CHAPTER 5: THE MILLIONAIRE
Impatiently, Bo knocked on the door of the large house. The house was so big even Jeffrey was impressed. Totally against their expectations, the door wasn't opened by the maid, but by the occupant of the large estate himself. He eyed the two boys with a mean look upon his face. Charles Forbes was 6 feet tall, dressed in a weird blue suit. He wore a lot of shiny rings.
"What do you want?" he snarled.
"We'd like to have a word with you…" Jeffrey started off politely.
"Why?" Forbes snarled again. It was probably not a good idea to mention they were friends of Shirley. Then Bo got a plan and spoke.
"We want to interview you for our school's paper about the way to success." Forbes's face cleared.
"Well…I guess it can't hurt anymore. I was robbed recently; nothing much to steal in here anymore. The police come by every 10 minutes. So even trying is useless." Bo and Jeffrey nodded. Forbes opened the door a bit further to let the two fake reporters in. Once they were all in the hall, Forbes closed the door and let them to the living room.
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"You can't be too careful nowadays. I've had a lot of rotten little thieves around here lately." Bo suppressed the urge to knock the man to the ground. "I should have seen this coming." Forbes sat down in a huge leather chair and made himself comfortable. Like a real reporter, Jeffrey took a notepad and a pen from the pocket in his jacket. He turned over a few pages and started to pace around.
"May I ask what happened?" he asked the millionaire, his pen ready to write. In the mean time Bo took a look at the smashed showcase. It seemed like it was hit with a large blunt object. The tags, that used to be with the valuable coins, were chaotically spread around the showcase. Some were even turned over. The thief must have been in a hurry.
"Of course you may ask what happened. Last night about 1 am, I heard the alarm. I have a panel in my bedroom, so I can see where the alarm was set off. It was right in this room. I came downstairs to see what it was to find a girl." Jeffrey remained calm and kept an innocent look.
"A girl?" he asked, as surprised as he could.
"Yes. She was near the smashed showcase. I immediately called the police. They sent over some officers who were in the area at the time. The officers came in 5 minutes later." Jeffrey showed some curiosity, while Bo searched the rest of the room for clues. Being around Shirley really paid off. Unfortunately, not enough to notice someone was listening at the door.
"What did they find on the girl?"
"Torch, gloves, lock-picking set…All the usual stuff for a burglar." Forbes replied. Bo found the alarm both Shirley and Forbes had been talking about. It was still working.
"Wait a minute…" Jeffrey said. "Where were your coins?"
"The police sat she had an accomplice who had already taken them outside when she was caught. He's probably long gone by now." The man sighed.
TO BE CONTINUED…