Elementary s01e23 Episode Script
The Woman
Previously on Elementary Irene Adler.
Got killed in her flat.
Year and a half ago.
That was Moriarty.
And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to? My name is Moriarty.
Irene Adler-- did you have her killed? That is the question, is it not? What was she like? To me the woman.
To me, she eclipsed and predominated the whole of her gender.
What do you think's inside? The reasons I'm here are personal.
Irene? Irene.
Irene.
Oh, Irene.
Irene.
Irene! Door's open.
Hi.
You must be the P.
I.
Consulting detective, yes.
Sherlock Holmes.
Consulting detective? Is that different from a P.
I.
? There's considerably less clandestine photography of cheating spouses, yeah.
Uh, as I mentioned in my e-mail, I'm looking into a matter for a friend of mine who procures items for auction at Christie's.
Now, Mr.
Kirby of the British Museum said that as his top restorer, you were the person to see.
Nice of Mr.
Kirby.
Irene Adler.
Nice to meet Oh.
You're beautiful.
Symmetry-- I'm trained to be on the lookout for it.
Hmm.
Anyway, I looked at those pictures you e-mailed.
Tell your friend at Christie's that, I'm sorry, but those canvasses aren't original Turners.
You're certain? The provenance is quite convincing.
Yeah.
They're good forgeries but, you know, they're forgeries.
They're supposed to be the studies for The Fighting Temeraire, but they have a a medium orange and ochre in them.
In 1839, you needed turmeric to make ochre paint.
But 1839 was also the beginning of your Afghan war; the army commandeered turmeric for a preservative in rations.
That's why you don't see ochre in The Fighting Temeraire.
Or any painting from back then.
Hmm.
I'm surprised I hadn't realized that.
Yet.
Shame, really.
The world would be a more interesting place with a few new Turners in it.
So these are all your work, are they? Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
You're very gifted.
Do you do original work? What could I add to all this? What could anyone? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to linger, I just It's just if these were all supposed to be reproductions, what is the original of Brueghel's The Blind Leading the Blind doing on your wall? I wonder what the director of the Belgian National Museum would have to say if he knew that you had returned your work to him and passed it off as the real thing.
How could you possibly know that? The original was damaged by shelling during the Great War.
Hard to see why you, a restorer by trade, would recreate the gouges in the canvas.
I'm curious-- you don't intend to sell it, so why take the risk? The museum director wanted to file down the paint where the gouges were.
I told him that that would compromise what the artist intended, but he didn't see it my way, so I preserved it.
I see.
And some of these other paintings are preserved as well, are they? Hmm.
A bargain then.
I'll tell you which of the paintings are reproductions and which of them are counts of felonious theft.
And if I deduce correctly, you'll spend an evening in this great city with me.
You're not going to turn me in? I appreciate your efforts to keep the vulgarities of the modern era at bay.
Whether you agree to my game or not, I'll leave you to your work.
I assure you, we would enjoy each other's company.
I have no wish to coerce your attentions.
You're not boring at all, are you? I make every effort not to be.
I accept, but I do have one question.
I've already told you that you're beautiful, and I can see the way you're looking at me.
Why would we need to leave this apartment to enjoy each other's company? A game with proper stakes then.
Shall we? Hmm.
Ms.
Adler, I understand you're disoriented, but it really is 2013.
No.
Mr.
Stapleton told me it was my birthday seven different times.
He was lying.
Dr.
Stone, 2945.
Dr.
Stone, 2945.
I'm here, if you want to talk.
I can't even imagine what you must be thinking right now.
Hey.
Hey.
What did you find at the house? Not much of anything yet.
CSU's there with Bell.
Is that her? That's Irene? I, uh Your friend is fine.
Physically.
But if I had to put a name on it, I would say that she's suffering from severe post-traumatic stress.
What happened to her? She doesn't remember everything clearly, but she was abducted, moved from place to place.
There were five that she told me about.
And then she was subjected to advanced psychological pressure tactics.
Seems that somebody had set out to systematically destroy this young woman's personality, and, for the life of me, I cannot give you a reason why.
Did she talk about the people who took her? She dealt with only one person.
He named himself Mr.
Stapleton.
By day, he tinkered with her mind, left white peonies by her bed at night.
Punishment, reward-- all designed to make Ms.
Adler psychologically dependent on her captor.
Did you get a description of Mr.
Stapleton? She said he was white, about five-ten, but as far as what he looked like, she drew this.
He was wearing it every time she spoke to him.
I've given her a sedative, and we're gonna keep her on a psych hold for a few days.
Thank you, Doctor.
It's odd to hear that man wonder why this happened to Irene.
It was because of me.
Moriarty wanted me to believe that she was dead, let me mourn her, get addicted to heroin.
And then when I made steps towards recovery, he sends her back to me.
Well part of her.
Yeah, where'd all her blood come from? How did I not know that she was alive? What-what did I miss? Can you give us a minute? Oh, yeah.
Sure.
Irene has been hurt badly, but she's alive and she can get better.
You can help her.
Yes, of course.
Whatever she needs.
We've got clues.
We can go and find that man.
We can go back to the house No, uh, I shan't be consulting on Irene's case.
Do you really want to sit this one out? I need to look after her.
Besides, I don't think I'd be much use.
Moriarty is quite clearly smarter than I am.
A man should know when he's beaten.
This is where we live.
I'll show you where you'll be staying.
Um, your room is right next to the kitchen.
I brought you some things to wear.
How do you think she's doing? She seems less disoriented than before.
She has a few questions about this Moriarty character, but don't we all? Have you heard from her family yet? I don't expect to.
The uncle who raised her died shortly before we met.
Her brother was enjoying an extended adolescence in Thailand the last time we'd heard of him.
Should we talk about a plan? I look after her.
No.
I know.
I mean Should we talk about how that's gonna work? I mean, I want to help out any way that I can.
Look, do you even want me around? Is it too crowded in here? I-I can start looking for my own place.
Uh, no.
This is your home.
I-I I don't have any answers for you, I'm afraid.
We'll have to figure this out as we go along.
I do know that I want you to work.
We've been in the hospital for three days.
And if you're going to help find the people who took Irene, you need to get cracking.
Well, I've never consulted without you before.
Well, I am confident that Captain Gregson and Detective Bell can handle the transition neatly.
Excuse me.
You lurk.
I do.
I'm not your sober companion anymore.
But I know a relapse trigger when I see one.
Have you talked to Alfredo? I have no need of a sponsor to keep me from turning to heroin.
I have my duties.
Now go.
My water turns hot, your case grows cold.
Holmes really isn't coming, huh? No.
He wants to take care of Irene.
I mean, if things were normal, I'd say, there's no way he sits out an entire investigation, but right now, who knows? He's really thrown by all this.
Yeah, well, that makes two of us.
Let me ask you something.
You believe this guy is real? Moriarty? I do.
No Holmes? Well, finally tracked down the owner.
I don't think we're gonna learn too much from him.
He's nine, and he lives in Austria.
Kid's never even seen the place.
He inherited it from his uncle when he was three years old.
Trust paid for a caretaker to come out a couple times a year.
The caretaker didn't see anything, either.
They must not have held her here that long.
Did you find anything when you looked around? Well, nothing much.
That Stapleton guy had to know you were coming.
He cleaned the place out.
No one who lives in the area saw anyone coming or going.
Oh.
Hmm? You got something? Maybe nothing.
Um I have these reading assignments.
It's part of my training with Sherlock.
Lately, it's been about art-- how it's forged, stolen, sold on the black market.
I just read about this color-- gamboge.
See, I usually just go with yellow.
Well, it's the kind of yellow.
See how bright the pigment is? Gamboge comes from a resin.
It's harvested in these trees.
It's found in Southern Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand.
It takes a long time to harvest, so it's rare, and so is this brand.
I'm guessing there's only a handful of places in New York that carry it.
Somebody had to buy this for Irene, right? If we figure out where it came from, maybe we can find out who was watching her.
Feels just like having Holmes here, doesn't it? Hmm.
Miss Adler.
Sherlock Holmes, P.
I.
Hi.
Uh, apologies for the ambush.
I was just I arrived just as you were leaving.
No problem.
What's up? Yes, well, it's been several weeks since our meeting-turned-interrogation turned sexual marathon.
A memorable afternoon and evening.
I'm sure you'd agree.
Yet, each time I've tried to arrange for an encore, I've been politely, but unmistakably rebuffed, as if your right, of course.
Although, I admit, I'm not accustomed to rebuffings.
You're not accustomed to being on the receiving end of rebuffings.
Quite so.
It seems to me, we had an experience worth repeating.
Just I'm curious as to why you differ.
I don't differ.
I reject your whole premise.
Our afternoon was one of the most unique and memorable of my life.
It can't be repeated.
We could try, but that's just a game of diminishing returns, isn't it? I'd rather just remember it the way it was.
You preserve the integrity of the initial encounter by denying yourself further ones.
Interesting.
People don't treasure things anymore.
You should try it.
You're not boring at all, are you? I try not to be.
What if I could offer you another entirely unique experience? Surely, that would be worth pursuing.
Unique is a high bar to clear.
I'm fully aware of that.
But if you're not concerned about keeping your clothes clean, I'm quite confident this would fit the bill.
I did not know there were tunnels underneath Camden Market.
Yeah.
Well, they're closed to the public, 'cause they've got the unfortunate habit of flooding every now and again.
I was working on a case where I was required to spend quite a bit of time in London's extensive network of underground tunnels and catacombs, so, I made my own map.
Um, in doing so, I became convinced there was a quarter mile of undocumented tunnel, which was cut off from its ilk by the cave-in.
Now, there was just a simple matter of some unsanctioned work with dynamite to see if I was right or not.
Here we are.
Thank you.
Uh, should you really be doing that? It's fine.
I put the sign here myself.
Can't have spelunkers poking around there, can we? Shall we? What is this place? It's a canal.
It dates back to the Roman occupation of Britain.
Those are prayer tablets.
See? They're messages from Roman citizens to their gods.
They date back millennia.
Hmm.
You and I are the only two people who know about these.
No! No! Irene.
Irene.
He changed the rules again.
Mr.
Stapleton-- he changed the rules, and he didn't tell me.
Okay.
No! God, no! I'll get some water.
Sherlock Come Come sit with me.
Tell me how you've been.
What was the last year and a half of your life like? You moved to New York.
There must be a story there.
Hey, I'm back! I should see if she's learned anything.
How is she? Uh, I don't know.
Maybe a hair better.
What news from the front? Well, I learned that there is such a thing as a nine-year-old Austrian real estate tycoon.
Other than that, nothing.
Hi, Captain.
Your gamboge tip paid off.
That pigment you found came from a specialty supply store in Tribeca called Halcyon Paints.
They sold one package of it in the past few weeks, to a guy named Duane Proctor.
Did a five-year stretch a while back for assault with a deadly weapon.
Do you know where he is? His PO says he's been crashing with his brother since he got out.
We're on our way to talk to him right now.
Look, I'm sorry, I just don't think that there's any way Duane had anything to do with What exactly are you talking about? An abduction? Well, he did do a stint in Sing Sing, yeah? Duane has made a genuine effort to reform himself.
Look, I wouldn't let him stay at the house if I didn't believe that.
- I tutor kids here.
- Captain, he just pulled up.
Sit tight.
Muldoon, stay with him.
Duane Proctor? Captain Gregson, NYPD.
What's going on here? We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about Irene Adler.
I'm supposed to know who that is? Yeah, I kind of doubt you kidnapped her and never asked her name.
What? What the hell are you guys talking about? Hey, don't waste our time, man.
The paint you bought-- the yellow paint-- Irene was using that when we found her.
Yellow paint? Okay, I bought some paint and brushes and stuff, but I don't know this Irene whoever.
I bought that stuff for Isaac.
My brother.
He's a tutor.
One of his kids needed some supplies for an art project or something? Stay with him.
Wait, wait, wait.
Whoa, whoa.
Okay, open, open.
Ho! Detective! Call it in! Call it in! Wait.
No, he went out the back! All right, just lay down, lay down.
Tell 'em to put out a BOLO for Isaac Proctor.
We came looking for the wrong brother.
I don't know why my brother did what he did.
I didn't even know he had a gun.
We found a small arsenal in that locker in his garage.
He had guns, silencers, passports under three different names.
And I am just as confused about this as you are.
My brother was the good one.
He was the smart one.
