Fizz and the Show Dog Jewel Thief

by Lesley Gibbes

  ‘Welcome to the Pemberley Show Dog Trials.’ An elegant lady, in a shimmering ball gown, held a microphone in the centre of the arena. ‘My name is Miss Sparkles and I am your host today. Would you please welcome our judges.’

  Fizz and Remi watched from the crowded holding area as three judges appeared. They took their positions at a long table in the middle of the arena.

  ‘Ready?’ asked Remi.

  ‘Ready?’ said Fizz. ‘My legs are trembling like a nervous Chihuahua.’

  ‘Move it, princess,’ said Brittney, bumping Fizz aside. ‘Don’t go getting any ideas, sweetie. That tiara is mine!’

  Brittney glared at Fizz, then strutted onto the arena as Miss Sparkles announced her.

  ‘That Brittney’s a piece of work,’ said Remi. ‘She wants the tiara so bad anyone would think she was the jewel thief!’

  Brittney paraded around the arena as Little Miss Muffet, dressed in an emerald skirt with a spider motif and a bowl of curds-and-whey nestled inside the tiara on her head. She struck an exotic pose in front of the judges and scored a nine.

  Miss Sparkles announced the next contestant. It was Jemarcus.

  ‘This is the last competition for Jemarcus,’ said Miss Sparkles. ‘He’s retiring today to travel the world with his twin brother.’

  Jemarcus was in a superhero costume, with a medallion and sparkling green cape. He glided around the arena and stopped in front of the judges… then chased his tail until he was a blur of sparkling green.

  ‘That’s his signature move,’ said a Pekinese to Fizz.

  The judges held up their scorecards. Jemarcus had scored a nine!

  Fizz’s stomach fluttered with nerves. He’d need a signature move too if he was going to impress the judges.

  ‘Our next contestant is Sequin,’ announced Miss Sparkles.

  ‘Wish me luck,’ said Remi. Fizz crossed his paws.

  Remi high-stepped around the arena then spun in front of the judges, swishing her tail in a dazzling full circle. She scored an eight.

  ‘Too chicken to compete, Powder Puff?’ said a gruff voice beside Fizz.

  It was Amadeus on patrol.

  ‘Can’t say I blame you, looking like that! I’ve already found two leads and got someone on the inside.’ Amadeus nodded at one of the guard dogs on the stage stairs. It was Razor! ‘You’ll never make it onto the stage, loser!’ he said, swatting Fizz’s bonnet with his tail before bounding away.

  Fizz crumpled. Amadeus was right. Remi was a circus dog, and the other show dogs had been competing since they were pups. This was Fizz’s very first competition. He watched the other entrants perform until Miss Sparkles finally announced: ‘Our last contestant is Angel.’

  An excited squeal erupted from the crowd. It was Fizz’s mother.

  Fizz was hot and clammy. He needed a signature move, but what to do?

  ‘Oh, sorry,’ said Brittney, tugging the bow on Fizz’s tail, ‘Did I do that?’

  Brittney had unravelled the bow completely. Fizz looked a mess!

  Miss Sparkles called his name again.

  ‘What a shame,’ said Brittney, smirking. ‘It’s too late to fix your costume now.’

  ‘This is the last call for Angel,’ said Miss

  Sparkles, looking worried. Fizz felt panicky. He needed help.

  Remi swooped in and yanked off the loose ribbon.

  ‘Go,’ she said, pushing Fizz forward.

  The crowd hushed as Fizz skidded onto the arena.

  He froze under the spotlight.

  ‘Look, he’s got stage fright,’ howled Amadeus from the sideline.

  ‘Come on, Angel, you can do it!’ cheered Benny, bouncing at the edge of the arena.

  Signature move, thought Fizz. A signature move…

  Suddenly, he had an idea. Fizz raised himself onto his tippy-toes and pranced around the arena with his curls and bonnet bouncing.

  The crowd sighed. Fizz was entrancing, cute-as-pie…but it wasn’t enough. He needed something else. Something spectacular. He stopped in front of the judges and shook his fur until his curls exploded into a giant Afro. He was a total ball of fur!

  The judges gasped in surprise. Fizz held his breath as his fur stood on end. He scored a ten!

  ‘My collar,’ yelped Fizz’s mother from the crowd. ‘Someone’s stolen my diamond collar!’ Fizz’s skin prickled with goosebumps. ‘The jewel thief is here!’

  ‘I only left our bag for a minute,’ said Fizz’s mother. The costume bag was wide open. ‘I just had to see you compete. When I came back the collar was gone.’

