But there is no such evidence.

It may have been cut off after death, and there is where the real significance of its absence lies." "I don't quite see what you mean," said Jervis.
"I mean that, if there is no report of any missing man who had lost that particular finger, the probability is that the finger was removed after death.

And then arises the interesting question of motive.

Why should it have been removed?
It could hardly have become detached accidentally.
What do you suggest ?" "Well," said Jervis, "it might have been a peculiar finger; a finger, for instance, with some characteristic deformity, such as an ankylosed joint, which would be easy to identify." "Yes; but that explanation introduces the same difficulty.

No person with a deformed or ankylosed finger has been reported as missing." Jervis puckered up his brows and looked at me.
"I'm hanged if I see any other explanation," he said.