Page 252 - SHERLOCK transcripts

251

JOHN: Sherlock, something weird ...
(He stops when he sees that Greg and Sally are in the room with Sherlock.)
JOHN: What’s going on?
SHERLOCK: Kidnapping.
(He goes over to the dining table and sits down and starts to type on the laptop.)
LESTRADE: Rufus Bruhl, the ambassador to the U.S.
JOHN: He’s in Washington, isn’t he?
LESTRADE: Not him – his children, Max and Claudette, age seven and nine.
(Sally shows photographs of the two children to John.)
LESTRADE: They’re at St Aldate’s.
DONOVAN: Posh boarding place down in Surrey.
LESTRADE (to Sherlock, who is still typing): The school broke up; all the other boarders went
home – just a few kids remained, including those two.
DONOVAN: The kids have vanished.
LESTRADE: The ambassador’s asked for you personally.
(Sherlock is already on his feet and heading out of the door with his coat over his arm.)
DONOVAN (sarcastically): The Reichenbach Hero.
(Sherlock hesitates momentarily but then continues on. After a second Greg follows him out.)
LESTRADE: Isn’t it great to be working with a celebrity(!)
(As John gestures for Sally to precede him out of the room, their actions are being watched by a
camera high up on the living room wall near the left-hand front window.)

ST ALDATE’S SCHOOL. Greg’s car drives into the grounds of the boarding school and pulls up
outside the front entrance. Two police cars are already there and a woman is standing in front
of one of them, leaning against the bonnet wearing a shock blanket around her shoulders and
crying while a uniformed female police officer talks reassuringly to her. A man, probably a plain
clothed police officer, is also talking to her but walks away as Greg, Sally and the boys get out
of the car and approach. The woman blows her nose on her handkerchief.
FEMALE POLICE OFFICER (comfortingly): It’s all right.
LESTRADE (quietly to Sherlock): Miss Mackenzie, House Mistress. Go easy.
(He stays back and lets Sherlock walk over to the woman on his own.)
SHERLOCK: Miss Mackenzie, you’re in charge of pupil welfare, yet you left this place wide open
last night. (His voice rises angrily.) What are you: an idiot, a drunk or a criminal?
(He grabs the blanket and abruptly pulls it from around her shoulders. She gasps in fear as he
glares furiously at her.)
SHERLOCK (loudly): Now quickly, tell me!
MISS MACKENZIE (tearfully and cringing in terror): All the doors and windows were properly
bolted. No-one – not even me – went into their room last night. You have to believe me!
(Sherlock’s demeanour instantly changes and he smiles reassuringly and gently takes hold of
her shoulders.)
SHERLOCK: I do. I just wanted you to speak quickly.
(He looks at the nearby police officers as he turns and walks away.)
SHERLOCK: Miss Mackenzie will need to breathe into a bag now.
(She sobs in distress and the female police officer hurries over to comfort her.
Shortly afterwards, inside the school, Sherlock leads the others into one of the dormitories.)
JOHN: Six grand a term, you’d expect them to keep the kids safe for you. You said the other
kids had all left on their holidays?
(Sherlock has already looked in a cupboard beside one of the beds and now drops to his knees
and peers under the bed.)
LESTRADE: They were the only two sleeping on this floor. Absolutely no sign of a break-in.
(Sherlock picks up a lacrosse stick lying on the floor and gets to his feet while looking at the
stick closely. He briefly wields it as if using it as a weapon but then apparently decides it wasn’t
used in that way and drops it to the floor.)
LESTRADE: The intruder must have been hidden inside some place.
(Sherlock goes over to a wooden trunk and opens the lid. Amongst the other items inside the
trunk he finds a large brown envelope with a wax seal on the back which has already been
broken as if someone has opened the envelope. Inside is a large hardback book. Carefully
checking the envelope first, he then takes out the book and flips it over to look at the cover.
The book is “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.” He looks along the edges of the book and then riffles the
pages quickly. Finding nothing of interest, he looks up.)
SHERLOCK: Show me where the brother slept.

Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)