Original subtitles

- [Holmes] The thread would've killed me long ago

were I not somehow vital to their successes.

- Mr. Sherlock Holmes, welcome.

- Thank you, Prime Minister.

- Someone at Chief Inspector Witlock's office

immediately rang up Lord Withersea.

- Warning him he was about to welcome

Watson and Mrs. Hudson,

not to mention the ambassador's jewels.

- Unless I find the jewels by tomorrow afternoon,

the ambassador collects 50,000 pounds.

- The kidnappers must communicate with each other,

and then, Watson and Mrs. Hudson

will once more be on the move.

Our allies and friends are already strategically placed.

And I will light up the sky with two signals,

one color representing where Watson

and Mrs. Hudson have been kept,

and the other color representing where they are going.

- Prepare to write a warrant for the,

what do you call it?

- A wire tap, my Lord.

- I can hear and record every conversation

from the telephone of the Chief Inspector.

- [Holmes] Now, to go upstairs and provoke your superiors.

(dramatic music)

- No call yet, sir.

- No, the person using the telephone

must wait to be alone in Whitlock's office.

- How long will that take, sir?

- Not long.

The time frame I gave was designed to eliminate

the possibilities of a messenger.

- Are you in danger, sir?

- No, no, no, no.

It's not my safety at risk,

but the lives of those I hold most dear.

If I am wrong,

if the culprit employing the telephone in Whitlock's office

does not use it again, if we have nothing to record,

then my traps spring shut on the wind,

and my friends, my dearest friends, could die.

(phone rings)

- [Caller] Operator, operator!

- Whitlock?

- [Operator] Not the police.

- This is Scotland Yard.

Ring Belgrave near 483, quickly.

You have a stone in your boot.

I believe a cobbler can be found in Kensington, quickly.

(dramatic music)

- The hostages are traveling

from the dowager Duchess of Lincolnshire.

Green, which is where Shaw

and the irregulars are stationed.

To Kensington, Duke of Leicester,

yellow where they'll have to pass by the batty.

Now, excuse me, I'm sure I haven't a second to lose.

- But sir, what should I do?

- Just continue recording the calls,

and pray that there is no change of plan.

Wish me luck, Swann.

(dramatic music)

(door creaks and shuts)

(dramatic music)

(footsteps thump)

(dramatic music)

(window creaks)

(Holmes sighs)

(dramatic music)

(flare gun fires)

(dramatic music)

- Green boys.

Look ahead, that's us.

(dramatic music)

(hooves clop)

Two carriages, they may have split them up.

Half and half lights.

You two take the second one, all right?

Come on.

(hooves clop)

(dramatic music)

(flare gun clicks)

(flare gun fires)

(dramatic music)

- That's the one.

Head to the Duke of Leicester.

- That's it, Mr. Harrigan, let's go!

(driver grunts)

(dramatic music)

(window creaks)

(Holmes pants)

(dramatic music)

- Take the yellow road to the Duke of Leicester.

(dramatic music)

(wheels clack)

Time is of the essence, Dancliff.

- Certainly sir.

(dramatic music)

- Red thread's carriage, let's go.

Get after him!

(horse neighs)

(dramatic music)

- Is this it?

(driver grunts)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- Come on, keep going!

Almost there!

Keep going, keep going!

(horse neighs)

- Don't chase the drivers.

Look for the hostages.

- It's my sister!

- Let me in, Missus.

Stuck.

It won't budge!

- Let me in there.

(dramatic music)

- Ah, Holmes, how kind of you to join us.

- Thank you for following my instructions so closely.

Two carriages, my god,

clever but not clever enough.

Come on.

- Is it Mr. Holmes?

I must be dreaming.

Everyone seems to be floating, aren't they?

- [Holmes] Steady, Mrs. Hudson, steady.

- Oh sister, dear sister.

- Help Mrs. Hudson to my carriage.

Take great care, she's been heavily dosed with opium.

