The house mistress said that all the doors and windows were locked, but this would be from the inside and they must be fairly easy to unlock in case there's a fire.  Probably the kidnapper simply unlocked a door from the inside and had a car waiting nearby.  Miss Mackenzie was presumably elsewhere in the building, or had fallen asleep.

I'm sure that the HELP US notice and trail was done by the kidnapper rather than by Max.  As you say, Max only had a short time to react, and if he could already see the man through the glass of the door's window, he definitely didn't have time to write a message on the wall.  Moriarty wanted Sherlock to follow clues and find the children so that he could be accused of being the kidnapper himself, so he (Jim) arranged for the clues to be left at the school.  I thought to myself at the time that it was all very convenient that the kidnapper apparently went to the disused factory in Addlestone before he went to the school, so that he could tread in all the items which would lead Sherlock to the factory.

Of course, it's also rather convenient that Max happened to be a fan of spy stories and had a handy bottle of linseed oil beside his bed so that the clues would seem to have come from him.  But then that's Steve Thompson for you - never allows a sensible plot get in the way of a story!

Last edited by Ariane DeVere (April 6, 2016 12:29 pm)

I thought to myself at the time that it was all very convenient that the kidnapper apparently went to the disused factory in Addlestone before he went to the school, so that he could tread in all the items which would lead Sherlock to the factory.

Thats right, I did not notice that Point too. I was so concentrating on look to all the traces that I overlooked this. The whole case smells like a fake and Sherlock didnt notice that because he was to busy following all the hints. Thats a weakness of Sherlock (being himself) Moriarty exploit. It is his passion to figure out things and not saving humans. The main thing is that he is challenged and not bored.

Watson said something about security cameras, for this reason I thought it is impossible for the kidnapper to walk with the two kids through the house without beeing noticed.

Black light lamps (and I think they must be special, because it doesn't work with a simple money proofer) are used to make organic substances visible AFAIK, so I thought it was a normal MO. Sherlock smelled the oil and saw the emptied bottle, but there was no oil on the bat, so they had to search it. The other question is if it really work with oil.

I also tried to find out something more about the quicksilver poisoning, because pure quicksilver is not dangerous when swallowed, and if you breath it in, the symptoms wouldn't match those from the episode. The same for quicksilver salts... But maybe we expect too much.

I think you're over-thinking this a little!  I can't see any reason why Miss Mackenzie would be involved with the kidnapping (I assume that by "the old woman from the internat" you are referring to the school's house mistress).  After all, when Sherlock terrorises her into speaking quickly, she says: "All the doors and windows were properly bolted. No-one – not even me – went into their room last night. You have to believe me!" and Sherlock, who has been watching her face closely, tells her, "I do."  And she does seem genuinely upset about the loss of the children.

And actually, checking her line again, she says the doors and windows were "bolted," not locked.  As I said in my earlier post, it would be necessary for any door to be opened quickly from the inside in case of fire, so once the kidnapper was in the building, he could get any door open without difficulty.  With only two children sleeping in the school, he wouldn't be noticed or disturbed by anyone, and I don't believe that House Mistresses are obliged to stay awake and monitor the children all night long - they just do occasional checks.  It's likely, therefore, that the kidnapper waited until she had done a check and then knew that she wouldn't be back for some time.

Well, that's your opinion and you are, of course, entitled to it!  From what I've seen within the episode, I have no reason to believe that Miss Mackenzie was involved, corrupted or knew anything about the kidnapping in advance.

>> said her studied sentence like an actress
In the sense that Lorraine Hilton is an actress and therefore delivered Miss Mackenzie's lines in the way that an actress would, yes.  However, I don't have any reason to believe that Miss Mackenzie had rehearsed the line in advance.