The Sign of Four - Part Three

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Previously on Sherlock Co.,

loppiared creature.

Half spaniel, half lurcher, I think.

Toby!

Hello, Doby.

Oh, oh.

Ah, he's a specialist, search dog, Retired.

Hey, Mary.

Are you familiar with this diamond?

Are you working for him?

Did he hire you or something?

Mary, did who hire us?

Sholto.

Sholto.

Do you still have the diamonds?

I sold some at first, but

they just kept coming.

And I...

I contacted an expert, diamond expert.

Hello, good to meet you all.

Hello, Jonathan Small.

From what we gather, we understand that Sholto seized the Morstans of some importance.

I believe it is a fragment of God's heart, yet.

But this is what I don't get.

Why is it fragmented?

And why is Sholto sending them to me, too?

Do we think he killed the boy?

I have to say that's what popped up in my mind.

Then why is there a missing boy and why did he possess an exceptionally rare diamond?

I don't know.

And why did the boy have a picture of the descendant of Captain Arthur Morstan, who lived and worked in the homeland of that very diamond?

Don't know.

And why did the Sholto individual harass Mary upon her father's death at the funeral and express a wish to steal her away to the family?

Don't know, Sherlock.

Okay,

would you like to know?

Okay.

We are in the storage unit of the late Captain Morstan.

There we go.

What?

What is it?

What's inside?

A note.

What does it say?

The sign of four.

Morning.

What the hell happened to you, Tom?

Dutch, you alright?

Uh, yeah, I just walked in.

We're cracking the case.

That's what happened to us.

Well, Inspector Forrester told me you were performing lewd sex acts in West London.

I was not performing lewd sex acts in West London, and can people stop telling me I was?

Hmm.

What were you doing then?

We infiltrated an old storage unit owned by Captain Morstan.

Oh, but my pajamas ripped at the back.

Look.

Jesus, John.

What?

It's the morning.

So?

It's just my bum cheeks.

I

what

was in the storage unit?

Well, so it's out.

Would you just sit your bare ass down on my couch?

He pees a lot, doesn't he?

Yeah, I suppose he does.

I think that's a boy dog thing, though, isn't it?

Mark your territory sort of thing.

He's got his work cut out in central London.

Oh, God, yeah.

It's very difficult these days for a young dog to get on the territory ladder in London.

Yes, I just...

Sorry, you go.

No, no, no, no.

Honestly, you.

You.

Go speak words.

Okay, speaking words.

Yeah, I just wanted to say...

Because I didn't say it before.

I mean, I text it, but I didn't say it.

Sorry.

about not turning up at the criterion back then.

Oh, come on now.

I'm serious.

It's not like you could have planned it.

There was an emergency.

No, I know.

I just.

Yeah, but

I just

feel bad.

I feel.

I don't know.

Yeah, no, I.

I understand.

I was at a funny chapter in my life.

I don't really think I knew it at the time, but.

Yeah, I was just looking for something, anything.

Past tense.

yeah past tense so you found it

I

did find it.

Yeah, what's it like

It's good

Yeah, yeah, it's it's good.

It doesn't do laundry and it plays the violin all night, but

But yeah, seriously though, it's

I finally feel

like you.

I feel like me, yeah.

God.

Ten cc's of that, please, doctor.

Yeah, yeah, it it

it'll come.

Of course it will.

You're uh

you know you're seeking it out, so then it comes along by accident.

Or in my case, on a treadmill covered in blood.

Would that make sense if I listened to the show?

That would make sense if you had listened to the show.

Yes.

Must get around to doing that.

Yeah, yeah.

Hey, Archie boy!

I just want to stop wanting

so much.

You know.

Yeah.

Just keep doing stupid, stupid stupid stuff because I'm just...

I'm in a rut and I'm just trying to claw my way out, grabbing at anything.

Jobs, ideas, side hustles, men, women.

Jeez, honestly.

And then it...

It doesn't work or my stupid 21st century brain just gets bored of it and throws it in the bin and moves on to something else and just

ugh.

This is like

the opposite.

of me as well.

That's what really sucks and it's the opposite of him too, to be honest.

Who, your dad?

Yeah.

I thought you guys moved around a lot when you were younger.

I mean, he did.

But all in the name of work.

I used to be like that

routine.

Army routine.

Oof, yeah, very hard to replicate.

Really bloody hard.

I threw myself into a brief tattoo phase, too.

Look.

Oh, wolves.

Lots of wolves.

I like a wolf.

