Sherlock & Co. - 37 - The Dancing Men - Part Two

Episode Date: June 11, 2024

STALK THE STALK - it was earth-shattering. I can't describe it. The feeling of being at the centre of that swirling, chaotic tragedy. Sherlock was doing well to hide his pain and frustration. I was doing better than usual in keeping things together, if I do say so myself. It was time to figure out who Abe Slaney was and how to stop him. For merchandise and transcripts go to: www.sherlockandco.co.uk For ad-free, early access to adventures in full go to www.patreon.com/sherlockandco Follow me @DocJWatsonMD on twitter, or sherlockandcopod on TikTok and instagram.  To get in touch via email: [e-mail] Listener discretion is advised. This podcast is property of Goalhanger Podcasts. Copyright 2024. 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   Adam Jarrell as Stamford Jemma Revell as Nadia John Brannoch as Wiggins Kelly Burke as Dr. Cynthia Burnett Marli Artiste as Elsie Additional voices Darcey Ferguson Joel Emery Thomas Mitchells Adam Jarrell All songs featured courtesy of audionetwork - vocals adapted and performed by Marli Artiste and Adam Jarrell. 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

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Elsie is an international music sensation. Currently doing an extended UK tour before Glasgow at the end of the month, Glastonbury. That is the biggest music festival you can think of. And yeah, we bagged ourselves some free tickets to one of our shows at the O2 thanks to a client, so yeah, not too shabby. It's a video sent to Elsie's phone. Her manager, your awards show friend, said she looked petrified upon viewing it, has had a very severe traumatic response ever since. Dancing men. Dancing men. It's like little stick men dancing. How is this a code? Because as they dance they make different shapes

and poses out of their little stick bodies. The message seems to be some sort of threat, and poses out of their little stick bodies. The message seems to be some sort of threat, but how is it tied to this dancing men cryptogram? In the message, it was clips of songs. So first of all, it was We'll Meet Again by Vera Lin. Then I Want to Break Free. Then Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, followed by Fulton Prison Blues,

Beyond the Sea, Every Breath You Take, and finally we'll meet again. Again. Ah, shit. Somebody, an ex-convict, has come to find her. From America. Who are they? You know Abe Slaney.

He was working with Elsie way before I got in the picture in my management role. Abe and her were kind of close. And they would make these codes, little cryptic messages, music keys, the dancing figures, the dancing men, the songs. They would kind of mess around with them and hide codes in there. He wouldn't leave her alone, wouldn't stop sending messages.

We, I swear to God, we went from restraining order to court order to he's behind bars in maybe two months. Abe Slaney is a certified bat shit crazy psychopath. Abe Slaney, arrested in 2020. What's his current status? Yeah, he's AWOL. I hope you have good protection here, Mr. Cubit. What, what, what is it?

As we get it, but it has been confirmed. International music star Elsie is in critical condition after being found with a gunshot wound to the head in her hotel room. No! Her manager, Hilton Cubit, was pronounced dead at the scene. Oh my god! Lots of reactions coming in already. What do we do, Sherlock?

Sherlock, what do we do? The Sherlock Show Hello everyone. Let's get stuck into the warnings. This episode contains swearing, it contains murder, it contains human remains, and descriptions of severe paranoid delusions. You have been warned. See you at the end. But the sooner we can get up there, the sooner we can help.

What makes you think you can help? Call it a hunch. A hunch. I'll need a lot more than a hunch, gents. Inspector Martin, please, it is imperative that I see the scene as soon as- Mr. Holmstead, just appreciate my position. I've got New York police trying to stick their noses in, I've got American consulate officials,

I've spoken to the US ambassador twice, I've been in a WhatsApp chat with the Mayor of London and the flippin' MI5 counter-terrorism general. I've got three answer phone messages from the bloody FBI, right? I've got a media frenzy on every doorstep of every police force in this city. Now at what point do you expect me to indulge a hunch? Have you spoken to the Home Secretary yet? He's just about the only bloody person I haven't spoken to this morning, so no, I haven't.

