Sherlock & Co. - The Engineers Thumb - Part Two

Episode Date: June 30, 2026

THE NIGHT THAT NEVER WAS - I managed to get Vicky to tell her tale. It felt like a tale, full of demons and dread. But she had the evidence to prove that it was all true. With her broken memory and a few clues - I tried my best to do what I could. Yeah, warning - this episode contains very little Sherlock Holmes.Part 2 of 3This episode contains swearing, gore, references to abuse both psychological and domesticListener discretion is advised.A new clothing store has opened: www.sherlockwear.comFor merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.ukFor ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandcoTo get in touch via email: [e-mail] 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 DoylePaul Waggott as Dr. John WatsonHarry Attwell as Sherlock HolmesShin-Fei Chen as VickyJack Ayres as Lysander StarkWritten by Joel EmeryDirected by Adam JarrellEditing and Sound Design by Holy Smokes AudioProduced by Neil Fearn and Jon GillExecutive Producer Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Audio books, ad-free early access adventures, mailbag episodes, case-fire episodes, AMAs, behind-the-scenes, micro-adventures, authored by Watson himself, a Discord channel with nearly 2,000 chatter little members, merchandise discounts, exclusive events, and, yes, done. Yeah, it's the most important bit, mate. Oh, Patreon.com forward slash Sherlock and Co. Thanks. Previously on Sherlock and Co.

I just did the, um, cliche thing of bolting up right in bed, sweating, having the worst dreams right now. Nightmares, really. Brain is just a total hell factory right now. What is... Yeah, what's with the Sherlock and Co theme whistle?

A signal test, call and response. Come, we may as well suffer together. Oh, wow, I mean, hello. Hi, I'm in London for a little while, and I saw on your post that you wanted to know if anyone had any problems they needed solving. Ah, right. And I do actually have, I don't know, what could be a case? Sorry, we, it was posted, because...

Look, I thought it was a nightmare. I have always had... Had them. My whole life, I think. When I studied here, in London. It was this time of year. I was sleeping in my student accommodation, and there's this tunnel, and these screams.

This headless woman. This terrifying clown comes towards me, and he bice down on my thumb, and... And then you wake up. And then I wake up. We're a detective agency, so I don't think we would have been much help in the... the nightmare analysis field.

Hey, I'm going to go and walk my dog. If you, I don't know, if you fancy, maybe. When I woke up, it, it was gone. Sorry, sorry, what was gone? It was gone. The nightmare was gone. No. This.

Oh, my God. My thumb. Severed. Gone. Welcome to... No, mine's gone blank. Oh, engineer's thumb. Welcome to part something.

Part two of the engineer's thumb. It contains stuff. It's got stuff in it. So if you like stuff, you'll love this episode. It also contains John Watson, trying to talk to a beautiful woman for a prolonged period of time. That's not easy to listen to. Me, least of all. So there's your warning for that. Otherwise, it's just swearing and depictions of nightmarish horrors. That's all.

I like this window, see. Especially this time of day. The evening sun. It's beautiful. Oh. Never heard someone describe the volunteer as beautiful. Just that gold glow coming through the trees of the park. Regents, right? Regents Park, yeah. Yeah. This is Barman Matt's best suggestion for a cabin. Renee, by the way. Oh, thanks. And thank you to Matt.

I will pass on your gratitude. Cheers. Cheers. Vicky. Vicky? Oh, that's me. Yeah. Yeah.

So, first and foremost, this is not a time session. I'm not a therapist. We don't have appointments and bloody booked slots or anything like that. You tell me your story when you're good and ready. In your time, on your terms, okay? If you worried you wasted my time with Smalltalk, you are so wrong. Right, Arch? Yeah, you are with the King of Smalltalk, okay?

Okay, thank you. No problem. But it has been a long time. And I think I'm finally ready to tell the story of Vicky and her son. The best way to put this, my name is Sun Feng Xin. Okay. Well, nice to meet you, Sun Fang Xin. My name is also Magda.

Okay, Magda. And it's Vicky. Vicky? Yes. I am from Nanjing, China, South China. Nice place? Beautiful. Hot, very hot.

