“It’s ready to put under the microscope now,” she said. “What colour is the hair, Harry?”
Harry looked down the microscope. The hair came into focus.
“Black and long,” he said.
“Have you got Mr Jones’s hair?”
Harry produced the bag from his coat pocket and wrote “Mr Jones” on the bag. Annabelle made a slide for Mr Jones’s hair sample and wrote his name on it. Harry placed it under the microscope.
“It’s grey!” exclaimed Harry. “So it can’t be him.” Next to Mr Jones’s name Annabelle wrote “grey” for hair colour. She then got out the bags with Mr Walder’s and Mr Baker’s hair samples, and wrote their names on the bags.
“How do you know which is which?” asked Harry.
“I tied a knot in Mr Baker’s,” she replied and quickly prepared the slides for both men.
“I knew it wasn’t Mr Baker,” said Harry. “He’s got dark brown hair.”
“What about Mr Walder? He’s so horrible. I bet he did it.”
“It’s black! It matches the hair from the hat!” shouted out Harry excitedly “Oh! Hold on a minute. These ones are short, and when you compare them they have a different texture!”
“It can’t be him either then!” said Annabelle disappointedly, writing down the results.
“Let’s face it Harry. This hasn’t got us anywhere. It could be anyone.”
“I don’t believe it, Annabelle. I really thought it was Mr Walder.”
“I know,” said Annabelle sadly. “I feel gutted too.”
Disheartened, the children hid their equipment and went outside. They were both silent and unsure what to do next, when they heard it.
“Annabelle, did you hear that noise? I thought I heard… but it can’t be…”
“I heard it too Harry. It was a whimper. Quiet but definitely a whimper… and it’s coming from Mr Baker’s garden!”
nnabelle followed Harry as he quickly climbed up onto the roof of their playhouse. From here they could look over the fence into Mr Baker’s garden. She was so excited. It looked like all was lost when the hairs didn’t match but she was so sure that she had heard Milly.
“I can’t hear the whimpering anymore,” said Harry
“Neither can I,” said Annabelle joining him on the roof.
“I think it was coming from over there,” said Harry pointing at the bottom of Mr Baker’s garden.
Both children looked and saw a shed hidden among the apple trees. It had no windows so they couldn’t see in and what looked like a big padlock on the door.
“I think Milly is in there,” said Annabelle. “I think Mr Baker has taken her and is keeping her in the shed. But it doesn’t make sense – the hair didn’t match!”
“Quick Annabelle! No time for worrying about the hairs. We need to tell Mum and look in the shed straight away,” shouted Harry.
Annabelle followed him as he slid expertly from the roof of the playhouse onto the grass. He ran at breakneck speed into their house. Annabelle followed as fast as she could but she couldn’t keep up with her little brother. When she arrived in the kitchen Harry was already pleading with Mum.
“Please Mum! We heard her. We heard Milly. She was whimpering. The noise came from Mr Baker’s shed. We’ve got to go and look now or he’ll move her,” pleaded Harry. His eyes were wide. Annabelle could see he was anxious as he hopped from foot to foot. Harry now had Mum by the hand and was dragging her to the front door.
“But Mr Baker is so lovely and he loves Milly,” said Mum.
“We know what we heard, Mum,” said Annabelle convincingly.
“I’ve never seen you both like this. Okay, just this once we’ll go. But I’m sure you must be wrong about Mr Baker.”
Annabelle could feel her tummy flipping over as they crunched back up the gravel path towards Mr Baker’s house. She felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement. This could be it. In a few minutes she would be able to bury her face in Milly’s soft warm fur. She had missed that so much. Once again Mr Baker opened the door as they approached. Annabelle saw a flash of annoyance sweep across his face. Then remembering himself she saw him smile.
“Hello again to you all,” he said. “How can I help?”
“I’m so sorry,” said Mum. “The children were sure they heard Milly in your garden. They wondered if she’d got stuck in your shed somehow. Would you mind if we had a look?”