I do like a wolf.

I think when you messaged, I sort sort of

I guess I felt a lot of stuff.

Oh, steady.

Oh, steady now, Mary.

Yeah, no,

I think I thought

that I was going to talk about

painful stuff for your podcast.

Of course, of course, because you thought I was going to do the interview for veterans.

Right, exactly.

Well, this was before you turned into Miss Marple.

Mr.

Marple, even.

Dr.

Marple.

Yeah.

And anyway,

I think I got excited because I saw the message and I was like, oh, okay.

This will fix me.

And now I'm just...

This whole India stuff has taken over and

I don't know.

I'm back to feeling so small again.

I mean, we can completely talk about it if you want.

It's not often you get a guy that's been blown up to listen to your war story.

Well, hardly a war story.

Oh, come off it.

No, I'm serious.

Mary, why are you minimizing it?

Because it

wasn't a battle, was it?

It wasn't big explosions and cursing or whatever.

No, it wasn't.

It was work.

Come on.

Oh, man.

Okay.

Okay.

But if I turn into some blubbering mess and people start to stare, this is your fault.

I'll take my chances.

It.

Uh.

Well, yeah.

Uh, so.

So, total new B-nurse, sent out to Afghanistan.

In the deep end.

Yep.

And four hours in a convoy, stopped for the night in Bahran, then another four hours the next day, and we'll be in Canada.

Yeah, and packed my stuff, jumped in the truck with Sergeant Bancroft, Private Aziz, Private Harrison, and a few others who I didn't really know.

But I got to know them on the journey, as you would, right?

I mean, four hours per stint.

Yeah, came into Bakeran.

We're looking for what we've been told is a compound that already has some military presence already.

And I'm looking at the truck in front bouncing into these,

I guess you'd call them potholes.

And just as he's turning to head back down towards the town, his tyre sinks into this hole.

And immediately I just see this whoosh.

Like this.

You know what it was like?

It was like a champagne cork.

Or...

Or like a geyser.

Like, whoosh.

I swear to God, the front end of that truck ahead of us just takes off flips into the air and I just see this tower of flames just shooting up out of the ground

Yep

And then it was like

snap I just remember

starting to finally feel the cold I

The heat had gone and I had woken up no longer in the truck but in total darkness

Cave.

I

was in a cave.

Yeah.

And

I would be in that cave for another five and a half days.

You okay?

Yeah.

I wasn't alone.

I was with Sidon Bancroft.

She was great.

She was like action woman, you know?

Slap us around and kick us, starve us, take our clothes off us, and she realized like after day two you can absolutely kick and punch back to these dickheads.

You can really get a get a good few hits into

and she did.

She did.

She she fought them

every day I guess.

Yeah.

There was something about the way they treated her because I guess the way she looked.

Short hair, well-built, tattoos, ripped, right?

The way they treated her versus the way they treated me.

So cruel to her.

So evil.

They kept saying they were waiting for Abdullah to meet me.

Abdullah Khan.

I don't know what they thought he was, some warlord or whatever.

Maybe he wanted to parade us around as some trophy.

Then,

lo and behold,

woke up one night, or morning really, it must have been 4 a.m.

or something.

There's a firefight going on outside and I can hear some bullets pinging around the cave walls.

I can hear flashbangs going off and thank the Lord, I can hear Americans shouting.

All the while, more bullets and shrapnel shooting around the cave as they eat closer and louder.

And eventually, after all this noise, all this mess,

it goes quiet.

I whisper out to Bancroft, and as I say her name and reach out to her, I can just see the early light of dawn bounce off her eyes.

And I smiled.

I remember smiling.

I could feel my lips crack because it had been so long since they'd made that shape.

They'd been almost set in stone.

And

yeah, she

didn't smile back

and she didn't blink.

She just

felt for her pulse and I caught a little flutter

of something there.

Very weak.

And I quickly just

kissed her.

It just felt like the right thing to do.

I kissed her.

Held her hand.

And stroked it for a bit.

And

yeah.

And then

she

died.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

How many staring right now?

Uh, about 200 people staring at the moment, but that'll get bored soon.

Shut up.

I'm just going to blow my nose because.

Yeah, sure.

Sad not.

Sad's not coming through.

Don't feel helpless.

Okay.

What do you mean?

Sometimes people go and they shouldn't, and you might feel that it should have been you, but it's

just a natural rummaging around that your brain is doing just to try and make sense of it.

You don't have to do that.

I don't.

No.

Oh, great.

