Work Text:
To Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard:
Holmes once told me that when a doctor goes wrong, he is the first of criminals. While I am no Professor Moriarty, I have gone wrong. Very wrong. I have betrayed the trust of Scotland Yard and the public, and have abandoned the oath I took as a doctor to do no harm.
I have written this to you as a precaution, in case I cannot personally admit my crimes in the dock. There is every possibility that Colonel Moran will succeed in eliminating me despite my plans. If I am killed, this letter will serve as my confession. I know I am not above the law. I must answer for what I have done, and I refuse to save myself through silence or further subterfuge.
I have falsified and planted evidence that led to the arrests and subsequent hangings of John Clay, Parker the garroter, and several other members of Moriarty's former empire. The full list is on the second page. And tonight, if my aim is true, I will have destroyed the last remaining strand of the web that has enshrouded London for so long.
As to motive, I believe you can easily deduce it. I took the position of police surgeon to best aid Scotland Yard in completing Holmes' final and most important work, only to have had my efforts stymied every step of the way. It galled me more than you could ever know, to slowly watch his sacrifice come to naught. I could not have him die for nothing. And so I took the law into my own hands.
...I write that I did it for Holmes, but that would not be the full truth. And this must be a full confession.
Moriarty took away from me the best and wisest man that I have ever known. The best part of me died that day, and only this work has come close to filling the void.
I did it for myself.
John H. Watson