As soon I was sure Ozie was ready I walked over to him.
"Do you still have that camera set up?" He nodded.
"Yeah, why?"
I grinned. "I think I know where the statue is." Ozie practically leaped at
me.
"WHERE?" I was a little surprised at how much he reacted.
"Let's wait until everyone goes to bed." He nodded again, even though I could
see he was impatient.
Meanwhile I turned to my thoughts. If Creel was a wanderer, is it possible
he was the dark shape Ozie saw? It was also possible that he may have taken
it if he knew. And knowing how much of a snoop Mrs. Shala was, I wasn't surprised
if everyone knew. After all, only he and Channy were the ones not affected yet.
I continued to mull for a few hours until Ozie came over.
"Okay, it's dark, everyone's at bed, let's go get my statue NOW!" I covered
my ears and rubbed them from the irritation of his voice coming a few inches
from my ear.
"All right." We walked down and went over to the pool. I dipped in my paw
in, and tossed a pebble in. It went down to the bottom like any pebble would
do. I tossed in a few more, scattering them around.
"I didn't come here to see you skip rocks!" Ozie sounded very grouchy, but
I guess losing a valuable statue would make anyone unhappy.
"Hold on, I'm testing my theory." Just then one of the pebbles changed direction
automatically.
"Look!" I threw another one, and the same thing happened. Ozie was more interested.
"What's happening?" I didn't say anything, but I thought I had the mystery
nearly wrapped up. I put Kazooie near the edge of the pool, then dove in the
water, and went over to the area where the pebbles changed direction. I put
my arms around something and dragged it up. When I came out Ozie's eyes were
wide.
"Woah…" The Crystal Chia was there! I grinned and began to explain.
"Well, since the thief is obviously a tenant, they must have decided to drop
it here before they left. And if you look at the tiles, they are perfect for
this clear crystal and gold bits." I pointed out the clear and gold tiles. "Very
simple plan, but it worked." Ozie was short of dancing with joy.
"Now I have it back!" I shook my head.
"Actually, we have to put it back into the pool." It was a little funny watching
Ozie stop and pause for a while.
"What?"
"Well, if the thief comes to get it, we grab him or her."
He sighed and we put it back. I went over to his mailbox. "Hold on." I grabbed
at letter simply addressed to Ozie with no return address. I opened it. It was
made out of letter cut from The Neopian Times like most criminals who write
letters.
OZIE, IF YOU WANT THE STATUE BACK PUT 20,000 NEOPOINTS IN THE WASTE BASKET
BY THE BENCH IN THE PARK TOMORROW BY SIX OR I SELL IT
"A ransom note for a statue. That is definitely a first," I muttered as I
walked over to show it to Ozie. He read it quickly then looked at me.
"Well, I don't have to worry about paying that." Just then there was a small
noise. I grabbed Ozie and pulled him inside a bush, hoping he wouldn't mind
the rudeness. I saw a fire Nimmo walk over to the pool.
"Creel," I muttered and poked my head out some more. I expected him to do
his famous vanishing act but nothing happened. He went inside and came out with
the statue. I watched as he went inside his apartment room.
"Okay Ozie, come with me!" We went over to Creel's area and I opened the door.
Creel was standing in the open and looked surprised.
"What-?" I stopped him.
"Where's the statue?" I looked to see if he had left it out in the open before
we came in. To my surprise, he didn't try to deny having the statue. He walked
over to his kitchen and got it out from the oven, which wasn't on.
"Well, I knew it was there, but I don't know who put it in there." I nodded,
believing his story. Nothing seemed to make sense. Then it clicked. At least
part of it did. Pretty soon more bits and pieces came to me and I thought I
had it down.
"Okay then." I turned to Ozie. "I need you to get a bag and fill it with whatever
you want in there."
He didn't seem to get it at first. "Why would I need-" Then it hit him. "Oh,
I get it." I told Creel he was fine and we went over to Ozie's apartment. We
got some random junk items and put it in a bag. Then the next morning I called
the police and told them most of it, but not my suspicion on who it was. They
agreed to be at the park, and soon I found myself there on a sunny day. Most
of the tenants were coming back, and it looked as if Eryioch would leave soon.
