Meeting Leader: So, you know, if you're asking about threats to my recovery you have to talk about Amy. It's good to say it out loud I'm gonna see her soon and I should be ready. You're next. What's the greatest threat to your sobriety?
Sherlock Holmes: Uh Sherlock, addict.
All: Hi, Sherlock.
Sherlock: I am without peer. Without sane peer, anyway which is functionally identical to being without a peer, full stop. I can only extend so much of myself to a non-peer. Which means I can only extend so much of myself to anyone. I've made progress, of course, but I don't know how much more growth there is within me. If I can never value a relationship properly, then at what point do I stop trying to maintain them?
Meeting Leader: You haven't turned your back on the world yet.
Sherlock: But, I am without peer. And that's the greatest threat to my sobriety.
Joan Watson: Hey.
Tess Dahl: Uh, do you need to get by?
Watson: Uh, no. Tess, right? You, I, I know you from the meetings. You okay?
Tess: I don't know.
Watson: Well, let me know if you need anything.
Tess: It's my sister. I can't find her.
Sherlock: Hello. What are you doing here?
Watson: Uh, my subway got out at the time your meeting was finishing, so I thought we could walk home together.
Sherlock: All right.
Watson: Uh. Do you remember Tess? She was really nice to you when you first started coming to the meetings.
Sherlock: Yeah.
Watson: We're helping her.
Tess: Paige is four years younger than me, but we got clean at the same time. We see each other most days, but we talk at 9:00 a.m. every day, no matter what. She didn't pick up her phone today. I haven't been able to get her. I went to her apartment, nothing. And the police don't seem to be taking it very seriously yet, but I know that something's wrong.
Sherlock: Well, you suspect she might be using again?
Tess: I wish I could say no, but she she's be acting weird for, like, a month.
Watson: We're gonna need some raw information to start with. Where she lives, her job, close friends.
Watson: You've been quiet the whole way home. What's up?
Sherlock: Oh, nothing. Well, it's just, it's not the most interesting case, is it? This Paige, she's an aspiring musician. She's not the model of stability. She's most likely relapsed.
Watson: So?
Sherlock: Well, I was hoping to be without case for a while. I've been meaning to run some experiments. What?
Watson: Tess supported you when you first started speaking at the meetings. I think you could take a case that is beneath you if that means supporting her too.
Sherlock: I never said I wouldn't do it. What is that smell? Ms. Hudson, what's happening here?
Ms. Hudson: Sorry to surprise you. I was cleaning and I let him in. He said I had to stay for dinner. He kind of insisted.
Sherlock: He?
Mycroft Holmes: You're back! Excellent.
Sherlock: Oh.
Mycroft: Why exactly do you keep a whisk in your spare bedroom?
Watson: Mycroft, what are you doing here?
Mycroft: I am, as I assume is apparent, in New York. I wanted to see my brother! And my friend. So, I thought we might catch up over a bite.
Mycroft: I don't know how long I'm staying. The London branch of Diogenes pretty much runs itself, but the New York edition is undergoing some growing pains. I'd be more useful here. The truth is, I'm rather looking forward to the change of scenery. I was in a relationship in London and it all became a bit of a cock-up.
Watson: Oh, you broke up with Claudia. I'm so sorry to hear that.
Mycroft: Well, I'd say, she was the prime mover.
Sherlock: How do you know the name of his lover?
Watson: We e-mail sometimes. Mycroft and I are friends. That's what friends do.
Sherlock: Have you come back here to sleep with Watson again?
Watson: Hello?
Mycroft: As Joan says, we're friends and friends can spend time in each other's company without prurience rearing its head. Allow me demonstrate, Joan, I'm having some difficulty with my dessert chef at the restaurant. I'm auditioning for a new one tomorrow before the dinner service. Would you like to come along, perhaps venture an opinion?
Sherlock: We're busy tomorrow. I've just taken on a very important case.
Mycroft: You may note that you are not included in the invitation. Joan?
Watson: Sure. It sounds fun.
Mycroft: Good. Good.
Watson: Paige Dahl should have invested in some better locks.
Sherlock: Well, I suppose with some detailed planning it could be made to work.
Watson: What could be made to work?
