Chapter 1. The rip-off

'It's so nice here,' Liz said, looking around at the ancient dolls, which were lying in the glass showcases.

'And so quiet,' Tom added. 'I feel as if we're in the eighteenth century.'

'Yeah,' I drawled, taking a mechanical Japanese doll. 'My Aunt Janet created a really classy place.'

The bell on the door of the new doll shop clanked.

'The shop is closed,' I called, imitating my aunt's voice. 'Come in three hours, please!'

'Shut up and don't move,' barked the visitor. He needn't have said it, though. Because as soon as we saw three men in black masks, we all froze in horror.

'Don't move,' the man repeated, pulling a gun out of his pocket. Pointing his gun at us, he quickly came up to the door and closed it.

We didn't move. Two other men rushed over to the glass showcases and started emptying them. One of them also had a gun, another one was armless. He threw the dolls into a big sack.

Bastards! I thought, looking sideways at them. Aunt Janet had opened all showcases for us. They didn't even have to unlock them.

The robbers went over to the third showcase. The one with the gun came up to Liz.

'Give me that,' he snarled through the gritted teeth. Liz was holding in her hands a big china doll in a violet camisole, black velvet pants, white hoses and black shoes.

'I told you to give me it,' barked the robber.

Liz jerked back, but didn't let go of the doll.

'Liz! Are you mad?' I yelled in panic.

She didn't react, just pressed the doll to her chest even more tightly.

'Damn it!' the man grasped the doll and started pulling it. Liz staggered back, but kept squeezing the doll. The man kept pulling, but Liz held it tightly. It looked as though they were playing tug of war. Two other men, having forgotten everything, stared at this fight. Suddenly I realised that the robbers' attention was fixed on Liz and no one looked in my direction. One of the showcases was right beside me. I quickly grabbed a doll and shoved it behind the heavy velvet curtain.

Take that! I thought with hatred. I was about to repeat this trick with another doll, but right at that time Liz's fingers unclenched.

'Go to hell!' Liz shouted, letting go of the doll.

'One more sound and you're dead,' the robber threw the conquering doll into his sack.

I froze again. The man with the gun started to empty the showcase beside me. I discovered that I was shaking all over. Partly because of natural fear. But also because of shock and anger.

At that moment the door in the back wall of the shop swung open and my Aunt Janet ran into the showroom.

'Richelle! Why are you so noisy? I asked you to…' her voice broke off when she saw three men in black masks.

'Shut up!' growled one of them.

Aunt Janet went green and fell down in a faint.

'Damn it!' the robber with the sack stared at her.

'Never mind,' the man with the gun turned to him. 'That's even better. You don't have to watch her now. Hurry up!'

They rushed towards the next glass showcase, where dolls were lying on soft purple cushions.

Poor Aunt Janet! I glanced at Tom and Liz. Tom was standing near the window, his jaw dropped. Liz was glaring at the robbers with rage, but didn't move. I sighed. There was nothing we could do.

'Vandals! How can you!?' I heard my aunt's grievous voice. 'These dolls are priceless!'

'Look!' the robber with the gun laughed. 'Lady's come to herself and even cares about us!'

'Bastards!' Aunt Janet stood up with a jerk.

'Be careful, lady,' one of the men shook his head. 'You'd better shut your mouth up if you want to live.'

'Done! Let's go!' the robber with the sack rushed towards the door. The other two raced after him. The door slammed behind them. The next moment we heard the squeak of tyres outside.

There was a complete silence in the shop. I looked around. Everything was the same as it had been fifteen minutes ago, except for the empty glass showcases.

'Good heavens! What should I do now?' Aunt Janet sobbed, burying her face in her hands.

'Aunt Janet!' I rushed to soothe her.

'Don't cry, Miss Brinkley,' Liz murmured. 'Maybe the police will find your dolls!'

'I'll call the police!' Tom ran to Aunt Janet's workroom. While helping my aunt to her feet I heard him saying the address into the phone. 'The police are on their way,' he came into the shop's showroom again and stood beside us, fidgeting uncomfortably.

'The police won't help now,' Aunt Janet sniffled.

She wasn't crying now, just wandered blankly among the emptied showcases, as though she hoped to find something, what the robbers had missed. Liz and I followed her like two shadows.

'The police will find the robbers,' Tom murmured, looking down at his feet.

