Posing as "Sigerson", Vernet had briefly corresponded with the detective, offering suggestions for future undercover work and complimenting him on several papers the detective had written, including "The Dynamics of an Asteroid". Vernet possesses considerable deductive skill, having deduced that the detective was not who he claimed to be. Vernet lured the German noble to the Whitechapel rooms and turned the noble over to his accomplice, who committed the actual murder. He reveals what he has deduced: that Vernet is a seditionary "restorationist", an anarchist who believes that the Old Ones are not the benevolent rulers they claim, but vicious, soul-destroying monsters from whom Humanity must be freed. Agreeing to meet the detective in his rooms, Vernet seemingly does not suspect a thing the detective promptly summons Lestrade, intending to have Vernet arrested. Posing as a theatrical agent offering to take the show to the New World, the detective meets Vernet and quickly determines that he and another, a man with a limp and skill with surgical equipment, were present in the room where the German noble died. A "tall, languid" man, Vernet stars in three productions, including a historical narrative depicting the war between Humanity and the Great Old Ones. The investigation takes the detective and the veteran to a music hall show, starring a noted actor called Sherry Vernet. As payment for his service, the Queen heals the veteran's withered shoulder with a touch. The Queen, one of the Great Old Ones who defeated Humanity 700 years ago and now rule the world, consults with them about the affair. After investigating the murder scene (where the detective correctly deduces that the victim is an alien noble from Germany, owing to his inhuman appearance and number of limbs), and puzzling over the word Rache scrawled onto the wall in the victim's blood (echoing a scene from A Study in Scarlet), they are taken to the Palace. Early on in their acquaintance, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard arrives at their lodgings in Baker Street with a matter of extreme and delicate urgency regarding a brutal murder in a Whitechapel slum, and the detective is to be hired to solve the case.
Seeking lodgings upon his return to England (or "Albion", as it is referred to throughout the story), he meets and strikes up a friendship with a man who possesses extraordinary insight and deductive skill, and who puts this ability to use in the service of the police as a 'consulting detective'. The story begins with its (as yet) unnamed narrator, a veteran of a bloody war against the "gods and men of Afghanistan", where he has been brutally tortured and his arm injured, setting the scene for things to come.
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