The clock struck midnight.
Madame Violet’s eyes fluttered open, and she suddenly felt a strong urge to go downstairs. She closed her eyes again, but could not shake off the feeling that something was wrong.
“I must be hungry,” thought Madame Violet, and decided to go downstairs for a snack.
On the way to the kitchen, Madame Violet peered into the library- “Filled with books as usual!”
The study-“Looks good!”
The door to the vault was closed, so Madame Violet decided to go in it so she could admire the rare Amazonian Spotted Cowjewel in all its glory on its golden pedestal and sky-blue velvet cushion.
She opened the door to find…
“AAAAIIIEEEE!!! IT’S GONE!” she shrieked into the almost empty vault, the deserted corridors, as far as her distressed voice could reach.
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Early the next morning, Madame Violet (with bags under her eyes) stood in the empty vault. She had a reporter from ESOSC (Expensive Stolen Object Search Channel) pushing a microphone into her face and the camera man trying to get the whole thing on tape. There were panicked butlers and maids (Madame Violet was very rich) running amuck all around the mansion, searching hysterically for the missing jewel.
“Now, tell me- a scream was reported of being heard clear across the neighbourhood at 12:00 midnight and supposedly coming from Petal Estates, your mansion. Is the rumour true that the rare and valuable Amazonian Spotted Cowjewel has been stolen?” asked the reporter.
“YES!!” wailed Madame Violet.
J☻K☻L☻K☻J☻K☻L☻K☻L☻K☻Meanwhile…J☻K☻J☻K☻L☻K☻J☻K☻L☻
At about 8:00 the very same morning, Kate Pawson (age 12) sat in front of the TV, flicking randomly through the channels, feeling dejected that nobody wanted to hire The Pawson Detectives. Now, who are The Pawson Detectives, you may ask? Well, a week earlier Kate and her younger sister Maggie Pawson (age 10) decided to form TPD, and made Star, the Pawsons’ Golden Retriever part of it too-
“People like variety in detective teams!” Maggie had declared.
Unfortunately, they had found no mysteries yet to solve.
Anyway, Kate was about to flick past the 8:00 Live Morning News, but the story caught her attention.
“Maggie! Come here quick!” she called to her sister.
Maggie walked in the door looking half-asleep.
“What? It’s Saturday,” she asked groggily. Unlike her early rising sister, Maggie liked to sleep in as late as possible.
“This could be our first mystery,” Kate said excitedly. “Look.”
On the television screen, a distressed Madame Violet paced nervously.
“I can’t believe why anyone would steal my beloved Amazonian Spotted Cowjewel! Oh, Madame Daisy is going to be so disappointed when she returns from her trip!” she wrung her hands.
“I wonder who Madame Daisy is? She must be important,” said Maggie absentmindedly as they watched her on the screen.
The reporter continued, “Do you have any leads yet on who could have it and how it was stolen with all the tight security? Maybe it is part of the recent series of thefts in the area?”
“Maybe it is related to the other thefts, but I don’t have any leads yet!” wailed Madame Violet. “Well, there is a $500 reward, so if anyone thinks that they could help solve the mystery, please call the toll-free number I’ve set up for this occasion.” She whispered something in the direction of the camera out of the corner of her mouth, and a number flashed up on the screen.
“1-800-FIND-JEWEL…” Kate muttered as she grabbed a pen and searched for paper to write it down on. Meanwhile, Maggie simply grabbed a phone and punched in the number before Kate had even found the paper.
“Hello? Pawson Detectives here,” stated Maggie in what she hoped to be a calm, professional manner (although she did a poor job in disguising the excitement in her voice). Kate abandoned her search for the paper and grabbed the nearest phone extension instead.
“We think we can help find the missing jewel,” added Kate.
“Er, uhhh… Can you please hold for a few minutes?” replied a frantic female voice on the other end of the line.
Kate and Maggie looked up to the television screen again to find Madame Violet trying to answer about 15 different ringing cell phones.
“Um, please hold… I’ll call you back later… No, I don’t want to buy your toothpaste… Please call back… For the last time, I DON’T WANT TO BUY YOUR TOOTHPASTE!.. Psst, cameraman, cue the number to stop flashing already!” she added in a hiss in the direction of the camera.
