On the morning in question, the oldest brother, Karl, was snoozing on his favorite park bench. Light snores drifted from his body—soft enough, if one listened closely, to be mistaken for the contented purring of a cat.
Nearby, about ten yards due west, the middle brother, Archie, was partially hidden in the shadows of a large rhododendron bush that was just beginning to show off its lovely lavender blooms. At that very moment, he was puffing gently on his pipe and intently studying a rare bird with an unusually long green tailfeather. The bird had just settled high up in the limbs of a tall oak tree. Except for the faint scent of cherry and vanilla tobacco, no one—not even the bird—was aware of his presence.
Just as Archie turned a page in his pocket-sized Peterson’s Field Guide to Birds to a photo with a familiar green flash of tailfeather, a voice caught his attention. Otis was speaking to Max and Cooper as he passed them on the dirt path that meandered gently through the park and into the meadow.
“She ran upstairs as soon as she heard the crash,” Otis said. “Then out of the corner of her eye she saw the gentle sway of the curtain. But when she turned her head, there was no one there at the open window.”
Over on the bench, Karl’s ears perked up. Hearing this from Otis made the news all the more believable. Otis was no gossip. In fact, most of the townsfolk considered him the smartest man in town. He was almost as broad as he was tall, with a short, upturned, nearly pig-like snout for a nose, and he ran a very successful pest management business. Sure, he had his quirks, like ordering the same bowl of cereal at Willow’s Diner every morning for the past ten years. But no one would accuse him of spreading idle stories.
This had to be big news. But who was he talking about?
Karl, now pretending to be asleep, could hardly contain his excitement. Then he heard Max reply, “I just bet it was that sly ginger Rory. He’s always moving so fast—I’m sure it had to be him!”
Out of the slit of his eyelids, Karl saw Cooper nod in agreement.
As soon as the three were out of sight, Karl dashed to the rhododendron bush, startling the rare bird from the oak tree in the process.
“Watch it!” Archie exclaimed in a disgruntled tone.
“Did you hear?” Karl asked breathlessly. “Something was broken at Willow’s this morning—and Rory might be to blame! We need to find him.
”Letting out a wide yawn, Archie crawled lazily from under the rhododendron and stretched his back. “Our little brother might finally have gotten himself into real trouble,” he said. “I heard Otis say it was Willow’s heirloom vase—the one left to her by her late grandmother. It was very special to her.”