by Erika McGann
Mr Klein pointed to the door and Ms Barnes nodded. He turned her wheelchair, and the two of them made their way into the centre.
‘Must be going to lunch together,’ said Nicholas. ‘She must really hate that necklace.’
I rolled my eyes. ‘I know you love it when I’m wrong, but I don’t care this time cos that was sweet.’
‘It was sweet,’ said Lex.
‘You looked in all your nests yet?’
‘No. Have you looked in any?’
Lex doesn’t usually get smart with me, so I thought I’d better get to my feet and do some work.
Magpie nests are pretty impressive. From below they just look like a mess of twigs jammed into a fork in a branch, but when you get right next to them and look inside, the twigs are all flattened and smooth, like the inside of a cup. It does look like a comfy place to park your bum.
I didn’t see any eggs in any of my nests – maybe it wasn’t egg-time for magpies – but I did see a few weird-looking creepy crawlies on the trunk of the tree and the branches. Ugh.
I’d been very high up in the tree for a while, and my arms were even more tired from holding on for so long. I started feeling a little shaky too, so decided it was time to get down.
‘Did anyone find a locket?’ I called out before I started the climb down.
‘Nope,’ said Nicholas.
‘Not me,’ said Lex.
‘Me neither,’ I said. ‘I didn’t find anything shiny in any of the nests. Maybe that thing about magpies stealing shiny things is not true at all – maybe the poor, innocent magpies are getting blamed for nothing.’
‘Must be a human one then,’ said Nicholas.
‘Huh?’
‘A human magpie. That stole the locket.’
‘Oh. Yeah.’
We were back to square one.
‘There’s Carmella,’ Lex said, pointing across the garden.
I felt bad. Carmella looked happy as she strolled along the path, but I knew that soon she’d look for her locket again and she wouldn’t be.
She leaned over to smell the yellow roses near the door. I frowned.
‘I’ve seen her do that before.’
‘What?’ asked Lex.
‘Lean over to smell the roses.’
We watched as Carmella leaned so far down that her forehead touched the petals.
‘You know, if she was wearing her locket right now,’ said Nicholas, ‘it would be hanging down, and could easily catch on something.’
‘Like a thorn,’ I said, ‘or on a tangle of leaves or stems.’
‘And then when she stood up straight–’
‘The chain would snap, and bam!’
‘Lost locket.’ Nicholas smiled.
I forgot how tired I was as the three of us scuttled down from the trees and raced to the rose bush by the door. We got scratched by thorns and clung to by vines as we scoured the soil, but we didn’t find anything.
‘Oh well,’ Nicholas said, ‘it was a good idea.’
As Lex climbed out of the rose bush next to me, a yellow rose snapped back and hit me in the face. A light bulb lit up in my brain.
‘Better than good,’ I said. ‘It was a brilliant idea!’
‘But we didn’t find the locket.’
‘Yes we did. I know exactly where Carmella’s locket is.’
Chapter Fifteen
‘Good afternoon, Mr Fox.’
Mr Fox had the perfect name for a locket thief – because he was so crafty. Like a fox.
We were waiting outside his room after lunch when he came walking along the corridor.
‘The one who likes magpies,’ Mr Fox said drily as he opened his door.
‘I do like magpies,’ I said, ‘but today … um, can we come in?’
‘If you must.’
‘But today,’ I said, strolling into the room with Lex and Nicholas following behind, ‘I’m after a different kind of magpie.’
‘Is that right?’
‘It is.’ I waited for him to ask more, but he didn’t. ‘It’s you, Mr Fox. You’re the magpie.’
‘Mm.’
He didn’t sound at all interested. That annoyed me. I pointed a finger at the huge paper yellow rose on his wall.
‘That,’ I said, ‘is Carmella’s locket.’
He finally turned around and looked.
‘That’s a rose.’
‘In the centre, the gold bit. That’s Carmella’s locket.’ I walked closer. ‘You know, when I first saw it I just presumed it was gold paint, but now I know better. That’s actual gold.’
