The Missing Wand By Chiung-Yun Chang
Words Checked: 3851 Words in Oxford 3000: 93%
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About the Author She, Chiung-Yun Chang (Joanna), is now studying at Wenzao, in the fourth year of the five year Junior College, majoring in English. Her biggest hobby is watching TV. She especially likes the entertainment programs. Sometimes she draws pictures in her free time and once dreamed of becoming an art teacher. This is the first time she has written a novel and also her first chance to write a detective story.
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Introduction
A group of British archaeologists, actually detectives, had the mission of finding out three missing objects in a pharaoh’s cave which had been
robbed
by
a
group
of
mysterious
organizations. The bottle which contains the pharaoh’s liver and the priceless picture had been found. However, no one had heard any thing about the pharaoh’s wand. At the same time, detectives also faced with another murder case in Italy, which is connected with the missing wand.
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Table of Contents
Chapter1 Missing Objects in the Pharaoh’s Cave
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Chapter2 Who Stole the Pharaoh’s Wand?
9
Chapter3 Mark’s Death
12
Chapter4 The Suspect N. One
16
Chapter5 The Suspect N. Two
21
Chapter6 The Mysterious Room
25
Chapter7 Todd Runs Away
28
Chapter8 Everything is Clear
30
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Missing Objects in the Pharaoh’s Cave This story happened in the 1990s. A group of British archaeologists tried to discover the truth about one of the pharaoh’s caves in Egypt which had just been robbed by previous adventurers. The adventurers belonged to a big mysterious organization which had committed many international crimes. All the members were from different countries and were so clever that they could easily disguise themselves from being discovered and caught. However, they robbed not for their own merits; they earned money from certain people who gave them missions. On the other hand, in fact, the archaeologists were all detectives assigned to the case by the Egyptian government. There were some reasons that local detectives in Egypt didn’t solve the case. The 5
Egyptian government wanted to keep them secret. Therefore, the real purpose for the British archaeologists was to find out who committed the crime and where the objects were. (In the Pharaoh’s Cave) “Tommy, have you discovered anything yet?” asked Mark. “Well, I’m not sure… it’s not obvious. Give me another flashlight! It is too dark in here.” “Here you are. Let me see it.” Mark touches it at the same time. “What are you doing?! “Tommy yells out. “Don’t shout! This cave may collapse at any time,” Mark said coldly. “Sorry, you’re right. See, something might be missing here.” “What could it be?” Mark wondered. “Here!’’ Tommy points the 6
finger at the pile of dust. “I guess one of the bottles is gone. There’s a mark here...not very clear… the same shape as the bottom of these bottles,” said Tommy. “I guess you’re right,” said Mark and looked carefully at it again. (A few weeks later, in the Pharaoh’s tomb) “Come over here! Mark” “Don’t you feel that this empty box is strange?” “What do you mean, Tommy?” asked Mark. “It is weird! No one would put an empty box here in this tomb. Do you think there’s something originally put in the box?” “Well, it’s possible.” Mark suddenly thought of something. “We can ask James! He has done much research on these types of caves. He must know.” (After calling James) 7
“Hey, Tommy, you’re a genius. James told me that for the tradition of ancient Egypt of burying pharaohs, there must be a wand put besides the body and some additional specific items…” “That’s it! Yes, Mark, only a wand is needed in this kind of box! ’’ “What a pity Tommy, you should be an archaeologist!” said Mark. After a long-term and clear observation within the cave, the British detectives discovered that three objects, including a bottle which contained the Pharaoh’s liver, a Pharaoh’s wand, and a priceless painting which was discovered by two other detectives: Pauline and Mary few days after the previous two missing items, had been stolen and separately sold to three different countries: Australia, Germany and Italy.
