The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part VI

by David Marcum

  WATSON:I’d like a closer look.

  SOUND EFFECT - HE CROUCHES DOWN, CLOSER TO THE MICROPHONE

  WATSON:Hmm. A nasty wound on the crown of his head. It would appear he was struck with a heavy, blunt object. No doubt his skull was fractured, but what was the weapon?

  HOLMES:Here. Take my tape measure, please, Watson, and measure Mr. Bower’s height, will you?

  WATSON:Oh? All right.

  HOLMES:And while you’re there, observe his fingernails.

  WATSON:The light’s so poor in here, I can hardly see.

  HOLMES:I think that’s the gas valve on the wall behind you.

  WATSON:Oh, yes, so it is. Turn it up, will you, Lestrade? (PAUSE) (OFF) Yes, that’s better. (MOVING ON) Now, Inspector, would you be so kind as to hold this end of the tape at the head?

  LESTRADE:They measure bodies at the morgue, you know.

  WATSON:Now, hold it tightly... and I’ll stretch it down to his feet. (PAUSE) Yes, good. I make him about five feet, four inches. Now I’ll check under his fingernails.

  LESTRADE:Now look here, Doctor. I have to remind you I’m the one investigating this crime.

  WATSON:Oh, excuse me, Inspector. Just trying to be helpful.

  HOLMES:And what do you find, Watson?

  WATSON:I can’t be sure. Wait... Yes! The third and fourth fingers on the right hand... there’s something under the nails. Do you have your magnifying lens with you, Holmes?

  HOLMES:As always. (EFFORT) Here you are. And take my pocket knife to pry it out.

  WATSON:Hmm. It looks like epidermis all right - Hello, what’s this? (HE SNIFFS) There’s a faint odor. Inspector! Smell his hand.

  LESTRADE:Smell his hand?

  WATSON:His third and fourth fingers.

  LESTRADE:What am I supposed to smell?

  WATSON:You tell me.

  LESTRADE:(SNIFFS A BIT) There is as sweet sort of smell. Perfume?

  WATSON:Or cologne. Some men dash it on their faces after shaving.

  LESTRADE:Ah ha! Possibly the killer was a bit of a dandy. Lean over the counter, Mr. Holmes. I’ll have a sniff if you don’t mind.

  SOUND EFFECT - LESTRADE’S FEW STEPS

  HOLMES:Sniff me all you like, Inspector. I think you’ll smell the shag I smoked this morning and the soap I shaved with.

  LESTRADE:(SNIFFS)

  HOLMES:Satisfied?

  LESTRADE: Of course, you could have washed your face.

  WATSON:Nonsense! Holmes doesn’t use cosmetics of any kind! (MUTTERS) Neither do I. Don’t believe in them.

  HOLMES:The unfortunate victim fought with his assailant and scratched him with his fingernails, so you should be looking for someone bearing fresh rakes on his face or neck. And Watson, so far you haven’t mentioned the bruises on the victim’s throat, which I’m sure you observed. Are they suggestive of anything to you?

  WATSON:On his throat? Good heavens, how could I have missed that? Look at the position of those marks! He was choked!

  LESTRADE:All right, what killed him? A broken skull, or strangulation?

  WATSON:Both, probably. First the blow to the head. But the poor fellow must have still been alive, so his killer strangled him until he stopped breathing.

  HOLMES:And no doubt all this caused the racket that brought Miss Bowers downstairs.

  SOUND EFFECT - A WOMAN SLOWLY WALKING DOWN STAIRS. THE CONSTABLE FOLLOWS SOFTLY

  LESTRADE:Wait a minute. Here she comes. (UP) Are you feeling better, Miss Bowers?

  SOUND EFFECT - SHE CONTINUES BRIEFLY, THEN STOPS

  CONSTANCE:(OFF MICROPHONE) Who are these men with you?

  LESTRADE:Step into the light, Mr. Holmes.

  SOUND EFFECT - TWO QUIET STEPS

  LESTRADE:This lady is Miss Constance Bowers.

  WATSON:My deepest sympathy for your terrible loss, Miss Bowers. I’m a medical doctor, and if there is anything I can do –

  HOLMES:(BOLDLY) And I am Sherlock Holmes. I don’t believe we’ve met, have we?

  CONSTANCE:You? Sherlock Holmes? Yes! The murderer!

  LESTRADE:Miss Bowers! Please look very carefully. Is this the man you saw assaulting your father?

  CONSTANCE:Yes!