Ah, right. Can I just, um... What? You have an eyelash? Oh. You don't mind if I... Of course. You're the only one of us that can see it.

Except Archie, maybe. I'll just... There. Yeah. Well, go on then. What? You want me to eat it? No.

Why are you holding it out? It's a wish. What? You guys don't do that? No. Okay. So, um, if you get an eyelash, you put it on the end of your finger. Okay.

Got it? Yeah. Close your eyes. Mm-hmm. Make a wish. What's next? Blow it away. That's done?

Yep. Well, the only thing is you can't tell anybody what the wish is. Ah. So there's a catch. Oh, always a catch. Always a catch. No such thing as a free wish. Ha.

I never knew that. Even from studying here. The eyelash thing. Well, there you go. Your studies continue. So, you left Nanjing, clearly. Right. So, my parents were complicated.

My mother's so timid, so underneath my father in so many ways. He told me and her what to do, how to be, and he learned that from others, other seniors. when I started to notice that dynamic is when I started to think about the other worlds. And I knew that to enter another world, I had to be another person. Sun Fangxing was for Nanjing, but I could be someone else away from there. I found school easy. I found learning easy.

But I didn't find friends easy. and I thought a new person could do that. And I could be that new person in a new place, somewhere like London. Go on, Arch, go on. So I chose to be Vicky. She was me, but more confident, more laid back. She took more risks and had deeper conversations, and asked more questions and stayed up later.

But I think a part of me, even when I was being Vicky, the Chinese girls studying in London, I knew it wasn't real life. I would be going to class on the tube and everybody would be going to work, right? They weren't having movie nights and parties and book clubs. University is a dream. Another dream.

Another dream. And at one point, whether you want to or not... You wake up? Exactly. You wake up in the real world. And I think that's why he had such an effect on me. Who? Lysander.

Lysander? Who's he? He was my boyfriend. I'm going to put a little star on that. Asterisk? Yeah. Right. He had these crazy blue eyes.

Yeah? I was studying mechanical engineering. Basically everyone I knew was doing the same. And I met him at a party. What did he do? Everything. Everything. Yeah, he would like, one day he'd be a courier, then he'd be doing construction.

He just, he knew so many different people too, and I swear the cash he had. A lot? so much. He... We would be on a date. He'd get a message. He could go and do some removals job or whatever for 150 pounds. And I'd be like, sure. And he'd come in later that night and our date would carry on. But it'd be like 2 a.m. now, right? Sounds like a real go-getter. And not something that me and my friends really excelled at in the uni days. Speaking about you there, Stamo.

I used to share this. all these thoughts with him that I needed to wake up into reality and he said he get me some work all of it I realized at this point came through his dad and his uncles okay and he had told them that I was a mechanical engineer so they had some businesses where I could go and do some work for them first when I do plant hire business so so heavy machinery exactly I said to Lysander, I'm not qualified, I can't do this, and he just says, he points to this telehandler and says, if you can get that arm to move again, because it hasn't for two years, then you absolutely can do this.

And did you? In like 30 minutes. Good for you. Well, good for them, because they charge like 300 pounds a day to hire those things. So it was jobs like this, and I really liked it, really liked it. Then it all changed. And I just have no idea how. No idea.

You okay? Yeah, I just... I have to close my eyes and really think. Yeah, uh, course. I remember in my dorm, he knocked. He said there was a job. Okay. And then I walk down the hallway with him to leave the campus.

And the lights cut out. He disappears. And I hear these screams. Screams and I see the eyes of demons glowing ahead of me. beside me and settling I am alone and there are these skeletons everywhere

Jesus and a woman the body of a woman a bride I think and she has no head I turn and I run as fast as I can but something has hold of me

I turn around and this clown with sharp silver fangs has a hold of me he is there are flames coming from his skin through his clothes and he's screaming at me

screaming and screaming Vicky Vicky and I reach out to him and his teeth clamped down onto my thumb and it hurts so bad I cry out and I can't

get any noise or air out of my mouth and he has my thumb in his mouth and he's panting and I can feel his hot breath and there's smoke, and he just rips it off my hand and swallows it, and... I woke up. I woke up in my, in my bed. And the first thing I do, it's the first thing, John.

