(A Tootsie Chase Mystery)

The Crime

Tuesday morning

In a land that’s far away,
There is a place called Beetlebay.
The children there all go to school,
When the weather is warm or the weather is cool.

They learn to read and write and spell,
Divide and multiply quite well.
But when the end of June is near,
The children give a great big cheer.

Summer vacation is close at hand,
When you can buy treats at the ice cream stand.
There will soon be fun at Maple Tree Park,
Where children can play and swim until dark.

Mr. Twig is the caretaker there,
He has dark blue eyes and graying hair.
He was going to stop by the park today,
And clear fallen branches and leaves away.

But the Mayor arrived early and shook his head,
“Someone has trashed the park,” he said.
“Who could have done this terrible deed?
A private detective is what I need.”

Tuesday afternoon

I go by the name of Tootsie Chase,
A private detective brought in on the case
Of Maple Tree Park, that is in a big mess.
I must find a suspect who will confess.

My list of suspects numbers four.
I think that’s all, though there may be more.
I must eliminate all but one,
To find who trashed the park and why it was done.

The Suspects

Mr. Twig

He takes care of the park from summer to fall.
Sometimes he says, he’s tired of it all.
He repairs soccer nets and chains on the swings.
He does a lot of different things.

Ellen Hunt

She’ll finish second grade this year,
She likes to swim, that’s what I hear.
The pool in the park is her favorite spot.
All summer long she swims a lot.

Mrs. Lake

Mrs. Lake lives across from the park.
The noise from the children makes her dog bark.
She likes to sit on her porch in the sun.
She says she’ll be glad when summer is done.

Jimmy Mann

This boy plays soccer, his name is Jim.
I thought I saw someone who looks just like him.
He loves playing soccer there in the park,
Kicking the ball until it gets dark.

Maple Tree Park

Maple Tree Park is on Washington Square.
You can meet all your friends and play soccer there.
There is also a pool and swings and a slide,
Lots of trees and bushes and places to hide.

Solving the crime

When I arrived at Washington Square,
I found Mr. Twig who was waiting there.
He was shaking his head at the mess in the park,
That someone had trashed last night after dark.

“Who do you think would do this?” I said.
Mr. Twig gave a shrug and shook his head.
“I can’t tell you that, and I don’t know how
The park will be ready one day from now.

“Summer vacation will start in a day,
And I’ll have to turn the children away.
No one can play in the park for a while”
He turned his head, but I saw him smile.

He walked toward the pool and I followed along.
When we got there I couldn’t see anything wrong.
“The pool looks just fine,” I said, “Am I right?”
Mr. Twig said that no one came near it last night.

“If you think that’s strange,” he said with a grin,
“Just look at the shape the soccer field’s in.
The field’s in good shape, the nets are just fine.
There’s even white dust on the out-of-bounds line.”

So, no one had touched the field or the pool,
But the rest of the park didn’t look too cool.
I decided to look for clues in the park,
But before I began, I heard a dog bark.

I looked straight across the street and I saw
A dog on a leash, since that is the law.
Mrs. Lake was walking her cute little pet.
She lived near the park, that’s what I would bet.

I crossed the street to say hello,
I wanted to see what the lady would know.
“My, that’s a nice dog.  Do you live near the park?
Do strangers make your little dog bark?”

The woman stopped walking and said, “Who are you?
I heard someone ruined the park, is that true?
Are you a detective; the one the Mayor hired?
The park should be closed and Mr. Twig fired!”

I wondered what made this woman so mad.
If the park was to close, I think she’d be glad.
“Don’t you like the children who play in the park?”
“I don’t when they make my little dog bark!”

I looked at the dog; he was cute as could be,
And I think that he wanted to play with me.
But, Mrs. Lake tugged on his leash and then,
The little dog started to bark again.

I went back to the pool to look for clues,
To find one or two that I could use
To narrow the suspects down to one.
My search for clues had just begun.

