The TV Mystery

One evening, Jack Barnes, Kurt Morris, and Robbie Ransom all sat in Jack’s basement, utilizing the large flat-screen TV installed in that room.  They were busy watching the Seattle Mariner game.

It was a good game!  The Mariners were playing the Toronto Blue Jays, and they led 8—0 going into the ninth.  The King was pitching, and Felix Hernandez was still in.

“I love watching Hernandez pitch!” said Kurt.  “He does this practically every time out!”

“Toronto’s got a pretty good lineup, too!” noted Robbie.  “Not just anyone can shut them down.”

“They always say good pitching stops good hitting,” noted Jack.

Outside, there was a loud clap of thunder.

“It’s funny watching a baseball game in the middle of a thunderstorm,” said Kurt.

“That’s because it’s not raining in Toronto,” said Jack.  “Even if it were, they’ve got a retractable roof too, just like Safeco Field.”

“We have to get down there again sometime,” said Kurt.

Hernandez retired the first two Blue Jays on two pitches, bringing up Jose Bautista.  The outcome of the game did not appear in doubt, but Bautista could ruin Hernandez’s shutout with one swing of the bat.  He took the count to 1—2 and fouled off a couple pitches.

“Come on!” said Kurt.  “Blow it by him!”

Jack tended to observe games more quietly, but he wanted exactly what Kurt did.  He watched as Hernandez set and threw.

“Chopper to first, and this will do it!” exclaimed the announcer.  “The Mariners have swept the series from Toronto!”

“How about that?” said Kurt.  “What a game!”

“Too bad it’s only seven o’clock,” said Robbie.  “What are we going to watch now?”

Seven o’clock, you say? Don’t all baseball games start at seven o’clock?  Well, if you’re on the East Coast, it might seem that way, but those ten o’clock West Coast starts are only at seven o’clock on the West Coast.  But that’s when the West Coast teams were home!  When they’re on the road, as the Mariners were tonight, the games start earlier.  Since Toronto was in the Eastern Time Zone, the game had started at four.  Thus, it was over at seven o’clock.

“Hopefully there’s a movie on,” said Jack, and he began flipping through the channels.  “If it weren’t so stormy, we could do something outside.”

“It’s also getting dark,” said Kurt, “because of the clouds.  Although this would be a good time for glow-in-the-dark frisbee.”

“You’re forgetting we don’t have glow-in-the-dark frisbees,” said Jack, flipping to a news channel.  He started to skip to another channel, then stopped.  It was a local news channel, and they were talking about a crime that had occurred that day.

“Hours ago, a daring crime occurred in downtown Tacoma,” stated the reporter.  “Police say a man stole the famous Gaspard Necklace as it was being transferred from Frick’s Jewelry store downtown.”

“The Gaspard Necklace?” said Kurt.  “I’ve never heard of the thing.”

The reporter said some more, then the scene shifted to the jewelry store, where another reporter stood by with the latest.  “Many of you have no doubt heard of the Gaspard Necklace,” he was saying.

“I haven’t!” said Robbie.  Just then, a picture of it was briefly displayed on the screen.  Then, the scene shifted back to the reporter.

“The necklace was being carried from a car to a building when, suddenly, the guard was overpowered by an unknown assailant wearing a ski mask.  Now, this robbery is quite unusual in that there was excellent security in place.  Other security guards were in the car, and they pursued the thief immediately after he pulled off the crime.  However, he quickly eluded them.  I’m here with one of the men in charge of transporting the necklace…” and the reporter began interviewing some guy about the elaborate security means that had failed.

“Too bad they lost him,” said Kurt.  “Wonder what they mean by ‘quickly eluded them’? That’s not very clear.  Did you hear me, Jack?”

Jack hadn’t heard Kurt. He’d been staring intently at the TV screen.  Just then, the reporter finished the interview, and the camera went back to the studio.

“Oh, shoot!” said Jack.  “I hope they show that again.”

“Why?” asked Kurt.

“Let’s keep the TV on this channel,” said Jack.  “When it comes on again, I’ll show you.”

“I thought we were going to watch a movie,” protested Robbie.

“If I saw what I thought, this will be better than a movie,” said Jack.

It took twenty minutes, but finally, they started talking about the Gaspard Necklace robbery again.  “Watch closely when they show the store,” said Jack.

Soon, they switched to the on-site reporter.  “Okay,” said Jack.  “See that clothing store next to the jewelry shop?”

“Yes,” said Kurt.  “What about it?”