  LESTRADE:Are you absolutely sure? Beyond any doubt?

  CONSTANCE:Yes! How many times do I have to tell you? Get him out of here!

  HOLMES:One moment, Miss Bowers. Where were you when you saw what happened?

  CONSTANCE:You of all people should know that! You killed him and I saw you do it! Now let me alone! I feel faint even thinking about it!

  LESTRADE:All right, Constable. Take Miss Bowers back to her room.

  CONSTABLE:Right. Come along, ma’am. Up we go.

  MUSIC: WOMAN AND MAN CLIMB STAIRS

  CONSTANCE:(MOVING OFF) I’ll see you hang, Sherlock Holmes!

  CONSTABLE:(OFF) This way, Miss.

  MUSIC: STEPS FADE, DOOR CLOSES OFF

  LESTRADE:Well, Mr. Holmes?

  HOLMES:I find it curious that she identifies me with such certainty, when she saw me only once, and that must have been two years ago. On that occasion, she was in the back room, filling prescriptions, and could see me only briefly through the window behind the counter. The shutter was half closed. She opened it only to place a prescription on the shelf beneath the window, and then closed it again, as it is now.

  LESTRADE:And I find it curious that the man who killed her father was someone who could be mistaken for you. You’re not the average-looking person, after all. More than six feet tall, thin as a rail. You have a highly distinctive face with a most prominent nose...

  HOLMES:But the fact remains that there are two witnesses to my whereabouts during the time the murder was committed. Watson is one, and the clerk at the telegraph office is the other. Why don’t you get a statement from him? That will clear my name, and then you can devote yourself to finding the real killer.

  LESTRADE:That is my intention, Mr. Holmes.

  MUSIC - UNDERSCORE

  WATSON:It was getting on toward noon when we started the return trip to Marylebone. On the way, in the close confines of the carriage, neither Lestrade nor Holmes spoke more than a few words. I, on the other hand, did my best to keep the atmosphere as civil as possible, but to no avail. They were both occupied with their own grim thoughts, until we arrived at the telegraph office.

  MUSIC - SEGUE TO

  SOUND EFFECT - LONDON STREET

  CLERK:Ah, good morning again, Mr. Holmes. Gentlemen.

  HOLMES:Good morning. I have a question for you.

  LESTRADE:I’ll ask the question, if you don’t mind.

  CLERK:Yes sir?

  LESTRADE:Do you know this man?

  CLERK:Why, yes. Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Holmes is a frequent customer.

  LESTRADE:And when did you see him last?

  CLERK:Only this morning, when he picked up a telegram and then wrote out a message to be sent.

  LESTRADE:And do you have a record of the time that was done?

  CLERK:I can find that for you. One moment.

  SOUND EFFECT - LEAFING THROUGH ONIONSKIN PAPERS

  CLERK:Mr. Holmes’s message was transmitted at 8:22 a.m. I sent it myself.

  HOLMES:Wasn’t I hear earlier than that?

  CLERK:Yes sir, but I had two or three other wires to send before yours. We have to do them in their proper order.

  HOLMES:Of course you do. Thank you. Any further questions, Lestrade? No? Shall we go, gentlemen?

  SOUND EFFECT - THEY WALK TO THE DOOR. DOOR OPENS. RAIN. DOOR CLOSES

  (EXTERIOR)

  HOLMES:Well, Inspector?

  LESTRADE:I’m sure you appreciate that it is m
y duty to pursue every claim a witness makes, even if it runs contrary to my own thinking. Of course, I never really thought you killed the man. I was simply doing my duty. Now I’ll drive you back to Baker Street.

  HOLMES:Not yet. If there is a murderer abroad who could be mistaken for me, I won’t rest until he’s under lock and key. I want to take an active role in this investigation, Lestrade. Do you have any objections?

  LESTRADE:None at all.

  HOLMES:Fine. Then I suggest you and I return to the scene of the crime, and on the way we can discuss the case in detail.

  LESTRADE:But Mr. Holmes. You realize there won’t be any compensation for you in this?

  HOLMES:Oh, yes there will. The capture of a killer, and the protection of my good name!

  LESTRADE:But one other thing...

  HOLMES:Yes?

  LESTRADE:About questioning Miss Bowers. She will still be convinced it was you she saw killing her father, which would make it a bit awkward if you were present during the investigation.

  HOLMES:Awkward for whom?

