Sherlock Holmes in New York Page #3

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Yes, madam.

In here.

May I ring for some refreshment?

Some coffee? Brandy?

Would you care to sit down?

Sherlock, you're...

You're looking quite well.

You've hardly changed

in the years since we've met.

And Dr Watson are you quite well also?

- Thank you, dear lady.

Irene, we were at the theatre tonight.

Did the performance go on?

With your understudy.

The audience was naturally

disappointed at the substitution.

Miss Robeson is a very promising

fine young performer.

What is the indisposition

of which you're suffering?

A trifling matter...

Irene, why did you

not go to the theatre tonight?

Did Mr Furman not explain...?

I insist I be spared this masquerade.

It demeans a friendship of

almost ten years standing.

Irene, it is time for the truth!

What is it that holds you in this grip

of almost unbearable terror?

What is the message you are awaiting?

And why are you prepared to

remain up the entire night

and not leave this house

until you receive it?

I should have remembered.

One cannot pretend

in front of Mr Sherlock Holmes.

Holmes what do you mean by a message,

about staying up all night,

about leaving the house?

It's simplicity itself, Watson.

Irene has cancelled the

most important night of her career.

And look at the fire.

Made up to last until morning.

And that curtain.

You see it hangs untidily

Again and again it has been thrust

to once side so that the street below...

The window is unlatched.

As I say someone has repeatedly stepped

out here looking in all directions.

Waiting.

Waiting for what?

Watson,

not a single piece of furniture in this

room bears the imprint of a human form.

Irene, you have spent the time,

since at least eight this evening,

pacing up and down,

sitting only at that desk over there

to write the note to Mr Furman.

What is this?

Who is this child?

His name is Scott.

He's my son.

Where is the boy now?

He's upstairs, in bed.

May I see him?

He is asleep.

I shall be very quiet.

I'm afraid I cannot oblige you.

- I am convinced you cannot!

This photograph normally

stands on the desk, here.

A faint line of dust marks

where the base usually rests.

You seized it up while you were pacing.

You gazed at it with a...

With a look of longing.

With a sob of anxiety, I dare say,

and then you fling it onto the sofa

because the boy is not upstairs, in bed.

The boy is not in this house at all.

The boy has been kidnapped.

- Yes!

Yes! Yes!

He has been kidnapped!

And I am out of my mind with grief.

Holmes! Good heavens, the lady's

at the end of her tether!

Watson, fetch her some brandy.

Irene, please...

You must control yourself.

We have no time.

I must know exactly what happened.

Yes.

Yes, of course.

I will have a drop of brandy.

Thank you, Watson.

Of course, dear lady.

Yes, madam?

Heller,

would you tell Fraulein Reichenbach

to come down right away, please?

Of course, madam.

English, Fraulein.

I had gone to meet

the young boy at school,

and we were walking home,

which we used to do each day.

It is this afternoon

you are referring to Fraulein?

Ja.

Please describe to us what occurred.

- Ja.

Erm...

Three blocks from here, maybe four...

'ya, four...

a carriage drew beside us and stopped.

A man was on top driving the horse.

Erm, it was a closed carriage,

and all the shades were down.

Suddenly, a man leaped from inside...

Yes, go on.

He seized and kicked me.

Good heavens, the brute!

Watson, please.

He seized and kicked you?

Ja. First by the hair, like this.

And then with his foot,

like this, in the chin.

I expect she means the 'shin'.

Thank you, Watson.

What happened then?

He threw me into the gutter.

Gott in Himmel, was he strong!

So strong he...

Laid his hands on the boy

and dragged him into the carriage,

and off they raced.

Irene, when you learned of this

did you inform the police?

I was on the point of doing so when...

When what?

When this telegram arrived.

- What telegram?!

I'm about to show you, Sherlock.

Try not to be so impatient.

I ask your pardon. When a problem

absorbs me I tend to neglect formalities.

The problem absorbs me also.

'Do nothing, stop.

Tell no-one, stop.

'Further instructions

will be forthcoming, stop.

'Disobey these orders and

you will face the direst consequences.'

Oh, dear lady!

Sit down.

Holmes?

- Rene.

Forgive me,

I thought I was stronger.

So, there it is, Sherlock.

I have been waiting, waiting, waiting

for those 'further instructions'

since four o'clock this afternoon.

And it is not nearly nine-thirty.

What has happened to my son?

Oh!

A message.

A closed carriage, Holmes.

One man at the reins,

the other must be at the door.

Hold on!

Go!

Wait!

What are you standing for, why don't

you give the note to your mistress?

It's not addressed to Miss Adler, sir.

Not addressed to her?

To whom is it addressed?

It's addressed to you, sir.

I'd better read this to you.

'The life of Scott Adler depends upon

one thing alone, Mr Sherlock Holmes:

'Your refusal to

co-operate with the police.

'You will refuse, and you will

give no reason for your refusal,

'or the boy will die.'

Irene.

If she's still awake in an hour

see she takes another of those powders.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, sir. Goodnight gentlemen.

That should take

care of matters till the morning.

A cab?

I'd prefer to walk.

Oh, anything you say.

Can you make

head or tail of it Holmes? I can't.

I am being manipulated.

Hey, what's that?

'Manipulated'? How'd you mean?

That chink in my armour,

it's been discovered.

I'm sure I haven't the foggiest

notion what you're talking about.

Watson, did you know my full name

was William Sherlock Scott Holmes?

Is it? No I didn't know that.

Same as the lad, eh?

Well, it's not an uncommon name

is it, Scott?

What about that exploring Johnny?

The one that's down in Antarctica

just now, another Scott?

One thing puzzles me, though.

One thing?

I commend your clarity of mind, Watson.

What thing is that?

That bit in the letter about you

not co-operating with the police.

No-one's asked you to

co-operate with the police.

Mr Sherlock Holmes?

Yes, my name is Holmes.

Inspector Lafferty,

New York Police Department.

And I'm Mortimer McGraw, president of

the International Gold Exchange.

How do you do, Mr McGraw?

This is Dr Watson.

How do you do?

Dr Watson.

Mr Holmes, I only learned an hour ago

that you were even in New York.

I would have come to you sooner.

About what?

Mr McGraw has been kind enough to offer

us his Landau for our convenience.

Could I trouble you, both of you,

to join us in a short drive?

As you wish.

- Thank you.

Gentlemen, it is almost eleven at night.

Well, more likely, yes.

Mr Holmes, have you ever heard of

the International Gold Exchange?

No.

Gold is a very attractive metal

to thieves as you well know.

It is also the major medium of exchange

between nations of the civilized world.

Quite.

Shipments of large quantities

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