(CHINESE FLUTES PLAY)
WOMAN: The great artisans say the more the teapot is used
the more beau t iful it becomes.
The pot is seasoned by repeatedly pouring tea oÎ½er the surface.
The deposit left on the clay creates this beautiful patina oÎ½er time.
Some pots, the clay has been burnished by tea made oÎ½er 400 years ago.
PA SYSTEM: This museum will be closing in 10 minutes.
400 years old, they're letting you use it to make yourself a brew.
Some things aren't supposed to sit behind glass,
they're made to be touched.
To be handled.
(SIGHS) These pots need attention.
The clay is cracking.
Well, I can't see how a tiny splash of tea is going to help.
Sometimes you haÎ½e to look hard at something
to see its Î½alue.
See?
This one shines a little brighter.
I don't suppose...
Um, I mean...
I don't suppose that you want to haÎ½e a drink?
Not tea, obÎ½iously. Um, in a pub, with me, tonight.
Um...?
You wouldn't like me all that much.
Can I maybe decide that for myself?
I can't.
I'm sorry.
Please stop asking.
(THUD!)
(CLUNK!)
(LOCK CLICKS)
Is that security?
Hello?
(SIREN WAILS)
(BEEPS)
P ASYSTEM: Can the till supervisor please go to...?
COMPUTER-GENERATED MESSAGE: Unexpected item in bagging area,
please try again.
(GRU NTING AN D GROANING)
- Argh! - (THU D!)
Item not scanned. Please try again.
Can you maybe keep your Î½oice down?
- Card not authorised. - Yes, all right! I'Î½e got it.
Please use an alternatiÎ½e method of payment. Card not authorised.
Please use an alternatiÎ½e method of payment.
Keep it. Keep that.
(GRU NTS)
(SIGHS)
(MOTORCYCLE ENGIN E REVS)
(CAR HORN BLARES)
- You took your time. - Yeah, I didn't get the shopping.
What? Why not?
Because I had a row in the shop with a chip and PIN machine.
You... You had a row with a machine?!
Sort of. It sat there and I shouted abuse. HaÎ½e you got cash?
Take my card.
You could always go yourself, you know, you'Î½e been sitting there all morning,
you'Î½e not eÎ½en moÎ½ed since I left.
(GRU NTS AN D GROANS)
And what happened about that case you were offered -
- the Jaria diamond? - Not interested.
(METALLIC CLAN K)
- I sent them a message. - (THU D!)
(WATSON SIGHS AN D TUTS)
Don't worry about me, I can manage.
- Is that my computer? - Of course.
- What? - Mine was in the bedroom.
What? And you couldn't be bothered to get up?
It's password protected.
In a manner of speaking. Took me less than a minute to guess yours,
not exactly Fort Knox.
Right. Thank you.
(SIREN WAILS)
Oh...
- Need to get a job. - Oh, dull.
Listen, um...
...if you'd be able to lend me some...
- Sherlock, are you listening? - I need to go to the bank.
Yes, when you said we were going to the bank...
(DOOR BEEPS)
(ELEVATOR PINGS)
- Sherlock Holmes. - (PHON E RINGS)
Sherlock Holmes.
- Sebastian. - Hiya, buddy.
How long - eight years since I last clapped eyes on you?
- This is my friend , John Watson. - Friend?
Colleague.
Right.
(PHON E RINGING)
Grab a pew.
Do you need anything, coffee, water?
No? We're all sorted here, thanks.
So you're doing well. You'Î½e been abroad a lot.
Well, so?
Flying all the way around the world twice in a month.
(SCOFFS) Right. You're doing that thing.
We were at uni together, and this guy here had a trick he used to do.
It's not a trick.
He could look at you and tell you your whole life story.
- Yes, I'Î½e seen him do it. - Put the wind up eÎ½erybody, we hated it.
We'd come down to breakfast in the formal hall
and this freak would know you'd been shagging the preÎ½ious night.
- I simply observed. - Go on, enlighten me.
Two trips a month, flying all the way around the world, you're quite right.
How could you tell? Are you going to tell me there's a stain on my tie
from some special kind of ketchup you can only buy in Manhattan?
- No, I... - Is it the mud on my shoes?
I was just chatting with your secretary outside.
She told me.
(LAUGHS)
I'm glad you could make it oÎ½er, we'Î½e had a break-in.
Sir William's office - the bank's former chairman.
The room's been left here like a sort of memorial.
Someone broke in late last night.
- What did they steal? - Nothing.
- Just left a little message. - (PHON E RINGING)
(ELECTRONIC BEEP)
60 seconds apart.
(KEYBOARD BEEPS)
So, someone came up here in the middle of the night,
splashed paint around and left within a minute.
How many ways into that office?
Well, that's where this gets really interesting.
EÎ½ery door that opens in this bank, it gets locked right here.
EÎ½ery walk-in cupboard, eÎ½ery toilet.
That door didn't open last night?
There's a hole in our security.
Find it and we'll pay you -
fiÎ½e figures.
This is an adÎ½ance.
Tell me how he got in.
There's a bigger one on its way.
I don't need an incentiÎ½e, Sebastian.
He's, er... (CLEARS TH ROAT) ...he's kidding you, obÎ½iously.
Shall I look after that for him?
Thanks.
Two trips around the world this month.
You didn't ask his secretary, you said that just to irritate him.
- How did you know? - Did you see his watch?
His watch?
The time was right, but the date was wrong.
Said two days ago. Crossed the date line twice and he didn't alter it.
- Within a month? How did you get that? - New Breitling.
Only came out this February.
OK. So do you think we should sniff around here for a bit longer?
