Hello! My name is Simon. I am nine. I am going to be a detective. I like
puzzles.
This is Butterfly House. I live here with my family. I like Butterfly House.
There are 12 flats. Our flat is number ten. It is on the fifth floor. Can you
see our flat? There is a vase of flowers in the window. My mum likes
flowers.
Yesterday evening at seven o'clock, Alice came to our flat. Alice lives at
flat number nine. She is a nurse.
'Have you seen Smokey?' asked Alice. Smokey is Alice's cat. She is a small,
fluffy grey cat. She likes people. She is friendly. She likes food, too! She is
a greedy cat!
'I saw her yesterday,' I answered 'Mum gave her some chicken. But I
didn’t see her today.'
'Oh dear!' said Alice.
'Don't be sad,' I said . 'I can help you. I'm going to be a detective!'
I opened my notebook. Detectives always have notebooks. I wrote down
the names of all our neighbours. “Let’s ask all the neighbours”, I said.
We went to flat number one. Mr Kelly came to the door. He is an
ambulance driver.
'Have you seen Smokey?' we asked.
'No. Smokey usually comes here for breakfast at eight O'clock. I always
give her some meat, and sometimes I give her some milk, too. But I
didn’t see her today.' We thanked Mr Kelly. I wrote everything in my
notebook.
We went to flats number two, three, four, five, six, seven and eight. We
didn't visit flat number nine or flat number ten! We asked all our
neighbours the same questions: 'Do you know Smokey?" Does she visit
you?' and 'Have you seen her ?'
Everybody said: 'Yes, she often comes here. I usually feed her. But I haven't
seen her .'
Alice and I went to flat number eleven. We heard a loud noise: 'Woof!
Woof!' Mr Lemon came to the door. There was an enormous dog behind
him. 'Smokey never comes here,' said Mr Lemon.
At flat number 12, Miss Garden said, 'Smokey always visits me at about
one o'clock. I always feed her. She likes fish. But I didn’t see her today.'
We went to Alice's flat. It was nine o'clock in the evening. Alice was
worried. 'You've talked to everybody,' she said. 'All our neighbours know
Smokey. But they didn’t see her today. She's lost!
What am I going to do?'
'I haven't talked to everybody,' I said. 'I haven't talked to you!'
I opened my notebook. 'I'm going to ask you some questions,' I said.'
“What do you do every morning?' I asked.
'I always get up at seven o'clock,' said Alice. 'I have a shower and brush
my hair. I put on my uniform. I have a cup of coffee. Then I feed Smokey.
I give her a bowl of water, too.'
'What does Smokey eat?' I asked.
"I usually give her cat food. Her favourite is Happy Cat. Then I put on my
coat and go to work by bus.'
I wrote in my notebook. Then I asked, 'What did you do this morning?'
'I got up late this morning,' said Alice. 'It was ten past seven. I had a
shower and brushed my hair very quickly I spilt coffee on my uniform. I
took off the dirty uniform and put on a clean uniform.'
'Then what did you do?' I asked.
"I opened the cupboard,' said Alice. 'I took out a tin of cat food.
I put some cat food in a bowl and gave it to Smokey. Then I put my dirty
uniform in the laundry basket. I put on my coat, and I went to work.' I had
an idea. 'Let's look in your cupboard,' I said. 'Then let's look in your
laundry basket.'
We found Alice's dirty uniform in the cupboard. Then we looked in the
laundry basket and we found Smokey! She was asleep. Her bowl was
beside her. It was empty. Smokey woke up. She jumped out of the laundry
basket. She went to the cupboard. 'Miaow!' she said.
'Simon, you're a very good detective!' said Alice. She gave me a packet of
sweets. Then she gave Smokey some Happy Cat!