by Paul Moxham
“You do?” Joe questioned.
The priest nodded. “Constable Biggens believes that Miss Higgins is the Perfect Thief, which means you have come to see if I think she is.”
Joe nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”
“Well, to put it simply,” the priest stated, “she’s not.”
“How do you know for sure?” Will asked.
“I don’t know for certain,” the priest admitted. “I’m just going on my gut feeling, but having spent quite a bit of time talking to her, I’d say it’s out of the question. She’s a decent woman.”
Joe frowned. “But how can you say that? The constable told us that she recently came out of prison after serving time for theft.”
The priest nodded. “I know that. In fact, she told me that when we first met. She knew at the time she was doing bad things, but she just couldn’t stop. It was the influence of her boyfriend.”
“What does her boyfriend have to do with it?” Joe asked.
“Her boyfriend started stealing things and convinced her to help him,” the priest replied. “She went along with it until the night they were both caught. Since she had no prior conviction, Miss Higgins went to prison for a shorter period of time. However, her boyfriend, who was also on a much more serious charge of forgery and burglary, got a longer sentence.”
Joe thought for a moment as this information sank in. “I see. So you think that now she’s not with this man, she decided to change her ways?”
“That is one of the reasons,” the priest replied. “You see, every one of us has choices regarding who we have as friends. If we choose the wrong kind of friends, the more likely it is we will end up in prison or in some other bad place. However, if we choose the right kind, then it can have the opposite effect on us.”
“What about her parents?” Will questioned. “Where are they?”
“Miss Higgins’s mother died of cancer when she was three years old and her father died in a car accident when she was fifteen,” the priest replied.
Joe sighed. “She has had a sad life.”
The priest nodded. “Yes, and when someone is feeling low in self esteem that is when they can be influenced by the wrong person. In this case, it was her boyfriend. By all accounts, the first few years were good, but then the boyfriend was fired from his job and that started the downhill spiral that led to both of them turning to a life of crime. However, nowadays she seems like a very nice person and, since she’s been out of prison, she has come to church every Sunday. Plus, she now helps deliver our weekly magazine. So as you can see, I don’t believe she’s the thief.”
Joe nodded. “Okay, well, I suppose that’s all we needed to talk to you about.”
The priest smiled. “Good luck with your hunt. And believe me, if you spend some time talking to Miss Higgins, you’ll find out that what I say is true, that she’s a very nice woman.”
~
Later that afternoon, after the children had finished a puzzle race which Joe had narrowly won, they sat around the living room table talking about the thief.
Joe picked up a notebook and a pen. “I’ll write down the names and addresses of all the people who have had items stolen.” Having done this, he studied the list. “I can’t remember what things were stolen from each house, but that doesn’t matter. I think if we’re going to solve this mystery we will have to talk to each of the owners to see if there is something that Constable Biggens has missed.”
“Like what?” Amy asked.
“I don’t know,” Joe admitted. “If I did, we wouldn’t need to talk to them in the first place. But maybe there’s something that connects the four people. Maybe they all have a similar job or are away at work all day. If we can find out the thief’s motive—”
“But isn’t the thief’s motive money?” Sarah questioned.
“Maybe,” Joe replied, “but why has he struck these particular houses? Anyway, let’s go and talk to these people now.”
The children left Rose Cottage and cycled to the post office where there was a map of the local area. Joe made a rough sketch of where each person lived. He then worked out which way they should go. “Let’s visit Mr Jones first.”
Five minutes later, they arrived at the man’s house. Luckily, he was home. Not only that, he was a very cheery fellow who wasn’t busy at all, so was happy to answer the questions that the children asked him.
However, they didn’t learn anything from him that they didn’t already know. He had risen early in the morning and, when his wife went downstairs to make some tea, he had opened the bedroom window before going into the bathroom to wash his face. Five minutes later, he had come out of the bathroom and walked over to the bedside table to put his wedding ring on and found it was missing.
Joe frowned. “But how could the thief get in if your wife was in the kitchen? Did she hear anything? Is the kitchen near the front door?”
The man nodded. “Yes, right next to it. And no, she didn’t hear anything.”
“Was the door locked?” Amy said.
“Yes,” Mr Jones replied. “And so was the back door.”
“Is there a balcony outside your bedroom window?” Amy questioned.
The man shook his head. “No, there isn’t.”
“Were there any footprints in the garden?” Will asked.
“No,” Mr Jones replied.
Joe frowned. “Okay, well, thanks for talking to us. I don’t suppose there’s any use searching the bedroom ourselves, so we’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing.”
The children left the house and continued walking down the road just as a man climbed out of a blue car and approached the house that they had just left.
Joe took a moment to glance towards the man before he turned to the others. “Let’s go and see the next person, Mrs Tubby.”
They were soon at the house of the woman who was as tubby as her name but, just like Mr Jones, she had seen nothing unusual yet her diamond necklace had been stolen within five minutes of her leaving the room.