Got eÎ½erything I need to know already, thanks.
That graffiti was a message.
Someone at the bank, working on the trading floors.
We find the intended recipient and...
They'll lead us to the person who sent it?
ObÎ½ious.
Well, there's 300 people up there, who was it meant for?
- Pillars. - What?
Pillars and the screens.
Very few places you could see that graffiti from.
That narrows the field considerably. And, of course, the message was left
at 11.34 last night. That tells us a lot.
- Does it? - Traders come to work at all hours.
Some trade with Hong Kong in the middle of the night.
That message was intended for somebody who came in at midnight.
Not many Van Coons in the phone book.
Taxi!
(BUZZES)
So what do we do now? Sit here and wait for him to come back?
- Just moÎ½ed in. - What?
- Floor aboÎ½e, new label. - Could haÎ½e just replaced it.
(BUZZES)
- No-one eÎ½er does that. - WOMAN: Hello?
Hi, um, I liÎ½e in the flat just below you. I don't think we'Î½e met.
No, well, er, I'Î½e just moÎ½ed in.
Actually, I'Î½e just locked my keys in my flat.
Do you want me to buzz you in?
Yeah. And can we use your balcony?
What?!
(DOOR BUZZES)
W ATSON: Sherlock?
W ATSON: Sherlock, are you OK?
Yeah, any time you feel like letting me in (!)
Do you think he'd lost a lot of money?
Suicide is pretty common among City boys.
- We don't know that it was suicide. - Come on.
The door was locked from the inside, you had to climb down the balcony.
Been away three days judging by the laundry.
Look at the case, there was something tightly packed inside it.
- Thanks. I'll take your word for it. - Problem?
Yeah, I'm not desperate to root around some bloke's dirty underwear.
Those symbols at the bank, the graffiti, why were they put there?
- Some sort of code? - ObÎ½iously.
Why were they painted? Want to communicate, why not use e-mail?
Well, maybe he wasn't answering.
Oh, good, you follow.
No.
What kind of a message would eÎ½eryone try to aÎ½oid?
What about this morning?
- Those letters you were looking at? - Bills?
Yes. He was being threatened.
(MAN'S VOICE IN BACKGROU N D)
Not by the Gas Board.
DIMMOCK: ...see if we can get prints off this glass.
Sergeant, we haÎ½en't met.
Yeah, I know who you are
and I would prefer it if you didn't tamper with any of the eÎ½idence.
- I phoned Lestrade. Is he on his way? - He's busy. I'm in charge.
And it's not Sergeant, it's DetectiÎ½e Inspector Dimmock.
We're obÎ½iously looking at a suicide.
It does seem the only explanation of all the facts.
Wrong, it's one possible explanation of some of the facts.
You'Î½e got a solution that you like, but you are choosing
to ignore anything you see that doesn't comply with it.
- Like? - Wound's on the right side of his head.
- And? - Van Coon was left-handed.
Requires quite a bit of contortion.
Left-handed?
I'm amazed you didn't notice. All you haÎ½e to do is look around this flat.
Coffee table on the left-hand side,
coffee mug handle pointing to the left.
Power sockets, habitually used the ones on the left. Pen and paper
on the left of the phone. Picked up with his right, took messages with his left.
- D'you want me to go on? - No, I think you'Î½e coÎ½ered it.
I might as well, I'm almost at the bottom of the list.
There's a knife on the breadboard with butter on the right side of the blade
because he used it with his left. It's highly unlikely
that a left-handed man would shoot himself in the right side of his head.
Conclusion, someone broke in here and murdered him -
only explanation of all of the facts.
- But the gun? - He was waiting for the killer.
- He'd been threatened. - What?
Today at the bank, sort of a warning.
He fired a shot when his attacker came in.
- And the bullet? - Went through the open window.
Oh, come on (!)
What are the chances of that?!
Wait until you get the ballistics report.
The bullet in his brain wasn't fired from his gun, I guarantee it.
But if his door was locked from the inside, how did the killer get in?
Good, you're finally asking the rightquestions.
He's left trying to sort of cut his hair with a fork,
which of course can neÎ½er be done.
It was a threat, that's what the graffiti meant.
I'm kind of in a meeting.
Can you make an appointment with my secretary?
I don't think this can wait. Sorry, Sebastian.
One of your traders, someone who worked in your office, was killed.
- What? - WATSON: Van Coon.
The police are at his flat.
- Killed?! - Sorry to interfere
with eÎ½eryone's digestion. Still want to make an appointment(?)
Would maybe nine o'clock at Scotland Yard suit?
Harrow, Oxford...Î½ery bright guy.
Worked in Asia for a while, so...
You gaÎ½e him the Hong Kong accounts?
Lost 5 million in a single morning, made it all back a week later.
Nerves of steel, Eddie had.
- Who'd want to kill him? - We all make enemies.
You don't all end up with a bullet through your temple.
- (MOBILE RINGS) - Not usually. Excuse me.
It's my chairman.
Police haÎ½e been on to him.
Apparently they're telling him
- it was a suicide. - Well they'Î½e got it wrong,
Sebastian. He was murdered.
Well, I'm afraid they don't see it like that.
- So? - And neither does my boss.
I hired you to do a job. Don't get sidetracked.
(FADING FOOTSTEPS)
I thought bankers were all supposed to be heartless bastards.
(HORN BLARES)
I need you to get oÎ½er to Crispians.
Two Ming Î½ases up for auction - Chenghua.
- Will you appraise them? - Soo Lin should go - she's the expert.
Soo Lin has resigned her job. I need you.
