head and smiled a funny little smile. "You mean all this time they were rehearsing?"
"Looks like it." Thomas waved his hand at all the lights and cameras and people rushing importantly around. "How about that eh?"
"'Production coordinator'. We should have realised. Hey look at the dent in the bus."
They wandered over to see how much damage they'd done.
Simpson didn't care much for dents in silly old buses. Some of the smells here were very interesting. He began poking about in the mess of leaves and branches that the bus had knocked out of the tree.
RUFF!
"What's the noise about?" Richard knelt down. "Hey, Hal! Look what Simpson's just found."
Henrietta and Thomas peered over his shoulder. Amongst all the debris the bus had dislodged from the rain tree were a couple of birds nests. And one of them was a crow's nest by the looks of things. In the midst of all the twigs and bits of bark were three shiny baubles: a bit of broken mirror, half a Christmas ornament and ... a ring with a large glittering diamond.
"My mum's ring!" Henrietta was dumbfounded. "My mum's ring!" But how ... I mean ... It's just ... What?" She turned the ring over and over in her hand.
"The crime of the century," grinned Thomas. "Chief suspect, one large mynah or crow. I've read about how they like glittery things, but I never really thought it was true!" He laughed. "Looks like we solved a crime after all. Even if we didn't arrest the thief!"
Ruff!
If it's possible for a beagle to look affronted and offended, then that's just what Simpson looked like just then.
"Oh, good old Simpson," said Henrietta. "Well done. You solved the crime, didn't you?"
Richard patted him on the head. "He's already been promoted to Sergeant. Looks like he's well on his way to being Superintendent!"
"Superintendent super-beagle, the canine crime-buster."
It wasn't really very funny, but they all began to laugh - laughing and wuffing, of course. They'd had quite a time of it this past week. They were almost in hysterics when the man with the hat came back - without the star.
"I've just had a word with the big boss. He says that stunt with the bus was the best thing he's seen since Speed. He wants to keep it in."
They looked at him, not quite understanding. "It'd mean you'd have to do a bit more acting, of course. So you'll be able to meet the star face to face. When you're all working on the same film! What do you think?"
There are no prizes for guessing what the answer was.
The Further Adventures of Aardvark Jenkins Page 13