(dramatic music)

Ah, Watson.

Come on, Shaw.

Get this open, come on!

(Watson laughs)

- Holmes.

Holmes, Holmes. - Ah, yes.

- Ahh.

- Watson.

- You found us.

- Yes, of course.

- I knew you would. - Of course.

You've been very heavily sedated.

- Yes.

- [Holmes] We'll get you home. - Yes.

- Where you can have a proper rest.

- No, no, no, no the gold,

the banking, the rob,

they're robbing the Bank of England.

- What?

- They may have done it already.

- [Holmes] Who? - I'm going to fall.

- [Holmes] What?

- [Watson] I'm falling.

- Let's go.

Clarence, take him, take him.

Take him to my carriage, come on.

There we go, careful there boy.

(curious music)

- Lady Violet, how may I help you?

- I must speak with the ambassador.

- Despite the lateness of the hour,

my husband is still at the embassy.

Would you care to leave a message?

- Sorry for the inconvenience,

but I must wait for his return.

And may I use your telephone?

I need to make an important call to Scotland Yard.

(phone rings)

- Chief Inspector Whitlock here.

To whom am I speaking, please?

- Your betters, that's who.

And I have a serious problem.

- I have already solved quite a few of your problems,

Lady Violet, including those related

to the less than accidental death of one of your debutantes.

Your taste for violence is.

- I'm in no mood for a lecture on morality,

especially for a man who's been so handsomely rewarded

for betraying the law.

If you wish to escape with your prize,

you will continue to assist me.

- Assist you?

How?

- With that awful girl, Amelia Rojas,

who the American ambassador insisted

I place in his household.

She knows I have the designs to her mother's weapon.

I want her out of the way.

- Your hatred of this girl is a distraction from Holmes

who you continue to underestimate.

- I have been right about Sherlock so far!

But the girl is more unpredictable and so a threat.

- I am presently involved in the most delicate part

of our entire enterprise.

And Holmes must not suspect that he has been led

to do our bidding.

- His arrogance won't allow him to suspect,

and as for the girl, have one of your idiot inspectors

pick her up and taken care of in prison,

like you did with Charlie the coachman.

- There is nothing I can do to remove the girl,

while she is at the ambassador's residence.

- Very well!

At my first opportunity,

I will kill her myself!

(phone clangs)

(dramatic music)

- Shh, keep quiet.

- You scared me half to death.

- I'm sorry, I couldn't go through the front door.

- [Clara] Why?

Because it's so late?

- No, it's not the hour,

although I have some explaining to do for the Pinkertons

who'd seen me.

- Does the lateness of your return

have anything to do with Mr. Wiley?

- No, no, sh.

Not at all.

Actually, it's (Amelia sighs).

Clara, listen to me, okay?

The person who planned my kidnapping and yours,

who killed Emma and murdered my mother,

is downstairs right now in your father's study.

- Who on earth are you talking about?

- Lady Violet Somerset arrived two hours ago

and insisted on waiting for you,

and helped herself to our telephone.

But what could she possibly want?

It's quite nearly morning.

- The sooner I talk with her, the faster she will leave.

- If there's a problem, my darling,

if she's causing you distress.

- Nothing beyond this inexcusable intrusion,

which will soon be over.

(dramatic music)

(door creaks)

- [Lady Violet] At last.

- Your behavior grows more reckless by the hour.

- And your tone more presumptuous.

- You may rank high in London society,

but you hold no position of legitimate power,

whereas I am the United States ambassador

for the court of King James and a legal representative

of my nation and Great Britain.

- I am well aware of your status.

Indeed, I consider you

to be one of my most valuable employees.

- Your employee?

- You may not wear my livery,

but of no doubt you are my servant,

and on the verge of receiving an extraordinary reward

for your labors.

By this time tomorrow, I will have made you a hero

to the public and one of the richest men in the world.

- One of the richest? - Shh.

