“Hello!” I heard. “I’ll be down in a minute!” I heard someone noisily come down some stairs, and I saw Tricia appear. “Oh, hi Adam! Laura wanted me to come and redecorate the house, along with watching some movers bring in their new furniture.”

“Noah sent me to move his stuff from our apartment. You don’t mind if I unload it here, and then leave, do you? I have to go down and ask the sergeant about the second robbery.”

“No, not at all.” So I unloaded, then went to the police department. I went inside and went to the front desk.

“Hello, may I speak to the Sergeant?” I asked.

“One moment please.“ The receptionist, Heather, said. I waited.

”He’s waiting for you, go right in.“ I went into his office.

”Well! There you are! We’ve been looking all over for you. It seems that the returned Palette has been stolen.“

”So I’ve heard.“

”We need you to track down the culprit. We think it may be Matt again.“

”But he has the perfect alibi, me!“

”I don’t care, you find out who it is.“

”Can I have some money, you see, I need it very badly.“

”Here’s your money for the first part of the case. You’ll get the rest when you finish it.“

”Gee, thanks sarge!“

”Now get to work!!“ I left his office and went to the Museum. I entered and looked around the case where the Palette usually sat. Nothing. No fingerprints, no broken glass, no nothing! I went out to the car and went to the house where Tricia and I had just been held captive. I knocked on the door.

”Is anybody home?!“ I called. No answer. I went around back to find the gardener. He was watering some tulips in the garden. ”Hello, sir? Is the mister or the mistress of the house due back soon.“

”T’ain’t never due back. They done got up and left. They done asked me to sell the house. It goes up on market tomorrow.“

”Any idea where they might have gone?“

”California, I think. Said they had important business with a Mr. and Mrs. Alkinburgh.“

”Thanks. And by the way. . .“

”Yes.“

”How much is this house going for?“

”Oh, I’d say around fifty thousand. They told me to sell it to the first person who was interested.“

”What if I gave you a down payment.“

”Depends on how much.“

”Say, two thousand.“

”I’d say you’ve got yourself a house!“

”Great!“

”But I can’t let you in it until I have at least half of the money.“

”Then, here’s the down payment and I’ll have the rest for you later, meanwhile, keep up the good work.“ I paid him my salary from the sarge, all of it. I drove back to the office and entered. Upon entering I went into the inner office, where I hung my coat and sat down at my desk. The desk was clean, seeing that I had just started my practice a few days ago. There was a message on my desk that told me that I was to pick Tricia up for supper at McDuncans at six. I looked at the clock and saw that it was about four.