“Watch the dummy in the window.”

Kurt and Robbie watched it, mystified, until—

Robbie gasped. “Did that dummy’s leg just move?”

“Yes!  You saw it too,” said Jack.  “No wonder that thief eluded capture so quickly.  Get me the phone.”

Ten minutes later, a not-so-fake dummy was in custody, and the necklace was in the store, where it belonged.

The Police Car Mystery

Due to his injury, Officer Williams of the Tacoma Police Department was given some time off work to recover.  That resulted in a temporary promotion for Sanders, Williams’s beat partner, who now got to drive the squad car.  Sanders was delighted at the opportunity, but he wasn’t used to having a car all to himself.  That might not sound hard to adjust to, but—

One day, Jack Barnes and his friends (Kurt Morris and Robbie Ransom) were at the big library downtown.  Actually, to be more precise, they were just leaving the big library downtown.  Jack had needed to look something up for a school research paper about the history of Washington State.

“How come Washington, D.C., is what people automatically think of when they hear Washington?” said Jack.  “We’re just plain Washington.  If someone’s going to talk about the capital, they should have to use D.C., as opposed to us having to use ‘State’ all the time.”

“Washington, D.C., is older,” pointed out Robbie.  “It was being built in the 1790s.  Washington State didn’t join the union until 1889.”

Kurt gaped at Robbie.  “How did you know the exact year?”

Robbie gaped at Kurt.  “This is our home state!  We should at least know something about it.”

“Well, I do, at least,” said Jack.  “Now come on,” he said, opening the door and nearly hitting a police officer.

“Oh, sorry, Officer Sanders!  I didn’t see you for a second.”

“That’s alright, that’s alright,” said Officer Sanders.  “Oh, it’s you guys!”

“Hello,” said Kurt.

“How’s Officer Williams doing?” Jack asked.

“Doing well, doing well,” said Officer Sanders.  “He’s already raring to be back at work.”

“He must be doing well!” marveled Jack.  “It’s only been a week since the injury.”

“Yes, I guess so,” said Sanders.  “Hey, by the way, you all wouldn’t have happened to see a police car around here, by any chance?  You know, a Ford Crown Victoria with a blue-and-yellow stripe down the middle that has POLICE written on the side in big letters?  Perhaps with the number 770 in black numerals on the back, just below the license number?”

“Isn’t that the one Williams—I mean, the one that you drive now?” Kurt asked.

“Uh, well, it’s still Williams’s car, and it’ll be his again when he gets back,” said Sanders.  “But, um, I parked it right out front here, and—”

“Right out front of this library?” said Robbie.  “I don’t see it.”

“That’s what I mean,” said Officer Sanders.  “You see, it appears to, um, oh my—”

“It got stolen, is that what you’re saying?” asked Kurt.

“Well, it disappeared,” said Sanders.  “Look, I’ve only been on the force for a couple years, and it’s not going to look very good if I lose this car.  I’ll be looking for it, but do you suppose you boys could too?”

“Sure,” said Jack.  “I can’t promise we’ll find it—”

“It’ll make me feel much better if you look, though,” said Sanders.  “If I can get it back today, then maybe the chief won’t be so mad.  Look, if you all find the car, I’ll give you half of my next paycheck.”

“Oh, you don’t have to—”

“I insist,” said the officer.  “You all will deserve it more than I will.”  With that, he finished entering the library.

“My,” said Kurt.  “Who would’ve thought we’d be asked to do something like this today?”

“More importantly,” said Robbie, “How are we going to look for that car?  Tacoma’s a big city, and the car might not even still be here.”

“It’s probably still in the city somewhere,” said Jack.  “In Tacoma, it’s a normal site.  Outside the city, it would attract attention.  As to how we’re going to find it, we could try riding the bus around.  That’ll take us all over the city; we can cover a lot of ground that way.”

“I suppose it’s worth a try,” said Kurt.  “I only hope whoever stole it doesn’t have it hidden in a garage.”

“What was the number again?” asked Robbie.

“770,” said Jack.  “You know, the number might be hard to see from a bus, though. Do you all have binoculars?”

“Not with me,” said Kurt.  “I have some at home.”

“Same here,” said Robbie.

“Let’s go back and get them,” said Jack.  “Then, meet me at my place. I’ll print out three maps of the bus routes, and we’ll divvy them up.  Does that sound good?”

Kurt and Robbie agreed, and the boys set off for home.  Forty-five minutes later, they met at Jack’s place where, true to his word, he had the maps.

