To Catch a Thief
Donald and Leann Louis were very proud of their daughter. She was their only child, and she was very bright. As she grew into a young woman, they learned that she was very special person, with a special gift. She was able to solve problems that some adults could not figure out. Mara often thought outside of the box.
Over the years, Mara had solved dozens of mysteries around the country. The first mystery that she ever solved was at her elementary school, when she was in the third grade. She was just eight years old at the time.
It all started in early November. Mara’s third grade class, under the careful guidance of their teacher, Miss Curtis, and a student teacher, Mr. Gregory, was studying the holiday; Thanksgiving.
Miss Curtis told the class that the homeless would not be celebrating Thanksgiving because they had no money to buy food and no place to stay. The students suggested that each of them could save up and collect money and donate it to a homeless shelter, so that the people staying there would have a nice hot meal on Thanksgiving.
The children decided to collect twenty dollars each. With thirty students in the class, that would mean they would raise six hundred dollars. Each of the students was to bring in a twenty-dollar bill, on the Monday before Thanksgiving. By that Monday afternoon, there were thirty envelopes with the children’s names on them, sitting in a box on Miss Curtis’s desk.
When the last bell rang, that afternoon, all of the kids left the room to go home. Mara forgot a book, and had to go back to the classroom to get it.
Miss Curtis was just about to lock the door, but she let Mara get her book. On her way out of the classroom, Mara noticed that Mr. Gregory had left his sport coat on the back of his chair. When she told Miss Curtis, she told Mara to try to catch up with him before he left the building. Miss Curtis knew that Mara had a secret crush on Mr. Gregory.
Mara could not find Mr. Gregory, as he had already left the parking lot, so Mara dropped the coat off at the front office. Then, Mara ran to catch the bus.
The next morning, when Mara arrived at school, she saw Mr. Gregory standing outside of the school and she went over to tell him that his sport coat was in the main office. When she saw that he was talking on his cell phone, she waited patiently. She overheard him tell someone that he would pay his delinquent car payments that afternoon after he got off work.
Mara could not wait for Mr. Gregory to finish his phone call, since the bell was about to ring. She got into her seat, just as the bell rang.
Mara noticed that everyone was unusually quiet and wondered why. She also noticed that Billy Decker was crying.
Mara did not like Billy that much, because he was the class bully and he picked on the smaller boys in the class. He was the biggest kid in the class and he lied about things to make himself feel important. However, for some reason, Mara did not feel good when she saw him crying. Instead, she felt sorry for him.
When Mr. Gregory entered the classroom, he walked over to his desk, set his briefcase on his desk and said, “Oh, this is where I left my jacket yesterday.”
Mara assumed that the office had put the jacket back in the classroom, after she had gone home.
Mr. Gregory noticed that there was some tension in the classroom and he asked Miss Curtis, what was wrong.
Miss Curtis told the class that all of the money that the students had turned in the day before was missing. She told them that when she arrived at school that morning, she found that all thirty envelopes were missing, and that the only person in the classroom, was Billy. She told the class that Billy denied taking the envelopes, but that when she checked his desk, she found all thirty empty envelopes stuffed under the books in his desk.
“I didn’t take the money”, said Billy through his tears. Mara looked around the classroom and saw that everyone was giving Billy a dirty look, everyone, except Mr. Gregory.
Miss Curtis told Billy, that if the money was not returned by the end of the day, she would call his parents in to have a meeting with the principal.
Later, in the day, Mr. Gregory was talking to Miss Curtis and he suggested that maybe, Billy did not take the money. Miss Curtis said that there was no other explanation.
At lunch and throughout the afternoon, nobody would talk to Billy, because they believed he had taken the money.
At recess, Mara went up to Billy and asked him to tell her everything that happened when he got to school that morning.
Billy told Mara that his mom dropped him off at school at 7:15, as she did every morning. She had arranged with Miss Curtis to let Billy sit at his desk, and do schoolwork or read, until school started, since Mrs. Decker had to be at work before the school bus came by their house.