Annabelle looked across at Harry. She could see he was as excited as she was. They were only a few minutes away from getting Milly back.
“I’m really sorry,” said an apologetic Mr Baker. “I’m just in the middle of an important phone call. I won’t be long. Would you mind coming back in ten minutes?”
“Of course!” said Mum. “Sorry to bother you. We’ll see you in a few minutes.” They returned home where the children waited impatiently in the kitchen.
“This is unbearable,” whispered Harry to Annabelle. “We need to get into the shed now!” Harry looked across at Annabelle. Her face was very pale and her beautiful blue eyes were filled with tears. Every second was precious. The tick of the clock in the kitchen became even louder as they waited. Each tick reminding them that vital time was passing. They waited for what seemed like forever in silence.
Finally it was time and they were all crunching back up the gravel pathway to Mr Baker’s house. He ushered them into the garden and towards the shed. Annabelle felt her heart beating faster as they got nearer. Her legs were like jelly. Were they too late? She looked across at Harry who was uncharacteristically quiet.
Mr Baker fumbled with the lock on the shed door. It had a combination. He turned his back so the children couldn’t see. But Harry crept silently behind him and smiled to himself as he memorised the code unnoticed! Mr Baker threw open the door.
“Here you go children. No Milly in here. I’m really sorry. I know you thought you’d found her. I hope you’re not too disappointed,” Mr Baker looked at them both with a look of satisfaction.
Harry was the first in. The shed was quite dark inside and smelt musty. There were strange shapes which looked like boxes on either side of the shed. They were covered with blankets. The floor was dirty and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. There was no sign of Milly.
Harry turned to Annabelle “She’s not here!” His eyes were cast to the floor. Annabelle checked just to reassure herself that Milly was definitely not there. She took Harry’s hand as they walked silently back to their own house. She felt like Mr Baker was laughing at them and could feel his eyes watching them.
“I’m very sorry for disturbing you Mr Baker,” said Mum. “Children – say sorry to Mr Baker. I feel really embarrassed. You’ve been so kind letting us look in your shed.”
“No problem at all,” said Mr Baker. “If I see anything I’ll let you know.”
“I know he has Milly!” whispered Harry to Annabelle.
“I agree,” said Annabelle. “He had muddy boots in his porch and he looked cross when we asked to look in his shed. He tried to be really nice but I saw his face when he first saw us – he was cross. I think he’s putting on an act.”
“Do you remember Milly growled at him?” said Harry. “She wouldn’t normally do that and we definitely heard whimpering coming from the shed. But what about the hair?”
“I don’t understand why the hairs didn’t match. It’s a mystery. I think we should tell Mum it’s him anyway. I really am sure it’s him who has taken Milly,” said Annabelle.
“She won’t believe us. She thinks Mr Baker is really nice. We need more evidence. We need to prove that Mr Baker has taken Milly,” said Harry.
“How can we do that? It’s impossible,” said Annabelle looking desperately at Harry.
nnabelle looked out of the window of her bedroom and into the garden. It was then that it happened, like a light being switched on, and she realised the answer had been staring her in the face. Her eyes had focused on Mum’s laboratory in the garden. She spun round.
“
Harry, I’ve got it!” exclaimed Annabelle. “I know how we can get the evidence to prove it was Mr Baker who stole Milly. We can use DNA!”
Harry looked up from his new Star Wars Lego.
“I don’t even know what DNA is!” said Harry, looking unconvinced.
“Yes you do,” Annabelle insisted. “Don’t you remember Mum told us about it in her ‘DNA Detectives’ workshop? Okay, how do you know how to make that Lego model of the Droid escape pod?”
Harry picked up the box. “I remember Mum showing us this. I would use the instructions. You’re now going to tell me that DNA contains the instructions to make a human.”
“What things are in the instructions to make a human, Harry?” asked Annabelle.
“You sound like Mum!” said Harry. “But I know lots of things. I know that DNA contains the instructions to make your heart, eyes, legs, hair colour and your bottom!” Harry laughed at his joke.
