Five Have Yet Another Mystery To Solve

Part 4

 

The next morning they awoke feeling tremendously excited. They were all sure they could find the secret location the men had talked about – after all, they never failed at solving a mystery.

After a light breakfast of bacon, eggs, sausages, hash browns, toast, marmalade and tea, they hurried along to the old forest.

"Now where could this secret location be?" asked Anne.

"I rather think we should head west," Julian said confidently.

They headed off through the trees. After a while Dick spotted some tyre tracks that beat a way through gaps between trees. "Jolly well done, Dick," said Julian. "Let’s have a look." He bent down and examined the tyre tracks. "Gosh, yes, we’re on the right trail. These tracks were made by a black American car at 10 am exactly a week ago. We’ve got the right place and time, how super!"

"Ju, you are so wonderfully clever!" said Anne.

"Gosh, we’d better follow them sharpish," said George. "Timmy, keep a nose out for other people. We don’t want to walk into the baddies."

The Five followed the tracks deeper into the forest. Suddenly George stopped. "I say, this is the meeting place," she said.

"First rate!" said Dick. "But how do you know?"

George pointed at a tree beside the tracks. The Five looked at it, then their gaze went upwards.

"Oh I say!" said Julian. "That tree looks exactly like a giraffe!"

"How simply smashing," said Anne.

Then Timmy gave a short bark. "Timmy says someone is coming!" said George. "Quick, hide!"

They shinned up trees as quick as a flash, Timmy using his claws to scale a large pine like a leopard. George looked at him admiringly. Her dear dog was so frightfully smart.

As soon as they were out of sight a person came into view. Anne gasped in shock and almost fainted. It was Mrs Featherhead, the darling lady from the village shop who had known them for years. Surely she wasn’t a crook! "Golly! I’d never have thought it," thought Anne. "She was always such a dear to us." A tear rolled down her cheek.

Then she got an even greater shock. Mrs Featherhead started stripping off her clothes. Underneath her pretty frock she was wearing men’s clothes. Then she pulled off her hair, which was a wig! Anne gave a small scream, but luckily it was drowned out by the sound of an approaching car.

A large black American car drew up by the giraffe. "Ah, just as I had deduced from those tracks!" Julian whispered to the others.

The not-Mrs Featherhead bent down by the window as it was wound down. "You weren’t followed?" said a deep voice from within.

"Not at all," said not-Mrs Featherhead. "I came in my old lady disguise. It fools everyone."

"Where is the real old lady?" asked the gravely voice from the car.

"Tied up in the basement of her shop, the silly old fool," said the man-who-was-most-certainly-not-Mrs-Featherhead.

"All right, Knuckles, jump in," said the voice. "We’ll take you to secret location number two, and will reward you well for your hard work."

"Thanks, Mr Bah Dee," said Knuckles, and he jumped into the back off the car. It pulled away.

"Quick Timmy!" hissed George. "Follow the car!"

Timmy leaped like a gazelle down from his pine tree and chased after the car. The rest of the Five climbed down from the tree and set off after him, although they were now out of sight.

"I knew that man in the doorway last night looked jolly odd!" exclaimed George. "He was wearing a dress – he was still half in his Mrs Featherhead disguise."

"I got such a frightful shock!" said Anne, still trembling. "I thought Mrs Featherhead was a man and a crook. Then it was worse to find out that the poor dear is tied up in her basement. We simply must rescue her post haste!"

"We need to make sure we catch the baddies too," lectured Julian. "Otherwise they shall still be at large and we won’t receive nearly so much praise and admiration."

"I quite agree," said George. "We’ll get Mrs Featherhead free later. But what on Earth do you suppose is going on?"

"My word haven’t you worked it out yet?" asked Julian, looking rather superior. "As far as I can make out, the ginger beer man has got in league with some crooks. The crooks are stealing chocolates from the famous company Daily Cream and are repackaging them and selling them on for profits. They must be using Mrs Featherhead’s shop as they place to repackage them. She wouldn’t be part of it, so they tied her up and got someone to act like her while they pulled the crime off."

"By Jove, that all makes sense!" said Dick. "They must be making a mint of money from reselling chocolates. What rotters! But how on earth did you know it is Daily Cream chocs they are stealing?"

"I recognise the purple squares that we have seen lying about as being from Daily Cream packaging. They are throwing them away once they have unwrapped the chocs."

"Oh Ju, you are so frightfully clever," sighed Anne.

They hurried along in the direction the car had taken. Every so often they saw a small cross scraped onto a tree by Timmy’s claw to show them the way.

"George I really do think its marvellous the way you have trained Tim," said Dick.

After a long walk they suddenly saw an old decrepit building ahead. There was no sign of a car. Timmy was sitting waiting for them. "I wonder where the car went to," said Dick. "I can’t see any way into the building at all. The windows are all boarded up, and the door."

They walked around the building but found no way of entry or any sign of anyone. "Timmy must know where the car went," said George. "Show us Timmy."

Timmy stood up, eager to help. The children looked at him. "His nose is pointing that way," said Dick, pointing.

"But his tail is pointing that way," said George, her head on one side. "We don’t know what he’s pointing with."

"And that paw is pointing over to the right," said Anne. "This is useless."

Timmy gave a great sigh and sat down. He looked thoughtful for a minute, then started to bark, some barks drawn out, other short yaps.

The five looked at one another. "He’s gone barmy," said Dick.

"No, no you others! My word, you’re a clever dog Timmy," said Julian. "He’s barking in morse code! Start again Timmy old chap, we need to work it out."

Timmy obliged, and soon the Five had a message. "Press the third brick along from the first window on the left," said Dick slowly. "Let’s go!"

They went over to the window and with great ceremony George pressed the brick as Timmy had instructed.

 

Part 5 >>

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