In The Land Of The Living

by Gretchen Altabef

About the Author: Gretchen Altabef is the MX Publishing Author of Sherlock Holmes: These Scattered Houses & The sequel, Sherlock Holmes: Remarkable Power of Stimulus. She is an editor and contributor of Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes data for Jeremy Brett - Playing A Part, the definitive performance biography by Maureen Whittaker. She is a member of the Sherlock Holmes Society of London, and the John H. Watson Society.

Excerpt

“By the blessing of God I landed, torn and bleeding, upon the path. I took to my heels, did ten miles over the mountains in the darkness, and a week later I found myself in Florence, with the certainty that no one in the world knew what had become of me.”—Dr. John Watson, “The Adventure of the Empty House.”

Saturated with the sensation of blessed escape, I directed this energy to my quadriceps, and sprinted higher into the protection of the Swiss Alps. My boots flew fuelled by the exquisite joy beneath the thought that it was over. Professor Moriarty had been conquered by Sherlock Holmes. It was the crowning moment of my singular career.

The cruel intrigue of his contemptible thrust-and-parry was done. What I had accomplished by uncovering the loose chinks in his armour, and the curse of exhuming one impenetrable lair after another. Again and again I rushed after his guilty coat tails, only to uncover his underlings offered as sacrifice, on his false trails the dead men’s bones crunched beneath my feet. Yet, he knew exactly where I lived. Every light I shined into his malevolence went up in smoke, an illusion created by an expert. At last I seized a single thread and followed it through a thousand cunning windings to him. Then I lured him here and offered myself as bait.

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