The Golden Statue

Deep down in a cave with a flickering light that resembled the evil within it a dangerous plot was about to unfold. 

     The cries of the mayor were heard throughout the town of Granbury, Texas. When Connor Baskins approached mayor Hudson and asked, “What’s happening, more Indians.” The mayor cried, “No, I lost the town cat Snuggles, the town mascot for the coming spring festival. Without him we can’t do the spring festival!” Connor told him, “Why don’t you organize some search groups to get him! Instead of crying in front of the whole town and LEAD US!” The mayor stood up and went off stifling his tears to organize search parties, and find Snuggles. 

     A few minutes later Connor stormed up to the mayor and said, “Why is Snuggles in your bedroom?” The mayor looked surprised and nervous. Luckily, the police chief Mr.Kelley came up to arrest the mayor for building unapproved pipelines that were damaging the rivers. It was later revealed that the mayor hid Snuggles so that there would be no Spring festival, and he could continue making people work on the pipeline and make money off it.

     Everyone was astonished as Connor never talked to people like that in any way. He usually sat at the back table with a book in hand while everyone else was having fun. The other new part about Connor was his new attitude to things. He never talked, but now he talked like he was a lawyer. After the court session where the ex-mayor Hudson was imprisoned for 10 years and had to pay $100,000.

     Connor found himself talking to this very short man who had just moved to town. He wanted to find a house where the rent was low and introduced himself as James Corrin, Connor found himself telling James he could live with him and help pay rent. James usually liked to sneak around like he was being hunted. It was very interesting for Connor to see him sneaking home and not letting anyone see him.

     A few weeks after James moved in with Connor another crime took place. The gold statue in the mayor’s house had been stolen. It was a statue of the founders of the town Jesse and Jacob Nutt. It was priceless. Even a country couldn’t afford to buy it. As Connor walked over to the mayor's house he saw Mr.Kelly. The police were questioning three suspects Johns Adam (the butler), Cathy Miller’s (the maid), and Jess Hayes (the Nanny).

     Connor walked over to the suspects and asked for their alibi. Johns said that he was dusting the mayor’s bedroom from 5:30 to 6:30 then left, although he saw that Cathy was looking fidgety and asked what would happen to the gold statue when the mayor was gone. Cathy said that she was helping the Nanny take care of the kids and asked Johns because she didn’t know what would happen to it and was scared that it would be melted for money, and Johns said that the gold statue would be gone.

Jess said that she and Cathy were taking care of the mayor’s children and that she saw the butler go into the basement where the statue was kept a few times.

     Immediately all of the suspicions landed on Johns. Johns denied being the thief with excuses such as the statue was going to be removed from the basement because the mayor wasn’t trustworthy enough to keep the statue safe and he went into the basement to get a few things to help clean the house. Mr.Kelly arrested Johns and later that night he celebrated his success. Even though he caught the thief there was no trace of the statue, it was as if there never was a statue to begin with.

     Connor told James that he was going to the police station and said goodbye. When he got there he found out that Johns had got out on bail and that he was telling Mr.Kelly something about the statue. It was late at night so Connor decided to call it a day and head back home. Connor told him everything as James inquired, seeing as he was back so soon.

     The very next day as Connor got to Mr.Kelly’s house he noticed the door was wide open. He equipped his Colt revolver and cautiously walked inside. Connor barfed at what he saw. There were flies everywhere, it smelled rotten, his skin was green, and there were 5 bullets inside him. He called the police who came to take Mr.Kelly’s body away. Connor ran to John's house to interrogate him, but his body was found in the back of Mr.Kelly’s house. It was too mutilated for anyone to recognize him, but his suit was on the body. Connor’s head was spiraling. He decided to look for clues in John’s house. As he ran towards John's house it was too late. It was burning in front of him and the frame of the house fell just like his dreams of solving this mystery. The only thing that Connor salvaged before he left was a half burned up paper that had the mansion’s layout. 

     Connor was sure someone was sabotaging his leads, but who was it? He didn’t tell anyone what he was going to do, except James! No, Connor wasn’t sure. He ran back to the mansion pushing past the guards to get in the basement. The maid said no one had gone into the basement so there would be footprints of the perpetrator. Just as he suspected he found tiny footprints that matched James’ shoe. 

     Immediately he drove to the station to tell them everything. The police rushed into Connor’s house to arrest James. After searching James’ room they found maps and pictures of the statue. Later James confessed to planning the robbery of the statue, but he claimed someone had got there before him. That left one more question to answer. Where was the statue then?

     Just as Connor was thinking about this question Johns was in a cave deep underground smelting the statue to make ingots. He left Granbury to sell his gold in the heart of the Wild West.