Sherlock & Co. - The Empty House - Part Three

Episode Date: May 12, 2026

TO KILL A GOLDFINCH - The Met had their priorities in order. We were sheltered. We were safe. They would capture Moran and in the meantime we would simply have to wait. Isolated. And alone.  Part 3 of 3 This episode contains swearing, violence, gore, blood, pain, sufferingListener discretion is advised. A new clothing store has opened: www.sherlockwear.comFor merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.uk For ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandco To get in touch via email: [e-mail] Follow me @DocJWatsonMD on twitter and BlueSky, or sherlockandcopod on TikTok, instagram and YouTube.  This podcast is property of Goalhanger Podcasts. Copyright 2026. SHERLOCK AND CO. Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Paul Waggott as Dr. John Watson Harry Attwell as Sherlock Holmes Marta da Silva as Mariana Ametxazurra Paul Bullion as Sebastian Moran John Brannoch as Wiggins Jemma Revell as Nadia Adam Jarrell as Stamford Jasmine Kerr as Lily Lestrade Ant McGinley as DI Tom Gregson Leigh McDonald as Carol Watson Allon Sylvain as Mr Sigerson  Written by Joel Emery Directed by Adam Jarrell Editing and Sound Design by Holy Smokes Audio Produced by Neil Fearn and Jon Gill Executive Producer Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Come join the Patreon. It's a huge community now with loads of extra cool stuff. Patreon.com forward slash Sherlock & Co. Previously on Sherlock and Co. Let us see now. No, don't touch it. Oh, for fuck. Ah.

Oh, my. That's... See? Struggling to ID him. Yes, that is rather bad, isn't it? What is it? A bullet, identical to the one taken from John's spine. Let me see.

Oh, wow. You think it's from Moran? Moran is operating a very bespoke rifle with improvised rounds like these. Take this to your team downstairs, Gregson. All right, you've got ten more minutes, tops. That's the bathroom. Yes. Blood seems to be under the doorframe here, too.

Our clue may be in here. Sherlock! Don't move! What are you doing? Get off the ground. Leave now. What is that? Sherlock, what are you holding?

It is a tripwire. I have to keep it at this tension. The bathroom door was rigged. Holy shit, holy shit. What are you doing? Do not touch it. We blow up together or not at all. Mariana, please.

Do I look like I'm going to abandon you? Do I... Come on. Make your observation. I have made... And you deduce what? We blow up together or not at all. Thank you. Do it.

Together or not at all? Together or not at all? Moran acted on a dare because he had to. The level of threat was urgent. Now he can return to his final target. Sherlock Holmes. You're under arrest. Sorry, what?

Tom, Tom. You're under arrest. I'm serious. For what? He's going behind bars, where he's safe. You can't do this. For 24 hours I can. Yeah. By which time, we can build a case to go after Moran.

Please, Gregson. Welcome to the final part of the empty house. I hope... Well, not that you've enjoyed it, obviously. But I hope you are all okay. And yeah, warnings are in the episode description. Best of luck, guys. How is it?

I don't like the pillows too much. No? Itchy? Polyester. Hmm. Where are you? Just a hotel. They won't let you return to Baker Street.

No, and I can't visit John either. We said we were away from his son. Yeah. I have visualized, almost fantasized so much these past few days about being there when he wakes up. Yes. And the whole time I'm there with him, I'm just willing him, willing and pleading. Wake up. Just wake up, John. Now, God, I can't believe I'm saying this, but... You wish him not to. Not now. Not like this, no.

But we are safe. And we will see him again. Yeah. You're right. He may not know where we are, Mariana. But we know where he is. He's in bed. He's comfortable. And that is a thought that should give us great comfort. Yeah.

I'm recording this, because I know what will happen. You'll come out of this coma, and he won't believe me that I visited you every single bloody day. But most days, yeah? And it's not because I've got an office here. I use from time to time, it's because I love you. You know, Wiggin' special coconut conditioner top of I think, mate, smells faded. Let's have a look at you.

Okay, John, from the future, come have a look at sleeping John from the past... What the fuck? over your head. Shit. The monitor is off. Can I get somebody in here now? Now, John. John, mate, please.

Please still be with us under there. Please. Jesus, John. Perfect. Perfect. Dirty dainty, perfect. Mr. Sigerson. What?

