Jeffrey Thomas [Thomas - Darker Worlds

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either a product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

PUBLICATION HISTORY

The Vanishing Snake first appeared in the anthology Associates of Sherlock Holmes , Titan Books, 2016.

Dirty Desk first appeared in the anthology Chopping Block Party , Necro Publications, 2017.

The Mayor of Ephemera first appeared in the anthology The Madness of Dr. Caligari , Fedogan and Bremer, 2016.

CONTENTS

1. THE VANISHING SNAKE

2. DIRTY DESK

3. THE MAYOR OF EPHEMERA

About the Author

THE VANISHING SNAKE

I am sorry to say there is no such snake in existence as a swamp adder, Mr Holmes, our visitor said shortly after she had been admitted into the sitting-room of the Baker Street lodgings I shared with my dear friend Sherlock Holmes, and taken a seat by the window.

The unexpected visitor Mrs Hudson had shown in was Helen Stoner, who only a few weeks prior Sherlock Holmes had saved from sharing the tragic fate of her twin sister, Julia. Helens own stepfather, Dr Grimesby Roylott, had connived to murder both his stepdaughters shortly before they could marry, for fear of losing the inheritance he had been given to control upon the accidental death of his wife, so long as her daughters lived under his care. Roylott had been successful in doing away with poor Julia, by introducing a venomous snake into her room, but when he had made an attempt to do the same with Helen only two years later she had wisely called upon my friend, who had not only uncovered Roylotts plot but in repelling the serpent had inadvertently caused it to bite and therefore kill its own master.

Having finished a late breakfast and now enjoying a pipe while slumped back comfortably in his chair, Holmes arched an eyebrow at the woman, clearly intrigued that his identification of the reptile that had killed her sister had been challenged these several weeks after the investigations conclusion. I was certain that, like me, Holmes had also taken note of the womans haunted expression, not so much different from her greatly troubled demeanour when she had first come to us, much oppressed by strange nocturnal occurrences. If anything, her hair appeared even more shot through with white than before, though she was only thirty-two years of age. Yet with her brutal stepfather deceased, and the snake itself having been captured by Holmes using a noose, and locked away inside an iron safe in her stepfathers room, what was there to cause her such anxiety?

Holmes said to her, You speak with much conviction, Miss Stoner. Might I ask how you arrived at this certainty?

I should like to recount all the events that led to this conclusion, Mr Holmes. Owing to your recent involvement in my situation, I thought you would want to know of the even stranger happenings that have followed in the wake of the former. I am beyond curious to know what you will think of certain elements of these occurrences, which are so uncanny that I fear you will ultimately scoff at them.

Holmes sat up straighter in his chair and said, It is a rare thing indeed for one of the cases I have undertaken and thought to be thoroughly resolved to apparently not be quite concluded after all. You have my keenest interest, Miss Stoner. I will withhold my judgment until I have heard all. Please proceed, and leave out no detail of your account.

Thank you; to the best of my ability I shant. Here our visitor drew in a long breath, as if to bolster herself. As you will no doubt recall, Mr Holmes, you and your good friend Dr Watson here kindly saw me into the care of my maiden aunt, Miss Honoria Westphail, directly after the dreadful events that culminated in my stepfathers death. However, in the absence of any other heir, and though I was not his blood relation, it fell upon me to address matters pertaining to his estate of Stoke Moran, and so I was obliged to return there.

The coroner had removed my stepfathers body quickly enough, of course, but there remained the business of the snake trapped in the heavy safe. The animal would presumably not suffocate, as my stepfather had kept it in the safe all along, so apparently it was getting sufficient air somehow. The hope was that the snake would starve to death, but then how long would that take? When would it be prudent to open the safe, using the key that stood in the lock, to ascertain whether the snake still posed a threat? These concerns were expressed to me by the police who followed up the business after your involvement.

Before my return to Stoke Moran I gave my consent to have the safe removed from the house and for the police to deal with it as they would. Upon my arrival back at the old manor-house I was visited by one of the constables who had been present when the safe was opened, and informed of the result.

It seems the men who unlocked the safe had improvised weapons at hand, meaning to thrust a sod cutters spade into the aperture as soon as the door came open and crush the beast immediately, but they were prepared in case it should slip past this blade. Another man had a long makeshift torch ready, to thrust in the same if need be. A third constable turned the key and at a signal cracked the door open, but before the man with the spade could attack, the man with the torch who had glimpsed the interior by the light of his fire begged the other to hold off. A moment later, though the three constables remained tense with caution, the door was hauled fully open.

The snake that had killed both my sister and stepfather was gone. Or at least, what remained was less than a carcass. The constable described to me a coil of colourless, dry matter, that when stirred with the spade proved to be comprised of a fluffy white material that broke up like ash. So unsubstantial was this matter that even the merest probing caused it to disintegrate, the ashy remnants so fine that there was ultimately left not even a residue within the safe.

Holmes interrupted, Were they certain the snake did not slip out through the bottom of the aperture once the door was cracked open, while the men were distracted and confounded by the sight of this pale coil? The glare of the torch itself may have shielded this action. My suspicion is that the dry matter the man with the spade broke up was nothing more than the serpents molted skin.

That was my own initial reaction to this account, Mr Holmes, and I suggested the same to this constable, who was in fact he who had wielded the spade. He assured me that with three sets of eyes on the safe the snake could not possibly have slipped past them. And there was no other means of escape from the safe, for had there been, surely the snake would have made use of it before. Also, he swore he could tell this was not merely a shed skin, for he had found and handled such before in his youth. He and the other two could only conclude that the snake had died and become strangely desiccated or mummified due to some property of the sealed safe.

Unless, of course, another had entered the mansion in your absence and removed the snake, the key as you say still slotted in its hole.

One might readily wonder that, but further events I am to relate will shed a different light on that consideration.

Holmes said. Forgive my interruption, then. Please continue.