Sherlock..........Who?

The Sign Of Three Part Three

Upstairs, Sherlock has an online news article on his laptop screen. It shows a photograph of Major Sholto before he was injured, and a large strapline beside the photo reads, "'He destroyed us all. And he gets a medal for it."' A few visible lines of text above and below the photo show that this is an interview with Madeline Small, the mother of one of the soldiers who died under Sholto's command. The headline of the article reads, "V.C. Hero – The Unanswered Questions. Why did my boy have to die?"

JENNY: What you doing ?

SHERLOCK: Just some reading how's the head

JENNY: it just a dull pain should pass in a few hours.

SHERLOCK: Mmm

(Sherlock goes over to Jenny and wraps her in a hug)

JENNY(sighs happily): What's this for ?

SHERLOCK: No reason ( kisses her tender forehead) , go and get some sleep I'll wake you if we need you

JENNY: Okay, thanks Sherlock

Sherlock looks towards the living room door when he hears John climbing the stairs. He switches to a different tab on the laptop – the website for I DATED A GHOST.COM. John comes in and walks across to the dining table where Sherlock is sitting.

SHERLOCK: There are going to be others.

JOHN: Others?

SHERLOCK: Victims, women. Most ghosts tend to haunt a single house – this ghost, however, is willing to commute, look.

(He stands up and they look at a map of London spread out on the table behind the laptop. Sherlock has stuck a pin in various places which presumably indicate an appearance of the 'ghost date.' There are seven pins in the map, forming a rough circle spanning a few miles around the Thames.)

Overhead view of a large Council Chamber. The room has wood panelling on the walls and a blue carpet. Banks of benches with red leather-covered seats form a semi-circle. There are six rows of these benches in tiers. At the front of the room on top of a high dais is a large ornate bench – reminiscent of a judge's bench in a courtroom – behind which is a chair where the Chairman would sit. This chair is high above the chamber floor. The chamber is initially empty but then the perspective changes and Sherlock is standing in front of the closed door at the rear of the room, and many women are standing silently in front of seats all around the room. Sherlock walks down the steps towards the floor, looking around him as he goes, then he reaches the bottom, walks across towards the Chairman's bench and turns to face the seats. There are at least forty-eight women standing around the room. Sherlock slowly scans all of them, then pulls a thoughtful face and points towards one of the women to his right.

SHERLOCK: Mmmmmm, not you.

(The woman sits down. He points to another woman on the right.)

SHERLOCK: Not you.

(That woman sits down. He takes a few steps forward and points to a woman on the left-hand side of the seating.)

SHERLOCK: Not you.

(She sits and he points separately to two women behind her.)

SHERLOCK: Not you. Not you.

(The women sit down.)

(Eventually only four women remain standing. Sherlock looks around the room once more, then walks over to the nearest of the standing women. She is wearing a black dress.)

SHERLOCK: Hi.

WOMAN: Gail.

(He turns and walks to the next nearest standing woman, who is wearing a denim jacket.)