Thank you all again for the reviews. I am enjoying writing this story so much and am glad you like reading it! I also think its really cool to hear who you think stole the cookies! He he.
Chapter 4
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Haley and Brooke were back to square one. They still had no idea who had stolen the cookies, but had excluded a number of suspects. It was not Haley, Brooke, Karen, Lucas, Nathan or Tim.
The two girls sat on the footpath outside the café, thinking about more suspects.
"Oh!" Haley jumped up quickly, startling Brooke, "I can't believe I didn't think of this before…"
"Tell me!" Brooke replied, she was never really into the suspense of surprises.
"Well, it could have been Dad. He sometimes takes some cookies with him to work, maybe he just forgot to tell mum this morning." Haley said.
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Keith stole the cookie from the cookies jar.
"That makes sense, should we go and ask him?" Haley nodded. The girls hurried inside to seek permission from Karen.
"Mum, we think dad might have taken the cookies. Can we go over and ask him?" Haley asked.
"Ok, but make sure you look both ways before crossing the road." Karen replied, the typical worrying mother.
"Yes mum." The girls said and they rushed back outside, pausing to look carefully that it was safe before crossing the road.
They ran down the street past the old antique store full of valuable, breakable chine; past the sweet smelling bakery; past the best toy store in the world and finally they reached Keith Scott Mechanics.
"Dad." Haley called out when they arrived.
"Mr Scott!" Brooke shouted also.
"In here." Came a muffled cry from the back of the room. Haley and Brooke cautiously made their way around the car parts to the sound of the voice.
Keith Scott rolled himself out from under a car he was working on and wiped his hands on his old, oil-stained overalls. "Hello girls, to what do I owe this pleasure of a visit this afternoon?"
"Well, we just wanted to know if you took any of mum's cookies for lunch today?" Haley asked.
Keith screwed his eyes up in thought before replying "No, I believe I forgot about those delicious cookies this morning. I just packed a sandwich and a few pieces of fruit."
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Not Keith
Yes Keith
Couldn't be
Then who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
"Ok, thanks Mr Scott." Brooke replied, the two girls turned to head back to the café to think more about their next suspect.
"Wait. You came all the way up here just to ask me that?" Keith asked.
"Yeah." Brooke replied, "Well, we're solving a mystery."
"I see, and what mystery is this?"
"The mystery of the missing cookies." Haley replied.
"Oh, how is this mystery going?" Keith asked.
"We're out of suspects again." Brooke replied.
"I was a suspect?" Keith asked, shocked.
"Yes Daddy." Haley replied, "We thought you might have taken cookies for lunch and forgotten to tell mum. Honest mistake."
"True true." Keith replied nodding, impressed with his daughter's intelligence, "Well I best let you get back to thinking about who the next suspect could be."
"Thanks Mr Scott, but do you have any ideas?" Brooke asked.
"Hmmm, maybe it was ghosts or really small mice that could get in and out of the jar without being detected." Keith replied.
"Dad!" Haley groaned, rolling her eyes but giggling at the suggestions anyway. The girls said goodbye and proceeded back up to the café, carefully looking both ways before crossing the road yet again.
Brooke and Haley entered the café a little gloomily. They were starting to lose faith in this act as detectives as they felt they had run out of suspects.
"I guess this is one of those mysteries that never gets solved." Brooke said.
"Yeah." Haley replied. They sat down at a free table with their shoulders slumped over.
"Hey girls, can I get you anything?"
Brooke and Haley looked up in surprise. They had completely forgotten about Laure, the high school girl who helped waitress at Karen's café before and after school for extra cash and experience.
"No thanks Laure, we're fine." Brooke replied. Laure smiled and nodded and moved on to serve other (paying) customers. "You don't think.." Brooke started.
"No! Laure couldn't have stolen the cookies." Haley replied.
"I don't mean that." Brooke said, "I mean that she could have sold the cookies this morning and not have told your mum that they'd finished."
"That's true!" Haley replied.
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Laure 'stole' the cookie from the cookie jar.
"Let's go ask her." Brooke instructed. The girls waited until Laure was back behind the counter, they took their chance to bombard her.
"Laure, we were wondering… did you sell heaps of cookies this morning?" Haley asked.
Laure thought for a moment, "I can't really remember actually… I usually sell lots of money coffees." She paused for a moment, thinking back to the events of early that morning, "No I don't think I did."
"Are you sure?" Brooke asked suspiciously.
Laure laughed, "Yes I am sure, sorry girls I have to get back to making these coffees." Laure shook her head, leaving the little girls to their 'game' and set off back to make more coffees.
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
Not Laure
Yes Laure
Couldn't be
Then who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
"I'm ready to give up." Brooke announced.
"Not yet Brooke!" Haley cried, "There's one last thing we have to do."
"Which is what?"
"We haven't looked around the cookie jar for clues!" Haley explained.
"Aha, we forgot the most important part of detective work yet." Brooke replied.
"Yes, that wasn't good but we can do that now!" Haley said.
The two girls hurried off to collect the things they needed to look for clues in the hope that this would allow them to finally solve the mystery of who stole the cookies.