The Veteran's Day Mystery: Mystery Template

Section 1: The Suspects

1. Dennis
2. An old man
3. An angry war veteran
4. Older children

Section 2: The Case of the Floating Wreath

"I think I'm in love," said a little, blonde ten-year old girl named Jaci, to her older brothers, Griswold and Grisham. "Dennis is so wonderful!"

"You don't mean that Dennis, I hope," asked Griswold, pointing to the young boy standing on the beach.

"Not him, please, Jaci," said Grisham. "Sometimes I don't know whether he's really dumb, or terribly smart. I know that he's always in trouble. Come on, Jaci, grab George's leash! We're going home. You'd better forget about that kid. He's no good!"

"He is good!" argued Jaci, defending her friend. "I know him better than you do!" He was upset and had been crying when she found him.

"Hey, look over there! What is that white thing floating in the water? See if you can grab it, Grisham," said Griswold. "What on earth?"

"It's the wreath from the Veteran's Day service held at the cenotaph today," said Grisham. They waded in, and together, pulled it towards the beach. "This is so wet! It is totally waterlogged! It's so heavy now, that we can barely lift it. How on earth did it get down here?"

"Maybe it was put in there by some angry, war veteran? Perhaps it was that old man at the service, the one who lost his son?" suggested Griswold looking at Jaci. He did not want to argue with her about Dennis, as he knew that he was wasting his time. She obviously adored him.

"I don't know," said Jaci, who was about to run and tell Dennis, but when she turned around he was already gone.

"We had better report it," said Griswold. "Let's leave it on the beach! It's so full of water that it is way too heavy to carry."

"Barney, people on drugs can lose their kids; so can people in a tragedy like hurricane Katrina, or folks who are involved in the war." 

The boys could hear the local police officer, Riley, arguing with Barney, their postmaster.  Riley and Barney stared at Griswold, Grisham, Jaci and George, as they approached the police station entrance. "Hey, how did you kids get so wet? What kind of mischief have you been up to?"

Griswold answered, "We came to tell you that we found a big, white wreath from the cenotaph down at the beach in the water. We waded in and pulled it out. It was too heavy to carry, so we left it there."

"You mean that brand new wreath that we just placed at the foot of the cenotaph this morning? Who on earth would be so disrespectful of the war dead?" asked Riley. He was stunned and angry.

"We paid a lot of good dollars to put that wreath there," said Barney. "I personally went to a lot of trouble to collect the money for it. But that was the least that we could do for our guys and gals overseas."

"We think it might be Dennis," said Griswold, cautiously. He did not want to upset Jaci.

"Why do you say that?" asked Riley, looking at them suspiciously.

"He was down by the water when we got there," replied Griswold.

"Well, you know, I heard him hollering at the service, earlier today. He seemed upset and rightly so. First, he went through hurricane Katrina with his mom, and then he lost his dad in Iraq, at just about the same time. I would be upset too." Riley was a very compassionate man at heart.

"Life hands out some rough stuff at times," suggested Barney, a bit more gently.

"I hate speeches, I hate air planes and I hate Veteran's Day!" Griswold said. "That is what I heard."

"I heard Dennis yell that at his mother too," said Riley. "Maybe we had better have a talk with her. This kind of behavior cannot continue."

"It is really tragic how he experienced both the Persian Gulf tragedy and a Gulf of Mexico tragedy, so close together," Barney agreed. "Disasters in the east and the west at almost the same time, that was so hard to believe and now this!"

"Can anyone control uncontrollable kids?" Riley asked quietly, looking at Jaci. He knew that she loved Dennis and that she was his best friend.

"Maybe it was not Dennis?" Jaci said in his defense, turning her attention to the dog. "Right, George?"

The dog barked, as if in agreement.

"Aw, come on home, Jaci," said Griswold. "Riley can handle it. We did our civic duty and reported it."

"Thanks kids," said Riley. "We will look into this."

"Dennis may not be a bad kid," Griswold said. "He might be just acting out."

"But, he was also caught shooting pellets at someone's house last week!" argued Grisham, as they walked along with Jaci and George. "Remember what he screamed at Riley?"

"I am going to kill those guys who killed my dad!" they said simultaneously.

When confronted by his mother later, Dennis hollered at her. "I just want my dad! I could not get it! It was too far out! I don't care if it floats all the way to the Gulf!"

"I don't think he did it," his mother told Riley, on the phone later. "I know my son. It has to be someone else."

The next morning, as Griswold, Grisham, Jaci and George explored the beach for clues, George suddenly barked. Jaci ran over to where he was had found a partly hidden piece of driftwood, while he was digging in the sand. 

"A wallet!" she hollered. Jaci grabbed it quickly, before George could run off with the evidence.

"Let us see that wallet, Jaci," said Grisham, taking it from her hands. Inside the wallet, he found a picture of a soldier, but there was nothing else. It held no identification of any kind. "That is not his father," said Griswold. "I bet if we find out who this soldier is, we will know who the culprit is also."

"Hey, here is a green wheelbarrow too. It looks like the one from behind the market," yelled Griswold. "I think I know who did this. He should have taken his wheelbarrow back home."

"There is no way Dennis would have been able to push that. He is too small. He is also too young to have lost his dad," commented Grisham sadly. "You know Jaci, I bet that kid is actually innocent!"

"I knew it! And I think I'm in love with him!" said Jaci, joyfully. George barked again, as Jaci hugged him.

"Who set him up?" asked Grisham. "It was possibly bigger kids; maybe their father is the soldier in that picture?"

"Maybe, we are about to find out," said Griswold. "Let's get this wallet and the wheelbarrow to Riley."

"George, I love you too." said Jaci, giving him another hug. "Thank you for finding that wallet. Now let's go and find Dennis."

Section 3: The Clues

1. Dennis was in the area where the wreath was floating in the water.
2. Jaci and George, her dog, found a wallet that contained a picture of a soldier.
3. A large, green wheelbarrow was located on the beach.
4. There was an old man at the service, who had lost his son.
5. The wheelbarrow was too large for Dennis to push.