The Disappearing Dollhouse

Suspects:
Kyle the boyfriend
Lucius the Caterer
Julia the Party Planner
Reg the Florist

Fiona Winston was famous, and Fiona Winston was beautiful. Now she was crying on my telephone.

Through the tears I gathered the details. She'd wanted to know who'd stolen her dollhouse.

The first clue was her address - a gigantic house on top of a hill, where Fiona was throwing a party. Yesterday she'd sung her newest song on television, and today she'd invited some guests to celebrate. Just 300 of her closest friends...

Thankfully, the party hadn't begun - it was scheduled for that night. Her enormous lawn was completely empty, with nothing but perfectly-trimmed grass and a driveway a half-mile long. It looked expensive, and a little lonely.

An iron gate blocked the driveway's entrance, but a security guard emerged from a small shack in front. Fiona's estate was surrounded by a thick hedge of 10-foot high bushes.

But could someone sneak over the hedge to steal Fiona's dollhouse? I asked the security guard, who didn't say a word. He just pointed his head towards a security console with over 30 monitors, each showing a different section of the hedge. A light blinked below one, indicating its motion detectors had registered a tiny bird landing on the hedge. Nobody could sneak in without being detected.

But there were five people already inside. When I rang Fiona's doorbell, its chimes played her famous song, and Fiona answered the door in a bright red gown. I recognized her sad face immediately. Millions of people would.

As she led me into the enormous room, her high-heeled shoes clicked loudly on the marble floor. "I had my cleaning women come yesterday," she said, "so my place could be spotless tonight."

Was there any chance a cleaner could be your thief?

She seemed hurt by the question. "No," she insisted. "So many people want to use you when you're famous. And not just for autographs. There's crooked business operatives and industry parasites..."

"But I wouldn't let that happen to me. Even when hiring my cleaners, I chose people I could trust. They're friends I've known since childhood. Some are even members of my family." I felt bad as I started to say that you can't rule out any suspects. But then she gave me another clue.

"It couldn't have been any of them, because the dollhouse was here when I woke up this morning.

"And then an hour later, it was gone!"

The only thing

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