After Arthur was taken down to the police station and Mrs. Brock was
escorted home,
Inspector Hewitt stood on the Bautistas' porch with Shirley, Bo, and
Blake.
Shirley looked through the bag Arthur left.
"Ah, just as I thought," she said. "New light bulbs."
"And I was ready to dig up the backyard," Bo admitted.
"A very clever way to hide stolen goods," Blake said.
"How true," Inspector Hewitt said. "If it weren't for you
three, it would've taken forever to
find the missing jewelry."
"Shirley deserves all the credit, Dad," Blake said. "She figured it all out."
"Once I put it all together, it was easy," Shirley said.
"The items stolen,
the fact that Arthur didn't shower downstairs, the nonworking lights,
the impressions of a footstool
on the floor underneath the hallway light, and the footstool itself
in the closet all added up
to Arthur hiding the stolen jewelry in the house's light bulbs.
Simple deduction."
"What about the stuff that Arthur sold already?" Bo asked.
"We confiscated a small notebook from Arthur. It details
all his sales.
We'll start looking maybe tonight or tomorrow," Inspector Hewitt answered.
"Well, another case solved," Blake stated.
"Thank goodness," Bo said, relieved.
Shirley looked at her watch. "Well, I've got to get going." She started to leave.
"Where are you going?" Blake asked.
"Home," Shirley said. "I did promise Mom that I'll be back
in time for dinner."
"Well, Blake, your dad did it again," Shirley said as she showed
the newspaper article to Blake.
The headline read "MONA LISA HERO CAPTURES JEWELRY THIEF."
"He sure did," Blake said with a smile, knowing who really solved the case.
It was the day after Arthur Brock's arrest and Shirley and her
friends
were once again relaxing at the Quazar Cafe. Alicia was with
them; she was not working today.
"How did he do it?" Stink asked.
Bo looked sideways at Shirley, who read from the article.
"'Inspector Hewitt was told by
an anonymous caller that the stolen jewelry was in a house Brock was
taking care of.'"
"So once again, Inspector Hewitt was helped by unnamed persons,"
Bart commented.
"Interesting. Could it be...?"
"I doubt it was a ghost or an alien that called Inspector Hewitt
about the house," Alicia said,
anticipating what Bart was thinking.
Bo stifled a laugh. "I'm sure it was just a concerned citizen, Bart," Shirley said.
"Hmmph." Bart crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat, feeling insulted.
"Looks like Arthur's going back to jail," Bo commented, smiling.
"This time to a regular prison," Shirley pointed out. "He's legally an adult now."
"That's too bad," Alicia said. "I heard prison food was
yucky. And the clothes. Don't get me started on the clothes."
Her mind wandered as she pondered prison fashion a moment; however,
her attention was snapped back with
the aroma of Shirley's favorite order, a peanut butter and blue cheese
sandwich. It was a smell she had encountered
many times before, and, judging by the fact that the waitress had two
of them, it looked like Blake had strange tastebuds too.
"Then again," she remarked with a smile on her face.
Shirley and Blake took up their sandwiches and bit into them at
the same time. Everyone else at the table stared at them.
"Mmmm," Shirley said. "Quite good."
"Very," Blake remarked, smiling. He took another bite.
Bo shook his head. "Oh boy."
-The End-