A Coded Message at the Museum

An imaginative composed by Leila (Year 8)

8 pm Monday, June 8

A security guard is completing the final lock-up stage at the Toniville Historic Museum. The lights are dimmed, and the security guard is all alone, or so he thinks. He whistles the catchiest ad on TV, Marcel’s dog food, and his shadow follows the footsteps of his laced leather boots. He swings his torch before promptly turning it on to make sure all the artefacts are locked properly. His loud yawn echoes in the hallway as he quickly passes through the geology section, his footsteps echoing in the dim, empty room. The geology section is also the most secure section of the museum, and he must check on the world’s rarest and most expensive jewel, the Pink Star Diamond. It has the strictest security surrounding it, and no one has ever stolen it, yet! It quietly glistens in its glass case, untouched and pristine.

The guard turns off the lights and locks up. It is very, very dark. In fact, not even the security cameras can see what is happening, lurking in the pitch black, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

9 am Tuesday, June 9

The Toniville Primary School is buzzing with excitement, and chatty Year Five students board the big yellow school bus. Today is the day of the museum excursion, and 11-year-old Paisley Stone excitedly but quietly boards the bus. She smiles at the driver before searching for a spare seat. She finds a spare spot next to Molly Stephenson, but she doesn’t want to talk. The scratchy material on the hard seats is annoying, but Paisley just stares out the window as the tall buildings and long streets go by. The bus finally arrives, and all the students are in a rush to get off it. Pushed around, and of course, last, Paisley steps off the bus, breathing in the fresh morning air. Today will bring an adventure.

However, as they get to the museum, something seems wrong, as the place is swarming with security.

“Someone has stolen the Pink Star Diamond!” the museum guard cries, waving his hands in the air and running down the grand marble staircase entrance.

This will be an issue, and disaster soon strikes. What can they do? The teachers stand frozen. The students are in shock. The museum workers are discombobulated, and panic arises. Police quickly arrive at the crime scene, and it is declared.

The diamond is gone.

Seeing that the museum will be closed for the forensic investigation, the school students have to wait in the local library across the road for an hour before they can go into the museum.

Paisley sighs as she follows her teachers to the library. Luckily, she loves to read, so she still enjoys the mountains of dusty books she is able to get her hands on. As she strolls up and down the carpeted aisles of the mass bookshelves, she finds herself in the crime and mystery area. Paisley runs her hands along the dusty books until her eye goes to one book, which, unlike the others, looks as if it has been recently touched. The Great Louvre Heist, it reads.

“That’s odd,” Paisley thinks. The museum across the road has just been robbed.

It must be a coincidence. She decides to put the book back, just as a small library receipt falls out. It has a confusing arrangement of numbers, so Paisley quickly puts it back in the book. Seeing that Paisley now won’t see the Pink Star Diamond, she decides to go and find a book about that instead.

However, when Paisley comes to the geology section, wonder strikes her. The book about the diamond is missing! Paisley runs her small fingers along the tangible and faded labels of the shelf.

“Star rocks, pink gems…” she whispers. She is definitely in the right spot.

A smell of mystery hangs in the air. Something isn’t right. A librarian opens a nearby window, and the sunlight beams in, revealing floating specks of dust. Suddenly, Paisley notices the large aisles of books are all covered in dust, all but the spot where the Pink Star Diamond book should have been. All that remains in its spot is a small library ticket, just like the one found near The Great Louvre Heist. Paisley’s clever brain can sense that something about this whole deal isn’t coincidental. As she runs her fingers along the dusty shelves, cool to the touch, it clicks.

Paisley grasps the ticket and speed-walks, as you can’t run in the library, back to the book about the Louvre heist. She then searches and finds a book about the Toniville Museum. You wouldn’t believe what book is roughly placed next to it on the dusty shelf: the Pink Star Diamond book! Clutching all three books and the library tickets, Paisley sits at the nearby study desk. Dropping all three books in front of her, she eagerly opens each one and analyses them under the light of the small window.

Time passes like days, and Paisley works away. The book about the Toniville Museum has pages ripped out of it, but also appears to be labelled and annotated. She turns the delicate pages, smooth to the touch. The library is silent. Surrounded by piles and piles of books, Paisley pieces together the library tickets, half ripped, but recently printed in unforgiving black ink.

“13–5–5–20, 13–5, 1–20, 20–8–5 X, 2 1–13,” they all read together.

“But what can that mean?” Paisley’s mind desperately races. “Maybe it’s a code… 13… does that stand for an M? So we have an M. Two fives, so… E? So, M… E… E…”

“Meet! The message is trying to tell someone to meet somewhere around the museum!”

Paisley’s eyes widen. This is certainly not random. She then realises that “X” is the only letter on the tickets. “X.” That looks familiar, sitting roughly next to the air vent around the back. Paisley’s brain itches, and she knows she has seen that before. She labels it with a sticky note and promptly turns the page. She decides to borrow the three books for examination, and before long, the school group is leaving to visit the museum. The group crosses the busy road and comes back to the shiny staircase entrance, which is now swarming with police cars and forensics.

Next thing you know, Paisley stands outside the marble stairs of the museum, confused. Her teacher, Mr Dom, is talking to the museum officials and police, his tone slightly annoyed but understanding.

“Okay, guys,” Mr Dom announces, sighing with his remarks, “we have to enter around the back as police are still investigating the crime scene.”

All the students groan as it means they will have to walk all the way to the back entry of the museum and get back into their class lines under the teachers’ direction, which will take more time. The students drag themselves to the back and begin to sort out their class lines, their now heavy feet dragging on the cement walkway.

Paisley stands at the back of the group, next to the air vent and graffitied, crusty outer wall. As Paisley stands there, she gazes at the graffiti. There are so many interesting parts of the vandalism.

“Especially that fancy X,” she thinks to herself.

Suddenly, Paisley recognises that the cross looks familiar. Her brain ticks with cogs and wheels. The background noise grows silent, Paisley’s focus strictly on the X. She listens deeply and holds her breath. At first, there is nothing, but suddenly, she hears an urgent, low whisper coming from the broken air vent. But not one, two.

Two thieves.

Paisley opens her school backpack and rummages around to find the book on the museum. She opens to the sticky-noted page, and there lies the back entry next to the air vent, the X labelled “meet here”. Her heart skips a beat. Paisley rushes to Mr Dom, her pace quiet but sharp.

“Mr Dom.”

“Yes, Paisley?” he quietly replies, bending down to hear her. “Is everything okay?”

“Well, sir, I think that there is something important I have to tell the police.”

Mr Dom won’t take her seriously. He bends down and puts his hands on his knees, doing that silly tone thing all adults do when they are trying to talk to children.

“I love that you want to be a detective, Paisley, but the police are busy…” He stands in front of Paisley’s way and starts to usher her back to the class lines, but Paisley knew that Mr Dom wouldn’t understand a child’s view, even though he is a teacher. Pushing past him, Paisley runs for the police, panting.

“Excuse me, Mr Officer, sir…” she says in her politest, quiet voice to one of the constables. “I think that there is something you should see…”

The officers turn their heads to this small girl clutching her books. They are in disbelief as Paisley shows them the vent and the strange markings in her book.

“Are you sure it’s them?” the officers exclaim.

Paisley nods, suddenly surprised that the police have listened to her.

Speechless they are.

Two thieves are pulled from the vent, still clutching the Star Diamond.

Later that afternoon, Paisley sits quietly on the bus with The Great Louvre Heist open on her lap. For the first time that day, she is not reading to escape. She is reading because she knows she belongs in stories like this.

She closes the book, looks out the window, and smiles.