The Case of the Saturday Salesman

0:00 A Caller at Baker Street

0:04 Watson: It was in the first week of August, nineteen eighty-three, and a wet grey morning in London when Mrs Hudson showed an American soldier of industry into our sitting room at Baker Street. Mrs Hudson: A caller, Mr Holmes. He wouldn't give his name to the girl downstairs.

0:20 Barrow: Barrow. Security chief, Calder Avionics. I cabled from the airfield at dawn.

0:26 Holmes: Sit down, Mr Barrow. Watson, the chair by the fire. You have flown through the night, so we shall not waste it. What's missing?

0:34 Barrow: File numbers. Classified documents out of our vault. Holmes: How many?

0:39 Barrow: Eleven folders. Photographic plates of guidance systems. Worth more than eleven men's pensions.

0:47 Watson: Good Lord. Holmes: And the lock? Barrow: Untouched. Combination private, changed quarterly. No scratches, no forced entry, nothing broken.

1:01 Holmes: Nothing broken. I like that least of all. Whoever opened it was trusted.

1:08 Watson: Could it be a man inside your own security, Mr Barrow? Barrow: That thought has kept me off my food for four days, Doctor. Holmes: Who knows the combination?

1:18 Barrow: Three men. I'm one of them. The other two I'll not name on foreign—

1:23 Holmes: You needn't. I'll find the names myself. But understand me, Mr Barrow: if I come, I come quietly. No police, no press, no questions at your gates.

1:34 Barrow: Quiet as you like, sir. That's all I ask. My directors care more for the company's name than the files, I sometimes think.

1:44 Watson: And if the leak is a man, not a lock? Holmes: Then someone is carrying those numbers out under his hat, Watson, and hats can be followed. Mr Barrow, how soon can you have me at Calder Avionics?

1:55 Barrow: A car is waiting at the door this minute. Watson: Already? Holmes: Then we're your men, Mr Barrow. Watson, coat and bag. Mrs Hudson, forward the post. We shall dine in California, gentlemen, or not at all.

2:10 The Emptied Vault at Culver City

2:13 Watson: The Calder Avionics plant at Culver City, mid-morning of the day after our arrival, inside the classified vault itself — Barrow unlocking, Holmes bending to the empty shelves, and Marsh the radar man summoned to face him. Barrow: There they stood, Mr Holmes. Eleven folders. Now look. Then whoever did it had a key, Mr Holmes.

2:37 Holmes: Just what I was thinking. How many keys exist? Barrow: Three. Mine, the duty officer's, one in the safe.

2:46 Holmes: A short list, then. Watson, you note the dust? Watson: The shelves carry a clean outline where the folders lay. Nothing else disturbed.

2:55 Holmes: Methodical hands, then. Show me your engineer. Marsh: You wanted me, chief? I've got a board test running.

3:02 Holmes: Mr Marsh. How long have you drawn radar schematics here? Marsh: Eleven years. Why?

3:09 Holmes: Your cuffs are worn to threads. Money's tight, I'd guess. Marsh: That's my business, mister. I fix sets, I don't go robbing—

3:16 Holmes: Yet you were seen near the vault after hours last week. Marsh: I was— I worked late. That's no crime.

3:24 Holmes: Did you photograph anything in this room? Marsh: No. Never. I— ask anybody. Ask my colleagues.

3:30 Holmes: I shall. Thank you, Mr Marsh. That'll be all for now.

3:35 Barrow: Still want the tally books? Holmes: More than ever. Lead on.

3:41 Tally Books and Missing Numbers

3:44 Watson: The security office at Calder Avionics, later that same morning, near a week on from the theft. Barrow at his desk, Holmes standing over him, myself at the window. Barrow: Here's the vault tally, Mr Holmes. Every file signed out, every slot checked.

4:01 Holmes: Read the missing numbers aloud. Barrow: Four one one. Four one nine. Four two six. Eight more besides. Gone from their slots.