- May I remind you,

that the plan we are about to execute is mine.

If not for me, the success of your conspiracy

would've at best left the country you wish to dominate

in financial ruin.

- I admit, you've finessed bribing the authorities

with genius, and your change in what the robbery

should accomplish was uncommonly clever,

but I chose you.

I came all the way to America under the pretense

of helping your daughter

because I recognized despite conspicuous failures,

you had the will, the mean, and immunity

to accomplish what none of the rest of us could.

so that you should attempt to interfere

with selling this weapon when you know

how important it is to my ultimate goal,

well, I find it disloyal, to say the very least,

especially as I created a date for your daughter's ball

at the cost of someone's life.

- Which was done without my knowledge or consent.

You promised no murders,

and now there have been bodies piling up beyond count!

So no, I will not allow Clara's ball

or my embassy to be used as an auction house for weapons.

- There's no more perfect place or occasion

for this sale to take place!

Every foreign diplomat in London may attend the ball

without attracting suspicion.

The actual exchange will be made discreetly

in your stables.

Perhaps I misled you a little about killing people,

but I never denied our ultimate aim.

- Think, please.

This is no ordinary weapon.

It could decide the outcome of this war

you seem so determined to start.

Do you really have so little feeling for your own country?

- Oh, don't be naive.

This war will not be won on a field of battle.

Indeed the victors have already been crowned.

They rule our boardrooms, banks, and foundries.

By the day of surrender without knowing it,

London will have been subsumed by industry

and the financial system by which I must live a beggar

in my own family, will come to an end!

You say I have no feeling for my country.

It is my country that has no feeling for me!

- This is not the future Dan Moriarty espouses.

- Well, he's ridiculous,

and like Holmes, will have soon served his purpose.

The thread can dispense with them both

and the wretched girl too.

- How you start your war

and what you hope it will accomplish

is up to you and your other bloody minded accomplices.

But that wretched girl is under my personal protection,

which I will not withdraw.

- Oh really?

Have you forgotten all about Clara's romance

with your former coachman?

- You encouraged his advances.

And taking my daughter hostage was both a betrayal

and an outrage.

- Had you given me the keys when I asked,

your daughter's seduction would've been unnecessary.

You forced my hand.

If you do so again, well,

diplomatic immunity might keep you from an arrest,

but nothing can protect you from a scandal like that.

- Do you ever wonder, Lady Violet,

if you might be in over your head?

(Lady Violet laughs)

- I have outmaneuvered even Sherlock Holmes.

You are no such challenge.

Hopefully wealth and universal adulation

will soften your outrage.

(dramatic music)

Hide this well!

Bring it with you to Clara's ball.

Or your daughter's introduction to society

will be the last night she appears in public.

(dramatic music)

(door creaks)

- That witch!

Wants to destroy me.

- She can't.

The keys she was talking about,

they have to be used at your debut.

What do they unlock?

- Here I am, worried about my own future,

while Lady Violet plots your murder.

- It's not just my life that's being threatened.

It's Mr. Holmes' too.

And a war?

I can't believe it.

- Why would Lady Violet want to start a war?

Amelia, where are you going?

- To get the answers to your questions.

I'm gonna make dead certain that nothing happens to you,

Michael Wiley, or to Mr. Holmes.

- Take care.

I now fear Lady Violet more than anything.

- You're not wrong.

Wish me luck.

(Amelia groans)

(dramatic music)

- Miss Rojas.

- Detective Swann?

- Sorry to startle you.

- What are you doing here?

- I've come to tell you,

you're in great danger,

and I must protect you until morning.

(Amelia sighs)

(dramatic music)

- Effects of the opium will wear off soon.

But they should fully recover.

When they come 'round, I advise fresh water,

some warm soup, and a long hot bath.

- Thank you, Doctor Welles.

Mr. and Mrs. Halligan, I will leave our patients

in your care, whilst I follow the scent.

