A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs

"A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs"
Season 1
Season 1
Episode 15
Episode 15
Directed by	Guy Ferland
Written by	Christopher Silber
Aired	February 7, 2013
Viewers (millions)	10.84
Episode guide
Previous	"The Deductionist"
Next	"Details"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

Allie Galleranias Emily Grant

Joey Auzenneas Delivery Guy

John Hannahas Rhys Kinlan

Michael Irbyas Agent Xande Diaz

Armand Schultzas Derrick Hughes

Herman Chavezas Dominican Painter #1

Plot

"I believe in Sherlock Holmes." — Rhys Kinlan

Late at night, Emily Grant returns home and pours herself a glass of water when a man knocks on the door. A delivery man whose phone has run out of power asks to come in and charge his phone. Frightened, she refuses to let him in so, he leaves. She's then seized from behind by a masked intruder and chloroformed. The kidnapper folds her unconscious body into an oversized suitcase and wheels it down the street past the delivery man. At a support group meeting, Holmes describes his latest case. Returning to The Brownstone, Watson tells Holmes he is supposed to share personal details. Watson finds a suitcase in her room and a naked man emerges from the bathroom. She yells for Holmes who recognizes Rhys Kinlan, who tells them that his daughter, Emily, has been kidnapped. Watson asks him to get dressed so he uses her room over her objections. Holmes tells her Rhys is not a friend, he is Holmes' former drug dealer.

Emily kidnapped.

Watson emphatically expresses her concern with Rhys' presence being a trigger for a relapse. Holmes recognizes the risk but vows to help Rhys and suggests Watson will have to work hard during his stay. Rhys shows them the video tape he received from the kidnapper in which a terrified Emily is shown bound and gagged in a dark basement, while a disguised voice demands a $2.2M ransom to be paid in four days. Rhys produces a phone in a plastic bag that the kidnapper left on which he'll be called and gives it to Holmes. Holmes tells Watson that Rhys stole $2.2M from his Domincian suppliers before hiding out in Thailand. Rhys says that no one outside the Dominicans knew he stole the money and no one knew Emily was his daughter. He also admits that he gambled the money away. Rhys is remorseful that he's placed Emily in danger and appeals to Holmes who believes that the two days left is twice the time he'll need to find her.

If you involve the police or the FBI, she dies.

At Emily's apartment, Watson and Rhys stand back while Holmes examines the scene. Rhys tells her that Emily was the result of a casual affair he had with an American tourist in London, and he was never really close to either of them. Watson remarks on his calmness so Rhys tells a story in which Holmes solved an impossible case in London quickly. His confidence in Holmes is the reason for his calmness. Holmes comes downstairs and points out several clues that Rhys' Dominican associates were there, including a distinctive brand of cigarette ash and the imprint of a nightclub hand stamp on the wall. Rhys exclaims his believe in Holmes. At the nightclub, Watson is skeptical of Holmes' "plan" to have Rhys look around and see if he recognizes any Dominicans. Rhys points out the club's owner who would know about his theft. Seeing one of owner's entourage get up to use the men's room, Holmes follows him.

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In the men's room, Holmes tells the man, Xande Diaz, that he knows he is an undercover DEA agent. Holmes provides his rationale for determining this and asks about Emily. Diaz denies Holmes' accusation so he threatens to reveal he's a DEA agent to the owner. As they leave the bathroom, Diaz punches him in the gut, waves the owner's men away and while punching Holmes, he whispers that the Dominicans didn't kidnap Emily. Later at the Brownstone, Holmes uses Emily's phone to browse her social media for clues. Watson goes to get antiseptic to treat Holmes' cuts and finds Rhys smoking weed in the bathroom. He blames his nerves but Watson calls him an idiot and threatens to turn him into the police if he uses or compromises Holmes' sobriety. Holmes comes up with a new lead, Emily made a series of loans to her stepfather, Derrick Hughes. Rhys is confused as Hughes is a rich realtor.

That's not drugs, it's just a little bit of wacky backy.