I wish you could tell my brain that.

Well, Mary's brain, if you're listening.

It isn't.

You leave Mary alone.

She's brave.

She's driven and powerful.

And she was just...

Wrong place and wrong time.

Thanks, John.

Okay, pleasure.

What were you gonna say?

Oh.

That, um,

that feels like ages ago.

Uh, yeah, I...

I think I was just gonna...

Oh, it was just boring case stuff.

What was it?

No, it it it doesn't matter.

Okay.

It actually does matter now, I've realised it.

Okay.

Right, yeah.

So, um, the note, the sign of four note that we found in your dad's lock up?

Sure.

I have it just

here.

I I j I just wanted to double check.

That's not your dad's handwriting, is it?

No, it's not.

Right.

And that was in his storage.

Yeah, it was in a lockbox.

Oh, yeah.

I I couldn't get it open and it felt empty, so I I left it.

Well it was empty but for the d whoa hey, hello Toby.

God you are eager to know.

Hey, who's this?

This ugly bastard is Toby.

Hey, oh, he likes you.

Actually, he seems to be into this note.

Hey, hey, down, Toby.

Down, mate.

Toby.

Jesus Christ.

Toby, down, Toby.

It's alright, don't worry.

Toby, here.

It's not drugs, I promise.

Better know he what he wants this.

He wants everything.

Sorry, guys.

Oh, no worries.

Bye.

No worries.

Bye.

Bye, as you were.

Hold on.

Phone call.

Christ.

We'll get around to that therapy any minute.

Yeah, sure.

I just want to.

Hold, please.

Sup, dude.

Yes.

Hello.

I've confirmed that it cannot be Captain Morstan's handwriting.

You can stop hanging around with Mary now.

Ah, yeah, no, I just confirmed that with her.

Understood.

So it's likely that it's not a note, but a message.

A message from the Sign of Four.

Indeed.

I may wish to take another look at it, to examine that handwriting a little closer.

Maybe see if I can unearth a sample of Shoaltomes.

Perhaps Jonathan Small can be of assistance in this area.

Well, you're lucky I still have it, to be be honest.

Your amazing creature nearly swallowed it.

What are you talking about?

Toby.

Just came over frantically sniffing it in Regent's Park, and now I look like I'm using it to snort coke.

He sniffed it frantically?

Yeah.

Call Stamford, get us a lab, and meet me at St.

Bart's.

Um, sorry, Mary, I've I've got to, um

I've uh what are you doing later?

Oh, uh I was probably gonna pop on the Discord briefly, chat to some listeners, or Or head out to the criterion.

Wow.

I mean, this is the most confident I've ever been, so feel free to shoot me down and destroy that, no worries.

Yeah, no.

I'm...

No, I'm not going to shoot you down.

You're bottom of the FPL, by the way.

No, I'm not.

You are?

Pete is.

No, he doesn't count.

Why not?

Because he's married with three kids.

So?

So he's tuned out, ain't he?

He's way too busy to to know what's going on with football.

Yeah, that's why he's bottom.

I'm not bottom.

Yeah, you are, mate.

Alright, where are you then?

On top, obviously.

Why is a highly regarded surgeon top of a fantasy football league?

You should be busy saving lives.

I don't save lives, do I, John?

I save egos, let's be honest.

If we could just turn the volume down a touch.

Yep, sure.

Yep.

How's Nadia?

Yeah, she's good.

Yeah.

Going strong?

Good for you.

Thanks, mate.

Gonna meet her parents next week, so.

Wow.

Yep.

Could we please...

Alright, sorry, remember what we're looking at again.

A note from John's girlfriend.

She's not my girlfriend.

It is a note connected to John's girlfriend, but we don't know who from.

She's not my girlfriend.

But we would very much like to discover who it is from, but also why our friend Toby was so interested in it.

Who's Toby?

Hairy fellow from the park.

I thought you were doing CCEA on it.

I already have.

Alright.

Just awaiting results.

In the meantime, I'm doing some paper chromatography that is proving rather illuminating.

How so?

Well, I can see benzyl alcohol and dye from the Biro ink, of course.

Mm-hmm.

Then a smattering of other results.

I'd say some calcium, some sodium, potassium, then some metabolites.

So that would be some sweat on the page.

From Arthur Morstan?

From the author of the note, I'd say.

The sweat is pushed down, almost forming a grease print in a crescent shape to the right of the writing, so a right-handed person.

Arthur Morstan was left-handed.