- Not to worry, Holmes.

We'll run these kidnappers aground.

- I'm sure you will,

but I must now turn my attention to the robbery

of a significant amount of gold from the Bank of England.

- I don't know how you came to be aware of it.

The transfer of South African gold

from the wharfs to the bank

was accomplished in complete secrecy.

Bullivant supervised its transfer yesterday.

- And even if thieves could break into the bank,

I mean, how would they escape

with 8,000 ounces of solid gold?

- An excellent question, Bullivant.

And I must ask the Bank of England to open their vault

in order to answer it.

If you'll excuse me, I fear I may already be too late.

(dramatic music)

(bells toll)

(hooves clop)

(dramatic music)

- Ah, Mr. Holmes,

I hope you'll allow us to accompany you.

If your charges are true, we must immediately

join at the pursuit.

- [Holmes] Of which I presume the reporter,

the photographer standing behind you are indispensable?

- Well, circumstances allow

we must immediately alert the public.

- The Daily Chronicle was convinced to hold off

on the mid-morning edition

should our news require the front page.

- Well, I would've spared the Yard

such a salacious expose, but as you will.

(door creaks)

- Dear me, Mr. Holmes,

your alarms have us terrified and perplexed.

This shipment of South African gold

is essential to the bank's capital reserves.

Without it, markets would collapse across the empire.

I must hope you are wrong, Mr. Holmes.

- I assure you, Governor Cavener,

nothing would give me more pleasure.

(door clangs)

(tense music)

- Oh, thank heavens.

(footsteps clack)

(tense music)

- [Photographer] Mr. Holmes, sir,

would you mind posing in front of the gold?

- What gold?

(Bullivant laughs)

- Well this gold from South Africa,

securely transferred from ship to vault

under my direct supervision.

- May I, inspector?

- Careful, Holmes, it's quite heavy.

- Ah, note the fine powder appearing on the bar's exterior,

indicating soluble salts moving to the surface.

The effects of moisture,

possibly related to the recent rains.

- I trust the powder will have no effect on the value.

- No, not at all.

The gold will be worth exactly what it was

when it was loaded into your vault.

You see, gentleman, these bars.

(bar clangs, governor groans)

Covering bits of lead.

(bar clangs)

Painted a persuasive color

and bearing the proper imprint,

are 100 percent.

(bar clangs)

Counterfeit.

- But how?

I saw the gold being broken open out of the crate

and tested and unloaded off the ship

into a convoy of carriages.

- [Holmes] That much is certainly true.

- [Bullivant] And I drove alongside these carriages,

all the way from the wharf to the bank.

- I believe you.

- And I observed the gold being carried into the bank.

- Now that is impossible.

The vault was neither opened nor breached.

Yet this is not gold, ergo the gold was never here.

Now, it was brought from the ships

and walked past you by a group of coachmen,

all of whom were part of a conspiracy to rob the bank.

They arrived at the wharf in vehicles

already filled with counterfeit bars of painted plaster,

and the real gold was placed

in the carriages' false bottoms.

Now you escorted the gold of these thieving coachmen

across London and upon arrival at the bank,

the counterfeit bars were loaded into the vault,

and the real gold was driven away.

Where it has gone will take some thought,

but that is hardly the most important question.

- The whereabouts of the gold

is not the most important question?

- No, it is not.

The most pertinent question

is how was I able to envision this crime so quickly

and with such astonishing accuracy?

I am used to making inferences far beyond the scope

of untrained minds, but criminals seldom provide me

with such flagrant clues such as this plaster dust

flecked with gold paint, left behind in at least

two of the carriages used in the robbery.

- [Bullivant] But how did you come across these carriages?

- Well they were engaged again hours later

in the relocation of Watson and Mrs. Hudson.

Their coats were caked in gold dust,

and we rescued them just in time to be told

their captors were robbing the Bank of England.

Well, what an amazing coincidence.