Mm-hmm. I check it, and it's not there. Gone. Gone. And it had to have been stitched, yeah? Yeah. Yeah. Stitched.

but gone. I'm so sorry, Vicky. I go to call Wysander, but his number. In my phone is gone, so I can't get hold of him. I didn't know his friends. He didn't know mine. I eventually went to where I had fixed those. the trucks and telehandler thing.

Yeah, and I, by total look, I can see him in the office window, like this little outbuilding. He's drinking a coffee and he's laughing with one of his cousins or uncle or something. I knock on the window and he looks at me and the look from these frozen, blue eyes he had just stabs me like an icicle in the gut.

He has no idea who I am. What? He eventually comes out and he wants to, um, he wants to call some nurses or, like I think he said his sister or something. She's a mental health nurse and I'm saying to him, what the fuck are you talking about? It's me. It's Vicky. And he says, I don't know who you are, Vicky.

I said Imperial. And he's like, what is that? What's imperial? And I just, I felt like I couldn't breathe. I just, I wanted to be home. I couldn't believe I would ever think it,

but I didn't want to be Vicky anymore. I wanted to be sung. Sung Feng Xin. So I, I just, I went home a year ago. I got a job in Germany, and I became Magda. I worked in a couple places, but right now I have a project here, in London.

But it does not feel good being back here. Of course. I mean, this does. Thanks. And I'm sorry for talking so much to you, to the listeners. But I wanted to just bring this to you today. Because of something. Something in the nightmare.

The skeletons, the bride, the clown on fire. Yeah. I had it last night at my hotel. But last night, for the first time, It... It wasn't a clown. No? It was him.

It was Lysander. And it wasn't silver fangs. It was... A blade. Right. Well... We better go find him. I have jumped on a train to West London.

Feltham, to be exact. which is where Vicky tells me is the plant hire that is ran by Lysander. Well, the Starks. Not the moody Game of Thrones lot, sadly. Lysander Stark's family. Very, very big family from the sounds of it. To their plant hire, which is not somewhere where you rent a cactus or something. It actually refers to heavy machinery.

So, yeah. And my plan is, well, I don't know what my plan is, to research, get more info, and, um... Oh, I think I'm here. Well, then, listeners, we are currently going undercover. Good luck to you. But I think I'll be needing the lion's share of the luck, so don't get greedy, understandably. Vicky has to, A, work, and B, be anywhere but here. which is a fair response to, well, trauma, isn't it?

I can see the various agricultural and construction vehicles that she would have fixed. I don't see any people around. Hello! This seems to fit the description of the window where she saw Lysander and he looked right through her. Basically a static office. Round back! Oh, here we go.

Hello. All right. Yeah, good, good, no, good stuff. Yeah, I'm looking to hire... Oh, I see one. Digger? Yeah. Cool, lovely.

What's it for? It's for garden, renovation, landscaping. Of course, yeah. Uh, come check this one out then. Sure, sure. Sorry, what's your name, mate? Lysander. Right.

John. Good to meet you. If you want to hop in here, into the cab. Uh, sure. Yeah. Uh-huh. So, this is our smallest model. Very typical hire in London, to be honest.

Yep. We very rarely get, like, big jobs, always terraced gardens and that sort of thing. What we'd do is drop it off where and when you need it. Sure. You would give us a deposit and first payment before, and she's all yours. For the length of time you booked out. You get to work, I don't know, shifting dirt, I expect. Yeah, uh-huh.

And then when you're all done, give it back to us. Jobs are good. Great, that's, that sounds, yeah, I mean, that sounds ideal. And do you manage to hire out a lot of these? Oh, yeah. Nice, nice, busy, busy work? Keeps us busy, yeah. Do you run the business?

Yeah, kind of. My dad owned it and now my uncle's running it. Well, I suppose I end up running it a lot these days. Right, cool. Your dad, sold it? Nah, he's... He's just... Not around anymore.

