Chapter 37

Lestrade: “Have you found out anything?”

Holmes: “I have found out everything!”

Lestrade: “And the criminal?”

Holmes scribbled a few words upon the back of one of his visiting cards and threw it over to Lestrade.

“That is the name,” he said.

“I should prefer that you do not mention my name at all in connection with this case,”

-Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Cardboard Box

There was a tap on the door and one of the nurses stuck her head in to ask how things were going. Tom, we explained, had calmed down and was in the washroom. She seemed satisfied and left, saying she’d check in again shortly. If Tom was set on leaving, we were going to have to get around those nurses who were watching him like hawks.

“I shouldn’t have brought him any clothes,” Debra bemoaned as she turned on her i-pad and pulled out some manila file folders from a bag. We could hear Tom thumping about, struggling into his clothes. At least he hadn’t hit the floor yet.

“We are going to find out who he named,” Tom announced as he finally emerged from the bathroom fully dressed. He’d shaved and combed his hair, but he looked exhausted and drawn from his exertions. He sat on the bed, looking around for his loafers. I retrieved them from the wall locker.

“Tom, have you considered that the Grange diary might be a fake? Maybe somebody planted it for you to find?”

“Why is it DD that the first thing you think of is faking?”

“I...”

“No. Don’t answer. That was a rhetorical question. Of course that’s possible, but highly improbable. I immediately checked the handwriting against other documents they have on file that he’s known to have written. It’s genuine.”

“Well, I know your skills there, so I’m sure you’re right.”

“It’s an interesting diary that only he would have been able to write, “ he said. “It’s what I’d call an acquisitions diary. He used it to record all the things he collected, the facts surrounding them and his impressions. It offers amazing insights into the mind of an incurable collector. I believe in itself it will be worth a lot.”

“How did you tumble to it?” Debra asked.

“That’s another point against it being a fake,” Tom continued. “The diary was well hidden. The estate people must have gone over that desk and didn’t find it. In fact they told me they did find two secret drawers and didn’t look for more because they didn’t expect more.”

“So if it’s not fake, then Doyle did write something about the Ripper murders,” Debra said.

“Yes. And what’s really important,” Tom interjected, “is that he didn’t make the name of the Ripper public. Why did he keep it a secret? This is a tantalizing clue. There are thousands of Sherlock Holmes associations around the world who believe that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a man who wouldn’t have done something like that.”

“Doesn’t his tombstone read:

“STEEL TRUE - BLADE STRAIGHT - KNIGHT, PATRIOT, PHYSICIAN & MAN OF LETTERS”

or something like that?” I asked.

“That’s it exactly,” Tom nodded. “A gentleman and a scholar and greatly admired for it. And any fan of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is bound to believe that if he knew the identity of the Ripper, he would have revealed it.”

“Except he apparently didn’t,” I added.

“And there’s exactly the point,” Tom said. “He must have had a reason not to, and we can only hope that it’s recorded in the Grange diary and Doyle’s notes.

“I was doing research last night on the police involved in the case. Debra, I sent you my notes. I’m convinced that the top police in the case all knew who it was, and there was a conspiracy among them to keep it secret.”

“But why?” Debra asked.

“Think about it and read over what the police say,” I responded. “The Ripper couldn’t have been some low class thug and murderer. The police would never conspire to keep the name of someone like that quiet. No, they were protecting someone much higher up, someone worthy of a conspiracy. But practically none of the named suspects rises to that level.”

“Well, yes and maybe,” Tom replied. “Let me start from the beginning. DD, you are right about so many people wondering why Doyle never got publicly involved in the Ripper case. It is a fact that the police sought his help on other cases, several of which he solved. So why didn’t he get involved in the most famous case of his time? Believe me, that question is one reason why I bid so low on appraising the Grange estate. I knew old Grange had been a Doyle fan and had collected a lot of his stuff. I hoped to find something new.”

“You sure hit the mother lode,” Debra commented.

Tom had gotten his shoes on. He looked worn out. I was hoping he’d get back into the bed. He was in no condition to go chasing around. I played for time.

“If the Ripper was someone important,” Debra said, “that narrows our suspects.”

“What else did you find in Grange’s diary about this?” I asked Tom.

He clasped his hands, closed his eyes and frowned. “I wish you had read the diary, Debra, with your photographic memory. I only hope I can recall everything in order. Grange said that Doyle’s notes indicated he was given complete access to all the evidence the Metropolitan Police had on the case. This was after the Ripper attacks had stopped. According to Grange, it was Dr. Joseph Bell, the Scottish physician who Doyle used as the model for Sherlock Holmes, who got Doyle involved in the case.

“Grange wrote that Bell and Doyle reviewed all the police evidence in the case and afterwards each independently recorded the name of their suspect on a piece of paper and sealed it in an envelope. Here’s the thing. According to Grange, one of the envelopes was included with Doyle’s notes.”

“Wow. Did he say if it was Doyle’s envelope or Dr. Bell’s envelope?” I asked. “I’m guessing it was Bell’s because Grange wrote that the envelope was addressed to Doyle.”

All of this was fascinating. I felt like jumping up and down and totally understood now why Tom was so eager to find these notes before Philip Green did. But I still wanted Tom to get back into bed. I hoped that the longer we talked here in the room, the more Tom’s energy might flag.

Debra too was excited. “There’s a lot of handwritten stuff from Bell around. If we get our hands on that envelope, we could easily compare and verify Dr. Joseph Bell’s handwriting.”

Tom’s eyes were sparkling. Debra had fanned the flames.

“Did Doyle agree with Bell’s identification?” I asked.

Tom nodded. “Grange wrote that Doyle’s notes indicated they both named the same person. They agreed right down the line.”

I could see my delay strategy wasn’t working. Tom was tired, but he was also hyper-excited. He wasn’t going to get back into the bed.

“Tom, did Grange’s diary indicate that Doyle knew of some real evidence that directly linked a suspect to the murders?” I asked.

“Doyle listed some clues in the notes according to Grange,” Tom replied, his eyes sparkling. “He wrote that Doyle mentioned 10 clues. I remember one was a Royal Pardon, another was the witness descriptions, and another was the word ‘Lipski,’ and... , let me think... some others. Oh, yes, the Ripper letters, the bloodhounds, the second man, two Mary Kellys, and... I can’t remember anymore right now.”

“I’ll research those clues on the web and in the library and talk to my Ripperologist friend,” Debra promised. “There were, I know, some detailed eye-witness descriptions, and I’ll put those together.”

Tom started pacing back and forth. “These Doyle notes are incredibly important. We have to get on the road to the Haven right now DD. Phillip Green’s got a good start on us.”

I realized I couldn’t stall any longer. I decided to be graceful. “This is exciting. I’d rather stay here, but if you insist on going, I’ll take you. First though, we’ll have to distract the guard somehow.”

There was a long pause. Everyone looked at me.

“Debra,” I said, “here’s what you’re going to do.”