Sherlock Holmes Page #21

HOLMES:

Lestrade -- your usual impeccable

timing.

LESTRADE:

You know, in another life, you'd

have made an excellent criminal.

HOLMES:

And you, sir, an excellent

policeman.

69 EXT. LONDON JAIL - DAY 69

Holmes and Lestrade march along. Lestrade holds out a

copy of the newspaper. The headline reads: "BLACKWOOD

LIVES AND THE DEVIL WALKS WITH HIM! MURDERER

RESURRECTED!"

LESTRADE:

Tell me you have answers.

HOLMES:

All in good time.

LESTRADE:

We don't have time. I've an

office full of policemen hanging

crosses over their desks. A

public that's working itself into

a frenzy...

Holmes sees a dark, strange carriage waiting, door open.

HOLMES:

Who's this?

LESTRADE:

Try to behave yourself. They just

paid a small fortune to bail you

out.

70 OMITTED 70

71 INT. CARRIAGE 71

Holmes enters. An ANONYMOUS MAN sits in the other seat.

(CONTINUED)

56.

71 CONTINUED:
71

ANONYMOUS MAN:

I'm afraid you'll have to put this

on.

He holds a black hood. Holmes shrugs.

CUT TO BLACK.

FADE IN:

72 INT. TEMPLE OF FOUR ORDERS HEADQUARTERS 72

The hood is pulled off. Holmes takes in the scene, eyes

flicking around the room.

He's in a grand office where a man in his late 60s, SIR

THOMAS, rises from a pile of papers.

SIR THOMAS:

Mr. Holmes, apologies for

summoning you like this. I'm sure

it's quite a mystery as to where

you are, and who I am.

HOLMES:

As to where I am -- I was,

admittedly, lost for a moment

between Charing Cross and Holborn.

But I was saved by the bread shop

on Saffron Hill, the only bakers

to use a certain French glaze on

their loaves. After that, the

carriage forked left, then right,

a bump over the Fleet conduit --

need I go on?

Somewhat stunned, Sir Thomas shakes his head.

HOLMES:

As to who you are -- that took

every ounce of my not-

inconsiderable experience and

skill... the letters on your desk

are addressed to Sir Thomas

Rotheram, Lord Chief Justice.

That would be your official title.

Who you realy are is another

matter entirely.

Sir Thomas is not in the mood for this -- but Holmes is

on a roll.

(CONTINUED)

56A.

72 CONTINUED:
72

HOLMES:

Judging by the sacred Ox on your

ring, you're also the secret head

of the Temple of the Four Orders --

in whose headquarters we now

stand, on the northwest corner of

St. James Square.

(beat)

And as to the mystery -- the

mystery is why you bothered to

blindfold me in the first place.

SIR THOMAS:

Yes, well, it's standard

procedure, I suppose.

Holmes shakes his head; what a massive lack of judgement

on their part.

STANDISH (O.S.)

I think we have the right man.

Holmes turns to see JOHN STANDISH and LORD COWARD

standing behind him. Standish is an American in his

sixties. Coward is a hard, ambitious man in his 30s.

(CONTINUED)

57.

72 CONTINUED:
(2) 72

SIR THOMAS:

Sherlock Holmes, Ambassador

Standish from America and Lord

Coward, the Home Secretary.

Holmes acknowledges them -- barely -- as they enter. He

isn't impressed by rank.

LORD COWARD:

I suppose you already have some

notion as to the -- practices of

our Order?

HOLMES:

Yes. They're almost interesting.

SIR THOMAS:

Be as skeptical as you like -- but

our secret systems have steered

the world towards the greater good

for centuries. The danger is that

they can also be exploited for

more nefarious purposes.

LORD COWARD:

What some call the dark arts, or

practical magic.

Holmes looks around the room, sees FLAGS on the walls

with ancient symbols, variations of the SPHINX.

STANDISH:

We know you're are a rationalist.

We don't ask you to share our

faith, only our fears.

HOLMES:

Fear is the more infectious

condition.

(at Sir Thomas)

In this case, fear of your own

child.

That shocks them rigid.

HOLMES:

Blackwood is your son, yes? You

have the same colored irises -- a

rare dark green, with diamond-

shaped hazel flecks --

(MORE)

(CONTINUED)

58.

72 CONTINUED:
(3) 72

HOLMES (CONT'D)

(pointing at Sir

Thomas' ear)

-- plus identical outer ears, or

pinna, which only pass down

through the direct bloodline,

which would make you either

brothers, or, more likely, father

and son.

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