4:13 Watson: And what was in them, Mr Barrow? Barrow: Guidance work, Doctor, and one figure above all: the radar's range. Two hundred forty miles. Single copy, classified.

4:27 Holmes: Classified where? In what circulation? Barrow: Nowhere else. It ran in no paper, no briefing. The vault shelf only, and now the shelf's empty.

4:37 Watson: You mean nobody outside this building could know that figure? Barrow: Nobody. Not without standing where the thief stood.

4:45 Holmes: Then our thief read it here, or carried it out from here. Which brings me back to the keys. The duty officer's key — who carries it?

4:55 Barrow: The duty wardens, turn and turn about. Holmes: How many wardens? Barrow: Two. Signed out on a board by the gate, and the—

5:03 Holmes: Names, Barrow. Every man besides yourself who holds a vault key. Barrow: That'd be the wardens, sir. And... well...

5:15 Veranda Above the Tennis Courts

5:13 Holmes: Well?

5:19 Watson: The veranda of the Saturday tennis club, mid-morning, some days after the vault affair — Holmes and I watching, with Barrow at our elbows, a doubles match below. Holmes, who's the heavyset fellow winning the point? Holmes: The partner, Watson. Observe how Marsh serves and that man directs.

5:38 Barrow: That's Voss. Sells machinery. Regular Saturday game, those two.

5:44 Holmes: Note Marsh's glances after each volley. He plays to please, not to win. Watson: Could a salesman really be the hands in this?

5:52 Holmes: Hands, perhaps. I doubt he's the brains of it. Nita: Tea, gentlemen? Fresh pot, still steaming.

6:00 Watson: Most kind. Nita: Oh, Mr Barrow! You never told me you'd be bringing English friends.

6:07 Barrow: Madam, I barely know him myself. Nita: I'll leave the pot. Holler if you want more.

6:14 Holmes: Barrow, this Voss — does he hold clearance? Barrow: None. Visitor badge only, signed in at the gate.

6:23 Holmes: Yet he knew which court Marsh favors. Watson: How could you tell that? Holmes: He booked this match before Marsh arrived. Watch. Marsh looks to him before every serve.

6:34 Barrow: You're saying the engineer takes orders on a— Holmes: I'm saying a man in debt does as he's told, Barrow. On a court or anywhere else.

6:42 Watson: You know about Marsh's debts? Holmes: His cuff links are pawnshop silver. His shoes are resoled twice.

6:50 Barrow: Huh. Match over. Marsh and Voss took it, six games to four.

6:57 Holmes: Then they'll want a drink. Barrow, the clubhouse bar is yours. Watson: And us, Holmes?

7:02 Holmes: We keep to the veranda; Voss has seen our faces. Barrow, sit near them and keep your ears open. Barrow: Watching is my trade.

7:13 An Early Visitor at the Hotel

7:16 Watson: Our hotel rooms in Los Angeles, early next morning, with Barrow arrived before the coffee had even brewed. Barrow: Forgive the hour, Mr. Holmes. I've had no sleep.

7:28 Holmes: Sit down. You look like a man who's heard something he'd rather not have. Barrow: After the match yesterday. In the clubhouse bar. I stayed on after you two had gone, as you asked. And a voice I didn't know raised a glass and toasted, "two hundred forty miles."

7:49 Holmes: The exact figure from the vault tally. In no paper, no briefing. Barrow: I turned round. All I got was his back. Grey coat, average height. Gone before I'd crossed the—

8:00 Holmes: Did you hear the voice itself? Young, old, accented? Barrow: Smooth. Foreign, I'd swear to it. Not... not one of our regulars, anyway.

8:12 Watson: Could it have been Marsh? Barrow: Couldn't say. I'd lost sight of him when I went to fetch my coat.

8:18 Holmes: Ah. So the figure travels. Said out loud in a public bar by a man who wasn't there when it was stolen.

8:25 Barrow: What does it mean? Holmes: Either a careless boast — or a deliberate signal. Someone confirming the prize is real.

