Explanation page:
This is the page where the mystery will be explained in detail. This is similar to an in-depth analysis.
Why was the nerdy kid the culprit, you ask?
Well, remember the clues. The first one was the oil, which Dylan slipped on in chapter 4. Patrick said that boilers or heaters couldn't have created it, since they were separated from the basement in another room. It had to be the work of another mechanized object. And remember when Dylan found a G-13 screw on the museum floor in chapter 6? It had some oil on it, noting that that certain mechanized object might have been moving. It secretly noted that it might have been a robot. That denotation was purposely hidden from the readers.
Second, Thomson's story of going to the hardware store. He could not have been the culprit, because if he was, he would have denied that he was going to the hardware store for the G-13's. Plus, if he was the criminal, he would have revealed too much of his plan, leaving a big opening for Velma and Dylan to foil it. His story already revealed a big part that he didn't burgle the museum, but Dylan's narrow-mindedness made it difficult for Velma to explain that to her student.
Subsequent to the event above, Thomson said he asked for the customer information of the G-13 screw buyers. But the clerk only had one record of a person who bought G-13's, meaning only one person was buying G-13 screws from the store. Since the screws were mainly used for simple robotics, the customer record included a profile of a robotics outlet in the mall, where the buyer uses the screws to create robots. And because Thomson was on the hunt for the customer, he decided to check it out.
Third, was when Thomson did not chase Dylan and Velma when he saw them snooping around the robotics store in the mall. If he was the felon, he would have chased them to prevent them from telling the authorities, or fitting the clues to solve the mystery. Thomson would have tried to dispose of them, but instead, he didn't. This helped prove that he wasn't the burglar. If you read carefully in chapter 8, Dylan already suspected that he wasn't chasing them, and found it really unusual.
The fourth clue was obscured. This won't really consider as a clue, but this event is really suspicious. Velma and Dylan ran into Daphne and the nerd kid back in the mall right? Daphne mentioned something about the kid wanting to go to the store he wanted. And after the nerdy kid regained consciousness, they went into the store where Thomson was. It was the same robotics store.
Next to that event was the comic store scenario. Velma and Dylan followed Thomson to the comic store, because his actions were becoming more dubious. When they got there, they met up with Daphne and the nerdy kid again, right? It was there at the comic store that the nerdy kid ran inside without Daphne's permission. And since the store was packed with people, it was difficult to tell the people apart. Thomson said that he found out that the nerdy kid had a part-time job in the store as a helper, who made sure that the comic books in the storage were in order. Thomson went into the store to check it out. The comic store clerk also said that the kid kept on disappearing during work hours without leaving the store. This led Thomson to investigate the storage. And there, he found the final clue, the manhole.
Yup, the manhole was a clue. Since the clerk said that the kid kept on disappearing during work hours without leaving the store, there must be another way out of the store, besides the front entrance. And there was. Thomson found the manhole in the storage and decided to search it for a way out. He went down the manhole, only to discover that he was in the sewers. He followed the sole sewer trail and it eventually lead him back to the museum basement. Velma and Dylan found this to be true when they followed Thomson. The manhole was the nerdy kid's access to the museum. It was his way of going out of the store without using the front entrance. All of these factors, when put together, will all point at the nerdy kid and not Mr. Thomson.
But what was Thomson's motive on hunting down the nerdy kid?
Like it was stated in chapter 10, Thomson's sole reason of hunting down the nerdy kid was simply because the kid was making messes in the museum. Ever since the nerdy kid visited the museum, there were little splotches of oil on the floor and scattered screws everywhere. And remember when Thomson stated that he hated kids when Velma and Dylan were in Central Park? His dislike for children, plus the messes the nerdy boy was making, when combined, led Mr. Thomson on a search. These two factors led Mr. Thomson to find out more about the mess-making kid.
Kind of shallow, actually. And unusual as well. Thomson's sole purpose of searching was pretty shallow. Just because a certain messy kid came into the museum, he spent all his time searching and seeking for him. But this is fiction, so anything can go.
Well, there you have it. Hope you understood the story. Well, if not, I just hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Ja!