The next day was the most normal one since this whole endeavour began. There was no sneaking around, no visits to the police, no threats, nothing really. All there really was to do that day was wait for Roy and Joey to come over. Just before dusk, Roy came running into the shop.

 “Do you have any water?” he gasped. I handed him a glass of water and had him sit down before he continued. “I was at that tavern the entire day. I managed to overhear something about a Mr. Sikes and a Mr. Lynch hanging out at the old abandoned warehouse down by the river, but I didn’t pay it much attention because I saw Mr. Sikes and Mr. Lynch walk in. They talked to the bartender for about 5 minutes, then  walked out. Naturally, I followed him. They took a roundabout route to the river, and it seemed like that man was telling the truth. They walked into this large abandoned warehouse, number 14 I think, and closed the door behind them. I jogged up to the window and tried to look inside, see if I could see anything. The window was too tall for me to see in, so I stood on a rubbish can near by. After dragging the can over as quietly as possible, I peered into the grimy window. I saw the Mr. Sikes and Mr. Lynch’s backs. They were standing in front of something that I couldn’t see, and I craned my neck for a better view. Eventually,  they moved aside and I could see Mr. Holmes tied up to a chair! I was so startled that I fell off the rubbish can. It made such a racket that I ran all the way back here for fear that they would investigate and find me out.”

Grabbing Roy’s shoulders and roughly shaking them I cried, “this is great! Now we don’t only know where Mr. Holmes is but we also know Mr. Sikes and Mr. Lynch’s base of operations!” It took all my willpower not to start dancing around the room. “Now that we know things, we can go and get Mr. Holmes! Then he’ll help us!” My voice rose higher and higher, shriller and shriller, until I felt like the windows would shatter. Roy just looked at me and Joey covered his ears.

Roy waited for my outburst to be done, then just looked at me sadly. “They’re going to move them, Darcy.” He said softly, looking into my eyes “They know I was there, they’re not going to take that chance.”

I realised Roy and slumped down onto the counter, dejected. Hearing a strange sound, I looked again. To my surprise, Roy and Joey were giggling.

“What?!” I demanded incredulously.

“Honestly Darcy! I thought you were smarter than this!” Joey managed to get out between giggles.

“What? What!” I said again, confused and angry.

Sighing and wiping tears from his eyes, Roy said, “it’s simple! We just get Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson BEFORE they move them.”

“Ooooh!” I said, finally understanding. “So what are we waiting for?”

“Just for you to understand,” Joey said grinning. I grabbed my coat and we ran out the door. On the way there, Roy stopped to grab some rope from a very suspicious looking stack of objects. Not questioning him, we just kept on going.

“Over here!” Roy called, gesturing to an old abandoned warehouse. The warehouse was, like I said, old and abandoned. The paint was peeling off and the hinges on the huge bay doors were almost rusted through. There was a smaller door, though, with a single grimy glass pane. Roy led us to that door, and we tried the handle.

“It’s locked!” Joey groaned, looking defeated.

“Oh, how you doubt me,” Roy said grinning, pulling a set of lock-picks.

“Roy! That’s illegal!” I whispered angrily.

“Well, so is kidnapping!” he countered. Shrugging because he had a point, stepped aside and let him unlock the door. Once the door was unlocked, Roy pushed it open, it’s hinges creaking loudly.

“Hello?” I called out, my voice echoing throughout the building. Roy and Joey elbowed me to remind me to be quiet. A muffled voice rang out in return. Gesturing madly to Roy and Joey, I crouched down behind a bunch of old boxes and ran toward the sound of the voice. Eventually, we could see the wooden chairs in which Mr. Holmes and Dr. Watson were tied up. The chairs were tied up in the ‘classic’ position. One back of the chair was tied to the other, so neither of the men could see each other, but that didn’t keep them from arguing.

“Why couldn’t you just leave well enough alone?” I heard a voice that I recognized as Doctor Watson said.

“You know perfectly well why! There was a problem and we couldn’t just leave it!” Mr. Holmes voice replied, obviously annoyed.

“We? It was you!” Doctor Watson practically shouted.

“It’s them all right,” Joey said, as we all shook with silent laughter. Stepping out from behind out cover, we ran over and started untying the knots.

“Kids! What are you doing here?!” Doctor Watson sounded appalled.

“Helping us, obviously,” Holmes said dryly. When we got all the knots untied, we all ran out of the building. Locking the door behind us, Roy and I ran to the police station while Holmes, Watson, and Joey stayed back to wait for Mr. Sikes and Mr. Lynch. We told the police everything we knew and they agreed to post an officer outside that warehouse.

Walking out, Roy turned to me and said, “I can’t believe that we’re almost done! That the bad guys will be caught, finally!”

Grinning back, I replied, “yeah,and it only took a of couple weeks.” We laughed and walked back to the warehouse talking. We told Holmes, Watson, and Joey what happened down at the police station, and we all waited by the warehouse together for the police officer. Two days, later, I got a telegram.

Dear Miss McGrew,

We are pleased to inform you that the men you had reported to us previously have been arrested and put into custody. Mr. Sikes and Mr Lynch will no longer be bothering you. They will no longer be bothering anyone.

Sincerely,