The three of them stake out the parking lot where Hughes has been reduced to working as a valet. Over the phone, Holmes confirms with Detective Bell that Hughes lost his real estate holdings in 2008, and, though he has no criminal record, is flat broke. Holmes thanks Bell for the information, but hangs up before Bell can ask why Holmes wants to know. Since it is a cold morning, Watson ducks inside the restaurant where they are sitting to see if ordering some food will convince them to turn on the gas heaters. While she is gone, Rhys wonders aloud whether Holmes' drug use actually improved his abilities as a detective. After all, Rhys saw Holmes solve plenty of cases back in London while he was high. Holmes rejects this hypothesis, saying that detective work is about mental clarity. Rhys presses the point, saying that knowledge and training are one part of what Holmes does, but the drugs help stimulate the creative part of his brain that makes the difference between being a good detective and a great one. Holmes is silent, wondering if Rhys might be right.

As Watson comes back, they see Hughes leave work. They trail him to an abandoned building, the only one left in his name, and see him carrying groceries inside. Holmes says it makes sense that he would stash Emily there. But when the three burst in to confront Hughes, Emily is nowhere to be seen, and Hughes appears genuinely ignorant that she had been kidnapped. The groceries are for himself, since it turns out he is illegally squatting inside his own property. When they return to the Brownstone, Rhys gets a call on the cell phone the kidnapper left for him. The same disguised voice tells Rhys that he knows they are trying to identify him, and he has left a warning on their doorstep. Holmes finds a small box, inside which is one of Emily's fingers.

Holmes examines the finger and finds two important clues: on the tip is a distinctively-shaped burn, identifiable as from an old, prewar-era radiator; and under the nail are traces of the spices used in Ethiopian food, which her kidnapper must be feeding her. Holmes can deduce that Emily is being held in a prewar building within walking distance of an Ethiopian takeout restaurant, and has compiled a list of such buildings, but there are too many to search in the time they have left. Holmes needs to come up with some other way of narrowing the field. Watson brings tea to Rhys in her room. Rhys's earlier confidence is gone, badly shaken by the sight of his daughter's finger in a box. Nor is he cheered by Watson's news that Sherlock may have found a clue to Emily's whereabouts - he says that is not the Holmes he used to know.

Rhys confronts Holmes in the living room, alone. He says Holmes is off his game, and Rhys understands why. Rhys produces a packet of cocaine, telling Holmes to "get himself together... for Emily." Holmes stares at the cocaine for a moment, then leaps out of his chair and seizes Rhys. As they grapple, Rhys says Holmes knows he is right, and he needs the drugs to function, or else he would have found Emily by now. The sound of the scuffle draws Watson downstairs, just as Holmes releases Rhys. With an unconvincing "everything's fine" to Watson, Holmes storms out the door. The next morning, Holmes is sitting on a bench, struggling with himself. After a moment, he dials his phone and asks to speak with his father.

At the Brownstone, Rhys is pacing, saying they have only an hour until the ransom is due. Holmes comes back and informs Rhys that he will be reunited with Emily within the hour. While Holmes is confident that he would have deduced where Emily was, given a little more time, it is time she doesn't have, so Holmes did the unthinkable: he reached out to his father and asked him to loan out the ransom money. The elder Holmes agreed, provided that Sherlock perform certain favors for him in the future. Watson is floored, knowing just what kind of sacrifice Holmes has made by putting himself in his father's debt. Holmes, all business, says he will need to be the one to meet with the kidnapper, and asks Watson to fetch his tablet so he can make the account transfer. Once she is out of the room, Rhys starts to give thanks, but Sherlock curtly tells him that he is not helping Rhys, he is helping Emily and himself. As far as Holmes is concerned, the fact that the money will save Emily's life is incidental - the real benefit is that it will buy Holmes a Rhys-free life. Holmes makes it clear that their friendship is over, and once Emily is safe, Rhys is never to contact him again. Abashed, Rhys agrees.

After Holmes has left for the ransom meeting, there is an urgent knocking on the door of the Brownstone. Watson answers the door to Agent Diaz, who says he has new information about the kidnapping Holmes is investigating and needs to speak with him urgently. Watson unchains the door and lets him in. Waiting at the designated meeting place, Holmes sees no sign of the kidnapper, but notices a trio of burly Hispanic gentlemen wearing painters' overalls, hanging out near a van. Realizing quickly that he has been set up, he takes off running, and the three "painters" chase after him. As he is running, he calls Watson, telling them it was an ambush: the three "painters" were wearing shoes that were both expensive and paint-free, and Holmes realized they are soldiers from the Dominican cartel. Someone must have put them on Holmes' trail, someone who had influence with the Dominicans, and someone who knew Holmes was investigating Emily's abduction. Given that, the kidnapper can only be one person. Hearing a click, Watson and Rhys turn around to see Diaz pointing his gun at them. "I know," Watson says grimly.