And I have no wish to now please gents we are authorized by Hilton qubit to investigate Abe Slaney Hilton qubit is deceased yes but Elsie is not yet she's got a bullet in her head mr. Holt your phone is yeah yeah hello detective this is the Home Secretary. Listen, I've just been chatting with Gwen. Gwen? Dame Gwen Lestrade. Med Commissioner. Right.

She's got some chaps on the ground that she'd like to get involved in this... ...Elsy situation. Chaps on the ground, yeah. They wouldn't be... ...Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson? By any chance? Yes! Yes, that's them. How do you know that?

Just a hunch. Oh man. Are you alright Watson? Yeah, yeah. Err, I mean no. I'm walking into the scene of a murder suicide. Yeah. We know it isn't though, don't we? I mean, do we?

We do. We just need a couple of clues to get the confidence levels up. We affirm our convictions. Don't be swayed by the simple answers. I... yeah, I suppose. Sure. Er, so, erm... We are here in Elsie's penthouse room, the Lady Jane Grey. It's not like a big towering

building, the Norfolk. It's kind of a grand house, really. Out the window you've got the trees of Hyde Park right up against the house, you've got the Dorchester, very, very swanky hotel, a couple, well I was going to say doors down, but what would you say, a block I suppose, maybe? Then Park Lane below us, I don't know how else to put it, it is the height of London affluence, Park Lane, the cream of international wealth. And then this tragedy right in the heart of it, it's just staggering. So looking into the room now, and by all means skip this bit if you are squeamish,

Hilton is bagged up. Actually, is that Hilton in there? That's correct Jesse. Coroner will take him away after clearance from the senior officers. Course, thank you. So yeah, Hilton is in there. He took a bullet to the chest chest supposedly from LC but we suspect otherwise his blood is and again skip ahead if you want his blood is splattered

all over the wall behind him I can tell you now just just looking over here at it yeah it's um it went through him. Bullet would have gone into his chest then come out the back of him. It has really buried itself into this bloodstained wall. There are, sorry to say, there are a few chunkier bits of him amidst the splatter. He falls back and lands next to the bed. On the other side of the room, Elsie obviously isn't here, she's in a level 3 ICU with a bullet in her head. But they have marked out where she was, where she was where she was found and the gun she was holding which was Hilton's

Beretta Bobcat and yeah there's not a great deal of... For God's sake get off the window seal now! Don't do it don't! I'm not going to jump out the window Watson! Well you're hanging out of it! Was this open? Yes it was it bloody well everything was as it was now please will you get off the window late immediately. Watson remember the time I said I wasn't going

to jump out the window? That was about eight seconds ago mate. Yes well a lot has changed in those eight seconds. What? One moment. Charlotte! Oh God! What's she doing? Charlotte! Charlotte! Charlotte! Stop shouting. Oh where are you? In the tree. What the hell are you doing? Oh, Sherlock, Sherlock! Stop shouting! I, oh, where are you? In the tree. What the hell are you doing in the tree? Come back in here. Here, grab my hand, I can pull you in. The staff refer to this room as the tree house.

Did you know that? No, I didn't. Please come in. Because of its view, you wake up surrounded by the trees, by nature. Of course, yeah, in you come. Get in now, otherwise he goes under arrest. What do you think I'm trying to do? Rather convenient for a home invasion, isn't it?

Or hotel room invasion, I should say. Yeah, sure, whatever. Get out of the tree, you're not a cat. One would simply climb the tree, work their way across those sturdy branches and limbs and clamber onto the window box. Right, do I need to lure you over here with a treat? Or should I call the fire brigade?

To jump through the window, that would be necessary for someone who entered the hotel room. But our killer did not. What are you talking about? He's talking nonsense. That woman killed him. She couldn't live with it.

She couldn't live with something. That's right. But it wasn't being a murderer. Nobody else entered the room, Mr. Holmes. There's no other murderer. We've got the finest CSI unit in the country. The video is at 6.30 this morning. Nobody has found any traces of another killer in this room.

Yes, they're very good. And they're correct. Okay, what's the theory here Sherlock? Theory? Ha, I can do much better than that. Can you now? Yes. This fellow I'm climbing has told me plenty.

