by Paul Moxham
“I expect he’ll soon find the rest of the stolen items,” Will said.
“If I were the thief I’d be scared, knowing the police were onto me,” Sarah piped up.
Will glanced at his watch. “Remember, the constable is going to meet us at the church at five o’clock, so not long to go now before we find out all the answers.”
The children continued to talk loudly for a number of minutes as they ate. Just as they finished eating, Miss Higgins stood up and left the cafe.
Joe turned to Will and Amy. “You two follow her. Sarah and I will follow the man.”
Will and Amy left the cafe. A minute later, the man stood up, paid his bill and left. Joe and Sarah waited for roughly fifteen seconds and then followed the man outside. He had just climbed into his blue car and, a moment later, the engine started and the vehicle sped down the road.
Joe realized that he hadn’t thought through this plan carefully enough but he was determined to try to follow the man. “Quick! After the car!”
Sarah watched as Joe cycled down the road and attempted to match his speed, but she quickly fell behind. The vehicle, however, was going too fast for either of them and, before long, Joe came to a stop. He sighed and looked at his sister as she approached. “Let’s just keep on riding down this road and see if we can see any sign of the car. We probably won’t, but I don’t know what else we can do.”
Joe and Sarah were in luck. As they cycled down the road, Joe realised they were near the expensive looking house that they had passed by earlier. Hoping that maybe the man had gone there again, they headed in that direction.
As Joe peered through the gates five minutes later, he smiled. The blue car was parked in the driveway. He glanced at Sarah. “I was right!”
Sarah nodded. “So what does this mean?”
Joe frowned. “I’m not sure. Maybe the man is in cahoots with the owner of the house.”
“But Mr Jones was one of the people who had something stolen by the thief,” Sarah reminded him.
“Yes, I know,” Joe admitted, “but that might be the perfect cover. You see, no one would suspect that one of the people who had something stolen was actually the thief. You see what I mean?”
Sarah nodded. “What are we going to do now?”
“We wait.” Joe glanced at his watch. “It’s coming up to four o’clock now, so if the man’s going to be doing anything, he’s going to do it within the next hour.”
Choosing some nearby bushes from where they could watch and hide if needed, they waited.
~
Amy and Will had no problem keeping up with Miss Higgins since she was walking. In fact, they had the opposite problem. If they rode their bicycles, they would go past the woman, so they decided to walk as well.
As Miss Higgins disappeared inside her house, Will turned to Amy. “Let’s split up. That way, if she goes out the back door, one of us will see her.”
“Good thinking,” Amy replied. “I’ll take the back.”
The children split up and were soon keeping watch on both doors. However, as time passed, they began to wonder if she was going to stay inside her house for the rest of the day.
Finally, at a quarter to five, Will noticed movement as the front door opened and Miss Higgins strode down the garden path. Once she reached the road, she paused and glanced cautiously left and then right.
Will knelt down as low as he could behind the bush he was hiding behind as Miss Higgins walked past. Once he heard her footsteps receding, he left the safety of the bushes and hurried quietly but quickly to the lane. As he ran down it, he called out. “Amy! Where are you?”
As Amy emerged from a bush, he skidded to a stop. “Follow me! Miss Higgins is walking down the road right now.”
Amy rushed up to him. “I wonder where she’s going.”
“We’ll soon find out,” Will said.
The two children followed Miss Higgins to the church. Once there, she chose a place behind some bushes and stood still.
“What’s she doing?” Will whispered.
“I think she’s going to listen in on our conversation with Constable Biggens,” Amy replied.
“Why would she do that?” Will questioned.
“I’m not sure. It could be…” Amy paused as a blue car drove down the road and came to a stop nearby. The engine was switched off but no one climbed out.
Will frowned. “That car looks like the same make and model that the man was driving. You know, the man who Sarah and Joe were following.”
Amy nodded. “Yes, it does. Hey, he must be wanting to listen in on our conversation as well.”
“Maybe we have got this all wrong,” Will said. “Hopefully Joe and Sarah will be here soon. Maybe they’ll be able to sort out what’s going on.”
Five minutes later, Joe and Sarah cycled towards them. The children quickly had a chat with one another about what had happened so far.
Then Joe said something unexpected. “This means that neither of them is the thief.”
“What? But then who is?” Sarah piped up.
“I don’t know,” Joe admitted, “but let’s see if I’m right.”
The others followed Joe over to the bush that Miss Higgins was trying her hardest to hide behind. However, once she saw that she had been spotted, she smiled sheepishly at them. “Hello.”
“Why are you hiding behind this bush?” Joe asked.
