The Truth 2/?
Title: The Truth 2/?
Author: Sailing Hearts
Rating: PG
Characters: Watson and Holmes, Moriarty indirectly.
Disclaimer: Not my characters. In a sense, not even my story ideas, simply a what if…
Summary: What if some of the events of The Final Problem and The Empty House were fictional? What if Mary Watson had already been dead, and Watson had known that Holmes was alive the whole time?
Watson has asked me to write about Professor James Moriarty, the man I considered to be my equal, the Napoleon of Crime. I have debated for sometime about the wisdom of writing this down. What purpose does it serve to expand upon a time in our lives better forgotten, and about a man better left dead? But, Watson did ask, and so I will.
Moriarty was, in my opinion, the most dangerous man in London. He controlled a network of criminals that was, in the end, vaster than even I could have imagined. Physically, he was as Watson described him in the story he titled ‘The Final Problem’ - tall, thin with a domed forehead, reptilian like. His intelligence was easily a match for myself, or my brother, Mycroft. In fact, Mycroft was well aware of the Professor.
There are a few other facts from Watson’s story that were true, such as Moriarty confronting me at Baker Street, and in the end, our flight to Europe. The rest of it, and most of the story he recounted in ‘The Empty House’ about what had actually happened at Reichenbach and after is fiction.
Do not get me wrong -Watson would never deceive his readers if he hadn’t had a choice. And he left the truth of Mary’s death out completely, for far more personal reasons. That still hurts him deeply, even after all these years. It is part of why I want to get him out of London. He is correct when he said a war was coming. It will be unlike anything we have ever seen. My poor Watson has seen plenty of the destruction man can wrought upon each other. He does not need to be in London when this comes to see more. Not when he still blames himself for Mary’s death.
In truth, to me, that murder was the worst of Moriarty’s crimes, for it hurt both my dearest friend and myself directly. I know that when this accounting reaches that point of the story, I will have to do my best to piece together what happened for the reader. I could never expect the Doctor to write that himself.
Moriarty’s reach extended from the docks to the West End and every sordid destitute spot between. He had his fingers in gambling, prostitution, illegal liquor and arms dealing, smuggling and slavery, blackmailing. There were many murders in those years that were unsolvable. I knew without a doubt that ultimately Professor Moriarty was behind them, but so cunning was he that it was impossible to prove.
A most worth adversary, and a most evil man.