“Unfortunately, I thought of a problem,” said Jack.  “We’ll see a lot of the city from a bus, but we might spot the car in an area between stops.  We won’t have any way to get off, if that’s the case.”

“Oh, that’s easy enough,” said Kurt, and he offered a suggestion as to how to get the buses to stop.  Neither Jack nor Robbie looked too thrilled about it, but Kurt finally convinced them that it was the best idea.

“I guess it won’t matter in this case,” said Jack, “but all at once, I hope one of you finds the car instead of me.”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Kurt arrived at his bus stop just as a bus was pulling up.  “What timing!” he thought. Checking the number, he got on and looked around for a seat.  The bus was crowded, and the only window seat was two rows from the back.

“That’ll have to do,” thought Kurt.  Working his way down to the back, he squeezed past the man with the aisle seat and took a seat.  The man looked at him suspiciously.  Kurt looked back, suspiciously.  If you read a certain earlier story, you’ll know why Kurt was suspicious of people on buses.

Finally, Kurt looked away, and the man did as well.  The bus started and began its slow journey.  A block away, Kurt spotted a police car coming.

“Ooh!” he said.  Quickly, he got out his binoculars.

The man next to him gave him a funny look once again.

All Kurt could tell was that there was no number on the back of this car.  Oddly enough, several of the Tacoma police cars had their number in different places from others.  Kurt didn’t know that, but he knew what Officer Sanders had said, so he decided to keep looking.

Kurt saw five more police cars, but none of them were the one.  He yawned.  “Hah-hah,” he thought to himself.  “I hope Jack found it.  He didn’t seem to eager to—oh-oh!”

There was another police car coming up, parked on a side street on the left.  The rear end was facing the street.  It would be too tough to sight with binoculars, as the bus was not stopping, but Kurt realized he might be able to read it without them.  He focused on the car and just barely managed to get a look at the number.

But it was 770!

Now for the plan. Kurt stood up and yelled, “I HAVE TO GET OFF THIS BUS!  NOW!!!”

Screech!  The driver brought the bus to a halt and turned to stare at Kurt.  So did everyone else riding the bus.  Kurt could feel the accusing looks on everyone’s faces, but he acted totally oblivious as he stood up, squeezed past the passenger next to him (who by now thought Kurt was completely loco), and worked his way to the door.  “Thanks,” he said as he left.

The bus driver said nothing; he merely closed the doors and drove off.

There was a payphone a few feet away from the bus stop, and Kurt took advantage of it.  In less than a minute, he had the police on the line.  Quickly, he told them he’d found the car, and he told them where it was.

“We’ll be right over!” promised the officer on the other end (not Sanders).  Hanging up, Kurt glanced back over at the car—

And saw it backing up towards the road!

“Oh no you don’t,” thought Kurt to himself.  He went running toward the road and, as the car turned out into the road, he leapt onto it!

It wasn’t the smartest idea in the world, but incredibly, Kurt landed on the car.  Hanging off the roof, he quickly pulled himself on as the car took off down the road.

“Oh no, what now?” thought Kurt.  Lying across the roof kept him on the car, but he couldn’t stop it.  Or could he?  As the car approached a traffic light, Kurt inched his way to the front and stuck his head over the windshield!

Errrk! Kurt fell off as the car came to a stop, but he wasn’t hurt.  Out in the middle of traffic, the car thief wasn’t going to attempt a hit and run.  Instead, he banged on the horn.  Kurt, however, remained where he was.  Other traffic pinned the car in place.

“Hey!  What’s going on?” shouted a man from the side of the street.

“It’s that boy!” yelled an old lady.  “I saw the whole thing.  He was trying to hitch a ride on the outside of the police car.  Impudent youngster!”

“That’s right!” screamed a friend of hers.  Kurt, to his chagrin, saw a crowd of old ladies all staring at him with angry faces from the sidewalk.  “Are they some sort of club or something?” he thought.  Now, had he really been just messing around with the police, he would have agreed with them, but this was ridiculous.

“Why doesn’t that officer get out of the car and arrest him?” shouted another one.

At that moment, two other police cars pulled up, one in front of the stolen car and one in back.  The driver got out and tried to make a run for it but was promptly tackled by two real police officers, much to the chagrin of the ladies.  (“Not him!  It’s that boy you want!”)

“Thanks for your help,” said one of the officers, who Kurt recognized as Stieg.  “Sanders will be happy about this.”

“No problem!” said Kurt.  “To help any of you guys out is worth it!”

