Early one day, a thief raced out the door of the local game store with an armload of stolen goods, only to trip over a passing stray dog. The thief was caught, and the dog was hailed a hero! As a reward, he was adopted as the official game store dog, and he basked in the newfound fame and attention. To top it all off, he also got first pick of the donuts brought into the store each day. In fact, the morning of his fortuitous collision with the thief, that confectionery-loving pup had been running from the next-door bakery with a warm, delicious éclair in his mouth. But he didn’t think anyone else needed to know about that fine detail…

(Case 1: Mom, Money, Museum, Stamp, Prank)
After mom used a fake stamp to change the expiration date on her museum membership to get in for free, she shared this story with Gladys, the old widowed neighbor lady. Gladys was surprised to hear that so many people went to the museum and decided to check it out for herself. The museum is the hottest attraction in town and people come from all over the tristate area to visit.

(Case 2: Garbageman, Trespassing, Park, Lipstick, motive unknown)
Later that night, she heard a strange sound in the park next to her house and saw her garbage man doing strange, nay, unspeakable things with lipstick! She confronted him the next day about this and he asked her to promise not to tell anyone. Gladys agrees as long as he doesn’t mind, well, helping an old lady on a small pension down on her luck. The garbageman man agrees to pay the blackmail money.

(Case 3: Cashier, Eavesdropping, Museum, Cake, Hunger)
Everyone knows that Dennis the receptionist, ticket man and gift shop cashier at the museum, is always hungry and has a terrible sweet tooth. So, every other morning he goes and gets a delicious home baked cake from his neighbor, Gladys. He saves some to eat himself, but the rest he puts on a “free samples” table near his register so he can listen in on people’s conversations when they linger to enjoy the cake.

(Case 4: Garbageman, Trespassing, Cabin, Hat, Money)
The garbageman is running out of money having to make hush money payments to Gladys and decides he needs an extra source of income. He decides to sneak onto the private backwoods estate of the reclusive Hollywood celebrity and paparazzi favorite, May Darling, to take pictures of her in her iconic and universally recognized hat, so he can sell them to gossip rag magazines for extra cash.

(Case 5: Neighbor Gladys, Vandalism, Park, Slingshot, Love)
Gladys is appalled one morning to find that the city has torn down her favorite tree in the park and replaced it with a modern art installation made entirely of glass! This tree was the one she and her dear departed husband courted under and often had picnics under throughout their marriage. She decides to take matters into her own hands and, the next night, smashes the glass art with her mad slingshot skills.

(THE MASTER CRIME: Neighbor Gladys, Trespassing, Museum, Cake, Money)
Realizing that, between the blackmail and vandalism, she could find herself in a tough spot soon, Gladys decides that she has to go back to being not only the most adorable old lady in town, but also a famous feature of the museum. She tells Dennis she’ll only keep giving him cakes if he shares with her when the biggest crowds are coming to the museum and lets her in without paying. Then, without a permit or even museum ticket, she sets up a baked goods stand in the museum lobby to sell her cakes to museum goers,  to supplement her meager income and secure her adorable reputation for years to come!

However, the Spy Club starts to put the pieces together and realize something isn’t quite right. Once her crimes are discovered, the police agree to let Gladys keep selling cakes OUTSIDE the museum, as long as she gives all of the proceeds towards paying back the hush money from the garbage man, and the artist for their vandalized work! Feeling sorry for the old lady, the Spy Club also comes by at night and plants a brand new tree in the park with a plaque in honor of her deceased husband.

The garbageman was visiting the local museum on his day off when he needed to use the washroom. The men’s room was locked so he snuck into the ladies room after seeing no one was in there. He found an expensive looking woman’s hat on the counter, and since no one was around, he decided to steal it. Having recovered many antique hats from his job collecting garbage, that people threw out, he knew it was worth good money on ebay.

On his way out, a security guard saw him coming out of the woman’s washroom and asked him what he was doing there. The garbageman lied with a straight face.  “My mother forgot her hat in there and she is already in the car, so I came back to get it. She is old and can’t walk that well.”

The guard eyed him suspiciously.

In our master crime, the Dog pulled a Prank using a Stamp in the Ice Cream Shop for Fame!

You see, Fido used to be a famous dog on a television commercial that involved him eating a stamp. Whenever anyone around town would see him after the commercial aired, they would say “Fido ate the stamp!” He loved the extra attention!

But lately everyone had forgotten and no longer said his catchphrase. So the sad dog went to the ice cream shop which always had a crowd, and when someone who was writing a letter wasn’t looking, Fido gobbled up the stamp. No one could find it, until Fido spit the stamp back out (he’s too good a dog to actually eat the stamp). When he spit the stamp out, the entire store erupted with “Fido ate the stamp!!” He was a happy dog again.

Someone was jealous of how successful our local ice cream shop is and decided to steal their award-winning recipes! (One of you saw a troublemaker sneak behind the counter, sling an apron over his neck, and pretend to make a milkshake. But we couldn’t prove it was him!)

We went back to the Carnival to investigate. The special exhibit of American memorabilia there seemed a likely target. We knew the exhibit included makeup used by Bozo the Clown, the rare ‘Inverted Jenny’ stamp, and many other famous items. Continue reading →