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Who Stole the Pharaoh’s Wand? The British detectives started to investigate the case. At the same time, they circulated information in those three countries and asked the local governments to keep an eye out for suspected smugglers from ships and airplanes. Tommy and Mary went to Australia while Mark and Pauline flew to Germany. A few months later, one day, Tommy got a phone call and heard that there was a strange man walking in a local airport in Australia and was carrying a large box. Tommy and Mary then rushed there immediately. When Tommy and Mary arrived at the airport, the local police had already caught the man. “Sorry Sir, we have some questions to ask you,” said Mary. The man looked motionless but he nodded his head 9
slightly. At the same time, Tommy and one of the police were checking his big box. Suddenly, the man freed himself and started to run. “Catch him, he could be a criminal!” Tommy shouted. The man ran so fast that three other police could hardly catch him. Fortunately, the man was forced to a dead end road and was caught. (At the airport) Tommy discovered the missing bottle in the box. “The man had disguised himself as a florist. He put the bottle in the box with other vases and flowers.’’ “See this color and the shape, they look so alike.” Mary was surprised. The man was brought back by the three police and secured to a small room. The police watched him carefully because they were afraid that the man would try to run away again. In the room, Tommy 10
was already sitting and was ready to question the man. “Sir, tell me, who asked you to do this?” asked Tommy. The man remained silent and motionless. “Tell us the truth. We’re not going to hurt you.” The man still didn’t say a word. “Sir, we’ll protect you…I promise…No!!!!” Suddenly the man looked as if he were experienced great pain. He started to breathe hard and a few seconds later he was dead. The man killed himself by swallowing a toxic pill. “No wonder he did this, people in the mysterious organization won’t let him go even if he told the truth,” said Tommy sounding disappointed. Another two detectives, Pauline and Mark successfully found the priceless picture in Germany. However, they didn’t catch the criminal either. The two objects were taken back to Egypt 11
but, there was still one item remained unfound: the wand. The investigation kept going and the four detectives now gathered together in Italy. They rent houses in different sections of Venice. Several months later, still no one had heard anything about the wand.
Mark’s Death It was Sunday morning and the sky looked grayer than usual. There was a strange feeling for Mark that made him feel unhappy. However, Mark didn’t have to go to work and this made him feel a little bit happier. He followed his daily routine: get a newspaper from the store which was near his house. After he went home and prepared to enjoy his reading time, he heard someone calling his name frequently outside his house. Mark opened 12
the door and saw a skinny man holding a letter in his hand. “Sir, this is yours,” said the weak man. “Me? Who are you? Who gave it to you? ’’Mark felt very confused. “I don’t know… don’t ask me.’’ The stranger became a little bit nervous and said: “Sir, just take it because I am going to leave.” This strange man and the anonymous letter really made Mark feel uncomfortable. Mark read the letter thoroughly and got very surprised. The letter he received actually mentioned the missing wand. Although the handwriting was unclear, Mark still understood that it revealed the place where he could find the wand. However, there was an obvious mark which said that he should go there alone and be on time. Mark didn’t move for a few moments because he 13
was shock. He doubted what he read in the letter because he and his partners spent so much time searching for the answers. How could he get it so easily? But Mark was so curious that he really wanted to take a look. He even forgot to call his friends and told them about the strange things that had happened to him. Mark prepared some tools and a gun with him. At night, he went alone to the place, where was quite close to a nearby restaurant and nobody knew where he had gone. That night, Mark went there and saw a very small house in front of him. Before he entered the house, he walked around observing his surroundings carefully. Then he stopped and took out the letter from his pocket and read it again. 14
Finally, Mark pushed open the door and walked in, holding a gun in his hands. It was so dark that Mark couldn’t see anything in the house. Because Mark was inexperienced, this situation made him feel quite anxious. However, he decided to walk on. Suddenly, he seemed to notice something. Mark got closer and closer toward a direction where he thought the sound or someone’s voice came from. Mark kept moving on until he found a wooden door in front of him. He put his ear very close to the wall and now he was quite sure that the sound was inside the room.
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Mark pushed the door open slightly in order not to make any noise. Again, Mark didn’t see anything. However, he could feel that there was something that looked black and huge. The black objects briefly distracted Mark, but his mind came back when he realized that the sound was very close to him. “Here’s... the…wand!’’ Mark hurried to the sound and was about to get the answer. Suddenly, his head felt painful. He could feel that a man was hurting him with something hard. When he was trying to look clearer at the man’s face; however, he couldn’t control himself. He fainted and lost consciousness.
