The Case of the Odd-numbered Thief I Story By Niyathi,13, Chennai

The Case of the Odd-numbered Thief

In a town named Gabes, there lived a detective named Sam. He had a best friend named Amy, who was a police inspector. She was the pride of the police station. Thefts were occurring exponentially in town lately, and people were scared. Amy was at the police station trying to find out about the thief. 

“Trying to find out about the thief?” Sam asked, entering just then. “Yes. We can’t even find this person. We don’t have enough clues. If we don’t find him, soon the town will have no money left!” Amy replied. 

“Why didn’t you ask me for help?” Sam asked. 

“That’s because I thought that it was easy and we would finish it soon. Sorry. The thief has been lashing out at people’s houses at night. Recently, there was a theft at a school teacher’s house and her husband’s office on the same day. His company was superlative in electronics.” she replied. 

“Do you have the reports of the recent thefts?” Sam asked. Amy handed some files to Sam. Sam flipped through the files and said to Amy, “The thief is stealing things from one family at a time and in the order of odd numbers. So his next theft will happen at door no. 9. Send cops to protect the house. Meanwhile, we will check out at the school teacher’s house.” Sam said. Amy agreed.

The next morning, the two friends travelled by tram and reached the teacher’s house. They rang the bell. A middle-aged woman opened the door. Amy and Sam introduced themselves and told the woman the purpose of the visit. The woman let them in. “I am Riya, a school teacher. I’m boisterous when it comes to football. Never mind that. My husband was so stupefied at the loss of money that he could not talk. I tried to console him, but he was obstinate.” 

“I am a rumbustious football fan too. But let’s get to the point. Did you notice any suspicious activities? Anything before the theft?” Sam asked. 

“Um… Nothing much. But two days ago, a lonely traveller knocked on the door. I opened it, and he said that he wanted water and some food to eat. So I let him in. When I was gathering some food for him and water in his bottle, he was looking around the house and asking me some questions.” Riya said. 

“What kind of questions?” Sam asked. 

“He asked me where I worked. I told him that I worked as a school teacher. Like this, he asked me questions, and I replied to everything.” 

“By any chance, did he ask where your husband worked?” Amy asked. Riya said, “Yes. He did.” When Amy checked the time, it was late at night. After dinner, as they were walking around for some time, Amy got a phone call. 

“We have caught the thief. Come to the station immediately,” said the person on the phone. 

“Magnificent!” Amy exclaimed as she hung up the phone. “As an aftermath of your idea of sending cops to house number nine, they have caught the thief! They are telling us to come to the police station immediately. Let’s go!” Amy said. 

When they reached the police station, there was a person in cuffs. A police officer said, “This is the thief. He was very fierce, but finally we caught him. He entered the house when no one was there and returned with money, a new makeup box, a laptop, and a new soap.” “Why did you steal money and things from others? Tell us more about yourself.” Amy asked. 

“Fine. I am the thief. My name is Rico. I live in a lighthouse. I have been dodging people. There’s a person who has a grudge against me and keeps asking me for money and threatening me. So I stole these items so that I could sell them and give him the money. I also cut the electricity in a person’s office so that it would be dark, and I stole some money from there too. I also stole lunch from a kid.” Rico replied. 

“You should right away inform the police station when something like this happens. It’s cruel to steal from others,” said Sam. “I think he is the person who disguised himself as a traveller. It’s his façade,” she said. “You are under arrest” Amy ordered. Thus, the thief was caught and taken to prison.

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