Sherlock Holmes

by Keisuke Matsuoka

  Sherlock required absolute trust from others. He didn’t feel he should have to report on his progress; that inviolable trust was the sole and most important trait he wanted in his relationships. Perhaps the need for such unconditional trust came from support his parents or brother had failed to give him in his formative years. Ito didn’t know how Sherlock’s family had treated him, but it was undoubtedly true that he seemed to feel it had been lacking. Sherlock now lived the only way he knew how. He was one of the most competent and yet most awkward men Ito had ever known.

  The carriage jostled them quietly to and fro, and they arrived at the grounds of the Russian legation. The vehicle followed a private cobbled road to the front entrance before slowing gently. Before it slowed to a full stop, Sherlock jumped out. Impetuous as always! Ito quickly roused himself and followed after.

  Sherlock shot up the stairs, waving to the guards with one hand as he passed them. They shouted in Russian and ran inside after him. As reckless as ever, thought Ito.

  Inside the foyer, employees came running from the back, likely drawn by the guards’ shouts. The beautifully adorned hall, with its Byzantine domed roof, was in an uproar. Ambassador Shevich and Lt. Colonel Kanevsky came racing down the spiral staircase.

  In a rage, Shevich made a beeline to Sherlock. “Who do you think you are! The records of Sherlock Holmes’ death are not confined to the newspapers alone. Scotland Yard believes you dead as well! I spoke with Ambassador Fraser. He knows nothing of your presence here!”

  Sherlock froze, genuinely shocked. “You have received an answer already? In less than a month? That is astounding!”

  “But Ambassador Shevich,” Ito said quickly and slyly, “if Mr. Holmes were a spy surely it is only natural that Scotland Yard and Ambassador Fraser would deny any knowledge of his presence.”

  “No.” Shevich breathed heavily through his nose. “If he were a spy, there would be some evidence of subterfuge. But by all their accounts you truly fell to your death at the Reichenbach Falls. Yet when I made inquiries and examined the photographs that have been taken in secret, it became quite clear to me that you are, in fact, Mr. Sherlock Holmes.”

  Sherlock snorted. “You have been exceedingly thorough. As I made no attempt to conceal my identity when I first visited your legation, however, naturally I wished you to be aware that I am in fact who I say I am.”

  “Then you deceived your own country, and came to Japan only pretending to be dead? Why would you do such a thing?”

  “Would you believe me, Ambassador, if I told you it was to save your hide?”

  “I most certainly would not!”

  “No, I suppose not. Removing your neck from the chopping block is only a happy coincidence, and it’s true it was never my original objective. But as this is now the situation, I am afraid I must hurry. If you will excuse me.”

  And Sherlock ran toward a nearby door. It led to the same office used by the Russian Ministry of State Property, as Ito was already aware. Earlier, they had visited the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce and ascertained its location from Mutsu and Kubo.

  Shevich chased him in a panic. Kanevsky, too, attempted to block his way, but Sherlock easily slipped past him and threw the door wide open.

  Anna Luzhkova sat inside, alone at a desk. She stood in surprise. “What is this?”

  Sherlock stepped in. “There is a very good reason for my visit, I assure you. I have come to ask that you return Japan’s copy of The Complete Work on Russian Natural Sciences.”

  Shevich, who was attempting to detain him, stopped short, a curious expression on his face. “Return?”

  Anna smiled, but the muscles in her jaw seemed tense. “I have no idea what you mean, Mr. Holmes. The Complete Work has already been delivered. There were several witnesses. If you visit the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce you will find the book is still there, I am sure.”

  Sherlock stared at Anna. “I came from the ministry now. A book was there, but not the book that Japan officially received. Once the translation was completed, Minister Mutsu and Mr. Kubo brought the volume to your office. Mr. Chekhov gave them a new copy in exchange. The original book did not return with them.”

  “The chapters of the original book had all been removed,” Anna said, flustered. “And it was soiled, there were notes over all the pages. We exchanged it for a clean copy.”

  “I would still like to request the original book. The copy that Russia gave to Japan.”

  “Yes, well,” Anna said, “I’m afraid it has already been disposed of.”

  Shevich furrowed his forehead. “Disposed of? That book contains national secrets. You do not have permission to dispose of it. Nor to replace it with a different copy. All copies of The Complete Work on Russian Natural Sciences are inscribed with a serial number, and the number of the book that was given to Japan has been officially recorded.”

  Sherlock glanced around the room. “Where is Mr. Chekhov?”

  Anna’s voice trembled. “He is out. Perhaps this can wait until he returns…”

  “You were there, too, when the book was exchanged. As were two young men. According to Mr. Kubo, their names were Akhatov and Denikin.”

  Shevich looked questioningly over his shoulder at Kanevsky. Kanevsky shook his head. It was clear from their faces that neither was familiar with those names.

  “Mr. Chekhov told Minister Mutsu that if he had any questions while translating the book they should speak with him,” Sherlock said. “But considering the size of the book, it was only natural that they should have questions. And it follows that they would bring the book with them to ask those questions. With a translation of this scale, you must have foreseen the condition in which the book would be returned. In short, Mr. Chekhov contrived to switch books all along, and replaced the first copy with an original, unaltered version from your homeland.”