Here's another.

I was able to have a similar carriage dismantled

right after it had been used in the attempted abduction

of my former mate, so I knew about the false bottoms.

And I assume Scotland Yard contracted these vehicles

from the Green and Crest Asylum for the criminally insane.

- It was an attempt to transport the gold

to the vault using unremarkable conveyances.

- Ah.

- No, no, no, no.

This cannot be true!

(bar clangs)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- Whoa.

Shouldn't I be taking you to Baker Street?

- [Amelia] No, I need to find where Michael Wiley works.

- Miss Rojas, wait, wait.

Um, ladies cannot enter the exchange.

I will go in, find this Michael Wiley,

and bring him out to you.

- Yeah, but you don't know what he looks like.

- You there!

Move this carriage away from the door of the exchange.

- Scotland Yard!

(dramatic music)

- [Amelia] Your badge could get me inside.

- Police business!

(dramatic music)

Scotland Yard, out of the way please.

Police business, Scotland Yard, police business!

Scotland Yard! - Officer, officer!

Amelia, what are you doing here?

Excuse me, officer, but I respectfully ask

you release Miss Rojas immediately.

- Well, I can assure you, Mr. Wiley,

that my holding of Miss Rojas' wrist was necessary

to keep her on the floor of this exchange,

where she insisted upon hunting for you.

- It's okay.

I overheard Lady Violet tell the ambassador

that she wants to get rid of you and me.

- What does Lady Violet have against us?

Did she say?

- Maybe it has something to do with your support

of home rule?

- How would she know about that?

- Don't ask me, but she also wants to start a war.

- What, how?

That's impossible.

Stock market's crashing.

Stay away from Lady Violet.

Let Sherlock Holmes deal with her.

I've gotta get back to work.

- What is going on?

- An epic crime.

The Bank of England has been robbed,

and will probably fail.

We must go now.

I'll take you back to Baker Street on the way to the Yard.

- No, if this is really an epic crime,

there's only one place Sherlock Holmes will be.

(dramatic music)

- So this conversation you overheard

between Lady Violet and the ambassador

is most revealing.

Now I know for certain why the jewels are so important

and where they've gone.

- [Amelia] Where?

- To Chief Inspector Whitlock,

for whom they were always intended as a bribe.

He took over the search of them himself.

And before Lord Withersea shot himself,

he must've told Whitlock where the gems

were to be found.

But what part does the ambassador play in the bank robbery,

and how does he become a public hero?

- No, I don't know,

but I can tell you who does.

Chief Inspector Whitlock.

I mean, he told you himself.

- Every day the home office sends me a list

of potential revolutionaries, misfits, and former felons.

- He must've hired some of them as drivers

to steal the gold.

- Whitlock brought a reporter and a photographer

with him today inside the vault.

- Well, maybe he didn't think

you'd figure out what happened.

Maybe he wanted to prove he's smarter than Sherlock Holmes.

- That's a mistake many have made to their regret,

but consider this, the red thread gave me the means

to lay bare the robbery so.

- [Amelia] So?

- So should I not also know where the gold has gone?

- Why would they want you to find the gold?

- Why would they want me to know about the robbery at all?

- Okay, this is, it's,

it's what you'd call a theory of the crime.

So how do we prove it?

- By locating the gold without looking for it.

- Make Whitlock tell us.

He's not only involved with the robbery,

but he's also working for Lady Violet.

Swann has a recording of a telephone conversation.

- [Lady Violet] I will kill her myself.

- Except I promised the prime minister

nothing from the wiretap would be used in evidence.

- Well, Whitlock doesn't know that.

- Yes.

Yes, very good idea.

And I will follow up on Whitlock's ignorance

of the prompt.

And not just yet, if I am right,

we should be able to deduce the gold's whereabouts

based on the clues we already have.

- Remember I overheard Lord Withersea in the stables

say that the coffins were about to become more valuable.

