I was in the middle of class when the PA system said:
Ace Casecloser, report to the office.
I entered the chilly office and the principal, Mr. Sewald, beckoned me to his office. I sat down in the little wooden chair in front of his desk. “Ace,” he began. “Somebody stole Jared Ejevett’s toy cars. Can you look for them?”
“Sure. When did they go missing?” I asked casually.
“During lunch.”
“I’m on it,” I exited the room and went to investigate the cafeteria.
No evidence. I went to Jared’s class to interrogate him. “When exactly did you see that they were missing?” I asked him.
“I went up to get my lunch, and left the cars on the table. when I came back, they were gone.”
“Do you have any enemies? Anyone that was jealous of them?”
“Well, I had a fight with Mark Everett last week, James Whitley said he wished he had cars like me, and George Hagog and I have been enemies since, like, birth.”
I wrote this all down and headed for suspect #1 – Mark Everett.