Billy told Mara that usually, Mr. Gregory would be making his lesson plan, or grading papers when he got to the classroom and the two of them would sometimes chat.
“Was he here when you got here this morning?” asked Mara.
“No” said Billy, “At first, I thought he was here, because his jacket was on the back of his chair, but he arrived after you did. He said he left his jacket here yesterday.”
That afternoon, after recess, Miss Curtis asked Billy one last time where the money was. When Billy again denied taking the money, Miss Curtis told him that she had to call his mother and the three of them would meet in the principal’s office. Billy started to cry again.
Mara felt sorry for Billy. She started thinking about everything she had learned and then she suddenly got an idea.
After school was over, Mara went to the office and talked with the school secretary. Then, she asked if she could call home. Mara asked her mother if she could please meet her in the front office.
Mara was sitting on a chair in the front office, when Mrs. Decker, her son Billy, Mr. Gregory and Miss Curtis walked past, on the way to see the principal; Mrs. Jacobs.
The meeting had been in progress for about fifteen minutes when Mrs. Louis arrived. Mara told her that she thought Billy had been wrongfully accused of stealing, and that she thought she knew who had taken the money.
Mrs. Louis knocked on Mrs. Jacobs’ door and said that she believed that Mara knew where the money was. Mrs. Jacobs invited Mara and her mother in to the office. Mara saw that Billy had been crying again.
“What do you know about the missing money, Mara?” asked Mrs. Jacobs.
“I think that Billy is telling the truth”, said Mara. “I don’t think that he took the money.”
“Mara,” asked Miss Curtis, “Are you telling me that Billy doesn’t tell lies?”
“No, I’m not saying that,” said Mara, “but, Billy only lies about things that make him seem tough. He is a bully, I’ll admit that, but, he only exaggerates to make the other kids think he is cool, or to intimidate them.”
“Well, if he didn’t take the money,” said Mrs. Jacobs, “who did?”
“I think that I know who took it, but I would like to talk to you in private.”
Mrs. Jacobs took Mara into another office, and let Mara explain who she thought took the money. After Mara told her everything, Mrs. Jacobs asked the secretary a few questions and then, Mara and Mrs. Jacobs returned to her office, where everyone else was waiting. Mrs. Jacobs told Mara that it was okay to repeat what she just told her in the other room.
“Billy told me,” said Mara, “that every day when he arrives at school, which is an hour early, Mr. Gregory is usually in the classroom, grading papers at his desk. This morning, however, when he arrived, Mr. Gregory was not there, although his sports jacket was on the back of his chair.”
At this point,
Mr. Gregory spoke up; “That’s because I left it here last night. I didn’t arrive today, until after school started.”
Mara continued, “Actually, the jacket you left here yesterday afternoon is in the front office. I took it there before I went home.” The door opened, and the secretary brought in the other sports jacket.
Everybody turned to look at Mr. Gregory, and then back to Mara as she continued. “I was almost late to class this morning. I wanted to tell Mr. Gregory where his jacket was, and I overheard him talking on his cell phone in the parking lot. He was telling someone that he would make the delinquent car payments this afternoon.”
“Here is what I think happened,” said Mara. “Mr. Gregory needed some more money for his car payments, and he knew that there was six hundred dollars in those envelopes on the desk. He came in extra early, took all of the money and put all of the empty envelopes in Billy’s desk, because he knew that he was the first person that Miss Curtis would blame. Then, he left the classroom, before Billy arrived. But, he forgot that he had left his jacket on the back of the chair,”
“I have watched how Mr. Gregory has kept his briefcase with him all day and has not let it out of his sight. I believe the stolen money is in the locked briefcase.”
When Mara had finished, all eyes were on Mr. Gregory, who looked very uncomfortable.
“Well, Mr. Gregory,” said Mrs. Jacobs, “What do you have to