8:34 Watson: A signal? Then the thief has a listener. Holmes: Or a buyer already waiting. Did anyone else hear the toast?

8:42 Barrow: The bar was near empty. Only the steward, Nita, stacking chairs. She'd have heard it.

8:49 Holmes: Very convenient. Barrow: I've doubled the watch on the vault. But the keys... I keep coming back to the keys...

8:58 Holmes: Forget the keys. Keys can be copied. The question is whose voice toasted the vault's own figure.

9:06 An Inspector Brings a Folder

9:10 Watson: Our hotel sitting room again, that same Sunday, stuffy with afternoon heat; Holmes, Barrow, and now Inspector Dakin with a folder. Dakin: Bureau sent this up. Read it before I say another word.

9:24 Holmes: What does the file show? Dakin: An engineer named Marsh. Hounded by three creditors since spring. Bank letters, a finance house, a pawn ticket. I assert he's the spy and the bar voice. Same man, one toast, one theft.

9:40 Barrow: The voice I caught in that clubhouse was deeper than Marsh's. I told you that much. Dakin: Voices change with drink in them, chief. Holmes: Do they? A toast is three words. Marsh was frayed when I questioned him, I grant you. That doesn't hang him.

9:56 Dakin: Then what's your theory, mister detective? Holmes: That a genial man at doubles won more than a tennis match. Watson: You mean the partner? The heavyset one Barrow named?

10:07 Holmes: I mean a man who hears a figure and repeats it where it'll be overheard. Dakin: Riddles. Monday, ten o'clock, I arrest Marsh at the plant. You'll be there.

10:19 Holmes: Will I? Dakin: Half-consent's all I need. Bring your doubts if they fit in a pocket.

10:27 Tea as the Light Fades

10:31 Watson: The club veranda again, that same Sunday evening — Holmes beside me, Voss at the rail, and Nita with her tray. Nita: Your usual pot, gentlemen. Holmes: A question. Mr Marsh, the engineer, does he take refreshment from the bar each Saturday?

10:48 Nita: Marsh? Never touches the stuff. His friend Voss does, though. Double gin, always.

10:54 Voss: Guilty as charged, sir. Your friend there watches my backhand closer than my glass. Watson: How long have you and Marsh been partners?

11:03 Voss: Two seasons, near enough. Holmes: Nita, when they finish their sets, what changes hands? Nita: Funny you ask. Marsh's friend — every Saturday, same little dance. Marsh hands him a flat packet, and he leaves Marsh a fat envelope. Never seen inside either one. Flat packet, fat envelope. Like church and collection, I say.

11:26 Holmes: You serve that swap yourself? Nita: I carry the tray, love. I don't read the post.

11:32 Voss: Tennis talk, gentlemen. Court fees. Nothing more than—

11:36 Nita: Fat as a Sunday roast, every single week. Holmes: Mr Voss, when does your season end? Voss: Next Saturday, actually. My last— my last one here. Business calls me back east. Machinery never sleeps. I'll miss these courts terribly.

11:53 Holmes: Is that so. Voss: There's Marsh now, waving from the bar. Excuse me, gentlemen — my partner needs me.

12:01 Watson: He named his last Saturday, Holmes. Cheerful as a man booking a holiday. Holmes: Cheerful men leave, Watson. Guilty ones linger. Note which he is.

12:13 Monday Morning in the Security Office

12:17 Watson: The Calder Avionics security office, Monday morning — Dakin arrived with his ledger, Barrow at his elbow, and Marsh summoned from the radar floor. Dakin: Mr Marsh. Sit down. This is a credit ledger, three names in it.

12:31 Marsh: I know what a ledger is, Inspector. Dakin: Spring to summer, four months, every payment missed. You want to read it aloud?

12:40 Marsh: My debts are— they're my business. Plenty of men owe money. Barrow: Men with nothing to hide don't go white at the word 'toast', Mr Marsh.

12:49 Marsh: I never heard any toast. I was in the bar, what, ten minutes? Maybe ten.