And I'd say that, along with the handwriting analysis, gives us reason to believe he didn't write the note.

I can also tell you our author is possibly in a great deal of pain.

Why?

Our sweat expels a number of things from our bodies, the minerals I mentioned, potassium, sodium, and so on, but also metabolites, urea, ammonia, and the like.

It does, however, also deal with the unmetabolized, particularly in the form of prescription drugs.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

What have you got?

Codeine.

Nice.

Good spot.

Maybe that's why Toby was all over it.

It's an opioid, right?

I've checked.

No service dogs are trained to sniff codeine unless case-dependent, and he never worked on any.

He was sniffing for something else.

So, basically, narcotics, explosives, harmful substances?

Correct.

Well, here we go.

Send an envelope and everything right.

Who wants to guess?

Stamo.

Come on, Johnny.

Fun.

Right.

What do we think was on the note?

This isn't a bill in a restaurant.

We're not guessing.

Bacillus anthracis.

Right.

He's gone with whatever that is.

What about you?

Fine, if he's playing.

Uh, I'm gonna go cocaine.

Okey-doky.

We asked which chemical has been found on the note.

You said cocaine.

Our survey said,

Oh, what?

Uh, Mr.

Sherlock Holmes, you said, uh, what was it again?

Bacillus anthracis.

Our survey said, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, top answer.

Really?

Yeah, bang on, mate.

There it is.

Look, you've won a Ford escort.

Congrats.

I've done what?

Don't worry about it.

It's your lab results.

Good God.

Oh, well done, mate.

Good work.

Absolutely nailed it, Sherlock.

What what is it?

Bacchulus, what's it?

Anthrax.

Jesus Christ.

What are you bringing in here?

Shall we evacuate?

Do we need to evacuate the building?

Never mind the building, I'm halfway to evacuating my arse.

Those spores have long expired.

Captain Morstan did the right thing by storing them away in that box and then in a locked container for ten years.

Oh, God.

Okay.

So.

So somebody poisoned him?

Yes.

That's mad.

Poor bloke.

And what does.

What does the four mean?

The The sign of four.

We don't know.

It feels to me like we're dealing with a group.

A group that felt the need to eliminate Captain Morstan ten years ago.

And I dare say it ties into the God's Heart Diamond and its kindred stones.

No, no, no, the four marks on the lockbox.

Hey, what?

The four marks.

Of course.

It's not a scratch.

It's a mark.

One, two,

three,

four.

It's their symbol.

The sign of four.

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This next one's for all you CarMax shoppers who just want to buy a car your way.

Wanna check some cars out in person?

Uh-huh.

Wanna look some more from your house?

Okay.

Want to pretend you know about engines?

Nah, I'll just chat with CarMax online instead.

Wanna get pre-qualified from your couch?

Woo!

Wanna get that car?

Hey, SAP!

You wanna do it your way.

Wanna drive?

CarMax.

Sorry, apologies.

Looks like Piccadilly Circus around here.

Yeah.

Hi, listeners.

Hello.

Just got a big pang of something.

Pang of the old...

old crisis, the old menti health.

Just um

dunno.

It's it's 7.04pm and I am stood outside the criterion.

That's why that Piccadilly Circus joke was funny, because it's yeah, um Christ, yeah, got a bit of the bit of the jitters or something.

I don't know, I don't think it's Mary, it's uh

door to a world I don't want to open.

Um nothing against the criterion.

I hear it's very nice.

But um

yeah, no,

I wasn't in a great place when I was here before.

I'm

I I I don't think Mary is in a great place right now, and I feel

uh I d I don't know.

Um oh no, poor John, a sexy lady who's easy to talk to and fun to hang out with, who wants his attention.

Oh no, it's not that straightforward.

Okay?

Because I I'm

not

I can't be her crutch because I I mean I've got two crutches myself.

You know, one called Sherlock Holmes holmes and the other called mariana

something it's um oh okay it's just a casual get-together john you know john boy just we chat over a drink little drinky poo never hurt anyone yeah it definitely did but you know okay right um

going in going on a date i think um

here we go

Well, we are back, listeners.

We're back where we first met.

Haven't we come a long way?

Oh, god, she's got the table.

I was at lovely.

Okay, let's do this.

You're going in the front right pocket of my coat.

Well, I say coat, it's more of a jacket.

Is it a jacket?

You know what?

I'd say it's a shacket, sort of a shirt jacket sort of thing.

Right, you're going in.

Um, bye.

Good luck.

Sorry.