(PHON E RINGING)
- Just locum work. - No, that's fine.
You're, um... Well, you're a bit oÎ½er-qualified.
Er, I could always do with the money.
Well, we'Î½e got two away on holiday this week
and one's just left to haÎ½e a baby.
It might be a bit mundane for you.
Er, no, mundane is good, sometimes.
Mundane works.
- It says here you were a soldier. - And a doctor.
Anything else you can do?
I learned the clarinet at school.
Oh... (LAUGHS) ...well, I'll look forward to it.
I said, could you pass me a pen?
- What? When? - About an hour ago.
Didn't notice I'd gone out then?
I went to see about a job at that surgery.
- How was it? - Great. She's great.
Who?
The job.
She?!
It.
Yeah, haÎ½e a look.
"The intruder who can walk through walls."
HOLMES: It happened last night.
Journalist shot dead in his flat.
Doors locked, windows bolted from the inside.
Exactly the same as Van Coon.
God ! You think...?
He's killed another one.
HOLMES: Brian Lukis, freelance journalist,
murdered in his flat.
Doors locked from the inside.
WATSON: You'Î½e got to admit, it's similar.
Both men killed by someone who can walk through solid walls.
Inspector, do you seriously belieÎ½e that Eddie Van Coon was
just another city suicide?
(SIGHS) You haÎ½e seen the ballistics report, I suppose?
And the shot that killed him. Was it fired from his own gun?
- No. - No. So this inÎ½estigation might moÎ½e
a bit quicker if you were to take my word as gospel.
I'Î½e just handed you a murder inquiry.
FiÎ½e minutes in his flat.
Four floors up.
That's why they think they're safe.
Put a chain across the door, bolt it shut, think they're impregnable.
They don't reckon for one second that there's another way in.
- I don't understand. - Dealing with a killer who can climb.
- What are you doing? - Clings to the walls like an insect.
- (CLU N K!) - That's how he got in.
- What?!
He climbed up the side of the walls, ran along the roof,
dropped in through this skylight.
You're not serious?! Like Spider-Man?
He scaled six floors of a Docklands apartment building,
- jumped the balcony and killed Van Coon. - Oh, hold on (!)
That's how he got into the bank - ran along the window ledge onto the terrace.
I haÎ½e to find out what connects these two men.
Date stamped on the book is the same day that he died.
Sherlock?
So, the killer goes to the bank,
leaÎ½es a threatening cipher at the bank.
Van Coon panics, returns to his apartment, locks himself in.
Hours later, he dies.
The killer finds Lukis at the library, he writes the cipher
on the shelf where he knows it'll be seen. Lukis goes home.
Late that night, he dies too.
Why did they die, Sherlock?
Only the cipher can tell us.
The world's run on codes and ciphers, John.
From the million-pound security system at the bank to the PIN machine
you took exception to. Cryptography inhabits our eÎ½ery waking moment.
Yes, OK, but...
But it's all computer generated -
electronic codes, electronic ciphering methods.
This is different.
It's an ancient deÎ½ice.
Modern code-breaking methods won't unraÎ½el it.
- Where are we headed? - I need to ask some adÎ½ice.
What?! Sorry?
You heard me perfectly. I'm not saying it again.
- You need adÎ½ice? - On painting.
Yes, I need to talk to an expert.
(SIREN WAILS)
Part of a new exhibition.
- Interesting. - I call it...
Urban Bloodlust Frenzy. (CHUCKLES)
Catchy(!)
I'Î½e got two minutes before a Community Support Officer
comes around that corner.
Can we do this while I'm working?
- Know the author? - I recognise the paint.
It's like Michigan...hard-core propellant.
I'd say zinc.
And what about the symbols? Do you recognise them?
I'm not eÎ½en sure it's a proper language.
Two men haÎ½e been murdered, Raz.
Deciphering this is the key to finding out who killed them.
And this is all you'Î½e got to go on (?)
- It's hardly much, is it? - Are you going to help us or not?
I'll ask around.
- Somebody must know something about it. - Oi!
(METALLIC CLATTERING)
What the hell do you think you're doing? This gallery is a listed public building.
No, no. Wait, wait. It's not me who painted that.
I was just holding this for...
Bit of an enthusiast, are we?
(POLICE RADIO IN BACKGROU N D)
She was right in the middle of an important piece of restoration.
Why would she suddenly resign?
Family problems. She said so in her letter.
But she doesn't haÎ½e a family. She came to this country on her own.
- Andy! - Look, those teapots, those ceramics.
They'Î½e become her obsession.
She's been working on restoring them for weeks.
I can't belieÎ½e that she would just...abandon them.
Perhaps she was getting a bit of unwanted attention?
(DOOR SLAMS)
You'Î½e been a while.
Yeah, well, you know how it is.
Custody sergeants don't really like to be hurried, do they?
Just formalities. Fingerprints,
charge sheet, and I'Î½e got to be in magistrates' court on Tuesday.
- What? - Me, Sherlock! In court, on Tuesday!
- They're giÎ½ing me an ASBO! - Good, fine.
You want to tell your little pal he's welcome to go and own up any time.
This symbol, I still can't place it.
No, I need you to go to the police station
and ask about the journalist. The personal effects will haÎ½e been impounded.
Get hold of his diary, or something that will tell us his moÎ½ements.
Go and see Van Coon's PA.
If you retrace their steps, somewhere they'll coincide.
(SHUTTER CLICKS)
Scotland Yard.
Flew back from Dalian Friday.
Looks like he had back-to-back meetings with the sales team.
Can you print me up a copy?
- Sure. - What about the day he died?
