Page 145 - SHERLOCK transcripts
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(When the phone remains silent, Sherlock takes a deep breath to calm himself.)
SHERLOCK: Okay, I’ll prove it. Give me time. Will you give me time?
(After a moment, the tremulous voice of a very young boy comes over the phone’s speaker.)
BOY’s VOICE: Ten ...
(Instantly Sherlock spins and looks closely at the painting.)
LESTRADE (shocked): It’s a kid. Oh, God, it’s a kid!
JOHN: What did he say?
SHERLOCK: “Ten.”
BOY’s VOICE: Nine ...
SHERLOCK (narrowing his eyes as he scans every inch of the painting): It’s a countdown. He’s
giving me time.
LESTRADE: Jesus!
SHERLOCK: The painting is a fake, but how can I prove it? How? How?
BOY’s VOICE: Eight ...
SHERLOCK (turning and glaring at Miss Wenceslas): This kid will die. Tell me why the painting is
a fake. Tell me!
(Miss Wenceslas flinches and opens her mouth, but Sherlock immediately holds up his hand to
stop her.)
BOY’s VOICE: Seven ...
SHERLOCK: No, shut up. Don’t say anything. It only works if I figure it out.
(He turns back to the painting again. Unable to stand the tension, John turns and walks away a
few paces. Lestrade turns to watch him, probably wanting to join in the pacing as well.)
SHERLOCK (to himself, continuing to scan the painting): Must be possible. Must be staring me
in the face.
BOY’s VOICE: Six ...
JOHN (urgently under his breath as he turns back): Come on.
SHERLOCK: Woodbridge knew, but how?
BOY’s VOICE: Five ...
LESTRADE: It’s speeding up!
JOHN (urgently): Sherlock.
(Sherlock’s gaze falls on three tiny white dots of paint in the night sky. His mouth falls open as
the penny finally drops.)
SHERLOCK: Oh!
BOY’s VOICE: Four ...
SHERLOCK: In the planetarium! You heard it too. Oh, that is brilliant! That is gorgeous!
(Turning and shoving the pink phone into John’s hands, he walks away from the painting,
grinning as he pulls out his own phone from his pocket.)
BOY’s VOICE: Three ...
JOHN: What’s brilliant? What is?
(Sherlock rapidly types “Astronomers” and “Supernovas” into his phone, then turns back and
walks towards the others, laughing in delight.)
SHERLOCK: This is beautiful. I love this!
BOY’s VOICE: Two ...
LESTRADE (furiously): Sherlock!
(Sherlock grabs the pink phone from John and yells into it.)
SHERLOCK: The Van Buren Supernova!
(There’s a short pause, then the boy’s plaintive voice comes from the speaker.)
BOY’s VOICE: Please. Is somebody there?
(Sherlock sighs out a relieved breath.)
BOY’s VOICE: Somebody help me!
SHERLOCK (turning and handing the phone to Lestrade): There you go. Go find out where he is
and pick him up.
(He gives John a long look, promising him a jolly good seeing-to later, then turns and points to
one of the dots in the sky of the painting.)
SHERLOCK: The Van Buren Supernova, so-called. (He holds up his phone over his shoulder so
that Miss Wenceslas can see the screen.) Exploding star, only appeared in the sky in eighteen
fifty-eight.
(He turns and throws her a triumphant look, then walks away. John drags in a relieved breath,
then walks closer to look at the painting.)
JOHN: So how could it have been painted in the sixteen forties?
Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)

