The Mystery of the Diamond Earring, Part 4

"So," said Taylor "what do you think we should do now?"

"I think," replied Shenice, "we should go over to Ms. Rachel's house and ask her if anything strange has happened. I'm sure the thief will realize he got the wrong house."

"Do you wanna walk?" asked Taylor.

"Let's ride our bikes," said Shenice. "It'll be faster."

"OK," replied Taylor.

"Mom," called Shenice, "we're going to Ms. Rachel's house."

"OK," said Shenice's mom. "Don't be gone long."

Shenice and Taylor hurried and jumped on their bikes and were at Ms. Rachel's house within minutes. They arrived just in time to see a car, which had been parked in front of Ms. Rachel's house, speed away. The girls hopped off their bikes and hurried to the front door. Shenice knocked. A lady looking to be in her mid sixties answered the door a moment later. "Well, hello Shenice." said Ms. Rachel "Who is this you have with you?"

"This is my cousin Taylor," Shenice explained. "We need to ask you a few questions."

"Is something wrong?" Ms. Rachel asked.

The girls quickly explained what had happened.

"You know," said Ms. Rachel, "there was a sales person that came earlier that seemed pretty suspicious."

" What seemed so suspicious?" asked Taylor.

"Well," began Ms. Rachel, "for one thing, most sales people try to look nice, and this man was wearing a white T-shirt, dirty jeans, and a baseball cap. Second, he said he was selling vacuum cleaners, but he didn't have anything with him.

"It does sound pretty suspicious if you ask me." said Shenice. Anything else?"

"Well," said Ms. Rachel, "as he was turning to leave I noticed something fall out of his pocket. I bent down to pick it up, but by the time I had it the man had driven away. You can take a look if you like."

The girls gasped at what Ms. Rachel handed to them.

To be continued....

The Mystery of the Diamond Earring, Part 3

Taylor read the letter out loud:

"Dear Foster,
There are some very valuable gems at this address: 901 S. Grove Street, Copperas Cove, AZ 22754. Rob it on April 29, then we'll split the loot fifty, fifty. Oh and one more thing. Don't mess up on this one unless you want us both to land behind bars!

Caitlyn"

Taylor gulped.

"Now do you believe me?" asked Shenice.

Taylor nodded, then replied, "I thought you lived on N. Grove Street."

"I do," replied Shenice. "901 S. Grove Street is where Ms. Rachel lives. Her husband died a few years ago and left her a bunch of money and gems and stuff."

"But I don't get it," replied Taylor. "If the gems are at Ms. Rachel's house, then why would the thief come here?"

"The thief probably just got our addresses mixed up. We're always getting each other's mail. Anyway, we have to investigate."

"Investigate," said Taylor timidly. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure," said Shenice. "We have to protect Ms. Rachel."

"OK," said Taylor. "But you have to promise we won't do anything dangerous."

'Promise!" said Shenice with her fingers crossed behind her back.

To be continued...

The Mystery of the Diamond Earring, Part 2

"Duck and cover!" yelled Shenice as everything but the kitchen sink came pouring out of her closet, including Belle's favorite chew toy. The little dog picked it up and ran off. "What's this?"asked Shenice, holding up a small blue bead.

"It's a bead," replied Taylor.

"Yeah, but it's a bead from the necklace, the one that's broken. But it was fine when I put it in the jewelery box," she replied.

"Are you sure?" asked Taylor.

"Yes, I'm sure," said Shenice.

"Then it must have rolled in there when it was broken." said Taylor.

"I'm sure the thief broke it," replied Shenice.

"For the last time, Shenice, a thief didn't break your necklace."

"Did you break my necklace?"asked Shenice.

"No," said Taylor.

"Then why won't you believe me about the thief?"

"Because it's not logical. There isn't any real proof!"

"How much proof do you need?" asked Shenice.

"Enough proof to actually prove something!" retorted Taylor.

Just then Shenice noticed something under her bed. It was a letter, which she picked up and quickly scanned over. Then she handed it to Taylor. "Is this enough proof for you?" she asked.

To be continued...

The Mystery of the Diamond Earring, Part 1

"Oh no!" said Shenice fearfully.

"What happened?" asked her cousin, Taylor.

"My earring! It's gone!"replied Shenice.

"Which earring?" asked Taylor, seeing her cousin's panicked expression.

"My diamond ones."

"Shenice, you knew you weren't supposed to wear those earrings," said Taylor.

"That's the thing, I wasn't," she replied. "They were in my jewelery box."

"Are you sure?" asked Taylor.

"Yes, I'm sure," Shenice replied. "And I think it was stolen ."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Stolen?" asked Taylor, shocked. "Who said anything about the earring being stolen?"

"Well," began Shenice. "I looked around the jewelery box for proof and I found several leads. First of all, one of my necklaces is broken, but it was perfectly fine when I put it in. Second, my jewelery box was moved a few feet from where I put it. And -,"

But before she could go on Taylor interupted. "Shenice, none of this stuff points to your earring being stolen. All of what you mentioned probobly has a simple explanation. And anyway, if someone was going to steal it, wouldn't they take both earrings?!"

"That brings me to my last clue," replied Shenice cooly. "Do you remember when McDonald's was giving girls dolls and boys spy stuff with their Happy Meals? We thought the spy stuff was cool and asked for the boy toys."

"Yeah," replied Taylor. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"Well," replied Shenice, "I got a motion detector and I got it to stand up in the back of my of jewlery box, and my guess is that when the thief reached to grab an earring, the detector went off and the thief didn't relize it was just a toy and ran off."

Just then, Shenice's dog, Bell, began barking wildly at the closed closet door.

"What is it girl?"asked Shenice as she reached out to open the door to Taylor's closet.

"Don't open that!" shouted Taylor quickly. "If you open that door all my stuff will come pouring out." Shenice laughed and opened the closet door.

To be continued . . .