Merely Holmes

Three mortal cards-Part 6

"I see. This places was as I had imagined." Said Holmes looking out of the window of the carriage. She placed her left arm by her side.

The scenary we were seeing was hideous. Dirty houses and broken glasses gave the impression of being desolated. Many people gave the impression of being starving inside the rubbish cabins. Others, with a dour expression glanced at the carriage and then left running away loosing inside the pooverness that evolved them. When I leaned the curtains Holmes noticed my exsaltation.

"I know. This place is not nice." She said and started laughing.

"Are you... are you laughing at me? I shouted pressing my teeth.

"You seem to be scared."

"Impressed I'd say... those people starving... they surely are very poor."

"The government took them here. Many people die here beacuse of the lack of food."

"The government?"

"All the kids and adults you have seen are ill people. Most of them with some kind of strange illness that is claimed to be contagious. Alex is one of them. "

"You are right. These people have marks of failed inguries. They cannot be saved ." I raised my head to look at Holmes who was in front of me. "How can you be so sure Alex is one of them?

"I came here in the morning before breakfast in order to observe the conditions in which that man lives. I could see him in his room... there, with a barren head, sign of the illness. His eyes were lost with black lines below them. But, there was something surprising I could notice from that guy. The first time I saw him in the room, even though his dreadful features on his face, his body seemed to be on perfect condition. Marked muscles and strong arms... I saw him leaving and entering after an hour. I have to admit it. I opened my mouth in surprisement. He was a completely different man. Jelly skin and thin arms. What do you think about it my dear friend? Isn't that amazing for an agonizing man?"

I opened my eyes widely without saying a word. But... "How...? He is surely mysterious! Never in my career as a doctor have I heard of a case like that."

She closed her eyes and chuckled. Her head relaxed.

"The medicine, Watson, to keep this man alive does not have those effects. It is obvious that the money Luciana recieved from the victim was used to pay the treatment of her lover. If not, why would she let that man touch him, taking in account that she hated him radically?"

"I told you her father..."

"I had though the same before I came here in the morning, my dear friend. But now, I can see it. Just observation and imagination is needed to discovernimportant misteries hidden on the depth of the darkness."

The carriage drew up in front of a small house with died flowers around it. A broken dirty window and a wooden door were the only things that made it the appearance of being a building. Holmes jumped to the ground and sobbed her coat. I went down next. Holmes turned away and smiled at me in order to follow her. The air smelled like smoke and I could notice some women and little children observing me with a rueful expression. A depth sadden invaded my whole body making me tremble. The government was not fair when it came to protecting poor people or ill ones and now I was sure of it.

"Holmes found a bell and touched it. Some moments later a man opened the door. For my suprise, he was excatly as my friend had described him. Black lines below is eyes and a barren head. This was the time to see him in his dreadful and filthy appereance.

"Who are you?" He asked agressivily.

"Young man, let us enter your house." Holmes said smirking.

"What? Who the heck are you."

"We have came to give you news about the woman who used to buy your medicine." A malevolous smile appeared on Holme's face.

"Enter."

Holmes entered the house first being followed by me. Inside, everything was completely different. There were chairs made of pure gold and wall watches that seemed to be very expensive.

The man offered us two seats in front of him. He stayed focused on his hands for a while and then raised his head with a rueful expression.

Holmes did not talk for a while. She had her gaze focused on a small box on the table next to Alex.

"You are ill." Said finally my friend.

"Yes, a mortal illness." Said the man evading Holme's gaze.

"I have got an envelope. It is a fax from miss. Luciana."

"Thank you." Said Alex recieven the envelope with one of his white and thin hands.

"Then that is all Mr. Alex."

*******

Entering the carriage to start our way back home, Holmes said to me. "That man will recieve a big surprise tomorrow. He has that blue posion that makes him look healthy inside a small blue box. I can remember reading about that posion two years ago, my friend. It is green and jelly. The one I saw in that man's hose has its characteristics and the effect are reflected on him. He definitely is using that posion in order to pose as a healthy man and win a bit of strenght for his diary routine."

"And the envelope Holmes?" I asked my friend completely bafftled.

"My dear friend, we had better go and visit the library and our friend Luciana before the action starts." She smirked and gazed at me for the last time before looking outside the window, lost in her thoughts.