Sherlock: This relationship with Mycroft. We could draw up some sort of shared custody arrangement.
Watson: Did you just say, "shared custody arrangement"? As in you and Mycroft sharing custody of me?
Sherlock: There's no need to be offended. It's a term of art.
Watson: It is a term of, "never use it again or I will kick you in your soft parts." Hey. Do you recognize this?
Sherlock: So, forget the term, "shared custody," and focus on the concept of "advanced planning."
Watson: I don't want to talk about Mycroft. In fact, I'm putting a moratorium on it.
Sherlock: Watson?
Watson: I'm serious, moratorium.
Sherlock: I'm quite serious, too. Tess was right. Her sister's into drugs again.
Watson: How much heroin is that?
Sherlock: Oh, it's enough. I'm fairly certain this is the number of a delivery service. You call in, you give them a referral and they bring you whatever illicit drugs you want. I'm quite familiar with that concept. This is not Paige's number so, even though she has a rather large supply of heroin, I think we can assume that she's not the entire business.
Watson: You're calling them?
Sherlock: Of course. A young woman is missing. Her associates in the illegal heroin trade seem like a good place to start looking. We should place an order. I will liberate one of the bikes from the rack outside and follow the delivery man to his place of origin. Then we'll have Detective Bell arrest everyone inside and see who wants to talk about Paige Dahl. It's ringing.
Drug Dealer: Hello?
Watson: Hi. I got your number from Paige Dahl. I would like to place an order.
Drug Dealer: All right. What do you need?
Captain Gregson: So you went looking for a missing person and you came back with a cell full of heroin dealers?
Sherlock: We found heroin from their delivery service in Paige Dahl's apartment. We're hoping one of them might have some idea where she is. You might have to, uh, convince the DA to offer leniency in exchange for information, of course.
Gregson: I'm gonna go ahead and let you take the lead on this one.
Detective Bell: So that was your apartment where we busted that delivery service?
Drug Dealer: My name is on the lease.
Bell: Was it your business? Listen, you're looking at charges whether you talk or not. The only way you can help yourself is if you tell us where Paige Dahl is.
Drug Dealer: Paige is missing?
Bell: Nobody's seen Paige in two days now. You have any idea why that might be?
Drug Dealer: No.
Bell: That's too bad, 'cause we've got your heroin and your money in her apartment.
Drug Dealer: You're saying you think I had something to do with it? You say that she went missing Tuesday. I was out of town. I was on a ski trip with my buddies. You can ask them. Or don't. I used my credit card to pay for the lift tickets.
Sherlock: Oh, very well. Detective Bell will just charge you.
Drug Dealer: Whoa, wait a minute, man. I can tell you anything that you want to know about Paige.
Sherlock: At the moment, all we wish to learn is where she is.
Mycroft: It, it, it doesn't seem like there's an elegant way to broach this, so, blunt will have to do. I had a a bit of an agenda asking you here. It, it, it's true that Claudia's back with her ex-husband, and it's true this restaurant needs my attention, they're the reasons I came back to New York, but another factor is well, to be blunt, is you.
Watson: Me?
Mycroft: I, I, I thought it was a terrible idea, at first, so utterly complicated, but then I realized the reason I was turning my back on the possibility had to do with other parties. You're a kind, intelligent woman. We're two single adults. We get on. And I dare say, the attraction's still there. Why should we deny ourselves the chance at something just because Sherlock would make it difficult?
Watson: "Difficult" may be an understatement.
Mycroft: I, I'm being as direct as I possibly can. I realize there's a chance this might put you off.
Watson: No. I'm not put off. I, I'm, I'm so flattered. I mean, as you said, it is complicated and, and I...I'm sorry. I don't, I don't know exactly what to say.
Mycroft: You don't have to say anything right now. I've given you enough to digest. Although I do hope we might revisit the topic.
Watson: Yes. Of course.
Mycroft: Good. Please, let me.
Watson: Oh, thank you.
Watson: What's up with the music?
Sherlock: I downloaded the collected works of Paige Dahl. Our investigation into her whereabouts is otherwise at a standstill. I'm subjecting myself to her songs in the hope that they might spur some fresh line of thinking. How was your evening with Mycroft?
Watson: Fun.
