Sherlock..........Who?

The Empty Hearse Part Three

JENNY : I wanted you not to be dead. As much as I bloody hate you sometimes , I don't want you to be dead.

SHERLOCK: Yeah, well, be careful what you wish for.

(John sighs.)

SHERLOCK: If I hadn't come back, you wouldn't be standing there and ...

(Baring his teeth, John turns away, shaking his head.)

SHERLOCK: ... you'd still have a future ... with Mary.

JOHN (turning and pointing at him): Yeah. I know.

(He grimaces and turns away again. Sherlock clenches his fist against his mouth, then wipes his nose, his face full of despair. Finally John turns back.)

JOHN (his voice low and tight): Look, I find it difficult.

(Sherlock nods, his head lowered.)

JOHN: I find it difficult, this sort of stuff.

SHERLOCK (looking up at him): I know.

(John blows out a breath, lowering his head, then he straightens up and looks at Sherlock.)

JOHN (his voice not much more than a whisper): You were the best and the wisest man ... (he sniffs) ... that I have ever known.

(Sherlock looks at him, his eyes wide and tear-filled. John sighs, lowering his head again before raising it once more.)

JOHN: Yes, of course I forgive you.

(Sherlock gazes at him. John meets his eyes for a moment, then he takes in a deep breath through his nose, closes his eyes, raises his head and braces himself for death.)

The scene whites out.

From the point of view of a video camera, Sherlock is sitting on a sofa in front of a window and looking directly into the camera.

SHERLOCK: The criminal network Moriarty headed was vast.

(Cutaway shot of Sherlock standing beside Mycroft as he sits in his office in the Diogenes Club. Mycroft appears to be reading a report; Sherlock is looking at his phone.)

SHERLOCK (voiceover): Its roots were everywhere like a cancer, so we came up with a plan.

(Mycroft starts to type on his laptop. Sherlock leans down to look at the screen.)

SHERLOCK (voiceover): Mycroft fed Moriarty information about me.

(Flashback to Mycroft walking into Jim's cell, and Jim closing his eyes delightedly.)

SHERLOCK (part voiceover, part into the camera): Moriarty in turn gave us hints – just hints – as to the extent of his web. We let him go ...

(Flashback to Jim being taken into court for his trial.)

SHERLOCK (voiceover): ... because it was important to let him believe he had the upper hand. (Into camera) And then I sat back and watched Moriarty destroy my reputation bit by bit.

(Flashback to Sherlock sitting on the floor in the lab at Bart's, repeatedly bouncing a small ball off the cupboard in front of him.)

SHERLOCK (voiceover): I had to make him believe he'd beaten me, utterly defeated me, and then he'd show his hand.

(Various flashbacks of Sherlock and Jim on the rooftop, interspersed with Sherlock continuing to bounce the ball in the lab, and shots of Sherlock on the roof looking around the area surrounding Bart's as if calculating escape routes.)