Before he was tutoring kids, he worked in a freakin' think tank.
He ever mention a guy named Moriarty? We went to high school with a guy named Maury Goldberg.
No.
It's one name-- a last name.
Moriarty.
Isaac never mentioned him.
If he did, I would tell you.
I don't want to go back to prison, man.
I'm sorry.
I don't know his face, and I don't know his voice.
If he ever came to the house I was in, I don't remember it.
What about his brother Isaac? I'm sorry.
I-I just can't tell.
It's okay.
It's brave of you to just come down.
If that's all there is, I think we'd best be going.
Yeah, come on, hm? Okay.
It's weird to see him walk away from a case.
I mean, don't-don't get me wrong; I get it.
It's just weird.
Well, how's the detective doing that got shot? Six broken ribs, punctured lung.
He's lucky he was wearing his vest.
He's lucky the perp decided to shoot him there.
The weapons we found were modified.
They had suppressors.
Tells me Isaac Proctor is a pro.
He could've killed Muldoon if he chose to.
So what now? We keep digging into Isaac's background, see if we can't connect him to Holmes's pal.
In the meantime, his picture's still out there.
It's not much, but it's where we start.
Ten messages before you call me back? I had to explain your situation to Moriarty.
It took some time to make contact.
How did the police find you? I don't have any idea.
Look, my face is all over the news-- can you help me or not? Of course we can.
But we need you to run an errand.
It involves Sherlock Holmes.
was rocked by scandal for the secon taken to hospital but National Hockey League featured a busy You're doing that now? Really? We've just had sex.
My brain is awash with neurochemicals.
This is a particularly vexing case.
"M.
" Mm.
I still can't determine the method with which he chooses his victims.
But the only consistency is the means by which he executes them.
He hangs their bodies from a tripod device, like this, and then Drains their blood.
I remember.
Yeah.
Is this all I am now? A piece of exercise equipment for your brain? You're the greatest piece of exercise equipment a man could ever hope to throw a leg over.
That's Keats, right? You're right.
I'm being terribly rude.
Yes, but you're typically quite rude.
I'm trying to figure out why it doesn't bother me.
'Cause you're rude.
Well, I mean, you're you're honest.
Simple minds he always confused great honesty with great rudeness.
Mmm You know I'm not releasing any more neurochemicals, right? You know these these birthmarks, they are almost exactly the same shape as the constellation Auriga.
Is that a good thing or bad? Well, it's I'm just I'm surprised I've never noticed before.
Even after all this time, you're something of a blind spot to me.
You say the sweetest things.
I like that I don't see everything.
It's rare.
By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, um, why haven't you told me about your new project? We talked about the Rubens the other day.
No.
The other new project.
Well, the Rubens has a very very particular palette.
The last few times we've met, you've had flecks of paint of very different colors on your hands.
Also, the guest bedroom's been locked the last few times I've been here, which leads me to believe that is where the new work resides.
So could it be an Irene Adler original? 'Cause I distinctly remember you saying that you had absolutely nothing to contribute to the medium.
That was months ago.
I feel differently now.
What's changed? I really just I'd like to take a look at it.
You'll see it when it's ready.
Why did you come here? Can I get you anything? I'm fine, thanks.
This must be difficult for you.
Sorry? Having me here.
I know how much you see.
I can only imagine what you must be picking up right now.
You know, you're the only person I ever empathized with.
Empathy.
You have changed.
You asked me the other day what my life's been like.
Um You may recall, over the course of our relationship, that I dabbled with the occasional narcotic.
They were a hobby, and after your demise they became a good deal more than that.
Yeah.
A way of life, really.
Sherlock I was I was broken.
I was I thought the drugs were helping, and they were not.
When I couldn't find the man who I thought had killed you, I-I just I hit a bottom.
Scotland Yard asked me to step aside.
I ended up coming here to New York to hide.
When my father realized the depths to which I had sunk, he forced me into rehab.
You're better now.
I'm sober now.
I'll always be an addict.
I'm sorry, I, uh, I would like to be able to say that I honored your memory.
In fact, I did quite the opposite.
Please know that I hold myself 100% accountable for everything that has happened to you.
It is unlikely that I will ever be able to make that up to you but you have my word that I will never stop trying.
You were broken.
You fixed yourself.
If the great Sherlock Holmes can do it, then you give me hope.
He was here.
Mr.
Stapleton was here.
Sherlock, it's ready.
My original piece is finally ready, and you have an exclusive invitation to view it.
I'm out of town for a few more days but will return on Friday.
Meet me at my place by 5:00, or into the fireplace it goes.
Hello? I realize I'm late, but I have the most dazzling of excuses.
I thought you were taking me someplace safe.
This is an old garage.
I assure you it's a good deal more than that.
Come on.
I received this property as payment for some work I did when I first arrived in New York.
Had intended to sell it but then I realized it might make a passable safe house in case of emergency.
Are you sure we weren't followed? I'm positive.
I followed every countersurveillance procedure known to man, and then some known only to me, so I promise you, you're quite safe here.
What about your house? Shouldn't we call the police? Well, I have done, after a fashion-- I've texted Watson.
She's handling it.
The scene will be processed.
It doesn't make any sense.
This Moriarty, he let me go.
He told you were to find me, so why would his people leave that flower on my pillow.
It was a message, obviously.
Why would he send me a message? The message was for me.
It could not have been clearer.
He wants me to understand that as long as you're in my life, you can and will be used against me.
You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, but next to a will and a mind like Moriarty, you're weak.
And because I care for you I'm also weak.
That's why I need to let you go.
What? I'm sorry, you can't stay here.
We need to send you far away.
Somewhere you can really be safe.
When I have finished with Moriarty, I'll come find you.
You make it sound so easy.
The notion of causing you additional hardship it pains me to my core.
Sherlock I'm afraid.
And we've only just found each other again after all this time.
I see no other way to protect you.
What if I see another way? Isaac Proctor.
He changed his look, but that's him.
If there was ever any doubt he was connected to what happened to Ms.
Adler, there isn't anymore.
We got all the cameras out of your brownstone, right? Um, all the ones he told me about.
I mean, this doesn't make any sense.
I mean, why go to all this trouble? Why mess with Irene's head? I mean, all the evidence says that Isaac Proctor is a professional, not a psychopath.
I got to figure he's still following orders, right? Right.
Have you heard from Holmes yet? I left him three messages and a few texts.
Captain.
Got Holmes for you on line one.
Okay.
About time.
Thank you.
Holmes, where the hell are you? Hello? Hello? Why didn't he call my cell? Maybe he'll call you back.
Um, I'm gonna get a coffee.
Does anyone want anything? No.
No, thank you.
Where's Irene? Safe.
You want to explain all the cloak and dagger? I trust Captain Gregson and Detective Bell implicitly.
But given the scope of Moriarty's operation, the fewer people who know about my whereabouts the better.
Well, a few things you need to be caught up on.
Remember when Duane Proctor said his brother worked at a think tank? We looked into it.
Turns out it's really a CIA front.
So Isaac Proctor worked for them as an interrogator in the late '90s-- his specialty was psychological pressure tactics.
You think we may have found our Mr.
Stapleton? I know we have.
Isaac was the one who left the flower on Irene's pillow tonight.
We caught him on one of your security cameras.
And I noticed something-- he came in through the kitchen door and made a beeline for Irene's room.
He knew exactly where she was staying.
How could he know that? You think that Moriarty has-has cameras in our house, too? Mm.
I suppose with a man like him, anything is possible.
What do you mean you suppose? We need to figure this out.
I'm leaving New York, Watson.
What? I told Irene that, in order to be safe, she needed to go elsewhere.
She said she would only do so if I accompanied her, so I came to say good-bye.
I don't understand.
How-how long will you be gone? That's difficult to say.
If you could dismantle Moriarty's empire in my absence, thereby guaranteeing Irene's safety, that would go a long way to expediting my return.
Is this what you want or is this what you think you owe? I don't think I owe anything.
I know it.
Her life was ruined because of me.
We are on to something here.
We can find Isaac Proctor and that might lead us to Moriarty.
I'm sorry, Watson.
My mind is made up.
This is what Moriarty wants, and if it's what he wants, it's a mistake.
Were you followed? No.
The plates are clean.
There's $30,000 and a phone in the glove compartment.
You drive to Calgary, and you wait.
The next instructions you're gonna get are on the burner, so stay close to it.
Will I be allowed to call home? Think this through.
If you kill me Shut up.
"Call home.
" You voice-activated one phone to call the other.
Metal drum in the trunk.
You were gonna use it to get rid of my body.
Whose idea? You were sloppy.
The police should never have been able to trace that house back to you, but they did.
Moriarty can't abide that.
Moriarty thinks I was sloppy? Who left standing orders never to hurt Sherlock Holmes? Only reason you're still breathing is so you can report back.
Moriarty's obsessed with Holmes.
Doesn't want him touched.
You tell Moriarty that Sherlock Holmes is a dead man.
Irene? I didn't think you'd be gone so long.
I've been busy.
We have a way out.
No one will know that we've gone.
And they won't know how to find us once they do.
There's a Greyhound to Maine.
I have a friend there who can get us some passports.
Then the trick will be conscripting a boat to take us to Newfoundland.
Once we're at St.
John's Airport, virtually any destination What? Is that as far as you've gotten? It's all right.
We don't need to have every move mapped out 20 steps in advance.
We can work it out as we Sherlock? What the hell are you doing? Get off of me! Why would you do that? How How could I have been so stupid? Sherlock, you're scaring me.
How long have you been working for him? What? Moriarty.
How long have you been working for Moriarty? You're not making any sense.
Your constellation, Auriga One of the stars is missing.
What? Your birthmarks.
You-you've had one surgically removed.
I don't know what Your birthmarks! Was it, was it, was it precancerous, huh? So you had it removed.
You had it removed, not Moriarty, because why would he? Why would he care? Hmm? When did it start? When did it start? Was it before your abduction? Was everything a lie?! I've never lied to you.
You get like this.
You get like this.
You look at a thing so closely you start to see things that aren't there.
You know you do.
If you can't trust anyone, if you can't trust me please don't do this.
Watson asked me.
She said she said she says how is it that Isaac Proctor knew exactly which was your room in the brownstone.
And now we know.
Because you told Moriarty.
You lied before.
You don't really want to come with me, so you're inventing a reason not to.
You know it's funny.
I close my eyes and I try to picture him, and I see someone an awful lot like you.
I think you do, too.
I think if you weren't so bent on being your enemy, he'd be your friend.
When you realize the mistake you've made, don't try and find me.
I don't ever want to see you again.
Watson, change of plan.
I'm not going anywhere.
There's much we need to discuss.
I've returned to the brown I apologize, Mr.
Holmes.
You weren't supposed to see it coming.
Mr.
Proctor.
I was wondering when I was going to make your acquaintance.
Actually, we met once before You know you're only prolonging the inevitable.
You said we've met before, but I never forget a face.
I had you at a disadvantage.
I was looking at you through a sniper scope.
So why kill me now? Not then? I was under orders that day.
Moriarty said you weren't to be harmed.
But then, a few hours ago, she tried to have me killed.
"She"? Bet you wish you'd run away with me when you had the chance.
Moriarty.
This isn't how-- or when-- I wanted to reveal myself to you.
But Mr.
Proctor forced the issue.
This is a ruse.
You So who was the man I spoke to on the phone, who, uh said he was Moriarty? You talked to one of my lieutenants.
He has, over the years, played the role repeatedly and with great conviction.
More often than not, he's done so to protect my identity.
Other times, it was because I suspected a potential client might struggle with my gender.
As if men had a monopoly on murder.
What if I don't believe you? You don't want to believe me.
And yet your legendary powers of observation are screaming that I'm telling the truth right now.
Why would you do this? Seduce me, and lead me to believe that you'd been murdered? You're the detective, Sherlock.
You tell me.
Well, I must have interrupted one of your plans when I was still working at Scotland Yard.
Try several plans.
A series of assassinations I'd planned meticulously.
Punishment, then.
My first instinct was to kill you.
Quietly.
Discreetly.
But then, the more I learned about you, the more curious I became.
Here, at last, seemed to be a mind that that rivaled my own, something too complicated and too beautiful to destroy at least without further analysis.
So I devised a way to study you in your own environment.
You became "Irene"" Imagine my surprise when I realized how much we had in common.
I have about as much in common with you as I do a dung beetle.
I can understand why you would think so.