It was almost the same story at the next place they visited. Just like Constable Biggens had said, the thief was able to get in and out very quickly and without making a single sound or leaving any footprints. He really was a smart thief, not leaving a single clue behind.
As they left the third house, Joe paused as a blue car drove up and out climbed the same man that they had seen in front of the first house. He watched as the man made his way towards the house that they had just left. “I wonder what he’s doing.”
“What are you talking about?” Will asked.
Joe motioned towards the car. “The man who just got out of that car is the same man I saw going to the previous house we visited.”
“Maybe he’s a police officer,” Amy suggested.
“But he doesn’t look like a police officer,” Will said.
“Hey, what if he’s the thief?” Sarah piped up. “Maybe after the thief steals something he goes back to the house pretending to be a police officer or a detective and then he can see whether or not he left any evidence behind.”
“But the police have already been there so what would be the use of that?” Joe questioned.
“I’m not sure,” Sarah admitted.
Not knowing what to think, the children made their way to the last house on their list. It was on the outskirts of Smuggler’s Cove and, as the children approached the place, they saw that the entire property was surrounded by a tall stone wall.
Gazing through the wrought iron gate, they saw a manicured lawn and a rose garden. It was clear that this place was well looked after. The house was a two-story and looked fairly new.
Joe called out. “Hello! Is anyone home?” There was no answer, so he pulled at the gate. However, it was locked and didn’t budge.
“Hello!” Will shouted.
When no answer came, the children decided to leave. They climbed on their bicycles and rode down the road. As they reached the corner, a blue car roared around the bend, caus
ing dust to rise up into their faces.
Joe climbed off his bicycle and stared at the car as it came to a stop beside the fancy property. “That’s the same man we saw at the other house earlier today.”
As the man climbed out and walked towards the gate, Amy nodded. “Yes, it is. I wonder why he’s here.”
The children watched on as the man pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked gate. He then climbed back into his car and drove down the driveway.
“This must be where he lives,” Sarah said.
“I don’t believe so,” Joe said.
“But how else could he have got a key to the gate then?” Sarah asked.
“I don’t know, but we aren’t going to learn anything by standing here,” Joe said.
“Hey, let’s take a break from the case and do something fun,” Amy said.
“What do you suggest?” Will questioned.
“Let’s play around at the beach,” Amy replied.
“Yes, let’s do that,” Sarah said. “We could even make a sandcastle.”
Joe grinned. “Last one to the beach has to stand in the cold water for two minutes!” He pedalled away on his green bicycle, leaving the others protesting loudly for a moment before they rode after him.
~
There was a cloudless sky as the children met up the next morning. During the night, Joe had come up with an idea and, after telephoning Will, his friend had agreed to meet them at Darby’s at nine o’clock, which was where they were now.
“So,” Joe began, “I think we should search the area for any deserted houses and see if we can find any clues that will lead us to the thief or the stolen goods.”
Deciding it would be faster if they split up, Joe decided to search with Sarah while Will went with Amy. Agreeing to meet back at Darby’s in roughly an hour, they went their separate ways.
Since the children had been staying in Smugglers Cove for some time, they had become very familiar with which places were occupied and which weren’t, and so it didn’t take Joe and Sarah long to find the few houses that were unoccupied. But, upon searching them, they found no sign of the thief or the jewellery that had been stolen.
After they had searched the fourth place and still they hadn’t found a single bit of evidence that they could link to the thief, Sarah suggested that they go back to Darby’s. “I know it’s still early, but I don’t see any point in continuing searching. We haven’t found a single thing.”
“Let’s search one more house before we go back,” Joe suggested. Deciding to ride down a small, narrow dirt road, it wasn’t long before he skidded to a stop and pointed. “Look! Through those trees there’s a small cottage. At least, what’s left of a cottage.”
Sarah nodded as she climbed off her bicycle and followed her brother past the trees and towards the cottage. “More than half the building has burnt down.”
“Yes, the fire must have been pretty fierce,” Joe said. “And quite some time ago from the looks of it.”
They walked inside the building. As there were only three rooms still standing, it didn’t take long to search the place. A few minutes later, Joe sighed, disappointed they still hadn’t found anything. “Okay, let’s go back.”
Suddenly, Sarah yelled out. “Hey, wait!”
Joe turned around as his sister rushed over to the fireplace. He stared in amazement as she picked up a necklace. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He hurried over. “Is this one of the missing pieces of jewellery?”
“It might be,” Sarah replied. “It doesn’t look like a fake one to me.”
Joe frowned. “I wonder if there’s anything else hidden amongst the twigs.”
The two children spent the next few minutes searching every part of the fireplace, getting soot all over their clothes in the process, but they didn’t find anything else of interest.
Joe peered up the chimney. “I wonder if there’s anything up there.” He took a branch and began to poke around. Suddenly, a massive cloud of soot descended on him covering his entire face.