- And worth less than they will be, a week or two hence.

- But Withersea's needs were more immediate.

And besides, you overheard that conversation

without his knowledge.

If my theory is correct, all clues left by the red thread

must be deliberate.

- The telephone calls

between Whitlock and the coffin factory.

- [Holmes] No, Whitlock called everyone.

No, it needs to be something more specific.

(dramatic music)

- Ugh.

What about this?

- The coffin's screw from the ambassador's carriage.

(Holmes laughs)

Why do you carry this with you?

- I guess as a keepsake?

From the first day we started working together.

- Amelia, if I had known back then when we first met,

if I understood.

- If I had made a better breakfast.

- Oh, that wretched breakfast.

I shall never forget it.

(cloche clangs)

- But to be fair, you didn't taste it.

- I chose life was the sensible solution.

But you're quite right,

this, this screw is so specific to Withersea's factory.

Yes.

Yes, yes.

That's why Wims and Maggot were executed.

To cover their escape, they set fire to the very place

the gold was to be hidden.

The thread must have been furious.

- [Amelia] You certainly were.

Do you think they left the screw there

for you to find on purpose?

- Yes.

Yes, someone brilliantly anticipated by actions,

but they could never have foreseen yours.

So, let us prove the theory by finding the gold.

- What if the coachmen are all still there at the factory?

I mean, there are a lot of them.

Do we need the police?

- No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

We can't afford to have Whitlock warning them by telephone.

Wait, I have the perfect solution, yes.

(dramatic music)

Swann, I have an idea where we might find the stolen gold

and with not a second to lose.

- But sir, I should really report this.

- Well, I could be wrong.

If it has happened, and perhaps we should make sure

the gold is where we think it is

before informing your superiors

and having this case snatched from your hands.

- Yes, sir.

(dramatic music)

Where to?

- Withersea coffin factory, on the double.

- Whoa.

(dramatic music)

- [Holmes] Ah, this place is more heavily guarded

than I'd hoped.

- An observation I was on the verge of making myself.

- [Amelia] I bet they'd chase someone

into the coffin factory.

- I hope by chasing someone, you don't mean you.

- [Amelia] I'll get the guards to follow me inside.

- [Clarence] I can cut off their exit from the roof.

- Trust me, Mr. Holmes.

This will work.

Don't follow me until they're all inside.

(dramatic music)

(Amelia sighs)

(dramatic music)

Hey, there's robbers and murderers in here!

(worker grunts)

(dramatic music)

(worker grunts)

- [Worker] Get back!

(dramatic music)

- Easy!

(dramatic music)

- Good day, gentlemen.

We ask that you remain here quietly

until suitable arrangements can be made.

- What do you think you're playing at?

You a copper?

- No, I'm not, but allow me to introduce.

- Detective Swann of Scotland Yard,

and I'm arresting you all in the name of the Queen!

- Not to worry, Mr. Holmes,

we've locked the doors from up here.

The only place these blokes are going is prison.

- Thank you, Clarence.

You have done more than I could have ever asked.

- Game's up, gentlemen.

Now up against the wall.

Come on.

- Well this is all well and good,

but do they have my stolen jewels?

- No, no, Bertie.

For now we shall have to satisfy ourselves

with all this gold but the gems will be back

in your hands soon enough.

I know where they are.

Now Shaw, if you and the rest of the Irregulars

could please find Inspector Bullivant

and tell him the happy news.

Then we need some reinforcements.

- Did we just save England again, Mr. Holmes?

- We did indeed.

- I've never saved England before.

- How does it feel?

- Well, not bad, considering.

Much worse for dear Mrs. Hudson than I.

How is she faring?

- She's coming along.

Helps being tended by her twin sister.

Oh, I have a small gift for you.

Your buttons, I believe.

(Watson laughs)

- I'm glad to see that I did not destroy

my waistcoat in vain.

At least you knew we were alive.

