The Case of the Stolen Diamond

In the small town of Riverside Falls, there was a rich couple, their names were John and Mary, and they owned one of the most valuable diamonds in the world. Everyone envied them for it, and no one knew the real place it was hidden. No one suspected it, but it was kept in their house behind a picture frame, in a safe. The safe had one key, and one key only. The key was kept in a small compartment in the same picture frame. No one had ever tried to steal it, at least not that anyone knew of.

One gorgeous July evening, when the sun was just beginning to set, Mary and John, and their friends Annett and David, were enjoying a beautiful night out on the patio.

“It’s getting a bit chilly isn’t it John?” asked Mary.

“Yes it is. Want to head inside?” inquired John to the rest of the group.

“Sure,” answered Annett and David simultaneously.

As the small group headed inside for the night, David asked if John would show them the new section that they just got added into their house.

“Sure!” exclaimed John, he had been waiting for someone to show if off to since it was built, “We decided to change the location of the diamond because we think it will be safer to have it in the new section of the house. The security company is coming tomorrow to set up our high tech security system.”

David smiled a mysterious little smile.

“What are you looking so mysterious about?” inquired Mary.

“Ohhh…ummm..I don’t know, just happy for you and John and your new edition!” replied David a little too cheerful.

“Oh, thanks,” replied Annett thinking that there must be more to it than that. They enjoyed the rest of their quiet evening relaxing and chatting.

That evening, as John and Mary were sleeping, Mary heard a creak downstairs.

“What was that?” asked Mary.

“What?” asked John, his hands rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“That creaking noise.”

“I didn’t hear anything, Mary. Just go back to sleep. It was probably the gardener’s house door opening from the wind,” answered John.

“Oh alright, but I know it wasn’t the gardener’s house, this time it sounded like it was coming from the downstairs back door,” Mary concernly whispered. After that, John fell back to sleep, but Mary stayed awake listening. After ten minutes, Mary heard someone walking around downstairs. She thought to herself, “If John won’t believe me, then I’m going to have to do something about it myself.” When she went downstairs, she turned all the lights on, and no one was there. “Hmmm…I was sure I heard something,” Mary thought, “maybe I’m hearing things.” She turned off all the lights, and walked up the stairs again.

In the morning, John went downstairs, and checked the safe, like he did every morning. He reached behind the picture frame and pried open the small compartment door with his fingernails. He grabbed the key with his fingertips, but he noticed it wasn’t pointing due east, as he always put it. He thought that was a bit strange. Then he pushed aside the picture frame, and he unlocked the safe. He reached in with his right hand, felt the soft cushion it was normally resting on in the center. The diamond was gone. The diamond that the whole town knew him for, the diamond that he had worked so hard to pay for. It was gone. He could not believe it.

He knew something was wrong ever since the key was pointed in the wrong direction. He also knew that it had something to do with the sound Mary heard the night before. He should have listened to her.

Mary and John decided that they were going to first interrogate all of their staff before they contacted the police. The called in all of the staff, which was around ten people.

While interrogating the cook, Mrs. Brown, she claims she was up in the kitchen making the breakfast for the next morning. The kitchen maid, Ms. Smith, was up helping her too. She made it, and she baked it early the next morning.

When asking questions to the kitchen maid, she explained just like the cook said, that she was helping make breakfast for the next morning.

The gardener said that he had just gotten up to go to the bathroom. He said it nervously, as if he was hiding something. Both Mary and John thought this was quite suspicious.

“These three were the only ones awake during the robbery and I’d say that the gardener, Mr. Botts, sounds like the one, he said it so mysteriously,” said John.

“I think we should take him in for questioning one more time,” was Mary’s response.

“Okay.”

They questioned the gardener so much about where he was and what time he was out and what he was doing that he began to perspire. Finally, he gave in.

“Okay, okay! Here’s the truth. Since I live by myself, I get pretty lonely. So one night, I found a friendly stray cat on the streets, and I decided to take it home to my house in your backyard. I knew how you didn’t allow animals, but I was so terribly lonely. I took him home and have been hiding him for three months now. The night of the robbery I was actually getting a drink for my cat, but I thought that if I told you, I would get fired for keeping a cat in my house. I’m sorry, but if you won’t let me keep the cat, I have decided that I will quit.”

“You may keep that cat, Mr. Botts. Thank you for your honesty. You are dismissed,” replied Annett, it was John that didn’t like animals.

“So if it’s none of the staff then who is it?” wondered John and Mary.

“Well, lets think of all the people that came to our house in the last week,” said Mary.

“Okay. Today’s Wednesday, and on Sunday, we had over the pastor and his wife,” said John while counting them off on his fingers, “on Monday, no one came over, on Tuesday we had over Annett and David and….that’s it.”

“We know that Annett and David would never ever do anything like this, so let’s have the police search the pastor and his wife’s house,” replied Mary in a concerned tone.

The next day the police searched the pastor’s house and questioned both of them, but they found no trace of the diamond or anything suspicious.

“Well if it wasn’t them, then it has to be Annett and David,” confirmed John.

“Okay, but I really hope it’s not. We’ve been friends for so long and I trusted them.”

“Me too,” replied John sadly, “let’s try calling them first to see if they want to confess before we have to call the police.

Ring, Ring. Ring, Ring. It felt as if the rings went on forever. Finally it went to a voice recording.

Annett’s overly sweet voice came on. “Hello, I’m sorry but I couldn’t reach the phone right now. Please leave your name and number, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Sorry, goodbye.”

“That’s funny, it seems that Annett always answers her phone. Let’s try David’s,” said Mary confused.

After many rings again, David’s low husky voice recording answered.

“Sorry, I can’t answer the phone right now. Please call me back another time. Bye.”

“Boy, that’s really strange! Annett and David both always have their phones on them!” said Mary.

“Maybe they saw who was calling and they don’t want to answer because they actually stole the diamond! said John excitedly, “This is a clue we can point out to the police!”

They decided they had no choice but to turn their friends in. The police asked them some questions, and they said goodbye.

The next morning the police called them. They explained that they’d found them and put them into jail, and the diamond was safe in the police headquarters. They quickly drove down to pick it up.

When they were driving home, Mary told John, “You know what? I think we should donate this diamond to a charity. We don’t need it anyways and we have plenty of money without it.”

“I think you’re right. This could happen again and again, and it is all too much trouble to go through.”

The next day they donated the money from the diamond to a charity that helps people after they get out of jail. It helps them find a house and stay out of trouble. The diamond ended up helping Annett and David after they got out of jail after two years, and they apologized to Mary and John, and they all became friends again. They all decided that they would never let something like a silly diamond get in the way of their relationship again.