Friday, Uncle Bernie, Sergeant Crowley, and Malcolm all stood in the field at the back of Mrs. Knox’s house. Mrs. Knox was the well-to-do lawyer’s wife whose bracelet had been stolen. Strictly speaking, the field was a park. But the town council had not gone to much trouble to turn it into what people normally think of when they hear the word “park.” It was just a field with grass and a few trees, which was actually rather nice. Friday could see why the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Knox would choose a house overlooking this greenery.
“So why were you walking this way?” Friday asked Malcolm.
“Because he was looking for houses to break into,” said Sergeant Crowley, rolling his eyes.
“I didn’t want to walk down the main street,” explained Malcolm. “I didn’t want to be stared at. I was just cutting through the town along the backstreets.”
“Where were you headed?” asked Friday.
“I’ve got a place a few miles northwest of here,” said Malcolm.
“Really?” said Friday. “That would be near our school, Highcrest Academy. Have you heard of it?”
“It rings a bell,” said Malcolm.
“Mrs. Knox is expecting us,” said Sergeant Crowley. “Are we going to look at the house or not? I’ve been yelled at by her enough this morning. I’d like to minimize the amount of yelling she does at me this afternoon.”
“Of course,” said Friday. “Lead the way.”
Sergeant Crowley took them through a gate in Mrs. Knox’s back fence and across the yard. There was a deck at the rear of the house. Mrs. Knox was standing there, waiting for them. “Is this the vagabond?” she asked on spotting Malcolm.
“The suspect,” said Sergeant Crowley.
“The alleged suspect,” corrected Friday.
“Give me my bracelet back!” demanded Mrs. Knox.
“He doesn’t have it on him,” said Sergeant Crowley.
“He’s probably sold it already,” accused Mrs. Knox.
“He doesn’t have any cash on him either,” said Sergeant Crowley.
“You should be ashamed,” accused Mrs. Knox.
“Please don’t harass the suspect,” said Sergeant Crowley.
“I’m not,” said Mrs. Knox, turning on the sergeant. “I’m talking to you. You should be ashamed. What sort of police force are you running here, if this type of miscreant is allowed to wander the streets?”
“Can you show me where the bracelet was?” asked Friday.
“Who’s this?” asked Mrs. Knox. “Have you invited a schoolgirl to come and have a looky-loo around my home?”
“She’s my legal counsel,” said Malcolm.
“Ha!” scoffed Mrs. Knox. “Still, I suppose I should be happy you’ve chosen an adolescent to represent you. It should make the trial nice and quick.” She opened the back door and walked in. Everyone else followed. “The bathroom is here.”
Friday, Uncle Bernie, Sergeant Crowley, and Malcolm entered. It was large for a bathroom, but even the largest bathroom is never really a large room, so with everyone standing there it was very cramped.
Friday squeezed her way over to the window. “And this is where you left your bracelet?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Knox, “I always take my jewelry off and put it there. Normally I wouldn’t expect the local police to allow prison escapees to roam around my back garden.”
“He didn’t escape,” said Sergeant Crowley. “He was released.”
“Well, that is just a sad reflection on the incompetence of the parole board,” said Mrs. Knox.
Friday looked closely at the windowsill. “Did you find any fingerprints?” she asked.
“Only from Mrs. Knox,” said Sergeant Crowley. “But that is consistent. He wouldn’t need to leave fingerprints to pick up a bracelet. Besides, it was cold this morning and he had gloves in his pocket. Maybe he was wearing those.”
“Mrs. Knox,” said Friday, “could you describe the bracelet for me, please?”
“It was a sapphire bracelet,” said Mrs. Knox. “It had a platinum chain setting and nine brilliant blue sapphires.”
“Hmm, I see,” said Friday as she looked out across the backyard. “Give me a boost, Uncle Bernie.”
“All right,” said Uncle Bernie, interlacing his fingers and holding them for Friday to step into, then boosting her up so she could clamber onto the window frame.
“Do you mind?” exclaimed Mrs. Knox, before turning on the sergeant. “How dare you bring a preteen into my home and allow her to stand on my paintwork!”
Sergeant Crowley rubbed his forehead. What with the terrorist false alarm and now this, he was not having a good day.
Friday grabbed hold of the top of the window frame and awkwardly stood up on the windowsill. Because she was taller than the window was high, her head was outside the wall of the house, which meant she was precariously balanced.
“What is she doing now?” demanded Mrs. Knox.
“If you want your bracelet back,” said Uncle Bernie, “you’d best just leave her alone. She’s good at this type of thing.”
“What, irritating people?” asked Mrs. Knox.
“Yes, but also solving mysteries,” explained Uncle Bernie.
Friday stood on the windowsill for some time, scanning first left to right, and back again. Then she ducked her head back inside. “Mrs. Knox, have those acacia bushes behind your pool house been there for long?”
