It was the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. A150 horses trotted and 1500 soldiers marched. A pigeon called Mr. Bob-Bob sat on a tree watching the parade. He was an unusually intelligent pigeon. Suddenly, he heard a familiar voice, “Mr. Bob-Bob, where are you?”
He fluttered down to his owner,
9-year-old Amy Twist. Amy was a budding detective. Beside Amy stood Maya, her
best friend. Maya had received a box of two pence coins with Queen Elizabeth’s
portrait on them. They were a birthday gift from her grandfather, a keen numismatist.
But Maya didn’t see the point of coins in the golden age of debit cards.
A few days passed with the box of
coins sat forgotten on the windowsill of Maya’s ground floor room.
**
Amy was watching a detective film when
Maya called.
“The box is missing, and I really
need your help!” cried Maya.
“I thought you didn’t like them, Maya,” said Amy.
“Yes, I didn’t, until yesterday.
Grandpa came over for dinner last night. That’s when he told us that each coin
was worth up to £1,000!” said Maya.
**
Moments later, Amy, Maya, and Mr. Bob-Bob
started hunting near the windowsill where the box of coins was last seen. They
found a scrap of fluorescent yellow fabric on the thorny red rose bush near the
window. There was a strand of blonde hair on the fabric.
“These seem to be clues. Let me ask Mum who
visited us yesterday…” said Maya.
Maya came back with some lemonade and information. “Mum said
that the only people who have come here were a parcel delivery person, a
plumber, and the postman. The postman had black hair while the other two had
blonde hair”
“So that’s 2 suspects then,” said
Amy. “I’ve got a plan. Mr. Bob-Bob can follow the suspects. No one will suspect
him… after all, pigeons are everywhere!”
Mr. Bob-Bob cooed and flew off on
his mission.
**
Mr. Bob-Bob saw the plumber with his
bag of tools walking down the main street. He could see the plumber’s golden
hair under his cap, but the plumber seemed to just be going about doing jobs as
usual.
Next, he tailed the delivery person
who rode a bicycle wearing a fluorescent yellow jacket. He too seemed to be
delivering parcels at various addresses - nothing suspicious. But at the last
delivery, Mr. Bob-Bob overheard the delivery man tell someone that he will
return his money soon as he was going to sell something valuable to a pawnbroker. Mr. Bob-Bob rushed back to let the girls know, who immediately alerted
the police.
The next day the police called Maya’s house. They had captured the criminal red-handed at his flat with the
box of coins. Maya was relieved to get the coins back. She donated one of the
coins to the Royal Mint Museum so that everyone could enjoy them; another to
RSPB in honor of Mr. Bob-Bob’s bravery, used one to buy a smartwatch and the
rest went into savings.
