Baker Street Academy: Sherlock Holmes and the Disappearing Diamond
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and he was the only one who didn’t turn to look at the flash mob, so I
decided to keep an eye on him. And after realizing that the Moriarty family
had a connection to the whole affair, I could make better sense of the
events at the museum.
The Professor’s plan was that Mr Pietro Vencini, masquerading as a
member of the museum staff, would arrive at the museum with a fake
jewel. At a certain time, there would be a distracting incident in one
of the display rooms - the flash mob, paid to cause a scene. Once the
confusion and craziness was in full effect, Pietro would steal the real
jewel and hand it to an accomplice, keeping the fake with him. He always
intended to be caught, you see.
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the real jewel in the hands of the
mastermind behind the whole plan
– in this case, almost certainly
James’s father, the current
Professor Moriarty. Although
I think both the police and Ms
DeRossi would have a hard time
proving any criminal link other
than the family history I told you
about already, John…”
“Blimey! No wonder James is so snarky all
the time,” said Martha. “It must be pretty hard
when you’ve got a family tree like
that.”
“Exactly right, Martha,”
agreed Sherlock. “The apple does
not fall far from the tree!”
“That’s a good plan,” I admitted.
“Vencini was clearly hoping his
associates would decode the
message and return to collect the
real jewel that was hidden on the
statue of Napoleon…”
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Exactly right again. But one thing went wrong…
Ms DeRossi, our fabulous agent from Italy, had her
own suspicions that something strange would be
happening at the museum. She had been tracking
Mr Vencini for some time, and it’s no coincidence
that she organized a school trip to the B&A that
day. It gave her the perfect cover. She had an
idea of who the accomplice would be and when
the flash mob started she followed them closely
to observe the planned handover of the real jewel
from the thief.
I’m afraid it was young James Moriarty, And he
made a foolish mistake getting involved in his father’s
affairs - he panicked when he saw Ms DeRossi was
following him and missed the moment of handover,
meaning that Vencini found himself with both the real
and the fake jewels on his person.
Pietro had to make a run for it - first hiding the jewel
in Napoleon’s hat, sure that he could retrieve it later
or tell the Professor where it was hidden.
And it wasn’t till I had made sense of the ridiculous
statements that Vencini’s lawyer kept putting
out that I realized the Alpine Star had been right
under our noses - or should I say hats - all along!
Remember, John...
But who was this mystery accomplice?
“…On the pillar,” Martha said. “And
pointing.”
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“My client is a kind-hearted family
man, a devoted husband to his
wife and little Napoleon.
All this points to him being an
upstanding pillar of the
community. He has nothing to
hide under his hat and he
is very much hoping to be able to
return to the museum shortly.”
This is what Vencini said:
Is it getting any clearer, John?
I looked around at the
statues next to us and it all
started to make sense. “Oh, yeah!
I get it now… The kind-hearted
family man… And Napoleon,
pointing up at the pillar…That’s
cool!”
“Indeed. The message could
not have been clearer. But as it
turns out, the only person to decode it was our
friend James Moriarty. And me, of course.”
Sherlock exclaimed.
“That’s brilliant, Sherlock! I mean, I know
I’ve said it before, like a hundred times or
something, but really, the whole thing is just
amazing. The way you’ve pieced it all together
and figured it out… Just brilliant.”
“Yeah, I have to agree with John this time,
Sherlock,” nodded Martha. “It has
been pretty amazing. Even for a
big head like you! Haha!”
“One last thing though,” I
said. “How did you know
that Ms DeRossi was one
of the good guys? You had
us thinking that she was
involved in the theft.”
“Well, she was, of course,
John, just not in the way you and
Martha were thinking! It was
obvious from all the tickets we found in her
office during our little after-hours ‘study
session’ that she had been to the museum many
times. She had also gone to the trouble of
obtaining a staff badge so that she
could go about the museum undisturbed.
She had clearly been
researching the history
of the Alpine Star and
had discovered the
connection to the
Moriarty family - she
had old newspaper
reports on her desk as
well as Moriarty’s file. Finally, there was
a connection with DI Baker, and I found the
correspondence to confirm it.
But sometimes I like to watch you both come to
your own conclusions, you know… It makes it all
so much more fun for me!”
The three of us burst out laughing as we
stood there in the statue gallery room. The
lights were going off and the staff and a
couple of remaining police officers were waiting
to see us out of the museum safely. It felt like
a full stop in the adventure. I just couldn’t get
over how incredible the last few weeks had
been. I know Sherlock thinks I get carried
away, but I am definitely going to have to write
about this when I get back home!
Well, they say that things happen in threes and it certainly
looks like it’s third time lucky for the B&A museum now
that they’ve actually managed to get their hands back
on the Alpine Star. Click here for the full story.
https://www.artsonline.co.uk/news-museums-london-b&a-itsback-lol-alpi
Arts Online: Ne..
News > Museums > London
THIRD TIME LUCKY!
Arts Online
SCHOOLBOY SAVES
MUSEUM’S BLUSHES
PRICELESS DIAMOND
FOUND SAFE AT MUSEUM
ALPINE STAR
BUNGLER FOILED
AGAIN!
139
As usual our crazy escapades ended up with
us all hanging out back at 221B Baker Street.
Only this time we had an extra member of the
gang, because Baskerville had come to join the
fun! Martha and her mum were looking after him
while Mr and Mrs Musgrave were away for the
holidays.
Sher
lock was particularly happy, as it
turned out that he was going to be staying at
221B from now on too! Mycroft was going to
university and would be away
for most of the year (I reckon
he’s actually off somewhere
top-secret!).
