Scarlett, Henry, and I were on hand when Josh was reunited with Sherman and his mom. It followed a visit to the police station to determine if charges should be filed against Josh for his part in the colonel’s burglary ring. Since Eugene, Gram, and I vouched for him, he was able to plead to lesser offenses without jail time. Instead, he was given one hundred hours of community service. And since much of that time was to be spent cleaning up the local forest preserve, Josh was perfectly fine with it. He was in his element.
And as promised, Gram ran interference for me with my parents. She had predicted that they would soften up once they saw the attention paid to me by the press. They were definitely proud of what I had done and even boasted about my accomplishments to their friends, but they weren’t happy about the fact that I had lied to them. After hours of deliberation, we finally came to the understanding that as long as I was up front with them in the future, then I wouldn’t be grounded for this offense. My dad was a tough sell, but Gram worked her magic, and as usual, he eventually caved.
When it came time to sit back and reflect on this whole experience, I wondered what it might be like to step into Sam Solomon’s shoes—for real. More than once during this case, my life had dangled in the balance. And each time, I managed to wriggle free. I wondered how many more times I’d be able to avoid the inevitable. I was beginning to worry that I had taken on too dangerous a profession. If my life was flashing before my eyes at the age of twelve, then what possibly was waiting for me at twenty-two or thirty-two? As I pondered my future, I found myself creating a word picture of Episode #39—The Gull Next Door Caper.
In this particular story, Sam had been hired by an animal control officer in Clearwater Beach, Florida, who wanted to find out why seagulls were attacking tourists. While working on the case, Sam sought out the services of Caroline Roundtree, an ornithologist—a bird expert—to help him better understand the feathered attackers. Sam and Caroline spent long hours together. They soon fell in love and planned to marry. But when Caroline saw the dangers that Sam encountered each day, she gave him an ultimatum—he had to choose between her and the agency. Sam anguished over this decision. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he would never be happy in any other profession. He thanked Caroline for her assistance and returned to his one true love—the private detective business.
Although I was concerned about my own personal safety, I realized that, like Sam, I wouldn’t be happy doing anything else. And if that meant putting myself in the line of fire every so often—then so be it. I had clients who were depending on me, and I had no intentions of flaking out on them. They could continue to count on the one person who put their interests ahead of his own—namely Charlie Collier, Snoop for Hire.
So, there you have it. Case closed. Another successful mission. Did you figure out that Josh had actually been taken to Camp Phoenix? Did you guess that Colonel Culpepper was behind all of the burglaries in town? Did you deduce that Josh was committing some of those crimes? Were you able to solve any of Henry’s brain busters? If you answered yes to any of those questions, then you’re one step closer to joining the agency.
But not so fast. You need to solve one more brainteaser. Here goes: An electric train is traveling at one hundred miles per hour headed directly east. A crosswind is blowing at fifty miles per hour out of the south. And so, based on that information, can you tell me which direction the smoke will blow? Now, take your time. Think real hard. Read it again if necessary. Maybe even a third time. Are you still stuck? If you answered west-northwest, I’m afraid you’d be wrong. You see, this is an electric train, and hence, there is no smoke. I know—it was kind of a trick question. Sorry about that. But if you hope to become a full-fledged member of the Charlie Collier, Snoop for Hire agency in the near future, then you have to learn to recognize the legitimate brain busters from the trick ones. Who knows—it just might save your life someday.
John Madormo is a screenwriter, author, and professor of broadcast communications at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. John sold a family comedy screenplay to a Los Angeles production company, and has optioned nearly a dozen other scripts. And just like Charlie Collier, he loves reading mystery novels and solving brainteasers.
www.charliecolliersnoopforhire.com
Make sure to catch Charlie
in his next adventure:
The Camp Phoenix Caper Page 22