  Fizz gave his mother a comforting nuzzle. ‘Do you remember anything suspicious, Mum?’

  ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Is it really gone?’ said Remi.

  Fizz searched through the bag.

  ‘Yes, The collar’s gone. But I’ve found something else!’

  ‘Is it a hair?’ asked Remi.

  ‘No,’ said Fizz. ‘It’s an emerald.’

  Fizz’s eyes flashed. ‘Remi, there are only two dogs wearing emerald jewels today: Brittney and Jemarcus. We’ve narrowed our suspects to two dogs!’

  Remi danced in a full circle, then suddenly stopped. ‘But Brittney or Jemarcus couldn’t have stolen the diamond collar if they were competing,’ she said.

  Fizz slumped. Remi was right. Brittney or Jemarcus couldn’t have stolen the collar if they were in the Fashion Show. It was impossible. No one can be in two places at once.

  Fizz paced back and forth in front of his costume bag.

  ‘Sergeant Stern said the jewel thief caused a diversion before each of the winning tiaras were stolen,’ said Fizz. ‘The jewel thief can’t steal the tiara and cause a diversion at the same time.’

  Fizz stopped in his tracks. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it before. ‘We’re not looking for one jewel thief, Remi. We’re looking for two!’

  ‘You mean the jewel thief has an accomplice,’ said Remi, her eyes widening.

  ‘The accomplice creates the diversion while the jewel thief steals the tiara.’ said Fizz, wagging his tail. ‘The jewel thief has to be Brittney. Jemarcus is here alone!’

  ‘And she has white hair,’ said Remi, recalling Sergeant Stern’s clues.

  ‘And Brittney’s mother wears a beaded glass collar,’ said Fizz.

  ‘The clues fit!’ said Remi.

  ‘Brittney and her mother are the jewel thieves for sure!’ said Fizz. ‘But we don’t have enough evidence to arrest them. To do that, we’ll have to catch them red-handed with the tiara during the crowning ceremony!’

  The loud speaker crackled.

  Fizz shook off his bonnet.

  ‘Let’s go,’ he said. ‘We’ve got a Talent Quest to win!’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ said Fizz, his nose suddenly dry. ‘We haven’t had time to rehearse an item for the Talent Quest. If we don’t score nine or more we’ll be out of the competition.’

  Remi’s eyes brightened. ‘I could do my tumble routine. It was a big hit at the circus. What will you do, Fizz?’

  Fizz couldn’t think of anything he could do.

  Benny bounded over to wish them luck.

  ‘I’ve just finished a safety check of the electrical mains cupboard,’ he said. ‘Everything in there smelt of bacon.’ His stomach rumbled loudly. ‘Speaking of bacon,’ said Benny, licking his chops, ‘Jemarcus is a mess. He spilt a whole bowl of bacon and gravy down his chin. The judges will mark him down for sure!’

  At that very moment Jemarcus swished past. He was wearing a green baseball cap and bandanna, and his emerald medallion.

  ‘So, you got the gravy stain out all right?’ said Benny, noting Jemarcus’s spotless chin.

  ‘What you talking about, man?’ said Jemarcus.

  ‘The gravy mess on your chin,’ said Benny. ‘I saw you just now in the canteen.’

  ‘You got the wrong dog, man. I don’t eat and compete. You lose points for food stains,’ said Jemarcus.

  Benny’s tail
sagged as he watched Jemarcus glide over to the holding area. ‘I’ll see you guys later,’ he said.

  ‘Poor Benny,’ said Remi. ‘He’s so rattled about the jewel thief, he’s seeing Jemarcus everywhere. Anyone would think he’s seeing double.’

  Miss Sparkles tapped her microphone.

  The Talent Quest was about to begin. ‘Ready, everyone? Our first contestant is Jemarcus,’ said

  Miss Sparkles, ‘with a performance on his skateboard.’

  Music pumped as Jemarcus zipped around the arena and up onto the stage on his shimmering green skateboard. His dreadlocks swung in all directions, revealing a glittering undercoat that flashed as it caught the light. The crowd cheered for Jemarcus!

  ‘A dazzling performance,’ said Miss Sparkles.

  ‘Wow!’ said Remi, squinting. ‘How did he get his coat to sparkle like that? It looked like diamonds.’

  Fizz and Remi watched the other dogs perform. Brittney boogied to a groovy dance tune in a pair of green hot pants, a miniature whippet jumped through a tricky arrangement of hoops, and a beagle raced around the arena balancing a liver treat on his nose.

