Absconded

"Absconded"
Season 3
Season 3
Episode 23
Episode 23
Directed by	Guy Ferland
Written by	Jason Tracey
Aired	May 7, 2015
Viewers (millions)	6.92
Episode guide
Previous	"The Best Way Out Is..."
Next	"A Controlled Descent"

Cast

Main cast

Jonny Lee Milleras Sherlock Holmes

Lucy Liuas Joan Watson

Aidan Quinnas Tommy Gregson

Jon Michael Hillas Marcus Bell

Featured cast

David Michael Garryas Hugo

Kevin O'Rourkeas Deputy Commissioner Pat

Dorothy Lymanas Belinda

Tony Craneas Everett Keck

Tyler Weeksas Officer Hayes

Paul Urciolias Jonah Chait

Martin LaPlatneyas Darryl Jarvis

Lisa Emeryas Mrs. Barnes

Sutton Fosteras Tara Parker

Patch Darraghas Griffin Parker

Frank Vlastnikas Handwriting Expert

Arian Moayedas Yusuf Al Shamsi

Adam Sietzas Rick

Danny Boushebelas Rashid Musharakh

Plot

"I love what we do. You, me, Marcus, Holmes, everyone. What we do for the city, the people that need our help, it's not just some report that shows up on my desk." — Gregson to Watson

At the 11th Precinct, Captain Gregson, Holmes and Watson show evidence to Hugo that he sewed numerous Raggedy Andy masks which he distributed to people who thought they were going to be part of a flash mob. He's then shown the knife that he stabbed his boss with while using the mob as cover and is encouraged to confess. Entering his office, Gregson is surprised by Deputy Commissioner Pat who has a bottle of scotch and wants to discuss the future of the Major Cases unit. USDA employee Everett Keck arrives at the honey farm of Belinda as part of testing to determine the cause of widespread bee colony deaths. Belinda returns to check on Keck and finds her bees and Keck both dead. Later at the scene, Holmes is released from police custody after stopping Officer Hayes from smelling Keck's bee smoker.

What the hell have you done to my bees?!

Pointing out the smoker had cyanide in it, Holmes believes that the corporation AgriNext is behind the colony collapse disorder (CCD) in the Northeast US. While Holmes heads to AgriNext, Watson is called to Gregson's office where he informs her that he's been offered a promotion to deputy chief. As his proposed replacement, Ann Vescey, had issues with theft at her precinct, he asks Watson to discretely check if Vescey can be trusted. At AgriNext, Holmes accuses executive Jonah Chait of his company murdering Keck in order to conceal their involvement in CCD. Denying his accusation, Chait indicates that AgriNext had a file on Keck who they found wasn't qualified as he had a theology degree, was a Buddhist seminary dropout, used drugs and was nearly suspended. He's confident that AgriNext was well prepared to discredit any accusations Keck might have made.

This place is a malevolent hellmouth.

At The Brownstone, Holmes sees Watson with an NYPD file and deduces Gregson's promotion offer. Filling him in, Holmes doesn't share Watson's concern for their future at Major Cases if Gregson moves on. Watson notes the large amount of UDSA files with which Holmes has found that AgriNext was right about Keck's shortcomings. Noting that a neighbor of Belinda's, Darryl Jarvis, filed a complaint that Keck poisoned his bee hives with deadly mites, they head to Jarvis' home with police. Holmes finds evidence in Jarvis' trash that he manufactured cyanide from apple seeds. Confessing to poisoning Keck's smoker, Jarvis is adamant that he did so because Keck put mites in his hives. The next morning at the Brownstone, Watson finds Holmes on the phone while letting some of his bees sting his arm. He believes Keck was poisoning hives, and found that Keck's supervisor, Calvin Barnes, had a heart attack after being stung by bees, despite being in excellent health.

You're getting stung by bees on purpose?

Barnes was investigating Keck but the matter was dropped after his heart attack, which made him an invalid. Holmes believes Barnes was given an injection that caused the attack and shows Watson that the wounds on his arm from bees stings and pins are identical. On the phone trying to get Barnes' medical records, he also shows Watson that Harlan Emple has statistically proven that mites appeared wherever Keck inspected hives. Since Barnes' attack occurred when Keck was away, Holmes concludes Keck had a partner. At the Barnes' home, Mrs. Barnes confirms Calvin had his attack in the hallway but she wasn't present when it happened. Holmes finds damage on a door frame and theorizes that a struggle occurred there where Calvin was injected with potassium chloride which stopped his heart. Later at the precinct, Detective Bell reports that other than many blonde hairs, assumed to be from the Barnes, no evidence was found.

What about this gash in the molding here?