The Suspect N. One Early the next morning, a man called the police 16
saying that there was a man’s body in his restaurant. Very soon after three detectives heard the news. Tommy tried to call Mark but discovered that he didn’t answer so they started to get worried. They rushed to the restaurant and saw that the dead man was Mark, the youngest detective in their group. It was at a small and quiet local restaurant. They were astonished and wondered who the murderer was. Pauline checked the body and said “He was hit by something hard on his head…no obvious wound in his body.” Mary bent down and looked carefully at the place where Mark was lying. “There was no blood or signs of fighting nearby. He may have been killed…” “In that situation he couldn’t fight back,” spoke out Tommy quickly. A local medical expert also came to see the crime scene. ‘‘He was 17
killed. I think he hadn’t been dead for a long time… probably just a few hours ago.” Because Mark was found dead in the restaurant, the restaurant owner, chef Bob was suspected of having committed the murder. He was also the first person who discovered Mark. “Are you in charge of this restaurant?” asked Mary. “Yes, I have been running this restaurant for over twenty years...and this has never happened before,” answered Bob. “Have you seen this man before, I mean in your restaurant.” “I guess so, but I’m not sure,” replied Bob “Was he alone or with somebody else?” continued Tommy. “Well, maybe one time with his friend and one time by himself,’’ chef Bob answered coldly and impatiently. “Sir, I know that you aren’t happy because we have interfered with your business. But please don’t 18
elude our questions and please cooperate with us. We’re here to investigate the case and find out who the murderer is.” “What can I do?” Bob replied, still in a bad mood. “We want to ask you some questions and you need to tell us the truth,” said Tommy seriously. “Alright, but I need to close my restaurant for today.” “First, Bob, you said that you have seen this guy in your restaurant before, right?” “Yes, I have seen him before, but I don’t remember him very well.” “So, you don’t know him.” “Right, I discovered him in the morning when I walked into the restaurant.” “And you didn’t see this man last night?” “No, well, actually I wasn’t in the restaurant yesterday. I mean, I didn’t stay in the restaurant all night. I just came back here to close the restaurant at about 12 pm.’’ “Then where were 19
you?” “I went out with my friends. We stayed in a bar all night’’ “Can someone prove that you were with him last night?” Tommy continued asking. “Yes, ask my friends.” “Then after you closed the restaurant, where did you go?” asked Pauline. “I went home right away.” “You weren’t at the restaurant, then who was?” Mary suddenly interrupted. “My partners, they took care of everything for me,” replied Bob. “Then, did you see them when you came back? ’’asked Mary. “No, they had already gone home when I returned.” “Ok, we see, thank you very much, Bob.” After the questioning, Tommy called Bob’s friends and his wife to check again Bob’s schedule for yesterday. “He didn’t lie,” said Tommy.
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The Suspect N. Two All the workers in the restaurant were next questioned by the detectives. “Did you see this man last night?” asked Tommy. “No, I am quite sure …and I didn’t see this guy yesterday when I came here.” one of the workers answered. The others nodded their heads strongly and seemed afraid. “Then what time did you leave yesterday? Remember?” (Every one thought for a few seconds) “About 11 pm. I guess.” a woman replied. “11 pm. um… and did you leave all together?” They looked at each other and nodded their heads again. “The workers went home at 11pm. Bob returned at about 12 pm. so there was an hour that no one stayed in the restaurant,” Pauline spoke to herself in low voice. “Why didn’t any of you stay until your boss 21
came back? Weren’t you afraid that someone might break in during this hour?” asked Pauline. “Well, we thought that Bob would come back very soon and we all finished our works for the day. We are innocent! Some one made a frame-up on purpose!” “No problem. We’ll find the truth. Anyway, thanks for your cooperation,’’ said Pauline. Tommy, Mary and Pauline left the restaurant and began to express their thinking. “It seems impossible that someone killed Mark during this one hour because if so, Bob would have discovered this when he came back, but he said that he didn’t see anything,” said Mary. “And there was no evidence to show that one or more than one of them were involved,” added Pauline. “Maybe someone made a plan to kill him and left the body inside the restaurant. But how did he do it? Bob 22
had closed the door and why this restaurant?” Tommy wondered looking very confused. A few days after Mark was found dead, one day detective Pauline received a phone call. The woman on the phone told Pauline that she had observed a man who was walking strangely outside of the restaurant several nights before Mark’s death and every time the man seemed to hide his face on purpose with a gray coat.
Although the woman revealed this information, the three detectives didn’t really believe that it was something related to Mark’s death because there were too many possibilities for the situation the 23
woman stated. After a long discussion; however, the three detectives wanted to try out all the possible situations. Therefore, they planned to hide outside near the restaurant at night and waited to see if the strange man would show up. They didn’t see him that night. The second day, the third day, and he still didn’t appear. “Maybe, the woman was wrong,” Pauline said. “And we are crazy to believe her so easily,” said Mary laughing. “Let’s wait one more night,” said Tommy. On the fourth day night, the three detectives waited but still nothing happened. When they were about to give up, they suddenly noticed a man walking toward them. The man kept looking around when he passed the restaurant and then he headed in to a house. “Quick! Follow him!” The house was just in few meters away from the restaurant; however, 24
when the detectives were about to break in and catch the man, the man inside of the house seemed to realize what was happening and ran away through one of the house windows. Now they were quite sure that this man was the criminal.
