The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories Part II (36 page)

HOLMES: Collington Smith used exactly those words.

WATSON: Good for him. To put that child into danger...

HOLMES: I had a perfectly foolproof diversion worked out.

WATSON: Did you.

HOLMES: (
A sigh
) As I said, it was a long time ago. I wouldn't do it now.

WATSON: Unless there was no other way.

HOLMES: The point is academic. I had to fall back on my second plan of attack.

WATSON: The illegal one.

HOLMES: Quite.

WATSON: I know exactly what it was.

HOLMES: Of course you do.

Cut to:

SCENE 43. EXT. REAR GARDEN, THE GUTTRIDGE HOUSE. NIGHT.

Very quiet and still.

Close, a glass–cutter does its stuff.

It stops. Tap... Tap...
Tap... and part of a pane of glass comes away.

Suddenly, not far off, a dog barks.

HOLMES: (
Catches his breath
)

He freezes
. But then a cat screeches and the barking and squealing recede together as the animals run off.

It was a coincidence. A moment of calm.

(
Breathes again
)

He reaches through the hole in the window and opens the latch.

(
Sotto, smug
) Ha. Elementary.

Cut to:

SCENE 44. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

SMITH: My dear Mr. Holmes. I cannot condone such blatantly criminal activity. (
A moment
) Unless of course it yielded the desired result.

HOLMES: Arsenic. He's been concentrating pure arsenic and storing it in unmarked bottles in a locked cupboard.

SMITH: Then young Miss Snell was quite correct.

HOLMES: It looks like it.

SMITH: What will you do now?

HOLMES: There's one more piece of evidence I need. Then my case will be complete.

Cut to:

SCENE 45. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: I presume you were talking about the doctor.

HOLMES: Yes, I was. I had to be sure that the infants had died from arsenical poisoning. [“arse–EN–icle”]

WATSON: What about your theory that the doctor was in league with the murderer?

HOLMES: I was never said he was, Watson. I said he might have been. I had to hope that seeing him face-to-face would enable me to decide.

Cut to:

SCENE 46. INT. A DOCTOR'S SURGERY, THE EAST END.

Small, cramped, and with a lot of patients-in-waiting noise filtering in from the next room.

DOCTOR: A detective? Do you mean from Scotland Yard?

HOLMES: A private detective.

DOCTOR: Are you sick? Injured?

HOLMES: No.

DOCTOR: Sir, I have a room full of patients out there and a hundred more waiting to take their place. I don't mean to be rude, but I have no time to play games.

HOLMES: This is no game. You are the official medical examiner for Guttridge's Orphanage, are you not?

DOCTOR: What about it?

HOLMES: I have been commissioned to investigate the recent deaths of three infants.

DOCTOR: Mr...

HOLMES: Holmes. Sherlock Holmes.

DOCTOR: Mr. Holmes, when you leave my rooms look around you. Look at the filth and the squalour and the hunger. And ask yourself which is the stranger - that children die or that they manage to live. Have you seen inside Mrs. Guttridge's establishment? Have you met the lady herself?

HOLMES: Yes, I have.

DOCTOR: Then you'll know that the children there live like royalty compared to most. I've seen Mrs. Guttridge take in babies who were more bone than flesh. If some of them don't survive, then look outside that house for the cause, sir, not inside it. (
A moment
) Now if you don't mind, I have to do my best to help these people.

HOLMES: Will you answer just two questions?

DOCTOR: If you will agree to ask them and then leave.

HOLMES: I agree.

DOCTOR: Then ask me your questions.

HOLMES: Did you conduct a thorough examination of the dead babies?

DOCTOR: As thorough as my time and my resources permitted, yes I did.

HOLMES: And did you detect any signs at all of arsenical poisoning?

DOCTOR: (
Taken aback
) Arsenic? Good God no. Not a trace.

Cut to:

SCENE 47. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: You believed him.

HOLMES: I was impressed with him. I've said to you before now that when a doctor goes wrong he makes a formidable criminal.

WATSON: Yes, you have. I can't say I was flattered.