“Very funny!” said Annabelle rolling her eyes. She was trying to be serious. “DNA contains the instructions to make everything in your body. All living things have DNA. For example, all plants and animals have DNA. Their DNA contains the instructions to make them. The brilliant thing is everyone and everything’s DNA is different.”
“Unless you’re an identical twin and then your DNA will be the same,” said Harry. He was very pleased that he could remember some things from Mum’s workshop.
“Don’t you remember our favourite bit of the workshop, Harry?” asked Annabelle. “When we got to dress up in overalls, with face masks and gloves – just like real scene-of-crime officers in the police – and collected evidence from a pretend crime scene?”
“I remember,” said Harry. “There was a jar of sweets and someone had stolen them. Actually I did steal a few of them when Mum wasn’t looking!”
“You’re so naughty. Remember Mum told us that ‘every contact leaves a trace’, so everything we touch will leave a trace of DNA? Look Harry, I’m touching your Lego now and leaving my DNA all over it!”
“Get off!” said Harry, pushing Annabelle away. “I spent ages making that.”
“Remember, DNA is all over our bodies,” said Annabelle. “DNA is in our skin so, when we touch or rub anything, tiny bits of our skin come off. It’s in our blood, our hair roots and our saliva.”
“Mum said it’s in our snot, our wee and our poo too!” said Harry, gleefully. “Remember at the crime scene in the workshop? We collected hairs, a plaster, snotty tissue and a glass that the suspect had been drinking from and we got DNA from them.”
“Do you remember Mum pretended to take DNA samples from all the children at the workshop?” said Annabelle. “We were all suspects. We pretended to send the DNA from the evidence and the suspects to a laboratory and then compared the results.”
“Do you remember what the results looked like?” said Harry. “Mum called it a DNA profile. It was a piece of paper with lots of different coloured peaks on it. They had different numbers on them and everyone’s was different. I kept mine. It’s in my bedroom.”
“Do you remember we compared the results from the suspects and the evidence from the crime scene?” said Annabelle. “When we found a match we could work out who stole the sweets. Because the DNA was the same.”
“That was brilliant fun,” laughed Harry. “Remember it was Peter who’d done it!”
“But don’t you see, Harry?” said Annabelle, with excitement. “If we can find some of Milly’s fur in the shed we can use it to get DNA. We can then show she was in the shed. Mr Baker must have kept her in a cage or something like that. If his DNA is on the cage and on the things we found in our garden, we can prove he stole her. We’ll just need to get a sample from him to compare it with.” Annabelle’s mind was racing.
“Brilliant Annabelle, but there is one problem. We don’t have a laboratory.” Harry stopped. His eyes met Annabelle’s. “But we do, don’t we? Of course! Mum has a laboratory in the garden and she’s got all the stuff to get DNA from animals and humans!”
It had taken Harry a while to catch up but he was finally there. This really was so exciting. They were going to carry out a real life version of Mum’s “DNA Detectives” workshop to solve a crime. They were going to use DNA to prove who stole Milly. Annabelle spun Harry around in delight until they got dizzy and fell over. “Harry, we’re going to be the real-life ‘DNA Detectives’!” It was then Mum came up the stairs.
“Kids! Time for bed! Pyjamas on.”
“Tomorrow Harry,” whispered Annabelle. “We’ll start collecting evidence first thing tomorrow.” As the children looked into the mirror to brush their teeth it was clear a sparkle had returned to their eyes. They wished the night would go quickly so they could get started on their most exciting adventure yet.
t was early on Saturday morning. Harry came bursting into Annabelle’s room sending her door flying. It hit the wall with a crash.
“Sssh!” she said. “Come here quickly, Harry. I’ve made a list of all the things we need.”
“Ready for action, fellow DNA Detective!” said Harry, standing to attention and saluting with a big grin on his face.
Annabelle smiled at her brother. He was such a funny character. He did look like a real soldier on an important mission.
