Stargirl of the Edge

Ch 33 - Thief

After staying awake all night, thinking hard and searching in her memory, Olivia was able to recall events from a few months before and discover who stole her 'magical' malachite pendant was stolen. Now she goes with her mother into school to meet up with the headmistress and confront the thief!

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It was a beautiful sunny morning and the colours of the fields looked bright and cheerful. Olivia hadn’t slept and yet she felt full of energy. At around 8.45am they climbed the jeep, with Liz at the wheel. After the short journey to school, they went straight to reception and a few minutes later they were in Mrs Portree’s office. Liz explained everything and Olivia nodded her head. Mrs Portree, who was wearing a stylish check jacket and mauve pencil skirt, listened half-smiling with half-opened eyelids, taking in all the facts and making some notes on a piece of paper.

“Right then,” she said in her north eastern English accent. It sounded like a mixture of English and Scottish.  “I’ll ask Miss Crabtree to come and see us now.”

She sent one of the office staff down to the labs and a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, and Miss Crabtree entered. She was a small woman in her late twenties with brown hair.

Mrs Portree leant forward and in quiet, clipped words asked Miss Crabtree:

“Now then Miss Crabtree, you know Olivia, and this is her mum Liz. It has come to my attention that you might know something about the pendant she had stolen.”

“Wot?” said Miss Crabtree in a strong London accent, “why should I know anything about it?”

Mrs Portree continued in a low, polite tone of voice.

“The theft took place on Thursday the twenty-third of April. I know you were working in the labs on that day, I’ve checked. If you know anything about it, please tell us.”

Miss Crabtree lifted her nose defiantly and folded her arms. “I dunno what you’re talking about!”

As Miss Crabtree glanced around the room, became increasingly aware of a large, probing pair of eyes that were directed at her.  Liz shifted further forward in her seat and stared even more intensely at Miss Crabtree. Liz knew the thief was sitting right in front of her. She could see right through her.

“Now,” said Mrs Portree, leaning forward, “I don’t know if you know…”

She said the words in a Scottish kind of way with very long vowels, that some students loved to imitate.

“…I dooooon’t knooooow if you knooooow…” repeated Mrs Portree, “…but that pendant was a treasured family heirloom,” she said in a rising voice, “…and that it belonged to Olivia’s great aunt…” and again the voice went up “… so it wasn’t just that it was very expensive. So please tell me now if you know anything about it.”  She sat back in her chair, folded her arms and waited for a response.

Miss Crabtree shifted uncomfortably in her chair, first looking at Mrs Porter, then Olivia. She avoided any eye contact with Liz. She felt the pressure grow, like an electric fire heating up.

“Oh, all right! I admit it! It was me.” She reached down into her handbag, pulled out something green and shiny, and threw it at Olivia, who was just able to catch it in her hand.

Olivia and Liz both gasped. Mrs Porter, smiled raised her eyes and made a slow exhalation of breath.  

“Yes, I took it!” Miss Crabtree continued, “I saw that little madam bringing it in every day! Silly little cow! When she wasn’t looking, I photographed it. My boyfriend, he made a copy. He’s good. Very good. Fooled all the experts. Known to the police. Then one day I took it. But I wanted to see the reaction! I was going to give it to her, tell her I’d found it and kept it, but I just left it on the bench instead.”

Mrs Portree remained calm. “What did you plan to do with the pendant?”

“Sell it of course. But d’you know, the more I looked at it, the more I felt guilty. I wanted to return it. But then she didn’t put it in her pencil case any more.”

“I sewed it into my bag,” said Olivia.

“Oh, I see. Well I wanted to return it, and I was going to, but there was no way I could return it, without being found out.”

“You realise this is a very serious matter,” said Mrs Portree. “I ought to call the police now. But if you apologise to Olivia and her mum, then I am prepared to turn a blind eye on this occasion. I will tell the agency your services are no longer required due to incompetence - I’ll put down on the form that you broke some lab equipment - Do I make myself understood?” Miss Crabtree nodded.

“Now would you kindly apologise to Olivia and her mother and then please gather your belongings and leave the school premises immediately?”

Miss Crabtree looked across at Olivia and Liz. “Sorry,” she said, with no emotion or remorse and then got up and left.

Liz was fuming with anger. Her facial expression said: ‘She was lucky to get off so lightly,’ and it was clear that she wanted go down the corridor, pull Miss Crabtree back into the office by her hair and give her a good talking to, but Mrs Portree just held out her hands in a calming gesture, half smiling, her eyes darting from side to side and then looking up to heaven. She leant over and whispered:

“I think we can do without people like that in our school!”

She stood up and went to the window and watched as Miss Crabtree walked out of the main entrance, down to the gates and then across the road to the railway station. 

Mrs Portree came back over and sat down with Liz and Olivia again, leaning over to them and talking in hushed tones as if sharing professional secrets. 

“You know, I’ve had terrible staffing problems recently. Now I’m three staff members down. I’m going to have to have a word with the agency, you know they’re supposed to check the background of the people they send to me.”

Olivia nodded, and then turned to her mum: “That is the original isn’t it, Mum?”

“Oh yes,” she said, testing it for weight, turning it over and checking the tiny hallmark stamped on the back, “it’s definitely the original, without a shadow of a doubt,” and she handed it back to Olivia.

And Olivia knew it was the original too and she again checked the strange, swirling celestial patterns with what seemed like trees at the bottom. It felt wonderful to have the pendant back in her palm again. She closed her fingers around it and vowed that she would never be so careless ever again.

Olivia and Liz stood up, shook hands with Mrs Portree and walked back out into the reception area.

“What a fantastic headmistress Mrs Portree is! And what fabulous clothes she wears!”

“Yes she’s great. I’ll miss her!”

They went back to the car and were soon back home. As they got out of the car the sun was shining. Liz opened the door and heard Jessie whining. Olivia held the pendant in her hand, studying its details in the bright sunlight. She looked up towards the Edge. Though it was sunny, the air felt a little chilly. The sky was a deep  blue with tiny white clouds, and the trees looked lush, green and soft like a thick, comforting woolly jumper. Then she took the pendant, hung it round Jessie’s neck an stroked the soft fur on her head.

“Wow, it suits you Jessie!”

Jessie barked, and both Liz and Olivia burst out laughing.

Soon after she got on the couch, wearing the pendant, Jessie joined her, and Olivia fell asleep.

Stargirl of the Edge is about the power of the mind and its hidden abilities. It encourages students to think, explore and imagine. Please help me to promote the story and bring it to its target audience of YA learners worldwide. Please read, vote and share. Thank you.