I know how much pride you take in your uniqueness.
But the truth is, I see everything you do.
I feel it.
Makes the world quite dull, no? Looking at a man, and knowing all his secrets.
So you're saying we're the same.
I'm saying I'm better.
And that's why I let you live, back in London.
You were not the threat you had been made out to be.
So I concluded my experiment and resumed my business.
You proceeded to prove you were inferior by disappearing into a syringe.
Hmm.
Why resurface in New York? I'd heard of your your miraculous recovery, and I I was curious to see how far you'd come.
That's bollocks.
Returning to me is a risk, and you'd only take it if I was close to undermining another of your plots.
That is why you wanted me to lea the country with you earlier, was it not? Same old Sherlock.
You look at people and you see puzzles.
I see games.
You? You're a game I'll win every time.
You might as well just kill me now, 'cause whatever it is you came here to do I'll stop you.
I would never kill you.
Not in a million years.
You may not be as unique as you thought, darling, but you're still a work of art.
I appreciate art.
What I-I can do what I will do is hurt you.
Worse than I did before.
I have reserves of creativity I haven't even begun to tap.
So please for you own good let me win.
Watson, you're here.
Excellent.
There's so much I need to tell you.
This is stupid.
You should be in the hospital right now.
Told you there isn't time.
Besides, what's the point of living with a former surgeon if she can't stitch the occasional bullet hole? The muscle in your shoulder is shredded, okay? You need to be treated for the pain.
May I remind you I am a recovering drug addict? May I remind you that there is such a thing as non-addictive painkillers? How good can they be if they're non-addictive? Anyway if I'm gonna deduce what Irene is up to in New York, I'm gonna need every last one of my faculties.
I'm sorry about Irene.
Or Moriarty-- whatever her name is.
I actually found the truth quite liberating.
I've wanted the answers to Irene's murder for a long time.
Now I have them.
And she erred when she revealed herself to me this morning.
Thanks to her I now have perfect clarity.
You've never seen me with perfect clarity.
Okay.
Irene is Moriarty.
You think she's here to do something terrible.
You have a hole in your shoulder, and we have a dead assassin on the third floor of our home.
So, where would you like to start? So Isaac Proctor shot you.
And then your ex-girlfriend shot him.
Except Irene's not really Irene.
She's, uh, some kind of what, mastermind? Very good, Captain.
You have it all straight.
I can't believe I'm-I'm saying this, but I'll tell our people to be on the lookout for-- I guess Irene Adler is an alias.
Well, she goes by Moriarty, but we're not sure if that's her real name.
It's all very well to be on the lookout, but you're dealing with someone who is capable of meticulous planning and extremes of self-discipline.
If you do find her, the only crime she's committed is shooting that man, who was shooting me.
So where do we start looking? I don't know.
But if we're gonna learn, we need to determine what she's been doing in New York the past few weeks.
At the moment, all we have are pieces of what appears to be a larger plan.
The scheme to take over the Taggart Speakeasy, the arrest of the principal of Sutter Risk Management for murder, but so far none of it adds up to a coherent whole.
We're not gonna learn much from Isaac Proctor's body.
If Irene-- oh-- I suppose I should get used to calling her Moriarty-- she took his phone and his wallet.
Hmm.
Did you find something? Who-Who-Whose items are these? Couple of homicide victims that came in last night.
Uh, one of them's got Cyrillic tats.
We think it's gang-related.
Why? These cell phones.
They've been modified so someone could install an open-source operating system in lieu of the one that the phone comes with.
We've seen this kind of modification twice recently.
Sebastian Moran, Daniel Gottlieb.
Every time we deal with one of Moriarty's people, someone's done the same kind of jailbreak on their phone.
I don't think those deaths are gang-related.
I think this man was in open warfare with Moriarty.
He's your killer.
Oh, hold on.
All that we got is two cell phones.
We don't have any proof that those guys were-were working for Moriarty.
Yes, we do.
That's the same code on Moran and Gottlieb's phone.
It's a code that I know how to break.
"B N 2 3"" "Macedonian Sun"? What does that mean? Haven't the foggiest.
But it's nice to have a handhold.
See, to me, it seems simple.
I mean, Holmes just found out he's been manipulated for years.
Guy's got to be devastated.
Plus, he's refusing medical attention for a gunshot wound? I mean, I understand he's invested in the case, but the NYPD doesn't do vendettas.
If he was one of my detectives, I'd bench him.
Look, I understand why you're worried, but if he can't look for Irene, if he has to marinate in his mistakes-- I think I know him pretty well by now-- that could be the one thing that pushes him over the edge.
If I think he needs to stop, I'll tell you.
I know what it means.
The message.
The Macedonian Sun is a container ship licensed to operate out of Bay 23 North at the Port of New York and New Jersey.
It is part of a fleet of Hellenic Exporters, which is a company owned by Christos Theophilus.
Oh, well, I've heard that name.
Perhaps you remember him best by his nickname the Narwhal.
Narwhal.
Like the whale with a horn on its head? Yes, precisely.
Now, during the late '80s, early '90s, Interpol believed that he was one of Europe's most prolific maritime smugglers, but he was elusive-- they could never, in fact, prove that he was a criminal.
Now, by all accounts, he dropped out of the smuggling trade some time ago and has since remade himself as the the legitimate head of an international shipping conglomerate and a noted contributor to Greek nationalist charities.
So you're wondering if he really remade himself or if he's working for Moriarty.
He has hundreds of boats circumnavigating the globe at any given time.
He would be a very useful partner to an international arranger of assassinations.
He could move personnel, weaponry with little chance of detection.
Now, the Macedonian Sun is due in port this very evening.
I think it's been a while since a few of us have eaten.
There's a roach coach a couple blocks away.
I'm gonna get some burgers.
You want anything? Coffee, please.
How you doing? I mean, all the stuff you're dealing with, it's next level.
You know, to think that that lady would mess with your head, to this degree I know it must seem strange.
But, uh, tell you the truth I've come to believe it might be a good thing in the long run.
Good thing? Yeah.
Must be some interesting math you're doing.
Well, I've never had a nemesis before.
Not a proper one.
Quite looking forward to it.
I imagine it to be tremendously energizing.
Hey, the ship's unloaded.
We didn't see anything unusual, so we were thinking maybe time to go home.
Yes, I understand.
There are lives to return to.
I will keep vigil here on my own till morning.
Hold up.
Look at that.
The Narwhal himself.
This is it.
Whatever that boat has brought for Moriarty, that man is here to pick it up.
NYPD! Don't move! Don't move! This is my boat.
What are you doing? You just unloaded a smuggled crate from it.
I want to see what's inside.
You said Moriarty might be using that boat to smuggle weapons or personnel.
Tell me which one these two are.
I've never in my life heard the name Moriarty.
Narwal, stop lying to us.
You know, my client has asked several times that you not refer to him as "Narwhal.
" I don't know why it bothers him.
They're lovely creatures-- the unicorns of the sea.
It bothers me because it's a name from another time.
- I am not that man.
- Not a smuggler? It's an interesting position, considering we just caught you smuggling two lemurs into the country.
Okay, look, my daughter, Alethea-- animals are near and dear to her, and she married a man who feels the same way.
They've been getting more and more involved in conservation, and me-- I'm just a man who can't say no to his kid.
You're telling me those lemurs are for your daughter? They were poached, and they were being auctioned off to men who would strip them of parts like an old car.
My girl and her husband-- they live on a horse ranch in Westchester.
They will take good care of them.
So, you're running an underground railroad for endangered species? Can your daughter corroborate all this? She is on vacation in Kenya.
But her husband is out there.
He will show you.
Well it's gonna take a while to get out to Westchester this time of day.
I'm gonna call ahead to the local cops, let 'em know we're coming.
I assume this is a call you can make while driving.
We are not going anywhere until we change your bandage.
Watson No.
Like I said yesterday, I'm only going along with this if you let me monitor your wound.
Fine.
Make your call from here, we'll meet you at the car.
Thanks.
Appreciate it.
Oh, there's no sign of infection, so that's good.
Less talking, Watson, more tending.
Okay.
What's the pain like today? It's fine.
It's barely even noticeable.
Give me a number-- one to ten.
Pi.
It's a mathematical constant that is approximately equal to three point one four.
Three point one four, yes.
If you're saying the pain is about three, I don't believe you.
Hmm.
You said you need all of your faculties to stop Moriarty.
Seems like you're a few short at the moment.
Hello? Hey, Joanie, it's me.
Oh, hey, Oren.
Don't freak out, but I've got some bad news.
Mom slipped and fell in some store this morning.
Oh, my God.
She's okay.
She just bumped her head.
One of the ER doctors used Mom's cell to call me.
But I'm at a conference in Barcelona this week.
I was hoping you could go check on her.
Of course.
She's at Chandler Memorial.
Okay, I will call you once I get there.
Okay, bye.
You Watson women and your heels.
Your mother's in her early 60s.
Should have resigned herself to flats years ago.
You heard all that? Yup.
It's not like I'm on any pain medication that might dull my senses.
Look, if she's okay, I will meet you in Westchester in an hour.
I'll wait with baited breath.
Your mother is fine.
I'm the one who called your brother.
I apologize for the subterfuge, but it seemed the most expedient way to get you away from Sherlock.
What do you want? Why the pleasure of your company, of course.
You're not afraid of me? Too angry to be afraid.
Maybe just because we're in a crowded restaurant.
Over the course of my career, I've plotted exactly seven murders that were carried out in crowded restaurants.
Killing you here is far from impossible.
It's just not what I want.
Why am I here? Because he took an interest in you.
I'd like to understand why.
'Cause you find him so fascinating.
What was the word that you used the other night? Mm.
Work of art.
Far as I can determine, you're a sort of mascot.
You were his sober companion, a professional angel to perch on his shoulder, fend off his many demons, but now now I don't know what you are.
Do you want to sleep with him? I thought you told him that you were just like him.
That you saw the same things that he did.
Well, women can be a little bit more difficult to read.
Just ask Sherlock.
I asked him to allow me to complete my business in New York without interfering.
He doesn't appear to be complying.
Last night, you helped him surveil a certain ship.
This morning, he questioned a certain businessman? How do you know about that? Surely by now you appreciate the scope of my organization.
I have eyes and ears in the most fascinating of places.
Hmm.
Business.
Talk to Sherlock.
Tell him I'll only be here for a few more days.
After that, he can have his city back.
He can have this whole insipid country back.
You're afraid of him.
If you weren't, you wouldn't have gone to so much trouble.
My dear Watson, I'm afraid of what he might force me to do.
I'm not sure why my father-in-law told you what we do here, but if you know, you know.
This is a working horse ranch.
We board, we give lessons There are also endangered species being cared for on the grounds.
smuggled property, you mean? We're not concerned about your impromptu game reserve.
It's a lovely hobby.
I would relish the chance to spend an afternoon here.
Unfortunately, our business is pressing.
My principal concern is your wife.
Well-well, why are you concerned about Alethea? Quite an undertaking-- your Kenyan safari.
Strange for one spouse to leave the other behind.
Don't you think? My wife's a free spirit.
Separate vacations have always been part of the deal.
What are you doing? Far be it for me to, yeah, speculate on the state of your marriage, but I looked in your coat closet, and I saw it was full of, uh, top-of-the-line outerwear.
His and hers.
Gets quite brisk on the veldts of Kenya, doesn't it? So, any idea why she left her gear behind? Oh.
You know, she probably got the latest thing.
Hey! Yeah.
Hey, this is a prescription for Levothyroxine.
That's a synthetic hormone used to treat thyroiditis.
This prescription was filled by your wife nearly a month ago.
Yet, there are only 18 pills missing from this bottle.
She's failed to take her rather crucial medication for almost a week.
Where's your wife, Mr.
Lerberg? A week ago, like you say.
It was the middle of the night.
Two guys in masks broke into the house.
They They took Alethea.
My father-in-law gets out here, he cuts me loose, he tells me the kidnappers have already been in touch with him.
He's supposed to handle everything.
No cops, or she's dead.
What can you tell us about these two men? Not much.
They were all covered up.
Uh one guy's sleeve rode up.
I saw he had tattoos in, uh What's that alphabet called? Cyrillic.
Sounds like it could be the two guys we have in the morgue.
I'll call the captain.
Watson it's been quite a productive errand.
What? You should never have gotten in that car, Watson.
Excuse me, but the henchman she was with had a gun.