You want a sneaky beak at my ass. Is that it? I'm a sneaky peat. Perfect. No, no, no. Where's John? Yes. If I don't

I'm sure I think I'm I'll go to a house a time maybe

a time long, I know can't be? Yeah great yeah

yeah if don't you don't I'm sure I'm okay

a A Bess, adios. Sennorita Mechazzurra. Look at the mess you are in. Well, not the hotel. It's kind of nice, but... Oh, this... So, my little listening friends.

Um... I just spoke with my mom, and... I think... ...I'm going to book a flight. home for a bit if if John doesn't wake up in the next couple of days what use is it if he finally wakes up and we're in a coma right next to him or worse or worse I am at this moment in a travel lodge well to be more More accurate, I'm in a big fluffy white rope.

And I was going to have a glass of wine, but I'm not really that kind of girl. So, hot chocolate it is. Tears to you, guys. To John. To Sherlock in his cell. Our fates lie in the hands of the Metropolitan Police. Let's hope that... Shit.

I'm... Get in my pocket listeners. Who is it? Can you tell me who is there, please? It's okay. It's okay. Oh my God. It's not funny. I'm not laughing.

Yes, you are, Lily. No, I'm not, Sherlock. Where's your aunt? Does she wish to come mock me to? No, she wishes to be asleep. It's midnight. Is this a service you provide, is it? informing prisoners of the time.

You're not a prisoner. Then let me out. Nah. Then I am a prisoner. You are a person in police detention. So, under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act of 1984... Yes, yes, I know more than enough about the legal framework, thank you. So you're just sulking, basically.

Mm-hmm. We have quite enough, podcasters, Lily Lestrade. We certainly do not need another. Do you like it? Got it today. Same make as your one. No, I do not like it. And it is not my one. It is Johns. Cheer up. God. And why on earth would I do that?

Do you remember Durham House? I remember many things. All right, genius. Do you remember when I lived with those awful foster parents at Froxfield House? I do I wish I didn't I hated it used to pretend to Aunt Gwen all was hunky dory

but God nope definitely not I was so upset about school finishing and the summer holiday starting

and then the light through my window in the middle of the night you broke me out that night remember the laser pens Yes And then we camped out in Savanak Forest

You must have been tired the next day Ah, it was worth it Worth a night in the woods with my big cousin Yes I'm using the term big cousin loosely there listeners So then How much do you think he'll pay for it For a microphone

He already has to And is extremely cheap No, for the footage. The footage of what, exactly? Of me getting you out of here. Lily. Eh, Aunt Gwen won't know. Will she?

She won't. Just a couple of hours, that's all I need. Oh my God! Can I turn this off now? You broke out of prison and stole a microphone? Not a prison, a cell to hold a person in police detention. And I didn't steal it, I borrowed it. and I now borrow every second of this night. Something is wrong.

Is that British understatement? Or is there another thing to add to the pile of things? Come. It is late. It is dark. The rain continues to fall and something is not right. Like what exactly? I can usually explain my workings.

but this one is unexplainable, this perception undetectable, it moves inside me like a sensation of an itch, not on my person but in my world. I only know that now I reach, I reach out into the darkness to scratch, to remedy myself of this feeling, this prickle of nerves. Somewhere out in the black London night,

I know where to look only by feeling, feel and that feeling taxi sends me only to one place 221B baker's fleet oh god I really hope you know what you're doing course I do laugh

self circular than Albert Bridge Road in it oh no sorry I meant him oh can we get a move on please we have completed the difficult part which is what the deduction arriving at the conclusion of our thoughts and knowing his next move. This cognitive jump puts us ahead of him

for the first time since we first met our Napoleon bust. Hey, hey, what's that? Poor girl. A dead bird? The goldfinch of Camden House and her young. Look. Oh, no.

They have been evicted. For another makes his nest in the nooks of the empty house. So he's not going for the window? No. He seeks a single point, totally imperceptible. But his lethal compact rifle will peer as it did to Mr. Adair, right through the glass of our front window. Speaking of guns...

We cannot, I'm afraid. No? It is inside 221B. that is no longer safe. And you think the second we step in there... I wouldn't guarantee it, no. But I don't like the odds. Fair enough.

The element of surprise will stun him. He is huge, Sherlock. I can call someone like Hopkins, right? Another police unit to assist. He has evaded their capture thus far. Lily tells me their investigation is already slowed. I will disarm him, Mariana, and I will overpower him, not with my fighting skill alone, but with the spike of revenge thundering in my veins.

