The next day, Pip and Bets arrived early at Fatty's. They found Fatty in his shed with Buster beside him. Buster ran outside to greet them. Larry and Daisy arrived soon afterwards. "What do you think about it, Fatty?" Daisy asked.

"Well... the thief has not entered or exited through the windows and the footprints and marks we found, have been made later as it had been snowing that night.The question is,how did he come in?Could he be having spare keys?"

"Oh,Fatty! Sorry,I'm so sorry! We completely forgot to tell you." Bets said.

"Tell me what,Bets?" Fatty asked.

"Tell you that aunt Matilda's maid has the key to the kitchen door." she said.

"Great! That's something. We better check out her alibi, but how?" Fatty said. "Our cook has a friend working in Brown Hill Mansion. I think her name is Alice" Daisy said.

"Yes, that is her name" Pip said."Larry,will your Cook be there now?" Fatty asked. "Yes" Larry replied.

"There is no time better than the present,then. We're off to Larry's, find-outers." Fatty said.

The five came out of the shed, Buster trotting behind Fatty's heels. They all jumped onto their bicycles. With Buster in Fatty's basket, they sailed off to Larry's. When they reached Larry's house, they put down their bicycles by the fence and entered through the kitchen door.

The cook was surprised to suddenly find five excited children and an over excited dog at her kitchen door. "So good to see you all! Started solving mysteries again?" she asked, beckoned them to sit near the fire and started making cocoa for them. "Well,yes. We have a got a mystery to solve. The robbery at Brown Hill Mansion. Do you know anything about it?" asked Fatty.

"I didn't know about the robbery, but i know a girl who works there. Alice, her name is." All their eyes brightened up and they sat still. Even Buster stopped wagging his tail and pricked up his ears. " A very good-natured girl, she is" the cook continued. "But she has not been here for the past four days. She has gone to Sheepridge to see her mother." She gave them all cocoa and Buster a few bicuits. "Thanks a lot! We beter leave now. Bye" said Fatty. "Oh, anything for the five find-outers and dog." she said with a grin. The five went back to Fatty's shed. "So, maybe Alice didn't do it herself, but she could have got someone else to do it for her" Fatty said. "But going by what Cook says, she seems too nice to do such a thing" Larry added.

"Maybe some one who has a grudge against Alice might have done the robbery, just out of pure spite" Bets put in.

"Bets! That is very much possible. We better check that out. I leave that to you, Larry. You can ask your cook. You can just ask her straight away because she knows that we are on the case and she was willing to help us. So, your job is easy" Fatty said.

"Bets, we better leave now, or else we'll be late for lunch" said Pip who had not said anything for a long time.

"Oh, should we? I really hate it when it is time for us to leave" said Bets.

"Actually, you needn't. You all can have lunch here. I'll tell both your mothers that you'll stay here for lunch. Mummy's out, so we can discuss about the mystery even during lunch." Fatty said. "Oh, really! Thanks, Fatty" Bets said. Fatty locked his shed and they went inside the house. They ate their lunch in silence and the only noise was made by an occasional breeze or Buster's sniffs.

"I'll go right away and find out from cook about Alice" said Larry after they had finished their lunch.

"You come up to my bedroom when you're back. We'll be playing a game of cards or something there." Larry left.

The others went up to Fatty's bedroom. They settled near the fire and started the game. The game was going on with excitement and Larry arrived soon. They put down their cards.

"Larry, did she tell you anything?" Daisy asked him.

"Well, she said that there is man called Edward Williams, to whom Alice owes some money. Isn't it quite possible that he did the robbery?" Larry asked.

"It very well could be him but we have to prove it," Fatty said "Where does he live, Larry?"

"He lives in Taplow. He owns a garage in Taplow" Larry told him.
"I think I'll have to go there late in the evening in a disguise. My parents will be going out tonight , so, it'll be easy for me to try out a disguise and slip out without being seen" Fatty said. The other four left.