“Okay Harry, these are the things I need you to get. Can you get cotton buds from the bathroom? We can use sandwich bags as evidence bags like we did for the hairs. I’ll get them from the kitchen. I’ll get the tweezers, overalls, facemasks and gloves from Mum’s workshop kit. Can you get a pen to label the evidence? Then meet me at the craft cupboard.”
“On it!” said Harry and ran off on his mission.
Annabelle collected the items she needed and then ran quickly to the craft cupboard in the dining room. Of course Harry was there already. How did he do that?
“What do we need from here?” said Harry. Annabelle spoke as she moved aside the paints, glitter and paper to find what she was looking for.
“Plaster of Paris, card, scissors and Sellotape. Why does the Sellotape always disappear? Help me find it, Harry!” Eventually they had what they needed.
“Okay Harry,” said Annabelle. “We just need a bottle of water, a spoon and one of those old ice cream tubs from the cupboard in the kitchen.”
“I don’t get what all this is for, Annabelle.”
“We are going to make a mould of the footprint so we can compare it to the boots in Mr Baker’s house. Don’t you remember Mum showed us how to do it for those deer prints we found in the wood?”
“How cool is that? I’m so excited!” said Harry jumping up and down.
Annabelle looked at the kit. It was so professional. She imagined the real scene-of-crime officers arriving in a van with their equipment. She and Harry had hidden it all in their swimming bags. Now to check that the coast was clear. Dad had already gone out to the football and wouldn’t be back till later. Mum was cleaning the lounge. The sound of the vacuum cleaner was reassuring. Time to get busy!
“Quick Harry! I think we have about forty minutes before Mum comes into the kitchen for her cup of tea. We have to put on our overalls, facemask and gloves.”
“Why though?” asked Harry. “I don’t like the facemask. It tickles my nose!”
“Because we don’t want to contaminate the evidence with our DNA,” said Annabelle. “Don’t you remember Mum telling us that?”
She watched Harry struggling into his overalls. “Just think of the overalls like a onesie, Harry. Sit on the floor and then put your feet in!” She laughed as Harry overbalanced and fell face first onto the floor.
“Don’t laugh at me!” said Harry, looking very cross. “I’m doing my best!”
They opened the door into the garden. The hat was still lying on the grass, although Harry had removed the hairs which were safely hidden in Annabelle’s room.
“We need to get DNA from the hat, Harry. You hold it with the tweezers and I’ll swab it with the cotton bud.”
“I think the DNA
will be around the inside of the hat. Where it rubs against the person’s head.”
“Well done Harry,” said Annabelle. “Just like Mum told us. That’s where the bits of skin are most likely to be rubbed off and the skin has lots of DNA in it.”
Harry watched his sister rub the material backwards and forwards with the cotton bud. They put the cotton bud into a sandwich bag and the hat in another. Harry labelled them “suspect”. Annabelle went over to the cigarette next. This time it was Harry’s turn to swab around the end of the cigarette.
“This will have lots of DNA on it,” said Annabelle.
“Why?” said Harry.
“Because not only will you have DNA from the skin that has rubbed off inside the mouth when the person was smoking it, but there will be lots of DNA in the saliva,” answered Annabelle. The cotton bud and the cigarette were put into bags and labelled. Next was the glove.
“Where will the DNA be in the glove?” asked Harry.
“Think where the skin would rub against it, Harry.”
“Inside?”
“Yes!” said Annabelle. “Especially on the top inside bit. That’s where the glove would really rub against the skin when the person takes the glove on and off and when they’re wearing it.”
“I get it!” said Harry. He really loved this swabbing bit. He imagined his swabs would have way more DNA than Annabelle’s. In fact his would probably be the main evidence that proved Mr Baker was guilty.
Annabelle knew what was next. It was the bit she was dreading. Both children walked silently to the fence. Without saying anything Annabelle took a cotton bud and wiped the area where the blood was. She looked sadly at the white cotton bud which was now tinged with red at the end. Harry held out the bag. He wasn’t sure what to write on the bag, so he labelled it “blood?”.
To Catch a Thief Page 3