“I just wanted to find out who the thief is,” Miss Higgins explained. “You see, ever since the constable accused me of being the thief, I’ve been walking around Smugglers Cove trying to spot him. But I couldn’t. Then, when I heard you talking in Darby’s about the stolen items, I decided to come here to find out who the thief was.”
Joe nodded. “I suspected as much. Now we just need to know who the man is—”
Miss Higgins frowned. “Man? What man?”
“The man in the blue car,” Joe replied.
The four children and Miss Higgins walked over to the blue car. Joe knocked on the window and, a moment later, the man wound it down.
“We know you came here to listen in on our conversation with Constable Biggens,” Joe said, “but we don’t know why. Unless, of course, you’re the thief.”
“No, I’m certainly not,” the man stated.
“Just because you say you’re not the thief doesn’t mean you’re not,” Will argued.
“No, but I’ve got something that will prove otherwise.” The man climbed out of the car and handed the boy a business card. “The name is Mr Noodle. I’m a private detective hired by Mr Jones.”
“He’s the man who lives in that expensive house!” Will exclaimed.
Mr Noodle nodded. “Yes, that’s correct. So, where’s Constable Biggens? I want to know who the thief is.”
Will looked at Joe. “Well, actually, we have a confession to make. Constable Biggens still has no idea who the thief is.”
“But why were you saying that in Darby’s?” Miss Higgins asked.
Now it was Mr Noodle’s turn to look sheepish. “Oh, now I get it. You were talking loudly on purpose, weren’t you? You wanted Miss Higgins and me to hear you because you thought one of us might have been the thief.”
Joe nodded. “That’s correct, and then we tried to follow you but we didn’t have any luck because you got into your car and drove away. But then we caught up to you at Mr Jones house.”
Mr Noodle nodded. “Yes. I told Mr Jones what you children had said in Darby’s and he suggested I come along and hear what the constable had to say.”
“So does the constable know anything? Did you actually find a piece of the stolen jewellery or were you making that up as well?” Miss Higgins asked.
Will shook his head. “No, we did. Actually, Sarah was the one who found the necklace that belonged to Mrs Tubby.”
Suddenly, Sarah yelled out in surprise. “It’s Constable Biggens!”
As the police car roared down the road towards them, Joe waved. A moment later, the vehicle slowed down and the constable wo
und down his window. “Sorry, can’t stop. The Perfect Thief has just struck again.”
As the police car continued down the road, Joe turned to the two adults. “Well, I suppose that proves that neither of you two could possibly be the thief.”
Miss Higgins sighed. “I wonder who he is. Maybe we’ll never know.”
Joe shook his head. “It might not be today, or tomorrow, but I’m sure we’ll find him.”
~
The next day, Sarah suggested that they go to Sandy Bay since they hadn’t been there for some time. Mrs Mitchell prepared a picnic for them and they set off along the cliff path. It was a nice change of scenery and they were soon in the little seaside village.
They had only been there once before, so they spent the next half hour looking in the different shop windows. Then, feeling hungry, they decided to eat their sandwiches on top of a nearby hill which overlooked the village.
Pushing their bicycles all the way up to the top was hard work, but they knew that the view from the top would be well worth it.
As the sun was shining, the children soon began to feel quite warm so they found a shady spot beneath a large leafy tree. After eating their sandwiches, they lay down on the grass and played the cloud game.
Half an hour had passed before Amy realized that a cool, blustery wind was blowing in from the coast. She shivered. “I think we should head back to Smuggler’s Cove now. It looks as though it could rain.”
The children quickly began to pack up everything and put it into the rucksack. Suddenly, Amy noticed that the shiny wrapper that had been around her chocolate bar had started to blow down the hill. She chased after it, but before she could reach it, a jackdaw swooped down and picked it up in his beak.
As the bird flew away, Amy stood still. Then, a moment later, she ran back up the hill, calling out to the others as she did so. “It’s a jackdaw!”
“What are you talking about?” Will asked.
“All the stuff that has been stolen has been shiny, and jackdaws love shiny things!” Amy turned to Joe and Sarah. “You know how you found the necklace in a fireplace?”
Joe nodded. “Yes.”
Amy’s blue eyes danced with excitement. “Well, what if a jackdaw had a nest at the very top of that chimney and somehow that necklace fell down into the fireplace?”
“The only way to find out if you’re right is to climb up to the roof and have a look into the top of the chimney,” Will said. “To do that, we’ll need a ladder.”
“Then let’s go to the house next door to the burnt cottage and see if the people who live there have a ladder we can borrow,” Joe suggested.
Suddenly, it began to drizzle.
“Come on, let’s hurry before the rain gets heavier,” Will stated.