The Mysterious Room The detectives went inside of the house. It was old, dark and filled with dust; however, they kept walking. “It was a very big house. The man must have been very rich,” said Mary. “But you see, no one cleaned the house,” Tommy added. They looked carefully around the house, but there were only two tattered sofas, some broken tables and chairs. Suddenly, they saw a room in front. The wooden door was unlocked, so they went in. To 25
their surprise, the inside room looked even darker. “Oh my god!!!” Mary screamed loudly and stepped back a few steps. “What’s wrong?” asked Tommy hurrying to see what was happening. “Didn’t you see that huge thing? Is that a body?” Tommy smiled. “It is just a stone statue” “Use the flashlight please; I don’t want to be scared for the second time.” “But we have to remain quiet...alright…” When Pauline and Tommy turned on their flashlights, the room suddenly became very bright; however, they were shocked what appeared in front of them. The room was full of stone statues and carvings. Some were rather large and some were quite small. “It seemed that he loved to collect pieces of artwork,” Pauline said looking at one of the statues. “Shu!!! Do you hear something?” said Tommy calmly. “Someone was 26
talking,” Mary replied. “Turn off the flashlight!” said Tommy strongly. They carefully followed the
sound
and discovered that the sound
came
from a recorder at the end of
the
room. It was repeating the
words:
Here’s the wand! The detectives were very surprised
and
suddenly realized that there might be some connection between the missing wand and Mark’s death. “We must find out who that strange man is. He might have the wand,” Tommy said. The three detectives started to look for clues. Tommy and Pauline tried to collect the man’s fingerprints, while Mark kept staring at a small stone statue. Suddenly, Mary screamed out “The museum!” 27
“See this stone!” “What? It’s nothing special,” Pauline replied. “The typical person doesn’t know this. This kind of stone is very rare and this man knows its value. And see, he knows the value of the pharaoh’s wand,” said Mary confidently. “He could be an antique’s expert,’’ Tommy added. “There’s a local museum just a few blocks away. We can ask people there if they know this man. He could be their customer.”
Todd Runs Away The detectives went to the museum and told the museum’s owner their purpose for their visit. “We’re detectives and we’re now investigating an important case. Can we have your customers’ name list?’’ asked Tommy. “Well, sure but…” the owner replied hesitantly. “We won’t reveal the 28
name list; we just want to find a man we suspect.” “Sure, but I don’t have the name list. Todd, our booker, has it. I’ll call him; he’s now staying in the room. Please wait a minute.” “Thank you very much,” said Tommy. A few seconds later, the museum owner showed up and told them that the keeper was gone. “I don’t know what’s going on with him…sorry…” “What a coincidence!! Go back to the old house, quick!” Tommy shouted. He must be the criminal because he’s running away!” The three detectives immediately drove back to the old house. Now, they were almost sure that Todd was the murderer. Three of the detectives ran into the old house and broke down the wooden door of the room. Todd, on the spot, was packing and was ready to leave. He was so shocked and scared that he knelt down in front of them. 29
Everything is Clear Todd confessed his crime. “I killed the man and stole the wand which was hidden in one of my fake stone statues.” The detectives looked very surprised. “Why did you kill Mark? I suppose that you just want the wand,” Tommy asked. “Yes, I just wanted the wand!” Todd responded agitatedly. “Then why?” Mary continued. Todd looked down replying “The fact is that, Mark once suspected me and asked me to meet him.” “So you killed him before he discovered the truth.” “Yes, I was wrong. I’m so sorry.” “Tell us the truth, how did you kill him?” Tommy asked. “Well, I designed a plan. I wrote an anonymous letter to draw his attention. I asked my friend to follow him home and give it to him.” “I guessed that he would come here out of 30
curiosity. So, when he came into the house, he could hear my voice and headed to the room.” “Do you mean the sound from the recorder?” asked Tommy. “Yes, and…” “So you hid somewhere, and abruptly hit him on the head.” “Yes, using the hard stone. I’m sorry. I knew I was cruel to him. I didn’t want him to die; I just wanted to knock him out for a while.” “But, he was found in the restaurant? What happened?” Mary interrupted. “I knew that the restaurant owner didn’t stay in the restaurant every night, so I passed the restaurant every day and, his partners weren’t responsible for the restaurant either. They left early and I had a chance to dump Mark’s body there.” “But, Bob said that he didn’t see anything!” Pauline interrupted. “He was drunk; he would not remember what he saw.” “So, you want to pretend 31
that the killer was Chef Bob,” Tommy replied. Todd nodded his head and looking down again. “I don’t want the wand to be taken back to Egypt. I loved the wand so much!” said Todd at last. Todd was caught and eventually, the wand was taken back to Egypt. Although the archaeologists didn’t find the robbers, at least, the three missing items were recovered. “Mary, how did you know that the stone is very valuable?” asked Tommy. “Well, actually, I have one in my mother’s house and I have heard her talk about it over and over again.” Pauline and Tommy laughed.
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A group of British detectives were trying to solve the mysterious case about the missing wand in Pharaoh’s cave. However, not long after the strange event happened, one day, a chef in a local restaurant discovered that there was a dead body in his restaurant. He called the police and later the detectives found out that the dead man was their fellow Mark.......
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