Molly could hear Miss Marvel coming down the hall toward Room 101 by the clicking of her shoes on the floor. She was wearing high heels today, Molly thought, because the sound was clearer and more distinct. When she entered the room to close the door, Molly glanced down and smiled to herself. She was wearing black, high heeled shoes.
“Hello everybody,” Miss Marvel said as she walked to her seat. Her red hair was down, and she swung it around to get it out of her eyes when she sat down. In her hands were two boxes. One is smaller and it is white and thinner than the other one. The second box is brown and has a handle on top of it. She separated them as she placed them in front of her. She placed her right hand on the handle of the brown box.
“Before we discuss our observations for our case,” Miss Marvel said. “This box is the money box for the photo booth. When I left the dance, I asked Mrs. Rogers if I could take it with me. I was thinking there might be some fingerprints on it.”
Molly joined the others as they sat up straighter and leaned toward Miss Marvel.
“Maybe,” Jason said. “There might be lots of fingerprints. How would we find out who’s fingerprints are who’s?”
“I guess we would have to try to find that out,” Bev said.
“We don’t even know how many fingerprints there might be on it,” Molly said to them. “Maybe we should find that out first.”
Miss Marvel then placed her left hand on the second box and said, “This is our fingerprint kit. I would like two of you to go to another spot in the room and try to get prints off of the box. Jason and Carol, would you like to try?”
“What if we mess up?” Carol asked Miss Marvel.
Miss Marvel shrugged her shoulders and said, “You mess up. We would have to look for other ways to figure out who done it.”
“Let’s do it,” Jason said standing up. Miss Marvel handed the two boxes to Carol. The two students walked to two desks nearby. They turned them to face each other and sat down.
“Now, Bev, have you been recording what we are doing so far?” Miss Marvel asked her.
“Yes. I have called the case, Booth, to keep it simple for us,” Bev said.
“I like it,” Miss Marvel smiled at her and stood up. She walked around the teacher’s desk to the bookshelf behind it. On the highest shelf, she reached for another box and brought it back to her seat. She sat down.
“We have two crimes in one night,” she said. “Jason and Carol, before you get too far, you will want to hear about this, too.”
Molly was in disbelief as she waited for the two students to return to their places in the circle.
“This box is the money box of the Cooking Club. Miss Heinz approached me this morning. She had confessed the crime to Mrs. Rogers who told her that we were working on her case.”
“Okay,” Molly interjected. “Shouldn’t we go to the police now?”
“I thought we could gather as much information as we could and then go to the police with what we have learned,” Miss Marvel explained.
“How?” Bev asked.
“Let’s talk about what we know or don’t know,” Harold leaned forward in his chair. “Miss Marvel, how much money was stolen from the Cooking Club?”
“$488.00 and they left $8.00,” Miss Marvel answered him.
“The admission charge for one couple and one single person,” Ted said. “That’s weird.”
“Do we know how much was stolen from the photo booth yet?” Carol asked.
“Yes,” Bev said. “Harold and I interviewed Mr. and Mrs. Rogers who told us that they took 115 photos. They threw away 11 of them because they were mistakes. So at $2.00 a photo…”
“$191.00 because they left $11,” Jason interjected. “That’s a total of $679 missing from the dance.”
“How did you come up with that so fast?” Carol asked him.
“What? I am good with numbers,” Jason shrugged.
“That is very good, Jason,” Miss Marvel said as she handed him the third box. “Shall we try to get prints off of this, too?”
Carol took the box from Jason and stood up. Jason swiveled out of his chair and the two of them walked to their other seats. Molly watched them sit down and returned her attention to Miss Marvel.
“Okay, team,” Miss Marvel leaned toward the remaining members of the group. “What would Holmes do?”
“Get organized,” Molly said immediately. “Let’s attack by using the 5 Ws.”
“What?” Ted asked. “What is the 5 Ws?”
“Who, what, where, when and why,” Harold explained to him.
“Good idea, Molly,” Miss Marvel smiled at her. “What do we know?”
“Let’s explore what we don’t know first,” Molly said. “We do not know who and why. We do know what – the money, where – the dance at school and when – we sort of know, it was between 6:30 and?”
“Let’s talk about those three knowns a bit farther,” Jason said from the other side of the room.
“Good idea,” Harold agreed. “Let’s start with where? We were all at the dance. What did we observe?”