Carpinus betulus. Known as a hornbeam. Gnarled and mighty, aren't they? Ever so hardy. Can live up to 300 years. This one, I'd say is about 170. The things he would have seen eh, Watson? Peering over Park Lane and Hyde Park through the 20th century. How his view must have changed over the years. No longer fed by our lost river, the Westbourne.

No longer soaking up the nutrients of horse dung that would have littered these streets and parks. Okay, if we could just get to the point a little bit quicker before the inspector explodes. Our hornbeam would have seen what happened last night. But he's not merely just a witness. He's a victim too. He's a what now? A bullet hole.

Right here. Our leafy friend is so robust and sturdy. I don't even have to reach that deep to pull it out. Here, 6.35 millimeters, sometimes known as, Watson? .25 ACP. Correct. The ammo one would use for a Beretta Bobcat. The gun our deceased Hilton Cubitt carried,

breaking UK law, I might add. Coming through. Steady, steady, gotcha. Pull me up. Get up, you cunt. There you go. Excellent. Thank you, Watson.

Your wall, where is it? My wall. The exit wound. Ah, right, over here. Yes. See the bullet here in the wall. 9mm. Far more powerful than.25 ACP. Very much so. Hence why Qubit is dead and has a hole right through him and Elsie is still alive.

So Abe Slaney, whilst in the tree, was armed with something that fired a 9mm. Hilton Cubitt had his Beretta Bobcat. Inspector Martin, have this bullet analysed. Share your findings with US State Gun Registry's... Hold on a sec, hold on a sec. Who is Abe Slaney? The killer of Hilton Cubitt. What about the girl, Elsie? Abe has tormented her for many years.

His reappearance, his killing of her manager right in front of her, I suspect, led to her trying to take her own life. Oh, we've got to stop him. Yes. Yes we do. But surely, I mean, what's he going to do now? I mean, I don't want to be all doom doom and gloom but she probably won't make it and he's responsible. No way, he wouldn't have seen her do that. It's all over the news. What do you mean Inspector? Well, security staff secured the room immediately. They started breaking the door in after they heard firing.

They were in just as she shot herself. So he fled. Abe Slaney fled immediately after his assassination of Hilton Cubitt. Right, well, that was intense. I'm grateful for the fresh air, put it that way. If central London air can ever be fresh. Yeah, sorry to the following group of people who get shout-outs in this gruesome tale. To Marie from Quebec, sorry. Marie. To May in Tunisia, apologies. Oh god, birthdays. Happy birthday, Elzie. Happy 25th birthday to Jared. Happy birthday, Alice, in Brazil. God, so sorry, you lot. Beth. Oh, God, I've got blood on my shoe. Beth would like me to give a surprise shout out to her mate Elizabeth.

A few more. Sorry to these lot, to Megan, Kelly and Connor from Canada, to Chris from Whitechapel who listens on the tube, to Lucy, Mick, Emmy and Holly Hanley from Saltash in Cornwall and to Mariana Amak- ah hold on, Mariana Amakazura in Baker Street, yeah okay very funny Mariana sake, oh wait Amekazura in Baker Street. Yeah, okay, very funny, Mariana. For sake. Ooh, wait. They reckon Abe was a stowaway on a cruise ship that was docked in Manhattan. Yes. That would certainly help sneak a gun into the United Kingdom, wouldn't it? Yeah, look, footage of him boarding the night before in the uniform of the cruise ship's staff.

That's crazy. So he stays aboard the ship, pretending to be staff, then it docks in Southampton. Watch this footage they found. What is it? Watch. Suitcase goes flying out the side of the ship as it comes into dock. Ready? Bang. There it goes. So he docks, gets off the ship and collects his case and gun from the sea later. How are you getting this footage? I got added to that WhatsApp with the ambassadors

and consulate officials and stuff. Pretty cool, innit? I mean, slightly concerning for national security, but otherwise, yes, cool. Should I message? Just give like a thumbs up. Why would you do that? Just like, Roger that, we're on the case, yeah?

Ah ha, maybe I should do like a thumbs up and then a little American flag. Please don't. Or a salute. Just no. No emojis. No communication is necessary. Well I have to thank them. This is helpful.