“What, those green bushes? Yes, I suppose so,” said Mrs. Knox. “The gardener planted them the year before last.”
“I know where the bracelet is,” said Friday. She leaped out of the window and landed heavily on the damp lawn. “Ow!”
“Friday!” exclaimed Uncle Bernie. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” said Friday. “The ground was just a little bit farther away than I thought.”
“Depth perception is not a great strength in her family,” Uncle Bernie explained to the others.
Friday scampered down the garden, around the pool, and behind the pool house, disappearing into the acacia hedge.
“One forgets how insufferable children are,” said Mrs. Knox. “This is precisely why Mr. Knox and I decided to have none of our own.”
Sergeant Crowley, Uncle Bernie, Malcolm, and Mrs. Knox hurried out of the house in the more conventional manner, by using the back door.
When they got down to the acacia bushes, Friday was waiting for them impatiently. “Hurry up,” she said. “This is exciting. Like a pirate treasure hunt. Come on.” She pushed aside two branches and disappeared into the hedge.
“She can’t seriously expect us to follow her,” said Mrs. Knox. “What will my hairdresser say if he finds out I have literally been dragging myself through a hedge?”
“I’ve found it!” called Friday from the far side of the branches.
Mrs. Knox leaped into the bushes like a ninja. “Where?” she demanded.
A moment later they were all crouched on the ground around a circle of dry grass and twigs covered in blue milk-bottle tops, blue clothespins, blue pens, and one blue sapphire bracelet.
“It’s a satin bowerbird’s nest,” explained Friday. “Satin bowerbirds collect blue things to decorate their nests, to attract a mate.”
“How sordid,” said Mrs. Knox with a shudder.
“Not unlike the reasons Mr. Knox gave the bracelet to you,” observed Friday.
Mrs. Knox took out a lace handkerchief and used it to pick up the necklace. “I will take this straight to the jeweler to have it cleaned.”
“Are you going to thank Friday?” asked Uncle Bernie.
“What?” said Mrs. Knox.
“It’s all right,” said Friday. “The reward money will be thanks enough.”
“You don’t think you’re going to get the reward money just for looking in a bird’s nest, do you?” asked Mrs. Knox.
“The reward was offered for giving police information that led to the retrieval of the bracelet,” said Sergeant Crowley.
“But it was just a bird that took it,” protested Mrs. Knox.
“There were no anti-bird clauses in the reward offer,” countered Sergeant Crowley. Mrs. Knox had been rude and mean to him all day. He was enjoying himself now. “I suppose you could get a lawyer to help you wriggle out of your commitment, but that wouldn’t look very good in the papers, would it? Wealthy woman too mean to reward an eleven-year-old.”
“Very well,” said Mrs. Knox. “Harold will just have to run up a few more billable hours, I suppose.”
A few minutes later, Friday, Uncle Bernie, Malcolm, and Sergeant Crowley were walking back to the police car. Friday had a $10,000 check in her pocket.
“Do you need a lift anywhere?” Sergeant Crowley asked Malcolm.
“I’d rather part ways now,” said Malcolm.
“Here,” said Friday, holding out the reward check, “you should take this.”
“Friday!” exclaimed Uncle Bernie.
“What?” said Malcolm, looking at the slip in her hand.
“You need it more than me,” said Friday. “My school fees are paid up to the end of semester already.”
“I can’t take your money,” said Malcolm.
“Sure you can,” said Friday. “I’ve only had it for two minutes. I’m not emotionally attached to it yet.”
“She’d only spend it on something silly, like a centrifuge or something,” said Uncle Bernie.
“I said no!” growled Malcolm before stomping off.
Sergeant Crowley shook his head. “Vagrants are always such complex characters.”
* * *
A short time later, Sergeant Crowley, Uncle Bernie, and Friday were driving back to the police station.
“How did you figure it out?” asked Sergeant Crowley.
“It was obvious that Malcolm didn’t take the bracelet,” said Friday.
“It was?” asked Sergeant Crowley.
“Yes, because he never said he didn’t,” said Friday. “If he had taken the bracelet and cleverly hidden it, then he would have been loudly protesting his innocence, demanding a lawyer, and causing trouble. But the fact that he didn’t complain, and just accepted the unfairness of the situation, shows that he saw the accusation as so patently false that it was futile to complain.”
“Huh?” said Sergeant Crowley. He was getting confused.
“If Malcolm didn’t take it, what were the alternatives?” asked Friday. “Who else was in that empty field at seven o’clock in the morning? Nobody but the birds and the bird-watchers. Add to that the two facts that sapphires are blue and there is a large population of satin bowerbirds in this area. The solution was obvious. I just needed to look for an acacia bush, the preferred home of satin bowerbirds.”