The Secret Notebooks of Sherlock Holmes by June Thomson Read Free Book Online Page A

Lestrade of the accuracy of my theory but at last good sense prevailed and he agreed to fall in with my plans. Therefore, the next day, I made my own tour of inspection of the area in company with Lestrade, choosing the best places where he and his officers, six of them in plain clothes, might wait upon the events to come without making their presence known.
    ‘I should add, in Lestrade’s defence, that, once he had grown accustomed to my plan, he joined in it with enthusiasm; too much so at first and I had to persuade him that planting one of his men outside the jeweller’s shop disguised as a blind beggar was more likely to draw attention to the man than divert it. Like the stall-holders and the street traders in general, beggars have their regular pitches and for a stranger to arrive amongst them would have immediately aroused resentment as well as suspicion.
    ‘By six o’clock the following Saturday afternoon, the plain-clothes officers, suitably attired, were in place in the North End Road, mingling with the ordinary folk who were about their everyday business, like them looking in windows, going in and out of the shops, buying fruit and vegetables from the stalls, always keeping on the move as I had insisted but never straying too far from Mr Greenbaum’s premises.
    ‘Lestrade was among them, his sharp little eyes darting here, there and everywhere, anxious that all was going to plan, for his reputation at Scotland Yard depended on the success of this particular investigation, following his recent failure over the notorious Paddington Green murder case in which the killer had got clean away.
    ‘I, too, sauntered to and fro, watching for cabs arriving, for I guessed the Bartletts and Whitey Johnson would not travel by omnibus, a slow method of getting about. And I was right, one cab halted a little way upthe road and I saw Johnson emerge from it, carrying his crutch. Within moments, he had disappeared among the crowds.
    ‘The Bartletts arrived shortly afterwards and immediately the game was set in motion. Arm in arm, the two of them strolled towards Greenbaum’s shop, looking every inch a respectable couple, Rosie with her veil down, George wearing eye-glasses and the small brown moustache, his bowler hat set at a dignified angle. Pausing only to glance in through the window to ascertain the shop was empty of other customers, Bartlett pushed open the door and the pair of them entered to the discordant jangle of the bell above the lintel.
    ‘I had agreed with Lestrade that, as we had no evidence against the Bartletts with which to charge them, their arrest and that of Whitey Johnson, their accomplice, would not take place until after the robbery. In the meantime, one of his men, a sergeant in plain clothes, and I would take it in turns to walk nonchalantly past the shop and, by looking in, as if casually, through the glass panel in the door, would keep watch on the progress of the crime and would flourish a pocket handkerchief at the exact moment when Bartlett had seized up the rings and was ready to make his get-away. In the event, it was I who gave the signal.
    ‘As I glanced in during my second promenade past the door, I caught the scene for a moment, as if frozen in time like a tableau on a stage or a waxwork display atMadame Tussaud’s 8 depicting Larceny or The Criminal Caught in the Act. There was Mr Greenbaum, an inoffensive, white-haired little man reeling back from his counter, his features conveying shock as vividly as those of a Greek theatrical mask. There was Rosie Bartlett raising one black-gloved hand dramatically to her forehead as if on the point of losing consciousness. And to complete the trio, there was George Bartlett scooping up the velvet cloth on which the rings were laid out on the counter as he prepared to make his escape.
    ‘Not wishing to impede him, for it was imperative to let him pass the stolen jewellery to his accomplice Whitey Johnson, so that he, too, could be gathered into