Oh, okay. Oh, apologies. Nah, don't worry, John Boy. What do you do, then? I... I'm a doctor. Oh, wow. Yeah. Handy person to know then

As are you from the sounds of it Do you want to pop into the office and we'll Piss about with some paperwork? Go on then If we must If we must, exactly But it's crazy Because they own a bunch of, you know, different businesses

Yeah, yeah And I've become a jack of all trades Master of Absolutely nothing They've had me literally at construction sites They've had me doing deliveries And car sales, trade shows car boots sales, fairgrounds, storage facilities, I've parked cars for them, I've cleared out houses after some old biddy has died and they've quickly bought the place. Wow.

Yes, it's relentless mate, honestly. They're a whole machine. This is the uncle, cousins and co. Yeah, there's six of them so you can see how they've spread out into all these different worlds. Oh, that is a lot of boys under one road. God, yeah. And you've got a lot of competition, siblings and cousins. Yep. That's why I'm stuck in a static caravan, hiring out diggers to doctors.

What's the trick to your job, then? Huh? Told you mine? What's the knack you need for yours? Oh, I'd say, um, observation. Deduction. In what sense? Well, put it this way. A colleague of mine, recently was able to decipher that petrolatum, a petroleum jelly, was significant when it came to a patient's needs.

Right. And I mean, not to make you uncomfortable. Not possible. Well, I can observe that you can do the same treatment. Not for psoriasis, like his case, but for these, for the burns. Yeah. On your arm there, does it go any further? It does, unfortunately. It's old, isn't it?

Yeah. Five or six years? Oh, he's good. Look, use an ointment. Yeah? The scarring is getting raised, and it'll be quite thin skin too, so the jelly act as a little shield,

even against things like the fibres in your shirt, the dust, the grease from this job. I recommend it, and I sand it. Good knowledge. Good. Knowledge. How did, um, what happened? What?

Oh, uh, what the burn? Yeah, it was, uh, it was jobs like this, yeah. Ah, is, is my digger going to spontaneously burst into flames? Ha! Uh, no. Ha! Yeah. No, it was, uh, oil was on me.

Some spark broke out and, whush. Yeah. Nasty. Too bloody right. Okay, uh, forms are all sorted. Oh, great stuff. Thanks, mate. No problem at all. You doing some digging?

Sorry, what? No, no, I was... Usually, I hire out to blocs that have put their backs out. Got blisters on their hands from trying to do it themselves. Right. No, yeah, no. No, I'm fresh. Fresh, fresh. Ready to go. Yeah, but why is there a digger in my back garden, John? Because you're the only person I know with. the garden in London.

Jesus, for the hundredth time, that is not the answer to the question of why is there a digger in my back garden? Because I needed it for a case. What? What's buried in my garden? Oh my, is it a body? No. Then what the hell is going on?

I needed to get some more information on the company that hire out the digger. Okay. So, when... When's it going to go? Do you not need it? No, I do not need it. Why don't you dig Nardier a pond or something? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, yeah, sorry Nadia.

Sorry, your hormones are tearing you apart. Sorry, love, that you can't control your bladder anymore. Here's a pond. Yeah, exactly. Look, anyway, your hormones are playing up as well, mate, so I'm going to let you go. I'm such a... Yeah, that's right, Archie boy. The aftershave is going on.

The blue shirt is making an appearance. A product is going in the hair. You know it's serious. What's serious? Jesus Christ. You're awake then? I am indeed. Big old sleep, mate. Good for you.

Hello, what are you doing? I want you to be careful. What? Use this. Ow, why are you poking my head? Try not to use this. And now the chest. And I would advise against this.

Ow, that, ha ha, ha, that is... But that's your judgment call, doctor. Ha ha. What do you know? I know enough. About my case? About you. I will troubleshoot at the very most, John. What?

That is the limit of my involvement. Why? Because I know what you need. What do I need? You'll know it when you get it. Which is what? Sleep? Dear Watson, sleep.