Holmes manages to give the Dominicans the slip, circling around them and climbing into their van. As he is hotwiring the ignition, he converses with Diaz, who has zip-tied Rhys and Watson to the bannister and has taken Watson's phone. Diaz admits that he made a mistake in sending the killers after Holmes, since he assumed Rhys would be the one producing the ransom money. While they are conversing, Rhys whispers to Watson that he has a small pocketknife in his back pocket, a keepsake from an old customer. He tells her that as soon as he cuts himself free, he will cut her free, and she will run out the front door. She whispers for him not to do anything stupid, but he says he needs to right the wrongs he has done - to his daughter, to Holmes, to everyone. He says the plan is simple: he will save Watson, Watson will get Holmes, Holmes will save Emily.

Over the phone, Diaz says he says he will release Rhys and Watson as soon as the money is transferred to his account. Holmes asks why he should trust the man who just tried to have him killed. Rhys cuts himself loose, then cuts Watson loose, then charges unarmed into the living room, where Diaz fires. Hit twice in the gut, Rhys still manages to tackle Diaz to the ground. Hearing the gunshots over the phone, Holmes yells Watson's name in alarm, even as he finishes hot-wiring the van. While Rhys is feebly grappling with Diaz on the floor, Watson grabs Sherlock's phrenology bust and smashes it over Diaz's head, knocking him unconscious. Grabbing the phone, she tells Sherlock to call 9-1-1, then starts to administer first aid to Rhys.

At the 11th Precinct, Diaz is interrogated for Emily's whereabouts. He claims to know nothing about a woman being abducted. He followed Rhys, a known associate of his Dominican "employers", to the Brownstone and started to interrogate him. As for Watson, he assumed that she was working with Rhys. Captain Gregson says Watson and Rhys have a different story, and Diaz shrugs, finding it hard to believe that a judge or jury will take the word of a drug dealer over a federal agent's. Gregson says that if Diaz confesses and tells them where Emily is, the District Attorney is willing to offer him protective custody while he is in prison, where he will otherwise be fair game for the other convicts, who will know he is a cop, and his Dominican employers, who by now will know that he is DEA. Diaz appears unconcerned, and Gregson smiles, guessing that Diaz is wagering that if Emily dies before she is found, Diaz will get away scot free. However, Holmes already narrowed the field to a series of pre-war buildings within walking distance of an Ethiopian restaurant. There are a handful of such buildings close to the apartment Diaz is using in his cover identity, and right now Gregson has a small army of cops searching them.

Gregson leans forward and tells Diaz to make no mistake, Emily will be found sooner or later, and Diaz will go to prison for kidnapping her, but since she needs medical attention and has to be found quickly, Diaz still has something to trade by telling them where she is. Gregson and Bell get up and start to leave the interrogation room, and Diaz cracks, telling them to come back. In the hospital, Holmes visits an apparently unconscious Rhys and leaves an envelope at his bedside. Rhys wakes up and asks him what it is for. Holmes says he returned the ransom money to his father, but he still wants to give Rhys a small stipend, to make sure he has somewhere to go, and stay out of Holmes' life. Holmes has learned, the hard way, that recovery is a long road, filled with daily temptations, and Rhys's presence has left Holmes much less confident in himself than he was before. As he leaves, Rhys calls out, "I believe in you. Always will." Then to Rhys's surprise, Emily runs in from her hospital room and tearfully hugs her father. He looks shocked, but in the best way, that in spite of everything, she still loves him. At home, Holmes is gluing his phrenology bust back together when Watson finds him. Holmes admits that Rhys offered him cocaine, which is why they were fighting. He also admits that Rhys's presence was much more taxing to his sobriety than he expected it to be. Watson says she is there if he wants to talk about it. Holmes says he does, but would rather do it in a group setting, and surprises Watson by saying they have just enough time to make that evening's scheduled meeting at the rehab center.

Music

• Bootstraps - Forty Five plays at episode end.

Trivia

• The case involving a ferret that Holmes describes to his addiction group is Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short story The Adventure of the Crooked Man.
• Holmes says he wrote a monograph on the identification of over a hundred varieties of tobacco ash. This is a reference to Upon the Distinction Between the Ashes of the Various Tobaccos, a monograph written by the original Sherlock Holmes, first referenced in A Study In Scarlet.
• Holmes also makes reference to the Blue Carbuncle.

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