And you know what? This is not my fault.
I don't know why you're blaming me.
You've fallen behind on your self-defense studies.
A gun which remains unpulled cannot be brought to bear on a situation.
You weren't there, okay, so, you have no idea what it was like Uh, enough! when he came at me with the gun.
Enough! You're both getting your own security details until this all blows over, and I'm putting a couple of guys at your residence, too.
Now, Theophilus made bail right after you left for Westchester, but he's not at his apartment.
His lawyer and his bail bondsman have no idea where he is.
The Narwhal has fled.
If he'd wanted to tell us that his daughter had been kidnapped, he had his chance to tell us this morning.
So Theophilus isn't Moriarty's accomplice; he's her victim.
I don't get it.
All this just to snatch some rich guy's daughter? There's more to it.
There has to be.
Moriarty has flair.
She pursues projects which ignite her passions.
It is very difficult to imagine that her grand plan in America is something as prosaic as a kidnapping for ransom.
Excuse me for a moment.
Hey, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
The pain is quite intense at times, but it's nothing I can't handle.
Spirit of the Dam-Busters and all that.
Hey.
So, I had our CCS guys look for evidence of communication between Theophilus and the kidnappers.
Now, his computer seemed clean at first but one of the techs figured out that he'd just signed up for a new e-mail account a week ago.
Had him send me a screen-cap of the inbox.
Question mark.
That was the caller I.
D.
that came up when Moriarty called Daniel Gottlieb's phone to talk to us.
Now, the e-mails were encrypted with a public key code-- can't be broken-- but Theophilus did download something at the exact same time one of 'em came in.
It was on his hard drive.
That, we can get at.
You don't know who this is? Why would Moriarty send that picture to Theophilus? Mr.
Theophilus.
It's nice to finally meet face-to-face.
You are the one who took my daughter.
Oh, I had some help.
In all my years of smuggling, I never handled one of these.
It's simple.
You just point and shoot.
Repeatedly.
It's important in moments like these to remember Alethea.
I have your word that you will let her go when I have done what you asked.
Of course.
Then you have my word.
This man and his family will be dead by tomorrow night.
Sherlock! Sherlock! Morning.
You're slamming your hand into your bullet wound.
I was having problems staying awake and I tried reasoning with my hypothalamus, but in the end, it required corporal punishment.
Well, there are police officers standing outside.
I'm surprised they didn't kick the door down.
Yes, they are waiting to take us to a would-be murder victim.
Actually, it's been a long night, Watson, but a productive one-- I believe I have deduced Moriarty's plan.
You're kidding.
Right.
This man is named Andrej Bacera.
His mother is presently the Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.
She's a noted reformer, popular figure.
Mr.
Bacera himself, something of a favorite son in his homeland.
So why is Moriarty interested in a couple of Macedonian politicians? Andrej Bacera is not a politician.
Not yet.
He works as a vascular surgeon here in New York.
Serves as an unofficial diplomat when needed.
Now I refer you to a map of the Balkan Peninsula.
This is the Republic of Macedonia, a fledgling democracy and applicant for full membership to the European Union.
Biggest obstacle to its candidacy is its ongoing dispute with its neighbor-- Greece-- over the very name "Macedonia.
" I thought Macedonia was part of Greece.
Macedonia is a region in Greece, birthplace of Alexander the Great, area of enormous historical import, so you can imagine Greece's chagrin when Yugoslavia broke apart and one small new nation declared itself the Republic of Macedonia.
Two of my cousins both wanted to name their sons Henry.
It was a big thing at Thanksgiving.
What are you getting at? Well, as long as Macedonia insists on calling itself Macedonia, Greece has pledged to remain intractably opposed to admitting them to the EU.
However, Andrej Bacera's mother recently brokered a compromise on the issue.
"In a few days, the current Republic of Macedonia "is going to vote on whether to join the EU as the Republic of New Macedonia.
" So they just added the word "New.
" It worked.
Referendum is expected to pass handily.
So, this is all very fascinating in an NPR kind of way, but I don't see how your nemesis is gonna look at all this and and see an opportunity.
Which is why you make a much better companion than you do a nemesis.
It's all about currency.
This is a Macedonian denar.
You just had this lying around? If the Macedonian referendum passes, the currency will switch to the euro.
The denar will become obsolete, absolutely worthless.
And yet not 48 hours ago, a Swiss bank, acting on behalf of an enormous client, purchased an enormous position in the currency.
Why would anyone buy into a currency that's about to become extinct? They would not.
Not unless they planned to manipulate events to prevent Macedonia from joining the EU.
Imagine the uproar if a native of Greece, someone known to make contributions to nationalist causes murdered Macedonia's favorite son on the eve of the vote.
Old passions would be inflamed.
The vote to rename the country would fail, and the denar would remain the currency of Macedonia.
Its value would soar.
So Moriarty kidnapped the Narwhal's daughter to force him to kill this man.
All so she could make some money on a currency bet.
Nearly a billion dollars.
What say we go stop this bitch? Jordan? Jordan? Where's Jordan? Andrej, what's wrong? Jordan, there's a New York police captain on the phone-- he says there's a man coming to kill me.
This is Jordan Conroy.
I handle security for the Baceras.
Mr.
Conroy, this is Captain Gregson with the NYPD.
Is it just you there or do you have a team? It's just me.
Why? We have reason to believe Mr.
Bacera's being targeted by a Greek national by the name of Christos Theophilus.
We're actually on our way to you right now.
Can you give me a description? He's a white male, six feet, about 190.
I texted a photograph to Mr.
Bacera.
We've got a safe room here.
Top of the line.
I'll get Mr.
and Mrs.
Bacera inside it right away.
We need to do this quickly.
Step outside.
Uh wh-what you really want, you can have it.
Please Now.
Jordan? What's going on here? What have you done? Jordan, please please help us.
My name is Christos Theophilus.
I'm in the house of the snake, Andrej Bacera.
What I do now I do for the love of my country.
Please Please, I'm-I'm begging you Poppa? It's me.
I'm okay.
Poppa? Are you there? They just left me in front of the farm and drove away.
I'm with Chad now.
The police are on their way.
Are you there? Do it now.
Please.
Right after I hung up, I was struck from behind.
Next thing I know I'm zip tied to the banister and he's taking Andrej and Jovana into the bedroom.
I managed to get free, but then I heard the first two shots.
I had a gun in my ankle holster that he hadn't spotted.
I grabbed it.
I made my way into the room.
I fired but not before he'd shot Mrs.
Bacera.
Captain, don't listen to a word this man says.
Holmes, I thought you were still at the scene.
Mr.
Conroy, how long have you been working with Moriarty and how long has she been planning this? Hey.
Hey.
Do you want to tell me what's going on here? Yeah.
I had a chance to peruse Mr.
Conroy's curriculum vitae while I was at the Bacera residence.
Currently under the employ of a company called Lexicon Personal Security, yes? Would you like to know what that company was called until just a week ago? Sutter Risk Management.
We think it's one of Moriarty's shell corporations.
Am I supposed to know that name? She used me to prove that the Sutters had committed a murder, most likely to clear the decks for you.
You were not assigned to Mr.
and Mrs.
Bacera a few weeks ago, were you? You joined their detail just recently, a move no doubt orchestrated by your new owner.
I would've given my life for the Baceras.
You let a murderer into their home, and then you murdered him to cover it up.
Sherlock! Get off him! No! Get get him out of here.
Ow! You're bleeding again.
You must've popped your stitches.
I'm fine.
Sherlock I said I'm fine! Hey! You need to get a hold of yourself! I had her.
I had her.
I uncovered her plan, saw how to stop her and she succeeded.
Three people died today because of me.
Are you listening to me? Captain Gregson wanted to pull your credentials a few days ago.
I convinced him not to.
Yes, because you know that a good detective doesn't just stop because things get inconvenient! Sherlock I think it's time.
For what?! You-you know I'll investigate this anyway, whether I have Captain Gregson's blessing or not.
That is your choice, but right now, we are enabling you.
If you are the partner that I invited you to be, the partner that I believe that you can be, then you will stop this line of thought immediately! I am your partner, and you cannot keep going on like this! Now, what? You know, I almost stole a vial of opiates from a crime scene yesterday.
You know why I didn't? Because of you.
Because I knew how disappointed that you would be in me.
And if I only had the words to describe how disappointed in you I am at the moment I don't expect you to understand right now, but I know what you need to do.
Moriarty said she was smarter than you, that you needed to let her win.
It is the only way this does not eat you alive.
She was right.
Let her win.
Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know if he shows up.
Um, give me a minute.
Hey.
Aren't you meant to be waiting outside? I just talked to the sergeant in charge of your protective detail.
He told me you ditched him outside the precinct.
What's the deal? You okay? Going upstairs to shower.
Surely your jurisdiction ends there.
What's up, Captain? Holmes stormed out of the station a while back.
Is he there? Yeah, he just got in.
What about Watson? Is she with him? No.
What's going on? A corner drug dealer in Bushwick got beaten and robbed about a half hour ago.
Witnesses said the perp was British, and his arm was in a sling.
Holmes? Let me in.
Come on, open up! Holmes? Can you hear me? Hmm? Hey, get an ambulance now.
He just OD'd.
Stay with me.
Hey.
Hey.
Holmes.
I know you're awake.
I appreciate you're cross with me, but please don't tell me I've managed to make the great Sherlock Holmes shy.
There's a guard at my door.
I haven't hurt him, just distracted him.
Ah.
I warned you.
I practically begged you.
Why didn't you listen? You asked me to let you win.
I'd say that I have really.
You compelled Christos Theophilus to murder two innocent people this morning.
And then you made a fortune in the resulting chaos.
I did, but I didn't want this.
Not again.
Yeah.
Why did you come here? I want to help you.
You-you adopted a fake persona, you seduced me, faked your own death so, forgive me if I, uh if I don't want any more of your help.
Would you have preferred I'd just killed you? Yes.
I knew that my death would be quite a blow.
I knew it would keep you occupied while I carried on with other projects, but I I failed to predict your descent into addiction.
Well, you surprised me.
You're the only person on the planet who can.
That's why you love me, though, isn't it? Is that why you came here? To tell me? Do you know why you're so drawn to narcotics? Because you're in near constant pain.
Your sensitivities-- they make you a great detective, but they also hurt you.
I know what that's like, Sherlock.
Only me.
I'm leaving the country tonight.
I want you to come with me.
You're broken to pieces right now.
I can put you back together.
And once you're whole, I'll show you a different way to live.
We are the same.
You and I.
We both made the same mistake.
We fell in love.
It made us stupid.
I made nearly a billion dollars today.
I don't feel stupid.
Yeah.
You know she solved you.
The mascot.
Watson.
She diagnosed your condition earlier this evening.
She realized the real reason you could never quite bring yourself to kill me.
The reason you came back to my life.
Ah the reason you came here.
That's why she encouraged me to let you win.
Well, at least make it yeah make-make it look like you'd won.
You faked the overdose.
Yeah.
Uh I remain quite drug-free.
It's good.
But, um given your, um your repeated claims to have your eyes and eyes and ears everywhere You said there was only one person in the world who could surprise you.
Turns out, there's two.
Hey, there you are.
Captain Gregson just called with an update about Moriarty.
And? Well, he said the recording the police made of your conversation at the hospital has her attorney sweating bullets.
They know that she admitted to using Christos Theophilus to kill the Baceras, so, they're treading lightly.
In the meantime, the Macedoanian denars she purchased have been frozen, pending further investigation.
Hey are you listening to me? My nemesis has been defeated.
Is that about the long and the short of it? Yes.
Yes.
So, does that mean you need to find a new nemesis, or is this more of a lifetime appointment? They're almost here.
Do you remember the rare bee I was given for proving that Gerald Lydon had been poisoned? The bee in the box, sure.
Osmia avoseta is its own species, which means it should not be able to reproduce with other kinds of bees.
And yet, nature is infinitely wily.
So box bee got another bee pregnant? Quite so.
Which means, they should be reclassified as an entirely new species.
First newborn of which is about to crawl its way into sunlight.
Oh, my God.
As the discoverer of the species, the privilege of naming the creatures falls to me.
Allow me to introduce you to Euglassa Watsonia.
You named a bee after me? You named a bee after me.
Should be dozens more within the hour.
If you'd like, I could come and get you once they're all here.
That's all right.
I think I'll just watch.
Got killed in her flat.
