The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander (15 page)

"You were one hundred per
cent right, young lady," said
the sergeant,
addressing Tracey. "There was a planned
robbery at the jewellery store at Arndale. The police
arrived just as they were in the act. They caught
two boys
and two older boys, but they were
clean, apparently
decoys! Two got away in a
silver car. They're having a
bit of a chase
right now. They'll keep in touch." He
beamed at Tracey in admiration.

"Matt, didn't you say that
Cad booked an aeroplane
flight?" Krystal
reminded Matthew.
"Hey, yeah, that's what I
heard." Matthew fixed his
eyes on the
sergeant.

"That right?" said Sergeant
Livingstone, picking up the
telephone again
and informing the squad. He put the
telephone down. "Well, all we can do for now is wait
and
see.
Anyone for
a cuppa?" he asked, ringing a little bell
on his desk.

~~~~
Chapter
Thirty-two
~~~~

Success at Last

It was ten o'clock before
the children could leave the
police
station. They all felt exhausted by then.

At about nine o'clock, the
man nick-named Cad had
been caught just as
his 'plane was about to leave.

After a thorough search, the
police found a haul of
precious jewels in
his possession.

Morrie had escaped in the
silver car which had been
found abandoned
near the bush house. The police were
still
looking for him.

"What about Dilly?" Krystal
asked. "What'll happen to
her
now?"

"Well, we do have some facilities for horses
and some keen horse lovers. I'm sure she'll be well taken care of,"
Sergeant Livingstone reassured Krystal.

Krystal was also curious as
to how Tracey got the final
clue.

Tracey beamed as she told of
her discovery. "Well, I
heard scratching
noises earlier, and I worked it out that it
was the sound of bricks moving. I realised it was the
brick fireplace and checked it out. There was a
scratched
number one on a brick near the
floor, so I counted the
number seven up and
four across, the two other numbers
on the
last message, remember?" Tracey looked at the interested
expressions around her. "Sure enough, there
was a message behind a brick. Simple!" she added for
emphasis.

"But, Trace, how did you
know the message would
still be there? What
if the boys got there before you!"
Krystal
asked, with a puzzled expression.

"Yeah, how'd you know that? Kevin
queried.

"Well, I didn't really. I
guess they were supposed to
come early and
pick up the clue. I was just a bit too early for them; I think the
Lord helped there!" Tracey replied.

"I think so. But how would
they know what the clue
was if you took the
coded message?" Krystal asked, still
puzzled.

"Oh, there were actually two
slips of paper with the
same message. I
only took one!" Tracey replied.

"I've got a smart sister!"
exclaimed Matthew, with
new
admiration.

~~~~
Chapter Thirty-three~~~~

Home at Last

Mrs. Cormack hugged her two
children over and over.
"Kevin, you'd
better take it easy. Does your head hurt?"
"Just a bit," Kevin replied solemly.

"Krystal, Kevin, she cried,
tears streaming down her
cheeks. "I nearly
fainted when I found trucks and a teddy
bear in your beds this morning. You gave me a terrible
fright. I was so glad to get Krystal's note. I
showed it to
your dad immediately. He rang
the police straight away. I
just prayed and
prayed you would be all right." She
hugged
Krystal and Kevin again. "Praise God, he
answered my prayers."

"We're sorry to cause you
trouble, Mum." Krystal put her arms around her mother's shoulders.
"We wanted to
tell you, but we just
couldn't. I'm really sorry that you
were
worried! I really am," she repeated.

"We should have adventures
more often," said
Matthew, helping himself
to a large piece of freshly
baked chocolate
cake.

"At least the food is better
here. Poor Matthew, having
to eat that
brown stuff. What was it anyway Matt?"
Krystal questioned.

"That! It was only chocolate
ice cream; it was
delicious!" He
grinned.

Krystal's mouth dropped
open. "Maybe we should have
another
adventure then."
"I don't know about that. I
was worried out of my mind
when my two
weren't in their cosy beds this morning,"
said Mrs. Roberts, shaking her head.

Maureen Cormack nodded in
agreement. "I agree with
you Pam, and I
think you've all had enough for now, I
mean
adventures." Mrs. Cormack smiled, passing around
the plate of fluffy chocolate cake. "Did you find
out
what'll happen to Nathan and David?"
she asked, helping
herself to a small piece
of cake.

"I talked with the principal
this morning. I think they'll
be suspended
from school until the whole matter gets
sorted out. Nathan's mother was going to do some home
schooling with him for a while this term. David's
family
are moving back to Adelaide soon,"
Pam Roberts replied,
brushing a few
chocolate cake crumbs off her chin.

Patches the cat waited near
the doorway. She came to
investigate the
fallen crumbs.

"I hope the possum'll be okay," said
Krystal,

remembering the special stare the little
possum gave her.
"What possum?" asked Tracey, suddenly interested.

"I found a baby possum at the old stables. It
was so

cute. It wiggled its nose at me." Krystal
smiled.

"So, where is it now?" asked Mrs Cormack,
already

wondering if she might find
a possum in one of the beds.
"I put it in a
tree for its mother. Maybe we should go

back and make sure it's okay," Krystal
added.

"You did the best thing for
a little possum. The mother
would have come
looking for it sooner or later. The
police
are checking the place out, so I might just ask them
to check it out for you." Mrs. Cormack smiled at
her
daughter. "The main thing now is that
you children get
lots of rest, so you're
nice and fresh for the school camp
coming
up."

"I nearly forgot about the
camp!" exclaimed Krystal,
glancing at
Tracey.

"A boring camp," said the
two girls in unison, and then
giggled.

the End for now!

Watch out for their next exciting adventure,
The Mystery at Mount Tamborine, where the Gum Tree Gang have a huge
task to find out who is trying to flatten their convention centre
and if the humungous Pterodactyl will fly?