Once the crowd figured out what was going on, it was inevitable that the story of the stolen police car would hit that news.  However, since it had been recovered that day, Tacoma’s chief kept Sanders’s name out of the reports.  Case closed.

The Diggabilly Square Mystery

It was a cool, spring morning in Washington State.  Earlier forecasts had called for rain, but none was to be found, so far.  A slight breeze blew, and it wouldn’t have been a bad day to be outside.

Jack Barnes wasn’t enjoying the weather, though.  He was outside, but he had other stuff on his mind, such as what to buy his mother for Mother’s Day.  Finding something for her would be easy; Jack was on his way to the perfect place for that.  However, he wasn’t the only member of his family searching for a Mother’s Day present.

“Emma, will you hurry up?  We don’t have all day!”

Emma Barnes, Jack’s seven-year old sister, younger than him by five years and also quite annoying, was coming along to get the Mother’s Day present.  That was bad enough.  Worse, Kurt Morris and Robbie Ransom (Jack’s best friends) weren’t coming.  Jack couldn’t blame them, but it would have been nice not to be left alone with Emma all morning.

“I’m going fast!” insisted Emma, catching up with her brother.  “Why don’t you hurry up?”

“Emma, I was two yards ahead of you!  Will you stop waving at every car that goes by?”

“No, I won’t,” said Emma.  “I’m a celebrity.  When I wave, people go home and tell their families that the girl that avowed the car robbery waved at them.”

“Avowed?  I think you meant averted,” said Jack.  A cement truck drove past, and Emma waved.  “See?  Now that truck driver can tell people I waved at him,” said Emma.

Continuing down the street, the truck driver was thinking, “Wonder who that little girl is?”  Ever since Emma had single-handedly stopped someone from stealing the Barnes’ car, she’d considered herself a celebrity.  The multitude of news interviews had something to do with it.  What she hadn’t figured out yet was that people forget about stories like that in a very short time.  Jack knew this, but he didn’t have the heart to tell Emma.

“Well, we’re almost there,” said Jack, pointing to the brick building coming up on the other side of the street.

“Good!” said Emma.  “I like Diggabilly Square!”

“At least one of us like it,” thought Jack.  How had Diggabilly Square gotten its name?  Funny you should ask.  When it was being built, many years ago, the builder had planned to name it Piccadilly Square, like the famous one in London.  He’d phoned a company to send some letters for the front of the building and had told the person on the other end he wanted “Piccadilly Square.”  Unfortunately, the phone connection was bad, and the person on the other end thought he said, “Diggabilly Square.”  Those letters got sent, and the builder was too cheap to send them back, so that was how Diggabilly Suare got its name.  Those same letters still stand above the four columns that mark the entryway to Diggabilly Square.

Now for why it wasn’t Jack’s favorite place to go.  Whatever the large, old brick building had originally been built for, Diggabilly Square now contained several stores.  On the right of the entry, Christine’s (a knockoff of Bath & Body Works).  On the left, a jewelry store.  Straight down the main hallway was a restaurant, but it was mostly frequented for tea by ladies in the 60+ age range.  I’m sure it was a good restaurant, but you can imagine why Jack didn’t often eat there, or go to the building for that matter.

Diggabilly Square would be the perfect place to find a Mother’s Day Gift, though, so Jack led the way inside.  He wouldn’t have minded getting something at the jewelry store—if he’d had the money.  He did not, however, so he turned right as soon as he got in.

“Here we are,” he said.  “I’ll pick out something for Mom, and you do the same.”

“How about this?” asked Emma, grabbing the first bottle of body gel she saw off the shelf.

“No,” said Jack.  “Look at the scent.  Coconut mint.  Mom’s allergic to coconut.”

“She’s not going to eat it, is she?” asked Emma.

“Of course not,” said Jack, “but we’re not buying her that!”

Replacing the bottle, Emma grabbed a different one.  “How about this one?”

Jack looked at it.  Black Raspberry.  “That’ll be fine,” he said.  Deciding to do the same thing Emma did, he grabbed another bottle off the shelf.  His was Orange Blossom.  “This was easy,” he thought.  “We’ll be out of here in no time.”

He led Emma to the register, where the clerk was waiting for them.  The clerk was a man, which was highly unusual for anyone that worked at Diggabilly Square.  Oh, well.  Jack put the bottles on the counter and said, “These two things please.”

“Sure,” said the man.  “Did you find everything you were looking for OK?”