Year and a half ago.
That was Moriarty.
And whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to? My name is Moriarty.
Irene Adler-- did you have her killed? That is the question, is it not? What was she like? To me the woman.
To me, she eclipsed and predominated the whole of her gender.
What do you think's inside? The reasons I'm here are personal.
Irene? Irene.
Irene.
Oh, Irene.
Irene.
Irene! Door's open.
Hi.
You must be the P.
I.
Consulting detective, yes.
Sherlock Holmes.
Consulting detective? Is that different from a P.
I.
? There's considerably less clandestine photography of cheating spouses, yeah.
Uh, as I mentioned in my e-mail, I'm looking into a matter for a friend of mine who procures items for auction at Christie's.
Now, Mr.
Kirby of the British Museum said that as his top restorer, you were the person to see.
Nice of Mr.
Kirby.
Irene Adler.
Nice to meet Oh.
You're beautiful.
Symmetry-- I'm trained to be on the lookout for it.
Hmm.
Anyway, I looked at those pictures you e-mailed.
Tell your friend at Christie's that, I'm sorry, but those canvasses aren't original Turners.
You're certain? The provenance is quite convincing.
Yeah.
They're good forgeries but, you know, they're forgeries.
They're supposed to be the studies for The Fighting Temeraire, but they have a a medium orange and ochre in them.
In 1839, you needed turmeric to make ochre paint.
But 1839 was also the beginning of your Afghan war; the army commandeered turmeric for a preservative in rations.
That's why you don't see ochre in The Fighting Temeraire.
Or any painting from back then.
Hmm.
I'm surprised I hadn't realized that.
Yet.
Shame, really.
The world would be a more interesting place with a few new Turners in it.
So these are all your work, are they? Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
You're very gifted.
Do you do original work? What could I add to all this? What could anyone? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to linger, I just It's just if these were all supposed to be reproductions, what is the original of Brueghel's The Blind Leading the Blind doing on your wall? I wonder what the director of the Belgian National Museum would have to say if he knew that you had returned your work to him and passed it off as the real thing.
How could you possibly know that? The original was damaged by shelling during the Great War.
Hard to see why you, a restorer by trade, would recreate the gouges in the canvas.
I'm curious-- you don't intend to sell it, so why take the risk? The museum director wanted to file down the paint where the gouges were.
I told him that that would compromise what the artist intended, but he didn't see it my way, so I preserved it.
I see.
And some of these other paintings are preserved as well, are they? Hmm.
A bargain then.
I'll tell you which of the paintings are reproductions and which of them are counts of felonious theft.
And if I deduce correctly, you'll spend an evening in this great city with me.
You're not going to turn me in? I appreciate your efforts to keep the vulgarities of the modern era at bay.
Whether you agree to my game or not, I'll leave you to your work.
I assure you, we would enjoy each other's company.
I have no wish to coerce your attentions.
You're not boring at all, are you? I make every effort not to be.
I accept, but I do have one question.
I've already told you that you're beautiful, and I can see the way you're looking at me.
Why would we need to leave this apartment to enjoy each other's company? A game with proper stakes then.
Shall we? Hmm.
Ms.
Adler, I understand you're disoriented, but it really is 2013.
No.
Mr.
Stapleton told me it was my birthday seven different times.
He was lying.
Dr.
Stone, 2945.
Dr.
Stone, 2945.
I'm here, if you want to talk.
I can't even imagine what you must be thinking right now.
Hey.
Hey.
What did you find at the house? Not much of anything yet.
CSU's there with Bell.
Is that her? That's Irene? I, uh Your friend is fine.
Physically.
But if I had to put a name on it, I would say that she's suffering from severe post-traumatic stress.
What happened to her? She doesn't remember everything clearly, but she was abducted, moved from place to place.
There were five that she told me about.
And then she was subjected to advanced psychological pressure tactics.
Seems that somebody had set out to systematically destroy this young woman's personality, and, for the life of me, I cannot give you a reason why.
Did she talk about the people who took her? She dealt with only one person.
He named himself Mr.
Stapleton.
By day, he tinkered with her mind, left white peonies by her bed at night.
Punishment, reward-- all designed to make Ms.
Adler psychologically dependent on her captor.
Did you get a description of Mr.
Stapleton? She said he was white, about five-ten, but as far as what he looked like, she drew this.
He was wearing it every time she spoke to him.
I've given her a sedative, and we're gonna keep her on a psych hold for a few days.
Thank you, Doctor.
It's odd to hear that man wonder why this happened to Irene.
It was because of me.
Moriarty wanted me to believe that she was dead, let me mourn her, get addicted to heroin.
And then when I made steps towards recovery, he sends her back to me.
Well part of her.
Yeah, where'd all her blood come from? How did I not know that she was alive? What-what did I miss? Can you give us a minute? Oh, yeah.
Sure.
Irene has been hurt badly, but she's alive and she can get better.
You can help her.
Yes, of course.
Whatever she needs.
We've got clues.
We can go and find that man.
We can go back to the house No, uh, I shan't be consulting on Irene's case.
Do you really want to sit this one out? I need to look after her.
Besides, I don't think I'd be much use.
Moriarty is quite clearly smarter than I am.
A man should know when he's beaten.
This is where we live.
I'll show you where you'll be staying.
Um, your room is right next to the kitchen.
I brought you some things to wear.
How do you think she's doing? She seems less disoriented than before.
She has a few questions about this Moriarty character, but don't we all? Have you heard from her family yet? I don't expect to.
The uncle who raised her died shortly before we met.
Her brother was enjoying an extended adolescence in Thailand the last time we'd heard of him.
Should we talk about a plan? I look after her.
No.
I know.
I mean Should we talk about how that's gonna work? I mean, I want to help out any way that I can.
Look, do you even want me around? Is it too crowded in here? I-I can start looking for my own place.
Uh, no.
This is your home.
I-I I don't have any answers for you, I'm afraid.
We'll have to figure this out as we go along.
I do know that I want you to work.
We've been in the hospital for three days.
And if you're going to help find the people who took Irene, you need to get cracking.
Well, I've never consulted without you before.
Well, I am confident that Captain Gregson and Detective Bell can handle the transition neatly.
Excuse me.
You lurk.
I do.
I'm not your sober companion anymore.
But I know a relapse trigger when I see one.
Have you talked to Alfredo? I have no need of a sponsor to keep me from turning to heroin.
I have my duties.
Now go.
My water turns hot, your case grows cold.
Holmes really isn't coming, huh? No.
He wants to take care of Irene.
I mean, if things were normal, I'd say, there's no way he sits out an entire investigation, but right now, who knows? He's really thrown by all this.
Yeah, well, that makes two of us.
Let me ask you something.
You believe this guy is real? Moriarty? I do.
No Holmes? Well, finally tracked down the owner.
I don't think we're gonna learn too much from him.
He's nine, and he lives in Austria.
Kid's never even seen the place.
He inherited it from his uncle when he was three years old.
Trust paid for a caretaker to come out a couple times a year.
The caretaker didn't see anything, either.
They must not have held her here that long.
Did you find anything when you looked around? Well, nothing much.
That Stapleton guy had to know you were coming.
He cleaned the place out.
No one who lives in the area saw anyone coming or going.
Oh.
Hmm? You got something? Maybe nothing.
Um I have these reading assignments.
It's part of my training with Sherlock.
Lately, it's been about art-- how it's forged, stolen, sold on the black market.
I just read about this color-- gamboge.
See, I usually just go with yellow.
Well, it's the kind of yellow.
See how bright the pigment is? Gamboge comes from a resin.
It's harvested in these trees.
It's found in Southern Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand.
It takes a long time to harvest, so it's rare, and so is this brand.
I'm guessing there's only a handful of places in New York that carry it.
Somebody had to buy this for Irene, right? If we figure out where it came from, maybe we can find out who was watching her.
Feels just like having Holmes here, doesn't it? Hmm.
Miss Adler.
Sherlock Holmes, P.
I.
Hi.
Uh, apologies for the ambush.
I was just I arrived just as you were leaving.
No problem.
What's up? Yes, well, it's been several weeks since our meeting-turned-interrogation turned sexual marathon.
A memorable afternoon and evening.
I'm sure you'd agree.
Yet, each time I've tried to arrange for an encore, I've been politely, but unmistakably rebuffed, as if your right, of course.
Although, I admit, I'm not accustomed to rebuffings.
You're not accustomed to being on the receiving end of rebuffings.
Quite so.
It seems to me, we had an experience worth repeating.
Just I'm curious as to why you differ.
I don't differ.
I reject your whole premise.
Our afternoon was one of the most unique and memorable of my life.
It can't be repeated.
We could try, but that's just a game of diminishing returns, isn't it? I'd rather just remember it the way it was.
You preserve the integrity of the initial encounter by denying yourself further ones.
Interesting.
People don't treasure things anymore.
You should try it.
You're not boring at all, are you? I try not to be.
What if I could offer you another entirely unique experience? Surely, that would be worth pursuing.
Unique is a high bar to clear.
I'm fully aware of that.
But if you're not concerned about keeping your clothes clean, I'm quite confident this would fit the bill.
I did not know there were tunnels underneath Camden Market.
Yeah.
Well, they're closed to the public, 'cause they've got the unfortunate habit of flooding every now and again.
I was working on a case where I was required to spend quite a bit of time in London's extensive network of underground tunnels and catacombs, so, I made my own map.
Um, in doing so, I became convinced there was a quarter mile of undocumented tunnel, which was cut off from its ilk by the cave-in.
Now, there was just a simple matter of some unsanctioned work with dynamite to see if I was right or not.
Here we are.
Thank you.
Uh, should you really be doing that? It's fine.
I put the sign here myself.
Can't have spelunkers poking around there, can we? Shall we? What is this place? It's a canal.
It dates back to the Roman occupation of Britain.
Those are prayer tablets.
See? They're messages from Roman citizens to their gods.
They date back millennia.
Hmm.
You and I are the only two people who know about these.
No! No! Irene.
Irene.
He changed the rules again.
Mr.
Stapleton-- he changed the rules, and he didn't tell me.
Okay.
No! God, no! I'll get some water.
Sherlock Come Come sit with me.
Tell me how you've been.
What was the last year and a half of your life like? You moved to New York.
There must be a story there.
Hey, I'm back! I should see if she's learned anything.
How is she? Uh, I don't know.
Maybe a hair better.
What news from the front? Well, I learned that there is such a thing as a nine-year-old Austrian real estate tycoon.
Other than that, nothing.
Hi, Captain.
Your gamboge tip paid off.
That pigment you found came from a specialty supply store in Tribeca called Halcyon Paints.
They sold one package of it in the past few weeks, to a guy named Duane Proctor.
Did a five-year stretch a while back for assault with a deadly weapon.
Do you know where he is? His PO says he's been crashing with his brother since he got out.
We're on our way to talk to him right now.
Look, I'm sorry, I just don't think that there's any way Duane had anything to do with What exactly are you talking about? An abduction? Well, he did do a stint in Sing Sing, yeah? Duane has made a genuine effort to reform himself.
Look, I wouldn't let him stay at the house if I didn't believe that.
- I tutor kids here.
- Captain, he just pulled up.
Sit tight.
Muldoon, stay with him.
Duane Proctor? Captain Gregson, NYPD.
What's going on here? We were wondering if we could ask you a few questions about Irene Adler.
I'm supposed to know who that is? Yeah, I kind of doubt you kidnapped her and never asked her name.
What? What the hell are you guys talking about? Hey, don't waste our time, man.
The paint you bought-- the yellow paint-- Irene was using that when we found her.
Yellow paint? Okay, I bought some paint and brushes and stuff, but I don't know this Irene whoever.
I bought that stuff for Isaac.
My brother.
He's a tutor.
One of his kids needed some supplies for an art project or something? Stay with him.
Wait, wait, wait.
Whoa, whoa.
Okay, open, open.
Ho! Detective! Call it in! Call it in! Wait.
No, he went out the back! All right, just lay down, lay down.
Tell 'em to put out a BOLO for Isaac Proctor.
We came looking for the wrong brother.
I don't know why my brother did what he did.
I didn't even know he had a gun.
We found a small arsenal in that locker in his garage.
He had guns, silencers, passports under three different names.
And I am just as confused about this as you are.
My brother was the good one.
He was the smart one.
Before he was tutoring kids, he worked in a freakin' think tank.
