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NECKLACO 4' Detective and the case of the stolen necklace

The policeman interrupted Michaela's school class to ask for her
help on another necklace theft.

On the way to the museum, the policeman explained, "We already
looked at the recordings from the security cameras. We saw that
the robber was carrying a cardboard box when he came into the
museum, but was empty handed when he left. And he was arrested
less than a block away from the museum. So, we know the necklace
must be somewhere inside the museum. We found the empty box in
the dumpster. But all it had in it were an electric drill and
some other tools. We looked everywhere for the necklace -- and I
mean EVERYWHERE, the roof, the basement, the restrooms,
EVERYWHERE -- but we couldn't find it. This one is a real
mystery. We really need your help!"

When Michaela got to the museum, she searched only the places
where the security cameras couldn't see, starting with the
corners of the main showroom where the necklace was on display.

"Aha!" she exclaimed.

"Did you find something already?" asked the policeman as he came
running.

"Yes," said Michaela as she pointed to the carpet.

"I don't see anything." replied the policeman.

Michaela explained, "See, the dust on the carpet is piled in a
straight line."

The policeman replied, "What does DUST tell you?"

Michaela replied, "The dust is from the carpet itself. It looks
like someone peeled up the corner of the carpet and folded it
back. The dust fell out of the carpet and piled up in a straight
line where the carpet was folded back."

Sure enough, when the policeman peeled back the carpet from the
corner, he pointed and exclaimed, "It's a floor safe! The robber
used the drill to drill a hole in the floor and installed a safe
in the floor!"

Then he scratched his head, saying, "I don't get it! Why steal
the necklace and leave it right here in the showroom?!"

Michaela explained, "The security cameras can't see here in the
corner, so, one of Lucifer Snidely's henchmen could come back
here during business hours and, as soon as noone was watching,
he could peel back the carpet, open the safe and walk right out
of here with the necklace in his pocket."

"Snidely is getting more clever every time, isn't he?!" he
exclaimed.

Then he scratched his head again, saying, "Oh oh! The safe has a
ten-key pad, like a telephone. And we don't know which keys to
press to open it."

Michaela explained, "Lucifer Snidely always has the robber leave
clues about which buttons to push to open the safe. Check under
the carpet in the other corners."

While Michaela went to the nearest corner, the policeman went
across the showroom to check the other corners. But he stopped
when he heard Michaela's familiar, "Aha!"

"Find something?" he asked as he came running.

"Yes," replied Michaela as she pointed to the carpet, "Here's
another line of dust on the carpet. I think this corner of the
carpet was peeled back too."

The policeman peeled back the carpet, then exclaimed, "There's
nothing under here!"

Michaela pointed to the carpet saying, "The clues are in the
label on the back of the carpet."

The policeman replied, "All a carpet label can tell you is what
the carpet is made of and how to keep it clean."

Michaela pointed at the label and said, "Look again."

The policeman got down on one knee and read the small words on
the label.

"Well, I'll be...!" he exclaimed, "This looks just like a carpet
label but there's some words on here that don't make any sense!"

Here are the words on the label that didn't make sense:

rectangle

triangle

pentagon

square

circle

star

star of David

cube

pyramid


The policeman said, "These words are all shapes. But I don't see
how shapes will tell us which numbers to push to open the safe."

Michaela copied down and studied these words for a few seconds
then went over to the floor safe and pushed nine buttons.
Immediately the green light when on and the door clicked open.

Michaela, the world's greatest detective, solved yet another
mystery.

(Can you tell which numbers Michaela pushed?)

rectangle = 4 sides

triangle = 3 sides

pentagon = 5 sides

square = 4 sides

circle = 1 side

star = 5 points

star of David = 6 points

cube = 6 faces

pyramid = 5 faces

Michaela pushed 4,3,5,4,1,5,6,6,5.

(Did you guess all nine numbers?)

©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
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