“Yes, thank you,” said Jack.  The man scanned the items and told Jack the total.  He paid.  “Do you want a bag?”

“Yes, please,” said Jack.  The man placed the items in a small, brown paper bag, which he handed to Jack.  “Have a nice day,” he said.

“Thanks,” said Jack.  “Come along, Emma.”

“Can we go to ‘Oh-So-Victorian Tea’ before we leave?” asked Emma.  “I’m hungry!”

“No!” said Jack.  “We’re not going there.  Come on.”  He dragged her out of the building.

As he and Emma started to descend the stairs, all at once a police car pulled up.  Two officers got out, one of whom Jack recognized.  “Hi, Officer Williams.”

“Oh, it’s you,” said Officer Williams.  “Did you just come from in there?”

“Yes, why?” asked Jack.

“We got a report that a man we’re looking for was in that building.  He’s wanted for bank robbery.  Here’s his picture,” said Williams.

Jack and Emma looked at it.  Then, they gasped.  There was no mistaking—

“That’s the man that just checked us out at Christine’s!” exclaimed Jack.  “It’s on your right when you go in!”

“Thank you!” said Williams.  “Come on, Stieg!”  He and the other officer rushed past Jack and Emma, who followed curiously.  The officers ran up the steps, opened the door to the main building—

And found the door to Christine’s closed.  The hours were now visible; the store was not supposed to open until 10:30.  (It was only 9:45.)

Williams tried the handle and found it locked.  Undeterred, he broke down the door.  He and Stieg charged inside, only to find the place empty.

“He couldn’t have gone past us,” said Stieg.  He pulled out his walkie-talkie.  “Units 4 and 7, do you have the back covered?”

“Covered,” came the reply. “Suspect not spotted.”

“Howard, Green,” said Stieg.  “Are the sides covered?”

“No sign of him,” came the reply.

“He must still be inside, then,” said Williams.  “We’ll search the place.”

“Emma,” said Jack, “you should probably wait outside.”

Emma did not appear particularly happy with this idea.  “Why?” she said.  “I can take care of myself, remember?”

“What do you think, Officer?”

“Actually, both of you should probably wait outside,” said Williams.  “We’ve got enough men here.  We’ll get him easily.”

Now it was Jack’s turn to be unhappy, but he wasn’t going to complain to the police.  “Alright.  Come on, Emma.”

“I want to find the criminal!” complained Emma, as Jack dragged her out the door.

“So do I, Emma, but we have to wait out here.  Don’t worry, we can watch from here.  We’ll see when the police catch him.”

Watching, however, proved very boring.  It wasn’t like the movies, where they have camera shots of the different officers going down creepy-looking halls, wondering every minute whether the crook will spring out from a doorway.  It was more like when you see a fire engine at a building, and you watch, and all you see is the engine outside, lights flashing.  In this case, it was a police car.

“Sorry this isn’t more interesting,” Jack told his sister, when he suddenly noticed that she was staring up at something.

“Look!  That window!”

“Which one?” asked Jack, trying to see which way she was pointing.

“The one at the top!” said Emma.  “Over Christine’s!”

Jack looked, but didn’t see anything.

“It’s gone,” said Emma, “but I saw that face in the picture!”

“You did?” asked Jack.

“I know I did!”

Jack studied Emma carefully.  She wasn’t always that truthful about things like this…but he could tell she wasn’t making this up.  Unless she’d been imagining things, there had been a face at that window.

Quickly, Jack rushed into the building.  He ran down the hall to the restaurant.  Soft music played as the customers sat in white wicker chairs scattered around a black-and-white checkered floor.  Officers Williams and Stieg looked quite out of place in the crowd of people mostly thirty years older.

“Officer Williams!” gasped Jack.  “Emma saw him!”

“She did?  Where?”

“Excuse me,” said a waitress, slightly younger than most of the customers, “Can I get you some tea?”

“She saw him in the window above Christine’s!” said Jack.  “He’s on the second floor.”

“Second floor,” mused Williams.  “Um, no, I’m sorry, we don’t want any tea.  We’re looking for a robbery suspect, and we think he’s on the second floor.”

“Oh, no, that’s quite impossible,” said the waitress.  “There aren’t any stores up there.”

“Nevertheless, someone saw him in a window.  Is the floor accessible?”

“There’s a staircase in the back of the janitor’s closet,” said the waitress, “down the hall next to the rear entry. But I don’t think you’ll find—”

“Come on!” said Williams.  He ran out of the restaurant, followed by Stieg, followed by Jack (who hoped the police wouldn’t mind his presence now that he’d furnished the clue.