He ever mention a guy named Moriarty? We went to high school with a guy named Maury Goldberg.
No.
It's one name-- a last name.
Moriarty.
Isaac never mentioned him.
If he did, I would tell you.
I don't want to go back to prison, man.
I'm sorry.
I don't know his face, and I don't know his voice.
If he ever came to the house I was in, I don't remember it.
What about his brother Isaac? I'm sorry.
I-I just can't tell.
It's okay.
It's brave of you to just come down.
If that's all there is, I think we'd best be going.
Yeah, come on, hm? Okay.
It's weird to see him walk away from a case.
I mean, don't-don't get me wrong; I get it.
It's just weird.
Well, how's the detective doing that got shot? Six broken ribs, punctured lung.
He's lucky he was wearing his vest.
He's lucky the perp decided to shoot him there.
The weapons we found were modified.
They had suppressors.
Tells me Isaac Proctor is a pro.
He could've killed Muldoon if he chose to.
So what now? We keep digging into Isaac's background, see if we can't connect him to Holmes's pal.
In the meantime, his picture's still out there.
It's not much, but it's where we start.
Ten messages before you call me back? I had to explain your situation to Moriarty.
It took some time to make contact.
How did the police find you? I don't have any idea.
Look, my face is all over the news-- can you help me or not? Of course we can.
But we need you to run an errand.
It involves Sherlock Holmes.
was rocked by scandal for the secon taken to hospital but National Hockey League featured a busy You're doing that now? Really? We've just had sex.
My brain is awash with neurochemicals.
This is a particularly vexing case.
"M.
" Mm.
I still can't determine the method with which he chooses his victims.
But the only consistency is the means by which he executes them.
He hangs their bodies from a tripod device, like this, and then Drains their blood.
I remember.
Yeah.
Is this all I am now? A piece of exercise equipment for your brain? You're the greatest piece of exercise equipment a man could ever hope to throw a leg over.
That's Keats, right? You're right.
I'm being terribly rude.
Yes, but you're typically quite rude.
I'm trying to figure out why it doesn't bother me.
'Cause you're rude.
Well, I mean, you're you're honest.
Simple minds he always confused great honesty with great rudeness.
Mmm You know I'm not releasing any more neurochemicals, right? You know these these birthmarks, they are almost exactly the same shape as the constellation Auriga.
Is that a good thing or bad? Well, it's I'm just I'm surprised I've never noticed before.
Even after all this time, you're something of a blind spot to me.
You say the sweetest things.
I like that I don't see everything.
It's rare.
By the way, I've been meaning to ask you, um, why haven't you told me about your new project? We talked about the Rubens the other day.
No.
The other new project.
Well, the Rubens has a very very particular palette.
The last few times we've met, you've had flecks of paint of very different colors on your hands.
Also, the guest bedroom's been locked the last few times I've been here, which leads me to believe that is where the new work resides.
So could it be an Irene Adler original? 'Cause I distinctly remember you saying that you had absolutely nothing to contribute to the medium.
That was months ago.
I feel differently now.
What's changed? I really just I'd like to take a look at it.
You'll see it when it's ready.
Why did you come here? Can I get you anything? I'm fine, thanks.
This must be difficult for you.
Sorry? Having me here.
I know how much you see.
I can only imagine what you must be picking up right now.
You know, you're the only person I ever empathized with.
Empathy.
You have changed.
You asked me the other day what my life's been like.
Um You may recall, over the course of our relationship, that I dabbled with the occasional narcotic.
They were a hobby, and after your demise they became a good deal more than that.
Yeah.
A way of life, really.
Sherlock I was I was broken.
I was I thought the drugs were helping, and they were not.
When I couldn't find the man who I thought had killed you, I-I just I hit a bottom.
Scotland Yard asked me to step aside.
I ended up coming here to New York to hide.
When my father realized the depths to which I had sunk, he forced me into rehab.
You're better now.
I'm sober now.
I'll always be an addict.
I'm sorry, I, uh, I would like to be able to say that I honored your memory.
In fact, I did quite the opposite.
Please know that I hold myself 100% accountable for everything that has happened to you.
It is unlikely that I will ever be able to make that up to you but you have my word that I will never stop trying.
You were broken.
You fixed yourself.
If the great Sherlock Holmes can do it, then you give me hope.
He was here.
Mr.
Stapleton was here.
Sherlock, it's ready.
My original piece is finally ready, and you have an exclusive invitation to view it.
I'm out of town for a few more days but will return on Friday.
Meet me at my place by 5:00, or into the fireplace it goes.
Hello? I realize I'm late, but I have the most dazzling of excuses.
I thought you were taking me someplace safe.
This is an old garage.
I assure you it's a good deal more than that.
Come on.
I received this property as payment for some work I did when I first arrived in New York.
Had intended to sell it but then I realized it might make a passable safe house in case of emergency.
Are you sure we weren't followed? I'm positive.
I followed every countersurveillance procedure known to man, and then some known only to me, so I promise you, you're quite safe here.
What about your house? Shouldn't we call the police? Well, I have done, after a fashion-- I've texted Watson.
She's handling it.
The scene will be processed.
It doesn't make any sense.
This Moriarty, he let me go.
He told you were to find me, so why would his people leave that flower on my pillow.
It was a message, obviously.
Why would he send me a message? The message was for me.
It could not have been clearer.
He wants me to understand that as long as you're in my life, you can and will be used against me.
You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, but next to a will and a mind like Moriarty, you're weak.
And because I care for you I'm also weak.
That's why I need to let you go.
What? I'm sorry, you can't stay here.
We need to send you far away.
Somewhere you can really be safe.
When I have finished with Moriarty, I'll come find you.
You make it sound so easy.
The notion of causing you additional hardship it pains me to my core.
Sherlock I'm afraid.
And we've only just found each other again after all this time.
I see no other way to protect you.
What if I see another way? Isaac Proctor.
He changed his look, but that's him.
If there was ever any doubt he was connected to what happened to Ms.
Adler, there isn't anymore.
We got all the cameras out of your brownstone, right? Um, all the ones he told me about.
I mean, this doesn't make any sense.
I mean, why go to all this trouble? Why mess with Irene's head? I mean, all the evidence says that Isaac Proctor is a professional, not a psychopath.
I got to figure he's still following orders, right? Right.
Have you heard from Holmes yet? I left him three messages and a few texts.
Captain.
Got Holmes for you on line one.
Okay.
About time.
Thank you.
Holmes, where the hell are you? Hello? Hello? Why didn't he call my cell? Maybe he'll call you back.
Um, I'm gonna get a coffee.
Does anyone want anything? No.
No, thank you.
Where's Irene? Safe.
You want to explain all the cloak and dagger? I trust Captain Gregson and Detective Bell implicitly.
But given the scope of Moriarty's operation, the fewer people who know about my whereabouts the better.
Well, a few things you need to be caught up on.
Remember when Duane Proctor said his brother worked at a think tank? We looked into it.
Turns out it's really a CIA front.
So Isaac Proctor worked for them as an interrogator in the late '90s-- his specialty was psychological pressure tactics.
You think we may have found our Mr.
Stapleton? I know we have.
Isaac was the one who left the flower on Irene's pillow tonight.
We caught him on one of your security cameras.
And I noticed something-- he came in through the kitchen door and made a beeline for Irene's room.
He knew exactly where she was staying.
How could he know that? You think that Moriarty has-has cameras in our house, too? Mm.
I suppose with a man like him, anything is possible.
What do you mean you suppose? We need to figure this out.
I'm leaving New York, Watson.
What? I told Irene that, in order to be safe, she needed to go elsewhere.
She said she would only do so if I accompanied her, so I came to say good-bye.
I don't understand.
How-how long will you be gone? That's difficult to say.
If you could dismantle Moriarty's empire in my absence, thereby guaranteeing Irene's safety, that would go a long way to expediting my return.
Is this what you want or is this what you think you owe? I don't think I owe anything.
I know it.
Her life was ruined because of me.
We are on to something here.
We can find Isaac Proctor and that might lead us to Moriarty.
I'm sorry, Watson.
My mind is made up.
This is what Moriarty wants, and if it's what he wants, it's a mistake.
Were you followed? No.
The plates are clean.
There's $30,000 and a phone in the glove compartment.
You drive to Calgary, and you wait.
The next instructions you're gonna get are on the burner, so stay close to it.
Will I be allowed to call home? Think this through.
If you kill me Shut up.
"Call home.
" You voice-activated one phone to call the other.
Metal drum in the trunk.
You were gonna use it to get rid of my body.
Whose idea? You were sloppy.
The police should never have been able to trace that house back to you, but they did.
Moriarty can't abide that.
Moriarty thinks I was sloppy? Who left standing orders never to hurt Sherlock Holmes? Only reason you're still breathing is so you can report back.
Moriarty's obsessed with Holmes.
Doesn't want him touched.
You tell Moriarty that Sherlock Holmes is a dead man.
Irene? I didn't think you'd be gone so long.
I've been busy.
We have a way out.
No one will know that we've gone.
And they won't know how to find us once they do.
There's a Greyhound to Maine.
I have a friend there who can get us some passports.
Then the trick will be conscripting a boat to take us to Newfoundland.
Once we're at St.
John's Airport, virtually any destination What? Is that as far as you've gotten? It's all right.
We don't need to have every move mapped out 20 steps in advance.
We can work it out as we Sherlock? What the hell are you doing? Get off of me! Why would you do that? How How could I have been so stupid? Sherlock, you're scaring me.
How long have you been working for him? What? Moriarty.
How long have you been working for Moriarty? You're not making any sense.
Your constellation, Auriga One of the stars is missing.
What? Your birthmarks.
You-you've had one surgically removed.
I don't know what Your birthmarks! Was it, was it, was it precancerous, huh? So you had it removed.
You had it removed, not Moriarty, because why would he? Why would he care? Hmm? When did it start? When did it start? Was it before your abduction? Was everything a lie?! I've never lied to you.
You get like this.
You get like this.
You look at a thing so closely you start to see things that aren't there.
You know you do.
If you can't trust anyone, if you can't trust me please don't do this.
Watson asked me.
She said she said she says how is it that Isaac Proctor knew exactly which was your room in the brownstone.
And now we know.
Because you told Moriarty.
You lied before.
You don't really want to come with me, so you're inventing a reason not to.
You know it's funny.
I close my eyes and I try to picture him, and I see someone an awful lot like you.
I think you do, too.
I think if you weren't so bent on being your enemy, he'd be your friend.
When you realize the mistake you've made, don't try and find me.
I don't ever want to see you again.
Watson, change of plan.
I'm not going anywhere.
There's much we need to discuss.
I've returned to the brown I apologize, Mr.
Holmes.
You weren't supposed to see it coming.
Mr.
Proctor.
I was wondering when I was going to make your acquaintance.
Actually, we met once before You know you're only prolonging the inevitable.
You said we've met before, but I never forget a face.
I had you at a disadvantage.
I was looking at you through a sniper scope.
So why kill me now? Not then? I was under orders that day.
Moriarty said you weren't to be harmed.
But then, a few hours ago, she tried to have me killed.
"She"? Bet you wish you'd run away with me when you had the chance.
Moriarty.
This isn't how-- or when-- I wanted to reveal myself to you.
But Mr.
Proctor forced the issue.
This is a ruse.
You So who was the man I spoke to on the phone, who, uh said he was Moriarty? You talked to one of my lieutenants.
He has, over the years, played the role repeatedly and with great conviction.
More often than not, he's done so to protect my identity.
Other times, it was because I suspected a potential client might struggle with my gender.
As if men had a monopoly on murder.
What if I don't believe you? You don't want to believe me.
And yet your legendary powers of observation are screaming that I'm telling the truth right now.
Why would you do this? Seduce me, and lead me to believe that you'd been murdered? You're the detective, Sherlock.
You tell me.
Well, I must have interrupted one of your plans when I was still working at Scotland Yard.
Try several plans.
A series of assassinations I'd planned meticulously.
Punishment, then.
My first instinct was to kill you.
Quietly.
Discreetly.
But then, the more I learned about you, the more curious I became.
Here, at last, seemed to be a mind that that rivaled my own, something too complicated and too beautiful to destroy at least without further analysis.
So I devised a way to study you in your own environment.
You became "Irene"" Imagine my surprise when I realized how much we had in common.
I have about as much in common with you as I do a dung beetle.
I can understand why you would think so.
I know how much pride you take in your uniqueness.
