The House Of Silk

make us believe that he was annoyed that this information had not come to us sooner. But in fact he was furious that anything had been told to us at all. I was also puzzled by the nature of the building opposite the school. I could see at a glance that the wheel tracks belonged to a number of different carriages, including a brougham and a landau. Why should the owners of such expensive vehicles be coming to a musical recital by a group of anonymous, deprived boys? It made no sense.’
    ‘But you did not realise …’
    ‘Not then. It is a lesson that I have learned, Watson, and one that I shall remember for the future. In the pursuit of a crime, a detective must occasionally be guided by his worst imaginings – which is to say that he must put himself in the mind of the criminal. But there are limits beyond which any civilised man will not allow himself to stoop. Such was the case here. I did not imagine what Fitzsimmons and his cohorts might be involved in for the simple reason that I did not wish to. Like it or not, in future I must learn to be less fastidious. It was only when we discovered the body of poor Ross that I began to see that we had entered an arena different to anything we had formerly experienced. It was not just the cruelty of his injuries. It was the white ribbon tied around his wrist. Anyone who could have done such a thing to a dead child must have a mind that was utterly, completely corrupt. To such a man, anything would be possible.’
    ‘The white ribbon …’
    ‘As you saw, it was the token by which these men recognised each other and which would allow them entrance to the House of Silk. But it had a second purpose. By looping it around the child’s wrist, they made an example of him. They knew that it would be reported in the papers and would therefore act as a warning, that this is what would happen to anyone who dared cross their path.’
    ‘And the name, Holmes. Is that why they called it the House of Silk?’
    ‘It was not the only reason, Watson. I fear the answer has been in front of us all the time, although perhaps it only became obvious in retrospect. You will recall the name of the charity which Fitzsimmons told us supported his work? The Society for the Improvement of London’s Children. I rather think we have been pursuing the House of SILC – and not Silk. That must surely have been its origin at any rate. The charity could have been constructed precisely for these people. It gave them the mechanism to find the children and the mask behind which they could exploit them.’
    We had reached the school. Holmes handed the dog cart back to its driver with an apology. Lestrade was waiting for us at the door. ‘Harriman?’ he asked.
    ‘He is dead. His cart overturned.’
    ‘I can’t say I’m sorry.’
    ‘How is your officer, the man who was shot?’
    ‘Badly hurt, Mr Holmes. But he’ll live.’
    Unwilling though I was to enter the building a second time, we followed Lestrade back inside. Some blankets had been brought down and used to cover the police officer who had been shot by Harriman and the piano, of course, was silent. But apart from that the House of Silk was much as it had been when we had first entered it. It made me shudder to return, but I was aware that we still had unfinished business.
    ‘I have sent for more men,’ Lestrade told us. ‘It’s a nasty business we have here, Mr Holmes, and it’s going to take someone a lot more senior than me to sort it out. Let me tell you that the children have been sent back to the school on the other side of the lane and I have two officers keeping an eye on them, for all the teachers in this horrible place are implicated in what’s been going on and I have them all under arrest. Two of them – Weeks and Vosper – I think you met.’
    ‘What of Fitzsimmons and his wife?’ I asked.
    ‘They’re in the drawing room and we’ll see them shortly, although there’s something I want to show you first, if you can stomach it.’ I could hardly believe that the House of Silk could hold any further secrets but we followed Lestrade back upstairs, he talking all the while. ‘There were another nine men here. What am I to call them? Clients? Customers? They include Lord Ravenshaw and another man who will be well known to you, a certain doctor by the name of Ackland. Now I can see why he was so keen to perjure himself against you.’
    ‘And what of Lord Horace Blackwater?’ asked Holmes.
    ‘He was not present here