12:54 Holmes: Ten minutes. And what did you drink? Marsh: What's that got to—

12:58 Holmes: Everything. A man who orders a drink and leaves it untouched is a man in a hurry. Marsh: That's — I remembered an appointment.

13:07 Dakin: An appointment you can name? Marsh: No. And I'm done talking. Take me in if you're taking me.

13:14 Dakin: That's the first sensible thing you've said. Marsh: I'll say one thing. I'll never set foot in that club again. Never.

13:21 Barrow: You hear that, Mr Holmes? The club, he says. Not a word about the vault.

13:28 Holmes: I hear a man burying a door he may need again. Dakin: Stand up, Mr Marsh. You're coming downtown with me.

13:35 Marsh: On what charge? Dakin: Let's start with the debts and see what else shakes loose. Marsh: That's not... you can't just...

13:45 Barrow: So the quiet hunt's finished. A week of watching, and the police close it in a— Holmes: A hunt ends only when the right quarry is in the bag, Mr Barrow. This one isn't.

13:55 Dakin: Mind the step, Mr Marsh.

13:59 Behind the Club Bar

14:02 Watson: The tennis club bar, late that same afternoon. Holmes, myself, and Nita behind the counter, polishing glasses. Holmes: Nita, you served the bar that Saturday evening. Think carefully.

14:15 Nita: I always think. That's the job. Holmes: Mr Marsh — did he stay to the end?

14:22 Nita: He had one lemonade, barely touched it. Said goodnight at the door, polite as ever. Holmes: What time was that?

14:29 Nita: Just gone six. No, wait... yes. Just gone six. I saw his car pull out of the gravel when I locked the side gate.

14:38 Holmes: And the toast? The stranger's voice? Nita: That came later — quarter past, near enough. I was stacking chairs when it rang out.

14:46 Holmes: So the man Dakin arrested couldn't have raised that glass. Nita: Marsh left before the boast. His car gone at six — I watched him pull out myself.

14:56 Watson: Then who spoke the radar figure, Holmes? Holmes: A question I intend to answer. Nita, one thing more.

15:03 Nita: Shoot. Holmes: Does the club keep a guest register? Nita: In the office drawer. Signed names, dates, the lot.

15:11 Holmes: Then fetch it, if you please.

15:14 The Steward's Desk, Late Afternoon

15:18 Watson: The steward's desk at the tennis club, late that same afternoon, and Nita has fetched the summer register from under her counter. Holmes stands over it like a surgeon over an opened chest. Nita: There you are, gents. Whole summer in one book. Careful with the spine, it's older than me.

15:36 Holmes: Read the guest column, Watson. Aloud, if you would. Watson: Of course. Let me see... A. Voss, guest of Marsh, every Saturday since the spring.

15:47 Nita: That's his hand, sure enough. Big loops on the V. He signs in, Marsh signs him out. Holmes: And the trade column? What does Mr. Voss profess to sell?

15:57 Watson: Machinery. A. Voss, machinery salesman. Though the writing trails off, as if the pen grew bored.

16:06 Holmes: Bored, or rehearsed? Nita, did this salesman ever carry machinery? Nita: Honey, he never carried so much as a racket. Just that little flat case Marsh would hand him courtside.

16:18 Holmes: And Marsh, in all those weeks — did Voss ever once miss a Saturday? Nita: Not one. Rain or shine. Loyal as a dog, that man.

16:28 Holmes: Loyal. Or paid. Nita, has Voss booked anything further?

16:34 Nita: Well, isn't that funny. He took next Saturday's court just this morning. Paid cash for the hour.

16:41 Holmes: Paid cash. After his friend's arrest? Nita: Didn't blink an eye. Said it was to be his last Saturday, and he'd want a proper farewell match.

16:51 Holmes: A farewell. Watson, a man doesn't book a farewell for a— Watson: For a game. No. He books it for a handover.

