It took Jolly a solid minute to realize that the missing Pat was now looking at her along with 4 of their friends.
‘’Pat? PAT! Where have you been?? I have been looking everywhere for you!’’ Pat sheepishly covered his face with the papers that were in his hand as Jolly darted out from behind the bookshelf. She looked at each of her friends with a questioning look and all of them eyed Pat in return.
‘’Jolly. You weren’t supposed to find us until much later.’’ Pat gestured to their friends as he turned Jolly around and slyly walked away from the table with her.
‘’What do you mean I wasn’t supposed to find you until later? What’s going on? What secret things are you hatching without me?’’
MERRIN ABRAHAM
Merrin completed her Integrated MA in English Studies from IIT Madras. She is a storyteller, bibliomaniac and a lover of indie music who had a passion for the English language that she dedicated her childhood to reading Victorian literature. Besides drinking bitter coffee and analysing Asian media, she is trying to find a horror story worthy of the genre.
‘’Before I answer those questions, I would like to know why you didn’t go to the actual clock tower outside and instead looked at the model inside the library?’’
‘’Well, there didn’t seem to be any reason for me to walk in the hot sun and go to the actual clock tower when we aren’t even allowed to go inside. Plus, looking at the life size clock tower reminded me of the model.’’
‘’Ahhh, Jolly is a clever girl at the end of the day. Okay, now I’ll answer your questions. I was actually building a small mystery surprise for you and I assumed you would go to the actual clock tower after reading the hint on the paper in the book. Which meant that when you got back to the library, all you would see was the final surprise, which is now no longer a surprise…’’
Jolly was flabbergasted. She never imagined someone would throw her a surprise mystery hunt out of the blue. ‘’Why were you planning the surprise in the first place???’’
Pat was even more shocked by Jolly’s innocent confusion. ‘’Jolly, do you not remember what day it is today?’’
Jolly shook her head. ‘’I just remember that it is a Saturday and I had to race you to reach the library first. Why? What day is it today?’’
‘’It’s the 1st of December!!! The day when the greatest detective of all time first appeared in print in 1887. It was on this momentous day that Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle’s ‘A Study in Scarlet’ was published and the whole world got to know about Sherlock Holmes. We have been talking about this for months.’’
The sudden realization lit up her eyes and she started bouncing up and down. ‘’SHERLOCK HOLMES DAY!!! That’s today?! How could I forget after reading so much about it??? So that’s why you left the book on the ground, dropped your library card and then disappeared? But why did you bang the broom closet door so loudly?’’
Pat laughed and said, ‘’That was for theatrics. Nothing like a good old BANG BANG to make you shiver and worry.’’ Jolly rolled her eyes and picked up the book and notebook she had dropped. Remembering the illustration in the book next to Pat’s clue, she opened it up and showed it to Pat.
‘’What about this then? What is this illustration about? I was going to sit down and figure it out after solving the written clue.’’ Pat looked at the illustration and shook his head. ‘’That illustration was not part of my surprise. Do you think it means something?’’
‘’Of course it has to! This book is about the history of the City library but there is nothing that explains what this is about. Shall we ask Mrs. Peterson if she knows anything about it?’’ Pat snatched the book from her hand and whispered, ‘’Race you to the librarian! Catch me if you can!’’ and quietly ran off with the book.
Share your thoughts on what you think happens next in the comments. Stay tuned for the next part of the story. If you are interested in mysteries and solving clues, join our ‘Crafting Clues’ course to learn more.