  Anna’s voice cracked. “I’m afraid I have no idea what you are talking about.”

  “I thought you would say as much. Ambassador Shevich, by your leave I will now lay out the facts of this case.”

  Shevich grimaced and nodded. “Please do.”

  “So.” Sherlock returned his attention to Anna. “The book the Japanese originally received differed from the original in at least a dozen places. Of those differences, three entries dealt with extremely important issues currently under discussion at the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. In 1878, large numbers of ayu fish began dying in the Watarase River. On August 12, 1885, the Choya Newspaper reported that the cause was unknown. On October 31, the Shimotsuke Newspaper ran an article detailing how trees in the Ashio area had begun withering throughout the previous year. Then rice paddies also started to be blasted, both in the countryside fed by the Watarase River and in fields where flooding has washed over the sediment from Ashio.”

  Anna’s face grew stiff. “Those are Japan’s problems. We have nothing to do with them.”

  “But you were aware of them. And you knew their causes. If either situation worsened they would probably be brought up before the Diet. But of course they would consult the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce. The ministry would then offer an opinion, based on the latest research in natural sciences. Their opinion would be that the situation is not serious.”

  A shock ran down Ito’s spine. “Of course…the Ashio copper mine!”

  Sherlock nodded. “Precisely. The phenomena I described are likely Japan’s first introduction to public nuisances.”

  “P-Public…”

  “Public nuisances, as they are commonly called. The term pollution, however, would be more accurate.”

  “Ah, a public nuisance. Yes, of course. Public contamination, inconvenience and injury. We might translate it as kogai in Japanese, if need be.”

  “Pray that phrase becomes common knowledge throughout Japan then, Chairman Ito. So long as people remain unaware of the con
cept, your entire nation is in danger.”

  How awful. Pollution. The possibility had never even occurred to Ito.

  The Ashio copper mine had been operating since the Meiji Era. After the fall of the Bakufu, however, output had slowed and the mine had even been shuttered for a time. But due to recent advances in technology, a number of promising veins had been rediscovered since 1881. Development of the Ashio copper mine—as well as the Hitachi mine, run by the Kuhara conglomerate, and the Beshi copper mine, run by the Sumitomo family—had accelerated drastically, with support from government policies designed to stimulate Japan’s economic and military strength.

  “The mines likely harvest nearby trees for timber and fuel,” Sherlock said. “The factories that refine the mined ore emit smoke, which leads to air pollution.”

  “Air pollution…?”

  “When you visited London, you saw the the thick winter fog. Smoke and soot from burning coal mixes with mist in the air and settles over the ground, resulting in a number of respiratory and health disorders.”

  “I remember the air being thick, but I do not recall ever hearing that the problem was so grave.”

  “The government resists admitting there is a problem. The same is true in all the Western nations, and not just England. The newspapers and printing companies receive industrial support and so prefer not to run articles on the matter. As a result, few are aware of the severity of the issue.”

  “I have read several monographs that suggest emissions from factories could have negative effects…These papers were still at a hypothetical stage, however. I assumed the issue would not yet concern Japan.”

  “That is where you are wrong. Japan is developing at incredible speed, having achieved in 20 years what took us over a century. But the development has also caused damage at a similarly accelerated pace. In the case of the Ashio copper mine, waste from ore refinement has contaminated water sources in the surrounding mountainside. The extent of the damage was increased by flooding, to the watershed below. You should assume that water and soil in a broad area around the mine is being polluted, even as we speak. Naturally, the same is likely occurring at other mines in Japan.”

  A chill ran down Ito’s back. It was as though he’d learned of a new and as-of-yet-unknown plague rampaging through the country. Factories operated throughout Japan, day in and day out. And no one, not even the managers and workers, had any idea at all of the pollution they were causing. Since the Restoration, Japan had been far too busy to consider such things.

  Sherlock cast a hard look at Anna. “The entries were altered in a very clever manner. There were not only theories, but also records and figures, to make it look as though real experiments had been carried out. There were even opinions from supposed specialists. But these figures and quotes were all made up to coincide with whatever was happening around Ashio copper mine. If Japan’s scientists were to rely on the information in this book, even should they investigate it is unlikely they would ascertain the true cause of the phenomena. As other scientific branches advanced, they might realize the truth in ten years or so, but by then much of Japan’s natural environment would have been poisoned beyond repair.”

  Anna’s expression was alert. “How could a mere book cause so much trouble?”

  “A mere book?” Sherlock narrowed his eyes. “The people of Japan have much faith in Western knowledge. They believe it is the key to their future. They are a serious and trusting people, and would never expect that a book gifted to them by Russia would be concealing a trap. It was you who contrived to misuse this knowledge, and abuse their trust.”

  “But…” muttered Kanevsky. “If the pollution continues, surely the Japanese would realize before ten years had passed.”

  Shevich didn’t agree. “Likely not. In Russia, 30 years have passed since the emancipation of the serfs, but only now is the risk to the peasants’ health becoming clear.”

  “The peasants working in the factories and mines?”