I don't know why I'm sorry, but um, bye.

Oh, have you been waiting long?

No, like five minutes.

Phone scrolling time.

Well, now you know how it feels.

Bye.

Joking.

Joking.

Okay,

so I listened to episode one.

Oh.

And you want to know what I learned?

Sure.

That you would want this.

A bottle of the pills now.

There you go.

Well, thanking you.

So, what did you think of

episode one?

Loved it.

Really, really cool, John.

Bravo.

Cheers.

Cheers.

It's funny, because it made me feel...

I don't know, it's weird.

I know I haven't heard it before, but it felt like revisiting something.

Yeah, I know.

That's why I don't listen to it.

You weren't happy?

Nope.

But you're like a Mariana, eh?

And Archie.

And Archie, of course.

The team?

A great team.

Oh,

the best.

So do you take the mic everywhere with you then?

It's on you now, isn't it?

It's what?

Sorry?

Hey, look.

Oh my god, you can't even keep a straight face.

It doesn't mean it's going to be cut together and uploaded.

You just keep it on in case something happens.

Exactly.

Like a whole Superman getting changed in the phone box type thing.

You couldn't even say that without laughing.

Yeah, no, I couldn't.

I could be super.

Told, yeah.

That is a good local kebab shop.

Incredible, right?

The sheer size of it.

Huge.

Huge.

So huge, I'm now glad you tricked me into getting the tube up here.

Up here?

Yeah, alright, Mr.

Central London.

Yeah.

Yeah, I did sound like a wanky Londoner then, didn't I?

So it's funny how the place rubs off on you.

Yeah, weird, eh?

What do you think you'll do?

As in, keep living in London?

Yeah.

I don't know.

Got some strong urgings, some feelings pulling me back home.

Home being

home being New Zealand.

We all live upside down with our sheep friends.

Of course.

So, yeah, constantly being pulled back home.

But then something here always

crops up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Nearly tripped on the bike stand, didn't I?

You did, that's true, but you really style it out.

Yeah, I thought I did too.

Got distracted.

Yeah.

Me too for a second there.

Uh, this is my house.

Ah, okay.

Well, I say my house.

Belongs to a landlord that charges me a grand a month to live in a bedroom, but apart from that, it's mine.

Very nice.

Well, Mary, we...

we finally did it.

Finally.

I'm really sorry it took this long, John.

No, hey, it was.

It was worth the wait.

It was.

So, yeah, I'll uh.

I'll give you a call or.

Sure.

Um, thank you for

That's okay.

Thank you.

For what?

For being

so.

What?

You okay?

Uh.

Sorry,

I mean, I didn't technically kiss you.

I was just positioning because I didn't know what to do.

No, no, it's not that.

It's not.

Pretend it didn't happen.

Quick, just

what?

There, on.

There's a letter from him.

Oh my god.

So, basically, you were making out with her.

And that's not what I said.

You were making sexual advances on a client.

Mm-hmm.

Continue.

Sherlock.

Good point, Sherlock.

Would you just.

Archie, don't look at me like that.

Can we get to the actual serious thing here?

Sholto is back.

He's corresponding again.

So we have more diamonds?

No.

What do we have then?

He sent her an airline ticket to India.

Oh.

The Sri Gururam Dasji International Airport in Amritsar.

You memorized that?

Yes.

Very impressive.

Thanks.

Why did you memorize it?

Because I think it's important that you both know where I'm going.

What?

She can't go by herself.

Well, then she shouldn't go, John.

It's a case.

So?

So, if somebody doesn't go and track down this Sholto guy and figure out what is going on.

So now there's a pretty girl around, you run towards murderers, is that right?

We don't know he's a murderer.

Oh, sorry.

I meant suspected murderer, who's also a creepy stalker that harasses women at funerals of their parents.

All reasons why I'm going with her.

You are not going by yourself.

I'll be with Mary.

No, I'm going with you.

Mary, I'm going to protect Mary.

Yeah, yeah, and I'm going to protect you.

Then, I'm going to protect Marianne.

I don't need to.

Hey.

What?

You said my name.

No, I didn't.

Yes, you did.

Did not?

You did?

Yes.

Well, it just sort of came out.

He said my name, John.

He did it.

He finally did it.

Let me go back to teasing Watson, please.

He loves me.

I finally broke him down.

Did it, Archie?

Called her Mariana.

Who wants Wiggins to come stay?

Who's going to be a good boy to Wiggins?

Yes, you are.

Yes, you are.

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