True to the waitress’s word, the closet was down the hallway, on the left.  Williams gained the door first and opened it.  It was unlocked. Inside, buckets, a mop, and a broom were scattered, and it was clear that someone had gone through to get to the stairs at the back.

Williams charged up them followed by Stieg.  He charged up them, followed by Stieg. They were almost at the top when

BANG!!!

Williams staggered backwards, hand on his shoulder.  “Nelson!” he called.  “You’d better give yourself up.  We’ve got this place surrounded!”

“Come in and get me!” screamed a desperate-sounding voice.

“Waiting won’t do you any good,” said Williams.  “You don’t have any way to escape.”

“Try and take me!” dared Nelson.

Jack had watched, horrified, as Williams had been shot.  At least the wound didn’t look bad (Williams was still standing, and all), but Nelson was still armed and dangerous.  Suddenly, Jack got an idea.  He turned and charged down the stairs.  Reaching the first floor, he ran down the hall to the front of the building as fast as his legs could carry him!

Jack reached the door and darted outside, to where Emma was waiting.  “Emma!  I need a—oh, there’s one!”  He grabbed a big rock and turned to face the building.

The window above Christine’s was high, and it wasn’t that large.  However, Jack had played quarterback before and had a pretty good arm.  If he could just get that rock up there—

He reared back his arm and let loose with the pass of his life.  CRASH!!!  The window shattered!

A moment later, there was a shot, then—

“Got him!” shouted Officer Williams, loud enough that Jack could hear through the window.

“Hooray!” said Jack.  He gave his sister a hug.

Later, Jack told Kurt and Robbie about his adventure.  “Wow!  We should have come along!” said Kurt.  “It’s a good thing you came up with throwing that rock!”

“Yes,” said Jack, “but that was easy, compared to the police’s job.  It must be scary, charging up stairs like that, not knowing whether someone’s going to be waiting with a gun or not.  I’m glad Williams is going to be okay.  We owe the police our gratitude, for the risks they take each day to keep us secure.”

The Ping-Pong Table

One of the nicest things about Jack Barnes’s house was the rec room in the basement.  A large room, it took up about half of that particular floor, and it was filled with games.  An air hockey table, a pool table, and a ping-pong table were its main attractions, and Jack and his friends used these quite a bit—so much, in fact, that the old ping-pong table had been falling apart.  Seeing this, Mr. Barnes had decided to purchase a newer, sturdier one, and this was the one Jack and his friends had used over the past month.

“What an improvement,” remarked Jack.  “That old one looked like it would fall apart any day.  This one looks like it won’t fall apart for decades.”

“I can even stand on it!” demonstrated his friend, Kurt Morris.

“Yes, but get off, Kurt.  We want this thing to last a while,” said Jack.

Well, you can imagine Jack’s surprise when he got a letter from the company that had made the table.  “Notice!  Hija Inc. is recalling all Model H783 tables at once!”  The letter went on with instructions on how to return the table.  The cause of recall was “structural deficiencies.”

“Structural deficiencies?” said Kurt.  He, along with Robbie, was over at Jack’s house when the letter came.  “What do they mean by structural deficiencies?”

“I guess they didn’t think these tables were sturdy enough,” said Jack.

“Rubbish!” said Kurt.  “I could stand on that thing, remember?  Remember your last table?  There’s nothing a bit wrong with that table.”

“Maybe someone had an accident with it,” said Jack.  “Let’s Google it and see what comes up.”

Nothing exciting turned up on Jack’s search.  In fact, the only result to come up was a news article, which basically restated the letter.  There was one additional piece of information in the article.

“The recall may have stemmed from the fact that this particular model was a prototype the company was testing out.  Only 40 of these were sold, all in the Seattle-Tacoma area.”

“Only 40!” exclaimed Kurt, his collector’s mind going to work.  “Think about how rare this thing will be one day.”

“Rare?” said Robbie, in surprise.  “Kurt, do you really think people collect ping-pong tables?”

“People collect checkerboards.  Why shouldn’t they collect ping-pong tables too?”

“I don’t think we’re going to make any money off this table, Kurt,” said Jack.  “I do wonder why they’re recalling it, though.  Why don’t we give it a look?”

Kurt and Robbie agreed, and the boys descended the stairs to the rec room.  There were a few windows at the top of the room, but not much light was coming in because it had rained all day and was still quite cloudy.  Jack flipped on the light switch.

