"AND THE WINNER for the Beauty Contest Award is..." Annette the Acara surveyed
the crowd as everyone hung on the edge of their seat waiting for the winner
to be announced. The golden award stood on a wooden table available for the
entire crowd to see. Mr. Williams, the janitor, was mopping the floor emotionless;
Serone the Lupe tapped his paw nervously as Maria the Usul sat thinking to herself
gleefully. Elsha Eyrie looked around quickly so that her eyes were never focused
on one thing at a time. Annette also noticed how Tony the Ixi seemed to be mouthing
something to Leonard the Kau.
Annette was very observant that night unlike
her friend Katie the Kacheek. Annette wondered why the announcement of the winner
was taking so long. Crevina, the Master of Ceremonies, was a Uni that liked
to build a drama. Annette suspected that was the cause of the wait. Some of
the crowd was acting a bit peculiar that night, unlike any other night. Some
looked nervous, and not the kind of nervous that was regular at a festivity
such as this one, the kind that meant they were preoccupied... that there might
be something else on there mind.
"...and the winner of the Beauty Contest Award
is... Alex the Krawk!" The crowd roared with excitement! The cheering, hooting,
yelling and applause could be heard from miles away! Crevina was about to get
the trophy when... the lights went out. A large gasp went through the audience.
People and pets alike were very confused and didn't know what to make of the
scene. All kinds of questions went through everyone's mind. Just then the lights
came back on. Sighs of relief rippled through the crowd. Just then Sean the
Kougra stood up and yelled "The trophy! It's g-g-gone!" Crevina screamed in
horror. It really was gone! The beautiful, gleaming, golden trophy was gone!
Who? What? Where? How? Thought the crowd.
After the audience was sent home, Annette couldn't
stop wondering, puzzling and pondering. That night, as she lay in bed, the same
things kept going through her mind. 'Mr. Williams-emotionless, Serone-nervous,
Maria-gleeful, Elsha-unfocused, Tony & Leo-talking secretively, Mr. Williams-emotionless,
Serone-nervous, Maria-gleeful' The same things! Annette wondered if one of these
characters could have stolen the trophy. Her friend Katie had kept saying "Come
on, Annie! Let the Neopolice do their work. It's not our business." But Annette
didn't think that way. She knew someone at that ceremony knew more than they
were saying.
The next morning as Anne ate her breakfast she
got an idea. If she got enough of her friends... maybe they could find the thief!
They were only kids... but why not? Annette wasn't going to stop puzzling this
case out, so she might as well have some help. She immediately phoned her friends
Katie, Shelfa and Leslie and invited them over to her NeoHome.
When they arrived Annette immediately explained
her idea.
"Isn't that a little dangerous, Annie? I mean...
we could get ourselves involved with the wrong people," Leslie questioned.
"Well, I think it would be cool!" began Shelfa
"We could really get into it and try to find clues!"
"That's what I was thinking," said Annette.
"I think it's the Neopolice's job to do this.
Not ours. Any anyway... how could we find any clues?" asked Katie.
"Well we could go to the crime scene and just
look around, I guess. We could observe what the Neopolice have found and work
on understanding that," explained Annette.
"Well... I think it's worth a try," stated Shelfa.
"Why not, right?" added Leslie. "Well... okay
then," Katie said shyly.
The next morning the four girls met at the Coffee
Shop and discussed the possible suspects.
"I noticed a lot of people acting strangely
that night," began Annette "Did anyone else notice that?"
"Oh yes! I saw Tony and Leonard talking to each
other, they looked secretive about it!" said Shelfa
"I noticed that too, but someone who really
made me think was Serone Jenkins, you know him? He's a Lupe," Annette said.
"I saw him but he left right after the lights
went out," answered Leslie.
"Really? That's a little fishy if you ask me,"
stated Annette.
After writing down a list of suspects, including
Tony, Serone, Leonard and a few others, the girls made their way to the crime
scene. It was dusty and filled with yellow police tape that read 'DO NOT CROSS
BEYOND THIS POINT' but the young puzzlers ignored the barrier and proceeded
into to the Art Centre, where the awards had taken place. They decided to split
up and look for clues separately. Hours later everyone was starting to give
up but still kept on searching.
"Hey, you guys! Come here. I think I found something!"
called Shelfa.
"What is it?" called back Annette.
"The fuse box! It's open. It seems as though
these two wires were snipped and then twisted back together! This must have
been how the thief turned off the lights without anyone knowing!" said Shelfa,
excitedly.
"And look! A yellow Kyrii hair!" observed Katie.
"Belonging to Mr. Williams! The janitor!" added
Annette.
"So it was an inside job! Well, girls, I think
our searching has paid off! Let's go talk to the Neopolice about this!" said
Leslie, jumping up and down.