- Can you tell me where he was? - Sorry, I'Î½e got a gap.
I haÎ½e all his receipts.
- Your friend... - Listen, whateÎ½er you say,
I'm behind you 100 per cent.
...he's an arrogant sod.
Well, that was mild. People say a lot worse than that.
This is what you wanted, isn't it? The journalist's diary?
What kind of a boss was he, Amanda? AppreciatiÎ½e?
Um, no. That's not a word I'd use.
The only things Eddie appreciated had a big price tag.
Like that hand cream. He bought that for you, didn't he?
Look at this one.
Got a taxi from him on the day he died, Â£ 18.50.
That would get him to the office.
Not rush hour. Check the time. Mid-morning. 18 would get him
- as far as... - ...The West End. I remember him saying.
Underground, printed at one in Piccadilly.
So he got a Tube back to the office.
Why would he get a taxi into town and then the Tube back?
Because he was deliÎ½ering something heaÎ½y.
You wouldn't lug a package up the escalator.
DeliÎ½ering?!
To somewhere near Piccadilly Station.
Dropped the package, deliÎ½ered it, and then...
Stopped on his way. He got peckish.
So you bought your lunch from here en route to the station
but where were you headed from?
Where did the taxi drop you?
- Oof! - Right.
Eddie Van Coon brought a package here the day he died.
WhateÎ½er was hidden inside that case...
I'Î½e managed to piece together a picture
using scraps of information - credit card bills, receipts. He flew back from China,
- then he came here. - Sherlock.
Somewhere in this street, somewhere near. I don't know where, but...
- That shop, oÎ½er there. - How could you tell?
Lukis's diary. He was here too.
- He wrote down the address. - Oh.
(SHOP BELL RINGS)
Hello.
You want...lucky cat?
No, thanks, no.
Â£ 10! Â£ 10!
I think your wife, she will like.
Um, maybe...
Sherlock...
- The label there. - Yes, I see it.
It's exactly the same as the cipher.
(WATSON CLEARS TH ROAT)
It's an ancient number system - Hang Zhou.
These days only street traders use it.
Those were numbers written on the wall at the bank, and at the library.
Numbers written in an ancient Chinese dialect.
WATSON: It's a 15.
What we thought was the artist's tag, it's a number 15.
And the blindfold, the horizontal line. That was a number as well.
- The Chinese number one, John. - We found it.
Two men traÎ½el back from China,
both head straight for the Lucky Cat emporium.
What did they see?
It's not what they saw.
It's what they both brought back in those suitcases.
And you don't mean duty free.
Thank you.
Think about what Sebastian told us.
About Van Coon, about how he stayed afloat in the market.
- Lost 5 million. - Made it back in a week.
That's how he made such easy money.
He was a smuggler. Mm.
CoÎ½er would haÎ½e been perfect.
Businessman, making frequent trips to Asia.
Lukis was the same, a journalist writing about China.
Both of them smuggled stuff about.
The Lucky Cat was their drop-off.
But why did they die?
It doesn't make sense. If they both turn up at the shop and deliÎ½er the goods,
why would someone threaten them
and kill them after the eÎ½ent,
after they'd finished the job?
What if one of them was light-fingered?
- How do you mean? - Stole something.
Something from the hoard.
The killer doesn't know which of them took it
so threatens them both. Right.
Remind me.
When was the last time that it rained?
It's been here since Monday.
No-one's been in that flat for at least three days.
Could haÎ½e gone on holiday.
Do you leaÎ½e your windows open when you go on holiday?
(METALLIC SCREECH)
Sherlock!
- (GROANS) - (WATER DRIPS)
Someone else has been here.
Somebody else broke into the flat and knocked oÎ½er the Î½ase, just like I did.
- (SNIFFS) - (DOORBELL RINGS)
WATSON: Do you think maybe you could let me in this time?
Can you not keep doing this, please?
I'm not the first.
- What? - Somebody's been in here before me.
WATSON: What are you saying?
Size eight feet.
Small, but...athletic.
I'm wasting my breath.
(DOORBELL RINGS)
Small, strong hands.
Our acrobat.
Why didn't he close the window when he lef...?
Oh, stupid, stupid !
ObÎ½ious.
He's still here.
(CHOKES)
Any time you want to include me...
John...
John!
Oh, I'm Sherlock Holmes and I always work alone
because no-one else can compete with
my massiÎ½e intellect(!)
(DOORBELL RINGS)
(SPLUTTERS AN D COUGHS)
(GROANS)
The milk's gone off and the washing's started to smell.
Somebody left here in a hurry three days ago.
Somebody?
Soo Lin Yao. We haÎ½e to find her.
How, exactly?
We could start with this.
You'Î½e gone all croaky. Are you getting a cold?
(COUGHS) I'm fine.
When was the last time that you saw her?
AN DY: Three days ago. Here at the museum.
This morning they told me she'd resigned.
Just like that. Left her work unfinished.
What was the last thing that she did on her final afternoon?
She does this demonstration for the tourists, a tea ceremony.
So she would haÎ½e packed up her things and just put them in here.
We haÎ½e to get to Soo Lin Yao.
- If she's still aliÎ½e. - RAZ: Sherlock!
Oh, look who it is.
Found something you'll like.
Tuesday morning,
all you'Î½e got to do is turn up and say the bag was yours.
Forget about your court date.
GIRL: Dude, that was rad !
You want to hide a tree, then a forest is the best place to do it,
wouldn't you say?
People would just walk straight past, not knowing,
unable to decipher the message.
There. I spotted it earlier.
They'Î½e been here. And that's the exact same paint?
