"Well, that was a waste of time," Slater moaned.
He and Frost had investigated Porterhouse College and found no evidence at all. Though Master James Skullion told and showed them all he could, there was still nothing to be found. However, when they searched in Skullion's office, Frost saw there was a collection of blue jewels in a small wooden bowl on the top of his desk. They were quite shining. They were the shiniest jewels he had ever seen.
"I see you're a jewel collector," he said to Skullion.
"Oh, yeah," Skullion said. "We have a horticulture class here and one of the students found them while he was planting spring onions."
"Ok, Frost," Slater said. "We're on a case, not a treasure hunt. Let's head back to London and do something useful with our time." He headed out of the office in a hurry.
"Thank you for your time, Mr. Skullion," Frost said, as he joined his partner in crime.
As soon as they got in the car and drove off back to London, Frost looked at the one jewel that he pinched from Skullion's office. They were so shiny that he found it hard to believe.
Then the radio called and he answered. "Yes, Superintendent Mullett?"
"We've had an attack in Kent and the Kent Police needs extra help," Mullett said.
Slater huffed but finally said, "Tell him we're on our way."
"Right away, Superintendent," Frost said.
When they arrived in Kent countryside, they found the Kent police and they joined them. They saw another large hole in a large field. They asked the Kent police what they already knew which was nothing except it was very deep.
Then Frost saw something in a different field close by. He decided to take a look and leave Slater to shout at the Kent police. He climbed over the fence and approached the middle of the field. It was what he thought it was: a huge giant hole.
"Excuse me?"
Frost turned around to see an old man and an old woman facing him. He got out his police badge. "Inspector Frost. Just checking this hole. When did this happen?"
"About thirty years ago," the man said.
"Thirty years ago?" Frost was confused.
"First of all, allow us introduce ourselves," the man said. "I'm Charlie Charlton and this is my wife Mariette."
"I know there are a lot of strange holes going on recently," Mariette said, "but this is not one of them, I promise you."
The Charltons took Frost in their house, made him a cup of tea and explained about the hole.
It all started in 1960 when Charlie and Mariette's son John turned two. Mariette's parents, Sydney and Florence Larkin or better known as Pa and Ma Larkin, along with their own children came to visit them to celebrate John's birthday.
"What has happened in your garden?" Ma cried.
Everyone went out to see what she was crying out. It was a big hole in the garden.
"It looks like a volcano just erupted," Pa said.
"We don't know, Ma," Mariette said.
"We didn't hear anything last night," Charlie said.
"Well, there wasn't a storm last night," Petunia said.
"And there was no bombing last night," Zinnia said.
"But I know what we can do," Pa said. "It's big enough to be a swimming pool. We could do it for John's second birthday present."
"Swimming pool?" Charlie had to laugh. "He can't even walk let alone swim."
"But it will be ready for him when he is ready," Pa said.
Mariette and Charlie looked at each other and agreed to do it.
"Perfick!" Pa said.
As they got to turning the hole into a swimming pool, their second oldest daughter Primrose found some green jewels. She tried to keep all of them, but Ma suggested that she gave some to John as she was the only who forgot to give him a present. Primrose decided to give him a few and he really like it. Everyone was amazed. At least it was better than the shirt the twins had made together.
"And our boy John has been swimming in it every day since he could swim," Charlie said. "He's qualifying to be an Olympic swimmer."
"So where is that swimming pool now?" Frost asked, as he finished his cup of tea.
"Well, he doesn't live with us anymore," Mariette said. "He's got his own place in Kent. He's earning money as a lifeguard in case his dream of becoming an Olympic swimmer doesn't do well."
"So we decided to break that pool up and plant some trees we've always wanted to plant," Charlie said. "Pa and Ma won't mind now that they've passed on."
Frost put his cup down. "When did they…"
"About three years ago," Mariette said sadly.
"Well, I'm very sorry. Have you got any of these green jewels? I'd like to take a look if possible."
As Charlie and Mariette went to find any, Frost tried to connect the dots. Everywhere there's a big hole, there were jewels. He wondered if it was diamond miners that were going out of business and if they were being desperate. Then when the Charltons arrived back, they showed them the green jewels. He took one and compared it with the blue one he took from Skullion's office. They were completely identical, save the colour. He tried to work it out until he heard Slater outside shouting his name.
"I got to go," Frost said to the Charltons. "Thank you for your time." He headed out of the house.
"Come on, Frost," Slater snapped. "We got another call from HQ. They want us to go to Doncaster. There is another large hole to investigate."
While Slater was frustrated with all this large hole business, Frost was delighted that he was making progress. He didn't want to share what he discovered with him because he still didn't feel like he could trust him, even if he liked him which he didn't.