Kronberg Crimes 01 - The Devils Grin

observed me silently, and I realised he had come to decide whether I should be shot immediately or maybe a little later.
    While we waited for the tea, he said, ‘We learned a few things about you, Dr Kronberg. But there are gaps I’d like filled.’ He bent over me, grabbed my neck and pulled me up into a sitting position.
    Then, he commenced his speech. ‘You lived in London disguised as a male medical doctor for four years. You must have met Mr Holmes over the course of summer or autumn 1889, is that correct?’
    I nodded, knowing my face showed my shock.
    ‘A little more information would help extend your lifespan.’
    I cleared my throat. ‘I met Mr Holmes at Hampton Water Treatment Works in the summer of last year. A cholera victim had been found floating in the water and Scotland Yard wanted us to provide expert opinions. Mr Holmes saw through my disguise, but strangely decided not to report me to the police. The corpse bore signs of abduction and maltreatment, but the evidence was weak and the Yard did not think it worth investigating.’
    I looked up at him. He was waiting for me to continue. And so I did, weaving lies and facts into one, ‘There was very little to go on, and Mr Holmes soon lost interest in the case. Or so I thought. Meanwhile, I did research on tetanus at Guy’s and later visited Robert Koch’s laboratory in Berlin. I was able to obtain tetanus germs in pure culture; it was a sensation, and the papers reported it widely. You are aware of this, of course.’
    He tilted his head and I continued. ‘Only a few days later, Dr Gregory Stark invited me to give a presentation at Cambridge Medical School and I came into contact with all members of what Mr Holmes later called the Club .’
    ‘The Club ? How charming!’ He chuckled.
    ‘I knew it couldn’t have been Bowden,’ I said. ‘You were the man at the centre.’
    Holmes and I had believed that Dr Bowden was the head of the Club. Doubts about the importance of his role surfaced only at the very end of our investigation. But we could prove nothing and had no clue who the leader was. Until today.
    ‘I am merely a bystander, or assistant, so to speak.’
    ‘The assistant who pulls the strings?’
    ‘Perhaps,’ he said. I trembled as he bent closer yet again and pulled a blanket over my shoulders. I killed my hens the same way—I calmed them, caressed their heads and backs, then broke their necks and cut their throats.
    ‘You infiltrated the Club and brought them down with the help of Sherlock Holmes,’ he stated.
    I forced my eyes to look into his and remain steady. ‘Not quite, although in hindsight, even I could possibly interpret it as such.’
    He leaned back, waving his hand invitingly.
    ‘Just after I returned from Berlin I was mugged and badly injured. I needed a surgeon, but whom could I have asked? Certainly not my colleagues! So I told a friend to find Dr Watson. That is how I met Holmes again, and only two days later he told me about his suspicions—that someone had been conducting medical experiments on paupers in Broadmoor Lunatic Asylum. I thought he was out of his mind.’
    ‘Pray proceed,’ he urged, as though time were running out.
    ‘I had started working at London Medical School, developing vaccines against tetanus. We also had the prospect of a cholera vaccine. But we knew that wouldn’t come without sacrifices.’ I shoved away the picture of the soiled and dying woman. ‘Holmes kept insisting that what I was doing was wrong and I should instead help him arrest my colleagues.’
    ‘Mr Holmes would never have asked you for your assistance. You are a liar, my dear,’ he declared. A reaction I had anticipated.
    ‘He would have never asked such a thing from just anyone, you are correct. But he and I are made of the same material. He was fascinated by a woman as intelligent as he and equally strong-willed. And I fell for him because I had never met such an observant and sharp man in my life. That is the reason I saved his life in Broadmoor and the reason he let me go.’ And I remembered the kiss, that singular kiss, and turned my gaze away to look out of the small window where night slowly retreated and the sky paled to greet the new day. Would I see the sun? Maybe it did not matter much. I had seen it many times already.
    I looked back at him and said, ‘I know you want something from me, or you would not have given me time to utter a single word tonight. If you allow me to make a guess—you need