The story starts out by showing Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson in their chambers as Sherlock is playing his violine and Dr. Watson is typing his manifests. At that moment Mrs. Hudson walks in and brings them their tea and has a short conversation with Dr. Watson and as she is leaving she remembers that there had been a telegram delivered for Mr. Holmes earlier. At the moment when she tries handing of the letter to Dr. Watson Sherlock snatches the letter from her hands. After reading the telegram for a while Dr. Watson asks Sherlock what the message is about and Sherlock tells Watson that Scotland Yard has a case that they need help with and they are they need to leave at once.
They arrive at an old mansion and are grated by Lady Duncan the wife of a once very wealthy industrialist Sir Milton Duncan who had gone missing a few days ago. Scotland Yard was unable to find any information on his disappearance or whereabouts so they sent for Mr. Holmes.
After talking with Lady Duncan Sherlock was able to deduce that her husband had meat with a mysterious gentleman called Spider that people turned to when they were so deeply in dept that they could not repay what they owed. Lady Duncan had told Sherlock that Milton and the mysterious gentleman meat in the old greenhouse behind the mansion.
Sherlock decided that Lady Duncan could not be of any further assistance and proceeded with Dr. Watson to take a look at old greenhouse to see if there are any clues that might indicate where Sir Milton could have gone. After searching the greenhouse Sherlock was able to find a peace of paper with some red residue and the written inscription "Meet me at 9pm".
They both return to Baker Street where Sherlock proceeds to conduct his experiments as Dr. Watson doses off to sleep.
After carefully studying all of the evidence Sherlock discovers where Sir Duncan must have gone and wakes up Watson in a haste as they proceed to the city where Sherlock is reluctant to tell Watson where they are going in such a haste in the middle of the night. Watson insists that Sherlock reveals how hi was able to deduce where they needed to go. Sherlock reveals to him that the red substance was red phosphors and that only one factory in the whole of London produce the substance for match production and that the factory closes at 9pm.
They quickly continue on to the street where the factory is located where they investigate for clues and just as Sherlock finds a pocket watch with the inscription "J.M." written inside Dr. Watson gets lured away by the sound of a gunshot and galloping horses in the distance.
As he leaves to investigate Sherlock gets assaulted by a dark figure from the shadows and gets hit in the back of the head and tumbles to the ground.
As Watson returns to find an empty alley he begins to search for Sherlock and finds only Sherlock's magnifying glass but no sign of Sherlock and at that moment it is revealed that both Sherlock and Watson are just children playing a game in the dark street and one of them has gotten lost.
They are both just children and Mrs. Hudson is their mother and once they visit their aunt they decide to go to the street and play their pretend game. As one of the boys get's lost in the street a dark stranger appears to the seems to be watching them in the form of James Moriarty.