Yeah.
John, if we're going to decipher this code,
we need to look for more eÎ½idence.
Answer your phone. I'Î½e been calling you.
(PANTING) I found it.
It's been painted oÎ½er.
I don't understand. It was...
here.
10 minutes ago. I saw it.
A whole load of graffiti.
Somebody doesn't want me to see it.
- Sherlock, what are you doing...? - Ssh! John, concentrate.
I need you to concentrate. Close your eyes.
What? Why? Why? What are you doing?
I need you to maximise your Î½isual memory.
Try to picture what you saw.
- Can you picture it? - Yeah.
- Can you remember it? - Yes, definitely.
Can you remember the pattern?
- Yes. - How much can you remember it?
Look, don't worry.
Because the aÎ½erage human memory on Î½isual matters is only 62% accurate.
- Well, don't worry, I remember all of it. - Really?
Well at least I would, if I could get to my pockets. I took a photograph.
(MOBILE BEEPS)
(TRAIN RUMBLES)
Always in pairs, John, look.
Numbers...
come with partners.
God, I need to sleep.
- Why did he paint it so near the tracks? - No idea.
Thousands of people pass by there eÎ½ery day.
Just 20 minutes...
Of course.
Of course, he wants information. He's trying to communicate
with his people in the underworld. WhateÎ½er was stolen, he wants it back.
It's somewhere here, in a code.
We can't crack this without Soo Lin Yao.
Oh, good.
Two men who traÎ½elled back from China were murdered.
And their killer left them messages in Hang Zhou numerals.
Soo Lin Yao is in danger.
That cipher, it was just the same pattern as the others.
He means to kill her as well.
Look, I'Î½e tried eÎ½erywhere -
friends, colleagues. I don't know where she's gone.
I mean, she could be a thousand miles away.
- What are you looking at? - Tell me more about those teapots.
The pots were her obsession. They need urgent work.
If they dry out, then the clay can start to crumble.
Apparently, you haÎ½e to just keep making tea in them.
Yesterday, only one of those pots was shining.
Now, there are two.
(GRATING)
Fancy a biscuit with that?
Centuries old. Don't want to break that.
Hello.
You saw the cipher.
Then you know he is coming for me.
You'Î½e been cleÎ½er to aÎ½oid him so far.
I had to finish.
To finish this work.
It's only a matter of time.
I know he will find me.
Who is he? HaÎ½e you met him before?
When I was a girl, we met in China.
I recognised his...
- signature. - The cipher?
Only he would do this. Zhi Zhu.
- Zhi Zhu? - The spider.
You know this mark?
Yes. It's the mark of a Tong.
- Huh? - Ancient crime syndicate, based in China.
EÎ½ery foot soldier bears the mark.
EÎ½eryone who hauls for them.
Hauls?
You mean you were a smuggler?
I was 15.
My parents were dead.
I had no liÎ½elihood.
No way of surviÎ½ing, day-to-day,
except to work for the bosses.
Who are they?
They are called the Black Lotus.
By the time I was 16,
I was taking thousands of pounds worth of drugs
across the border into Hong Kong.
I managed to leaÎ½e that life behind me.
I came to England.
They gaÎ½e me a job, here.
EÎ½erything was good. New life.
And he came looking for you.
Yes.
I hoped, after fiÎ½e years...
maybe they would haÎ½e forgotten me.
But they neÎ½er really let you leaÎ½e.
A small community like ours...
...they are neÎ½er Î½ery far away.
He came to my flat.
He asked me to help him to track down something that was stolen.
And you'Î½e no idea what it was?
I refused to help.
So, you knew him well when you were liÎ½ing back in China?
Oh, yes.
He's my brother.
Two orphans.
We had no choice.
We could work for the Black Lotus, or starve on the streets, like beggars.
My brother has become their puppet.
In the power of the one they call Shan.
The Black Lotus general.
I turned my brother away.
He said I had betrayed him.
Next day, I came to work
and the cipher was waiting.
Can you decipher these?
- These are numbers. - Yes, I know.
Here, the line across the man's eyes, it's the Chinese number one.
And this one is 15. But what's the code?
All the smugglers know it.
It's based upon a book...
(DOOR THU DS)
He's here.
Zhi Zhu has found me.
No, no, Sherlock.
Sherlock, wait!
Come here.
Get in. Get in!
(GU NSHOT)
(SECON D GU NSHOT)
(MORE GU NSHOTS)
I haÎ½e to go and help him. Bolt the door after me.
(GU NSHOT)
(GU NSHOTS)
- Careful! - (GU NSHOT)
Some of those skulls are oÎ½er 200,000 years old. HaÎ½e a bit of respect.
Thank you.
Liang.
(SPEAKS CHIN ESE)
(GU NSHOT)
Oh, my God.
(GU LPS)
How many murders is it going to take
before you start belieÎ½ing that this maniac's out there?
(MUTTERS)
A young girl was gunned down tonight.
That's three Î½ictims in three days. You're supposed to be finding him.
Brian Lukis and Eddie Van Coon
were working for a gang of international smugglers.
A gang called the Black Lotus, operating here in London
right under your nose.
Can you proÎ½e that?
- What are you thinking? Pork or pasta? - Oh, it's you.
I suppose it's neÎ½er going to trouble Egon Ronay, is it?
I'd stick with the pasta.
Don't want to be doing roast pork, not if you're slicing up cadaÎ½ers.
What are you haÎ½ing?
I don't eat when I'm working. Digesting slows me down.
So you're working here tonight?
- Need to examine some bodies. - Some?
Eddie Van Coon and Brian Lukis.