  “Yes. In fact, it is concerns over their health that drove Grand Duke George to involve himself in the labor disputes at the coal mines. The government has not released this information publicly, but there is an increasing blacklist of regions where you are not allowed to grow crops, or fish in the rivers.”

  “But the government has said nothing of this…”

  “The workers in our country are lazy enough as it is. If this information got out, they would organize together and abandon their labor. It has all been kept strictly confidential. Russia’s rapid industrialization has put a strain on the environment and a strain on the people’s health. The same must be true for Japan. But in Japan, they have built a railroad on Honshu clear to the north in but 24 years. They have had even less time to worry about soil, air, and water.”

  Sherlock rasied his index finger. “Moreover, had the cause of the pollution simply remained unknown, the Japanese would have of course uncovered it in due time. Instead they are being encouraged to believe in lies. Mercury and arsenic poisoning, bronchitis caused by air pollution, changes in the color of seaweed from ocean pollution…The copy Chekhov gave of The Complete Work on Russian Natural Sciences is populated with speciously clever fabrications designed to encourage Japan to trust that all these dangerous phenomena require no immediate action. From afar, England might suspect that pollution is affecting Japan, but Japan would hardly ask for help from my country to begin with. The Great Powers, meanwhile, are concerned with keeping their own pollution a secret. So there is no hope Japan would receive better advice from another country.”

  Shevich glared at Anna. “Luzhkova, is this true?”

  Anna’s face grew cold, like a doll’s. “I know nothing. Where is your proof?”

  Sherlock snorted, his face revealing no emotion. “You exchanged the books precisely to destroy the evidence. This way, you can claim that any errors in the Japanese translation were absent in the original. You are mistaken, however, if you think that raises you above suspicion.”

  Ito nodded. “Ms. Luzhkova. The book exchanged between Ambassador Shevich and Minister Mutsu is imprinted with a serial number. It is our right to demand that copy be returned. It does not matter if the chapters have been pulled out or the pages have been smudged. Please return the original copy. And may I also remind you that those pages have been marked by our own translators. We will know if it has been replaced yet again.”

  Anna sighed. Her expression remained icy. “The book is not here. More precisely, it no longer exists.”

  “You burned it, then,” Sherlock said.

  “You had no permission to do that!” Shevich roared.

  “Permission?” Anna’s voice was low. “Permission from whom?”

  The room grew tense. “Who are you!” Kanevsky demanded. “You are clearly no simple bureaucrat.”

  Anna stood her ground. “Haven’t you realized yet, Lt. Colonel Kanevsky? Chekhov and I were sent by the Okhrana.”

  A ripple spread through the guards. Even Kanevsky seemed to cringe.

  “The Okhrana?” Shevich echoed in dismay. “Are you serious?”

  Sherlock narrowed his eyes. Ito gasped. The Okhrana were the security force of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs—a secret police created in 1866 after the failed attempt on Nicholas II’s life.

  But Shevich was not cowed. “This is a foreign country. The Okhrana is charged with overseeing dissidents at home, in order to protect public security and order. What are you conspiring at here?”

  “Conspiring?” Anna faced the ambassador coolly. “I can’t begin to imagine what you are implying.”

  “You know exactly what I mean. The Okhrana were originally created as the Department for Protecting the Order and Public Peace, under the Head of St. Petersburg. They may have been created to serve the nation, but are not under the Emperor’s direct control.”

  “As a public security division, we enjoy Hi
s Imperial Majesty’s complete confidence.”

  Shevich snorted. “Public security, indeed. You are supposed to oversee dissidents, but instead you cozy up to them so that if a revolution occurs you will still thrive under a Communist government. You vow allegiance to the emperor, but you ally with revolutionaries and support their attempts to overthrow the imperial government. The Okhrana are fork-tongued and a drain on the public coffers, and you have no right to operate in Japan.”

  “Silence! Who do you think ordered us to join Tsarevich Nicholas on his trip to the East? It was His Imperial Majesty!”

  Sherlock started in. “Earlier, when you and Mr. Chekhov were assigned to Grand Duke George, I presume it was to spy on him. His Majesty Alexander III did not like that his younger son supported the laborers?”

  “You are correct. But the Okhrana guides our country from a higher ground. Our actions are not governed by the Emperor alone.”

  Shevich frowned. “Impertinence!”

  Her response was quick. “Who is being impertinent? The Tsarevich and Grand Duke switched places like it was some sort of game, and you had no idea at all. You must lead a comfortable life as an ambassador, with your head stuck so far down in the sand. Who is the real drain on public coffers? You have no idea the trouble we have faced. If the international community had learned of what the Tsarevich and his brother had done during their official visits, faith in Russia would have been shattered.”

  Sherlock was contemptuous. “And when that day comes, the Okhrana will simply side with the revolutionaries.”

  “It is too early for revolution,” Anna said calmly. “The threat in the Far East must be dealt with before the revolution can wrest power from the Emperor. Otherwise internal chaos will create an opportunity for outsiders—the Japanese and their English backers—to advance upon us.”

  Ito was beginning to lose his temper. “The threat in the Far East?! This is your official policy? To destroy our country through pollution?”