Lápiz y Ratón

finalproblem:

Sherlock: Murder by remote control, he could be 1,000 miles away.

OR HE COULD BE IN THE BUILDING RIGHT NOW.

This rabbit-hole is so deep, guys. So very deep.

The policeman that I said was secretly involved in the kidnapping and was also the gunman who would’ve shot Lestrade if Sherlock hadn’t taken the fall? The one who I said was planting doubts in Sally’s mind right before the “I.O.U.” appeared? This guy?

He was with them when they went to find the children, too.

Everybody jumped out of their cars and made a mad dash for the factory doors. Lestrade was in well ahead of the others (because Rupert Graves is good at football?), followed by Sherlock.

By the time they were going through the inner set of doors, though, the kidnapper had managed to get ahead of everyone else. He went to the right, Lestrade went more or less with him, and Sherlock and John followed. Sally went to the left.

While Sally was looking around, a man whispered, “Quietly, quietly!” This is not my imagination. I confirmed that this was in the BBC captions. HOW HAVE WE NOT BEEN TALKING ABOUT THAT? I’m kind of disappointed in us. (And there was no reason for any of the regular police officers to say that, considering Sally was leading the charge by shouting the whole time. The group as a whole was not trying to be quiet.)

Sherlock found the recently snuffed candle and the mercury-laced chocolate wrappers.

Lestrade turned up behind Sherlock and John, but the kidnapper wasn’t with him anymore.

By the time Sally shouted that she had found the children, the kidnapper had reappeared behind Lestrade.

I haven’t had long to think about it, but my first read of this evidence is that the kidnapper made sure he was the first one inside the main part of the building. He knew exactly where the children would be, and ran ahead of the group. He put out the candle and moved the children to where Sally would find them. Then he slipped back into the rest of the search group.

Things I feel sure of:

1. Even if I don’t have every detail of everything right in my theory and/or what I describe above, this guy is not a random extra. He is a legit character, and he is bad news.
2. Sally Donovan was specifically targeted as part of Jim’s plan.
3. I can’t spend my entire weekend frame-by-framing everything trying to figure it out. I simply can’t.

So I ask for your help, fellow Sherlockians. Look for more clues, or just help boost the signal on the evil policeman in the pink shirt. Let the rest of fandom know that this is a thing we probably need to be paying attention to.

———

Something else I will throw out there: The kidnapper arrived at the scene in a police car that came from a different direction than the other two cars the search team used.

It appears the only other person in the kidnapper’s car was a dark-haired man who we didn’t get a good look at.

Do what you will with that information. I’m going to give my brain a break and let you all a have turn to play. Please update me if you come up with anything interesting!