You know, they're counting on us, Sherlock. Err, okay, no, here we go. Thumbs up, American flag, and you can count on us. God bless America. Send. Yeah, they love all that God bless America stuff, you know, old Uncle Sam? I wouldn't be surprised if they called on us for other unsolved... They kicked me out. They kicked me out of the group. Nina's a doctor. Do you, erm, remember Nina?

Nina, yeah, with the double barrel name. Er, triple. Triple barrel, come on! Triple barrel. Nina Hartley Redfern-Kline. That's ridiculous. Yeah. Good doctor, though. Nina Hartley Redfern Klein. That's ridiculous. Yeah. Good doctor though. Yep, top of the class. Surprised you could even see her from the bottom.

Ha ha ha, shut up. She said there was an eight hour surgery. Not to remove the bullet. No, that's still in there. Bone fragments in the right frontal lobe, collapsed lateral ventricles, then an intra-cerebral hemorrhagic contusion. Yeesh. Yep. Otherwise known as yeesh.

Sherlock's sleeping well. Yeah, he didn't sleep at all last night. He was up all night with his dancing men. I should explain, I'm here with Stamo Hello! And we've got a little visit with Elsie in her room on an ICU ward in King's College Hospital. Boo! Sorry, that's, King's College Hospital is one of the main trauma centres in London. It's a lot. It is a lot, to be honest. She's quite a sight, surrounded by the very latest in cutting edge, life life-saving tech. Mr. Holmes is asleep in a chair against the wall. And yeah, we are planning our next moves, if we have any. Hmm, very well put.

Thanks. So he cracked the code then, the dancing men? Yeah, yep. Yeah, we found the guy a former stalker of hers. Out of prison, broke his parole, crossed the old Atlantic Ocean and found him. I want to break free. Prison blues. Beyond the sea. We'll meet again. Yeah, exactly. But the little Dancing Men, they corresponded to letters. He told her when he was going to come and save her, in his words.

We were too late. Well, it looks like Nina might have saved her. But... how much of her is left in there? Yeah, I mean, John, we're a long way from those kind of assessments. No I know I know but come on bullet in the head. Yeah. Weird feeling. What is? Being at the center of this big tragic thing that everyone's talking about. I bet, yeah. You doing alright? Yeah, no, God, yeah, er,

don't worry about me, I'm... I just feel like we could have done more. Just... those songs and the little dancing men, it didn't... it didn't seem so serious. Until it did. Until it did, yeah. And how's Sherlock doing?

He's in full Sherlock mode. But deep down, probably absolutely furious that his client is dead. Yeah, of course. How do you find someone this obsessed and irrational? And more to the point, what is Abe Slaney going to do now? What? Now she's... Well, yeah. The media have basically gone out and said that she's near enough dead. So what does a guy that's that unhinged do

when the focal point of his absolutely blistering, white-hot obsession puts a gun to her own head? What do you think he's going to? Like a mass shoot in or something? Well, I mean, he's armed, mate. He's armed and in London, and he's got nothing to lose, has he? We have to lure him to us. Ah, morning. Morning. How exactly do we lure him to us?

Check Mrs Hudson's message. Yeah, sorry, my mic is probably... Er... can you hear me now? Mm-hmm, I can hear you. Great, great. I'm here with Sherlock in the Hospital Cafe. Hello. Oh, hello you. Um, how... how is she doing? Hard to say, really. The, er...

The next big challenge is await, put it that way. You think brain damage? Highly likely, yeah. Hey, you okay? Mmm, yeah, just very intense. Okay, well, I won't keep Cynthia waiting any longer. Yes, hi, sorry, hi Cynthia. Hi.

I'm John Watts and this is Sherlock Holmes. So glad to meet you. I listen to your show. Oh, great! Yeah, I love it. My husband and I listen and it's just great. We love it. Oh, that's very kind of you. Thank you. Hey, could you, would you be able to sort of introduce who... That sounds a bit mean, doesn't it but um who are you basically? No that's absolutely fine my name is Dr. Cynthia Burnett I'm the... I'm a criminal psychologist but what's most pertinent to this case is I was the psychologist for the New York prosecutor's office in 2020 in the case against Abe Slaney.