“It was fun,” Bev said. The place was rocking.”
“What about the space itself?” Harold asked as he stood up and walked to the chalkboard. He drew a large rectangle on the it. At the bottom, he drew a second, smaller rectangle and labeled it Lobby. He drew a third rectangle along the left side of the largest one and labelled it Hall.
“I get it,” Ted said. “That’s the gym!”
“Bev don’t replicate this until we are done,” Miss Marvel told her and then she looked at Jason and Carol. “Can you please join us again? Sorry. Okay, I just thought we work best when we are all together. What does Harold need to add to the drawing?”
“The obvious things,” Molly stated. “The stage, the location of the refreshment stand, the photo booth, and the games.”
The group sat silently as Harold completed the drawing. When he stepped back, they all remained silent until Miss Marvel asked, “What’s missing?”
“The people we know about,” Molly said. “Where were Mr. and Mrs. Rogers?”
“They said they were dancing when they were told the money was missing,” Bev said.
Harold drew two Xs in the middle of the dance floor.
“Where were the kids when they found the money missing?” Miss Marvel asked.
“They said since no one was at the photo booth, so they went to the refreshment table,” Harold said as he drew tow more Xs near the refreshment table.
“Where were you guys,” Molly asked the group.
“When?” Jason asked. “When the money was stolen? We don’t know that?”
“I think I know that by asking one question,” Carol said. “Did Mr. and Mrs. Rogers say when they were dancing?”
Bev straightened up in her seat and said, “Yes they did! They only danced the first dance to Twist and Shout!”
“So, where were you guys?” Molly asked the group again. “Bev, Harold and I were on the dance floor.”
“So was I,” Ted said.
“Me, too!’ Jason and Carol almost said it together.
All eyes turned to Miss Marvel, who smiled at them and said, “So was I. I am surprised not one of you noticed me,”
“You were dancing with Mr. Charles,” Molly said. “So was Principal Marty.”
Mis Marvel smiled at her and nodded her head.
Harold stepped back from the map he was drawing on the board. The dance floor was now filled with Xs.
“What’s missing?” Miss Marvel asked again.
“The band,” Carol said. “Don’t forgot the record-player man.”
“His name is Mr. Fox and he is a teacher here,” Miss Marvel said to everyone. “He teaches Missouri History and is the History club sponsor.”
Harold stepped back and placed his hands on his hips and asked, “What’s missing?”
“Exits,” Molly said.
“Good observation,” Miss Marvel said as Harold drew lines on the map where the front door and lobby doors are located.
“There are other exits from the gym,” Jason said. “The two on either side of the stage and the one into the hallway by the photo booth,”
Harold added them.
“What about the two into the locker rooms near the photo booth?” Molly added.
Harold added them and stepped back again and asked, “What’s missing?”
The group quietly surveyed the drawing on the chalkboard.
“Did we get everything that we know?’ Molly asked.
“No,” Miss Marvel said. “The second crime. Miss Heinz told me the money box was inside the gym on the bleachers behind the refreshment table.”
“Where was she?”
“She said she remained at the refreshment stand,” Miss Marvel said.
“So we don’t know when that theft happened, do we?” Carol asked her.
“No, Miss Heinz noticed the money missing when she was leaving for the night,” Miss Marvel explained. “But she was alone.”
“Let’s not think of that yet. Let’s finish this map first,” Molly said. “Harold add Miss Heinz behind the refreshment stand. Okay, now what else is missing?”
Molly suddenly had a realization and asked, “Where was Mrs. Young?”
“When the music started, we asked her to join us, but she declined so we left her close to the stage,” Miss Marvel said. “No, a little closer to the locker room, Harold. There.”
“Anything else?” Harold asked looking at his drawing.
No one said anything.
“Okay,” Miss Marvel said. “Bev, redraw that and give the notebook to me and I will make copies for all of us, but we have to keep this to ourselves, okay?”
The group got quiet again as they watched Bev look up at the chalkboard and to her paper. When she finished, she turned it toward Miss Marvel who took it from her and looked at the board and then the paper. She stood up and said, “Bev, good job. Harold, good idea. Erase the board and I will be right back.”
Harold erased the drawing and returned to his seat. They waited in silence. The only sound was the soft swishing of a brush on a box.
To be continued…
My First Stories 