‘It’s a gold coin,’ Mr Fox replied. ‘I got it in a car boot sale.’
I looked closer at the golden circle that sat at the centre of those curling paper petals.
‘It’s got a tiny hinge on one side,’ I said. ‘It’s a locket.’
‘It’s my locket.’ Mr Fox wasn’t ruffled at all. ‘My sister gave it to me.’
I looked closer at the golden circle. There was the faintest hint of an engraving – nearly worn away – but it was there.
‘There’s a fancy ‘C’ engraved on the locket. It’s Carmella’s.’
‘My first name is Clarence.’
‘No, it’s not,’ I snapped, finally losing my patience. ‘Your first name is … ugh, I can’t remember, but it starts with an ‘E’ or something. It’s definitely not Clarence anyway. I can check with my dad.’
At last, Mr Fox seemed to give in.
‘Fine. I found the locket–’
‘In the yellow rose bush, I know.’
He finally looked impressed at my detective skills.
‘It was just sitting there in the soil, and I was missing a centre for my rose. It was perfect.’
‘It was Carmella’s.’
‘I didn’t know whose it was. Thought maybe a magpie dropped it.’
‘So did we!’ Lex said. ‘Well, we’d thought maybe a magpie had stolen it. That’s so funny that we thought the same thing.’
‘Anyway Mr Fox,’ I said, giving Lex a look, ‘you know who it belongs to now. So give it back.’
Mr Fox took one last look at the paper rose, then he picked up a scalpel from his desk and carefully prised the golden locket out of its centre. The curly paper petals drooped, and he very gently pushed each of them back into place as if he didn’t want to hurt them. When the locket was finally out, the rose looked kind of sad and empty, and I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Mr Fox.
But I refused to be nice about it – he was a thief after all (kind of). I snatched the locket, nodded to Lex and Nicholas, and walked out of the room.
Operation Stolen Locket
SOLVED
On the way to the sitting room, I peeled off the last few bits of paper still stuck to the locket.
Carmella sat in her usual armchair.
‘Hi, Carmella,’ I said as Lex and Nicholas perched on arm and the back of the chair next to her, ‘look what we found.’
‘My locket!’ Carmella beamed and took it in her hands as if it was the most precious thing in the world. ‘Did I drop it?’
‘Out in the rose bush,’ Nicholas said with a wink.
‘In the garden? What am I like? Thanks very much for picking it up, I’d be lost without it.’
‘I know you would,’ I said.
‘You know,’ said Carmella, ‘you remind me a bit of my Freddie. Do you know her? She’s such a divil.’
‘So I’ve heard.’
‘Want to see a picture?’
I smiled at her and nodded. She opened the locket and showed me the photo she’d shown me a hundred times before.
‘Why are we going back to Rowan Tree Manor?’ asked Nicholas as we made our way from Berbel Street later that day.
I was trying not to grin, but I had a little knot of excitement in my tummy.
‘Because,’ I said, ‘I think I might have solved Operation Catch the Cheating Cheaty Cheaters.’
‘You mean Operation Weather Vane.’
‘Are y
ou talking about Operation Scavenger Hunt?’ asked Lex.
I frowned. ‘That title did get a bit confusing.’
‘So who did it?’
‘I’m not sure yet.’
‘You said you solved it,’ said Nicholas.
‘I said I think I might have solved it.’ We stepped on to the porch of Rowan Tree Manor and rang the bell. ‘But we still have some investigating to do.’
I was expecting Graham to answer, so when Mr McCall opened the door I got a little nervous.
‘Um, hello Mr McCall.’
‘Yes? What is it?’
‘Um, we were wondering … I mean, I told Graham that we were, um …’
‘Yes? What?’
Mr McCall being impatient annoyed me. I decided to stand my ground.
‘Mr McCall, we’re investigating the disappearance of your weather vanes. Graham supports our investigation – he asked me to let him know who did it – and we’d like to check out the shed one more time. May we do that?’
Mr McCall stared at me for a minute.
‘Go on then.’
I stepped off the porch, then turned back.