  Remi was up next. She performed her incredible tumbling act and received a standing ovation and a score of nine!

  Fizz was sweating because he still didn’t know what to do.

  ‘Our final contestant is Angel,’ said Miss Sparkles.

  Fizz’s legs wobbled like jelly.

  Brittney caught Fizz’s leg as he stepped onto the arena. ‘Have a nice trip,’ she said. He tripped and skidded across the floor in a rolling ball of bows and curls, coming to a messy stop right in front the judges.

  Brittney smiled with satisfaction.

  ‘He’s blown it,’ howled Amadeus from the stage stairs. A nervous whisper rippled through the crowd.

  Fizz needed a talent and fast. He looked around the arena, searching for inspiration. Suddenly he saw it: a Maltese mother soothing her crying puppy with a lullaby. In a flash, Fizz knew what to do. He did have a talent – a talent for puppy-soothing. He stood tall, took a long deep breath and sang.

  His voice was sweet and smooth, and floated across the arena like a lullaby to a baby. Fizz sang like an angel!

  The crowd hushed.

  ‘Simply breathtaking!’ said Miss Sparkles, dramatically wiping a tear from her eye. ‘It’s a score of ten from the judges.’

  ‘That’s my boy!’ squealed Fizz’s mother.

  ‘My Angel’s a top six finalist!’

  ‘This is it!’ whispered Fizz, tingling all over as Miss Sparkles escorted the top six finalists past the guard dogs onto the stage. ‘We’ve got to catch Brittney when she steals the tiara. This is our only chance. Blow it and we’ll fail our first case!’

  Fizz and Remi stood on the stage, along with Brittney, Jemarcus and two other winning show dogs. In front of them, glittering on its pedestal, sat the priceless Pemberley Tiara.

  Fizz took a calming breath and looked out at the gathering crowd. Sergeant Stern had arrived with two junior officers, ready for an arrest. Benny bounced on the spot, and Amadeus was at the stage stairs with Razor, ready for action.

  ‘I’ll watch Brittney,’ said Fizz. ‘You keep a close eye on her mother. She’ll be the one causing the diversion.’

  Remi nodded.

  Fizz ran through the jewel thief clues in his head: the white hair, the glass bead, the emerald jewel, and the accomplice. The clues pointed to Brittney and her mother. All he had to do was catch Brittney red-handed with the tiara while her mother distracted everyone’s attention.

  Miss Sparkles was holding the runner-up sashes in her hand. She introduced each finalist. Brittney made a charming curtsy, and Jemarcus swished his dreads so they swept the floor. Fizz, Remi and the other two finalists each bowed and curtsied in turn.

  Fizz looked down the line of finalists as the spotlight swept the stage. Something caught his eye. Jemarcus’s emerald medallion sparkled beautifully in the spotlight, all except the centre where an emerald was missing! And what’s more, Jemarcus’s chin wasn’t clean, it was stained with gravy!

  Fizz panicked. He ran through the clues again: the white hair, the glass bead, the emerald jewel, the accomplice, and the missing talcum powder.

  ‘The missing talcum powder!’ gasped Fizz. ‘Remi, we forgot about the missing talcum powder! Not all the clues fit. We’ve got the wrong dog – the jewel thief isn’t Brittney, it’s Jemarcus! Look!’

  Remi studied Jemarcus as the spotlight swept the stage again.

  ‘The emerald jewel in my costume bag was from Jemarcus’s medallion not Brittney’s tiara,’ explained Fizz. ‘Jemarcus has white hair, and glass beads in his dreadlocks. The bead belongs to Jemarcus, not Brittney’s mother. And we forgot about the missing talcum powder. A Komondor isn’t called a mop dog for nothing. He would sweep up any powder with his coat! We were going to arrest the wrong dog!’

  But it can’t be Jemarcus,’ said Remi, watching Brittney’s mother as she pushed her way to the front of the crowd. ‘The jewel thief has an accomplice. Jemarcus can’t be in two places at once!’

  ‘He can if he has a twin,’ said Fizz. ‘Miss Sparkles said Jemarcus was retiring to travel the world with his twin brother. Jemarcus isn’t alone – his brother is here! I think they’re stealing the tiaras to pay for their world trip.’

  ‘So Benny’s not seeing things,’ said Remi. ‘He saw Jemarcus at the registration table and at the canteen eating bacon.’

