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.

Told you it was gonna be a difficult few days.

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.

They 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 he has no criminal record. Watson leaves to get food and Rhys wonders aloud whether Holmes' drug use actually improved his abilities as a detective. Holmes rejects this but Rhys continues, believing drugs help stimulate the creative part of his brain and remarks it must be hard for Holmes without it. Watson returns and points out Hughes is leaving. They follow him to an abandoned building where he carries groceries inside. They burst in but don't find Emily and Hughes is surprised at the accusation. He's illegally squatting even though it's his own property and explains Emily was helping him out. Returning to the Brownstone, Rhys gets a call from the kidnapper who has been watching him. Holmes grabs the phone and explains he isn't police, but the kidnapper says they have 12 hours less for the ransom and has left a something on their back doorstep. Holmes retrieves a small box which contains one of Emily's fingers.

What happened to Emily?

Holmes examines the finger and finds a burn from a prewar-era radiator and traces of spices used in Ethiopian food, which her kidnapper must be feeding her. Holmes compiles a list of prewar building near Ethiopian restaurants but there are too many to search in the time left. Watson brings tea to Rhys but his earlier confidence is gone, nor is he cheered by Watson's news of Holmes' clues. He says he's going out for some air. After Watson has gone to bed, Rhys approaches Holmes in the library. Holmes relates some theories that haven't panned out and Rhys recalls a case in London Holmes solved quickly by using. He takes out a packet of cocaine and Holmes 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 brings Watson downstairs, just as Holmes releases Rhys. Holmes storms out while Rhys says he just told Holmes the truth. The next morning, sitting on a bench outside, Holmes calls his father.

You need your meds.

At the Brownstone, Holmes returns and informs Rhys that he will be reunited with Emily as he's secured the ransom money from his father. Watson knows this is a huge sacrifice for Holmes. Holmes will meet with the kidnapper and asks Watson to fetch his tablet. He then tells Rhys that he did this to help Emily, get him out of his life and Rhys is to never contact him again. After Holmes has left for the exchange meeting, Watson answers the door to find Agent Diaz. He has new information about the kidnapping and needs to speak with him urgently. Watson unchains the door and lets him in. Waiting at the meeting place, Holmes sees no sign of the kidnapper, but notices a trio of burly Hispanic painters near a van. Realizing that he has been set up, he takes off and the three chase after him. As he is running, he calls Watson to report the ambush and that the painters work for the Dominican cartel. Only one person with connections to the cartel knew about his investigation.

They're a hit squad.

Watson and Rhys turn around to see Diaz pointing his gun at them. "I know," Watson says grimly. Holmes manages to evade the Dominicans, 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. 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.

Tell Holmes I'm sorry.

Diaz tells Holmes he will release Rhys and Watson as soon as the money is transferred to his account but Holmes doesn't trust him. Rhys cuts himself and Watson loose, then charges unarmed into the living room, where Diaz fires. Shot in the stomach, Rhys still manages to tackle Diaz to the ground. Hearing the gunshots over the phone, Holmes yells Watson's name in alarm. While Rhys grapples with Diaz on the floor, Watson grabs Sherlock's phrenology bust Angus and smashes it over Diaz's head, knocking him unconscious. Grabbing the phone, she tells Holmes to call 911.

Watson! Watson!

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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