He'll have very little chance. He could be seven foot seven, eight foot seven. He cannot compete with what stimulates me. Come, this way. That's the opposite way. Ariana! That's the opposite way. Ariana!

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I have to turn back because I will, Mariana. Understand me. I have to head back there. I have to face down Moran. And if I have to do it without you, then I will. You are not doing it without me. Then turn around. and stop running away.

Oh, I'm not running away. Yes, you are. We must get into Camden House right now. Our baking must be silent, well considered. Any noise at all? Yes, I know that. Which is why. Oh, I came here first.

Oh, geez. Ah, I'm out of breath. Hudson. Hotsons. My old place of work. Baker Street branch. And you know what? They never took my keycard back.

You devious little genius. And don't you forget it. These are the agent's desks, but if you go back to the manager's office, they'll keep the keys for each property. Here. And it'll be... I'd say it would be right here. I agree.

That's a lot of keys. Yep. You try selling a house in London right now. Okay, what do we have here? 37 Wigmore, 19 Hammersmith, Seymour Place. Ah, 142 Baker Street. And 180 Baker Street. Ah, 242 Baker Street.

Slash Camden House. Well, goodness. What are you doing? Look. Old listing. Oh, wow. I... God, I remember putting that down there.

After I met you guys. God, it feels like a thousand years ago. Yes. These pictures. It looks so... Empty. Look at the walls. No holes in them.

Well, gunshot free. No Swindon Town fixture lists. Or podcast release schedules. And that's where Archie... bed is now by that wall. See how the old tenant had it? Yeah. It looks darker, colder. And these pictures? Yes. Not the place you guys have made it. Your flattery is misplaced. Yeah, okay, not the place that John has made it. Indeed, he brought the light. And I don't mean with his smart lamp. That old nail there on the wall.

That's where I used to hang my coat. And then he fitted that entire IKEA cabinet with coat hooks, rails with the area for shoes and the little keystand. Yeah, he dragged me over to Wemble to help him with that. The empty window seals. Now filled with plants and flowers and fan artwork. Oh, the rickety seating. now cushioned couches for nights watching television together or when we ruminate on a case

all three of us the best nights oh there's his room the home of his podcast the hours well days yes days spent crafting his life's work documenting you

documenting us I'm going to keep this You do that? I'm running out of time. Then let's do it. But this is not a viewing. Sorry, just have it. Get behind me, slowly.

You're totally sure about that. I am certain. Please don't do that. Down came our salvation, as if from the heavens. You won't hear us over the rainfall. It will cover our approach. What is calling me? We can't.

What if it's about John? We cannot, Mariana. It'll be by the nest, not the window. Yes, because Moran uses a loophole. A loophole? Uh, like... Yes, well, the word originates for medieval loopholes. Holes in castle walls.

Arches, marksen of sorts, would be set back and safe to fire through. A tiny gap in a solid defence. It... Must we do this now? I could explain the etymology more. more fully later. No, no, no, that's... He will be in the south-facing room

that faces our lounge. His rifle, his hawk-like glare fixed upon his firing port, waiting for our activity in Baker Street. His almost meditative focus on his attack would be disastrous for his defense.

Okay, one more floor. The raindrops are fading a moment. Come. He's not going to be in that room. He's up one more floor. I know. We wait until another downpour, predicted in six to seven minutes. Okay, just here, yeah? Right below him, right now.

What are you looking at? Is Moran in there? Or... No. Okay, then who do you see? I see myself. What? There I am, stood in our lounge,

staring out the window, just as I am now. What the... Oh my God. That's you. What is going on? Ah, shit. Stamford is calling again. Don't answer it.

I know what he wishes to say. Sherlock? I'm serious. What does this even mean? It means is at hand. A little closer. What are you talking about, Sherlock? The rain is falling harder.

We have to move from Moran right now. A little closer, dear Watson. John is in a hospital. And Sherlock Holmes is in 221B, and yet here you are talking with him. What are you talking about? Say goodbye to our waxy friend, Mariana. Are you serious? You put him up in the flat? No, I did not.

But someone has. John. And once Watson moves the figure that little bit closer to the window. Moran will have his shot. My effigy will take the bullet, and we will take Moran. Is John? Holy shit. It's moving.

That's it, John. Nudge him that much closer. He's got him holding the violin. Wait. Sherlock, do the smart lamp. On your phone, you can do it on your phone. Aha. The stupid smart lamp.