HOLMES: Then perhaps this will redress the balance. In all my life I've not met many people who were thoroughly decent, uncomplicated, good men. And of the ones I have met - several of them were doctors.

Cut to:

SCENE 48. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

SMITH: You appear to have arrived at something of an impasse, my friend.

HOLMES: Why else is arsenic there, if not to kill those children?

SMITH: Rats?

HOLMES: You can buy poison for vermin over the counter at any chemist's shop. If I read the evidence aright, that arsenic was being produced in secret, then hidden away.

SMITH: Then what do you propose to do now?

HOLMES: I suppose it could be nothing more than a coincidence... I have to talk to the girl again.

Cut to:

SCENE 49. INT. A GALLERY, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

After closing time.

Jenny is mopping the floor, absorbed in what she is doing.

HOLMES: (
Close
) Jenny.

JENNY: (
Starts
)

HOLMES: I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you.

JENNY: It's not you, sir, it's me. I'm just frightened at any little noise, now. (
A sudden thought
) You're not going to ask me to spy on him again?

HOLMES: No, no. And... I'm sorry about asking you before. It was wrong. Please forgive me.

JENNY: Forgive you? Forgive... (
She starts to cry
)

HOLMES: My dear Miss Snell... Please stop crying...

JENNY: Sorry, sir. I'm really... (
She trails off
)

HOLMES: What's wrong?

JENNY: Nothing's wrong. It's just... Well, people like me don't get apologised to, that's all.

HOLMES: Ah. Then you do forgive me.

JENNY: Course I do, sir. You was only trying to help me, after all.

HOLMES: Thank you.

JENNY: So - what do you want this time?

HOLMES: I want to ask you this. When you surprised Mr. Guttridge with the medicines - can you remember what he was doing. Exactly what he was doing?

JENNY: Well... (
She trails off
)

HOLMES: It might help if you tell me what he was working with. Do you remember?

JENNY: I'm not sure...

HOLMES: Recall the scene. Mrs. Guttridge asked you to get some iodine.

JENNY: That's right.

HOLMES: So you had to stop what you were doing. What was that?

JENNY: I was washing the sheets. I'd just put the clean ones on the beds, and I was washing the old ones.

HOLMES: Very good. So you had to stop washing the sheets and you went to the medicine store. Was the door open or shut?

JENNY: (
Slowly remembering
) Shut. It was shut.

HOLMES: Excellent. You pushed open the door - and you saw Mr. Guttridge. Was he facing you?

JENNY: No he had his back to the door. That's right - he was bending over the table. He turned round... And he had... (
puzzled
) flypapers. He was holding flypapers.

Cut to:

SCENE 50. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: Flypapers.

HOLMES: Made by impregnating a strip of paper with a weak solution of...

WATSON:... arsenic. Soak the paper in water, boil the solution dry, and what's left is pure concentrated poison. Pretty damning.

HOLMES: Conclusive.

Cut to:

SCENE 51. INT. A GALLERY, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

HOLMES: Excellent, Jenny. You've done well.

JENNY: Have I, sir?

HOLMES: Very well indeed. I fancy that what you saw was the very poison being prepared.

JENNY: No! That's so horrible.

HOLMES: I need to you do something else for me, now.

JENNY: I'll do anything I can, sir.

HOLMES: Continue to keep your eyes and your ears open. There's more to be discovered. If you see or hear anything else that might be important - anything at all - let me know at once. Do you understand?

JENNY: Oh yes, sir. I understand.

Cut to:

SCENE 52. INT. A SMALL ROOM, THE GUTTRIDGE HOUSE.

Jenny is bottle–feeding a baby.

It produces rhythmical sucking noises.

JENNY: There you are... Oh, not too fast, now. Good...

MRS. GUTTRIDGE: When you've finished here Jenny, collect up the bottles and leave them to soak.

JENNY: Yes ma'am.

MRS. GUTTRIDGE: (
Going
) I'll be in the scullery if you need me.

JENNY: Ma'am.

Mrs. Guttridge has gone.

The baby continues to drink.