Sherlock: You clenched when you said that. It was practically audible. What happened?
Watson: Nothing happened. I do not need you to dissect my every mood. Good night.
Sherlock: Did he take liberties with you? Your business is your business, I understand that. I'm just concerned that you were lying about your evening in order to protect Mycroft from my wrath. Did he take liberties with you?
Watson: I don't even know what that means. And I don't appreciate being woken up so that you can indulge your paranoid fantasies about your brother.
Sherlock: That's not why I woke you up. There's a hidden track at the end of Paige's album. In it, she refers to Harriet Tubman as her constant songwriting companion.
Watson: Harriet Tubman? You know, there's a plaque in Fort Tryon Park where she once gave a speech.
Sherlock: It's right around the corner from Paige's apartment. Her guitar is missing from her apartment. I wonder, did she step out to do a spot of composing? Worth taking a look, anyway.
Watson: Is there anything in particular we should be looking for?
Sherlock: Anything anomalous. I suppose if Mycroft didn't harm you in any way, I should respect your privacy.
Watson: Something tells me that you're not going to, though. Look, I didn't tell you what happened because A, it's none of your business and B, your reaction to what happened is bound to be even more annoying than your reaction to not knowing.
Sherlock: So it's as I thought. He made a proposal of some kind.
Watson: You're not gonna quit, are you? Your brother made a very sweet, very grown-up declaration of interest. I didn't respond, I was surprised. And because I instantly pictured this series of irritating conversations we had in store. Are you stunned into silence? You think that's Paige's?
Sherlock: These branches have been disturbed. Someone fled through here. That's interesting. Her footprints go this way, someone also went in this direction.
Watson: Okay, I'll take left.
Sherlock: All right, look for footprints, disturbances, anything that stands out. Watson!
Watson: I'm over here! I found the body!
Sherlock: I was gonna say the same thing!
Watson: Who is that?
Sherlock: I have no idea.
Sherlock: It doesn't make any sense. The murderer pursues the dead man to this outcropping, he tries to hide, it does him little good, and yet there are shotgun pellets on either side of his hiding place. Why, if you had your target in your sights, would you fire so wildly, hmm?
Watson: Maybe the killer was running?
Sherlock: Have you ever tried to fire a shotgun while sprinting? The experience has very little to recommend it.
Bell: Any thoughts on what happened here?
Sherlock: Whoever pursued Paige and the dead man attacked the man first. After we found his body, we retraced his steps. The dead man began fleeing half a mile before the plaque of Harriet Tubman.
Bell: So he was pursued before Paige Dahl. You think he was the target?
Watson: We think so. Paige was probably a witness, saw what happened, then got chased down and killed. If we want to find out who killed Paige Dahl, we need to figure out who wanted this man dead.
Sherlock: Sorry, I thought I just saw a mosquito.
Bell: It's too early in the year for mosquitoes.
Sherlock: That's why I mentioned it.
Bell: Well, you guys can stop calling this guy "the dead man". His name is Zach Piller. CSU's done processing his wallet. I had a look at his phone. Most of his contacts have a 702 area code. I'm guessing he moved here from Vegas.
Sherlock: Mr. Piller has a card from a Dr. Paul Sutherland, psychiatrist. Appointment times on the back. Mr. Piller is a cipher to us. The doctor may be a wealth of information.
Dr. Paul Sutherland: Zach and I had a therapist-patient relationship. What happened? Who killed him?
Watson: Actually, we were hoping you could help us with that. We don't think it was a robbery. Mr. Piller still had his wallet. The body wasn't even searched. Now, we know it's a delicate line to cross, but if you could tell us if he ever mentioned in your sessions anything about his life being threatened?
Sutherland: Um, he had some anxiety, but Zach didn't lead the kind of life that would make him a murder target. He was essentially just a regular guy.
Sherlock: Could you be more specific?
Sutherland: I don't know. He moved from Las Vegas about eight months ago. He left his family and friends behind. He worked at an aeronautics firm, some start-up. Like I said, just regular stuff.
Sherlock: The anxiety that you spoke of, did that have a particular source?
Sutherland: Um, you're getting into his treatment.
Sherlock: Dr. Sutherland, two people are dead, and any detail may be crucial.