“Strange that there should be structural deficiencies on a ping-pong table with eight legs,” said Kurt.

The table did have eight legs.  Eight thick, wooden legs; four on each long side.  In fact, it was really built more like a pool table than a ping-pong table.  A thick wooden body supported the green “court” on top, and two strong metal poles held the net firmly in place across the board.

“Maybe they didn’t mean to put eight,” said Jack, “but they should have caught that.”  He ran his hand over the edge of the table, feeling for anything that might be loose.  Robbie went to one of the shorter sides and put his eye to the edge of the court, to see how flat it was.

“It looks perfectly flat,” he said, “unlike your last table, which had that fold in the middle.”

Kurt was studying the legs of the table.  He gave one of the corner ones a slight kick.  It didn’t seem to notice.  Moving down the table, he gave one of the side ones a kick.

“Oops!”

Jack looked.  “Kurt!  What did you do to it?”  The second leg had not survived Kurt’s kick as well; it had fallen off and now lay on the floor!

“That must be the structural deficiency,” said Kurt.  “Say, wait a second!  There’s a little hollow area at the top of this leg, and there’s a folded-up piece of paper in it.”

“Really?  Let me see it,” said Jack.  He pulled it out and unfolded it.  It read—

“[The following material has been edited by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States of America for security reasons.]”

“Whoa!” said Jack.  “This doesn’t look like something we’re supposed to be reading.”

“I’ll bet someone stole that!” said Kurt, “and the ping-pong table was being used to deliver it!”

“We’d better call the police!” exclaimed Jack.

The police came—along with a CIA agent, who took the paper.  They took away the ping-pong table, but returned it three days later, satisfied it contained nothing else.  Jack and his friends were strictly warned not to say anything about the case, and they agreed.  To date, no one besides them has heard of it.

Well, except you, of course.

The Mystery of the Stolen Object, Part 2

Collmenter led the boys down a long hallway through a well-decorated mansion.  As the boys followed, he briefly told them what had happened.

“Let’s get right to the point,” he said.  “Thanks to my financial position, I have been able to collect many rare and valuable items.  I have always enjoyed is chess, and one of my most prized possessions is a marble checkerboard dating back to the 1850s that was once owned by Queen Victoria herself.”

Kurt whistled.  “That’s got to be worth a lot of money.”

“It is,” said Collmenter.  “Apparently, someone else thought so too.  Now, it’s missing.”

“Oh, so that’s what you want us to find,” said Jack.

“Precisely,” said Collmenter.  He stopped.  “The suspects are all in there.”

“You have it narrowed down to three people?” asked Jack.

“Yes,” said Collmenter.  “These are the only three I have allowed into the room the checkerboard was kept.  They were all at my house this morning when the item disappeared.  I’ll let you see them.”

He led the boys into a large sitting room, well-decorated with fancy draperies, paintings, and ornate furniture.  Seated along a couch at one end of the room were who the three boys assumed must be suspects.  Standing were four police officers, one of whom was in the middle of questioning the suspects as the boys came in.  He turned to see who had entered.  Then, his eyes narrowed.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” he said.

Jack gulped.  They had met before.  Once, when the three boys had been on a bus, Kurt had made a smart-aleck remark about how the man sitting next to him might be a criminal.  The funny thing was, the man was a criminal.  Funny as in strange, that is; it was almost lethal for the boys.  The officer that had just spoken, whose name was Williams, had warned them to avoid the area of town the crook had taken them too.  Still sheepish about the incident, Jack had hoped not to meet him again, at least not so soon.

“I thought you said you were getting detectives, Collmenter.”

“I am,” said Collmenter.  “Here they are.  I’ll bet these kids get this case solved before you do.”

“Oh, really?” said Officer Williams.  A sneer crossed his face.  “Give it a try.  The suspects are all yours for questioning.”

“Thanks,” said Jack.  He walked over until he was closer to the suspects, two men and a woman.  “Introduce yourselves from left to right, and tell me how you happened to be accused of stealing the checkerboard.”

To Jack’s dismay, the man on the left laughed, but he answered.  “I’m Collmenter’s nephew, Edgar Rasmus,” he said.  “I live here with my sister, Mildred.”  He motioned to the woman sitting next to him.  “We were both here the day the checkerboard was stolen.  I guess that’s why we were accused of stealing it.”

“Don’t forget you were in the room that morning, Edgar,” called Collmenter.

“So what?  I was in it; you were too,” said Edgar.  “Was the checkerboard still there when I left?”