Now come, I am anxious to hear the whole story.

Crime of the century.

- Oh, hardly that.

- Nonsense, you've recovered the gold,

caught an entire factory filled with thieves, rescued us.

- About which I am most happy.

Never think otherwise.

But before Lord Withersea kill himself,

he implied a crime beyond my imagination,

and that is not happened.

There are so many orphaned pieces to this puzzle.

Why steal plans for a weapon in California?

Why demand keys of the American ambassador?

No, the robbery and the kidnappings

are not the whole story.

There's something worse.

What awful crime binds these disparate members

of the red thread together?

- Red thread, it'll make a terrific title.

(Holmes sighs)

Dammit, I tire so easily.

- The aftereffects of too much opium, dear boy.

It'll soon wear off.

- Who on earth is that?

- Oh uh, Miss Rojas.

Allow me to present Miss Amelia Rojas.

She is my,

my,

my, my, my, look at the time.

Enough of these questions.

The doctor is here to measure your progress.

A little peace and quiet will do you good.

Amelia.

(footsteps clack)

(Holmes sighs)

- [Amelia] He's better.

You'll have your old stalking partner back soon.

- Not soon enough.

Clara's ball is two days hence

and by then all our riddles must be answered.

- I've solved a lot of them already.

- Oh, which ones?

- Why you weren't murdered,

why we were meant to find the gold,

and how the American ambassador will become a national hero.

- Well your deductive powers

have shown sensational progress.

How did you manage all that?

- The evening paper.

You're mentioned too.

As the greatest detective in the world.

- Well Amelia, that is not news,

that is not news.

Fortunately, I am immune to flattery,

though we should always be grateful

whenever the press elect to be precise.

Oh for goodness sake.

After hearing of the robbery,

the American ambassador hurriedly put together

a consortium of investors.

The purchase of the bank's plummeting shares

stopped the panic

and brought stability to the chaotic markets.

In his speech to reporters later, he explained.

- When I heard the Bank of England's governor

has engaged the brilliant Sherlock Holmes,

I knew the gold would be found.

My broker, Sir Nigel Parks, helped me to find others

who would intervene, and together,

we were able to halt the Bank of England's slide

toward bankruptcy by the purchase of a majority

of its shares.

But nothing we did would've mattered,

without the greatest detective on earth

exercising his miraculous abilities.

The real victory belongs to Sherlock Holmes.

- Yes, by bringing the press with him into the vault,

Whitlock made sure the world would know about the robbery

and launched a financial panic,

allowing the thread to buy the bank

for pennies on the pound.

(newspaper thuds)

- Just this afternoon,

Ambassador Anderson made ten million

off an investment of 50,000 pounds.

- Yes, yes, yes, yes.

In the meantime, the coachmen are carted off to jail

without knowing how or why they were betrayed.

- Guess we didn't solve the crime of the century.

- We will make it possible.

Therefore, the greatest crime is yet to come.

(dramatic music)

This broker, Sir Nigel Parks,

is he not Dan Moriarty's employer?

Did Dan also invest in this scheme?

- Where would he get the money?

- By muscling in on his father's organization,

about which he may have known more than he let on.

(dramatic music)

Yes.

Let me see.

- I have both my profession as a mathematician

and my greater enterprise to maintain.

- Greater enterprise?

By which you mean the exploitation of human weakness

through opium dens, gambling, and houses of ill repute,

run by men for whom loyalty is a vice

best remedied by greed?

- And at Lady Violet's party was the young Moriarty,

who lured me outside.

- What do you mean Amelia was denied entry?

That's unacceptable.

Excuse me.

Excuse me, Mr. Holmes. - I just spoke to her.

Wait, Mr., wait.

- [Amelia] Holmes!

- And if I hadn't been lured outside,

I would never have seen the carriage,

nor known how the gold went missing

on its journey from the ship to the bank.

Were it not for that wretched boy.