Sutherland: I've, I've already told you more than I have to. You'll have to just learn the rest on your own.
Bell: Okay. Thanks for your time. Well, I guess we know more than we did before he came in.
Sherlock: I propose a division of labor. We already know Piller's home address. There was an aeronautics firm in the contacts in his phone. So you see what you can learn at his apartment and Watson and I will reconnoiter his workplace.
Bell: Sounds like a plan.
TV: Unmanned flight is the future of domestic aviation. The field promises us secure borders, safer neighborhoods...
Sherlock: Piffle. They want an army of drones keeping tabs on all of us.
Watson: Since when do you care about other people's privacy?
Sherlock: I make use of the tools available to me. That doesn't mean to say I have to applaud every advance in the field.
Watson: Are you okay? You seem very normal since I told you about Mycroft. I expected more harassment.
Sherlock: You haven't answered his appeal yet. I'm giving you time and space to craft your reply.
Watson: Oh, that's mature.
Ellen Pierce: You're Holmes and Watson? Ellen Pierce. I'm, I was Zach's boss. His parents contacted me right after they were informed. This is so terrible.
Sherlock: You manufacture drones?
Pierce: Um "drones" is a very loaded term. But we are developing the capacity to build unmanned vehicles. At the moment, only the military or the government can fly UAVs over domestic airspace.
Sherlock: What did Zach Piller do here?
Pierce: Zach flew UAVs for McCarthy-Strauss. That's one of the big military contractors.
Watson: Did he have any enemies? A a rival here, maybe?
Pierce: Sometimes he talked about his old roommate back in Vegas. I, I guess they restored a classic car together, and then the guy tried to claim that it was all his. Zach was dealing with a lawsuit. The way Zach described him, the roommate sounded a bit unstable. Is there anything else I can help you with?
Sherlock: No, I don't believe so. Not at the moment. Thank you very much.
Watson: All right, I say we head home. I promised Tess I would stop by. We can see what Bell found at Piller's apartment and look into this lawsuit.
Sherlock: Fine ideas. I'll meet you back there. I have an errand to run.
Mycroft: The hostess said my brother was here. To what do I owe the pleasure?
Sherlock: Do you see that man in linen over in the corner? When I was here months ago, he was at exactly the same table.
Mycroft: I suppose he's a regular.
Sherlock: Regular, indeed. He just received a package.
Mycroft: I'm sorry, are we here to talk about the man in the corner?
Sherlock: No. This pursuit of Watson must end. I've managed to achieve a certain balance in my life, and Watson is essential to that. As my brother, I would think you'd be happy that I've achieved a measure of stability. I certainly wouldn't think that you'd look to disrupt that.
Mycroft: My dating Joan doesn't need to be a disruption.
Sherlock: It is a disruption and a distraction. Watson and I routinely save lives, and I cannot and will not allow anything to get in the way of that.
Mycroft: Have you considered the likelihood that you're consistently undervaluing that woman?
Sherlock: I hold her work in the highest esteem.
Mycroft: I'm not talking about her work, I'm talking about her. You value Joan to precisely the extent that she's a salve for your many neuroses. You purport to be her friend, and yet you don't care a whit about her happiness.
Sherlock: Well, I hardly think you're essential to her happiness. She has a very symmetrical face, she will attract a mate when she's ready.
Mycroft: And there you'll be, to pick him apart and find flaws and hoard her gifts to yourself. You're welcome to a meal on the house. I'll do you the favor of not telling Joan this conversation ever happened.
Watson: Oh, hey. I didn't hear you come in. That lawsuit thing was a bust. What are you working on?
Sherlock: Proof that my brother is either an idiot or a criminal. I went to see Mycroft today.
Watson: Why?
Sherlock: This man was sitting at a corner table in his restaurant, the very same place he was sitting the last time I was there. He received a package at this table today.
Watson: I better not have been the subject of this meeting.
Sherlock: Course you were. Doesn't matter.
Watson: It does, it does matter. It's all that matters.
Sherlock: Listen to me. This man's name is Guillaume de Soto. The DST in France have long suspected that he is a high-ranking lieutenant in Le Milieu. If you're not familiar with them, they're a French-Corsican criminal organization. And their New York office, apparently, is now headquartered at Diogenes.
