Page 305 - SHERLOCK transcripts
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judging from the fading of the fabric. It was sold off in a fire-damage sale ... (he gets out his
phone and shows the screen to Greg) ... a week ago.
LESTRADE: So the whole thing was a fake.
SHERLOCK: Yes.
(He turns and heads out of the room.)
LESTRADE: Looked so promising.
SHERLOCK (already out of sight): Facile.
MOLLY: Why would someone go to all that trouble?
SHERLOCK (offscreen): Why indeed, John?
(Molly looks awkwardly at Greg.)
LATER. Sherlock – with Molly at his side – pushes the doorbell to a flat. Instead of the bell
ringing or buzzing, it plays a recording of a London Underground announcement of a male voice
saying, “Mind the gap. Mind the gap.” Molly giggles quietly. A young man answers the door and
Sherlock immediately holds out the bobble hat towards him.
HOWARD: Oh. Thanks for hanging on to it.
SHERLOCK: No problem.
(Taking the hat, Howard leads them inside.)
SHERLOCK: So, what’s this all about, Mr Shilcott?
(They go into a room which is mostly taken up by a train set with model Tube trains running
round it. On the wall is a photo of Howard, wearing his bobble hat, grinning happily and doing a
thumbs-up to the camera while he stands in front of a train which doesn’t seem to be in Britain.
The rest of the room is full of all sorts of different train memorabilia.)
HOWARD: My girlfriend’s a big fan of yours.
SHERLOCK (chuckling sarcastically): Girlfriend?!
(Howard looks round indignantly and Molly throws Sherlock a look.)
SHERLOCK: Sorry. Do go on.
HOWARD: I like trains.
SHERLOCK: Yyyes.
HOWARD: I work on the Tube, on the District Line, and part of my job is to wipe the security
footage after it’s been cleared.
(He sits down at his computer.)
HOWARD: I was just whizzing through and, er, I found something a bit bizarre.
(He turns towards the computer and Sherlock throws a silent and quirky “Ooh!” at Molly, who
smiles. Howard pulls up the relevant footage and the others walk to either side of him to look at
the screen, which shows the platform of a Tube station. A train is stationary and its doors are
open. There is only one man on the platform. He looks like a business man and is carrying a
briefcase.)
HOWARD: Now, this was a week ago. The last train on the Friday night, Westminster station,
and this man gets into the last car.
MOLLY: “Car”?
HOWARD: They’re cars, not carriages. It’s a legacy of the early American involvement in the
Tube system.
(Molly turns and throws a look at Sherlock.)
SHERLOCK: He said he liked trains.
MOLLY: Hmm!
HOWARD: And the next stop ... (he shows the appropriate footage) ... St James’s Park station
... and ...
(The footage shows the doors of the last car opening – and nobody gets out. Suddenly Sherlock
is more interested. The doors close again.)
HOWARD: I thought you’d like it.
(He replays the earlier footage.)
HOWARD: He gets into the last car at Westminster, the only passenger ...
(He switches to the later footage.)
HOWARD: ... and the car is empty at St James’s Park station. Explain that, Mr Holmes.
MOLLY: Couldn’t he have just jumped off?
(Sherlock shakes his head. Molly looks away from the video footage and watches him.)
HOWARD: There’s a safety mechanism that prevents the doors from opening in transit. But
there’s something else. The driver of that train hasn’t been to work since. According to his
flatmate, he’s on holiday. Came into some money.
SHERLOCK (turning to look at Molly): Bought off?
Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)