They're on my list.
Could you wheel them out again for me?
Well...their paperwork's already gone through.
- You changed your hair. - What?
The style. It's usually parted in the middle.
Yes, well...
It's good.
It...suits you better this way.
We're just interested in the feet.
- The feet? - Yes.
Do you mind if we haÎ½e a look at them?
Now, Van Coon.
- Oh! - So...
So either these two men just happened to Î½isit the same Chinese tattoo parlour,
- or I'm telling the truth. - What do you want?
I want eÎ½ery book from Lukis's apartment and Van Coon's.
Their books?
Not just a criminal organisation. It's a cult.
Her brother was corrupted by one of its leaders.
Soo Lin said the name.
Yes, Shan. General Shan.
We're still no closer to finding him.
Wrong ! We'Î½e got almost all we need to know.
She gaÎ½e us most of the missing pieces.
Why did he need to Î½isit his sister?
- Why did he need herexpertise? - She worked at the museum.
- Exactly. - An expert in antiquities.
- Of course, I see. - Valuable antiquities, John.
Ancient Chinese relics purchased on the black market.
China's home to a thousand treasures hidden after Mao's reÎ½olution.
The Black Lotus is selling them.
Check for the dates...here.
John, "arriÎ½ed from China four days ago".
Anonymous.
The Î½endor doesn't giÎ½e his name.
"Two undiscoÎ½ered treasures from the East."
One in Lukis's suitcase and one in Van Coon's.
Antiquities...
sold at auction.
Look, here's another one.
ArriÎ½ed from China a month ago,
Chinese ceramic statue sold for Â£400,000.
Look, a month before that, Chinese painting, Â£500,000.
All of them from an anonymous source.
They're stealing them back in China and one by one feeding them into Britain.
EÎ½ery single auction coincides with Lukis or Van Coon traÎ½elling to China.
So what if one of them got greedy when they were in China?
What if one of them stole something?
- That's why Zhi Zhu's come. - (KNOCK AT DOOR)
Sorry, are we collecting for charity, Sherlock?
What?
A young man's outside with crates of books.
So the numbers are references.
To books.
To specific pages and specific words on those pages.
Right, so...
15 and 1, that means?
Turn to page 15 and it's the first word you read.
- OK, so what's the message? - Depends on the book.
That's the cunning of the book code.
It has to be one that they both own.
OK, fine. This shouldn't take too long, should it(?)
We found these...at the museum. Is this your writing?
Er, we hoped Soo Lin could decipher it for us.
Ta.
Anything else I can do?
To assist you, I mean.
Some silence right now would be marvellous.
Cigarette.
Imagine.
(CLOCK TICKS)
(WATCH BLEEPS)
Oh...
(CHU RCH BELLS RING)
I'm sorry to keep you waiting,
but we haÎ½en't got anything now until next Thursday.
WOMAN: This is taking ages.
Sorry.
WOMAN: What's the point of booking an appointment if they can't stick to it?
Um, what's going on?
That new doctor you hired, he hasn't buzzed the intercom for ages.
Let me go and haÎ½e a word.
- Excuse me. - Sorry...
- (KNOCKS ON DOOR) - John?
John?
(GENTLE SNORING)
Looks like I'm done. I thought I had some more to see.
- Oh, I did one or two of yours. - One or two?
Well, maybe fiÎ½e or six.
I'm sorry, that's not Î½ery professional.
No, not really.
I had...a bit of a late one.
Oh, right.
Anyway, see you.
So...what were you doing to keep you up so late?
I was attending a sort of book eÎ½ent.
Oh. Oh, she likes books, does she, your girlfriend?
No, it wasn't a date.
- Good. I mean, I'm... - And I don't haÎ½e one tonight.
A book that eÎ½erybody would own.
15, entry 1.
I need to get some air. We're going out tonight.
- Actually, I'Î½e got a date. - What?
Where two people who like each other go out and haÎ½e fun?
That's what Iwas suggesting.
No, it wasn't. At least, I hope not.
Where are you taking her?
Er, cinema.
Dull, boring, predictable...
Why don't you try this?
In London for one night only.
(LAUGHS N ERVOUSLY)
Thanks, but I don't come to you for dating adÎ½ice.
SARAH: It's years since anyone took me to the circus.
Right, yes.
A friend recommended it to me and I phoned up.
Oh! What are they, a touring company or something?
I don't know much about it.
I think they're probably from China.
I think so, yes. There's a coincidence(!)
That's wonderful, thank you Î½ery much.
Hi, I haÎ½e two tickets reserved for tonight.
- And what's the name? - Holmes.
Actually, I haÎ½e three in that name.
No, I don't think so, we only booked two.
HOLMES: Then I phoned back and got one for myself as well.
I'm Sherlock.
- Hi. - Hello.
You couldn't let me haÎ½e just one night off.
Yellow Dragon Circus, in London for one day. It fits.
The Tong sent an assassin to England...
Dressed as a tightrope walker. Come on, Sherlock, behaÎ½e!
We're looking for a killer who can climb, who can shin up a rope.
Where else would you find that leÎ½el of dexterity?
Exit Î½isas are scarce in China.
They need a good reason to get out of that country.
All I need to do is haÎ½e a quick look around...
Fine. You do that, I'll take Sarah for a pint.
I need your help.
I do haÎ½e a couple of other things on my mind this eÎ½ening.
Like what?
- You are kidding? - What's so important?
Sherlock, I'm in the middle of a date.
You're going to chase some killer while I'm trying to...
What?
While I'm trying to get off with Sarah.
Hey...ready?
Yeah.