Watson: So the guy eats there. Mycroft is not responsible for everyone who walks into the restaurant.
Sherlock: He's either lazy and inattentive, or he's involved with these people.
Watson: You're paranoid. And I don't care about any of this. You know what, this whole conversation stems from a massive violation of my privacy.
Sherlock: The violation is incidental.
Watson: No, I will tell you if it's incidental or not. What are you doing?
Sherlock: Shh. Look.
Watson: Is that a mosquito, or a...what is that noise?
Sherlock: It's metal striking glass. It's not an insect. It's a machine. Surveillance vehicles disguised as small objects are the vanguard of drone technology. I'm quite certain that there's a camera attached to that thing. They're capable of making recordings, even injecting toxins under the skin. That thing's been following us ever since we discovered Zach Piller's body.
Watson: Why? Who sent that?
Sherlock: The people responsible for his death. I imagine they want to keep tabs on our investigation. I now know why the shotgun firing pattern was so strange. The weapon wasn't held by human hands. It was attached to a vehicle. Paige Dahl and Zach Piller were killed by drones.
Watson: A bug that is literally a bug. It's like something from a sci-fi movie.
Sherlock: From this point forward, we must assume that we're being watched.
Watson: How do you go from looking at that to thinking that Paige and Piller were killed by drones?
Sherlock: Well, once it became apparent that unmanned vehicles were involved, I realized why the firing pattern at the scene was so unusual. Zach Piller's murderers tracked his whereabouts via high-flying drone and then dispatched something like this to finish the job.
Watson: That looks like something someone could've built in their garage.
Sherlock: Mmm.
Watson: So they sent two kinds of drones to kill Piller and Paige and sent a third one to keep an eye on us.
Sherlock: The people we're looking for command powerful resources. It's less likely that it is Ellen Pierce and her fledgling startup company, but McCarthy-Strauss, Piller's old employers.
Watson: They're industry leaders. But why would they want to kill him?
Sherlock: I suppose I should be flattered. When Detective Bell collected the dead man's effects, obviously he imagined I would find some meaning in a collection of fast food receipts and faded photographs of Mr. Piller's high school marching band, alas, I'm not a psychic.
Watson: You know what's not here? That computer.
Sherlock: Notably absent, yes. These are all recent. Group of articles about a massacre in Afghanistan. Group of CIA contractors disguised in tribal gear, killed near the Naghlu Dam. Mistaken for Taliban fighters and fired on by UAV.
Watson: Looks like Piller talked to his psychiatrist about it. "Sutherland is wrong. If it's not my fault, whose is it?" Do you think Piller was responsible for this?
Sherlock: Sounds like he told his psychiatrist he was.
Watson: Look at this. "I have to say something."
Sherlock: "Pentagon sources refused to comment, but the practice of employing civilian analysts to fly surveillance drones has many detractors." Perhaps Piller was the man who misidentified the Americans who died.
Watson: Well, a month after the incident he left McCarthy-Strauss and sought counseling. Something was bothering him.
Sherlock: And suddenly there's no shortage of suspects.
Watson: Executives at McCarthy-Strauss?
Sherlock: Any number of them would want to keep this quiet. They're planning an IPO, an expansion into the civilian market. But so far the only person that we know has covered this up is Piller's psychiatrist. McCarthy-Strauss are rather obvious suspects, their motives were known to Dr. Sutherland. This is precisely the kind of thing I hoped he would divulge, and yet, he chose to say nothing. I'd like to take a closer look at the doctor.
Watson: You know um, can you get started on your own? I have a lunch thing.
Sherlock: You don't have a lunch thing while we're working. It's with Mycroft, isn't it?
Watson: Oh, that's none of your business.
Watson: First of all, I'm sorry that Sherlock came here yesterday.
Mycroft: No need to apologize. I'm well acquainted with my brother's eccentricities.
Watson: I am having some boundary issues with him. I will take care of them. But it has been challenging, thinking about our conversation the other day, without thinking of Sherlock.
Mycroft: Precisely his intention, I'd imagine.
Watson: Yeah, I understand that. I've had a wonderful time with you on multiple occasions. Which leads me to this belief that if a few things were different, we'd be a great match. The thing is, right now, it's just too much. Sherlock is my business partner. We share a living space.
