Princess detective stories: The Lost Tiara (Part 1)

In the kingdom of Roseberry, there was a king who had three daughters. Their names were Catherine, Kelly and Priscilla. One day, the king became seriously ill.    His three daughters called the best doctors from all over the kingdom. None of the doctors could find a cure to the king’s strange disease.

One day, when Catherine and Priscilla were speaking to the doctor about the king’s condition in his chamber, one of the king’s faithful ministers entered the room and panted, “Your highnesses, I am sorry for disturbing you. I have some important news to share and it can’t wait. Doctor, can you go out of the room for a few minutes, please?.

The doctor stammered, “I’m done he-ere. I’ll tr-ry to find a cure to the king’s disease. Go-good bye” and he walked out of the room and left the palace.

Catherine smiled. “Okay doctor. Thank you”.

Priscilla asked the minister, “Minster why did you interrupt us in such a manner while we were busy talking to the doctor?”

The minister, Jake answered, “I am sorry for interrupting, your highness”.

Priscilla replied, “It’s fine. What is that important information you wanted to share with us?”.

Jake replied, “Your highness. While I was taking a stroll around the kingdom, I met a scientist. That scientist seemed to know the remedy to the king’s disease”.

Catherine answered, “That’s wonderful! What is the cure?”.

Jake responded, “The cure to the king’s disease is a rare tiara.  You need to find that tiara and show it to the king. He will get cured in an instant”.

“Did you tell the scientist that the king cannot open his eyes?”, asked Priscilla.

“Your highness, I did tell.   The scientist told me to sprinkle a little water on the king’s eyes. The king will keep his eyes open for two minutes. You have to show the tiara within that time as the tiara won’t have an effect on the king the next time he opens his eyes “, Jake responded with full of anticipation.

Catherine asked, “Oh, okay so should we use some magical water and where is the tiara, Jake?”.

“Just regular water. Hill stations monument”, Jake cried.

Priscilla chuckled.  “You have to be joking.  There are no tiaras in -”.

“Hill stations”, Catherine finished. “Please listen properly. It’s hill stations monument”.

Priscilla said, “Oh, sorry. Carry on minister”.

Catherine replied, “It’s okay, Priscilla. Minister, can you describe the tiara?”

“Well, I think it is a star-studded tiara with a ruby on it”.

“Alright minister, we better take your leave. We have some work to do”, Catherine replied.

Jake cried, “Hold on. Here’s a map of this entire kingdom. It will be useful for you princesses as you’re not allowed to go out of the palace”, as he gave the map to Catherine. Catherine thanked Jake, again and left the royal chamber.

Catherine asked Priscilla, “Where is Kelly?”.

Priscilla replied, “She is probably in bed. Why?”.

Catherine said, “Oh, nothing. She told me that she’ll meet me outside the chamber but she’s not here. I wanted to show her the map and tell her about the tiara”.

Priscilla spoke angrily, “Please don’t show her the map or say a single word about the tiara to Kelly”.

“Whoa! Calm down! What’s wrong with Kelly?”.

“Kelly is such a bad girl. She is only gonna tell us to stay out of it. She doesn’t care about our father’s health”.

“Don’t talk ill of our sister. She obviously cares about dad’s health”.

“If she really cares about dad’s health, then why is she avoiding our father?”.

“She is not avoiding our father”, Catherine protested.

“Thank you for supporting me, Cathy”, a girl standing in front of a pillar yelled.

“Why are you saying these things about me behind my back, Priscilla?”. Priscilla and Catherine stopped talking and saw Kelly.

“I’m sorry”, Priscilla lied.

Kelly replied, “It’s okay. Let’s go to my chamber and look at the map”.

“Sure”, Catherine smiled.

Priscilla asked Kelly, “Did you clean your room? If it’s untidy, I am not going to your chamber”. Kelly nodded her head in a way of saying yes.

Catherine shouted, “Stop it Priscilla”.

“Let’s go”, Kelly said and they went to her chamber. Kelly closed the door of the room once she and her sisters got inside the room.

