Sherlock Holmes Faces Death Page #4

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disaster

queen slaughter's page.

No, no.

Sorry Miss Sally.

Page slaughters Page.

Thank you, Brunton.

Who came then to slay him?

The bloodthirsty bishop.

Where shall he go?

Deep down below.

Away from the thunder,

let him dig under.

Once more into the

breach, dear friends,

once more.

Happy day.

You drunken sot.

The master's

been ringing you

for the past ten minutes.

Why don't you answer it?

Fly away, little gremlin.

You're the one

that'll fly away

if he ever catches

you in this state.

Oh, it's him.

Hurry, hurry.

Coming, sir.

Coming.

One moment, sir.

Mr. Holmes,

come in, sir, come in.

This is indeed an honor.

I don't often

have visitors.

What can I do

for you, sir.

You might stop that

squeaking to begin with.

Yes, sir.

And perhaps

you can tell me

how you come to know the

Musgrave ritual by heart.

Me, sir?

Yes, you.

When Miss Sally

forgot the lines today

you were the one

who prompted her.

Well, sir I memorized it.

Obviously but why?

Because it has no meaning.

I love things that

have no meaning.

Thank you, Brunton.

But supposing it

did have a meaning

and suppose that

meaning were tied up

with a murder of

Geoffrey Musgrave.

Oh what a lovely

idea if I may say so.

You may, Brunton.

You may also sit down.

Thank you, sir.

Oh stop it,

and look at me.

No, here.

You know the meaning

of the Musgrave ritual.

Do I?

Well don't you?

You'd be surprised at

all the things I know.

What things?

No you don't.

About the Musgraves?

That would be telling.

And here's to them anyway

all the Musgraves

past and present,

some of 'em

were murderers

and some of 'em worse

but they all knew

how to keep a secret

and so do I.

Brunton.

I've been ringing for you

for the past ten minutes.

Sorry, sir but me

buzzer doesn't buzz.

That'll do, Brunton.

You have your notice.

Do you understand?

Yes, sir.

Is that advisable,

Mr. Musgrave?

Let me be the

judge of that.

He leaves Hurlstone

in the morning.

The morning's

a long way off.

Farewell,

a long farewell to

all my greatness.

You've done it

now Al Brunton.

After all we've

been through.

How could I of managed

to do it all alone?

What are you going to do?

What am I going to do?

Thirteen again.

Yes.

Her whole attitude

confuses me, Watson.

she swears she hasn't

seen Brunton since night

and yet she seems

completely unwilling

to help us find him.

And so she knows where

he is as well as we do,

I mean as well

as we don't.

I wonder.

You said that he was

drinking last night.

Wouldn't it be a good

idea to try the pub?

Exactly where we're

headed for, Watson.

I'm glad we thought of it

even if we don't

find Brunton.

I was afraid we

couldn't find him here.

Well boy oh boy, I

could do with a drink.

For your information

so could I.

Gentlemen.

Well hello, doctor.

Not looking for us

are you, are you?

As a matter of fact

we're looking for...

Brunton.

You haven't seen

him, have you?

Have we Clavering,

have we?

Why should we?

Morning, Gracie.

Morning, doctor.

What do you have?

A bottle of Bass

and what's yours?

A pint of bitter, please.

And a pint of bitter.

I'm a devil.

I'm a devil.

Oh really?

Hello.

A tame raven.

You're a devil are you,

a kettle are you?

I'm a devil.

I'm a devil.

Birds of prey,

aren't they.

Yes, in a way,

scavengers rather.

They can smell a carcass

a half a mile off.

Yeah, that they

can and all.

You should see

Charlie here

when there's a tasty bit

outside in the street.

Shall we go sit down?

Gracie, have you

seen Dr. Watson?

He's over there Lass.

Thank you.

May I speak to you a

moment, Mr. Holmes?

What's wrong, Sally.

We can't find my

brother, Phillip.

Did you look in his room?

That's the trouble, we

had to force the door.

It was locked

on the inside.

Really?

Oh you must

come, Mr. Holmes.

Certainly, Sally, at once.

Do be quick something

ghastly has happened.

I know it.

And that dreadful bird,

please haul it away.

Watson, take it away.

Away where to?

Anywhere.

Into the parlor.

Just take it away.

Phillip Musgrave.

What are they doing

now, doing now?

I don't know.

They stopped talking.

Somebody's walking

about in the upper hall,

heavy footsteps.

There's no doubt

about it, Watson.

Phillip Musgrave had a

visitor here last night.

These footprints were made

either by a very heavy man

or a man carrying a

very heavy burden.

That's right, Mr. Holmes.

It's no good

saying it ain't.

The burden was Phillip

Musgrave's body

and these here

footprints

were made by

Alfred Brunton.

It doesn't

necessarily follow.

Oh don't it.

Here, try that on

your footprint.

And that's Alfred

Brunton's shoe.

Fits perfectly, inspector.

Uh-huh.

But the fact

that these prints

were made by

Brunton's shoes

doesn't prove that

Brunton's feet were in them.

Why not?

Where should

Brunton's feet be

if not in his own shoe?

Well they're

not in them now.

Look here, Holmes.

Let's use our intellect.

Your what?

What's wrong with that.

Let's stick to motive.

That's my strong point.

Now this here

Brunton had motive.

Phillip Musgrave gave

him the sack, didn't he?

Did Geoffrey Musgrave

also gave him the sack?

What's that got

to do with it?

Everything.

The similarity of

method in both murders

shows they were the

work of one man.

Well that leaves

Vickery out.

He was in jail at the

time of this murder.

All right, all right.

Alfred Brunton's our

man, just what I said.

What possible motive

could Brunton have had

for the murder of

Geoffrey Musgrave?

Motive.

Oh bother motive.

Who cares about motive.

This case is as

simple as ABC.

Is it?

Then perhaps you

can explain to us

why these footprints

lead up to a blank wall

and never return.

What?

You didn't think of

that, did you inspector?

There's just one

possible explanation.

I've got it.

Brunton murdered Musgrave

right up against the wall.

He hoisted the body

over his shoulder

like this you see,

walks backwards clean

out of the room.

That's a very undignified

position, Lestrade.

Upsy daisy.

In a house as old as this

it's not unusual to

find secret passageways

that lead down

through the walls.

Hello, here we are.

No you don't,

Come out of there.

What are you

doing in there?

None of your business.

Answer me.

Obviously she was

looking for Brunton.

That's right.

He hasn't left

Musgrave Manor.

I'm certain of that, sir.

His clothes are still

hanging in the wardrobe.

Don't you lie

to me, woman.

You've got him hidden

in there somewhere.

Don't go in there?

Why not?

You'll get lost.

Me lost?

Oh I like that.

He will get lost, sir.

Let him.

Now listen to me.

Where did you enter

that passageway.

Through the

old greenhouse

in lime walk, sir.

Did Brunton know that?

No, he didn't.

Mrs. Brunton,

then why were you

looking for him in there?

We, I...

Yes, we've known all along that

you were married to Brunton.

You know Phillip Musgrave

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