Old man Simpson slowly walked to his barn and stopped as he noticed the entry door was slightly ajar. The grizzled farmer balled up his hands and approached the barn, "Who's in there?" he shouted. Only the pigeons heard him as the lifted to the sky. Still not satisfied that one one was in the barn, he grabbed hold of the rake near the door, before he entered, "I said, who's in here?" he shouted again. His eyes had not yet adjusted to the darkness within the large wooden structure, so he proceeded with caution, holding the rake like a baseball bat.

Simpson moved slowly along the stalls, when he saw the tan coloured sack on the floor. He thought nothing of it at the time, instead he was looking around the interior of the barn. Not paying much attention to where he stepped, the next thing he came upon was the shrunken head. His foot hit it as he walked, causing to to bounce across the wooden floor like a coconut. He stopped and paused, looking at the object, squinting to see what it was.

Still being cautious, Simpson moved closer to the object, before he swooped down and picked it up. The long black hair covered the tiny face with sewn-shut eyes and mouth. "What the hell is this?" he asked aloud as he flicked his wrist to move the long hair. There staring back at his was the shrunken head! "GAAAAAAAA!" Simpson shouted as he flung the head back to the floor and hastily made his way out of the building, as quickly as his old legs wound move.

Once back to the farm house, he wrapped his right arm around the veranda post, as he panted, trying to catch his breath. He was still uncertain if anyone was in the barn, and after seeing what he did, he didn't care either. His mind raced for what to do, but all he could focus on for the moment was the tiny tanned face. Perhaps, he thought he should inform the police, before someone else found the head and accused him of doing it to someone. That meant a trip to the constabulary, for he had no telephone.

Stumped about the missing body, Murdoch and Brackenreid made their way back to Station House No. 4 to resume what investigation they could with the list of missing artifacts and the swatch of cloth that was found clenched in Maxwell Best's hand.

"I don't believe this," the Inspector grumbled as they walked up the steps into the station house. "I've never seen a dead man go missing," he said as he shook his head in disbelief.

"It is a puzzlement for sure," Murdoch admitted. Even with his calculating mind, he had no answers or theories as to how Maxwell Best went missing. "I'm sure there's a reasonable answer," he added as they passed by the desk sergeant on their way to their respective offices.

Constable George Crabtree caught sight of the two men out of the corner of his eye, and was quick to his feet to cut them off before they got too much further. He was thankful that Mrs. Best remained seated, with her back to the door to in the Detective's office. Clearly George was agitated about something. "What is it George?" Murdoch asked, noticing the Constable's state.

George looked at the Inspector and then the Detective, then with a quick glance over his shoulder to Murdoch's office before he looked back at the Detective. George wet his lips, "It's Mrs. Best. She's come here to report her husband, Councillor Maxwell Best, missing," Crabtree reported.

Brackenreid's eyes widened, "Can this day get any worse?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Let's hope not," Murdoch lamented. The detective straightened his back and slowly walked to his office to meet with Mrs. Best. The Inspector followed along. The both walked like condemned men. Murdoch entered his office and removed his hat, placing on the rack just inside the office door, "Mrs. Best?" he asked extending his hand to the woman seated in the chair in front of his desk.

"Detective?" she gently shook his hand.

"Yes, ma'am. William Murdoch. This is Inspector Brackenreid," the Detective introduced his boss. Brackenreid smiled, "Madam," he said.

Mrs. Best looked somewhat confused, "Why is the Inspector here? Nothing is wrong, is there?"

Murdoch felt like his shirt collar just tightened and gave a quick glance to his boss. Brackenreid wore a somewhat panicked look on his face.

Murdoch sat down on the corner of his desk, "Constable Crabtree said that your husband is missing," he said in a caring tone.

"Yes! He never came home last night, and he's never done that before. Of course I am quite worried," Mrs. Best exclaimed.

"Did your husband have any meetings?" the Inspector asked.

"He said something of one, but that was early in the evening. He should have been home before nine, I should think," Mrs. Best sternly answered.

"Has your husband ever had any medical occurrences?" Murdoch then asked.

"What ever do you mean? Where is Maxwell?" Mrs. Best stood up, glaring at the two men. Being a gentleman, Murdoch stood up from the corner of his desk.

"We honestly don't know," Murdoch stated.

"Well you will find him, won't you?" Mrs. Best's eyes darted between the two men.

"We will, Madame," Brackenreid promised.

Mrs. Best said nothing more. She curtly turned on her heels and left the office, "Is everyone around here incompetent?" she asked aloud. Brackenreid's eyebrows lifted, "If our work wasn't cut out for us before, it sure as bloody hell is now," he said watching the woman leave the station. She was in such a dither, she almost walked into farmer Simpson as he made his way into the station. As Mrs. Best bowled past him, he shook his head at the woman with her nose in the air.

Simpson stopped at the desk, "I need to talk to a policeman," he gruffly stated.

The desk sergeant pointed to the bullpen, again.

Again, Crabtree spotted the visitor. "Incoming," he reported aloud. Both Murdoch and Brackenreid watched on from the office. Clearly the old farmer was worked up about something. He was describing what he found in his barn to Crabtree and Higgins. The two Constable kept exchanging glances; that was enough to pique Murdoch's interest. "What's going on?" he asked as h left his office, joining the two Constables. Brackenreid followed him.

"Farmer Simpson said he found something unusual in his barn this morning," Crabtree explained.

"Oh?" Murdoch said as he looked at the farmer. "What was it?"

"I rightly don't know," Simpson explained.

"Well, then how do you know it's unusual?" Brackenreid quipped.

"Because it looked like a little human head, but it was all shrived up and has long hair," the framer stated. "It was ghastly looking for sure," he added.

Brackenreid made a face, "A shrived human head? What have you been drinking?" the Inspector asked.

Murdoch thought for a moment and pulled the paper from his breast pocket that he got from the dean at the university. He quickly unfurled it and scanned the list of missing items. He slowly looked up at his boss and then to the other men in the room, "I do believe it's known as a shrunken head, Sir," he said flatly as he showed the list to everyone. Crabtree's mouth dropped open in awe.