16:59 Holmes: Just so. The packet's changed hands all summer on that court. One more exchange, I'd think.

17:05 Nita: You want me to hold the booking? Holmes: Hold nothing. Change nothing. Let Saturday come exactly as he expects it.

17:14 Watson: And us with it, Holmes? Sitting on the veranda again? Holmes: In plainer clothes this time. Nita, one question more. When Voss paid — did he sign that register too?

17:26 Nita: Right there, bottom of the page. Fresh as this morning's coffee. Watson: Well, well.

17:32 Holmes: Then we have his hand twice over. Watson, tomorrow we compare ink.

17:40 Morning Report at the Hotel

17:44 Watson: Our hotel rooms again, mid-morning, Holmes by the window, I with the day's notes. Holmes: Sit down, Watson. You've seen Dakin. Tell me.

17:53 Watson: I have. He held Marsh overnight, pressed him hard till dawn. Holmes: And then?

17:59 Watson: Nothing. He came out grey as ash, and silent. Dakin swears the man never once looked at the ledger.

18:08 Holmes: He can't lie, so he says nothing. Dakin's been squeezing the wrong man, Watson, and the right one's booking courts.

18:18 Pacing Before the Hotel Window

18:21 Watson: Our hotel sitting room, late that same evening, Holmes pacing before the window, I at my notes. Holmes: Put the notebook down. Repeat Barrow's two phrases to me, exactly.

18:33 Watson: Exactly? Holmes: Word for word. The first concerns the figure itself.

18:39 Watson: He said the radar range appeared in no paper and no briefing. It lived in the vault alone. Holmes: Good. And the second?

18:47 Watson: The toast. A stranger's voice in the clubhouse bar raised the very number with his glass up. Holmes: Now set them side by side and tell me what collides.

18:58 Watson: If the figure never left the vault except by theft, how did a bar full of strangers... Holmes, that's it. Holmes: That's it. Marsh had gone. Nita swore he left a full quarter of an hour before the boast was raised.

19:14 Watson: So the toast wasn't Marsh's voice. Holmes: No. Someone else carried the number to that bar. Someone who learned it after the files vanished.

19:24 Watson: Then the thief himself toasted his own prize? Holmes: Or the man who paid him. Consider the packet and the envelope, Watson. Which travels, which stays?

19:34 Watson: The flat packet was taken. The fat envelope was left. Holmes: Yes. Papers one way, money the other. And the man holding the money can afford to talk.

19:45 Watson: You think the payer grew careless, and— Holmes: Careless? No. A man who toasts his own success in a public bar wants to be heard. That's advertisement.

19:55 Watson: Then who carried it to the bar? Holmes: The same man who books a court for one last Saturday. The machinery salesman.

20:03 Watson: Voss. Holmes: Saturday will tell us whether he sells machinery or secrets.

20:10 Dusk on the Final Saturday

20:14 Watson: The bar of the Saturday tennis club, dusk on the season's final Saturday, the last court empty; Holmes and I sit with Voss, Barrow watching the door. Holmes: You drink alone today, Mr Voss. Your partner is otherwise engaged.

20:30 Voss: Engaged. Yes. Yes, a pity. He plays a fine backhand.

20:36 Holmes: Does he? I had you down as the stronger. A man who travels far for his trade.

20:42 Voss: Machinery takes me about. Nothing exotic. Holmes: How far, on your longest journey?

20:48 Voss: Oh, a few hundred miles, perhaps. I never really— Holmes: Try two hundred forty miles.

20:54 Voss: Who— who told you that figure? Holmes: You did, sir. In this very bar, over a toast. The steward remembers. So does the man behind you.

21:04 Barrow: I heard that glass go up and that number with it. Smooth and foreign. I've been listening to the same voice this past hour.

21:14 Voss: A coincidence. Salesmen trade numbers all— Holmes: Not that number. It's in one vault, behind one lock, in one file. No journal printed it, no briefing spoke it. And you toasted it.