That's the spot. now for the light is set Ready? Ready? Up the stairs The hallway Oh shit It's okay

Nona great detective The game Is a fucked Ha ha ha ha Nana Hope you like my new That tooth looks a little loose Hope you are good for the tooth fairy

You. Oh, this is much better, in it. You see, I never liked the fucking stealth cure. You know, so detached, so cold. Yeah. But having you here scurrying across the floor like a little mousy. Mariana, are you all right? She don't look it?

She don't fucking look it, does she? Do I shoot ya? Do I mash your facing like I did Ronald's, eh? Or both. Your Dr Powell got off lightly, straight in the chest. Would you like to see him again, eh? Where do you think you're going? Hmm?

Heaven? Or hell? I cannot be sure Oh dear What about him then? Your deceased colleague He is a doctor after all So gotta be up there in the clouds

Ain't he? Hey? Come on then Where do you think he is? I don't think I know You think he's popped inside those pearly gates Do you?

No. The lot twist. Fuck me. Where do you think he is then? Right behind you? What do you mean? Are you all right, Mariana? I'm okay. You? Yes. And what about you, John? Um, they're confused. Oh yes? How so? Well, why does my hair smell of coconut?

It deflected off my sternum. Apparently, took some pace off it before it got stuck. Miss spinal cord, missed major nerves. No paralysis, just trauma and deconditioning. Well, most of the pain, obviously, came from when I woke up in hospital, and literally no one was there by my side. Please, I was there every day, every night. Well, clearly not, every night. But no one being there, that was my first clue.

That something was afoot. Indeed, the bullet next to my bed. That I got for you, by the way. Yes, thank you, mate. not any kind of round I recognised so I knew it was designed for something very specific small, easy to conceal

so he had a hit list I got out of there just before I got in I saw our lovely goldfinch on the pavement yes so did we every spring they take that hole in Camden House but something had forced them out

I got in Baker's saw your bloody wax figure on the stairs. Ah, yes, meant to clean that up. Took him upstairs. You are welcome, by the way. And that's when I spotted you across the street. And I know... I...

I know most of the time I have no idea how your mind works. But right then... In that exact moment, right when it mattered. Finally. Finally. I finally heard the little Sherlock voice in my head. You weren't just over there. Across the street, you were in here.

Cheers to you, Watson. No, cheers to you. No, no, cheers to you. To being back with Archie. How about cheers for discovering you had a roof terrace after two years of being here? Ow, that's hot, man. Are those sausages done yet? Nadia's getting really, uh, really hungry.

Really, really, really hungry. They need to go crispy and hard. Right, I've checked, and I don't know if it's legal to have a barbecue on this roof, so... No, come on, boo, boo! He said he don't know. That sounds like a loophole to me. God, mum's calling again, I bet she's lost. I bet she is.

John, can you get away from the edge, please? I'm not near the edge. Yes, you are. You're too close. Now, move back. Mom. Right, I know lots of youngsters are vegan these days, so I'm getting a Waitrose coleslaw. Mum, Coleslaw's not vegan. Isn't it?

Why are you in a Waitrose? How have you even found a Waitrose? Oh, I'll pick you up a Waitrose magazine. That's just a book of things I can't afford. Mum, great, she's hung up. Oh, wow. Nice rooftop. Oh, Lily, you made it. Hey, Lily.

Oh my God, John! Didn't you arrest me once? Uh, try twice. Wiggins, cheese, sirs. They're just burnt now, aren't they? It's not, it's chared. Smoky chared sausage. Uh, that's the same thing, isn't it?

Oh, shut off. Welcome home, John. There's no place like it. And welcome to your new roof terrace. Yeah, yeah, if only we had a half-decent estate agent that told us that. I literally told you on the phone, before I even got to do, do one be for the first time. I will go over my recordings.

Please do. Please don't. Well, whether you like it or not, listeners, I'm back. I thought I'd better do an outro or else Marianna will end up taking my job. So, thank you to everyone who emailed and messaged while I was under.

Sorry if it got a little dicey. back there but to be where I am now not in heaven I mean in my room after a day with my friends to know the love that's out there and in here in 221 B well it was worth the wound it was worth the wound the psychological trauma of dying alone in a tunnel I'm not so not so sure but what it did give me on never let go. Time for some recuperation in Greece of all places. So I'm sure we'll see you guys soon. Peace out. I don't know why I thought I'd be able to pull off peace out. Just pretend I said something cooler than that. Later's listeners. No, not that either. Bye-bye.