A Caper in Fabel

"I see," I replied, a little bewildered. I picked up the photo and examined it closely, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. "I see an eye surrounded by white. What's this supposed to be? A shot of the killer?" "No," she shook her head, "look closer." I did, but to no avail. "This picture's a blur. Just tell me what it is...or...what you think it is." "You know how the story ends?" she asked, making quotation marks with her fingers around the word story. "Yeah, you mean the whole bit about how they couldn't put him back together again?" "Yes, well, that is no more than propaganda circulated by the King's Horses." "So they put him back together?" "No, they gathered the pieces and took Humpty to the castle, where they've been working on putting him back together again for the past five years. They claim the job is taking so long because they don’t have all of the pieces. Apparently some have gone missing.” "Big egg, millions of tiny pieces. Maybe he's just one hard jigsaw puzzle?" I challenged, playing devil's advocate. "I think not." "What makes you so sure?" "This picture," she said, holding the photo in front of me then rotating it clockwise. "It was taken from inside the castle and left on my porch with a note. The note explained that Humpty's pieces are being kept in a private laboratory where no one is allowed except those who are supposedly putting him together. This photo is of Humpty’s face, minus his mouth, one eye, and a variety of assorted shell pieces." “Oh, I see it now.” I scratched my head in contemplation. "Eyes, ears, nose, mouth," I said to myself. "You always put the easiest parts of the puzzle together first, and it seems to me the face would be the place to start." I paused. She nodded in agreement. "So where are the missing pieces?" Again, she shifted in her seat. At that point I could tell her shifting was a sign that she had something more to say. She unstrapped her purse and sat it on my desk. "What is it?" I asked. With a quick flip of her paw she tipped the purse over. Nothing could have prepared me for what came sliding out and lay spinning on the edge of my desk. The eye of Humpty Dumpty.