Dressed to Kill Page #6

of the variations,

not a very easy problem

to solve, my dear fellow.

Hello.

What's up?

We've had company.

I say this is outrageous.

Ask Mrs. Hudson to

come in here will you?

Right.

Mrs. Hudson?

Yes.

Oh, there you are. Will you come

up here at once please?

Oh, coming, sir.

Mercy me, Mr. Holmes,

what has happened?

Who called while we

were out, Mrs. Hudson?

Just a young lady,

the one who said you wanted

her to wait for you.

And a nice little old

gentlemen with her.

- Our friends again, Watson.

- Friends?

What did the young

lady look like?

Oh, I couldn't see her face

she had a heavy

black veil on

but she had such a

nice way with her.

Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Holmes

if I've done anything wrong

but you did say I should always let

clients come in and wait for you.

Don't worry, Mrs. Hudson,

don't worry.

You had no way of knowing.

It's quite all right.

Quite all right.

Now don't worry,

Mrs. Hudson.

Don't worry?

Well where on earth

is the musical box?

They didn't get it.

Didn't get it?

Where is it?

- It's in your hand.

- Huh?

In that biscuit jar.

Take the biscuits

off the top.

Now put your hand inside

and you'll find the music box.

Well done, Holmes.

Well done. Amazing.

Nice fresh smell.

Like a pub

after closing time.

I say, Holmes?

What?

It's morning.

Allow me to congratulate you

on a brilliant bit of deduction.

It's not a transposition,

not a polygraph

transposition, not a trigraph,

nor any known

form of decoding.

How about the Morse code

have you tried that?

Yes, at about three

o'clock this morning.

I'm sorry, old man.

I was only trying to help.

Oh, do me a favor,

not again.

I must have heard that

thing a thousand times.

Kept me awake all night.

Not a very distinguished

composition I grant you.

You know perfectly well I don't know

one tune from the other.

When I was a kid my people tried to

have me taught the piano.

I always felt sorry for

that old teacher of mine.

The poor old girl

finally reached the point

of numbering

the keys for me.

One-two-three-four.

Even then I never

progressed beyond...

Numbering the keys, Watson!

The nineteenth key

of the keyboard

is the nineteenth

letter of the alphabet.

'S'. Here.

Mark this down while I give it

to you, old fellow, will you?

The first altered note,

write 'S' first.

Now the eighth key is 'H',

the fifth key 'E',

the twelfth key 'L',

the sixth key 'F'.

S- H-E-L-F, shelf.

Your piano lessons were

not in vain, old fellow.

You've solved it.

Thank you.

Thanks, old bean.

We now have two

thirds of a message.

Behind books,

third shelf,

secretary,

Doctor 'S'.

Presumably,

these are the first and second

portions of the message.

And this gang has the first

and third parts of it.

- Precisely.

- Then it's a stalemate?

Yes commissioner but we

can't leave it like that.

There's no doubt in my mind

that they'll try to secure

our third of the

message that's missing.

Well, I assume you've taken every

precaution to guard the Clifford music box.

Oh yes, it's carefully

hidden at Baker Street

with Doctor Watson

on guard.

However, I'm reasonably

certain that,

difficult as it may be,

we can find the plates

even without the missing

part of the message.

"Behind books,

third shelf,

secretary, Doctor 'S'."

Well, outside of the fact that Davidson

hid the Bank of England plates

somewhere in London,

Mr. Holmes,

I don't see that we've

progressed at all.

Allow me to point out to you, sir,

the key words Doctor 'S'.

It looks as if the plates were hidden

in the house of a doctor.

Whether the 'S' stands for

his first or last initial

remains to be determined by

a process of elimination.

Well, there must be ten

thousand doctors in London

with 'S' for a first

or last initial.

Precisely and

every one of them

will have to be

questioned in person.

That's why I say this is

a task for Scotland Yard.

It's a task all right

but Scotland Yard has searched worse

haystacks and found a needle.

Well, for the time being

I'll leave the matter in

your hands, gentlemen.

We'll call you if and when we get a

lead on our mysterious Doctor S.

Thank you.

In the meantime,

I intend to follow up

a little clue concerning

a cigarette.

You are certain of the

identification of the tobacco?

Absolutely.

I have made up

this special blend

for only three customers.

It is almost pure Egyptian

with a mixture of

Latakia for added body

and a pinch of

Perique,

merely a whisper

as one might say

- for elusive fragrance.

- Yes Yes,

and the three customers?

Major Wilson

in Bombay, India.

Mrs. Catherine Lemington

Smith in Ireland.

Yes and the third?

Mrs. Hilda Courtney of Park Mansions,

Briarstone Square.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

You've been most helpful.

It is a pleasure to of

been service, Mr. Holmes.

Yes?

Mrs. Courtney?

Yes.

My name is

Sherlock Holmes.

- Do come in.

- Thank you.

I've heard of you,

of course, Mr. Holmes.

I believe we have a mutual

friend in Sir Edward Brookdale.

He's spoken to me

of you quite often.

Indeed.

And to what good fortune

am I indebted for this visit?

I think you know,

Mrs. Courtney.

Well, I did get a summons

for speeding last week

but outside of that I don't think

I'm of any interest to the police.

Oh, come now,

Mrs. Courtney,

you seemed to forget that

you and I have met before.

I'm sorry,

I'm sure I would have remembered

meeting the great Sherlock Holmes.

- Please sit down.

- Thank you.

You say we met before?

Yes.

At the home of Mr. & Mrs. Kilgour,

143 B Hampton Road.

Kilgour?

I don't think I know

anyone of that name.

Well, I didn't say

you knew them,

as a matter of fact, you called on

them when they were out.

Why I don't understand,

Mr. Holmes.

Really?

You were dressed

rather differently.

Indeed.

Cigarette?

Thank you.

You know Mrs. Courtney,

people generally forget,

you know assuming

your disguise,

that the shape of the ear

is almost an infallible

means of recognition

and identification

to the trained eye.

Evidently you've mistaken

me for someone else.

Oh no, not at all,

though naturally

I expected your denial

but when you paid your visit

to my rooms at Baker Street

you carelessly

left behind

an another identification.

They're identical

aren't they?

Yes, I must admit

they are.

You see Mr. Holmes to

catch one as clever as you

I had to use a

very special lure.

I knew you'd be unable to

resist the bait of my cigarette

having read with great interest

your monograph on the ashes

of a hundred and forty

different varieties of tobacco.

I should advise you

not to move, Mr. Holmes.

I must congratulate you on your

ingenuity, Mrs. Courtney.

It was indeed a

brilliantly designed trap.

Thank you, Mr. Holmes.

Praise from a master

is indeed gratifying.

I shall always cherish the memory

of your flatter and words.

Memory?

Precisely.

I'm afraid these gentlemen have a

most regrettable task to perform.

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