Mycroft: I understand. I'm disappointed, naturally.
Watson: Uh, I, I wasn't finished yet. Right now it is overwhelming, but it doesn't have to stay that way. There is one thing that has to happen in my life and I've been putting it off. Inertia, I guess. I need to get my own place.
Mycroft: You're thinking of moving out?
Watson: Yes. And I was thinking that if I have my own place, and Sherlock isn't hovering around me 18 hours a day, that spending time with his brother might not be so overwhelming.
Mycroft: That would follow.
Watson: I hope so. I mean, I'd like to find out. I should go. Oh, thank you.
Sherlock: You not get my text?
Watson: I did, I, I just got sidetracked. I think you might have been right.
Sherlock: Yeah. On what topic?
Watson: The clientele at Diogenes. This guy was eating with the man that you noticed. Facial recognition did not come up with any matches, but it brought up this old BOLO. The man in the sketch was spotted by witnesses at the scene of a massacre. Thirteen cartel lieutenants killed at once. There was suspicion that Le Milieu was involved.
Sherlock: So, we still think the French criminals cannot get enough of my brother's caprese?
Watson: Mycroft is not a criminal, but there is something shady going on. We should warn him.
Sherlock: Your faith in my brother is touching. I wish I shared it.
Watson: Is that...
Sherlock: It's guano. I stumbled upon a bat colony in the steeple of St. Olaf's Church while you were romancing my brother.
Watson: I wasn't...
Sherlock: I was in pursuit of a lost cat, belonging to one our friends in Everyone.
Watson: Can't we find a hacker collective that accepts cash?
Sherlock: Everyone went through Dr. Sutherland's digital life with a fine-tooth comb, and something quite noxious stuck in the teeth. McCarthy-Strauss paid him a hefty consulting fee the very same week that Zach Piller left the firm and began therapy. $200,000.
Watson: You think Dr. Sutherland took a bribe?
Sherlock: If I had to guess, I'd say that they were paying him to report back on whether their disgruntled former employee was intending to go public. But I don't have to guess. I can ask him myself when Detective Bell brings him in this afternoon.
Watson: Marcus can't just pull a doctor off the street to ask him about consulting fees.
Sherlock: Consulting fees were not the only thing that Everyone turned up.
Sutherland: Am I supposed to recognize that?
Gregson: You should. We found it buried in your plot in the Third Street community gardens.
Bell: Plus, we got an anonymous tip from another gardener. Saw you bury a box of those in your plot.
Gregson: So let's take it as a given that you know what a Barnen Delight is.
Sutherland: It's just Italian candy. With a...there's a little toy inside.
Gregson: A little toy that constitutes a choking hazard. Which is why the FDA banned those eggs. You had 60.
Bell: What'd you have, an Italian patient or something? I mean, how does a psychiatrist get involved in the black market for candy eggs?
Gregson: You've been picked up for drunk and disorderly twice since 2009. Now this. I don't know how long your rap sheet has to be before the state medical board pulls your license, but you got to be getting close.
Bell: All that said, you help us out maybe we look the other way.
Gregson: We want to know everything that Zach Piller said about the massacre in Afghanistan. And we want the names of the people you reported to at McCarthy-Strauss. We know about your "consulting fee." Fill in the blanks.
Sutherland: Um, Zach was flying a surveillance drone last fall. He saw a group marching near this river, fanned out just like a Taliban scout unit. They turned out to be Americans. It was just a few pixels on a screen, so he passed his assessment on and the Army ordered a strike. The company was worried when Zach left. I don't know how they knew I was his therapist, but one day a guy showed up, making me an offer.
Bell: Was Zach Piller gonna go public? Did you tell the company?
Sutherland: He told me he wrote it all down. Some kind of report. He said he was gonna send it to the media. I did not know that they were gonna kill him.
Gregson: Who was your contact at the company?
Sutherland: Is there, is there a bug in here?
Sherlock: Captain!
Sutherland: Ow. The damn thing just bit me.
Bell: Whoa. You all right? Hey, we need some help in here.
Watson: Call an ambulance! Dr. Sutherland, Dr. Sutherland, can you hear me?
