The Christmas of Adventure

©2015 June E.

Philip, Dinah, Jack and Lucy-Ann are excited at the prospect of spending their first Christmas together, but by Christmas Eve all their plans lie in ruins. Things get even worse when a severe snowstorm brings the country to a standstill and leaves Bill snowbound, hundreds of miles away. Forced to fend for themselves in Bill's remote moorland cottage, rumours abound of a strange and terrifying creature lurking in the woods nearby... and with a ruthless thief on the loose, striking at night and stealing birds from the local Sanctuary, the scene is set for a frightening and perilous adventure. Can they stop the thief before it's too late? Or will Kiki be the robber's next victim?

Chapter 23: 'Surely this gigantic fingerprint proves something?'

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After watching the creature slink off into the night, Dinah breathed a sigh of relief. The loud 'stomp, stomp, stomp' of footsteps in the bathroom told her that it was Philip who had got out of bed and switched on the light.

'How typical of Philip to stomp about at night and wake up the whole house,' she said to herself – but at the same time she was very relieved that by switching on the light, he had inadvertently driven off the creature.

Half a minute later and footsteps thudded back across the landing; then the boys' bedroom door was closed with a loud bang.

'Just in case anyone in case anyone managed to sleep through your stomping great footsteps,' thought Dinah, with irritation.

Nevertheless, she felt a lot safer knowing that the boys were in the next bedroom, and she was very glad that Bill was with them at last.

Dinah shivered, and realised that she was still standing by the window in the freezing cold darkness. She wondered why she hadn't gone immediately to tell Philip what had happened... maybe she feared he would not believe her. She decided it would be better to wake Bill and tell him about the figure she had seen from the window. Padding softly out of the bedroom, she crossed the landing to Bill's door. Here she paused, listening to the sound of his deep, regular breathing. Poor old Bill must be exhausted after such a long day travelling, and now he was sound asleep. Dinah didn't have the heart to wake him... and after all, the creature had gone now.

'I'll tell Bill all about it in the morning,' she said to herself. 'For now, I'd better check the front door and make absolutely sure it's locked and bolted.'

Pulling her dressing gown around her more tightly against the cold night air, Dinah crept softly downstairs. She grasped the shiny brass door knob and turned it. Yes, the front door was locked, and the top bolt had been shot – no one could get in without literally breaking it down. They were quiet safe. As Dinah made her way back upstairs an idea struck her. Returning to the door, she looked at the smoothness of the door knob.

'That knob would be the perfect place to find a fingerprint, it's so smooth and shiny,' she thought. 'What if the creature has left some kind of print on the outside knob? A print would prove there really is a creature, or even give us a clue as to what kind of creature it is.'

Having resolved to investigate first thing in the morning, Dinah swiftly mounted the stairs, kicked off her slippers, discarded her dressing gown and dived gratefully into bed.

Dinah must have slept soundly, for the next time she opened her eyes bright sunshine was pouring in through the window. For a moment she couldn't remember where she was. Then it hit her – she was in Bill's cottage, and there was Lucy-Ann, sound asleep in the next bed. She remembered about the events of the night.

'Did that really happen' she thought, 'or was it a nightmare? It feels so unreal this morning.'

Looking around her, she saw her slippers and dressing gown discarded on the floor, and her new book still lying where it had fallen during the night. It hadn't been a nightmare – it had really happened. That creature had come to the house and had tried to get in.

Suddenly Dinah sat bolt upright. Of course! She was going to test the front door knob for fingerprints!

'Or they could be claw or paw prints, I suppose,' thought Dinah, with a shudder.

At breakfast in the bright sunny sitting room, warm and cosy and full of laughing and chatter, it was hard for Dinah to believe that only a few hours before, she had been cold and terrified in the darkness, with some kind of enormous creature rattling the door handle and trying to get into the house. Somehow she still felt reluctant to tell the others what had happened. And the longer she waited, the harder it was to suddenly blurt out about the creature in the night.

After the breakfast things had been cleared away Bill announced that he would show them how to lift a fingerprint and mount it onto a fingerprint record card. Using one of the windowsill fingerprints they had discovered the evening before, Bill took a piece of fingerprint lifting tape and carefully pressed it onto the dusty print. He pressed the tape down firmly, and all the dark grey powder stuck to the tape. When he stuck the tape down on the clean white record card, a pattern of swirls and whorls were revealed. Next to the fingerprint he wrote the word 'Mr X'.

'Everyone in the world has a unique fingerprint,' said Bill. 'That's why they are so useful to the police. When there's been a crime we look for fingerprints and try to find a match from amongst the suspects.'

Next the children decided to take their own fingerprints. They each touched a clean bit of windowsill and then dusted gently until their fingerprint could be seen. Then using the special tape, they carefully lifted the print and fixed it onto a card. They each wrote their name by their fingerprint.

'Now, if we compare Mr X's fingerprint with our own, we might find out who Mr X is,' said Bill.

'Please can I do it?' asked Jack, eagerly grabbing the magnifying glass, and everyone crowded around to watch.

A few moments later Jack exclaimed, 'Bill is Mr X!' And he was quite right – Mr X's fingerprint matched with Bill's exactly.

Whilst everyone was busy in the sitting room Dinah quietly took the dusting powder, brush and tape and slipped out. The time had come for her to carry out the plan she had made the night before. Going to the front door, she opened it and stepped outside. The outer doorknob had no obvious marks on it. She sprinkled some powder on, gently blew off the excess, and then dusted it with the brush. A fingerprint appeared! Excited, Dinah took some lifting tape and pressed it onto the dusty mark, then carefully lifted it off. Then she returned to the sitting room and pressed the tape onto a clean white card. And there it was – a perfect fingerprint!

Returning to the sitting room, Dinah produced the fingerprint card with a casual air.

'Let's see who this one belongs to,' she said.

Everyone compared their fingerprints with the one on Dinah's card.

'Gracious, Dinah! This one's enormous!' exclaimed Jack. 'It doesn't belong to any of us – why, it's far bigger even than Bill's.'

Bill eyed Dinah suspiciously.

'Where did you find this, Dinah?' said Bill. 'And you're looking a little pale. What's the matter?'

Dinah knew that this was the time to tell Bill everything. She blurted out the whole story in a rapid rush of words – how she had seen the mysterious creature in the night, and how it had tried to get into the cottage. Then she swung round and spoke to Philip.

'I know you think I am imagining things or making things up,' she said. 'But surely this gigantic fingerprint proves something?'

'Well it does prove one thing, Dinah, said Bill slowly. 'It proves that this creature is actually a human being; this is a human fingerprint, most probably a man's.

'Then let's not call him a creature anymore,' said Lucy-Ann. 'That word gives me the shivers.'

'Then what shall we call him?' asked Philip.

'The Midnight Man,' replied Dinah. 'Because it was around midnight when I saw him.'

'I don't know why the Midnight Man is dressing himself up in brown fur,' said Bill sternly, 'and I don't know why he lurks about in the woods, or why he smashed your camera – and by the way, I do believe he deliberately stamped on it. And I don't know why he tried to get into this cottage last night. But I do know one thing – I'm going to get to the bottom of all this.'

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