Who Stole Mother Goose's Goose?

I'm the local gumshoe in Fairytale Town, or at least that's what they tell me. If a local has a problem, they always come to me to get it solved. I enjoyed my work. Why shouldn't I? I am the best, hands down. I have a sixth sense for mysteries. I've been solving them for as long as I can remember. There is no case that I can't solve, well, there was one that came close. By the way they call me Goose, Mama Goose.

I had just woken up pretty late from an all-nighter out at the Humpty Dumpty place putting Mr. Humpty together again. It wasn't the most challenging job in town, but Mr. Humpty did keep me in business. No sooner had I reached for my afternoon cup of Jo, when my doorbell rang. It had been months since my last real case. I'll admit I was excited, real excited. I opened the door and put on my usual business face. It was Little Boy Blue. Blue looked horrible. Usually he looked well rested, especially after a long nap in the fields. The Blue that stood in front of me looked like he hadn't got a wink of sleep all night. That wasn't the only thing out of place about Blue either. Something was missing, something important. I showed the exhausted Blue into my office, where he then proceeded to well up and cry. By now I was worried. Blue was usually a pretty happy kid, of course everyone in Fairytale Town was, for the most part, happy. I sat down behind my desk prepared for anything. I asked Blue what was bothering him so much."My horn has been stolen." he replied. "That horn has been in my family for generations. I just don't know what to do." "You did the only thing you could." I told him. "You came to me." I knew this case was going to be tough, but not impossible.

I had Blue take me to the scene of the crime. He then proceeded to take me to the hay fields where he worked. Blue worked for Mary, a wealthy sheep herder. Mary started her farm one day when she fell in love with a little lamb that followed her to school one day. Blue led me to one of his favorite sleeping areas. He could be seen sleeping here for hours upon hours while supposedly working. Seeing the crime scene, I began to do my stuff, search for clues that is. Within moments I had my first clue. There was a clump of hay that was apparently fused together somehow. Upon closer examination I came to the conclusion that it was in fact candle wax. I decided to look for more clues. In doing so I came across a hair ribbon. I had seen Mary wearing the exact same ribbon not too long ago. I made a mental note to return it to her after the case. Ever vigilant, I came across another clue. It was a half eaten corn cob. I continued to search the crime scene for more clues, but to no avail. I didn't have much to go on, but I was determined to help out my friend Blue. I decided to act upon my first clue, the clump of wax in the hay. There was only one person that came to mind when I thought of a candle, Jack BeNimble. I had a history with Jack. I had worked the cases of his brother's, Jack Crown, tragic death after he fell down and broke his neck. BeNimble believed it was the work of Crown's girlfriend, Jill, but I found that it was just a tragic accident. I was also the detective who put away his other brother, Jack Beans. I found him guilty of attempted murder and robbery while I was working for a big client. With all this history between us, I was pretty nervous about walking up to BeNimble's front door and accusing him of robbery. Of course I had no choice in the matter. Justice must be served. I knocked on the door. I was more nervous at that moment than I had been in my entire life. I could hear movement coming from the inside. Then without warning, the door flew open. The look on his face said it all. It pictured the emotions of surprise, sadness, wonderment, and downright hatred all at the same time. Even this mama couldn't love that face. "Oh Goose how are you?" he said. I couldn't figure out if he was being sarcastic or whether he was trying to act innocent. "I'm fine, and you Jack?" I said with the same coy look on my face. "I've come to ask you if you know anything about Little Boy Blue and his missing horn." "What makes you think that I had anything to do with that?" he said. He now had a look of seriousness upon his face. Without saying a word, I put my hand into my evidence bag and pulled out the wax-fused hay. "So what's that?" he said with an obviously guilty pitch in his voice. "I found this at the crime scene. It's the reason I'm here. It happens to be wax. Candle wax to be exact." So what does that have to do with me?" he asked already knowing the answer. It was common knowledge that Jack BeNimble had a rather odd obsession with candles. He had been caught hopping over them on countless occasions. "Don't play dumb Mr. BeNimble. I know you were out in the field the night Blue's horn was stolen. Confess!" "All right I was there, But I didn't steal anything." "Then why were you out there last night?" "Well ever since my brother's death and Bean being arrested, thanks for that by the way, people just don't seem comfortable when I'm around. They all think that I'm just as bad as my two brothers were." "That still doesn't explain why you were in the fields last night." I interjected. "I was in the field jumping over a candle. People already look at me funny enough without them knowing my hobby." Well that explained it. I still didn't completely trust him, but it made sense. "I did here something rather odd though." he said after a moment. He said that he heard a kind of snorting noise that night. That reminded me about the half eaten corn cob I found at the crime scene. I thanked Jack for his time and saw myself out.