Gregson: What is this?
Sherlock: Where is it? Do you see it?
Gregson: Where's what?
Sherlock: Did it fly in the vent?
Watson: He's in cardiac arrest. He may not make it.
Gregson: What the hell's going on?
Sherlock: He's been poisoned.
Sherlock: Judging by his symptoms, I'd say Dr. Sutherland was killed using phenylsilatrane. It's a cousin to strychnine. And the drone used to poison him was no doubt sent by the same people at McCarthy-Strauss who killed Piller and Dahl. Most likely entered and exited via an open door or an air duct.
Watson: If it left at all.
Gregson: So, you say they sent one of these things to your house?
Watson: We think that drone was used for reconnaissance.
Sherlock: They needed to kill Sutherland. He was going to tell us everything. But I don't think they'd be foolhardy enough to attack the police or their associates.
Gregson: You've got one of their drones at your house. That should be good for a warrant.
Sherlock: Well, we could bring it in for you to have a look at, but we couldn't find anything that would definitely tie it to McCarthy-Strauss.
Watson: We're pretty sure that McCarthy-Strauss stole Piller's computer to get their hands on that report he wrote. If we can find another copy, that would give us motive.
Gregson: What if there isn't another copy of that report?
Sherlock: Well, as it stands, we have little else in the way of evidence.
Gregson: Find me some.
Sherlock: The brain trust of McCarthy-Strauss. At least one of these men is responsible for three deaths. We have no way to link the company to the crimes, much less the individual or individuals involved.
Watson: You think that Piller confided in someone other than Dr. Sutherland?
Sherlock: What we need is Piller's report. Everything else is just hearsay.
Watson: You know, McCarthy-Strauss doesn't know that Piller only made one copy of that report. Who's to say we didn't find another one during our investigation?
Sherlock: You're proposing a bluff?
Watson: Yeah, well, the corporate offices are near Wall Street. Shouldn't be too difficult to arrange a face-to-face.
Watson: Excuse me. I'm sorry.
Kenneth Carlson: Where'd you get the report?
Watson: Excuse me. There's a woman lying unconscious on the bathroom floor. I tried to open the door, but the stall was locked. I'll call 911. Yes. Medical emergency. 43 Pearl St.
Carlson: I need to know you got it before we can have a conversation.
Sherlock: Piller saved several copies onto the cloud. We have consultants who can extract that kind of thing.
Carlson: Could you tell me the first sentence of the report, please?
Sherlock: Beg your pardon?
Carlson: I'd like to hear the first sentence.
Sherlock: If you wanted me to memorize a passage for you, then you should have had your mosquito pass a message along.
Carlson: So, show me your copy. Say something to convince me you got it, or we're done.
Sherlock: It's got a rather convincing drawing of a pony on the front cover.
Carlson: What the hell is your game? You know what? Never mind. I'm ending this.
Sherlock: That's your office calling, I'd imagine. Might want to get that.
Carlson (phone): Kenneth Carlson.
Watson (phone): "My name is Zach Piller. On September 22, 2009, I was involved in an authorized attack on CIA operatives in Afghanistan, resulting in ten deaths that were quickly covered up by my employer McCarthy-Strauss."
Carlson (phone): Who the hell is this? How'd you get in my office? Hello?
Sherlock: If you were thinking of running, I wouldn't bother. There are several police cars parked nearby.
Watson: I just got off the phone with Captain Gregson. Apparently, Kenneth Carlson's name was all over that report. He requisitioned the cash to pay off Dr. Sutherland. He was the prime mover behind the cover-up. So, between that and all the circumstantial evidence, Captain Gregson brought him in. He already made a deal and got a break from the DA. The report is going public. We should feel good. This is what Zach Piller would have wanted.
Sherlock: Hmm.
Watson: So, I'm going to go see your brother. Do you want to come? You can help explain what Le Milieu is. You have a better handle on it than I do.
Sherlock: Watson? I've not respected your privacy. I apologize for that. Please know, I value you for more than just the many benefits you've brought into my life. I value you as a person.
Watson: That's nice. It really is. But your apologies always seem to come after you already got what you wanted.
Marchef: Turnabout is fair play. You take my picture, I take yours.
Watson: No! No!