21:27 Voss: Burglary? You're— you accuse me of burglary? Holmes: Of talk. The burglary needed another man, one who owed money. You did the paying, and the talking.

21:38 Voss: This is absurd. I sell lathes. Holmes: Then name one customer in this country.

21:45 Voss: I — decline. My clients value discretion. Barrow: Discretion. A foreign name on our register, a stolen figure in his mouth, and he calls it—

21:56 Voss: Enough. You have nothing. A toast, a guess, a register.

22:00 Holmes: And a booked court. You reserved it for today, your last Saturday. Why book a farewell if your business here's finished?

22:09 Voss: Because I enjoy the game. Barrow: Is that so. Holmes: It's over, Mr Voss. The flat packet's taken, the plump envelope's left behind. There's only the account to settle.

22:22 Voss: Account? What account? Barrow: The one you're leaving with. Turn out your pockets, friend.

22:28 Voss: You can't detain me. I'm a guest— Holmes: You were Marsh's guest. Marsh is gone. And a stranger who quotes vault figures is something rarer.

22:37 Voss: I want my coat. Barrow: Do you, now. Holmes: In a moment. First, the toast. Stand up and finish it properly.

22:46 Voss: To what? Holmes: To two hundred forty miles — and the film you carry it on.

23:01 Empty Courts, Evening Falls

23:04 Watson: The steward's desk again, that same Saturday evening, courts empty, and Dakin's hand already on Voss's shoulder. Dakin: Open the grip, Mr Voss. Slow.

23:15 Voss: It's just tennis kit. You've no warrant for— Dakin: Then you won't mind.

23:19 Holmes: The flat packet, if you please. And what else is under the strings? Voss: Old balls. Nothing more.

23:26 Dakin: Balls don't weigh this much. Gold coin, and banded cash under it. Nita: That's his envelope. Same as every week, I'd wager.

23:34 Barrow: Marsh swore he never photographed a page. Holmes: He did, Barrow, and he'll answer for it. But he sold to one buyer only. Isn't that so, Mr Voss?

23:47 Voss: You can't prove who took anything. Holmes: The film in your packet will. Developed, it names its own taker.

23:54 Voss: I— Dakin: Here's what I can prove. Three creditors squeezed Marsh since spring. And somebody's paid him a hundred and thirty thousand dollars, cash and gold, to climb out.

24:04 Voss: He came to me! I only— I merely bought. Dakin: You'll tell it to the magistrate. Up you get.

24:12 Holmes: One courtesy before you go, sir. Who carried the radar figure to the bar? Voss: A salesman hears things.

24:20 Holmes: Indeed. And repeats them only when paid. Dakin: Come along. We'll walk out past the courts.

24:26 Voss: My last Saturday after all. Nita: You've still the tea money owing, sir.

24:34 Home to Baker Street

24:38 Watson: Baker Street once more, a week after the club, home at last, and only Holmes and I at the fire. One question has gnawed at me since Dakin walked Voss out, Holmes. Voss kept his secret for two whole seasons. Why would so careful a man drink it aloud in a public bar?

24:56 Holmes: Because he thought the secret already safely his, Watson. Take it from the beginning and you'll see. Watson: From the vault, then?

25:03 Holmes: From the vault. Marsh shoots the film there. Where does it go?

25:08 Watson: To Voss, in the flat packet, every Saturday. Holmes: Yes. And the figure on that film lived nowhere else. No paper carried it, no briefing either. Only the man holding the film could know it.

25:21 Watson: So the man who memorised it... Holmes: ...boasted of it in a public bar. Why? Vanity, Watson — the one weakness no creditor can buy and no ledger records. He had his film, he had paid his gold, and then he paid himself in the only coin he valued.

25:40 Watson: Applause. Holmes: From strangers who could never arrest him. A perfect crime, spoilt by one raised glass.

25:49 Holmes: A dram, Watson, to close the file. One drunk toast lost the season's last match. Watson: And won us a very quiet arrest.

25:59 Holmes: To quiet arrests, then.