  LESTRADE:Well, I will reveal to her that the man she saw attacking her father could not have been you, and I will have her reconsider her testimony in light of that fact.

  HOLMES:But aren’t we overlooking another person who might have a bearing on the case? The constable mentioned Miss Bower’s mother.

  LESTRADE:Yes, I’ve talked with her. She knew nothing of the crime until her daughter came and told her. She was in bed with a cold at the time.

  HOLMES:Then let us proceed. And Watson? I would appreciate your interviewing whomever is in charge of the body of Mr. Bowers at the morgue.

  WATSON:What would you like to know?

  HOLMES:The most detailed information about his wounds, an accurate measurement of Bower’s height and weight, and his general physical condition before he was killed. Then hurry back to Haversham Street and meet us in the chemist’s shop.

  MUSIC - VIOLIN STING; THEN UNDERCURRENT

  WATSON:I took a cab to the venerable building that houses the city morgue, but the coroner hadn’t yet received Mr. Bower’s body, so I was obliged to spend an uncomfortable wait in the company of several cadavers. Meanwhile, as Holmes later told me, he and Inspector Lestrade were arriving back at the apothecary’s.

  MUSIC - OUT

  SOUND EFFECT - LIGHT TRAFFIC, RAIN

  (EXTERIOR)

  LESTRADE:I see they’ve put up a sign already

  HOLMES:“Closed due to a death in the family.”

  SOUND EFFECT - KNOCK ON DOOR. PAUSE. KNOCK AGAIN

  LESTRADE:(SHOUTS) This is the police! Open up!

  SOUND EFFECT - A LONG PAUSE. THEN THE DOOR IS UNLOCKED AND OPENED

  CONSTANCE:What do you want now?

  LESTRADE:Just a few more questions.

  CONSTANCE:What’s he doing here? Why isn’t he in jail?

  LESTRADE:That’s what I want to talk to you about.

  CONSTANCE:I won’t have him in our shop!

  LESTRADE:He’s with me as part of this investigation. Let us in, please.

  CONSTANCE:A grieving daughter has no peace.

  SOUND EFFECT - THE TWO MEN STEP IN. DOOR CLOSES. RAIN OUT

  (INTERIOR)

  CONSTANCE:All right, say your piece and get out. I’ve got to make something to eat for my mum.

  LESTRADE:Miss Bowers, I want to give you one more chance to tell me what you saw when Mr. Bowers was killed.

  CONSTANCE:I told you what I saw! I saw this man beating him over the head! And then he turned around and emptied out the till! And he took all the cocaine my father had on hand!

  LESTRADE:Miss Bowers. What time did you say it was when this happened?

  CONSTANCE:Eight o’clock! Eight o’clock in the morning! I thought you wrote all of this down!

  LESTRADE:And what was the weapon the man used when he attacked your father?

  CONSTANCE:His gun! He beat poor dad over the head again and again!

  LESTRADE:And you’re sure it was Mr. Holmes?

  CONSTANCE:Yes! Are you blind and deaf? It was him! Him!

  LESTRADE:All right, Miss Bowers. That will do. Now I have something to tell you. I have investigated the whereabouts of Mr. Holmes during the time this crime was committed. I have interrogated a reliable witness who states that Mr. Holmes was at the telegraph office on Bickenhall Street from eight until nearly eight-thirty. Mr. Holmes was nowhere near this neighbourhood at eight o’clock or any time thereafter, until I brought him hear about half-eleven. Mr. Holmes did not kill your father.

  CONSTANCE:I don’t believe it! I saw him with my own eyes, I did!

  LESTRADE:You may have seen someone, Miss Bowers, but it wasn’t Mr. Holmes.

  HOLMES:Excuse me, Miss Bowers. Would you mind if I smoke?

  CONSTANCE:I don’t care what you do.

  HOLMES:Thank you.

  LESTRADE:Now let me assure you, Miss Bowers, that Scotland Yard will not rest until we find the person responsible for your father’s death. It would be extremely valuable to us if you could make yourself available to come to our headquarters at such time as we have a suspect for you to view.

  HOLMES:Excuse me again. I seem to have run out of matches. Is this statuette on the counter a cigar lighter?

  CONSTANCE:It doesn’t work. It has to be mended.

  LESTRADE:Here, Holmes. I have a match.

  HOLMES:Most unusual statuette. A likeness of the Greek goddess Athena and her sacred owl, is it not? Look at it, Lestrade. Did you ever see anything so clever? I take it the statue holds benzene or some such flammable liquid, and this flint wheel in the owl’s beak is what ignites it.

