221B. Sherlock leads John and Sarah into the living room and immediately stares at the pictures over the fireplace as he takes his coat off.
JOHN: They’ll be back in China by tomorrow.
SHERLOCK: No, they won’t leave without what they came for. We need to find their hide-out; the rendezvous.
(He walks closer to the photos, staring at them intently. John also gazes at the pictures while Sarah hovers nearby, forgotten by the pair of them. Sherlock runs his fingers over the main picture of the painted brick wall.)
SHERLOCK: Somewhere in this message it must tell us.
(He and John fall silent. Sarah looks at them for a moment, then realises that she is surplus to requirements.)
SARAH: Well, I think perhaps I should leave you to it.
JOHN: No, no, you don’t have to go ... (he looks round at Sherlock) ... does she? (He turns back to Sarah.) You can stay.
SHERLOCK (simultaneously): Yes, it would be better to study if you left now.
(He looks round pointedly at Sarah, while John throws a dark look at him before turning back to her.)
JOHN: He’s kidding. Please stay if you’d like.
(Sarah looks nervously towards Sherlock, who has already turned back to the photographs. She smiles awkwardly and tries what she thinks is a friendly approach.)
SARAH: Is it just me, or is anyone else starving?
SHERLOCK (sighing and closing his eyes in exasperation): Ooh, God.
Shortly afterwards, John opens the fridge to find it almost empty apart from a couple of bottles, a can, and what might well be an eyeball lying on a shelf. He sighs.
(In the living room, Sherlock has sat down at the dining table which is covered with photos, notes and drawings of various pictograms. As he rummages through them, Sarah stands nearby, looking at all the pictures stuck to the mirror.)
SARAH: So this is what you do, you and John. You solve puzzles for a living.
SHERLOCK (tetchily, not looking round): Consulting detective.
SARAH: Oh.
(In the kitchen, John is searching through cupboards. He twists the lid off a jar of pickled onions, sniffs the contents and recoils at the smell.)
JOHN: Oh!
(He puts the lid back on and continues his search.)
(Sarah has walked over to Sherlock and is looking over his shoulder. She points to the paper he’s looking at.)
SARAH: What are these squiggles?
(Sherlock looks up, his face set as if he’s trying very hard not to kill her.)
SHERLOCK (still not looking round): They’re numbers. An ancient Chinese dialect.
SARAH: Oh, right! Yeah, well, of course I should have known that(!)
(In the kitchen John has found a small bag of Wotsits [a brand of cheese puffs] and is emptying them into a bowl. Mrs Hudson comes to the door and speaks quietly.)
MRS HUDSON: Ooh-ooh!
(John looks up and his face fills with grateful delight as she comes in carrying a tray covered with a tea towel.)
