Act 2: The Aventure of the Seized Niece
Opening scene: A week has passed and it is tea time. Laura tentatively enters through the open door of 221B. She is carrying a tea tray on which is balanced a teapot, two cups, biscuits and jam. She sets it on the coffee table and plans a hasty retreat when Sherlock addresses her.
Sherlock: Good afternoon, Miss Devereux.
Laura: (Regards him cautiously.) Please call me Laura.
Sherlock: (Scans her.) You've put on two pounds since I saw you last.
John: (Adds quickly) Yes, Laura, you do look healthier. You were too thin before.
(She gives John a warm smile when he hands her a white envelope.)
John: Your wages for the week.
Laura: Thank you, John. You were called out this morning. Was it the case of the missing woman from Basingstoke?
Sherlock: (Squinting at her sharply.) How would you know that?
Laura: (Her dark brown, almost black eyes seem opaque. It makes it hard to tell what she is thinking.) It's been all over the news. I thought perhaps you might take an interest.
Sherlock: It was the Basingstoke case and it turned out to be one of murder.
Laura: (She wavers in the doorway. Finally her curiosity overrides her reserve.) May I ask how you solved it?
Sherlock: (He appraises her again, then takes out his cell, rises from the couch and approaches her.) Murderers really should consider washing off the shovels they use to bury their victims, but then these two were far from the cleverest I've run across. (He hands his cell to her. On it is a photo taken of the back of a dirty shovel. He launches into an explanation, spitting the words out like buckshot.) The lead suspects, of course, were the woman's daughter and her boyfriend but there was no body and trace evidence was too scanty to justify arrest.
Upon searching their garden shed however, I found a clue Scotland Yard missed – a muddy shovel. The clean working edges and smeared structure indicated it had been used in wet soil shortly after Mrs. Barklay's disappearance a week ago.
The suspects told police they had recently used it in the garden, but there has been no rain in London in the past week. Mud found on the shovel matched that on their car tyres - not that found in their garden - so obviously they had traveled elsewhere to do their digging.
Cemented soil stuck to the upper rear section as you see there and soil compacted in the handle housing shows where it had been used to flatten soil. Note these large, angular quartz grains, which are not typical of surface soils. Such grains are only found at depth.
This fine-grained yellowish pink material is iron oxide and clay, and these small white fragments are deep, sub-surface kaolinite-rich fragments. All this, combined with an absence of plant material is common to industrial quarries.
(Sherlock pauses briefly to scrawl something on a piece of paper. Laura glances at John.)
John: (Smiles) He knows a lot about dirt.
Sherlock: Soils, John, not dirt. (He folds the piece of paper he was writing on and continues.) In the laboratory I used X-ray diffraction. Composition of soil (He throws John a pointed glance) is as easy to match as fingerprints.
Geological maps, together with associate evidence led me to a quarry on Barnsley
Road in Gloucestershire. A pH and salt match was found near a retention pond on the property, where the buried body of the victim was found.
Laura: (Listens to this explanation, her opaque gaze fixed on him all the while.) I've been doing a lot of soil research myself. I want to develop this device…
Sherlock: (Interrupting her) John has mentioned it. (He holds the folded piece of paper out to her. Puzzled, she opens it. Her fingers tremble and her eyes assume the fixed stare of a frightened deer. The words "They are watching you" flash onto the screen.)
Sherlock: I've seen three cars…so far.
(Laura is trembling. Alarmed, John urges her into a chair.)
John: Sherlock, what are you talking about?
Sherlock: As you are very well aware, John, you and I are being watched by many people. My brother's agents, for one; Moriarity's minions, for another; and the Chinese gang Black Lotus is still taking an interest. Surely you've noted the blue eye spray painted on the electrical box across the street. That's their symbol. I recognize all of our usual friends, but these new sharks…(He pulls open a drawer and extracts three photographs) began circling almost to the day Miss Devereux arrived.
Laura: (Quietly) Please call me Laura.
Sherlock: (Handing the photos to her) Do you recognize any of these men?
Laura: Yes, I do. (Pointing) That's Peter Yakov.
Sherlock: Your mother's lover? Tell us about him.
Laura: Yakov worked with my father at Tactical Gear.
John: Tactical Gear, I know that firm. They provide defense equipment and clothing for the military.
Laura: Yes. The company has accused my father of embezzling from them, but I know in my heart that my father is totally innocent.
John: Do you know where your father is now?
Laura: No. Nobody knows where he is now. He used to be in the SIS, you know. He knows how to hide. But my mother had been having an affair with Yakov even before my father was accused. After my father disappeared, my mother entered a drug rehabilitation program. She's been addicted to valium for years. They wanted to place me in foster care. When Aunt Betty found out she offered to take me in until I turn eighteen next May. And this man…(She points at another photo) That's Viktor Abhesit. He's a friend of Yakov's. That scar on his forehead? He said he got it in a knife fight years ago.
Sherlock: What else do you know of him?
Laura: Very little, beyond what I've told you.
(Sherlock pulls out his MePhone and does some searching.)
Sherlock: Ah. I see Yakov currently is an attorney for Tactical Gear. However in 1997 he represented Tom Sparks, the British mercenary whose actions brought down the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. Charges were reduced to weapons violations and then dismissed.
