Perhaps it is just not all a roll of the die
I’m going to mention some stuff related to Sherlock Season 2, A Scandal in Belgravia. 1 If you haven’t seen it, skip the rest of this post.
First, after a re-re-watch, I need to correct my statement that it was not Addler who called Moriarty at the pool. Right after the pool we see someone who can only be Addler hang up a phone and walk into a room.
Second, Moriarty’s phone rang with “Stayin’ Alive.” Given Addler was whimsical enough to put a special ringtone in Sherlock’s phone and given her acquaintance with Moriarty, what are the chances that Addler put that song in Moriarty’s phone? This would explain Moriarty’s extreme displeasure with the phone ringing, as well as his decision to take that phone call at that time. If it was his mum, he probably wouldn’t have bothered taking it. It had to be someone important to him. The song is strangely befitting Addler lifestyle – she wishes to make her way in the world and misbehave and, in Mycroft’s words, “she will survive” or, to put it another way, she’ll keep “stayin’ alive.”
Third, why did Addler get involved with Sherlock at all? Let’s assume for the sake of argument (A) Addler was the one who called Moriarty and (B) she was calling him with a proposal to use Sherlock to unlock the cypher/code from her e-mail. Putting Sherlock’s mind to use for nefarious purposes would seem to be a sufficient reason to spare Sherlock’s life. I can almost picture the other side to the conversation. This means she was running this con on Sherlock would involve placing the phone in his hands, getting chased by the Americans, faking her death, getting Sherlock to decipher the e-mail, and then blackmailing the British government – possibly getting paid by Moriarty as well. However, Addler suggests at the end that Moriarty didn’t want anything – he just wanted to cause trouble. Why, then, did Addler send Moriarty the text revealing the nature of the deciphered e-mail? To cause trouble? Did it benefit Moriarty at the same time as it allowed Addler to demonstrate the power and authenticity of the information in her control to Mycroft? I suppose Addler could have been lying about Moriarty not wanting anything or it may not have been her calling Moriarty at the pool – but in either case, the rest of the conclusions and explanations for actions seem to fall apart.