Sherlock contronts his father Morland regarding the assassination attempt made on Morland, which resulted in the death of an innocent woman. While Morland insists that he's dealt with the threat, Sherlock refuses to believe him and decides to look into it on his own.

He attempts to speak with Interpol Agent Lukas Muller, who is on the take, but is soundly rebuffed, much to Sherlock's surprise. Sherlock then realizes that Morland thought that Sherlock himself was behind the assassination attempt. Sherlock assures Morland that if Sherlock here trying to kill him, he'd be dead.

Sherlock also figures out that Muller's precessessor at Interpol was spying on Morland for the assassin and was killed to tie up loose ends. He declares his intention to investigate the the case because of the attempt to besmirch his reputation.

Meanwhile, Joan investigates a corrupt for-profit university targeting ex-cons and giving them loans they'll inevitably default on. Two people (one of whom brought the case to them in the first place) are murdered. She and Sherlock eventually realize that Wilson Trager, who runs the university, was acting through his nephew, the loan officer, to target criminals whose "talents" they needed to cover up their corrupt enterprise.