  SOUND EFFECT - FLINT WHEEL ROTATED

  CONSTANCE:I said it doesn’t work.

  HOLMES:Odd that I didn’t notice it when we were here earlier. I could have sworn there was nothing on the counter.

  LESTRADE:You want the match, Mr. Holmes?

  HOLMES:Never mind, Inspector. Thank you anyway. Please go on.

  LESTRADE:As I was saying, Miss Bowers, we shall need you to review your memory of the attack on your father. In the meantime-

  HOLMES:In the meantime, Miss Bowers, show us where your father kept his stock of cocaine.

  CONSTANCE:You ought to know! You took the last of it!

  LESTRADE:Miss Bowers!

  CONSTANCE:Under the counter.

  HOLMES:Would you kindly show me?

  SOUND EFFECT - STEPS AROUND TO BACK OF COUNTER. DRAWER IS PULLED OPEN

  CONSTANCE:In there.

  HOLMES:An empty drawer with a lock on it.

  CONSTANCE:He kept it locked up.

  HOLMES:And who had the key?

  CONSTANCE:He did. He wouldn’t trust anyone with it.

  LESTRADE:Not even you?

  CONSTANCE:I never wanted it. Had no need of it.

  HOLMES:Well, Inspector, I have no more questions at present. If you’ll let me have that match now, I’ll go out in the carriage and have a smoke.

  LESTRADE:All right, here you are.

  HOLMES:Thank you. And thank you, Miss Bowers.

  SOUND EFFECT - HE WALKS TO THE DOOR. OPEN/CLOSE. RAIN ON CITY STREET

  (EXTERIOR)

  WATSON:(APPROACHING) Holmes!

  HOLMES:Watson! Finished so soon?

  WATSON:I did as you asked, and then caught a fast cab. Where’s Lestrade?

  HOLMES:Just finishing up. Let’s get in the carriage. He’ll join us.

  SOUND EFFECT - STREET. RAIN EFFECT FADE OUT

  WATSON:(NARRATING) While we waited for Lestrade, Holmes told me everything that had happened in the apothecary shop. And I was beginning to relate what I had learned at the morgue,
when Lestrade returned to the carriage.

  SOUND EFFECT - FADE IN: RAIN ON THE CARRIAGE ROOF. CARRIAGE DOOR OPENS. RAIN UP

  LESTRADE:Ah, Doctor, you’re back. (EFFORT AS HE GETS IN)

  SOUND EFFECT - DOOR SLAMS. RAIN ON CARRIAGE ROOF AGAIN

  HOLMES:How did you leave matters with the Bowers woman?

  LESTRADE:She is unsettled and bitter. Immediately after you left, she admitted that she might have made a mistake identifying you as the culprit.

  HOLMES:Well, that’s some progress.

  LESTRADE:But more than that, she let slip that all was not honey and roses in her family relations.

  HOLMES:Oh?

  LESTRADE:She said the only reason she worked in the shop was because her father was too miserly to hire someone with pharmacist’s training. If my experience is anything to go by, she’s not all that sorry he’s dead.

  WATSON:Really? What a pity.

  HOLMES:Watson, what did you discover at the morgue?

  WATSON:The coroner and I are old colleagues, so he obliged me by putting Bowers body on the table ahead of several others. The poor fellow was small of stature, as we already knew, but his limbs and torso were almost devoid of muscle development. In life, he must have been as weak as a kitten. His weight was just over seven-and-a-half stone. His body reeked of burnt tobacco, his second and third fingers were stained dark brown, as if from holding burned cigarettes, as we also knew, and we found several sores on the inside of his lips, and badly stained teeth, all of which are common among heavy smokers. It was his opinion that our victim was emaciated partly because he also used opium!

  LESTRADE:Not too uncommon among some who handle drugs. But what about his wound?

  WATSON:The coroner was able to determine, by palpating his neck, that his windpipe had collapsed due to strangulation. That was what ultimately caused his death. The blow on his head was definitely enough to render him senseless, but it did not kill him. His attacker struck him only once, with a heavy object, near the apex of the frontal bone, fracturing his skull. After that, he was strangled.

  LESTRADE:Was there any sign that he’d suffered repeated blows to the head, as his daughter said?

  WATSON:No. The skull was cratered with one massive blow. And a curious thing: At one edge of the wound, there was a curved break in the skin, as if the object that struck him had a sharp rim around it.