The Valley of Fear, Pt 2, Ch. 5-7: Lost

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Title: The Valley of Fear, Pt 2, Ch. 5-7: Lost
Author: gardnerhill                        
Word Count: 60
Rating: G
Warning: None.
Summary: Dear me, Mr. Moriarty, dear me!
                                                                                       
***

He waded ashore on St. Helena and collapsed.

He hadn’t survived this long without recognizing organized crime in that “accidental” push – and he’d taken the bastard with him into the sea.


Leaving poor Ivy behind to mourn was the worst part. But better that than she be caught up in this murderous mess.

Jack Witherspoon would start a new life.

Comments

[scfrankles.livejournal.com]

I like that idea - that the "accident" does happen but Douglas manages to survive it. It kind of makes more dramatic sense for the canon story too. The man is a survivor - it's almost an anti-climax that he's apparently murdered at the end.

And I can sympathise with him not wanting to let his wife know he's alive. If he was planning to go back to her eventually, it would be cruel but I can admire him for making a complete break in order to keep her safe.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the guy's survived too many attempts - I love the idea that he'd survive Moriarty too! Even if his poor wife had to suffer Watson's fate after Reichenbach.

[okapi1895.livejournal.com]

I absolutely, positively know that ACD thought of your ending. It is so very plausible in his world. And if anyone could survive it would be McMurdo.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

He survived everything else his undercover work threw at him, why not this too?

[grrlpup]

Yesss! Can't count him as finished off, in the absence of an identifiable corpse. (And I wonder if Ivy thinks so too, privately.)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Doyle's instinct for not throwing away a character seems to come out in that "death" too (lost at sea with no body, just as Holmes just disappeared at Reichenbach).

[laurose8.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing this. It does seem very likely. And I love the summary.

and he’d taken the bastard with him into the sea is a nice extra.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Heh heh. You do not mess with a guy who's gotten himself friggin BRANDED to prove his chops with undercover work. I like the idea of him surviving even this, and outwitting Napoleon himself.

[debriswoman]

Oh, that's a better ending:-)

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

I certainly thought so.

(Then again, I also rewrote "Five Orange Pips" to save John Openshaw.)

[thesmallhobbit.livejournal.com]

Holmes, of course, suspected it, but couldn't say anything for fear Moriarty learn of it too.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Very likely.

[castiron.livejournal.com]

This is now my headcanon.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Score!

For more ACD fix-it, I redid the ending of "Five Orange Pips" too.

[godsdaisiechain.livejournal.com]

Aw!!! Poor Ivy. How terribly sad.... and I hope he can take on another identity and find her.

[gardnerhill.livejournal.com]

Maybe, just maybe, "Jack Witherspoon" will hear about Moriarty's death at Reichenbach, and return to his Ivy.