‘Are your dogs out?’
‘Yes.’
‘Would you mind putting them in their kennels please?’
Mr McCall stared at me again, then huffed and stomped past us.
‘Brutus, Beelzebub, Balor, HEEL!’
Three huge black dogs came flying around the corner and glued themselves to Mr McCall’s legs as he walked towards the kennels.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s do this quick before he decides to let them out again.’
We picked up the pace, jogging around the house and through the gardens.
‘What are you looking for?’ said Nicholas.
‘The weather vanes.’
‘But we looked for them everywhere,’ said Lex. ‘They’re not near the shed.’
‘I don’t think we did look everywhere,’ I replied. ‘Come on.’
When we reached the shed I immediately picked my way through the crows and climbed over the fence.
‘We checked the long grass already,’ said Nicholas.
‘We checked out there,’ I said, pointing, ‘cos we thought someone might have thrown the weather vane from the roof. But I don’t think it was thrown.’
I pushed away the tangles of long grass and weeds that wound themselves around the beams of the fence, right next to the wall of the shed.
‘I see something!’
Lex and Nicholas hurried over the fence and helped me clear the mess.
Down in the narrow gap between the fence and the shed, half buried in weeds and mud, were two big pieces of black metal.
‘That’s them, that’s them!’ cried Lex.
It took some effort to free the weather vanes. Eventually Lex leaned on top of the fence and squeezed her arm down into the gap, while me and Nicholas stretched our arms under the fence and pushed the vanes up from below.
‘Got it!’ Lex pulled out one vane, then the other.
I held up a metal crow in each hand.
‘We did it!’
The vanes were a bit heavy – one of them tipped over and hit me on the head. I didn’t mind.
‘I still don’t get it though?’ said Nicholas. ‘Who stole them and hid them behind the fence?’
‘That,’ I said, ‘is what our next bit of investigating will find out.’
Chapter Sixteen
I loved that we were about to run a stakeout from our very own clubhouse – it was the perfect stakeout location. It was hidden in a secret spot in the hedge at the end of Mr McCall’s field; there were snacks in the (recently refilled) muffin tin to keep our energy up; and there were board games, crossword puzzles and other books for when any of us needed to take a break. Best of all, there was plenty of room for the three of us.
I pulled the table over to the window to stand on it, then I climbed the clubhouse wall and folded back a corner of the paddling pool roof (the paddling pool makes a great roof; it keeps out most of the rain, and if we need to climb the clubhouse tree – like we did for this mission – we can just fold it back without causing any long-term damage).
‘Gimme a leg up, will you?’ I said, not quite able to lift myself over the wall of the clubhouse to sit on the branch above.
Nicholas grabbed my foot and pushed me upwards.
‘Cass, you still haven’t told us what we’re doing. Who’s going to steal the weather vane?’
‘I got the idea from Operation Stolen Locket,’ I replied.
‘That doesn’t answer my question.’
I smiled down at Nicholas.
‘Don’t worry, you’ll see them soon enough. They won’t be able to help themselves … I’m pretty sure.’
Graham had arrived home before we’d left Rowan Tree Manor. He was delighted (and impressed) that we had found the two weather vanes, but I didn’t want to tell him who the suspect was yet.
‘I’m almost a hundred percent positive that if you replace the weather vane, it’ll disappear again,’ I told him. ‘Will you put one of them back up?’
‘I will.’ Graham was smiling. ‘But I’d love to know who you think the culprit is.’
‘I’ll tell you when I’m a hundred and ten percent sure.’
Above the clubhouse, I wriggled along the branch so Lex and Nicholas could follow me up. My binoculars hung around my neck. I peeked through them and saw that Graham was as good as his word – in the distance, a black crow-shaped weather vane sat on top of the shed in Mr McCall’s garden.
‘What now?’ asked Lex.
‘Now we watch,’ I said, ‘and wait.’
We waited. And waited. And waited and waited and waited and waited and waited.
Lex started fidgeting.
‘Em, Cass? Nothing’s happening.’
