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NECKLACU 5 ' Detective and the case of the stolen necklace

"These burglars were really good at covering their own tracks!"
exclaimed the policeman, "We have been over every square inch of
the museum all day and we didn't find a single clue! You got any
ideas, Michaela?"

Michaela thought for a moment, then replied, "We're pretty sure
that Lucifer Snidely is the one who planned this burglary.
Right?"

"Right." agreed the policeman.

Michaela continued, "We know that Lucifer Snidely is in prison.
So, we're pretty sure that Lucifer Snidely hired some burglars
to steal the necklace for him. Right?"

"Right." agreed the policeman.

Michaela continued, "And we know how Lucifer Snidely works. The
burglars he hires always hide the necklace so Lucifer Snidely
can go to the hiding place and get it after he gets out of
prison."

"Right." agreed the policeman.

"I think we ought to see if Lucifer Snidely has had any visitors
at the prison since the burglary." suggested Michaela.

"You're right!" exclaimed the policeman, "The burglars smuggled
the necklace into the prison once before. Maybe they did it
again!"

By the time Michaela and the policeman arrived at the prison,
the prison guards had finished the search.

"Find the necklace?" asked the policeman.

"No." Said the prison guard. "All we found in the search was
this little piece of paper."

There was only one word written on the paper, and a jagged line.
The paper looked like this:

 + 
 | 
 |_______ 
         | =============================== 
                                          \
                                           \ 
                                            \___________+

                                                   fractions


(Can you tell from this clue how to find the necklace?)

"This is no help at all!" exclaimed the policeman, "It probably
has nothing to do with the necklace."

Michaela examined both sides of the paper, then held it up
toward the light.

"Aha!" exclaimed Michaela.

"Did you find something else?!" asked the policeman.

"The paper." replied Michaela.

"What about the paper?" asked the policeman.

"It's not regular paper. It's thinner than regular paper." said
Michaela as she held the paper against the policeman's badge,
"Look. You can read your badge number through the paper."

(Can you tell from this clue how to find the necklace?)

"I still don't see how that tells us anything." replied the
policeman.

"This is tracing paper." explained Michaela, "I think this
jagged line was traced from something.

(Can you tell from this clue how to find the necklace?)

"Oh, maybe you're right." replied the policeman, "But what could
you trace that looks like that?"

Michaela thought for a moment, then asked, "Do you have a map of
the city?"

(Can you tell from this clue how to find the necklace?)

The policeman gave Michaela his book of city maps. She opened it
to the section that showed the downtown area where the museum
was located. Then she layed the paper on top of the map.

"Aha!" exclaimed Michaela.

(Can you tell from this clue what the jagged line is?)

"Well, I'll be!" exclaimed the policeman, "That jagged line is a
path along the city streets leading away from the museum. So if
the upper left mark is the museum, this lower right mark must be
the hiding place for the necklace. Let's go!"

Michaela and the policeman drove to the location pointed to by
the mark on the tracing paper. There they found a store front
office with the name "Snidely Real Estate" painted on the
window.

The policemen searched the office until they found a floor safe
under the carpet in a closet. The safe had a ten-key pad on the
door.

"Any idea what the combination is?" the policeman asked
Michaela.

(Can you tell from the tracing paper what the combination is?)

Michaela pointed to the only word on the paper saying, "That
word is a clue about the combination."

(Can you tell from this clue what the combination is?)

"FRACTIONS?!" asked the policeman, "What does that tell us about
the combination? It doesn't tell us anything. These numbers on
the safe are whole numbers, not fractions!"

Michaela thought for a moment, then suggested, "Well, most of
the combination locks used by Lucifer Snidely had ten numbers in
the combination. Maybe the ten numbers are both sides of the
first five fractions."

(Can you tell from this clue what the combination is?)

"I don't get it." replied the policeman.

Michaela explained, "Well, the first five simple fractions are
1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5, and 1/6."

(Can you tell from this clue what the combination is?)

Michaela poked these numbers on the keypad:

1 2 1 3 1 4 1 5 1 6

There was a click, a buzz and a hum from the safe. A green light
went on and the safe door swung open. There in the safe was the
world's most expensive necklace.

Michaela, the world's greatest detective, recovered the necklace
yet again!

©2009 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
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