Then, Bones did an astonishing thing. Based on observations I could barely understand or follow, he somehow gave a full physical description of the murderer along with details about the mode of transportation the murderer had used to get to the scene of the crime. He made these deductions, he said, based on evidence he’d seen outside the abandoned house as well as evidence on the dusty floors inside—length of stride and its relationship to height, followed by a whole bunch of other things. Then he mentioned a cab, as he had to me earlier, and said something about two men arriving as friends but not remaining so.

“I wonder what happened?” he mused, paw to lip, considering.

I suppose I could have paid more attention, but I was very hungry. Not to mention that the body was still right there, and I was so far overdue for my nap I couldn’t think straight.

“Didn’t anyone else notice this?” Bones said, shifting the body a bit more to uncover a bright, shiny object.

I must confess, I’ve been known to get distracted by bright, shiny objects. By squirrels, too.

“What’s that?” Inspector Strange asked.

“Obviously,” Bones said, “it’s a woman’s gold wedding ring. You can tell it’s a woman’s from the size of the ring hole.” He held it up to one eye, peering at us through the hole, showing us it was a simple gold band with no further adornment.

“Great,” I said. “So a woman was here too.”

“Not necessarily,” Bones said. “Just because a woman’s ring is here, it doesn’t necessarily follow that the woman was.”

“Right,” I said. “Now that that’s settled, I think I’ll go home for my nap.”

“Not so fast,” Bones said. “I need you to come with me.”

“Not another dead body,” I groaned.

“Of course not,” Bones said, which he quickly amended to, “at least, I hope not.” He turned to Inspector Strange. “Can you tell me the name of the person who first discovered, er, John Smith?”

Inspector Strange named some constable, a constable being what your basic police officers are called in this part of the world. But honestly, at this point, in my sleep-deprived state, it was just gibberish to me.

“Come along, Catson,” Bones said with an annoying level of energy.

“Where are we going now?” I grumbled.

“To see Gibberish, of course,” Bones said.

Did he really say that, or did I just imagine it?