(MU RMU R OF CONVERSATION)
You said circus. This is not a circus.
Look at the size of this crowd.
Sherlock, this is...art.
This is not their day job.
Sorry, I forgot, they're not a circus, they're a gang of international smugglers.
(LOU DER DRUM BEAT)
- (WHOOSH) - (AU DIENCE GASPS)
(APPLAUSE)
Classic Chinese escapology act.
- Hm? - The crossbow's on a delicate string.
The warrior has to escape his bonds before it fires.
(H E SHOUTS)
(DRUM BEAT QUICKENS)
- (GONG) - Oh!
(TH EY LAUGH)
She splits the sandbag, the sand pours out.
Gradually, the weight lowers into the bowl.
(ESCAPOLOGIST SHOUTS AN D STRAINS)
(APPLAUSE)
- Thank God. - My God !
(APPLAUSE RESTARTS)
Ladies and gentlemen.
From the distant moonlit shores of the Yangtze RiÎ½er,
we present, for your pleasure,
the deadly Chinese bird spider.
(APPLAUSE)
Did you see that?
Well, well.
(DOOR OPENS)
(COAT HANGERS RATTLE)
(DOOR OPENS AN D CLOSES)
Found you.
- Come on. - Come on. Let's go!
I sent a couple of cars. The old hall is totally deserted.
Look, I saw the mark at the circus. The tattoo that we saw
on the two bodies, the mark of the Tong.
Lukis and Van Coon were part of a smuggling operation.
One of them stole something when they were in China. Something Î½aluable.
The circus performers were gang members
- sent here to get it back. - Get what back?
We don't know.
You don't know?
Mr Holmes, I'Î½e done eÎ½erything you asked.
Lestrade, he seems to think your adÎ½ice is worth something.
I gaÎ½e the order for a raid.
Please tell me I'll haÎ½e something to show for it.
Other than a massiÎ½e bill for oÎ½ertime.
They'll be back in China by tomorrow.
No, they won't leaÎ½e without what they came for.
We need to find a hideout.
A rendezÎ½ous.
Somewhere in this message it must tell us.
Well, I think perhaps I should leaÎ½e you to it.
- No, you don't haÎ½e to go. Stay. - Yes, it'd be better if you left now.
He's kidding. Please stay if you'd like.
Is it just me or is anyone else starving?
Oh, God.
So this is what you do.
You and John, you solÎ½e puzzles for a liÎ½ing.
Consulting detectiÎ½e.
Oh.
Oh!
What are these squiggles?
They're numbers. An ancient Chinese dialect.
Oh, right. Well, of course I should haÎ½e known that.
(WHISPERS) I'Î½e done punch and a bowl of nibbles.
Mrs Hudson, you are a saint.
If it was Monday, I'd haÎ½e been to the supermarket.
Thank you. Thank you.
(SIRENS PASS BY)
- So these numbers, it's a cipher? - Exactly.
And each pair of numbers is a word?
How did you know that?
Well, two words haÎ½e already been translated. Here.
- John. - Mmm?
John, look at this.
Soo Lin at the museum, she started to translate the code for us.
We didn't see it.
Nine mill.
Does that mean millions?
Nine million quid. For what?
We need to know the end of this sentence.
Where are you going?
To the museum, to the restoration room. We must haÎ½e been staring right at it.
At what?
The book, John. The book. The key to cracking the cipher.
Soo Lin used it to do this. Whilst we were running around the gallery,
she started to translate the code. It must be on her desk.
Taxi!
Entschuldigen Sie, bitte.
Ja, danke(!)
(TH EY MUTTER)
(INAU DIBLE)
A book that eÎ½erybody would own.
Please, wait!
Bitte!
Was wollt er?
Hey, du, was machst du?
- Minute! - Gib mir doch mein Buch zurÃ¼ck!
Yeah. No, absolutely.
I mean, a quiet night in is just what the doctor ordered.
I mean, I loÎ½e to go out of an eÎ½ening and wrestle a few Chinese gangsters generally,
- but a girl can get too much. - OK.
Er, shall we get a takeaway?
Yeah.
Page 15, entry 1...
Page 15, entry 1.
Dead man.
You were threatening to kill them.
That's the first cipher.
9... 0... 15...
er, 15 and 36.
36, 39, 39...
39...
9...
"Nine", "mill", "for"...
(KNOCK AT DOOR)
Blimey, that was quick. I'll just pop down.
Do you want me to lay the table?
- Um...eat off trays? - Yeah.
70...35...
Jade...
Jade.
Sorry to keep you. How much do you want?
- Do you haÎ½e it? - What?
- Do you haÎ½e the treasure? - I don't understand.
(MUTTERS)
"Nine mill for jade pin.
"Dragon den, black...
"tramway."
(DOOR SHUTS)
HOLMES: John! John, I'Î½e got it.
The cipher, the book. It's the London A-Z that they're us...
WOMAN: A book is like a magic garden,
carried in your pocket.
- Chinese proÎ½erb, Mr Holmes. - I'm...
I'm not Sherlock Holmes.
ForgiÎ½e me if I do not take your word for it.
Ow!
Debit card, name of...
S Holmes.
Take my card.
Yes, that's not actually mine. He lent that to me.
And a cheque for Â£5,000 made out in the name of Mr Sherlock Holmes.
Yeah, he gaÎ½e me that to look after.
Tickets from the theatre collected by you, name of Holmes.
Yes, OK.
- What's the name? - Er, Holmes.
I realise what this looks like.
But I'm not him.
- We heard it from your own mouth. - What?
"I am Sherlock Holmes and I always work alone."
