Friday, December 16, 2011

Weekend Mystery Part 5 = "Case Closed"

When Nancy was finished scribbling in her journal, she showed her friends a diagram of an analogue clock. At the top of the clock, just above the 12 was the letter A. The alphabet was written out letter-by-letter above the clock numbers going clockwise three times until all the letters were assigned a number. Below the image were the decoded letters: “Ask Joy about big cloud burger.”
Ned looked at the newspaper clipping again and said “I suppose we should check out Hamburger Heaven and find out if there is a Joy around.” Bess’s face turned into a frown. “I don’t remember that burger being on their menu, though,” she replied. “But we should visit them, just to be sure.”

The group then headed to Hamburger Heaven, went up to a nearby waiter and inquired about Joy. “I’m Joy,” a perky young brunette in an apron called from across the room. She walked up to the group with a big smile. “Hi Joy, would you know anything about the Big Cloud Burger and who would usually ask for that?” asked Nancy. Joy rolled her eyes and unenthusiastically answered “Yes I certainly do.” She placed her hands on her hips and looked at the detective. “I don’t know his name but he comes in once a week and always orders the same thing: a Blue Sky Burger with bleu cheese.” George looked confused “But why would he ask about the Big Cloud Burger? I don’t even see it on your menu.” Joy smirked and continued “He asked me to do him a favor: Whenever he requested information about that burger, I was to reply with ‘Check your mailbox above the microwave and radio’, as if it was some sort of code. He always tipped well when I answered, so I kept doing it. Nice guy.” Nancy asked about his description. “He’s a young man with dark hair who wore a plain jacket…I think I spied a badge of some sort behind it. That’s all I can tell you.” Nancy thanked the waitress and the group left.

Once outside, Nancy smiled thoughtfully. “You guys, I don’t think the guy we are looking for is threatening Mrs. Wilkins,” she said. “Who are these ring-around-the-rosy notes for then?” asked an annoyed George. The detective pulled out her keys and beckoned them to her car. “I’ll give you a hint: He’s a trustworthy guy, and I believe he’s been threatening himself about a key.” Nancy then drove to the River Heights Police Station and the team went into the building. “Are we going to report somebody?” asked a wide-eyed Bess. Nancy smiled and went around the corner and up to the desk of Detective Ryan. The young man looked up at Nancy and smiled. “Hi Ryan, could you please explain how this note of yours got into Mrs. Wilkin’s purse?” she handed the young detective the original threat along with all the other hand-written clues. “I was wondering where that went!” he exclaimed. “That was on my notebook the other day. Mrs. Wilkins was in dropping off some papers to the Chief and I remember she set her purse down just next my desk. It must’ve blown off as she walked by and fell in.” Ned gave him a suspicious look “Is this really a note just for you?” Detective Ryan looked guilty “Yes, it’s my own system for helping me remember where I put my key; it’s just over there in my mailbox. But I did find this extra key on the floor yesterday. Do you know whose it is?”

Bess and George nodded. “Well,” Nancy sighed and turned to Ned, “That made for an interesting day. Case closed.”

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

And... What's the contest?

Anonymous said...

is the contest whose key that is?

Little Jackalope said...

Nope, it's not the key, read the post above it for contest details. :)