Free The Empress of India by Michael Kurland Page B

Moriarty should suddenly return. Keep watch on the house of Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and regularly report who goes in and comes out.”
    “Yessir,” Charles the Rodent said.
    “For now”—Pin scribbled a note on a sheet of foolscap, folded it, and passed it to Charles—“you know where to find the Twopenny Yob?”
    “ ’Is digs is off Bensby Street.”
    “Ah, yes, Barnesbury Street it is. Go and find him and give him this note.”
    “Yessir,” Charles said, stuffing the note into the pocket of his tattered jacket.
    “Very good.” Low reached into his pocket, pulled out a small cloth purse, and extracted a few coins. “Here’s a week’s wages for you and your boys. Be off with you now!”
     
    The Twopenny Yob appeared at the warehouse about two hours later. “I wish you’d send your notes by someone that looks a mite more respectable,” he said. “You never know just whom I might be entertaining. I hope this is important, ’cause you pulled me away from what could be a promising evening with the pasteboards. I found me a mark from Newcastle who thinks he’s hot stuff, and I was aiming to cool him down five or ten pounds’ worth.”
    “Have you ever been to India?” asked Pin Dok Low.
    “Naow,” the Yob answered, stretching out the vowel until it sounded like a complaining tomcat. “What on this earth would I ever want to go to India for? I went to Paris once; it was raining. I might go back sometime when I hear the rain has stopped. I went to New York once. I was working the ocean liners. Nothing to do but play cards for upwards of three weeks. Bridge, poker, and euchre—the Americans like euchre. A man can make an honest living on the ocean liners, if he knows how to cold-stack a deck and can do a convincing second deal. On this one crossing on the
Teutonic
the purser was starting to give me the eye, so I got off at New York to wait for the next ship, whichever it might be. Got into a friendly poker game on the Bowery, and narrowly avoided getting shot. Probably won’t go back to New York. But India? I never considered India. I never intend to consider India. What has India got that I might want?”
    Pin waited patiently for the Yob to stop talking. “Pack,” he said.
    “Excuse me?”
    “Professor Moriarty and a companion just left for Calcutta. The gold is shortly to be shipped out of Calcutta. It could be a coincidence. I don’t believe in coincidences, do you?”
    “I’m with you there, Pin, but just what do you want me to do about it?”
    “Does Professor Moriarty know what you look like?”
    “Well, I’ve never met him formally, but with the professor you never know.”
    “We’ll take the chance,” Pin said. “I want you to catch up to him and stay with him. Stalk him like you would a dangerous animal. Observe his every move; read his every thought. At the same time, I want you to remain invisible to him, and keep from him our interest in his whereabouts and his doings.” He tapped his finger on the desk. “You won’t even come close to this ideal, but approach it as nearly as possible. With an emphasis on not letting him know of our interest.”
    “I see,” said the Twopenny Yob.
    “Keep me informed of your progress by telegraph. Once you have established where he is, where he is going, and what he is doing, let me know and I will send someone to meet you.”
    “Oh? For what purpose?”
    “All in all, I think it might be wise to alter our plan in one respect. Rather than use the professor as a foil, I think we should find out what his plans are, and, if they conflict with ours, have him eliminated. Perhaps even if they don’t conflict with ours, it might be simpler.”
    “Do we not need the agreement of the others for such a move?” the Yob suggested.
    “I will call a meeting. But if any disagree, I will be very curious as to why. You have no problem with eliminating Professor Moriarty, I assume?”
    The Twopenny Yob nodded calmly, as though Pin had just suggested