[Monk, Natalie, Stottlemeyer and Disher are at the crime lab examining the finger]
Are you ready?
It is a left pinkie, belonging to a male Caucasian, about 25 years old. So far, there's no match on the fingerprint. The digit was severed earlier today, we figure around 8:00 AM, with some kind of gardening instrument, like pruning shears.
[disgusted] He cut up a whole body with pruning shears?
Nope, maybe they just cut off the fingers, that way when they dump the body later, there'll be no prints.
[Monk uses a set of tongs to grab the finger and holds it parallel to his left hand]
There's a callus.
That's true, we think he might have played guitar. [Monk holds the finger at an angle to approximate where a guitar-player would place it]
No, not guitar. It's at the wrong angle: he played the violin. [finds some sticky stuff on the finger] There's some residue. It's sticky.
Tree sap. Lumberjack. Missing nine-fingered lumberjack. [starts writing in his notepad]
Who plays the violin.
Should I put a list together?
Absolutely! Make sure you don't run out of paper.
It's not tree sap. We already ran it; the main component is abietic acid.
Abietic acid? It's violin rosin.
I think that's pretty expensive rosin. It's for professionals.
So, professional - or at least, very serious - violinist, 25 years of age, who is missing.
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