"The Six Napoleons" by Arthur Conan Doyle (adapted)

Part Five

At six o'clock the next evening, Lestrade came to Baker Street to see us. He now knew more about Beppo. The Italian was a wellknown thief. He spent time in prison after he knifed a man. We already knew that. Beppo was, Lestrade said, very good at making busts and other works of art. It was possible that Beppo made the busts of Napoleon at Gelder and Company.

Holmes listened to Lestrade's words with a smile on his face. But I could see that he really wanted to tell Lestrade something. I was sure that it was something very surprising.

There was a knock on the door and the servant brought an old man into the room. He had a red face and he was carrying a large bag. He put the bag on the table.

'Is Mr Sherlock Holmes here?' he asked.

Holmes smiled and said, 'I'm Sherlock Holmes. And I think that you're Mr Sandeford of Reading. I'm pleased to meet you. This is my friend Dr Watson, and this is Mr Lestrade from Scotland Yard.'

We both said hello to Mr Sandeford.

'I have the bust of Napoleon for you,' he told Holmes.

He also had a letter. 'Mr Holmes sent me this letter yesterday,' he said to Lestrade and me. He read it to us.

Then he said to Holmes, 'Do you know how much I paid for the bust in this bag?'

'No, I don't,' said Holmes.

'Well, I'm not a thief, Mr Holmes. You should know that I only paid one pound for it. If you don't want to buy it now, I'll understand.'

'No,' said Holmes. 'I still want the bust. Here's ten pounds.' He gave the money to Mr Sandeford.

'Thank you very much,' said Mr Sandeford.

He took the money and opened the bag. Inside was an ordinary white bust of Napoleon, just like the others.

Holmes said, 'Thank you, Mr Sandeford. Now, before you go, I want you to sign this piece of paper. It says that you've sold the bust to me for ten pounds.'

'Of course,' said Mr Sandeford. He signed the note and left.

Holmes watched Mr Sandeford leave. Then he took a clean white cloth from a cupboard and put it on the table. Lestrade and I watched him carefully. He put the bust carefully on the cloth. Then he took his stick and hit the bust hard. It broke into small pieces.

Holmes shouted with excitement and picked up something small and black from the cloth. Lestrade and I were silent.

'This is the Black Pearl of the Borgias!' said Holmes.

We were both very surprised.

'Really, Holmes?' I cried, 'How did you know that it was there?'

'It's impossible,' said Lestrade quietly.

Holmes explained. 'This is the most famous pearl in the world. It was stolen from the hotel room of the Princess of Colonna on 22nd May last year. I'm sure that you remember that, Mr Lestrade?'

'Yes, I do,' replied Lestrade.

'Well,' Holmes continued, 'you will also remember where the hotel was. The princess was staying in the same part of London as Gelder and Company. The police thought that the thief was an Italian servant in the hotel, Lucretia Venucci. But they never proved it. I think that her brother, Pietro, was killed two nights ago.

'When I looked at my old newspapers, I discovered something. Beppo was caught only two days after the pearl was stolen. The busts were made in those two days. Perhaps the Venuccis stole the pearl from the hotel, and Beppo stole it from them. I don't know exactly, but it doesn't matter.

'I am sure now that Beppo had the pearl with him on the night of his street fight. He ran away, and the police followed him. Beppo ran to Gelder's and wanted to hide the pearl – but where? He didn't have much time. He saw the new white busts of Napoleon drying on the table. They were still soft, so he pushed the pearl into one of them. Then he covered the hole. It was the perfect place to hide the pearl.

'Because of the street fight, Beppo was sent to prison for a year. During that time, the six busts were sold. But we know that Beppo's friend still worked at Gelder's. I think that Beppo asked him to find the names of the buyers of the busts. So when Beppo came out of prison, he started looking for the bust with the pearl in it.

'He got a job with Morse Hudson. There, he learned where the first three busts were. Then he left the job, returned and broke the first bust. Next, he broke Dr Barnicott's busts. But he didn't find what he was looking for. The other three busts were sold to Mr Harding's shop. Beppo found out who had them. I'm not sure how he did that. Perhaps an Italian friend was working there.

'At the same time, Venucci knew that Beppo was out of prison. He wanted to find him. He was sure that Beppo knew the pearl's hiding place. Venucci was following Beppo when he went to Mr Harker's house in Kensington. They fought, and Beppo killed Venucci.'

'But,' I asked, 'if Venucci knew Beppo well, why did he carry his photograph?'

'To show to other people,' replied Holmes. 'Of course,' he continued, 'I wasn't sure that Beppo didn't find the pearl in Mr Harker's bust. But if he didn't, there were only two more busts. One was in Chiswick and the other one was in Reading. Chiswick is much nearer than Reading, so I told Josiah Brown and his family to be ready.

'We were lucky Beppo went to Mr Browns house first, and we caught him. I knew then that the pearl was in Mr Sandeford s bust.

'Mr Harkers newspaper report helped us. His story made Beppo very happy. The police seemed to have the wrong idea – they were looking for a Napoleon-hating madman. He didn't think that anyone knew the true secret of the busts. But when I heard the name Venucci, I immediately thought of the missing Black Pearl.'

'Mr Holmes,' said Lestrade, 'I've seen your work on many cases in the past, but this is one of the best. I'm sure that my friends at Scotland Yard will be very interested in the case. They will also be interested in the way that you've solved it. Can you come and meet them tomorrow? They will be very pleased to talk to you.'

'I shall be happy to come,' said Holmes. 'Thank you.'

'Thank you, Mr Holmes,' said Lestrade. 'You've helped me to understand this case, and you've found the famous Black Pearl for me.'

Holmes smiled at the police detective. He didn't know what to say. Then suddenly his face changed.

'Well, Watson,' he said, 'we have to do some work now. This is not our only case! Goodbye, Lestrade. If you have any more little cases for me, please tell me. I'll be happy to help you if I can.'