(dramatic music)

Of course, that's why the other coach was waiting

for your sham abductors.

Kidnappers don't need getaway vehicles.

They take their crime with them.

All of this makes perfect sense

if we change but one conclusion.

- What's that?

- I'm surprised to find someone of your intellect

mistaking current circumstances for future prospects.

- Dan Moriarty

did not kill the coachman to save you.

- Perhaps time will reveal

just how much you understated my abilities.

- He did it to save me.

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

- [Michael] Michael Wiley, here to visit

with Professor James Moriarty.

(door clangs)

(dramatic music)

(door creaks)

Father.

- Dear boy.

Dear boy.

Go, I will call you if I need you.

- I apologize for my previous behavior.

It was necessary to deceive that pompous fool Holmes.

- I'm so relieved, dear boy.

But do not be dismissive.

My most persistent adversary, pompous, oh yes,

but Holmes is no fool.

Not only did he rescue his friends,

he foiled a perfect robbery of the Bank of the England.

- Now, I assure you, father,

in no way did Holmes foil anything.

Almost his every move in solving these crimes

was designed by me.

- [James] What?

But surely you did not.

- I robbed the Bank of England,

and it went even better than hoped.

- But Holmes recovered the gold

and the perpetrators have been arrested.

- Only because these actions were vital to my success.

You see, by purchasing the stock in the bank

when it seemed almost certain to fail,

I gained a great fortune when Holmes saved the day.

- I wonder where a broker's clerk

found enough pounds to invest

during an unexpected market panic.

- From you, of course.

- From me?

- More specifically, those elements of the Moriarty

criminal syndicate I acquired

through your less loyal henchmen.

Accomplished by approving a more equal split in profits

and long denied promotions.

- But you never took my businesses!

That was the red thread.

- Do you still not understand?

I am the red thread.

Well, the most important part of it.

And tonight, we achieve a far greater ambition

than stupendous wealth.

- There is no greater ambition than wealth.

That is the locus around which our entire empire revolves.

- Before the sun rises tomorrow,

I will bring that empire to its knees.

And I'll be well on my way to setting its colonies free,

now and forever.

We have the financial means.

We have the weapon.

Now all we need

is the inciting incident.

You said yourself, you could leave whenever you wanted.

A ship awaits you even now,

as does a villa in Rivanna where you can.

- Hold a moment.

There is much here to consider.

First, what do you mean,

bring the empire to its knees?

Surely you intend no harm to her Majesty.

- What, kill the queen

with so many princes to take her place?

No.

I will settle for nothing less

than freeing the Crown's colonies from British rule.

In order to achieve that, I require war.

- Against England?

- Against all nations that would subjugate free people.

I'm pressed for time.

We can explain this. - Dan, Dan, Dan!

Are you planning to sacrifice yourself

for some transient political course?

- It's hardly transient.

But do not worry, I am no martyr.

- Oh but you are.

To steal from me and boast of it to my face

and then in recompense for your impudence,

offer me a life as a fugitive!

Or were you planning to use my escape as a distraction

to mislead the authorities into thinking

that I was the author

of your inciting incident?!

- Very good, Father, very good.

Yes, yes, that had been what I'd hoped,

to achieve the evening's work

and have all eyes trained on the disappearance

of Professor Moriarty,

the world's most famous criminal maniac.

- And as the search became more frantic,

would I ever arrive at this villa,

or would my body be a better answer for your treason?

(dramatic music)

Dancliff!

- [Dancliff] Yes, your Professorship, sir.

- Show this young, unnatural man out

and see that he never returns.

- Admit it, Father,

you're a little proud of me, aren't you?

- Moriartys do not overthrow empires.

We corrupt them to our advantage.

And I can feel little pride in a criminal

who when given the chance,

fails to kill Sherlock Holmes.

- You mean like you?

(dramatic music)

(footsteps thud)

(dramatic music)

(door clangs)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)

(dramatic music)