The Mystery of the Missing Paintbrushes

On Monday morning, Ms. Park held up the paintbrush jar. "Class, we have a problem," she said. "Last week we had twenty paintbrushes. Today we have sixteen."

Zoe and Marcus looked at each other. They were the self-appointed detectives of Room 12, and this sounded like a real case.

At recess, they opened their detective notebook. "Clue number one," said Zoe, writing carefully. "The brushes disappear on Fridays. Ms. Park counts them every Monday."

"Clue number two," said Marcus. "Only the small brushes are missing. The big fat ones are all still here."

They made a list of suspects. Could someone be taking them home by accident? Could the art cart be losing them when it rolled down the hall? Or — Marcus whispered — could it be a brush-stealing ghost?

"There's no such thing," said Zoe. "Detectives use evidence."

That Friday, they arrived early and counted the brushes. Sixteen. At the end of art class, Ms. Park asked everyone to wash their brushes at the sink. Zoe watched closely. Every student put a brush back in the jar. Sixteen again.

But on Monday there were only fifteen.

"So it happens after school," Marcus said slowly. "When nobody's here."

Zoe tapped her pencil against her chin. "Or when someone is here who isn't a student."

They asked Mr. Oduya, the custodian, if he had seen anything strange. He scratched his head. "Only that the window by the sink is always open a crack on Fridays. Ms. Park opens it so the paint smell can air out over the weekend."

The detectives hurried to the sink. On the windowsill outside, they spotted something tiny and blue: a drop of dried paint. Below the window grew a tall oak tree.

Zoe gasped. "Marcus, what animal likes to collect small, shiny things?"

Marcus's eyes went wide. "A crow!"

That afternoon, Mr. Oduya brought a ladder and climbed up to look into the oak tree. There, tucked between two branches, was a messy nest — decorated with bottle caps, a shiny spoon, a string of tinsel and five small paintbrushes with bright metal tips.

The class cheered when he carried them down. Ms. Park laughed so hard she had to sit down. "Our thief has good taste in art supplies," she said.

From then on, the window stayed closed on Fridays. And at the art show, Zoe and Marcus displayed a painting called "The Crow Who Loved to Paint," along with their detective notebook, open to the page that said: CASE CLOSED.

⭐ The End ⭐