The Tales of Pop & Grace

As soon as Jack had said this, then Grace found herself there already! She was instantly transported to the tea room on the station platform. She was quickly getting used to these sudden changes, and she soon regained her composure. She was seated at a small table with Jack, Emily and Eduardo. She immediately managed to pick up the thread of the conversation, realising that they were discussing a recent spate of burglaries in the village. “Poor old Mrs Took lost all of the money she had put aside for her bills,” Emily said. “I know, and Mr Jones had his garden tools stolen as well as some of his wife’s jewellery,” said Jack, and then he added, “I’d love to catch the blighters and put them in prison where they belong!” Grace noticed that Eduardo was taking a keen interest in all of this, and he was making some notes in his pocket book. “What are you doing Eduardo?” “Just making notes, my papa was a policeman in Spain, and he used to tell me all about the cases he investigated.” All three of them took an immediate interest in what Eduardo was saying. “Papa told me that there is a pattern to all crimes, and that the criminals always leave clues, you just need to know where to look and how to read them. Will you help me plot a map of the village and mark out which houses have been burgled?” This sounded very exciting to them, and Jack sketched an overview of the village, whilst Emily marked where the crimes had taken place. They studied the data carefully, but no obvious pattern stood out to them. It all looked totally random as though the robbers just picked any old house to burgle. Eduardo appeared to be defeated before he had even started. “Don’t worry, it’s early days yet, I’ll need to think about this a bit more,” he said. “Papa told me it’s not always obvious and it can take a bit of time, but I’m sure the clues are there.” Grace was impressed by Eduardo’s determination and self belief, he seemed so mature. Even Jack and Emily were following his lead, and listening intently when he explained his detection methods. “It’s time to catch our train now,” said Jack. On boarding the train, Eduardo straight away got his pocket book out again, and he was asking more questions. “I need to know the time and date of each robbery? Which houses have dogs as pets? What was stolen each time? Whether the robbers entered the house from the back or the front, and anything else that you can think of? I will study all of this tonight, and if we meet up again tomorrow, we can review the cases.” Grace thought again how clever Eduardo sounded with his enquiring mind. Jack and Emily were also impressed, and they told him all they knew about the burglaries. “You never know, maybe we’ll get some inspiration from the cops and robbers film this afternoon,” said Jack, laughing at his own little joke. “Well it all sounds very exciting to me, I must say that I have a good feeling about this. Where shall we meet tomorrow?” asked Grace. Jack looked at Emily who seemed as keen as the rest of them, “How about the Village Green at two?” They all agreed, and as the train pulled into the station they got ready to disembark and head for the cinema. Grace looked at Eduardo and his pensive expression told her he was clearly working on the case already. As she shifted her glance to her surroundings, Grace found herself at the Village Green. She was with Jack, and they were already waiting for Emily and Eduardo. The sun was still fairly high so it must have been early afternoon. The scene had changed once more, and this was mind blowing thought Grace. “I wonder if he’s worked anything out, the police don’t seem to have spotted anything yet, so maybe we’re expecting too much of Eduardo,” said Jack. “Yes that’s what I was thinking, but he did seem to know what he was talking about.” Then the other two came rushing over and both of them looking very excited. Eduardo was clutching his pocket book and he also had some larger sheets of paper. They were breathless when they arrived, and after greeting each other they needed a minute to catch their wind. “Listen to this,” Emily said, sounding awe inspired. They sat on the grass and Eduardo spread his papers in readiness to explain his findings. He waited until they were all seated and then he took them through his discoveries, step by step. “First of all, a burglary has taken place every three days at regular intervals. The robber has always burgled two houses in a road, and then he moved on to another road. So far he has never robbed three houses in the same road. The items taken suggest that that only one person is carrying out these crimes, this is based on the fact that more things were available to steal each time, but the burglar probably took as much as he alone could carry.” Jack and Grace were impressed with Eduardo’s conclusions and Jack quickly scanned the systematic notes and diagrams. “If your theory is correct, that means he’ll strike again tomorrow night, probably between nine and eleven in the evening,” said Jack. “Not only that, I believe that his next target will be on Topps Lane, and I would guess that he will go for either numbers seven, eight, nine or ten,” said Eduardo. “We must tell the police,” said Grace. Emily had a doubtful look on her face, and so did Jack. “I don’t think they’ll listen to us, do you?” asked Jack. Emily shook her head and she said, “I think it’s going to be down to us to catch him in the act.”