The Missing Stamp

By Lee Teng Tan

Everyday many mysterious cases occur around the world. Some are solved while some remain
unsolved. But Detective Owl is efficient in solving the unsolved mysterious cases in the Talking
Animals Town.

A very good morning to honourable judges, teachers and my beloved friends. Today, I am going to
tell a mysterious crime story entitled ‘The Missing Stamp’ which was solved by the clever Detective
Owl.

The story started when Detective Owl was on his way to the 4 th International Stamp Exhibition. It was
raining cats and dogs, so he ran to a nearby hut to take shelter. Wilson Wolf and Ramsey Rabbit were
quarrelling when he stepped into the hut.

Ramsey said to Detective Owl, ‘Detective Owl, you reached here at the right time. Wilson tried to
steal my cloth when I was taking a nap in the hut. I caught him and snatched the cloth from him.’

Wilson quickly said, ‘No, Detective Owl. I was on my way to sell my cloth but Ramsey snatched it
from me!’

Detective Owl thought for a while and came out with an idea. He spread out two bolts of cloth and
asked each of them to roll the cloth back.

At once, Ramsey rolled up the cloth skilfully and tidily.

On the other hand, Wilson was in a fluster. The harder he tried to roll the cloth, the messier it became.
Detective Owl asked Wilson, “Didn’t you say that you sell cloth? How come you do not even know
how to roll up?” Finally, Ramsey got back his cloth and thanked Detective Owl for his help.

It stopped raining after a while. So, Detective Owl continued his journey. It was noon when Detective
Owl reached the exhibition hall. To his surprise, the exhibition hall was sealed off. There were many
people gathering outside the hall. They were discussing the theft of a priceless wrongly-printed stamp.

Gabriel Giraffe, the Head of Security told Detective Owl what he witnessed. “Gordon Gorilla and
Milton Monkey were on duty last night. I discovered that the stamp had gone missing when I was
making my rounds early this morning. I have searched the whole building but it was nowhere to be
found,” said Gabriel Giraffe.
The hall was monitored by CCTVs and there were security guards on duty all the time. It was
impossible for the stamp to be stolen. Inspector Cat was glad to see Detective Owl. Together they
proceeded to the security room in search of clues.

After watching the video recording, Detective Owl asked Milton and Gordon, “What were you doing
between 10:10 and 10.20 last night?” Milton’s face turned red. He admitted that he was watching
television at that time. Gordon said he had a stomach ache and had to go to the toilet.

“No, Gordon. You were not in the toilet. You were stealing at the stamp at that time!” said Detective
Owl firmly.

“Do not simply accuse me! You must have evidence to prove it,” replied Gordon.

“Look here, everybody. The time displayed on the CCTV skipped directly from 10:10 to 10:20. We
can see Gordon approaching the CCTV at 9:58. It is clear that Gordon had disconnected the CCTV,”
said Detective Owl.

“I… I was just trying to fix it. Besides, the stamp was not found in the building. I have not left the
exhibition hall since last night. If I were the thief, where would I hide it?” said Gordon.

Detective Owl looked around the security room. Nothing seemed unusual except one thing. He
noticed that the fan had been turned on even though it was chilly in the room.

Detective Owl stopped the fan. ”Aha, there it is!” Everybody turned around and saw the stolen stamp
sticking on the blade of the fan. It was unnoticed when the blades were turning.

The truth was finally revealed and Gordon was arrested. Soon, visitors were allowed to enter the hall
to admire the valuable stamp. The exhibition organisers thanked Detective Owl.

This solved mystery added another spark on the Detective Owl’s glory. Thank yo u.