‘It will. Give it time.’
‘Okay.’
A few minutes later I got a fright when Lex suddenly tipped forward and I thought she was falling out of the tree. But she was hanging onto a branch the whole time, and she swung down so she could dangle and swing back and forth to kick at the trunk.
‘Urgh, Lex! Don’t do that.’
‘Sorry,’ she said, still dangling. ‘I’m hungry.’
‘Then go have a mini-muffin.’
‘Do you want one?’
‘No, thanks.’
‘’Kay.’
She did a swing-pull-up-climb thing back onto the branch, and then slid into the clubhouse like it was no effort at all. I really envied Lex sometimes.
Ten minutes later Nicholas started fidgeting.
‘My legs are going numb. Mind keeping watch while I get a mini-muffin too?’
I sighed. ‘Fine.’
‘Think I’m gonna read for a bit as well.’
‘Fine.’
‘You sure you don’t want a mini-muffin?’
I wanted to say no to show that I was serious about my detective work, but my tummy was rumbling.
‘Yes, please. And hand me up a crossword book, will you?’
‘Sure.’
Another hour later and my whole body had gone numb. I really needed to move, but I was afraid I’d miss something.
‘Cass,’ Nicholas called out from the clubhouse, ‘I’m gonna go. It’s past dinner time and I’m starving.’
‘Me too,’ said Lex.
‘Just a few more minutes,’ I said, ‘please. Or you’ll miss it.’
‘You said that half an hour ago,’ said Nicholas.
I held up the binoculars for the millionth time. The weather vane was still there.
‘Okay,’ I said, feeling like a deflating balloon. ‘Maybe we can try again tomorrow.’
I took one last glance at the shed and saw a shadow flit across the roof.
‘Wait!’ I said, jamming the binoculars against my face. ‘Wait! There she is!’
‘Is someone stealing it?’ Nicholas cried from below. ‘Help me up!’
I grabbed Nicholas’
s arm, while Lex pushed him up from below. A minute later the three of us were bundled out onto the branch as far as we could go, passing the binoculars back and forth.
‘I don’t see anyone,’ said Lex.
‘Me neither,’ said Nicholas. ‘There’s no one there, Cass.’
‘Watch carefully,’ I said.
One of the creepy black crows perched on the roof next to the weather vane. She seemed to peck at the base of it a few times, then – just as I’d suspected – she grabbed the skinny metal bar holding the vane in place, and began to tug. The bar shunted out of one of the base’s eyeholes and the weather vane tipped to one side. The crow kept tugging and the bar shunted out of the second eyehole. The weather vane smacked flat onto the slanted roof, and slid off (and, I was sure, down into the gap between the shed and the fence).
‘Woah!’ said Lex.
‘That’s so weird!’ Nicholas said. ‘Why did she do that?’
‘I’d seen one of them do it when we were checking out the shed,’ I said. ‘Not stealing the bar – but I saw her use it to needle insects out of a log. Crows really are clever. I think they’re my favourite animal now.’
‘That’s amazing, Cass! How did you even think of that?’
‘The magpies. It hit me after we caught Mr Fox – I was so ready to believe that magpies were guilty of stealing the locket, but I never thought to suspect the crows of stealing the weather vane.’ I tapped my temple. ‘Took me a while, but I worked it out.’
Lex was grinning. ‘You’re a genius, Cass.’
‘I know.’
‘I saw it from the kitchen window!’ Graham had flung open the door as soon as we arrived at Rowan Tree Manor. ‘I couldn’t help keeping an eye on the shed, and my goodness, who on earth would have suspected the crows? Amazing!’
‘Cass did,’ said Nicholas.
‘You did, didn’t you? I am so impressed. Listen, I have something for you guys.’ Graham ducked back into the house and emerged a few seconds later with a strange golden trophy. It was in the shape of a freaky scarecrow. ‘There was a mix-up with the order for this – I thought it hadn’t gone through and I ordered another one and … – anyway, the point is I ended up with two of these. And I think Puzzle Pals have more than earned one.’
