‘I’m frightened,’ she said.
He moved to join her at the window. They had to look up through the grille to see passers-by on the other side of the iron railings. People going about their business in the Temple, unaware of the pair in the basement room, let alone that they were discussing death.
‘Don’t be, my dear,’ he murmured. ‘Haven’t we discussed this endlessly? We reached an agreement.’
A hollow laugh. ‘Always the lawyer, darling! Any minute now you’ll threaten to sue for breach of contract.’
‘Please don’t make a joke of it, not at a moment like this.’ He clasped her arm. ‘Didn’t we explore every avenue? It’s hopeless, we both see that. There simply is no alternative.’
She expelled a long sigh. ‘I suppose you’re right.’
Outside, hooves clattered on the cobbles. A man with a braying voice hailed an acquaintance. The sun had slipped out from behind the clouds and in the outside world, life was going on as usual. Although not for everyone. A newspaper vendor repeated his hoarse cry.
‘Death of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle!’
He took her in his arms and kissed her. He felt her body trembling, but gradually she became still. When finally he moved away, she dabbed a tear from the corner of her eye and stared through the window at the stone steps leading up to the street.
Facing him on the shelf was a bulky tome. Archbold’s Pleading, Evidence & Practice in Criminal Cases. And now he was about to commit the ultimate crime. He shook his head, scarcely able to believe what he was about to do.
Opening the drawer in his desk, he took out the revolver. A Webley Mk IV, once the property of his father, who had fought in the Boer War. He’d loaded the bullets before her arrival. The bird’s head grip of moulded vulcanite felt comfortable in his hand. The gun was designed for emergency use, at close range.
Well, this was certainly an emergency.
‘You’re not having second thoughts?’ she asked in a small voice.
Fear had paralysed her. She couldn’t move even if she wanted to.
‘No,’ he said. ‘No second thoughts.’
He lifted the revolver and squeezed the trigger.