The children hurried to their bicycles and cycled back to Smugglers Cove. The return trip was much faster than before as they were all eager to see if Amy’s theory was correct. Luckily, by the time they arrived at the house next to the burnt cottage, the drizzle had stopped.
They climbed off their bicycles and Joe knocked on the door. A few moments later, a jolly looking man opened it. He smiled at the children. “Hello. What can I do for you?”
“Do you have a ladder that we could borrow?” Joe asked.
“I do indeed,” the man replied. “And what would you children be needing a ladder for?”
“Have you heard about the Perfect Thief?” Joe questioned.
The man frowned. “Isn’t he the thief who has been stealing jewellery?”
“Actually, we think the thief is a jackdaw. And, if our suspicions are correct, the missing jewellery should be in a nest at the top of the chimney of the old cottage next door,” Joe explained. “We discovered a necklace in the fireplace and want to search the top of the chimney to see if the rest of the stolen items are there.”
The man slowly nodded. “I see. Well, I suppose if you help me carry the ladder we can all go and have a look.”
The four children followed the man to the garden shed and, after selecting a ladder, the group made their way over to the burnt cottage. The man placed the ladder up against the wall of the building and adjusted it until it was leaning right next to the chimney.
With the man holding the ladder, Will climbed up the steps until he was at the very top. “Well, there’s clearly a birds nest here.” He poked his hand around and grinned as he pulled out a watch. He showed it to the others. “Look!”
Sarah smiled. “Amy was right!”
Will tossed the watch down to the others as he rummaged about for the rest of the stolen goods which he put into his pocket before climbing back down.
“We should ride to the station and tell Constable Biggens the good news,” Amy suggested.
“I can telephone the constable from my house,” the man offered.
They walked back to the house and, while the man telephoned the policeman, the children chatted to the man’s wife who had been busy baking. She had just taken a tray of date scones out of the oven, so she offered some to the children.
Joe smiled as he tasted one. “These are delicious!”
“Why, thank you!” the woman replied. “It’s always nice to have someone enjoy my cooking. I usually bake these for my nephews who will be coming here tomorrow, but I always make more than needed since you never can tell how many scones children want to eat.”
The man stepped into the kitchen. “Constable Biggens will be right over.” He smiled as he saw what the children were eating. “I see you’ve found the scones.” He patted his belly. “As you can see, I’ve eaten my share of them over the years.”
The children chatted to the friendly couple, and it wasn’t long before Constable Biggens drove up. As he entered the living room, the children showed him the jewellery.
Constable Biggens took a few moments to compare the items to the list that he had brought. As he finished, he smiled and gazed in wonder at the four children. “I don’t know how you do it, but you seem to do it every time and today is no exception. These are all the items that were stolen. I never would have imagined that the Perfect Thief would turn out to be a jackdaw.”
“It was all because of Amy,” Sarah piped up. “She was the one who thought of it.”
Amy smiled. “Yes, but I was lucky. Anyone of us could have seen the jackdaw and the shiny chocolate wrapper and connected the dots.”
“Well,” Constable Biggens said, “all I can say is you’re four of the smartest children I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”
Joe raised a scone into the air. “I’ll eat to that!”
The End
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The Mystery of Smugglers Cove
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Chapter 1: Smugglers Cove
The bicycle skidded to a halt as Joe Mitchell stopped beside a huge oak tree. His slim frame rocked forward, causing a lock of brown hair to fall into his eyes. He glanced back at his two sisters who were still pedalling furiously. Grinning broadly, he called out to them. “I told you I’d win!”
“Well, your legs are much longer than ours,” Sarah panted. “Next time we race, Amy and I need a head start to make it fair.” Only eight years old, she was the younger of Joe’s two siblings and had short blonde hair.
“Look!” Joe exclaimed as he caught sight of a large house in the distance. “That old place looks interesting.”
They headed down a dirt road and, a minute later, found themselves in front of two big, steel gates. At the end of a long, overgrown driveway was a three-storey mansion.
“I wonder who lives there,” Amy said. “It looks terribly old.” The curious ten year old twirled a strand of her brown hair around her finger.
“I bet nobody does,” Sarah stated, her green eyes filled with doubt. “Look at all those weeds and bushes everywhere. If someone lived there, wouldn’t they keep the garden tidy?”
“Let’s see if the gates are open.” Like many twelve year old boys, Joe was always on the lookout for an adventure, and this place looked very intriguing. He tried to open the gates, but they didn’t budge. “Help me, you two.”
The girls threw their bicycles on the grass and joined Joe in trying to move the rusty gates but they had no luck.
Joe stepped back and glanced around. “I wonder what this place is called.”
“Chandler Manor!” Amy exclaimed triumphantly a moment later. She pointed to an old metal nameplate attached to the gatepost.