Noting that prior to Keck poisoning hives, CCD was declining and funding for academics was decreasing, Watson suggests talking to organizers of an apiary conference at Garrison University. The organizers are two married professors, Tara and Griffin Parker, who are incredulous when told Keck has been poisoning hives and had a partner. They provide a list of attendees and while Holmes looks it over for suspects, he's surprised to find that Sheikh Nasser Al-Fayed, a member of the royal family in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will be attending. Purported to be a recluse and to have the more expensive apiary in the world, Griffin says he's staying at the Cardiff Hotel. While Holmes heads to the Cardiff, Watson meets with a handwriting expert to review the property room logbook at Ann Vescey's precinct. Holmes calls that the sheikh is missing and he concludes he's been kidnapped.

They're scientists, not murderers.

At the precinct with Gregson, the UAE mission head, Yusuf Al Shamsi, is asked for help contacting the sheikh or his bodyguard, Rashid Musharakh, who is also missing. He refuses to help and when Holmes says that the sheikh may be involved in CCD, he walks out. Believing that Shamsi has already received a ransom demand that he wants to keep secret, Holmes can't explain why the sheikh would be involved in Keck's CCD activities. In private, Watson tells Gregson that Vescey is clean and she has no concerns with her heading up Major Cases. However, Gregson isn't sure he wants to leave as he knows he would be distanced from actual police work. After Bell calls many currency exchanges searching for anyone whose dealt UAE dirhams, Watson finds one that reports a man matching Rashid's description.

You are entirely mistaken.

Bell and Holmes visit the exchange, but the clerk isn't helpful and the surveillance video has been erased. Playing a hunch, Holmes leads Bell into a pawn shop across the street. After some coercion, the clerk admits that Rashid was there and traded a watch for cash and a laptop. Holmes notes that the laptop has tracking software which hasn't been deactivated and Rashid is arrested in his motel room. He knows nothing of CCD or Keck and relates that he was assigned to the sheikh's door after a tall, blond prostitute with a mole above her lip visited. In the morning, discovering both were gone, he fled as he'd be punished with death for allowing the sheikh to be taken. Bell is skeptical but Holmes indicates that he believes Rashid and he knows where the sheikh and the prostitute went.

Yeah, this was the guy, right here.

In "the box" at the precinct, Tara Parker is shown deleted posts from a beekeeping website in which the sheikh invited her to the UAE but insisted that Griffin be left behind. She dyed her hair blond for pictures she sent him with the posts after discovering this was the sheikh's preference. Griffin claims to know about the flirtation but insists their marriage is fine and they're planning to visit Vietnam, a non-extradition country. Tara is accused of luring the sheikh to the US with the CCD facilitated by Keck. Once she was in his hotel room, Griffin helped to kidnap the sheikh with the use of a winch, which Holmes noticed left marks on the room's balcony railing. Griffin is also accused of poisoning Calvin Barnes and Tara is told that there's video of them checking into the Cardiff the night the sheikh was kidnapped.

You've gone back to your natural color.

Griffin and Tara both deny the allegations and when Tara insists they call the sheikh, Gregson learns that he's been found and is on his way home to the UAE. Shamsi refuses to provide any more information from which Holmes concludes that the ransom was paid to the Parkers which the UAE wants to remain a secret. Since Shamsi denies any kidnapping and with little evidence connecting the Parkers to the crimes, who are leaving for Vietnam the next day, Gregson releases them. At the Brownstone, Holmes glares at the pictures Tara sent to the sheikh while Watson notes that one of the blonde hairs found at the Barnes' hasn't been identified. As Holmes looks at one picture of Tara in a scarlet academic hood and hat, he recalls that Keck had a theology degree. As his autopsy report showed he took Viagra the night before he died, Holmes realizes he has a connection that will incriminate the Parkers.

What does Buddhism have to do with erectile dysfunction?

At a greenhouse, Bell arrests Tara who believes the police are trying to delay her and Griffin from leaving for Vietnam. However, she's told that Griffin said she killed Calvin Barnes. Believing that it's a ruse to get her to confess, Holmes shows the picture of her in the scarlet academic robe whose color indicates a degree in theology. Since she and Griffin both have degrees in agriculture, Holmes deduced the robe was Keck's. The robe was found at Keck's as were her blonde hairs in Keck's bed and shower. Griffin was fine with the flirtation with the sheikh but not her affair with Keck. Believing the blonde hair from Keck's will match that found at the Barnes', Watson says she won't get away with his murder. Gregson tells Deputy Commissioner Pat that he's turning down the promotion. Pat is concerned and tells Gregson that the promotion was arranged and was supposed to happen.

We didn't do anything.

Trivia

• The beekeeping farm scene was shot at Congers, New York off Route 304.
• AgriNext executive Jonah Chait refers to the Barbara Conway case. ("Seed Money")
• Beecircuit.com is mentioned several times in the episode. Holmes helped its moderator, Vernon Joseph, retrieve several zebras and quaggas. ("The Female of the Species")
• Trent Annunzio was a professor at Garrison University. ("You Do It to Yourself")

Quotes

We've solved one murder. Now we just have the remaining one hundred million.

— Holmes

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