“It was,” said Collmenter, “but that doesn’t mean you didn’t take it later.”

“When exactly did it go missing?” said Robbie.

“Sometime around 9:30,” said Collmenter.  “I discovered its absence at precisely 9:32 this morning.  The checkerboard sits in my study, and may I note that Edgar was in there asking if he could borrow money.”

“So what if I was?” said Edgar.  “You’ve got plenty of it, and you’re my uncle.  It’s only natural that I should ask you first.”

“I guess you’re Mildred Rasmus,” said Jack to the woman next to Edgar.  “Were you in that room at all this morning?”

“No, I was not,” said Mildred.  “I’ve been feeling under the weather, and I didn’t get up until I heard everyone shouting about the missing checkerboard.  That’s why no one saw me until after the board had been stolen.”

“I see,” said Jack.  “And you?”

“I’m Wilson Perkins,” said the third man.  “I and Mildred—well, we’re engaged to be married, as soon as I can get a job and support us.”

“That’s what he’s been saying for the last year-and-a-half,” filled in Collmenter, “and, come to think of it, he also came by my office to ask to borrow money.”

“Which one came first?” asked Robbie.

“Edgar,” said Collmenter, “but Wilson walked in during our meeting.  I told them both that they’d better look elsewhere for money.  I’ve been far too generous in the past.”

“What time did Edgar show up in your office?”

“Precisely 8:30,” said Collmenter, “and Wilson showed up nine minutes later.  Cosgrave let him in.”

“Speaking of Cosgrave, how do you know he didn’t commit the crime?” asked Kurt.

“Cosgrave was on his way out at 8:30.  He was driving a business partner of mine to the airport, and he didn’t get back until after I discovered the checkerboard was missing.  The board was still here during the interviews, though, so neither Cosgrave nor my guest could have stolen it.”

“Which leaves you three,” said Jack.  “Tell me, when did you leave the room, Mr. Collmenter?”

“I left it at nine o’clock, to have breakfast,” said Collmenter.  “Edgar and Wilson had left nine minutes before, at the same time.”

“What did you do after leaving?” Kurt asked Edgar.

“Me?” said Edgar.  “I called my financial broker and told him I hadn’t been able to borrow any money, thanks to my dear uncle.  Then, I went and had a workout in my uncle’s fitness facility.  I was still stretching when my uncle came and asked me where his board went.”

“You weren’t sweating, Edgar.”

“Try working out sometime,” said Edgar, “and you’ll see that you don’t start to sweat during the stretching.  Unless, of course, you’re in really bad shape.”

“Edgar—”

“And where were you?” Kurt asked Wilson.

“I left right away,” said Wilson.  “Like Edgar, I wanted to get money from somewhere as well.  Since Mr. Collmenter wouldn’t lend it to me, I wanted to drive around and clear my head a little.”

“We’ve checked Collmenter’s story,” said Officer Williams, “and the broker vouches that they were on the phone.  Of course, that doesn’t mean Williams didn’t steal the checkerboard after the conversation.  However, we haven’t been able to prove Wilson’s alibi.”

“Officer, I can assure you I’m telling the truth!” said Wilson.  “Why would I rob my fiancée’s uncle?”

“That would put Wilson in a tight spot, wouldn’t it?” said Jack.  “Cosgrave wasn’t around to see him leave, and Mr. Rasmus, did you see him reach the door?”

Rasmus smiled.  “I did not.”

“Then he could have hidden, instead of leaving,” said Jack, “especially since no one saw him—”

“I saw him!” exclaimed Mildred.  “He left when he said he did.  My window overlooks the driveway, so I could see him from it.”

“I see,” said Jack.  “Mr. Collmenter, I think I’ve found your thief.”

“What—”

“Earlier, your niece said she couldn’t have stolen the checkerboard because she was asleep until everybody started shouting when it was missing?  If so, she couldn’t have seen Perkins drive away.”

“I was asleep!” insisted Mildred.  “I—er—I woke up and went back to sleep.  I wasn’t lying.”

No one believed her though, and they had good reason not to.  Williams and his men had already searched Mildred’s room, but upon her slip of the tongue, they searched it again—and found the checkerboard, under a loose floorboard under the carpet under a small endtable.  At this point, Mildred broke down and confessed she had committed the crime.  Arthur Collmenter gave the boys a reward for their help, despite their insistence that a reward was unnecessary.  The biggest reward for them was the new respect they had gained in the eyes of Williams.