Who would eat a corn cob and sound like a pig? "Obviously a pig." I thought. I then proceeded to the house of the three pig brothers. They had been forced to move in together after a big bad contractor botched the two youngest houses. There was a loud commotion coming from the brick house. The oldest and true resident of the house opened the door. I asked if I could speak to the three pigs in the living room. The place was a mess, a real pig sty. "I wanted to ask you what you know about the robbery that took place last night in the fields." I said as soon as I got everyone calmed down and seated on the couch." "Not much except that Blue deserved it." the youngest replied. "Yeah, the people that run the field are buying up all the hay to feed their precious little sheep" the second brother replied coarsely. "Without any hay, I can't have their houses rebuilt and move them out of my house. You don't know how hard it is to live with these two" the third pig said followed by a slight sob. They obviously had motive, but I still wasn't sure they were guilty. They just didn't seem the type to do something so wrong. I pulled out the corn cob and laid it on the table that separated us. I then asked them if they recognized it. Both older brothers stated "No" in unison, but the youngest hesitated slightly. I caught his eye glance towards the kitchen. I got up and slowly started for the kitchen entrance. The closer I got, the more nervous the brothers got until finally one started to talk. The youngest said that the corn cob was his. He had dropped it last night in the fields. "We were out there stealing hay from the piles in the fields. We didn't know Blue was at our feet the whole time" he said. The middle brother explained that they were taking a little of the hay each night in order to rebuild their houses. I believed them. They had just killed my case, but I had to believe them. I got up and headed for the door. Right before I left; however, I turned and told them I would be back to talk about their recent set of crimes.

I was stumped. I had no clues left to go on and I began to lose hope. I decided to go back to the scene of the crime. "There has to be a tie between all of this" I thought to myself. "Bingo, that's it! I had just solved the case. I ran back to the field where it had all began. When I got there I saw my culprit, Mary. Mary had stolen Blue's horn, but why? Blue needed the horn to handle Mary's sheep. Why would she steal something vital to her farm? It was time to find out. I confronted Mary and produced the ribbon I had merely dismissed as being misplaced by Mary. I should have known better. Mary wouldn't be in the fields working when she could get someone else to do it. I showed Mary the hair ribbon and her face went white. She had known that she had lost it last night. "You dropped this when you stole Blue's horn last night Mary. I thought I should return it." She looked into my eyes and began to laugh. "Yes, I stole Blue's horn. I stole it last night and hid it in the barn." Sure enough when we went into the barn the horn was lying under a small pile of hay. One thing still bothered me however. "Why did you steal the horn in the first place Mary?" "You mean you haven't figured that out yet?" She led me into the field where the sheep were grazing. She told me to count them. "109...why?" "I used to have 110, but Little Boy Blue let one escape. Do you know which one escaped?" she asked me with tears rolling down her cheeks. I knew which one she meant. The very sheep that followed her home so many years ago. "Number one is gone and it's all because of that lazy boy, so I stole his horn so that he would understand the pain of loss." I had Mary escorted to the local jail until her trial could be held and returned Blue's horn. "Thank you so much Mama Goose for everything." he said at the sight of his returned horn. "So who did it?" he asked. "You did!" I said coldly. He just stared back with a confused look on his face. I explained that Mary stole his horn because he had lost her first sheep. "You want to thank me?" I asked. He shook his head yes. "Don't sleep on the job again."

I walked out and headed for my office. As soon as I got in the door and sat down the phone rang. It was Mr. Humpty calling for help again. Like I said before, it's not the most difficult job in town. I had found this out today. Whether it's fitting in or dealing with the adversity of family or loss, it has to be harder than solving a few puzzles, but I'll take a puzzle over that stuff any day.