Storytime! The Adventure Of The Speckled Band

As usual, the Supervisor was nearly invisible behind his newspaper, and showed no signs of noticing Izzy's presence until she was within feet of him.

"Ah, good morning, Miss S," he said.

Izzy waited, but as ever he wasn't giving anything away.

"Anything special today?" she asked.

"Nothing much. Little Donna's parents were so impressed with how we looked after her that they're entrusting her to our care again..."

Izzy briefly conjured up the mental image of the sugar-crazed tantrum thrower whom she and the other staff had inevitably nicknamed 'Prima'.

"... Oh yes, and do you happen to have a secret admirer?"

"What?"

"A parcel arrived, addressed to you."

Izzy looked around.

"Where is it?"

"Out in the lobby." And hearing no further questions, the Supervisor returned to his reading.

Izzy glanced over the contents of the package in some perplexity. A letter of apology, for 'any disruption' that Doctor Watson and his colleague may have caused on their recent visit. Plus a box of sugar comfits, and... a book. She drew the slim volume out, and glanced at the flyleaf. "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" - a modern paperback copy rather than a valuable first edition, but at least Watson had autographed it.

Still, the children would be arriving shortly, so these things had to be got out of the way at once. In short order the letter was pinned to the notice board, the book quickly pushed into the bookcase, and the sweets locked in the Supervisor's desk until time could be found to analyse them and see if they were safe to eat. Or they could just feed one to baby Jack, of course.

- * -

And now, once again, it was story time. The children were already assembling round her, and she reached for the storybook, wondering what it would come up with this time. As she pulled it out, a single sheet of paper floated down to the ground.

Izzy snatched it up. It was the flyleaf from the new book, still bearing Doctor Watson's signature. Must have been a very cheap binding, she thought, looking up at the bookcase. But hang on, where's the rest of it?

With increasing unease, she looked along each shelf in turn. But the "Adventures" were nowhere to be seen. And finally, her attention turned back to the storybook. It definitely had even more pages in it than last time. Her heart sank.

The children were getting restless, and she had to do something. As so often happened, the storybook fell open in her hands - this time on a page that looked suspiciously new.

"The Adventure Of The Speckled Band," she read.