A Study in Terror Page #6

this side of hell.

What animal could have done this?

Prepare yourself for a shock,

Dr Murray.

Come, Watson.

Aren't you going to

examine the body? There is

a more important examination.

LOUD BANGING:

I'm coming! Stop!

Always these drunk people!

What the hell do you want?

You're asking for trouble!

No. We're giving it!

I want to see the owner

of this doubtful establishment.

You've got a nerve, coming to

see me at this time in the morning!

The owner, not the hired help! Tell

Angela Osborne I want to see her.

You are not going upstairs.

Now there are several things

I may do, Mr Steiner! All right.

But give her a chance.

Let me warn her.

Warn her?

You can't just walk in on her.

Not the way she is.

Come up.

Please sit down, Mr Holmes.

Dr Watson.

You will forgive

the inconvenience of the hour.

Night and day are indistinguishable

here. A lamp turned down

is my morning sun.

What do you want, Holmes?

Out with it.

Excuse Mr Steiner's lack of

hospitality. We never receive guests.

Mr Steiner's hospitality is noted

for the lengths he will go to

to provide comfort for his guests.

It is profitable. I hope you won't

spoil it. It is of no interest to me.

Then why are you here? To ask the

lady what she did with the knife.

Knife? The one you removed from

the set of instruments you sent me.

You are all I expected of you.

Give it to him, Max.

It is a limited life in these rooms

and I spend hours reading your cases.

I am grateful for the excellence

of your narrative, Dr Watson.

Can you tell an admirer, Mr Holmes,

how you knew I sent the instruments?

Someone wanted to interest me

in Michael Osborne.

The writing on the label was that

of a woman with little education.

How did you know I was here?

I was told that you had been...

Mutilated.

Made odious to myself

and to the world. It was obvious

why you'd gone into hiding.

Why remove the scalpel

from the case?

- To intrigue Mr Holmes.

- We have only your word for that.

I believe the doctor thinks

I am Jack the Ripper.

Why should Angela

murder those women?

Of course, Dr Watson is observant.

I hate all women. He knows why.

They're all prettier than I am.

That's why.

The woman with the ugliest face

in the world. Want to see?

But I WAS beautiful.

Eh, Max?

Ja. You were.

You can say it, Mr Holmes,

that I hate women.

But I am not your killer.

As you can see, I am incapable

of even stepping into the street.

Why did you hate your husband

so much? Who told you that?

Dr Murray.

To him, Michael was a saint.

To me, a man who tired easily.

He seemed unbalanced.

He couldn't take the discipline

of medical study, or marriage.

He tired of me and sent me back

to work. You mean on the streets?

His father had cut him off.

I didn't earn enough. He thought up

a way to get money from his brother.

His was the blackmailing scheme?

Who else?

He sent Max to Carfax because his

father would never give him a penny.

Michael's father

knew him for what he was -

a vicious, worthless libertine.

Vicious? If you call

a man who throws acid

into his wife's face vicious,

because she can bear him no more and

is leaving him. Wasn't that vicious?

By God, Holmes,

there's a woman of great character.

I'm afraid you're not probing

deeply enough. Her scars extend

beyond the surface.

What do you mean? She may well

believe her story to be the truth.

Now let us pick up Michael Osborne.

You know where he is?

Come along, Watson.

Father, Mr Sherlock Holmes is here.

I was not aware I had

an appointment. You must

prepare yourself for a shock.

Mr Holmes has brought Michael back.

I have forbidden your brother

this house, Edward.

I have not altered that.

But... Do not argue.

Your grace. You were shown out

of my house on your last

uninvited visit, Mr Holmes.

I have come to save your family

name. Tell him to get himself

out of the mess.

I cannot do that, your grace.

He is not capable of understanding.

Of course he can understand!

Your son is a pathetic imbecile,

incapable of understanding

the smallest action.

He has suffered for his sins.

He is outside that door.

I have brought him home.

Edward. Yes, Father?

Have Michael put into his old room.

Of course.

Do it yourself. It's better.

Not the servants.

And tell him...

I shall come and see him presently.

Mr Holmes. Your grace.

How did you find him? His identity

was revealed by a doctor

in a hostel for the destitute,

his mind by a lady in a

public house, the Angel and Crown.

I am indebted to them both.

Thank you, Mr Holmes.

Holmes...

you know, don't you?

You know who Jack the Ripper is.

Who is he?

I must keep that from you a little

longer. Won't you arrest him?

Knowing is not proving.

We can't let him roam the streets.

No. We have work to do before the

final curtain can be brought down.

We have been setting the scene

for the last act of Jack the Ripper.

I wondered what we'd been doing.

DOG BARKS:

- Anything?

- No, nothing.

AAHH!

Good evening, Lord Carfax.

SHO:

AHHH!

AAHH!

HE SCREAMS WILDLY

MAX!

MAX!

MAX!

Angela!

AHH!

BOTH SCREAM:

HE SCREAMS:

How did you get out, Holmes?

I am well-known

to be indestructible.

I would not miss this excellent

partridge. How did you know...?

DOOR CLOSES:

How did you know it was Carfax?

Oh, Holmes!

His medical knowledge.

When I dropped the case of

instruments in his father's house,

he picked it up. Natural politeness.

He put the instruments into the

right niches. How odd, I thought.

A layman might ponder for a moment.

Carfax did not hesitate.

But isn't it obvious Dr Murray...?

Nothing is more deceptive

than an obvious fact. The letter

was obvious AND revealing.

That harum-scarum diatribe

in red ink - revealing?

Precisely. The writer described

his murders as his work -

"I love my work".

He was obviously

a man of means who had no need

of ordinary employment.

Dr Murray, who works hard, might

have put "pastime". I ruled him out.

You make it sound simple. It was.

In the Osborne family, I found

insanity through four generations.

Carfax's reason hung on a thread.

That his brother should give the

Osborne name to a common prostitute

broke that thread.

Carfax was protecting

the family name.

He'd never seen Angela but thought

he could kill her by elimination.

He searched for her with his knife.

But Lestrade and the police...?

They do not know the identity

of Jack the Ripper.

We need not disclose it.

The Osborne family

have suffered enough.

Lestrade has three buckets of ash

but we will keep the name.

KNOCK ON DOOR:

Parcel for you, Mr Holmes.

Postmarked "Nottingham".

A-ha, the game's afoot again.

This is three years old. The flat

brim with curled edges came in then.

It belongs to a man who has

suddenly gone down in the world.

He is middle-aged, goes out little,

with grizzled hair which has been

cut in the last few days. Also...

MUSIC DROWNS SPEECH

BBC 1996

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