The Adventure of the Bones of Contention

A pale, sickly man arrives at Baker Street and hurriedly carries a suitcase up to Holmes' flat. So winded is the man, he can but shake hands before flopping upon the couch gasping for air.

"You would be archeologist Clayton Heelwright," states Holmes, surprising both Watson and the visitor.

"How do you know?" queries the guest.

"Elementary," replies Holmes, lighting his pipe with a flourish. "The bone dust under your finger nails reveals your occupation, and the customs marks on your suitcase disclose that you have just returned from Sumatra. If the newspapers can be believed, you found what may be the oldest evidence of mankind, a skeleton called Sumatra Man. It seems, judging from your pallor, you also found a touch of malaria in those jungles. I can only assume by your appearance here that something has happened to your discovery."

"Yes," gasps Heelwright, "We arrived at the Docks last night. My assistant, James Archibald, and I were transporting two packing cases across the Park when our wagon was struck and overturned by a carriage driven by Thomas Ballford, the actor."

"We righted the wagon, reloaded the cases and continued to the Museum. Curator Raymond MacDoodle took Archibald and myself to the Boar's Head for brandy while MacDoodle's maintenance man Sheffington, set about adjusting the heating ducts in the exhibit room."

"Quite," says Holmes. "It is important for ancient artifacts to be kept at the proper temperature". "From the Boar's Head we went to the Hotel to meet Toby Scribbler, an artifacts expert whom MacDoodle had invited to view and authenticate the Sumatra bones. At the Hotel, we learned that Scribbler had already set out for the Museum, so we proceeded there." "When we were finally all together at the Museum, we opened the packing cases to show the skeleton to Toby Scribbler, but the Sumatra bones were gone! All that remained were some miscellaneous artifacts. When I asked MacDoodle who was London's best detective he directed me to you". "Intelligent man, MacDoodle," muses Watson.