The Adventure of the Empty House: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery

On the night of 30 March, an apparently unsolvable locked-room murder takes place in London: the killing of the Honourable Ronald Adair.Holmes reunites with Watson.

Sebastian Moran is arrested. Dr. Watson visits the murder scene. He runs into an elderly deformed book collector, later revealed as Sherlock Holmes in disguise. Contrary to what Watson believed, Holmes won against Professor Moriarty at Reichenbach Falls, explaining that he spent the next few years travelling to various parts of the world.

That evening, they enter an abandoned building known as Camden House whose front room overlooks Baker Street. Holmes's room can be seen across the street. In the window is a lifelike waxwork bust of Holmes in profile. At approximately midnight, a sniper, who has taken the bait, fires a specialised air gun, scoring a direct hit on Holmes's dummy. Inspector Lestrade arrests the gunman, who is revealed as Colonel Sebastian Moran, Adair's whist partner and murderer. Holmes describes Moran as having been 'the second most dangerous man in London' while Moriarty was still alive.

Holmes speculates that Adair had caught Moran cheating at cards, and threatened to expose his dishonourable behaviour. Moran, who earned a living playing cards crookedly, got rid of the one man who could rob him of his livelihood.