In London in 1881, an Afghanistan veteran shares lodgings on Baker Street with a strange man. The man has frequent, odd visitors and is very private. One morning, Inspector Lestrade of Scotland Yard appears in the mens' home. He has come to seek the help of the strange man, who turns out to be a consulting detective. The detective has no qualms about discussing Lestrade's case in front of the veteran, and soon all three men head off to a crime scene at Shoreditch. They arrive at a cheap rooming house, and inside, they find a slain body. The body is not human, but royal — its blood is emerald. Lestrade reveals that the dead individual is Prince Franz Drago of Bohemia, who was in town to visit Her Majesty Victoria. Over the next several days, the veteran observes the detective coming and going in all manner of disguises. Late one afternoon, the detective invites the veteran along to the theater. The detective has gone to other places which Prince Franz frequented while in London — brothels and gambling dens — and this theater is another destination which the detective believes the Prince visited. After the show, the detective and veteran go backstage and speak with a man named Sherry Vernet. The detective pretends to be a theater recruiter and invites Vernet and his friend over to his home the next morning to discuss a future venture. On their cab ride home, the detective reveals to the veteran that he believes Vernet and the friend to be the men implicated in the Prince's murder. The next morning, the detective, the veteran, and Inspector Lestrade wait for Vernet and his friend to arrive at Baker Street. While they wait, the detective reveals that he believes the two men to be Restorationists — men who believes the royals' power is illegitimate. However, Vernet and his friend never show — instead, a messenger delivers a letter from Vernet. He writes to the detective that he and his accomplice did indeed murder the Prince, but they know who the detective is and they will never be found. Months later, the veteran still believes that the matter will not end until either Vernet or the detective has killed the other.