Laura: (Almost to herself) I wonder if these are the men who tried to abduct me.
John: What? Abduct you?
Laura: Yes, John. A man pulled up and tried to get me into his car while I was standing in my parents' driveway…this was shortly after we learned of the charges against my father. A neighbor came running over and they sped away.
The second time, two men drove up to me when I was walking in the car park at the Daily Messenger where I work, but I ran down a stairwell and back into the building. They were wearing ski masks, so if they were these men I wouldn't know.
John: Didn't you contact the police?
Laura: Yes, but they haven't found them. I've been working remotely ever since, writing and editing on my computer from Aunt Betty's. I'm afraid to even set a foot outside the door now!
Sherlock: You live under a false sense of security. They could easily break into this building if they chose to. (He stands thinking, the inner wheels clearly turning) Can you think of any reason why two of your father's co-workers would want to abduct you? (She shakes her head) What was your relationship with your father?
Laura: I rarely saw my father. He was a product representative and traveled a great deal. But when he was home we spent every minute together. I love him dearly and I know he is innocent. (Dryly) My mother and I have never been close. She was too drugged up most of the time to notice me.
Sherlock: (Studying her some more.) Who gave you the locket?
(Surprised, Laura's hand goes to her throat.)
Laura: My…my locket?
Sherlock: Yes, the heart-shaped locket you usually wear. You are even wearing it in the cabinet photo that sits on your aunt's sideboard. However today you are not wearing it. Why?
Laura: You really are very observant.
Sherlock: It's my business.
Laura: It's a friendship locket. My friend Lucy Hannibal gave it to me on my last birthday. There's a tiny photo of the two of us inside.
Sherlock: The girl with the short auburn hair I've seen visiting here?
Laura: Yes, that's Lucy. She left this morning for Paris on a student exchange trip. I wanted to go too, but…(A hint of wistful look, then her face becomes carefully expressionless again.) Perhaps some day. Anyway, I gave the locket to her to take to Paris. You know…for good luck.
Sherlock: And did she take it with her?
Laura: I don't know. She was wearing it when she left last night.
John: Why would you ask about the locket right now, Sherlock?
Sherlock: I am trying to determine why these men would want to abduct her. If it's a question of ransom, there needs to be someone out there who would care enough to pay it. People do not ordinarily buy heart-shaped lockets for themselves. They are almost always gifts therefore I wanted to determine from whom she got hers.
(Laura's cell phone beeps.) Hello? Oh hi, Jean. (Laura's brow furrows with concern as she listens.) I agree that is strange. She should have gotten there hours ago. Yes…yes, I sure will, if I hear from her. (She rings off) That was Lucy's mum. She said Lucy never checked in at her hotel in Paris. She left at seven this morning – nearly eleven hours ago. It would only have taken her an hour to get there. Where could she be?
(Growing excited, Sherlock takes out his cell, walks away and dials. To their surprise, they hear him speaking in fluent French to someone at the other end. Finally he rings off and approaches again.)
Sherlock: That was Claude Olivet of Surete Nationale in Paris. He informs me that Lucy Hannibal, a British citizen, has not yet checked in at her Paris hotel. He has opened a missing persons investigation. I sent him the names and descriptions of these three men. He will alert me of any updates. I don't believe we should lose time waiting for that, however. (He sweeps his long coat and blue scarf off the hook) Come, John, there's no time to lose.
John: (Looking somewhat bewildered as he retrieves his jacket from the back of his computer chair.) Where are we going, then?
Sherlock: To Lucy Hannibal's. There may be some evidence there that will throw a light on this mystery. Miss Devereux, I think it would be wise if you came, as well. And John…bring your revolver.
(The camera follows the three of them down the stairs and out the front door. Sherlock hails a cab. They climb in, Laura seated between them, and drive away.)
Sherlock: Is there any reason these men should be interested in Lucy Hannibal?
Laura: They didn't know her. (With a touch of bitterness) I never brought my friends home. Not with my mum the way she was.
Sherlock: But they may have seen her with you here.
Laura: I suppose so, but her dad is a schoolteacher. He has nothing to do with Tactical Gear.
John: Sherlock, how long have you known about this? The three men?
Sherlock: (His cell rings.) Sherlock Holmes…(He holds another conversation in French, then rings off, looking grave.)
John: What is it? What did he tell you?
Sherlock: (Ignoring him, he is dialing again.) Lucy Hannibal's case is now confirmed to be abduction. Security film at the train station shows she was forced into a car by two masked men shortly after she got off the train.
Laura: Oh my God!
Sherlock: I'm calling Lestrade. We will need him to liaison with the French police. I will be calling my brother, too. (Bitterly) After all, the machinations of the military machine are his area of expertise. I'm sure he can provide more details on Tactical Gear and who works for them and liaison with the British embassy in France. This is an international matter now. And to answer your question, John, do you really think I would ignore such an interesting case when it was living right beneath my feet?
(John squints at him, rather appalled at this callous comment. He glances at Laura, but she appears to be in a daze. Possibly she didn't even hear him. John reaches out and squeezes her hand reassuringly.)
John: We'll bring every force to bear, Laura. We'll do our utmost to get your friend back.