The four girls, Leslie, Shelfa, Katie and Annette,
all skipped merrily down to the Neopolice station with the great news. What
an honour they would receive for such police work! Or so they thought...
"You'll never believe what we've done, Officer
Johnson!" said Annette with pride.
"What is it, girls? I'm really tight for time
so talk," Officer Johnson replied.
"We've cracked the case! The four of us went
down to the Art Centre, where the awards were held, and searched around for
clues! And we have evidence that Mr. Williams has stolen the trophy! We found
a yellow Kyrii hair by the fuse box, which looks like it's been tampered with!
That means that he was the one who shut off the lights and took the trophy!"
told Shelfa.
"First of all," began Officer Johnson "Mr. Williams
was commanded, by me, to fix the central lighting, manually, shortly after the
Awards show which means of coarse he's not the thief and second of all it is
completely unacceptable for you girls to ever be down there when it's a crime
scene! It is strictly prohibited for anyone to be there unless you are Neopolice
officers! I want you all to go home before my senses get the better of me and
I call your owners! Go on! Go!"
The girls felt terrible. They weren't about
to quit though! Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they met at Annette's house
to try and figure out the puzzling answer to which everyone wanted. Who was
the thief? They went all over Neopia to ask questions, look for clues and do
all sorts of strange police work. One Wednesday, approximately two weeks after
the crime, Leslie found something.
"Uh, I think I got something," yelled Leslie
to her friends.
"What is it, Less?" replied Katie.
"This envelope, it says it's to Leonard the
Kau... from Tony the Ixi!" screamed Leslie.
"Well... open it for crying out loud!" demanded
Annette.
"Here... I'll read it... 'Dear Leo, I have it!
Don't tell anyone! -Tony' Oh my gosh! This is proof... real proof this time!"
Leslie said happily.
"Maybe we should make sure that 'it' means 'trophy'
before going crazy," Shelfa said with a parental tone.
"I don't think 'it' means anything else, Shelfa.
Let's go for it. What are the chances that we're wrong?" insisted Annette.
"Who would we tell? Officer Johnson would get
mad at us for snooping around," Shelfa pointed out.
"Look, you guys... someone's gotta crack this
case and if no one investigates then the thief will just keep on stealing!"
said Annette, firmly.
"I agree!" said Leslie.
"Let's do it!" added Katie.
"Okay, I'm in too but there's still one problem.
Who do we tell?" asked Shelfa.
"Crevina! She cares about the trophy just as
much as we do and the Neopolice will definitely listen to her!" said Annette.
Shelfa, Leslie and Annette proceeded to Crevina's
home while Katie gathered a few Neopolice officers to come too. When the three
girls arrived at Crevina's NeoHome earlier than planned they just had
to tell her who did it.
"Girls, it's wonderful that you are so involved
in the case but I think the Neopolice should be the ones to determine who stole
the trophy. Poor Tony and Leo probably have nothing to do with it!" said Crevina.
"But..." Leslie started to say.
"Girls! Let the Neopolice do their work. When
they get here I'm going to have to tell them that you did a lot of snooping
that you shouldn't have! Now, why don't I get you some tea to calm you down."
For some reason Crevina made sure she didn't
leave her purse with the girls. As she made her way to the kitchen, to get their
tea, she tripped on her long dress and her big, sparling purse flew out of her
hoof and into the air. When it finally hit the ground, the big brass clip broke
and the purse fell open making all of the contents of the purse roll out. One
of the contents happened to be the golden trophy!
"Crevina! What is that?!?" demanded Annette.
"Um... uh... um... I didn't know I had it! Well,
I did but... um..."
Just then Katie walked in the door with three
Neopolice officers, including Officer Johnson.
"The trophy!" exclaimed Officer Johnson "So
this is an emergency! Crevina, what are you doing with the trophy?"
"Well... uh... Officer, sir! I... was going
to give it to you... well I wasn't but... I... I... was going to... uh," stuttered
Crevina.
"It's pretty obvious you took it, Crevina. So
stop stuttering and just tell us why! Why would you do it?" questioned another
officer.
"Well... I just... I just... I'm jealous! Every
awards show I present the awards and I never get to accept them! Why?!? Why
did I do it?!? Why do you think?! If I present them... that means I'm not good
enough to win them! *sob*sob*" cried Crevina.
"Crevina... I never expected a Uni like
you to do such a thing. I'm sorry for your pain but... it's the law. You're
under arrest for 'Grand Theft Trophy'," said Officer Johnson.
So that was it. Ten minutes earlier the girls
saw Crevina as a Uni who could help them but now they saw Crevina as a jealous
thief But many still wondered what Tony meant in that note he tried to send
Leo. It was later explained that 'it' was a belated birthday gift to a Lenny
named Samuel.
Leslie, Shelfa, Katie and Annette all lives
happily ever after... OR DID THEY?!?!?
The End | 