She told Catherine, “Cathy, please spread out the map on my bed”.

“Ok!”, Catherine replied and she spread out the map on Kelly’s bed. Catherine, Kelly and Priscilla stared at the map with earnest interest.

“Where is the, ‘Hill Stations Monument’ in this map?”, asked Kelly.

“Here it is”, Catherine cried as she pointed at a large building in the map with the term ‘Hill Stations Monument’ written just below the building in bold letters.

Kelly replied, “You’re observant, Catherine.  Let’s visit the monument and search for the tiara”. 

Catherine nodded her head and Priscilla grumbled, “I am not going with you”.

Catherine asked Priscilla, “Why do you have so many problems with Kelly?’.

Priscilla sobbed, “I’m sorry. I’ll not behave like this, anymore. I was acting like this because I found it was funny”.

Kelly said, “Oh, c’mon! Stop crying, Priscilla. Anyways, back to the monument topic. It’s best if we change our clothing and remove our royal jewelleries.  No one should know that we are princesses”.

Catherine cried, “I just remembered. We are not allowed to go out of the palace without anyone’s permission”.

Kelly responded, “We’ll go out and come back real quick. No one will notice”.

Catherine and Priscilla looked at each other and agreed with Kelly . The girls removed their royal robes along with their jewelleries.  They wore some ordinary frocks and dressed up as commoners.     Priscilla grabbed a shoulder bag and kept a water bottle in it.   Kelly, Catherine and Priscilla walked out of the palace and headed to the monument as Catherine read the directions given in the map.

Catherine said, “According to the map, the monument is supposed to be right here”.   Kelly then tapped Catherine on her shoulders using her index finger and pointed at the monument.

Catherine mumbled, “Am I blind? The monument was right next to me”.

Kelly laughed, “No, you’re not blind. Why is the monument barricaded?”.

Catherine replied, “I don’t know.  Let us ask the security guard standing outside the gate of the monument”.  Her sisters nodded their heads and walked towards the security.  The security guard was wearing khaki uniform and had a badge pinned on her outfit which read, ‘Michelle Patterson’. She wore a cap with the term ‘Police’ written on it. The security officer looked at the kids and raised an eyebrow.

Priscilla asked, “Hello officer! Why is the monument barricaded?”.

The security replied, “Little girl, there has been a theft in this particular monument.    A precious tiara has been stolen from this monument.   The cops are investigating”.

Kelly whispered in Catherine’s ears, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”. 

Catherine replied, “I think I am”.

‘Is the tiara that is stolen the tiara we’re looking for?”.

“Maybe”, Catherine replied and asked the officer, “Can you describe the tiara that is stolen?”.

“Okay, it’s a diamond-studded tiara with a blue sapphire on it”.

“That’s not the tiara we’re looking”, Catherine said in a satisfied tone.

Priscilla told the security, “Lady, we are princesses.  You have to let us in”.

The security mocked at the girls. “How dare you call me ‘lady’. Anyways, find another place to play weird princesses.  This is a dangerous crime area”.  Priscilla, Kelly and Catherine left the place with a long face.

Kelly cried, “The security officer was mean. Father’s not going to last long.  What can we do?”

Catherine replied, “Yes, she was. Don’t say that! We’ll figure something out”.

Priscilla said, “I have an idea.   Why can’t we sneak in to the monument at night?’.

Catherine asked, “Sneak in to the monument and do what, Priscilla? The tiara’s stolen”.

Priscilla continued, “We can look for footprints and be one step ahead of the investigators. To be honest, the investigators wouldn’t have started looking for footprints”.

“No, you won’t. I was listening to you guys from the time you arrived at the monument. I am going to make sure that you won’t sneak in or do anything of that sort”, the security standing outside the monument, replied.  She grabbed Priscilla’s hand and told the cops to take her away.

The security said, “Good luck saving her!”.

“Priscilla!! Oh, security. She said it for fun. Why were you eavesdropping on us?”, Catherine cried.

To be continued . . .