Sarah couldn’t help laughing. “You look just like one of those people who cleans chimneys.”
In an attempt to clean himself, Joe took out his handkerchief and wiped his face. “I think we’ve found everything there is to find here.” He glanced at his watch. “We have to meet at Darby’s in ten minutes, so we’d better go now or we’ll be late.”
Still looking a bit dirty for it was impossible to get completely clean, Joe left the cottage and climbed on his bicycle with Sarah right behind him.
When they arrived at Darby’s just inside the hour deadline, the others were surprised to see how Joe looked.
“What have you been doing, playing in a chimney?” Will joked.
“Actually, I have.” Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace.
Amy was stunned. “Did you find anything else?”
“No, unfortunately not.” Joe handed the necklace over to the others so they could have a look at it.
“Do you think that this is one of the necklaces that was stolen?” Will asked.
“Possibly,” Joe replied. “Only Constable Biggens will know for certain.”
“Let’s go and find him then,” Amy suggested. “Then you need to get cleaned up. That chimney must have been really dirty.”
Joe smiled. “All chimneys are dirty.”
The children cycled down the street, stopping when they reached the police station. As soon as the constable saw the state that Joe was in, he frowned. “What have you been up to?”
Joe grinned. “Playing about in a chimney. Which is where I found this.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out the necklace.
Constable Biggens stared in amazement. He took the necklace from Joe and, since it was still somewhat black with soot, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his own red handkerchief and wiped it.
“Is it one of the necklaces stolen by the thief?” Amy asked.
“It certainly looks like it. I’ll just check my records.” Constable Biggens opened one of his desk drawers and searched for a piece of paper. He was silent for the next few moments as he compared the list to the necklace. He then glanced up and smiled. “I’m certain this is the item that was stolen from Mrs Tubby. Did you search the rest of the house?”
Joe nodded. “Yes, we did, and we didn’t find anything else.”
“Well, if you tell me where this place is, I’ll do a thorough search in case you missed something,” Constable Biggens replied.
Joe told him the address and, within a matter of minutes, the constable, along with another officer, exited the station and climbed into a police car.
Eager to see if the police would find something, the children climbed onto their bicycles and cycled back to the house. As they arrived at the old cottage, they saw that the policemen had just finished their search.
Sighing, the constable took his red handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his brow as he sat down on a chair. “The remainder of the stolen items don’t appear to be here. All I can think of is that the thief used this cottage as a hiding place for a period of time before moving to another location. And, in the process, left the necklace behind.”
“But surely he would have realised that it was missing,” Sarah piped up.
“Yes, but maybe he thought the police were on his tail and he didn’t want to run the risk of getting caught by coming back here,” Constable Biggens replied.
“Did you search higher up in the chimney?” Joe asked.
Constable Biggens glanced over at his fellow officer, who still had soot on his face. “We poked a stick up as far as it would go and all we found was soot, as you can see.”
“Well, at least the necklace has been found,” Amy said. “I’m sure Mrs Tubby will be delighted with the news.”
Constable Biggens nodded. “Yes, I’ll go and tell her now.”
Disappointed that the rest of the missing items hadn’t been found, the children left the cottage and rode towards
Will’s house.
As they reached the garden gate and climbed off their bicycles, Will looked at the others. “Who wants some lemonade?”
“Me please!” chorused the three siblings in unison.
Will smiled. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.”
~
Ten minutes later, as Amy finished her lemonade, she glanced at the others. “Since we think that Miss Higgins or the man could be the thief, why don’t we lay a trap?”
“And how would we do that?” Will asked.
“Well, what if we say that Constable Biggens has found one of the stolen items and that he expects to find the rest, as well as the thief, soon,” Amy suggested. “If we talk loudly when we’re near the two suspects, and one of them is the thief, he or she might go to where the other items are hidden.”
“But what good would that do?” Joe questioned.
“If we follow them, we can see where they go,” Amy replied.
“But what happens if neither of them is the thief?” Joe asked.
Amy shrugged her shoulders. “If they’re not, then we’ll think of a new plan.”
Will nodded. “Well, how about we say the constable is going to meet us at the church at five o’clock today?”
“Good idea. We can say we’re meeting up with the constable because he thinks he knows where the rest of the stolen goods are.” Joe looked at his watch. “It’s three o’clock now, so let’s see if we can find Miss Higgins or the man.”
Sarah ran her fingers through her short blonde hair. “Where shall we start looking?”
“Let’s go to Darby’s,” Joe suggested. “One of them might be there.”
The children left Will’s house and made their way to Darby’s. As luck would have it, both Miss Higgins and the man were there. Delighted with this fortunate development, the children chose a table that was situated between the two suspects and ordered some cream buns.
While they were eating them they began to talk loudly, making sure that both the suspects could hear them.
“Isn’t it exciting that Constable Biggens has found one of the stolen necklaces?” Joe said.
