The hammer rang once. A spark jumped off the anvil and did not go out. It waited. They followed.

It was Monday again. The spark rolled across the Green to the door of Brightfield School, and the five of them went in.

The case board was where they had left it. Sketch's drawing. The strip. Under SAW, in ink: ASK THE COOK.

"So we ask the cook," said Lan. "I'll go first!"

The community kitchen was next door to the club room. It smelled of warm bread.

On the way, Lan stopped. On the pale square where the bell used to hang there was white dust. Flour. And in the flour, the shape of a hand.

"I know what that means," said Lan. "Somebody from the kitchen touched it!"

"How do we know?" asked Danya. "Lots of people have flour on their hands."

The cook was rolling dough. She did not even look up.

"A big man with a sack," said the cook. "He stole that bell at four o'clock. I'm sure of it."

Danya's pen was already moving. He went back to the board and started to write it under SAW, in ink.

"Wait. A sure voice isn't proof," said Account.

An old badger in spectacles sat by the bread bins. He spoke so softly that Danya had to stop to hear him.

"But she's sure," said Danya. "That's not fair. She saw it."

"Ask it open, then wait," said Account. "Ink is for what we know. We don't know this yet."

Danya put the cap back on his pen. His ears went hot.

Account turned to the cook. He did not ask about a big man or a sack.

"Tell me what you saw," said Account. "Just that."

The cook stopped rolling. She thought.

"Someone tall," she said. "In a long coat. Carrying something heavy, wrapped in a blanket. They went out towards the Green."

"What else do you remember?" asked Account.

"My bread was rising," said the cook. "I'd just put it in."

"Memory is soft. Go slowly," said Account. "Thank you. That helps."

A small mouse climbed onto the counter. A pocket watch hung from her waistcoat on a chain.

"Put it in order on the clock," said Tick. "What happened first?"

"The bell rang to start club," said Inkling. "At half past three."

"Write the time beside it," said Tick.

The cook pointed at her timer. The bread went in at twenty to four. The timer was set for twenty minutes, so it rang at four.

"Before, then after, then after that," said Tick. "The shape passed while the bread was rising. So, after twenty to four, and before four."

"And we saw the hook empty at five to four," said Danya. "I wrote it down."

Tick wrote the times in a row. Twenty to four. Five to four. In between, a gap of fifteen minutes.

"The order is where the answer hides," said Tick. "The bell left in those fifteen minutes."

Inkling went back to the flour hand on the wall. She held her own hand next to it.

"It's stuck way up here," said Inkling. "I noticed it. Their hand is much bigger than mine, and much higher."

"Someone tall," said Lan. "Like the cook said."

"Like the cook said the second time," said Danya.

Danya went back to the board. This time he waited before he wrote.

Under SAW, in ink: flour on the frame. A tall person in a long coat. A timeline, twenty to four to five to four. That was the second card on the board.

Under THINK, in pencil: someone tall carried the bell out, wrapped up.

"Not stole?" asked Tí.

"Who checked that?" asked Danya. "Nobody. We know it was carried. We don't know why."

Lan watched the clock again, and at half past five they all went to the door.

Back on the Green

The spark dimmed to a warm dot and settled back on the anvil. The Green was just the Green again.

That evening Danya's little cousin said the dog had eaten her homework. Danya did not shout. He asked her to tell him what happened, and then he waited.

It turned out the homework was under the sofa.