Sherlock’s amazing
revelations had made the news,
and he was quickly becoming
the “star” of Baker Street
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Academy, with just about everybody wanting
to know how he managed to work it all out. The
museum mystery really did seem simple when
he explained it in his own Sherlock way, but
that didn’t spoil it for me at all. I still think the
whole thing was amazing - and it was crazy to
think that the real diamond was there under our
noses all the time! The B&A gave us membership
passes so we could go and see the exhibitions
as often as we wanted, which was so cool. I just
couldn’t wait to go back. And Detective Baker
invited us in to see the police commissioner and
get a special award. Yep. Life was great and
everything felt good.
But there was one thing that was still
bothering me, and I just couldn’t resist asking
Sherlock: “How did you know all that stuff about
me when we first met?”
“Ha, ha! That’s still bugging you is it, John?”
He and Martha were both laughing. “All right
then,” he said, “but if I keep telling you
my little observations, it’s all going to
seem so simple! Let’s start with your
name, shall we?
“When you came into the science lab with
Martha, I could clearly see your surname and
initial on the airport flight tag still hanging from
your bag. I tried James for the J, but the look
in your eyes instantly said no and I was right
with John on the second try. From there it was
easy to see you’d just recently got back from
abroad…”
JAMES?
JOHN
141
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“Your fingers were stained with ink or pencil
smudges, showing that you wrote or sketched.
And I could tell you had had trouble finding
your way to school from the sand on your shoes
and the bottom of your trousers, which meant
you must have come from the side of the school
where the roadworks are at the moment. Is
that enough or should I carry on? Oh, you’re
lost for words, eh, John? That’s got to be a
first for you.
“The other bits were so obvious, even
Baskerville could have pointed them out. The
hot-chocolate splashes and the croissant
flakes, not to mention the custard creams
packet that was half sticking out of your coat
pocket. You were like a walking snack shop!”
I was too stunned to speak. Luckily, as if
by magic, Mrs Hudson came in with the biggest
tray of snacks and hot chocolate I’d ever seen!
Look at the three
of you! Proper little
detectives now,
aren’t you?
Oh yes,
you too,
Baskerville,
he-heh!
WOOF!
What are your plans
for the holidays
then, John? Will
you go somewhere
with your parents?
Well, I don’t know, Martha. But
I could talk to your parents if
you like, John? I suppose you
two boys practically live here
already!
I don’t think so, Mrs Hudson.
I’m not sure yet, but it looks
like Mum and Dad might be
called away for work, so
I don’t know where I’ll be
actually!
I couldn’t think of a better
suggestion, Martha.
What? No way! That’s no
good, John. You’ll miss all
the fun. You should come
and stay here with us!
Mum, can he stay
with us? He can,
can’t he?
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LOL-mail
https://www.mail.lol.co.uk/webmail-std/en-gb/DisplayMessage?ws_popup=true&ws_
Hello, John,
Just a quick message to let you know that your dad
and I have arrived safely at the Medical Base Camp.
Phone contact might be a bit patchy to start with –
but hopefully this will be a straightforward trip and
we’ll be back before you’ve even had a chance to
miss us!
In the meantime, we’re sure Mrs Hudson is going to
take very good care of you, but even more sure you’ll
have an amazing time with your friends. You deserve
a good fun-filled break!
We’ll be in touch as soon as we can, OK, sweetie.
Love from Mum & Dad x x
Hi Son!
From: Mummy
To : Watson, John
Tuesday 17th, 16:30
LolMail.
146
So there you have it. That’s me: John Watson,
the not-so-new boy at Baker Street Academy,
and that was the end of my first adventure.
Pretty cool, huh? I’ve met some amazing people
and made some even more amazing friends.
And, oh yeah, I’ve met Sherlock Holmes.
I’m going to miss not having Mum and Dad
around for the next few months, although
staying at 221B with Mrs Hudson and Martha
and Sherlock and Baskerville will be awesome!
Living just down the street from school means
I get to lie-in every day. And I’ll have all of
London at my door. Whoop! It’s going to be so
cool, I just can’t wait!
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Seeing as there’s room for it, I’d like
to say a big thank you, no, actually
a HUGE thank you to the team at
Scholastic UK. For over a year, they
helped me first find my feet and then
allowed me to cut loose on this amazing,
dream job of a project.
Andrew Biscomb, Samantha Smith,
Genevieve Herr and Liam Drane have
all been incredibly encouraging and
supportive from day one. Special
mention goes to Emily Lamm, who put
up with me for months and gave me
the confidence to turn all my ideas into
something resembling a story.
Thanks to Jamie at Elephant & Bird for
loads of things, not least letting me be
part of the workplace and feel like I’m
part of the gang! And cheers to Artisan
East Sheen downstairs, for being a
lovely bunch of people and keeping me
fuelled with delicious coffee all day.
Lastly, thanks to Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle for the amazing adventures and
the Conan Doyle estate for the official
stuff – and of course the incredible
wealth of material available as
inspiration. Like so many others around
the world, I am just a fan of Sherlock
Holmes and Dr John Watson.
Just who is Sam Hearn?
No one that I’ve asked seems to know much about this
suspicious character. Perhaps that’s deliberate, but I
can’t be sure...
I’ve done a bit of digging, and from my investigations,
it looks like he’s been interfering with other people’s
books for over 15 years!
What I can say is, it definitely feels like someone has
been following us around ever since I arrived at Baker
Street Academy… Martha’s not happy about it at all -
and Sherlock is suspicious of anybody claiming to use
the same initials as him. All very suspect if you ask me!
I’ll let you know if I find out anything else.