Suddenly the girls heard the type of music you’d normally hear on an elevator as the screen went black and a “Please stand by” message flashed on the screen.
“Okay… Anyway, what were you saying?” asked the voice on the phone, sounding much calmer than before.
“Well, me and my older sister Kate-” started Maggie.
“My older sister Kate and I,” corrected Kate.
“Whatever. Anyway, we (and our dog, Star) form The Pawson Detectives, and we think we can help find the missing jewel for you,” finished Maggie.
“Oh, thank you so much! My name is Madame Violet and I live on 8 Mapleberry Lane. Meet me here as soon as you can, preferably within five minutes. Your job starts right away,” said Madame Violet, and hung up.
“Er, goodbye…?” the girls’ voices trailed off.
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Chapter Two
At about ten o’clock, the girls arrived at the Petal Estates with their Golden Retriever, Star.
Kate tentatively rang the door bell as Maggie paced. Star tried to sniff every inch of the strange, expensive place that smelled like perfume and splendor, even on the door step. All of them were overwhelmed to be at such a grand mansion.
“Hello? No, I don’t want to buy toothpaste, for the last time!” called a tense voice from inside the door. A lady’s face peered through a French window in the large oak door. “Oh, you must be Kate and … er…..” came Madame Violet’s voice as she opened the door, sounding relaxed. She was clearly pleased that they were not simply another group of reporters or toothpaste salesmen.
“Maggie,” supplied Maggie. Star barked. “And Star.” She added.
“Great,” Madame Violet said, “come on in.”
She sat down on a leather sofa and gestured the girls to sit down on the opposite sofa. They did so with Star lying on their feet purring contently as Kate absent mindedly stroked her ear.
“Well, to get right to the point,” said Maggie as soon as they sat down, “did you notice anything strange or suspicious at the scene of the crime?”
“I’m sorry I can’t show you myself, but I’m leaving soon and for the time being the vault is taped off so the CSI chemical people can examine the perimeter. Although in a few minutes it will done so you can check it out yourselves.” She hesitated as she added as an after thought, “well, there is one thing. Early this morning when I phoned the downtown recording office to withdraw the security tape (the film from all the security cameras are automatically transmitted there, you see), they said that somebody had withdrawn it under my name only minutes earlier. They said they were sorry and even delivered me a copy of the withdrawal form written by the imposter himself. It was just a regular note. I was so disappointed.”
The sisters exchanged looks. “Er… where did you say this form is?” asked Kate.
“It’s right here.” Madame Violet searched through a pile of papers and handed them one. “Well, I’d better be off for my appointment at the spa – er… ah, an important business appointment. I’ll be back in an hour or two,” she said and with a flourish grabbed her coat and was out the door in fifteen seconds.
The girls examined the note as Star sniffed it and whined nervously.
“Yeah, this note is suspicious, isn’t it? Look here, the thief didn’t even spell Madame Violet’s name right!” exclaimed Kate.
“That is strange,” commented Maggie. “I wonder….I wonder….ah ahh ACHOO!!” she sneezed, making the note flutter into the fireplace.
“Oh no!” cried Kate.
But then something strange happened to the note.
“Wait a second. Look at this! Madame Violet has an electric fire so the note is not burned, just hot! The thief has written a note in lemon juice that only appears when it is baked!” Maggie picked up the form. The message was slowly appearing before their eyes.
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Chapter Three
“Ha Ha! You must be smart if you are reading this, but you won’t catch me. Just back away from this mystery and I’ll let you go unharmed. Insincerely, Blackcat,” read the girls as the full contents of the lemon juice note appeared.
“Wow,” said Maggie, “but we are not backing down. Why don’t we go examine the vault next? Star can sniff around while the scent of the intruder is still strong.”
So off they went. They walked quietly through the hallways of the mansion for a few minutes until Kate broke the silence. “Er, where exactly is the vault, anyway?” she asked.
“Me? I thought you knew. You’re the older one!” Maggie grinned sheepishly. “Well, I guess we’d better ask for directions.”
“Ruff,” agreed Star.
They spotted a butler with long jet black, and a somehow intimidating appearance, walking swiftly towards them.
“Uh, excuse me, but where is the vault?” asked Kate nervously but politely.
