Holmes said nothing and continued to survey the scene before us. Mayburn continued to talk without noticing: "In point of fact, except for our victim, there is nothing significant here." Holmes suddenly looked up at him: "What of those two sheets of paper caught in the lily pads?"

Following Holmes' nod, my attention was diverted to two watersoaked pieces of paper floating at the other end of the pond. "We noticed those," Mayburn said quickly, "but figured they were merely ordinary writing papers blown about by the wind. As far as one of my men could ascertain, they were blank, so they were not important."

"I should not be so quick to dismiss them as part of the refuse, my dear inspector," Holmes reprimanded. "Even from this distance I can see that their size is larger than ordinary notepaper."

Holmes walked briskly to the innocently-floating items, and we followed behind, almost comically, as we attempted to keep in his vocal range. He stopped at the water's edge and bent down to retrieve the floaters.

"I believe this suggests a link to the victim, inspector. The pages are blank because the ink that was there was washed off. See? You can make out the impressions ever so faintly. Now, if you could instruct your men to look about the place for similar sheets, it may prove instructive."

After a few minutes, there was a call from beyond the surrounding hedge. Someone had found a similar piece of paper that proved to be sheet music. He was holding it up as if showing off his prize. When we arrived at the man's side, Holmes had a smile on his face.

"There, Watson!" he said to me. "This piece is intact, and this writing -- a staff and notes -- is extremely clear. It is a very strange piece, though. Yes, this confuses me, I confess." He looked at the crinkled paper in his hand and then looked at me.

"Yes," he added, "I know a little something of music...being a violinist, as you know...but this piece is unique. Nothing I recognize, and the placement of the notes...disturbs me. I can't say how just yet, however."

He turned to Mayburn. "Inspector, if it is all the same to you, I would like to retain this for further analysis."

At Mayburn's affirmative, Holmes added, "And now I would like to interview this Jerren Eideard."

Proceed to Part Three