Yes you like that, don't you? Course you do. That's the way...

GUTTRIDGE: (
From nowhere
) You, girl.

JENNY: (
Starts, very frightened
) Sir?

GUTTRIDGE: Stop that and come with me. I want to talk to you.

Cut to:

SCENE 53. INT. THE MEDICINE ROOM, THE GUTTRIDGE HOUSE.

Guttridge and Jenny approach from the corridor.

GUTTRIDGE: Get in there.

JENNY: No. No!

GUTTRIDGE: Quiet, girl. Go in, I say.

He pushes her in, follows her...

and closes and locks the door.

JENNY: (
Fights for breath, very scared
)

GUTTRIDGE: Stop that and listen to me. I want to know exactly what you saw in here the other day. You understand? Exactly.

Cut to:

SCENE 54. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

SMITH: I'm afraid I have some disturbing news.

HOLMES: What news?

SMITH: I've been speaking to the cleaning supervisor. Jenny Snell hasn't come into work for the past four nights.

Cut to:

SCENE 55. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: Oh, God.

HOLMES: No, it didn't look good.

WATSON: What did you do?

HOLMES: I trusted that my disguise really had taken them in, and went round to Guttridge's Orphanage as myself.

WATSON: Quite a risk.

HOLMES: It had to be done.

Cut to:

SCENE 56. EXT. FRONT DOOR, THE GUTTRIDGE HOUSE. DAY.

HOLMES: Good afternoon. My name is Sherlock Holmes. I'm here to enquire about Miss Jennifer Snell.

A moment.

GUTTRIDGE: Then you'd better come in.

Cut to:

SCENE 57. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

SMITH: What happened?

HOLMES: I was presented with this. Here.

He produces a folded piece of paper.

Cut to:

SCENE 58. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: But surely...

HOLMES: Exactly. A fatal error.

WATSON: But what did it mean? Had he killed her, too?

HOLMES: The girl had been silenced. I'm afraid I could see no other explanation.

WATSON: What did you do?

HOLMES: To be honest - I wasn't sure what to do.

Cut to:

SCENE 59. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

HOLMES: I want to ask your advice.

SMITH: My advice? My dear sir, I'm just a tired old librarian, too rapidly approaching an unwilling retirement. What can you possible wish to ask me?

HOLMES: If I should go to the police with what I know, or confront the murderer myself.

Cut to:

SCENE 60. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: What was Smith's advice?

HOLMES: To do neither.

WATSON: Neither? Why on earth not?

HOLMES: For a very good reason, which I'd completely overlooked.

Cut to:

SCENE 61. INT. SMITH'S OFFICE, THE BRITISH MUSEUM.

SMITH: You're too eager to show off your cleverness. A calculating criminal has made a slip and Sherlock Holmes has detected it. Am I correct?

HOLMES: Well, yes, I suppose you are. But if I'm right and the girl has been done away with...

SMITH: Then justice must be done. Of course. But it seems to me, Mr. Holmes, that you're proposing to confront your villain with only half a case. You may have solved the new crime - but what of the old one?

Cut to:

SCENE 62. INT. THE SITTING ROOM, 221b BAKER STREET.

WATSON: The dead babies.

HOLMES: He was quite right, of course. I had nothing to link the three dead infants with the secret store of arsenic. No evidence whatsoever of foul play.

WATSON: What did you do?

HOLMES: Something you've seen me do many times. I just sat and smoked and thought. And eventually, I saw the truth. And then I knew exactly what course I should take.

Cut to:

SCENE 63. INT. THE PARLOUR, THE GUTTRIDGE HOUSE.

MRS. GUTTRIDGE: Mr. Holmes, I fail to see how I can help you further. I've given you Jenny's home address, I suggest you contact her at her father's.

HOLMES: I doubt if I should find her there.

GUTTRIDGE: What do you mean by that?

HOLMES: But I am not here solely about Miss Snell. I am investigating the recent deaths of three babies in your care, Mrs. Guttridge.

MRS. GUTTRIDGE: Those children died of natural causes, God rest their souls. I have the doctor's certificates.