Everyone ducked, and waited. I put some of the special cream I had created before
on the bag, and Ozie placed it in the wastebasket. He then walked over to where
I was. About one minute, a pet zoomed by quickly. I wasn't able to identify
the species because of the speed. But I didn't really need that information.
"To the Neopian Hospital!" The police looked confused, but they all went.
We all barged into the hospital's main door and the Elephante there looked at
us in surprise. I guess when you work there police don't come barging in that
often.
"How can I help you?" I didn't ask because I knew the room number to go too,
while Kazooie was hanging on tightly. All the cops followed, catching the eyes
of others in the hospital at the time. I threw open the door, causing a loud
BANG! The pet at the bed jerked up.
"What in the world is going on?" I walked over to him.
"Where did you hide the Chia, Rentree?" Rentree seemed surprised.
"What Chia? There is no other pet here but me. Is this some kind of joke?"
I just walked further forward.
"I know you have the Crystal Chia, stop pretending. Or would you rather these
officers search this room? It's not too small, they'll find it. And besides,
your hands are stained from the cream." I stared at Rentree, who threw his arms
up in exasperation.
"All right." An officer walked up to him.
"You have the right to remain silent-"
"I know, hold on." He took out the Crystal Chia from a closet. It was unharmed,
and the policeman put handcuffs on Rentree. I looked outside the hall, where
Eyrioch was standing. He was seeing what all the noise had been about.
"Now what is going on here?" He stopped in surprise when he saw Rentree. For
a second he didn't seem to move. I felt very sorry for him and walked over to
him, but he just went over to his uncle. I sighed as they went out of sight.
I decided to follow them.
"So that's how it ended?" My owner was listing to the story of my case.
"Yeah. By the way, the bacon is burning." I watched the smoke rise up.
"I see." He drank some of his coffee, and then realised what I had said. I
laughed as he ran over and tried to save it. It was too late to save it, for
it was charred beyond recognition. He looked at the remains.
"So much for that." Just then, a large green plant came through a window.
"Here you are M.P.," he said and tossed it to the plant who gobbled it up
and went back out the window. MP was short for Mutated Plant, who had been created
from one of Sheriff's bad cooking attempts. That reminded me of my magnifying
glass, but then my owner sat down again.
"So why did Rentree do it? I mean he is a stockbroker after all."
"Yeah, but you see he had a bit of a gambling problem. He took a lot of money
from his nephew's trust found which was to be saved until Eyricoh was older.
He lost it all, and needed a quick way to come up with the money. Eyricoh's
birthday is coming up, and by then he'll be old enough to take the money out.
Of course Rentree would have to explain what happened, and that explanation
would place him in jail because he took the money out and used it. So he figured
he could get most of the money by stealing the statue and either holding until
Ozie paid or until he could sell it."
"How did he find out about the statue?"
"Well, while Mrs. Shala was going through Ozie's things she saw the letter.
She must have assumed he was getting a roommate, but Rentree probably knew what
it was and saw his chance.
"But what was with the poisoning and the explosive and all that other stuff?"
"Well, Niki was a constant swimmer. There was a good chance she might have
bumped into the statue. Also, I remember that when Mrs. Shala was talking about
cleaning the pool, Rentree was about to say something, then he left."
"To get the explosives?"
"Well, they weren't actually explosives, just a contraption that made a loud
noise and smoke come out."
"So how's his nephew reacting?"
"Oh, he forgave him, but right now Rentree is still in trouble. He did a whole
bunch of crimes just to pay up the money he needed for Eyrioch's fund." There
was a small silence between us.
"So what about Creel?"
"Oh, he went over to the centre. They're running a few tests and such. I think
he's a little happier now that someone can believe him."
"What exactly was the point of Rentree dressing up to look like a ghost?"
"Well, he said he saw the pet or person, but having done several crimes no
one took him seriously."
"So it was Creel then, if he could vanish like that." I nodded, and then stopped.
"Wait. Creel couldn't hold anything while wandering, and the person or pet was
holding a candle, so…" I thought about Mrs. Stami saying something about a ghost.
"Well, I remember a Lenny outside the building a while before saying something
about a ghost."
"No one else was there?" I shook my head.
"Then that means…"
The End | 
