Page 39 - SHERLOCK transcripts

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sadness. The three of them stand there silently for several long seconds, then Sherlock looks
across to Lestrade.)
SHERLOCK: Shut up.
LESTRADE (startled): I didn’t say anything.
SHERLOCK: You were thinking. It’s annoying.
(Lestrade and John exchange a surprised look as Sherlock steps slowly forward until he reaches
the side of the corpse. His attention is immediately drawn to the fact that scratched into the
floorboards near the woman’s left hand is the word “Rache”. His eyes flick to her fingernails
where the index and middle nails are broken and ragged at the ends, the pink nail polish
chipped in stark comparison to her other nails which are still immaculate. The woman’s index
finger rests at the bottom of the ‘e’ as if she was still trying to carve into the floor when she
died. Sherlock makes an instant deduction:

left handed

He looks back to the word carved into the floorboards and an immediate suggestion springs into
his mind:

RACHE
German (n.) revenge

Instantly he shakes his head in a tiny dismissive movement and the suggestion disappears. He
looks at the carved word again and overlays the five letters with a clearer type. Next to the ‘e’ a
rapid progression of letters appear and disappear as he tries to complete the word, then the
correct letter settles into place to form the word:

Rachel

He squats down beside the body and runs his gloved hand along the back of her coat, then lifts
his hand again to look at his fingers:

wet

He reaches into her coat pockets and finds a white folding umbrella in one of them. Running his
fingers along the folds of the material, he then inspects his glove again:

dry

Putting the umbrella back into her pocket, he moves up to the collar of her coat and runs his
fingers underneath it before again looking at his fingers:

wet

Reaching into his pocket he takes out a small magnifier, clicks it open and closely inspects the
delicate gold bracelet on her left wrist ...

clean

... then the gold earring attached to her left ear ...

clean

... and then the gold chain around her neck ...

clean

... before moving on to look at the rings on her left ring finger. The wedding ring and
engagement ring flag a different message to him:

Transcripts by Ariane DeVere (arianedevere@livejournal.com)