But the truth is, I see everything you do.
I feel it.
Makes the world quite dull, no? Looking at a man, and knowing all his secrets.
So you're saying we're the same.
I'm saying I'm better.
And that's why I let you live, back in London.
You were not the threat you had been made out to be.
So I concluded my experiment and resumed my business.
You proceeded to prove you were inferior by disappearing into a syringe.
Hmm.
Why resurface in New York? I'd heard of your your miraculous recovery, and I I was curious to see how far you'd come.
That's bollocks.
Returning to me is a risk, and you'd only take it if I was close to undermining another of your plots.
That is why you wanted me to lea the country with you earlier, was it not? Same old Sherlock.
You look at people and you see puzzles.
I see games.
You? You're a game I'll win every time.
You might as well just kill me now, 'cause whatever it is you came here to do I'll stop you.
I would never kill you.
Not in a million years.
You may not be as unique as you thought, darling, but you're still a work of art.
I appreciate art.
What I-I can do what I will do is hurt you.
Worse than I did before.
I have reserves of creativity I haven't even begun to tap.
So please for you own good let me win.
Watson, you're here.
Excellent.
There's so much I need to tell you.
This is stupid.
You should be in the hospital right now.
Told you there isn't time.
Besides, what's the point of living with a former surgeon if she can't stitch the occasional bullet hole? The muscle in your shoulder is shredded, okay? You need to be treated for the pain.
May I remind you I am a recovering drug addict? May I remind you that there is such a thing as non-addictive painkillers? How good can they be if they're non-addictive? Anyway if I'm gonna deduce what Irene is up to in New York, I'm gonna need every last one of my faculties.
I'm sorry about Irene.
Or Moriarty-- whatever her name is.
I actually found the truth quite liberating.
I've wanted the answers to Irene's murder for a long time.
Now I have them.
And she erred when she revealed herself to me this morning.
Thanks to her I now have perfect clarity.
You've never seen me with perfect clarity.
Okay.
Irene is Moriarty.
You think she's here to do something terrible.
You have a hole in your shoulder, and we have a dead assassin on the third floor of our home.
So, where would you like to start? So Isaac Proctor shot you.
And then your ex-girlfriend shot him.
Except Irene's not really Irene.
She's, uh, some kind of what, mastermind? Very good, Captain.
You have it all straight.
I can't believe I'm-I'm saying this, but I'll tell our people to be on the lookout for-- I guess Irene Adler is an alias.
Well, she goes by Moriarty, but we're not sure if that's her real name.
It's all very well to be on the lookout, but you're dealing with someone who is capable of meticulous planning and extremes of self-discipline.
If you do find her, the only crime she's committed is shooting that man, who was shooting me.
So where do we start looking? I don't know.
But if we're gonna learn, we need to determine what she's been doing in New York the past few weeks.
At the moment, all we have are pieces of what appears to be a larger plan.
The scheme to take over the Taggart Speakeasy, the arrest of the principal of Sutter Risk Management for murder, but so far none of it adds up to a coherent whole.
We're not gonna learn much from Isaac Proctor's body.
If Irene-- oh-- I suppose I should get used to calling her Moriarty-- she took his phone and his wallet.
Hmm.
Did you find something? Who-Who-Whose items are these? Couple of homicide victims that came in last night.
Uh, one of them's got Cyrillic tats.
We think it's gang-related.
Why? These cell phones.
They've been modified so someone could install an open-source operating system in lieu of the one that the phone comes with.
We've seen this kind of modification twice recently.
Sebastian Moran, Daniel Gottlieb.
Every time we deal with one of Moriarty's people, someone's done the same kind of jailbreak on their phone.
I don't think those deaths are gang-related.
I think this man was in open warfare with Moriarty.
He's your killer.
Oh, hold on.
All that we got is two cell phones.
We don't have any proof that those guys were-were working for Moriarty.
Yes, we do.
That's the same code on Moran and Gottlieb's phone.
It's a code that I know how to break.
"B N 2 3"" "Macedonian Sun"? What does that mean? Haven't the foggiest.
But it's nice to have a handhold.
See, to me, it seems simple.
I mean, Holmes just found out he's been manipulated for years.
Guy's got to be devastated.
Plus, he's refusing medical attention for a gunshot wound? I mean, I understand he's invested in the case, but the NYPD doesn't do vendettas.
If he was one of my detectives, I'd bench him.
Look, I understand why you're worried, but if he can't look for Irene, if he has to marinate in his mistakes-- I think I know him pretty well by now-- that could be the one thing that pushes him over the edge.
If I think he needs to stop, I'll tell you.
I know what it means.
The message.
The Macedonian Sun is a container ship licensed to operate out of Bay 23 North at the Port of New York and New Jersey.
It is part of a fleet of Hellenic Exporters, which is a company owned by Christos Theophilus.
Oh, well, I've heard that name.
Perhaps you remember him best by his nickname the Narwhal.
Narwhal.
Like the whale with a horn on its head? Yes, precisely.
Now, during the late '80s, early '90s, Interpol believed that he was one of Europe's most prolific maritime smugglers, but he was elusive-- they could never, in fact, prove that he was a criminal.
Now, by all accounts, he dropped out of the smuggling trade some time ago and has since remade himself as the the legitimate head of an international shipping conglomerate and a noted contributor to Greek nationalist charities.
So you're wondering if he really remade himself or if he's working for Moriarty.
He has hundreds of boats circumnavigating the globe at any given time.
He would be a very useful partner to an international arranger of assassinations.
He could move personnel, weaponry with little chance of detection.
Now, the Macedonian Sun is due in port this very evening.
I think it's been a while since a few of us have eaten.
There's a roach coach a couple blocks away.
I'm gonna get some burgers.
You want anything? Coffee, please.
How you doing? I mean, all the stuff you're dealing with, it's next level.
You know, to think that that lady would mess with your head, to this degree I know it must seem strange.
But, uh, tell you the truth I've come to believe it might be a good thing in the long run.
Good thing? Yeah.
Must be some interesting math you're doing.
Well, I've never had a nemesis before.
Not a proper one.
Quite looking forward to it.
I imagine it to be tremendously energizing.
Hey, the ship's unloaded.
We didn't see anything unusual, so we were thinking maybe time to go home.
Yes, I understand.
There are lives to return to.
I will keep vigil here on my own till morning.
Hold up.
Look at that.
The Narwhal himself.
This is it.
Whatever that boat has brought for Moriarty, that man is here to pick it up.
NYPD! Don't move! Don't move! This is my boat.
What are you doing? You just unloaded a smuggled crate from it.
I want to see what's inside.
You said Moriarty might be using that boat to smuggle weapons or personnel.
Tell me which one these two are.
I've never in my life heard the name Moriarty.
Narwal, stop lying to us.
You know, my client has asked several times that you not refer to him as "Narwhal.
" I don't know why it bothers him.
They're lovely creatures-- the unicorns of the sea.
It bothers me because it's a name from another time.
- I am not that man.
- Not a smuggler? It's an interesting position, considering we just caught you smuggling two lemurs into the country.
Okay, look, my daughter, Alethea-- animals are near and dear to her, and she married a man who feels the same way.
They've been getting more and more involved in conservation, and me-- I'm just a man who can't say no to his kid.
You're telling me those lemurs are for your daughter? They were poached, and they were being auctioned off to men who would strip them of parts like an old car.
My girl and her husband-- they live on a horse ranch in Westchester.
They will take good care of them.
So, you're running an underground railroad for endangered species? Can your daughter corroborate all this? She is on vacation in Kenya.
But her husband is out there.
He will show you.
Well it's gonna take a while to get out to Westchester this time of day.
I'm gonna call ahead to the local cops, let 'em know we're coming.
I assume this is a call you can make while driving.
We are not going anywhere until we change your bandage.
Watson No.
Like I said yesterday, I'm only going along with this if you let me monitor your wound.
Fine.
Make your call from here, we'll meet you at the car.
Thanks.
Appreciate it.
Oh, there's no sign of infection, so that's good.
Less talking, Watson, more tending.
Okay.
What's the pain like today? It's fine.
It's barely even noticeable.
Give me a number-- one to ten.
Pi.
It's a mathematical constant that is approximately equal to three point one four.
Three point one four, yes.
If you're saying the pain is about three, I don't believe you.
Hmm.
You said you need all of your faculties to stop Moriarty.
Seems like you're a few short at the moment.
Hello? Hey, Joanie, it's me.
Oh, hey, Oren.
Don't freak out, but I've got some bad news.
Mom slipped and fell in some store this morning.
Oh, my God.
She's okay.
She just bumped her head.
One of the ER doctors used Mom's cell to call me.
But I'm at a conference in Barcelona this week.
I was hoping you could go check on her.
Of course.
She's at Chandler Memorial.
Okay, I will call you once I get there.
Okay, bye.
You Watson women and your heels.
Your mother's in her early 60s.
Should have resigned herself to flats years ago.
You heard all that? Yup.
It's not like I'm on any pain medication that might dull my senses.
Look, if she's okay, I will meet you in Westchester in an hour.
I'll wait with baited breath.
Your mother is fine.
I'm the one who called your brother.
I apologize for the subterfuge, but it seemed the most expedient way to get you away from Sherlock.
What do you want? Why the pleasure of your company, of course.
You're not afraid of me? Too angry to be afraid.
Maybe just because we're in a crowded restaurant.
Over the course of my career, I've plotted exactly seven murders that were carried out in crowded restaurants.
Killing you here is far from impossible.
It's just not what I want.
Why am I here? Because he took an interest in you.
I'd like to understand why.
'Cause you find him so fascinating.
What was the word that you used the other night? Mm.
Work of art.
Far as I can determine, you're a sort of mascot.
You were his sober companion, a professional angel to perch on his shoulder, fend off his many demons, but now now I don't know what you are.
Do you want to sleep with him? I thought you told him that you were just like him.
That you saw the same things that he did.
Well, women can be a little bit more difficult to read.
Just ask Sherlock.
I asked him to allow me to complete my business in New York without interfering.
He doesn't appear to be complying.
Last night, you helped him surveil a certain ship.
This morning, he questioned a certain businessman? How do you know about that? Surely by now you appreciate the scope of my organization.
I have eyes and ears in the most fascinating of places.
Hmm.
Business.
Talk to Sherlock.
Tell him I'll only be here for a few more days.
After that, he can have his city back.
He can have this whole insipid country back.
You're afraid of him.
If you weren't, you wouldn't have gone to so much trouble.
My dear Watson, I'm afraid of what he might force me to do.
I'm not sure why my father-in-law told you what we do here, but if you know, you know.
This is a working horse ranch.
We board, we give lessons There are also endangered species being cared for on the grounds.
smuggled property, you mean? We're not concerned about your impromptu game reserve.
It's a lovely hobby.
I would relish the chance to spend an afternoon here.
Unfortunately, our business is pressing.
My principal concern is your wife.
Well-well, why are you concerned about Alethea? Quite an undertaking-- your Kenyan safari.
Strange for one spouse to leave the other behind.
Don't you think? My wife's a free spirit.
Separate vacations have always been part of the deal.
What are you doing? Far be it for me to, yeah, speculate on the state of your marriage, but I looked in your coat closet, and I saw it was full of, uh, top-of-the-line outerwear.
His and hers.
Gets quite brisk on the veldts of Kenya, doesn't it? So, any idea why she left her gear behind? Oh.
You know, she probably got the latest thing.
Hey! Yeah.
Hey, this is a prescription for Levothyroxine.
That's a synthetic hormone used to treat thyroiditis.
This prescription was filled by your wife nearly a month ago.
Yet, there are only 18 pills missing from this bottle.
She's failed to take her rather crucial medication for almost a week.
Where's your wife, Mr.
Lerberg? A week ago, like you say.
It was the middle of the night.
Two guys in masks broke into the house.
They They took Alethea.
My father-in-law gets out here, he cuts me loose, he tells me the kidnappers have already been in touch with him.
He's supposed to handle everything.
No cops, or she's dead.
What can you tell us about these two men? Not much.
They were all covered up.
Uh one guy's sleeve rode up.
I saw he had tattoos in, uh What's that alphabet called? Cyrillic.
Sounds like it could be the two guys we have in the morgue.
I'll call the captain.
Watson it's been quite a productive errand.
What? You should never have gotten in that car, Watson.
Excuse me, but the henchman she was with had a gun.
And you know what? This is not my fault.