Oh, that is good stuff and spicy. Ha! Wow. That's the salted duck. Okay, so that is. Nanjing's most famous dish. Really? This is the one, is it? That is Nanjing in a ball. Well, it's good.

This one, you don't want to try. Oh, but it's so colourful. I mean, you said about the colours of your childhood. Look at that, the little red cubes. Yeah. Ha. What? It's duck blood.

Cubs of duck blood? Yeah. Yeah, maybe I won't try that one. I don't know if I'd be able to look at my feather Regents' pals square in the eye again. I mean, I say that. They are real bullies, those guys. Any more harassing are the lady ducks, and they are going in a bowl. So you saw him, huh?

I did. And is this the part where you tell me you don't want to help me out? Why would I say that? Because I know what he's like. He's, yeah, I mean, he's very personable, I suppose. Come on. Okay, yeah, he seems like a good time. You know, I can understand why he was able to get a girl like you.

Like, I mean, just, you know, like a... I'm going to stop talking right there. Yeah, yeah, lucky him. But, yeah, Sherlock has taught me many things. He would say I haven't properly digested them. But I did see. signs of burns on him. What?

Are you serious? Yeah, burn marks. Old. Years old. And I gave him the time frame you gave me and he didn't deny it. Oh my God. So with the thumb and now this, we can categorically say that your nightmare was real.

Vicki, I'm really sorry It's okay It's okay Do you remember Anything? Anything else about that day At night I feel like When I dream about it

I can hear A beep There's this Beep, beep, beep Okay, like a car No, like An electronic beep beep beep beep And not long after that, I'm in the tunnel.

And what's beneath your feet? Dirt, concrete, carpet. Something like steps. No, rigid sticks of wood. Like, like a track. A track? So, so like a railway tunnel, possibly? I think so, but it's tighter than that.

I don't know. There's something about a boy. A boy. Okay, who is he? Did he speak to you? No. I think he's dead. Right. It'll be something. It will make sense. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. Piece by piece. This is all helpful.

Is it? Well, to Sherlock. Maybe he's the genius, so... Genius. What is that to you? To me? My dad would say I was a genius. because some things came easy to me and maybe not to him. I suppose it's a higher level.

Of what? Intellect? Yeah. You think it's a honed skill that Sherlock has? Um... Because if it is, the things we should admire about him are his efforts, his focus. When I left home, my mum, she said to me, What does that mean? What does that mean?

Jade that is not polished is not a treasure. We can all sparkle, John, but we'll never do so in the shade of others. Ah, ha! This will be productive, John, boy. Jump Boy. Screams and I see the eyes of demons. Helitans everywhere.

I turn and I run as fast as I can. Clown with the sharp silver, there are flames coming from his skin. Clown with the sharp silver fangs

there are flames coming from his skin. That is horrific. Maybe I'll trim down all these and you lot can have some 3 a.m shoutouts. Literally at construction sites, they've had me doing deliveries and car sales, trade shows, car boots sales, fairgrounds, storage facilities, I've parked cars for them, I've car sales, trade shows, car boots sales, fairgrounds, storage facilities, I've

car boots sales, fairgrounds, storage facilities, I've... Fairgrounds, fairgrounds. Tracks. She said she walked on tracks. Fairgrounds. Tracks. It was a mechanical engineering job. Fairground ride.

UK clown demons. Stark. Stark. Amusementments. Fairgrounds. UK ghost ride? No. Most of the haunted hell ride at Fun Kingdom.

No reported casualties, but significant structural damage and of course reputational damage to Aford's local fairground, which will remain closed for the foreseeable. Aford, Berkshire, Fires of Hell, Flames and Gulf, Haunted Coaster, March 2021. Oh! Oh! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ho! Ho! Ho! I did it! Oh, Berkshire, Barkshire, Barclshire, Aford, Berkshire, yes. First train out of Paddington. Oh, 5am, shit.

Elizabeth Lime, 4 a.m., Westbound. Yes. Now, Sherlock, up, I'm really, I'm on to something, mate. You left your mic. Oh, bollocks. To binge this adventure in full and without ads, go to patreon.com forward slash Sherlock and co.