A Study in Terror Page #4

without evidence, Watson.

It puts the estate in a mess -

if the duke should die with no proof

the elder son was alive or dead.

Watch your back. I saw movement

in the shadow a moment ago.

RUNNING FOOTSTEPS GET FAINTER

Brisk work, Watson! Brisk work!

Upon my soul, Holmes! When you

take a guest out for the evening

you really do it!

My apologies. Next time I'll take

you to a quiet table at the Cafe

Royal. I should jolly well think so.

Nothing like a piece of cold steel,

eh, Holmes?

DRUNKEN SINGING:

'Ere we are.

Here's one.

Two legs, even!

Wotcher!

Cor! Sailor's rest!

We've walked a mile for that.

Working up an appetite.

The girls are indoors.

Scared to come out!

Must've known we was in port!

Don't worry. Jack and me,

we'll look after you!

'Ere, don't fight

over it, lads!

You girls were told

to clear off the streets.

I've got to earn a living!

Clear off, lads - go on.

Miss - don't you live that way?

You coppers

are ruining everything!

Push off!

Aah!

WHISTLE BLASTS:

Thanks to Jack the Ripper -

yes, thanks to this brutal killer -

the world is watching Whitechapel.

It's not the killings by a demented

hand that the world finds horrible.

It's the murder by poverty.

The murder by misery,

the murder by hunger!

SHOUTS OF AGREEMEN

In Whitechapel...

Whitechapel...

the cry of the starving,

the moan of the sick!

We've tried to get one paragraph in

the papers to expose what happens.

I've been myself to editors, hat

in hand. It's not news, they said.

Pah!

Well, now it is news!

One man has made us news!

SOME SHOUT AGREEMENT, SOME BOO

We'll have a riot. He's putting up

this murderer as a deliverer

of Whitechapel.

To seize a defenceless female,

to stifle her cries and then...

How can anyone do this?

Someone does.

Why? Why?!

A motive, sir? I'll tell you.

His motive is the punishment

of Whitechapel,

as God destroyed

Sodom and Gomorrah!

I'll have to shut him up.

No - you'll have to rescue him.

It is the social and moral crimes

that must be ended in Whitechapel,

not just the killings!

ANGRY SHOUTING:

Yes! It is the dealers in vice

and the purveyors of sex

that the police must throw their

force against, not just the killer!

I tell you there can be no peace

in Whitechapel

while licensed dens

like the Angel and Crown...

BOOING INTENSIFIES

..cater to the dissolute

and the debauched!

BOOS AND ANGRY SHOUTS

WHISTLE BLASTS LOUDLY

BELL CHIMES HALF-HOUR

Prime Minister -

the Home Secretary.

How's the battle?

The Leader of the Opposition

has found the culprit. You.

Gladstone is in form.

I was afraid of that.

I could see you were in for trouble.

Not just me. He'll demand that

the Commissioner of Police resigns.

If he calls for a vote

of no confidence, he might get it.

You mean YOU might have to resign?

Not I - just some of my ministers.

Should we go down? As you please.

I'm expecting a visit

from Mr Holmes.

That charlatan! Mr Mycroft Holmes

is an valuable servant

of the Crown.

As long as he doesn't bring in his

brother Sherlock. I shall ask him to.

Why not approach him direct? Your

department has antagonised him.

HE has antagonised THEM.

He has been grossly offensive.

Mr Mycroft Holmes. Show him in.

Please try to be discreet.

It isn't going to be easy.

Mr Mycroft Holmes will wish to

take charge of the investigation.

Prime Minister.

You know the Home Secretary.

And I will soon know your successor,

unless the police do a better job.

I have confidence in them.

There are none in the Commons.

I sent for you because you have the

tidiest brain in the Civil Service.

I cannot deny it.

Knowing that you are engaged on the

most delicate negotiations about

the Peruvian copper concession...

You wish me to ask my brother

to help apprehend

the Whitechapel murderer.

- How did you know?

- The early hour of the summons

suggested a personal matter.

The Home Secretary's presence

suggested a connection

with the murders.

The fact that the Peruvian matter

has been settled for three days

made me suppose you wished

to consult my brother,

so I have arranged to meet him.

You mean you had anticipated

my request? That, Prime Minister,

is my business.

My Indian vase! Just look at it!

I wish you'd find some other way

of solving cases!

My dear Mycroft! This is

a surprise! Watson, some sherry.

I expected you to ask me about the

Manor House case. I thought you'd be

out of your depth. No, I solved it.

It was Adams, of course? Yes.

I knew that from the start.

Thank you. Mycroft, is this a

social call? Oh, yes. Purely social.

How are you? Very well.

Now the social call is over, let's

get to business. I see you have

come from the Prime Minister. Why?

You are not at your desk. You

are dressed for Buckingham Palace

but the Queen is at Balmoral.

This must be urgent.

What does the Prime Minister want?

To find the Whitechapel murderer

before he brings down the government.

But... Any government which allows

such poverty deserves riddance.

Nor will I be engaged

in political manoeuvres.

Another glass of sherry? Thank you.

QUICK FOOTSTEPS:

Inspector Lestrade

must have urgent news.

He's written to us! A letter!

Try to be coherent.

Who has written? Jack the Ripper!

You're already involved!

A case of detection means more than

any politician's career. Read it.

"Dear Boss, I keep hearing

that the police have caught me.

"They won't fix me yet.

I have to laugh when they talk

about being on the right track.

"I am down on whores and

won't rest until I do get buckled.

"I love my work.

My knife is sharp. I want to get...

"to work right away. Good luck.

Yours truly, Jack the Ripper."

It was sent to the police? A news

agency. It will be in tomorrow's

papers. No - orders from up top.

Every crank in the country would

write to the papers. If it does not

appear, there will be more killings.

Why do you suppose he sent it to

the news agency? For publication.

Perhaps he's sickening

of his crimes. Is he bluffing? No.

If his motive is to create fear,

he's trying to achieve it

without further killings.

If we publish it we add to the fear.

The government wants to avoid that.

You are asking them to aid him. If

it does not appear, he will return

to the knife. They MUST publish!

Orders - it cannot be published.

Then put every man you have

on the streets of Whitechapel.

We've come to view the body

of Miss Elizabeth Stride.

With your permission. Be careful.

Her head is almost severed.

Have you found any clues yet? We've

scoured Whitechapel, but nothing.

He left no bloodstained garments?

No - if it is a he. A woman?

The constable who found the body

saw a woman... Correction.

He reported seeing a woman's shape.

What difference?

What he said is not what you said.

A woman's shape in the fog

could be a man in woman's clothes.

I hardly think it likely...

There is no pattern of behaviour

in a deranged mind.

What can you tell us, Dr Murray?

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