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Who should you talk to first?
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When you arrive at the school, the twins tell you that one of the girls, Becky, has had a locket stolen from her room while every one was at dinner. She's very upset and won't talk to anyone. You decide to draw up a list of possible suspects... Only three people weren't seen at dinner last night, Becky's best friend Sophie, who had extra tutoring for arithmetic, Jessica who was in bed sick with the flu and Felicity, who was in detention with Madam Zelda for getting into a fight in ballet class. One of these girls doesn't have anyone to back up their alibi...
SophieJessicaFelicityCorrect!Wrong!Jessica!
Felicity and Sophie must have both been with teachers, whereas Jessica was on her own in her room...
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What do you do next?
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You go and talk to Jessica, but she is quite clearly too unwell to get out of bed let alone leave her room. Jessica says she definitely heard footsteps last night, and the sound of someone rummaging in Becky's room next door around dinner time... "...Not that that's unusual, she's always stomping around practicing ballet in the evening, it keeps me up all the time!" You quickly leave to avoid catching the flu yourself.
Have a quick look outside Becky's room for clues while I'm here.Move on to the next suspect.Correct!Wrong!Interesting...
The door is locked, but in the corridor just outside there is a sheet of paper on the floor! It looks like it could be in a different language though...
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What do you do with the piece of paper?
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The squiggles on the page don't make any sense to you, maybe it's not that useful after all.
Put it straight in the bin, if I can't read it then it won't be able to help me.Ask my smartest friend, Ariadne, if she can translate it.Correct!Wrong!Smart idea, second opinions are always useful!
We take the paper to Ariadne and ask her to translate it, but she bursts out laughing... "This isn't a foreign language - it's someone's arithmetic homework!"
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Which of our suspects might have left their arithmetic homework up here last night?
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Whoops, good job you didn't throw that paper away! Maybe you should also get some extra arithmetic tutoring too though, speaking of...
SophieFelicityJessicaCorrect!Wrong!That's right!
Sophie had extra arithmetic tutoring yesterday evening, but what was she doing outside Becky's room...
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Who do you speak to next?
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You go and find Sophie immediately to see if she can explain herself, and she says she has to take extra lessons now that Becky doesn't have as much time to help her with her extra dance practice. She was asked by her tutor to take the arithmetic homework up to Jessica, who had been too sick to attend class that day. It makes sense, but how can you be sure she is telling the truth?
Go back to talk to Jessica and risk getting the flu!Ask Sophie's arithmetic tutor.Correct!Wrong!Great idea!
A teacher would have no reason to lie about this!
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Who do you ask next?
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You find the right classroom, where Madam Zelda is just leaving. When you go inside, the arithmetic teacher is there with two empty mugs on the desk, and you ask her about Sophie. "Yes, I asked her to do me a favour and take the homework up to Jessica for me, as Madam Zelda had popped in halfway through the lesson for a chat. Sophie said she didn't mind taking it as she could see Madam Zelda was waiting!" So Sophie's story adds up, but there's something else suspicious going on here... If Madam Zelda was here, who was running detention? It looks like you're going to have to do some more investigating!
Felicity, she's the only one who'll know the truth.Madam Zelda, perhaps she can explain why she wasn't running detention.Correct!Wrong!Good choice!
Felicity sounds like she's already lied once about her detention, so maybe she can't be trusted. Madam Zelda should be able to explain why she was in the arithmetic class, and not with Felicity...
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What doesn't make sense?
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You run after Madam Zelda, and when you catch up with her she assures you that she was running detention yesterday evening. However, halfway through, Felicity apologised and explained that the fight had been an accident, she had accidentally tripped over Becky's foot in class, knocking them both over, so it wasn't a fight at all! Madam Zelda explains that as soon as she realised it was all a misunderstanding, she let Felicity leave early, so she could still get some dinner. This all adds up, except for one thing...
Why did Madam Zelda go to Sophie's arithmetic class?Why wasn't Felicity seen at dinner later?Correct!Wrong!Very suspicious...
If Felicity left detention early but didn't go to dinner, where did she go?
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Who stole Becky's locket?
You all gather together and discuss what you've learned... Jessica is very sick but she was in the room right next to Becky's, and no one can confirm that she heard someone in there, or if she just made it up. She's also definitely annoyed by how loud Becky's dance practice is... Sophie was definitely in the same corridor that night, but you know for sure that she was dropping off homework for Jessica. Although you can't help but wonder how annoyed she really is about having to take extra arithmetic lessons... Felicity was in detention for most of the evening, but not all of it, could she have snuck up to Becky's room after Madam Zelda let her leave?
FelicityJessicaSophieI'm not sure!Correct!Wrong!Well done, you solved it!
Yes, Felicity stole the locket! After tripping over Becky's foot in class and landing herself in detention, Felicity thought it was unfair that she'd been punished when Becky had quite clearly tripped her! With a few fake tears she persuaded Madam Zelda to let her go early "for dinner", after which she ran straight up to Becky's room to steal her precious locket, and was back in her own room before Sophie came up with Jessica's homework. Congratulations on solving the crime, go and tell Becky the good news!
