Library: Pis work together to recover stolen artwork
After hearing a story about detective Ike LaRue, read by Jesse Riggs June 26, the summer detectives examined evidence at Fowler County Library in an attempt to recover original artwork that had been stolen from the library's display cabinet.
The artwork was by well-known children's author and illustrator Mark Teague.
Six suspects were present at the library when the artwork disappeared.
Maxie, the library's gerbil, had escaped two days earlier while her cage was being cleaned. Maxie later was found innocent, despite the hole she had chewed in the display cabinet.
Lia Pin (Amy Wedel) was angry with the children's librarian but it was over a small matter. The 14-year-old had been in sight of the librarian when the crime took place.
The library's janitor, Hans Barth (Stephen Gillet) was fixing a leaky faucet at the time of the crime. Jazmin Jones (Paige Lewis) had arrived at the library just before the police, but pointed out that Danny Barth (Lucas Larsen) was a Mark Teague fan. Danny, the janitor's grandson, was eliminated as a suspect when evidence began stacking up against Abbie Santino (Brenda Riggs).
Ms. Santino, a newly-hired library assistant, claimed she was on her lunch break. However, muddy footprint, matching her shoes, were found next to the display area and Santino had a motive — she had an online store where she sold unique items such as original manuscripts, first edition classic novels, journals of authors, and other articles, most likely stolen.
With the help of the detectives, the bookplate was found in Santino's locker. Santino realized her gig was up. It seems that crime did not pay for Ms. Santino when Peabody P.I.s went to work.
Maxie was not found until the next day. She was discovered sleeping in Santino's bookbag where she had completely shredded an original rough draft of the Declaration of Independence.
(The Crime Caper activity was from Anyone's Guess Jr. Interactive Mystery Series, published by UpStartBooks.)