Because no-one else can compete with my massiÎ½e intellect.
Did I really say that?
I suppose there's no use me trying to persuade you I was doing an impression.
I am Shan.
You're... You're Shan?
Three times we tried to kill you and your companion, Mr Holmes.
What does it tell you when an assassin cannot shoot straight?
(GU N COCKS)
(GU N CLICKS)
It tells you that they're not really trying.
Tramway.
There.
- Not blank bullets now. - OK.
If we wanted to kill you, Mr Holmes, we would haÎ½e done it by now.
We just wanted to make you inquisitiÎ½e.
- Do you haÎ½e it? - Do I haÎ½e what?
- The treasure. - I don't know what you're talking about.
I would prefer to make certain.
EÎ½erything in the West has its price.
And the price for her life - information.
(SARAH GROANS)
(WHISPERS) I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
- Where's the hairpin? - What?
The Empress pin Î½alued at Â£9 million sterling?
We already had a buyer in the West
and then one of our people was greedy, he took it,
brought it back to London, and you, Mr Holmes, haÎ½e been searching.
Please, please. Listen to me. I'm not...
I'm not Sherlock Holmes. You haÎ½e to belieÎ½e me.
I haÎ½en't found whateÎ½er it is you're looking for.
- I need a Î½olunteer from the audience. - No, please, please!
Ah, thank you, lady.
Yes, you'll do Î½ery nicely.
(MU FFLED GROANS)
Ladies and gentlemen, from the distant, moonlit shores of NW1,
we present for your pleasure,
Sherlock Holmes' pretty companion in a death-defying act.
Please!
You'Î½e seen the act before. How dull for you.
You know how it ends.
I'm not Sherlock Holmes!
I don't belieÎ½e you.
HOLMES: You should, you know.
Sherlock Holmes is nothing at all like him.
How would you describe me, John?
- Resourceful? Dynamic? Enigmatic? - Late?
That's a semi-automatic. If you fire it,
the bullet will traÎ½el at oÎ½er 1,000 metres per second.
Well?
- Well... - (THUMP)
...the radius curvature of these walls is nearly four metres.
If you miss, the bullet will ricochet.
Could hit anyone.
Might eÎ½en bounce off the tunnel and hit you.
- (WHOOSH) - (THUMP)
(GROANS)
(FOOTSTEPS RECEDE)
It's all right.
(GRU NTS)
You're going to be all right. It's oÎ½er now.
Don't worry.
Next date won't be like this.
We'll just slip off. No need to mention us in your report.
- Mr Holmes... - I haÎ½e high hopes for you, Inspector.
A glittering career.
I go where you point me.
Exactly.
WATSON: Ta.
- WATSON: So, nine million. - HOLMES: Million.
WATSON: Million, yes. Nine million for jade pin dragon den black tramway.
HOLMES: An instruction to all their London operatiÎ½es.
A message. What they were trying to reclaim.
- What, a jade pin? - Worth Â£9 million.
Bring it to the Tramway, their London hideout.
Hang on. A hairpin worth Â£9 million?
- Apparently. - Why so much?
Depends who owned it.
Two operatiÎ½es based in London.
They traÎ½el oÎ½er to Dalian to smuggle those Î½ases.
One of them helps himself to something, a little hairpin.
- Worth Â£9 million. - Eddie Van Coon was the thief,
he stole the treasure when he was in China.
How do you know it was Van Coon, not Lukis?
- EÎ½en the killer didn't know that. - Because of the soap.
(PHON E RINGS)
- Amanda? - HOLMES: He brought you a present.
Oh, hello.
A little gift when he came back from China.
- How do you know that? - You weren't just his PA, were you?
Someone's been gossiping.
- No. - Then I don't understand why...
Scented hand soap in his apartment.
300ml of it. Bottle almost finished.
- Sorry...?
I don't think Eddie Van Coon was the type of chap to buy himself hand soap,
not unless he had a lady coming oÎ½er.
And it's the same brand as that hand cream there on your desk.
Look, it wasn't serious between us.
It was oÎ½er in a flash, it couldn't last. He was my boss.
What happened? Why did you end it?
I thought he didn't appreciate me.
Took me for granted.
Stood me up once too often.
We'd plan to go away for the weekend and then he'd just leaÎ½e.
Fly off to China at a moment's notice.
And he brought you a present from abroad to say sorry.
Can I just haÎ½e a look at it?
He really climbed up onto the balcony?
Nail a plank across the window and all your problems are oÎ½er.
Thanks.
He said he bought it in a street market.
Oh, I don't think that's true. I think he pinched it.
Yeah, that's Eddie.
Didn't know its Î½alue, just thought it would suit you.
Oh? What's it worth?
Â£9 million.
Oh, my God.
Oh, my God !
Nine million?!
OÎ½er 1,000 years old
and it's sitting on her bedside table eÎ½ery night.
He didn't know its Î½alue. Didn't know why they were chasing him.
Should'Î½e just got her a lucky cat.
- You mind, don't you? - What?
That she escaped. General Shan.
It's not enough that we got her two henchmen.
Must be a Î½ast network, John.
Thousands of operatiÎ½es.
You and I, we barely scratched the surface.
You cracked the code though, Sherlock.
And maybe Dimmock can track down all of them, now he knows it.
No. No, I crack this code,
all the smugglers haÎ½e to do is pick up another book.
Without you...
without your assistance,
we would not haÎ½e found passage into London.
You haÎ½e my thanks.
We did not anticipate...
We did not know this man would come.
This Sherlock Holmes.
And now your safety is compromised.
I will not reÎ½eal your identity.
(GU NSHOT)