He looked at the girls for a second but then returned his gaze ahead and kept on going without saying a word.
“That was rude,” said Kate crossly. “Here comes a maid. Let’s ask her instead.”
They repeated the question. This time the maid showed them the way to the vault. Then she beeped in a password for them, and then she left quickly.
“Hmmm,” said the girls as they entered the room. The vault itself was very nice. It was furnished with grand wallpaper and a lustrous red carpet. There were several paintings of cows and people with strong resemblance to Madame Violet on the walls. However, the centerpiece of the room was definitely an elegant golden pedestal with a sky blue velvet pillow on top. The girls suspected that the jewel used to sit on top of the pillow.
Kate took down the pillow and held it out to Star to sniff and gave the command to track.
Star sniffed, paused, and then went to the opposite wall. She jumped up and promptly knocked down a picture that looked quite like the rude butler. It was labeled “Blackcat, AKA Albert C. Violet III, brother to Isabella Violet”. Behind where the picture had once been, there was an entrance to a secret passageway.
Star leapt up into the dark narrow passageway and the girls followed. It had a low ceiling so at first they had to crawl. Soon the slope of the ceiling allowed them to stand. After a couple more minutes of trudging along, the Pawson Detectives came to an ancient spiral staircase. They climbed up and up, and finally came to a doorway.
To the girls’ surprise, Star put her tail between her legs and ran back down the stairs.
“Something must have frightened her,” said Maggie nervously. “Should we keep going anyway?”
“Well, I guess….we can get her on the way down,” decided Kate. “Besides, I’m curious.”
And so they kept going. They walked through the doorway and gasped.
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Chapter Four
The room was dark, musty and reminded the girls strongly of a basement. Yet it was filled to the brim with rare paintings, precious gems and other expensive items that looked like they would be better suited to a museum. However, in the center of the room stood the rare Amazonian Spotted Cowjewel, in all its spotted glory, on a bed of diamonds.
“It’s….. beautiful!” breathed Kate, picking it up and examining it.
“Yeah, yeah, real nice, but don’t you find this fishy? Maybe these are all the stolen objects from the recent series of thefts,” said Maggie. “But why are they in Madame Violet’s house?”
“You don’t think…..?” Kate trailed off.
They looked at each other and the horrible realization hit them. Could the nice, neat lady be the villain in disguise?
“Not Madame Violet?” croaked the girls.
“Right-o!” cackled Madame Violet who had walked in the room at that moment. Her voice seemed somehow deeper. She seemed ready to attack.
Before the terrified girls could even move, Star burst into the room barking heroically, pulled off “Madame Violet’s” hair and pushed her to the floor.
“Wait a minute,” Kate exclaimed, “you’re Blackcat! You’re the one who is responsible for all these crimes!”
“Sure, sure, just call off your dog and I won’t hurt you,” Blackcat snarled.
Just then, the CSI burst in the room and put Blackcat in handcuffs. “We heard the commotion from outside, and returned to the vault only to find the secret passageway exposed! We taped your conversation from outside the door and we had sufficient evidence to arrest you, Albert!” said one of the officers.
They all trekked downstairs. As Blackcat was being loaded into the police car, the real Madame Violet arrived back home. After she was brought up to date by the police, she invited the girls to sit down in the living room so she could answer their questions about Blackcat.
“Albert is my brother, although he prefers to be called Blackcat. He lost his share of the family fortune, so he works here as my butler,” explained Madame Violet.
“Hey, now that you mention it, we ran into him in the hall but he wouldn’t talk to us,” exclaimed Maggie.
“Yes,” said Madame Violet sadly. “He can be quite rude. He always was envious of my mansion and Madame Daisy, my cow.”
“That explains it,” muttered Maggie. “But why so much fuss about a cow?”
“But don’t you see? It’s not just the cow. It’s the reminder of what he could have had if he had invested his share of the inheritance wisely, like his sister. Blackcat couldn’t stand that the cow had more gold than he did!”
Star woofed softly and Madame Violet slapped her forehead. “Of course, thank you Star for reminding me of the $500 reward for catching the thief.” As Madame Violet wrote a check for the girls, Star licked her lips as visions of a lifetime supply of dog treats flashed before her eyes.
THE END!