'I doubt it,' Aunt Janet started sobbing again. 'Do you realise how much these dolls cost?'

'We know,' we answered gloomily. But I understood that it wasn't just the cost of the dolls. My Aunt Janet had been dreaming for a long time about her own shop of ancient toys. She'd been looking for an appropriate place for the shop for two years, then she had it decorated. She managed to create a wonderful collection of ancient dolls. And this hard work was ruined in less than ten minutes.

'Some dolls weren't even mine,' she sobbed. 'I borrowed them from collectors for the opening. How am I supposed to pay for them now?'

Liz, Tom and I fell silent. What could we say? I recalled how Aunt Janet had called me the day before and asked us to help her. She'd wanted Teen Power Inc to prepare the shop for the solemn opening. Sunny couldn't come because of her gym class, Elmo said that he had to write an urgent article for the Pen. Nick had wanted to come at first, but at the last moment he'd changed his mind. He'd received a new computer game and said that he wouldn't go out until he understood the game's rules. So that left only Tom, Liz and me. We decided that three of us would be enough for this job and today we went to prepare the shop for the opening.

But none of us objected, though. Liz and I admired the old beautiful dolls. Tom didn't like dolls, but he liked art and unusual places, that was why he was keen to come here. Besides, Aunt Janet promised to pay well and the job was easy and interesting.

I heard sounds of cars outside. After a moment Greta Vortek, the policewoman we knew, came in. Two policemen followed her.

'Look for the fingerprints,' Greta said briefly to one of the policemen.

'There are no fingerprints,' Tom objected. 'They were in gloves.'

Greta greeted us. 'Were the dolls valuable?' she asked my aunt.

'Some of them were just valuable,' she sighed bitterly. 'But there were a few dolls which… Well, anyone who understands this sort of art would give a fortune for them.'

'Yeah,' I put in. 'For example that Japanese guy. A very old doll. You can wind up the spring on his back and he begins to write a letter to his sweetheart. And while writing he sighs and smiles.'

'Oh, I saw this doll on TV!' Greta exclaimed. 'But this doll is in the State Museum in Switzerland.'

'There are only three or four of these dolls in the world,' Aunt Janet sighed. 'And one of them was mine. I found it long ago, broken. Then I had it repaired.'

'I see,' Greta nodded. 'So, the dolls were very expensive... It's an interesting robbery,' she added thoughtfully.

'I can't agree with you,' Aunt Janet snapped. 'I personally would prefer a more boring life.'

'Um…I'm sorry, I didn't mean it,' Greta confused. 'I mean that it's very difficult to sell such things. This robbery was done specifically for someone. Maybe for a collector. Do you suspect anyone?'

Aunt Janet thought for a while. 'I can't say for sure,' finally she said slowly. 'Of course, collectors are a little bit crazy people, but I don't think that any of collectors I know could do it. Besides, dolls…they sort of refine people, you know.'

'Pictures also are supposed to refine people,' Greta smiled sadly. 'But actually they don't. I investigated a similar case about a year ago. A young man killed his grandfather for the picture worth two hundred dollars.'

'Maybe you're right,' my aunt sighed. 'But…Collectors would never throw the dolls like those bastards did.'

'That's collectors,' Greta snorted. 'Robbers don't care about dolls; they care only about the payment.'

During this conversation two policemen were wandering around the shop, looking for the fingerprints or other evidences. But looking at disappointed expressions on their faces, you could say that they hadn't found anything interesting yet. Greta, meanwhile, continued to interrogate us.

'Can you describe the robbers?' she asked.

'It's difficult,' Liz began slowly. 'There was nothing special about them. The three of them wore black masks, black jackets, jeans and black gloves.'

'And they were approximately the same height,' I added. 'Quite tall, not fat and not too thin.'

'The girls were scared to death,' Tom snorted. 'How could they notice anything specific?'

'And you weren't?' I demanded. 'You also were shaking all over.'

'No, I wasn't,' Tom objected.

'Tom, did you notice anything what can help?' Greta looked at him hopefully.

'Of course, I did,' he nodded solemnly. 'Two of them had guns and the third one was with the sack.'

'Great,' Greta snorted. 'As soon as we see three men with guns and a sack, walking along the street, we'll arrest them immediately.'

Liz and I laughed. Even Aunt Janet's lips curled into a smile. Tom pouted.

'So none of you noticed anything unusual,' Greta sighed.