  ‘Or his twin brother. It could have been either,’ nodded Fizz. ‘Oh no! The bacon! Benny said the electrical mains cupboard smelt of bacon. They’re going to cut the lights.’

  Fizz searched for Benny in the crowd. ‘Benny!’ yelled Fizz from the stage. ‘Quick!’ It was too late. In that instant the lights went out and the Pemberley Show Dog Hall fell into darkness!

  Brittney screamed.

  Miss Sparkles yelled for help.

  The tiara pedestal crashed to the ground.

  ‘He’s stealing the tiara!’ cried Fizz.

  ‘I can’t see anything, where is he?’ said Remi. ‘We’re going to fail our first case, Fizz.’

  ‘We can’t see, but we can smell and we can hear. Remi, follow the smell of bacon and the clack of beads,’ said Fizz.

  Fizz and Remi pursued the scent of bacon and the sound of beads across the stage, then leapt into the darkness. Fizz landed heavily upon the back of a dog, and felt Remi land right beside him. The dog underneath him crashed to the floor. Fizz hoped they’d captured the jewel thief.

  Suddenly the lights came on.

  ‘Get those brutes off my Brittney!’ cried Brittney’s mother.

  Fizz could hardly bear to look. If he was on top of Brittney then they’d jumped on the wrong dog and the real jewel thief would have got away.

  He looked down. Underneath him was a flattened Komondor with the Pemberley Tiara wedged firmly in his mouth.

  ‘We got him! It’s the twin brother!’ cheered Remi.

  ‘Let her go, you big brutes!’ barked Brittney’s mother. Amadeus and Razor were holding Brittney. They’d arrested the wrong dog!

  ‘No you don’t!’ cried Fizz, wobbling as Jemarcus’s brother staggered to his feet. ‘Remi, we’re not heavy enough. He’s going to get away. Amadeus, help!’

  Amadeus raced across the stage. He leapt onto the back of the enormous Komondor and pinned him to the stage floor.

  ‘Thanks, Amadeus,’ said Fizz.

  ‘Not bad detective work,’ said Amadeus, ‘for a little, fluffy dog.’

  Fizz and Remi wagged their tails together.

  Sergeant Stern raced onto the scene. ‘Great teamwork,’ he said, taking the Pemberley Tiara from the Komondor’s mouth. ‘That will be the last tiara you ever steal!’

  Benny grabbed Jemarcus by the light switches and escorted him to Sergeant Stern.

  ‘I found this,’ said Benny.

  Benny parted Jemarcus’s dreadlocks with his nose. Tucked under his coat was the stolen diamond collar.
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  ‘Your father’s collar,’ cried Fizz’s mother.

  ‘They’ve been smuggling the jewels out in their coats,’ said Benny. ‘No wonder the police never found anything during the bag search.’

  ‘That’s why Jemarcus’s coat sparkled in the Talent Quest,’ said Remi. ‘It really was diamonds.’

  Two police officers marched Jemarcus and his twin brother out of the hall and into the back of a paddy wagon.

  ‘Congratulations, everyone,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘You caught the Show Dog Jewel Thieves and solved your first case.’

  Fizz barked proudly, Remi pirouetted in excitement and Amadeus let out a glorious howl.

  Miss Sparkles stepped up to her microphone with the Pemberley Tiara in one hand and the runner-up sashes in the other.

  ‘I do have an awards ceremony to finish,’ she said, quieting the crowd with a brilliant smile. ‘The winner of the Pemberley Show Dog Trials and this year’s recipient of the Pemberley Tiara is… Angel.’

  Fizz’s mother yelped with delight.

  Brittney stormed off the stage.

  Miss Sparkles sat the glittering Pemberley Tiara on Fizz’s head. Then she placed a runner-up sash around Remi and Benny. ‘For bravery,’ she said.

  Amadeus burst out laughing. ‘Sweet! Go, Powder Puff!’

  ‘Oh, I haven’t forgotten you,’ said Miss Sparkles, placing a runner-up sash around Amadeus’s neck. ‘You were very brave too.’

  Amadeus flexed his muscles in a show-dog pose.

  ‘In fact,’ continued Miss Sparkles, admiring Amadeus’s midnight black coat, ‘you could be a show-dog champion, too, with fur like that.’

  ‘What?!’ said Amadeus.

  Fizz, Remi and Benny cheered.

  ‘I’d like to keep both my boys, Miss Sparkles,’ said Sergeant Stern. ‘I wouldn’t want to break up a winning team.’