I don't know why you're blaming me.
You've fallen behind on your self-defense studies.
A gun which remains unpulled cannot be brought to bear on a situation.
You weren't there, okay, so, you have no idea what it was like Uh, enough! when he came at me with the gun.
Enough! You're both getting your own security details until this all blows over, and I'm putting a couple of guys at your residence, too.
Now, Theophilus made bail right after you left for Westchester, but he's not at his apartment.
His lawyer and his bail bondsman have no idea where he is.
The Narwhal has fled.
If he'd wanted to tell us that his daughter had been kidnapped, he had his chance to tell us this morning.
So Theophilus isn't Moriarty's accomplice; he's her victim.
I don't get it.
All this just to snatch some rich guy's daughter? There's more to it.
There has to be.
Moriarty has flair.
She pursues projects which ignite her passions.
It is very difficult to imagine that her grand plan in America is something as prosaic as a kidnapping for ransom.
Excuse me for a moment.
Hey, you okay? Yeah, I'm fine.
The pain is quite intense at times, but it's nothing I can't handle.
Spirit of the Dam-Busters and all that.
Hey.
So, I had our CCS guys look for evidence of communication between Theophilus and the kidnappers.
Now, his computer seemed clean at first but one of the techs figured out that he'd just signed up for a new e-mail account a week ago.
Had him send me a screen-cap of the inbox.
Question mark.
That was the caller I.
D.
that came up when Moriarty called Daniel Gottlieb's phone to talk to us.
Now, the e-mails were encrypted with a public key code-- can't be broken-- but Theophilus did download something at the exact same time one of 'em came in.
It was on his hard drive.
That, we can get at.
You don't know who this is? Why would Moriarty send that picture to Theophilus? Mr.
Theophilus.
It's nice to finally meet face-to-face.
You are the one who took my daughter.
Oh, I had some help.
In all my years of smuggling, I never handled one of these.
It's simple.
You just point and shoot.
Repeatedly.
It's important in moments like these to remember Alethea.
I have your word that you will let her go when I have done what you asked.
Of course.
Then you have my word.
This man and his family will be dead by tomorrow night.
Sherlock! Sherlock! Morning.
You're slamming your hand into your bullet wound.
I was having problems staying awake and I tried reasoning with my hypothalamus, but in the end, it required corporal punishment.
Well, there are police officers standing outside.
I'm surprised they didn't kick the door down.
Yes, they are waiting to take us to a would-be murder victim.
Actually, it's been a long night, Watson, but a productive one-- I believe I have deduced Moriarty's plan.
You're kidding.
Right.
This man is named Andrej Bacera.
His mother is presently the Speaker of Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.
She's a noted reformer, popular figure.
Mr.
Bacera himself, something of a favorite son in his homeland.
So why is Moriarty interested in a couple of Macedonian politicians? Andrej Bacera is not a politician.
Not yet.
He works as a vascular surgeon here in New York.
Serves as an unofficial diplomat when needed.
Now I refer you to a map of the Balkan Peninsula.
This is the Republic of Macedonia, a fledgling democracy and applicant for full membership to the European Union.
Biggest obstacle to its candidacy is its ongoing dispute with its neighbor-- Greece-- over the very name "Macedonia.
" I thought Macedonia was part of Greece.
Macedonia is a region in Greece, birthplace of Alexander the Great, area of enormous historical import, so you can imagine Greece's chagrin when Yugoslavia broke apart and one small new nation declared itself the Republic of Macedonia.
Two of my cousins both wanted to name their sons Henry.
It was a big thing at Thanksgiving.
What are you getting at? Well, as long as Macedonia insists on calling itself Macedonia, Greece has pledged to remain intractably opposed to admitting them to the EU.
However, Andrej Bacera's mother recently brokered a compromise on the issue.
"In a few days, the current Republic of Macedonia "is going to vote on whether to join the EU as the Republic of New Macedonia.
" So they just added the word "New.
" It worked.
Referendum is expected to pass handily.
So, this is all very fascinating in an NPR kind of way, but I don't see how your nemesis is gonna look at all this and and see an opportunity.
Which is why you make a much better companion than you do a nemesis.
It's all about currency.
This is a Macedonian denar.
You just had this lying around? If the Macedonian referendum passes, the currency will switch to the euro.
The denar will become obsolete, absolutely worthless.
And yet not 48 hours ago, a Swiss bank, acting on behalf of an enormous client, purchased an enormous position in the currency.
Why would anyone buy into a currency that's about to become extinct? They would not.
Not unless they planned to manipulate events to prevent Macedonia from joining the EU.
Imagine the uproar if a native of Greece, someone known to make contributions to nationalist causes murdered Macedonia's favorite son on the eve of the vote.
Old passions would be inflamed.
The vote to rename the country would fail, and the denar would remain the currency of Macedonia.
Its value would soar.
So Moriarty kidnapped the Narwhal's daughter to force him to kill this man.
All so she could make some money on a currency bet.
Nearly a billion dollars.
What say we go stop this bitch? Jordan? Jordan? Where's Jordan? Andrej, what's wrong? Jordan, there's a New York police captain on the phone-- he says there's a man coming to kill me.
This is Jordan Conroy.
I handle security for the Baceras.
Mr.
Conroy, this is Captain Gregson with the NYPD.
Is it just you there or do you have a team? It's just me.
Why? We have reason to believe Mr.
Bacera's being targeted by a Greek national by the name of Christos Theophilus.
We're actually on our way to you right now.
Can you give me a description? He's a white male, six feet, about 190.
I texted a photograph to Mr.
Bacera.
We've got a safe room here.
Top of the line.
I'll get Mr.
and Mrs.
Bacera inside it right away.
We need to do this quickly.
Step outside.
Uh wh-what you really want, you can have it.
Please Now.
Jordan? What's going on here? What have you done? Jordan, please please help us.
My name is Christos Theophilus.
I'm in the house of the snake, Andrej Bacera.
What I do now I do for the love of my country.
Please Please, I'm-I'm begging you Poppa? It's me.
I'm okay.
Poppa? Are you there? They just left me in front of the farm and drove away.
I'm with Chad now.
The police are on their way.
Are you there? Do it now.
Please.
Right after I hung up, I was struck from behind.
Next thing I know I'm zip tied to the banister and he's taking Andrej and Jovana into the bedroom.
I managed to get free, but then I heard the first two shots.
I had a gun in my ankle holster that he hadn't spotted.
I grabbed it.
I made my way into the room.
I fired but not before he'd shot Mrs.
Bacera.
Captain, don't listen to a word this man says.
Holmes, I thought you were still at the scene.
Mr.
Conroy, how long have you been working with Moriarty and how long has she been planning this? Hey.
Hey.
Do you want to tell me what's going on here? Yeah.
I had a chance to peruse Mr.
Conroy's curriculum vitae while I was at the Bacera residence.
Currently under the employ of a company called Lexicon Personal Security, yes? Would you like to know what that company was called until just a week ago? Sutter Risk Management.
We think it's one of Moriarty's shell corporations.
Am I supposed to know that name? She used me to prove that the Sutters had committed a murder, most likely to clear the decks for you.
You were not assigned to Mr.
and Mrs.
Bacera a few weeks ago, were you? You joined their detail just recently, a move no doubt orchestrated by your new owner.
I would've given my life for the Baceras.
You let a murderer into their home, and then you murdered him to cover it up.
Sherlock! Get off him! No! Get get him out of here.
Ow! You're bleeding again.
You must've popped your stitches.
I'm fine.
Sherlock I said I'm fine! Hey! You need to get a hold of yourself! I had her.
I had her.
I uncovered her plan, saw how to stop her and she succeeded.
Three people died today because of me.
Are you listening to me? Captain Gregson wanted to pull your credentials a few days ago.
I convinced him not to.
Yes, because you know that a good detective doesn't just stop because things get inconvenient! Sherlock I think it's time.
For what?! You-you know I'll investigate this anyway, whether I have Captain Gregson's blessing or not.
That is your choice, but right now, we are enabling you.
If you are the partner that I invited you to be, the partner that I believe that you can be, then you will stop this line of thought immediately! I am your partner, and you cannot keep going on like this! Now, what? You know, I almost stole a vial of opiates from a crime scene yesterday.
You know why I didn't? Because of you.
Because I knew how disappointed that you would be in me.
And if I only had the words to describe how disappointed in you I am at the moment I don't expect you to understand right now, but I know what you need to do.
Moriarty said she was smarter than you, that you needed to let her win.
It is the only way this does not eat you alive.
She was right.
Let her win.
Yeah, yeah, I'll let you know if he shows up.
Um, give me a minute.
Hey.
Aren't you meant to be waiting outside? I just talked to the sergeant in charge of your protective detail.
He told me you ditched him outside the precinct.
What's the deal? You okay? Going upstairs to shower.
Surely your jurisdiction ends there.
What's up, Captain? Holmes stormed out of the station a while back.
Is he there? Yeah, he just got in.
What about Watson? Is she with him? No.
What's going on? A corner drug dealer in Bushwick got beaten and robbed about a half hour ago.
Witnesses said the perp was British, and his arm was in a sling.
Holmes? Let me in.
Come on, open up! Holmes? Can you hear me? Hmm? Hey, get an ambulance now.
He just OD'd.
Stay with me.
Hey.
Hey.
Holmes.
I know you're awake.
I appreciate you're cross with me, but please don't tell me I've managed to make the great Sherlock Holmes shy.
There's a guard at my door.
I haven't hurt him, just distracted him.
Ah.
I warned you.
I practically begged you.
Why didn't you listen? You asked me to let you win.
I'd say that I have really.
You compelled Christos Theophilus to murder two innocent people this morning.
And then you made a fortune in the resulting chaos.
I did, but I didn't want this.
Not again.
Yeah.
Why did you come here? I want to help you.
You-you adopted a fake persona, you seduced me, faked your own death so, forgive me if I, uh if I don't want any more of your help.
Would you have preferred I'd just killed you? Yes.
I knew that my death would be quite a blow.
I knew it would keep you occupied while I carried on with other projects, but I I failed to predict your descent into addiction.
Well, you surprised me.
You're the only person on the planet who can.
That's why you love me, though, isn't it? Is that why you came here? To tell me? Do you know why you're so drawn to narcotics? Because you're in near constant pain.
Your sensitivities-- they make you a great detective, but they also hurt you.
I know what that's like, Sherlock.
Only me.
I'm leaving the country tonight.
I want you to come with me.
You're broken to pieces right now.
I can put you back together.
And once you're whole, I'll show you a different way to live.
We are the same.
You and I.
We both made the same mistake.
We fell in love.
It made us stupid.
I made nearly a billion dollars today.
I don't feel stupid.
Yeah.
You know she solved you.
The mascot.
Watson.
She diagnosed your condition earlier this evening.
She realized the real reason you could never quite bring yourself to kill me.
The reason you came back to my life.
Ah the reason you came here.
That's why she encouraged me to let you win.
Well, at least make it yeah make-make it look like you'd won.
You faked the overdose.
Yeah.
Uh I remain quite drug-free.
It's good.
But, um given your, um your repeated claims to have your eyes and eyes and ears everywhere You said there was only one person in the world who could surprise you.
Turns out, there's two.
Hey, there you are.
Captain Gregson just called with an update about Moriarty.
And? Well, he said the recording the police made of your conversation at the hospital has her attorney sweating bullets.
They know that she admitted to using Christos Theophilus to kill the Baceras, so, they're treading lightly.
In the meantime, the Macedoanian denars she purchased have been frozen, pending further investigation.
Hey are you listening to me? My nemesis has been defeated.
Is that about the long and the short of it? Yes.
Yes.
So, does that mean you need to find a new nemesis, or is this more of a lifetime appointment? They're almost here.
Do you remember the rare bee I was given for proving that Gerald Lydon had been poisoned? The bee in the box, sure.
Osmia avoseta is its own species, which means it should not be able to reproduce with other kinds of bees.
And yet, nature is infinitely wily.
So box bee got another bee pregnant? Quite so.
Which means, they should be reclassified as an entirely new species.
First newborn of which is about to crawl its way into sunlight.
Oh, my God.
As the discoverer of the species, the privilege of naming the creatures falls to me.
Allow me to introduce you to Euglassa Watsonia.
You named a bee after me? You named a bee after me.
Should be dozens more within the hour.
If you'd like, I could come and get you once they're all here.
That's all right.
I think I'll just watch.