Elementary

I have been sober for two years, seven months, and 13 days now.

I could... give you how many hours in seconds,

but then you might think I'm obsessive.

I guess I just want to say...

thank you.

Uh, without these meetings,

without the support of people like you,

I just don't know where I'd be.

Thanks, Eric.

Hey.

You okay?

All right, we're gonna wrap things up now.

Uh, tomorrow's meeting...

Sherlock... Amygdala!

Mm, 6:00.

Excellent.

What do you mean

you put yourself in a trance? Hypnotize myself.

Simple, really.

The key is word repetition.

My word, as you may have guessed,

is "amygdala."

So you hypnotized yourself

at your first group support meeting?

Couldn't listen to all those sob stories, now, could I?

That's the whole point.

And, you know, when you feel comfortable, you can share.

You've lived with me a week now, Watson.

You know I don't share.

Well, then why can't you listen?

Attic Theory.

I've always believed the human brain is like... an attic.

A storage space for facts.

But because that space is finite,

it must be filled only with the things

one needs to be the best version of oneself.

It's important, therefore, not to have useless facts.

The natterings that comprise a typical support group meeting,

for example, crowding out

useful ones.

Just...

Can I borrow this?

Hey, what are you doing? He's nuts.

Your brain, hm?

Useful facts.

Useful, viscous, golden.

Natterings.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard.

That is not even how the brain works...

It's how my brain works.

Okay, more natterings:

I am going to a dinner tonight with a friend,

but I will be back before 10:00,

so I'll be there at 8:00...

Two whole hours by my lonesome?

Aren't you worried I'll go on some sort of binge?

Well, brief stretches apart

are actually a natur...

A natural progression in our companionship.

Yes, you mentioned.

But just to be safe,

I will be giving you a drug test when I get home.

Captain Gregson...

How may I be of assistance?

Name's Casey McManus.

Walked through his front door tonight

and took one right between the eyes.

Cousin's on the job.

Patrolman assigned to the 116 in Queens.

That's why I called you.

Gotta have my best guys on this.

You said on the phone he walked in on a burglar.

He did. His watch and wallet are gone.

The drawers were tossed, too.

The victim probably startled the perp

when he came in from the hall.

Holmes, Ms. Watson, meet Detective Bell--

another one of my best guys.

Hi. He's running point on the case.

You're the consultant, right?

I heard good things.

Yeah, of course you did. Who's he?

Neighbor from across the hall.

He's the one who saw the body through the door and called 911.

Captain.

I'm gonna wait in the hall.

Why must you continue to act

like you've never seen a dead body before?

You were a surgeon. You went to medical school.

Surely, you worked on cadavers.

Right. Because that's exactly the same thing.

Detective Bell!

You would classify this as a robbery-homicide, would you not?

Yeah.

You would be wrong.

This was a robbery & a homicide.

Ampersand, not dash.

There were two separate crimes committed

by two separate perpetrators.

The trajectory of the bullet

that killed Mr. McManus traces back to this chair.

The killer was seated when she pulled the trigger.

She?

I can smell "T-Blossom" brand deodorant on the leather.

It's lady's deodorant.

A woman sat here quite recently.

None of your people, of course.

This is an active crime scene,

and knowing you, Captain, they know better.

That leaves the shooter.

Go on.

The second crime, the robbery, was committed by a man.

A very strong man judging by

the items he removed from the apartment.

How strong does a guy have to be

to steal a wallet and a watch?

You're forgetting the armoire.

Dust patterns on the wall and the floor

tell us it stood here,

as do these scratches on the floor.

You're nuts.

Actually, he's not.

It was a very heavy piece of furniture, that.

And this building has no elevator.

Are we to suppose that the thief got it down

six flights of stairs before the police arrived?

Of course not.

Yet the scratches on the floor tell us

it was dragged into the tiled hallway.

Makes me think it never left this floor.

What do you think?

Yeah, thought so. Across the hall you said?

You, you can't go in there. You need a warrant.

Bureaucracy. One of the many reasons I'm not a policeman.

Holmes, halt.

Thief.

Now all you need is your killer.

== sync, corrected by elderman ==

Casey was already dead when I found him.

I know I should've called the cops first,

but things have been so bad for me lately.

You know, I just... Freakin' economy, I...

And that armoire was an antique.

It's worth two grand at least.

But I, I never laid a finger on him.

No, you didn't.

You put a bullet in his brain.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong!

What's wrong?

I'm sorry, I don't think

I could've been much clearer earlier.

There were two crimes, two perpetrators.

This guy had all of the victim's stuff.

But no gun. Not anywhere in his apartment.

I suspect the GSR test your people performed

will show that he hasn't fired one of late.

Also, he isn't wearing any deodorant,

let alone Lady's "T-Blossom." Or hadn't you noticed?

You're the only one who could smell anything on that chair.

The chair, right-- I'm glad you brought that up.

If, per Detective Bell's theory, the burglar was startled

by the victim's unexpected return, why was he sitting down?

It's a curious time to take a load off, no?

You know what, Sherlock?

Hey, do you mind getting me a bag of chips?

I think there's a vending machine around the corner.

He wasn't asked to consult here

because of his charming personality.

Was he always like this?

I mean, back when you knew him in Scotland Yard?

He was a pain in the ass.

But he was also very, very good.

He said when he introduced you last week

that you were his, um, "personal valet"?

That's sort of like a butler, right?

You must've been really happy

when he relocated here in New York.

Actually, he reached out to me

before he left London two weeks ago.

He called you from London?

Yeah. Said he was calling from Heathrow. Why?

Excuse me.

Neighbor just won't cop to the shooting.

Says he wants a lawyer.

Smart man.

He didn't kill anyone. He should get a lawyer.

He's also saying that he passed a "strange woman"

on the stairwell right before he found the victim's body.

Excellent! Did he get a good look at her?

Yeah, he can describe her to a T.

Probably because she's a product of his freakin' imagination.

Obviously, he heard Harry Potter here

say something about a female shooter back at the scene,

and now he's trying to serve us one on a platter.

You need to sit him with a sketch artist.

Circulate an image of this woman ASAP.

I'm sorry. I got to ask who's running this investigation?

You indicated this case was important to the morale of your men.

I think this guy's gonna have us chasing some fictional shooter.

You really want to run the risk