Book 2-Alex Bishop in Follow That Mystery

Alex Bishop in Follow That Mystery

                                                                                       Chapter 24

                                                                  We're off to see Detective Burns

     "Michael.  Just keep that thing lying flat on your palm,"  Mr. Wells told him.  Michael nodded, with a very serious look on his ruddy face.  "Would any of you have a plastic bag on your person; you know, a sandwich bag from lunch, or...."  Mr. Wells was distracted from what he was saying when Lyn pulled a clean plastic bag from the back pocket of her blue jeans.

     Mr. Wells, Amy, Michael, Kent and Nikki looked at her in awe.  "Dawn always told me to be prepared,"  Lyn said simply, with a grin on her face.  She handed the bag to Mr. Wells who opened it and then instructed Michael to shake off the item he'd found into the bag.  "What do we do now?"  Nikki asked.

     "I think it's time to go talk with Detective Burns,"  Mr. Wells said, ushering the kids to the basement door.  The group walked back to Mr. Wells house and piled into his van.  Before he pulled away from the curb, he turned in his seat and asked Nikki, Amy and Kent "Your parents know you're with me right?"  All of them chimed, "Yes."

     "And you two?"  he asked Lyn and Michael, who were sitting in the front seat with him.  "Yeah," Lyn said.  "Michael and the others have to be back at five o'clock and I have to be back home at seven."  "Okay then.  We're off."  "To see the Wizard,"  Lyn finished for him with a laugh, her friends joining in.  Mr. Wells couldn't help but grin.

     A burly desk sergeant with a kind face greeted them when they arrived at the station.  "How can I help you," He asked, smiling at Mr. Wells and the rest.  "We would like to speak to Detective Brian Burns,"  Mr. Wells said.  "I'll give him a call," the man said, picking up the desk phone.  Detective Burns answered on the first ring.

     "There's a....your name please," he ask Mr. Wells.  "Mr Otis Wells," he said.  "A Mr. Wells is here to see you.  He has a few friends in tow too,"  the desk sergeant told the Detective.  "Oh boy!"  Detective Burns said.  And then he sighed.  "Send them on back."  "Will do."  The sergeant said, hanging up the phone. "You can go on back.  Second door on the left," the sergeant told them.  "Thank you,"  Mr. Wells said with a nod.

     Detective Burns was sitting behind the same well worn wooden desk as he had when Alex and his friends had visited him.  The photo of his dark headed, blue eyed son with the big smile, that so resembled his father, still hung above his desk.  And across from his desk about ten feet from where the detective sat, was a long wooden bench where Detective Burn's visitors could sit.

     The door was open so Mr. Wells walked in with his charges behind him.  "Mr. Wells, it's good to see you again,"  Detective Burns said, walking towards him with his hand out.  Mr. Wells grasped his hand and shook it.  "And who are all these?"  the detective asked.  "This is Lyn Bishop, Alex Bishop sister, and her friends, Michael, Nikki, Amy and Kent."

      Mr. Well's noticed that Detective Burns gulped when he learned that once again a "Bishop" was here to see him.  "Have a seat," the detective said, motioning to the bench.  They all sat down and Detective Burns sat back down in his chair and said, "What can I do for you today?" dreading the answer he would receive.

     "Actually," Mr. Wells started, "I think we can do something for you."  The detective raised one brow and said, "Really?"  "Michael.  Show Detective Burns what you found."  Michael walked several steps forward and handed the detective the bag.  The detective took it, looked at it and said, "It's a twenty dollar bill.  What is the significance of this?"

     "I'm sure you know Detective Burns that you sent two of your officers to the old Rigby house about a week or so ago to see if anything out of the ordinary was going on there."  The detective nodded and said, "And they found nothing.  That I had sent someone over there at all was because Mr. Max Bishop had requested it and I did it, because I have great respect for the man."

     "I heard,"  Mr. Wells said.  "And Max requested it because Lyn and her friends had told him they had seen a light burning in an upstairs window.  And Lyn felt there was something....sinister going on there.  "Well, you know Alex Bishop's bent to solving mysteries....I believe his sister Lyn has inherited this quality."

     Detective Burns sighed, no doubt thinking of his past experiences with Alex Bishop and his North Side Detectives.  "Anyway," Mr. Wells went on, "Lyn and her friends came to me and asked me to go with them to the Rigby house."  Detective Burns eyes grew wide, and his mouth was a thin line.

     By the look on the detective's face, Mr. Wells knew he'd better get to the point and quickly.  "So we went to the Rigby's house today.  And it turns out that something, well, if not sinister, definitely illegal is going on in there.  That bill you hold in your hand is counterfeit.  And the machine that prints up the bills is setting in the center of the basement.  Michael found that twenty next to the money making machine."

     Detective Burns immediately got on his phone, while looking awe struck at the bill in the bag he held in his hand.  He hadn't asked Mr. Wells how he knew the twenty was counterfeit, he trusted that the man knew what he was saying was true.  Detective Burns spent a minute on the phone and then hung up.

     "Then he faced Mr. Wells and the teens again.  "I can't condone any of you going to that house without informing "us" of what you were doing," the detective said, giving his visitors a stern look.  "However, I have to say....Thank you Lyn for being stubborn enough to push for an investigation on this thing.  Police officers and detectives sometimes make mistakes too."

     Lyn and her friends grinned at him and Lyn said, "Thank you Detective Burns.  And as far as hanging on to "gut" feelings....I think it's just in the Bishop genes."  The detective laughed and Mr. Wells smiled.  "I don't envy you Mr. Wells being the "go to" person for the Bishop family,"  Mr. Wells smirked at him, "but Alex, Lyn and their co-erts  couldn't have a better friend than you."

     "So what happens now?"  Amy asked.  "Well, someone is coming down here in a few minutes to collect the bill and take it to a lab to confirm it is counterfeit. Although if Mr. Wells says it is, it is.  But by law it has to be proven.  And then we have to catch the criminals who are making the bills.  "And because Lyn, you and your friends saw the light burning in the window at night, that's when my guys and I will pay them an unannounced visit."

     "Now, I have a lot of work to do, Detective Burns said.  "But I promise I will keep you informed on the case."  He promised them.  Lyn quickly wrote down her cell number and handed it to the detective.  He smiled at her and put the piece of paper on a bulletin board next to his desk.  Then Detective Burns shook Mr. Wells' hand again and then each of the teens' hands, telling each of them "Thank you," for breaking the case."  They all beamed at him.

     "I promise Lyn that the next time any member of the Bishop family tells me they know something is not right, I will listen to them and handle it personally."  "Thank you Detective Burns," Lyn said, as she and her friends filed out, Mr. Wells bringing up the rear.  Mr. Wells did stop for a moment and whispered to Detective Burns, "I don't have to tell you, Lyn's parents can't know anything about this, do I?"  the detective laughed and said, "No.  you don't."

     Lyn was in a very good mood that night as she ate her dinner, played video games with Alex, who kept looking at his sibling wondering what she was so happy about.  She hummed a tune as she got ready for bed around nine o'clock. Then she climbed underneath her covers pulling them up comfortably under her chin and turned off her light and whispered to the night, "Watch out criminals.  There's a new detective in town."

                                                                              End of Chapter 24