 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'.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.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.