A chain link fence surrounded the pool.
The gate was locked, since that is the rule.
But beside the gate in the grass right there
Was a butterfly clip used to hold back your hair.

I picked up the clip that was shocking pink.
It belongs to someone with long hair, I think.
I’ll question the children when school lets out,
To find what this clip is all about.

The next place I went was the soccer field,
To see what clues that place would yield.
I stood in the field and looked all around,
At both of the nets and all over the ground.

Then I looked at the bench where the players sit,
And saw something tucked way underneath it.
I pulled out a shirt; it was navy blue.
Then I pulled out another. Yes, there were two!

The shirts were just alike, you see,
And that fact seems to puzzle me.
Did the players leave them after a game?
The initials inside each shirt were the same.

I looked at my watch, it was getting late.
I decided to go to the school and wait.
There were two more suspects I needed to see,
Were there just two, or were there three?

Ellen Hunt came hurrying out of the school,
Her long hair was wet; she’d been in the pool.
“Hi, Ellen,” I called, “We need to talk.”
And she stopped at the end of the long sidewalk.

“Hi! You’re Tootsie Chase,” she said with a smile,
“I can talk to you for a little while.
Why are you back in Beetlebay?
Do you know school is out in just one day?”

“Yes, I know, and that’s why the Mayor called me.
Maple Tree Park is a mess, you see.
The park may not open when school is out,
And that’s what this mystery is all about.

“I’m here to find out who made the mess,
And why someone did; I hope they’ll confess.
I must ask where you were last night after dark?
Were you anywhere near Maple Tree Park?”

“I don’t care about the swings and the slide,
Or the merry-go-round that the others ride.
I just want the pool to be clean, you see,
So the other kids will swim with me.”

She lowered her eyes and looked away,
“Where I was last night, I cannot say.
When she turned and rushed away from me,
A white butterfly clip was what I could see.

Then Jimmy Mann came down the walk,
“Hey, Jimmy, can you stop and talk?”
He waved and said, “Hi, Tootsie Chase.”
And a great big smile lit up his face.

“Have you heard about Maple Tree Park?” I said.
He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.
“Most of the park was trashed last night,
When the hour was late and the moon was bright.

“The pool wasn’t touched and the soccer field’s good.”
He lowered his head as I knew he would.
“You didn’t happen to be in the park
On Washington Square last night after dark?”

“I don’t care if the rest of the park is a mess!”
I thought Jimmy Mann was about to confess.
But he said, “I was home in my room about nine,
And I’m glad that the whole soccer field is just fine.”

If Jimmy was home at nine, he just might
Sneak out of his room later at night.
He loves to play soccer; a fact that is true,
And I hear he owns a shirt that is blue.

As he turned and ran toward a boy down the street,
I was wondering who Jimmy Mann had to meet.
The boy down the street was quite far away,
But he looked just like Jimmy is what I would say.

The clues in this case are very few,
One mystery is now turning into two.
I’ll look in the yearbook and see if I can
Find a boy who looks just like Jimmy Mann.

I did my research and said with a smile,
“I think I’ll go back to the park for a while.
I’ll sit on a bench and figure this out,
Decide what this mischief was all about.”

All of the suspects have motive, I guess.
Did Mr. Twig really create the mess?
Or did Mrs. Lake, who lives by the park,
Want to keep kids away so her dog wouldn’t bark?

Could it have been Ellen I saw by the school,
Who wanted her friends to swim in the pool?
Or was it Jim and his twin that I found?
Did those two boys spill all that trash on the ground?

Now comes the part where you can have fun.
Do you know who did it and why it was done?
Sort through the clues you’ve been given throughout,
See if you can figure it out.

Was it Ellen Hunt or Mrs. Lake,
Or did Mr. Twig tip those trashcans with his rake?
Did Jimmy Mann and his brother, the twin,
Tip over the barrels the trash was in?

Who trashed Maple Tree Park?

 Mr. Twig

 Ellen Hunt

 Mrs. Lake

 Jimmy Mann

 I don’t know