So I provided the psych evaluation and the screening for his arrest. So yeah, I am one of the few Abe Slaney experts you can find. That's amazing. What can you tell us? Well, the most important thing to know is that apes-lainy is suffering with erotomania. Erotomania. Yeah, sometimes it's known as de Clarembeau's syndrome. The subject has a delusion, fundamentally, a very powerful delusion in which they believe that another person is in love with them. And it is very typical that this other person that they believe

is in love with them, that they have a higher social status. It's listed in the DSM-5 as a subtype of what would usually be classed as delusional disorders, but it's a paranoid condition. It's very severe in nearly all cases, and it can come on very suddenly, as we saw in 2020 with Abe. And the course of the condition is chronic. This isn't going away anytime soon. Right. Right.

Right. So the thing to note here is that the the erotic manic individual will often perceive that they're being sent messages from the secret admirer. It'll always be, from what we know, to be fairly innocuous events and happenings. But in Abe and Elsie's case, he was nearly always reading into her music, into her media appearances. He was absorbing the material and her persona in a completely erotic way.

He believes, and I've no doubt about this at all, he believes that everything she's done, recorded or even said has been a coded message to him about their relationship. I'm sad to say, like, I'm really, it hurts me to come to this point, but I'm the least surprised person in the world that her manager's dead. Hilton Qubit?

Yeah. Why's that? Because he would perceive Hilton as coming between them. In a competitive sense. Yes, but remember, Abe believes Elsie is reaching out to him, speaking to him through song, and Abe sees himself as her savior, as the person that can rescue her from Hilton Cupid. I will save you. What was that?

It was in his coded message to her. Right. Right. I mean, yeah, I wish I was surprised and caught off guard by this, but I'm not. I'm just not. You're gonna steal my love You're gonna steal my love I'm gonna steal my love You're a criminal

Hiding in the corner like an animal Waiting to come out for the kill I got nowhere to hide I got nowhere to hide Erotomania, Declarembo's Syndrome John Hinckley Jr, of course Reagan's attempted assassin Yeah, had a fixation on Jodie Foster Was trying to impress her

By assassinating a president Correct So who's De Clarembeau then? Fourth of December, Paris 1920. A woman in her early 50s who appears somewhat agitated, gets off an underground train and addresses two gendarmes. She says she's being followed, she demands their protection. Jesus, she becomes so agitated that she starts attacking them, beating them in the face. She's arrested, taken to a psychiatric crisis centre. She is interviewed by a man. He records her name, Lea Anna B, 53 years of age,

jots down a few characteristics of her delusion. She believes that the King of England, George V, is in love with her, and that strangers are trying to rob her of her money. The doctor refers her to the psychiatric institution, St Anne. A certificate of admission is signed by Dr. de Clarembe. She would stand outside Buckingham Palace believing that the King was communicating to her through code. What sort of code? Er, the movement of curtains in the windows signifying messages of love, promises that

they'd be together, declarations of sexual desires. And this, Watson, is where I need some help. Well, I don't think anyone's peering through our windows, mate, to be honest. No. We need to construct a code from Elsie to Abe. Sorry, what? She's in an ICU, Sherlock. Why would she be communicating? That's what we must portray in our message. To lure him in. That the media is wrong. She didn't shoot herself. She is in hiding. And awaiting her rescuer. But he was there. Not according to D.I. Martin. Abe Slaney fled when security arrived.

And security witnessed her shoot herself. We lure him to us. Exactly. Watson, it's time to make some music. Ho-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti. Where are you playing keyboard, Wiggins? Why would you? Yep, fair point. Okay, again. Fossolati Where are you playing keyboard Wiggins? Why would you? Yep, fair point.

Okay, again. Go ready, Fossolati Come way off man! I am trying my best. Well can you try better? There's a fucking gun man on the loose pal. This is not my strong suit. I deduce, I have... Well can you deduce that There's a fucking gun man on the loose pal! This is not my strong suit. I deduce I have- Well can you deduce that you're out of tune? Fuck. Right, you try.

Yeah Wiggins, we've done this mate. I can't do it. Oh for god's sake. Do you know anybody that can sing? Errr... actually? I've got all my life to live and I've got all my love to give. I will survive. Sing it out of ya! I will survive! Hey it out to ya. I will survive.

Hey. Yes. The Thanks for watching!