'No,' we all shook our heads.

'A professional job,' one of the policemen said.

'What do you mean, Wildman?' Greta looked at him.

'They didn't leave anything,' Wildman replied. 'The place is absolutely clean.'

'Examine outside,' Greta ordered. 'By the way, did you see their car?' she turned to us.

'No,' I answered. 'Oh,' I slapped my forehead. 'I've forgotten! I've saved one doll!'

'What?' the others stared at me.

Not answering, I crossed the shop and pulled the doll from behind the velvet curtain.

'My God!' Aunt Janet ran up to me. 'It's the one from my last acquisition.'

'How did it get there?' Liz exclaimed in surprise. 'I definitely saw it in the showcase.'

'While you were fighting with the robber, I didn't waste my time,' I said smugly.

We all crowded around Aunt Janet, who was holding the doll in her hands. Its china cheeks were scarlet, the mouth was half-smiling, natural hair was tumbling around its shoulders in golden waves.

'If you sell such expensive things, you should have the alarm system, Miss Brinkley,' Greta said disapprovingly.

'I have,' my aunt spread her arms. 'I turn it on at nights. But it's useless in the daytime. This is a shop, not a museum. Besides, today all showcases were unlocked all the same. I asked Richelle and her friends to dust the furniture and decorate the shop for the opening. I also have got a guard, but I asked him to come by the opening.'

'Did you tell anyone that you'd be here alone without the guard?' Greta enquired.

'No, I didn't,' Aunt Janet shook her head.

'Did you?' Greta turned to us.

'No,' we replied in chorus. 'Only our parents knew. And Nick, Sunny and Elmo.'

'It's a miracle, that this doll's here,' Aunt Janet smiled. 'Maybe this is a sign that other dolls will return to me too?'

'We'll do our best,' Greta said doubtfully.

'We haven't found anything outside,' at that moment Wildman came into the shop.

'Oh,' Aunt Janet looked at her watch. 'The solemn opening is beginning in an hour. I have to inform my guests about the robbery. Do you have other questions? If you don't, I'll occupy the phone.'

'Sure, you can go,' Greta stood up. 'We've finished here. We'll do our best to find the dolls. Please, let us know if you remember something else. We'll be in touch, Miss Brinkley.'

'Look, Richelle,' Aunt Janet turned to me. 'Take this doll. I was going to give one of them to you on your birthday. But it has to happen this way. I want you to accept this one.'

'Really?' I couldn't believe what I'd heard. I held out my hands for the doll, but then I shook my head. 'No, Aunt Janet, I can't. It's the only doll you have.'

'Take it, Richelle!' Aunt Janet insisted. 'I've made a wish. If you take this doll, the other ones will return to me.'

'Oh, thank you very much!' I grabbed the doll and pressed it tightly to my chest.

'Off you go then,' Aunt Janet smiled sadly. 'I have to make a lot of phone calls.'

We went outside. Two policemen were waiting for Greta in the car.

'So,' Greta turned to us. 'I know it's useless telling you not to poke your noses into this case. I just beg you, if you find out something, tell me at once. Don't do anything on your own.'

'Sure,' I nodded.

'The criminals are professionals,' Greta went on. 'Someone wants these dolls very much, and they'll get rid of anyone who will try to cross their path. Okay, good bye then,' she let herself in the car.

'Nice morning,' Tom said grimly, looking down at the ground. Suddenly he bent down. 'Oh, wow! What's that?' he exclaimed. I looked down at the pavement and saw a lighter.

'Don't touch it!' Liz yelled. 'It might belong to the criminals! There could be fingerprints.'

'Miss Vortek! Please, stay!' Tom shouted, waving his arms.

The police car stopped. 'What else?' Greta put her head out of the window.

'We've found a lighter,' Liz pointed down.

Greta ran up to us and carefully took the lighter with her handkerchief.

'Richelle, does your aunt smoke?' she asked me.

'No, she doesn't,' I shook my head.

'Good. It may belong to one of the robbers then,' Greta looked pleased. 'They aren't poor,' she went on thoughtfully. 'The lighter is quite expensive. I hope we'll find fingerprints on it. Good job, kids!' She got in the car again and they drove away.

'Let's go to Nick's place,' I suggested. 'He must be at home. Tell him about the robbery.'

I turned to the street where Nick lived. Liz and Tom followed me.