Chapter 4: The Adventure of the Three Garridebs

Holmes felt the twist of the story for the first time when the American Garrideb got annoyed at Nathan for involving a detective. When Sherlock found the Garrideb in English appearance, he pointed out how he was an American and dressed like an Englishman. He said he was a lawyer in Kansas, while Holmes planned traps by pointing out things that did not exist – for example, about Dr Lysander Starr, who Holmes said was a Mayor in 1830. As he suspected, Garrideb fell for it and responded by saying that Dr Starr’s name was still privileged. As suspected, Holmes was sure that Garrideb was not a lawyer in Kansas. Later Holmes was sure that John Garrideb built up Alexander Garrideb’s story when he saw an advertisement which was published by Howard Garrideb in a local paper of Birmingham. Watson and Holmes saw that the piece was written in American English and came to the conclusion that it was published in the local paper by Garrideb to send Nathan to Birmingham and enter his room without any problem.

The plan of John Garrideb was foolproof. Anyways, Holmes knew that even the trained criminals left some clues behind. John had an idea of the note printing machine, which was cloistered below the room in which Nathan Garrideb was staying. Waldron, or Rodger Presbury lived in this room previously. He was the owner of the machine and was shot by James Winter or John Garrideb, alias Morecroft, alias Killer Evans. Garrideb designed the intricate plan so that no one would suspect his intentions and planned to break into Nathan’s house when he was off to Birmingham to see the third Garrideb.

Holmes was a renowned detective. John Garrideb was scared that Watson and Sherlock Holmes would find out his intentions and would destroy his plans. So, involving a detective in a case which contained a false story, except that of Garrideb, alias Killer Evans, who possessed a criminal background, was not good.

John Garrideb shot Roger Presbury while playing cards in a nightclub in January 1985 on Waterloo Road. The looks of him and Waldron matched the previous tenant in the room of Nathan Garrideb, who owned the note printing machine. John Garrideb was after this printing press and had created a huge plan to get it.

John Garrideb was angry that Nathan got a detective involved in the case, and as Watson and Holmes knew this, they wanted John Garrideb to reach there immediately after their meeting in Nathan’s apartment. They already knew that John would question and show his discomfort over the actions of Nathan. Watson and Holmes put the man at ease by making it clear that they were uninterested in the matter and got his confidence by saying that they were just here to help him find another Garrideb. Hence, Garrideb appeared at Little Ryder Street. He acted seriously, to their amazement, by coming up with an advertisement of Howard Garrideb and with a clear plan of sending off Nathan to Birmingham and throwing the detectives out of his way so that he could carry out his plan without any disturbance.