bending over to retrieve the gun.
Miss Norton lowered her hands. ‘This is astounding,’ she said, mopping her brow on her sleeve.
The baroness stood in shocked silence. Suddenly, she broke down in tears and ran to the body of her husband.
‘Hans, Hans, please, you cannot die!’
The baroness was on her knees, pulling at her husband’s shoulder, trying to turn the body face upwards. She stopped abruptly to take a handkerchief from her sleeve. The movement seemed awkward and the handkerchief appeared to shine. Miss Storm-Fleming fired again. The baroness crumpled forward, falling on her husband’s body.
Miss Storm-Fleming walked over to the lifeless couple. Kneeling down on one knee, she examined the two bodies. After reassuring herself that the Von Sterns were no longer a threat, she removed a derringer from the baroness’s hand and the submarine plans from her coat. She then got back to her feet and walked towards Miss Norton.
