Mike Nicholson - Museum Mystery Squad and the Case of the Vanishing Viking

Nabster was frowning deeply. The Museum Mystery Squads technical expert glanced at an open booklet propped on the table in the Squads headquarters. His hands hovered over three upside-down cups in front of him.

Keep your eye on the cup you think is covering the ball, he instructed Kennedy. She leaned in, her frizzy ginger hair spilling onto the table. Right, said Nabster, here goes! He moved the cups around each other in rapid figures of eight, then looked back at the magic set booklet he had been reading.

OK, you will be AMAZED by my ASTONISHING power to make a solid object DISAPPEAR! Which cup do you think the ball is under?

Easy. Kennedy tapped the middle cup.

Nabster lifted it.

A little red ball sat underneath.

Aaaw!! Nabster groaned in annoyance as he stacked up the cups. What am I doing wrong?

Sounds like making things disappear takes lots of practice, said a voice from the sofa.

Well you should know, said Kennedy. Laurie Lennox the Invisible Man!

It was true. Laurie was in his usual position in the Squad HQ: burrowed out of sight in his sleeping bag, invisible to the untrained eye. When he was awake and upright, spotting Laurie was much easier, because he was always wearing a wacky but somehow stylish combination of clothes chosen from his overflowing wardrobe rail. Yesterday hed been dressed in lime green from head (hat) to middle (waistcoat) to toe (shoes). Hed looked like a lanky lizard with big glasses all set for the catwalk.

Keep practising! said Kennedy cheerfully to Nabster. Ask me again, when youre ready. Soon, hopefully, because theres not much else to do. She flicked through her diary, but the Museum Mystery Squad had no case to solve, so there was nothing to write about.

Kennedy Kerr was actually quite good at her own form of disappearing trick. When there was something to investigate, she took off like a shot, sprinting through the museums corridors. She was so speedy and quickthinking that no one could keep up with her.

Mohammed McNab, otherwise known as Nabster, was also able to vanish into his own tech-filled world, where he could be lost for days, connecting wires or tightening bolts. His latest creation was a tracking device, allowing him to clip a tracker to any person or thing, then follow its movements on a hand-held screen. Hed made it to help find his favourite screwdriver, which always seemed to be missing when he needed it.

As the Squad had no investigation on the go, Nabster was trying, for a change, to figure out how magic works. His magic kit included playing cards, mirrors, boxes with secret moving sides and a wand that changed length. He planned to start small and work his way up. His ultimate aim was to make Colin the hamster disappear, but right now even the ballandcup trick was proving too difficult.

You could say that Colin had already kind of disappeared. The cage in the corner of the Squad HQ seemed full of straw and not much else, but if you peered closely you would see the slow rise and fall of the hamsters bedding. Underneath, the Museum Mystery Squads smallest member was asleep, worn out by a busy morning eating carrots.

A sound from the laptop distracted Nabster from his failed magic trick.

Kennedy darted round to look. The sleeping bag on the sofa began to stir, and even Colin emerged from his cosy nest.

It was an email from Magda Gaskar, the Museum Director. Looks like theres been a real disappearance, said Nabster as he read.

Dear Kennedy, Laurence and Mohammed,

Im afraid something large has gone missing. A life-size Viking figure that normally stands inside the longship exhibit has vanished. Im attaching a photograph.

Im not sure how this figure could have left the museum without anyone noticing its bigger and heavier than most of our visitors! Its not valuable, its just a model, so I dont know why anyone would steal it. But we cant have parts of displays disappearing people wont come to the museum to look at empty spaces!

I need to find out whats happened. Can you please investigate?

Kind regards,

Magda Gaskar

Museum Director

Nabster opened the attached photo on the HQs big smartboard screen.

Woah! Laurie jumped.

The large Viking figure looked rather fierce and wielded a double-sided axe.

Colin gave a squeak and dived beneath his straw.

How can a life-size exhibit have disappeared? Laurie pondered. As well as snoozing, asking questions was one of his greatest talents.

Perhaps by magic? Kennedy grinned at Nabster.

Well, we know thats harder than it seems, said Laurie. But really, how are we going to look for something thats vanished?

Go wherever it was last seen, replied Kennedy, and search for any clues that might have been left behind.

Viking Zone! said the three Squad members together.

Nabster pushed the laptop aside and gathered equipment he thought might be helpful for finding missing things:

• a magnifying glass (for looking close up)
• binoculars (for looking far away)
• fingerprint powder (to see anything unseen)
• a torch (to throw light on anything mysterious)
• his camera (for seeing the same things again later)
• his Scanray (because he never went anywhere without it)
• the usual collection of random bits of string, wire, keyrings, buttons, paper clips (because you just never know when you might need them)
• and his trusty screwdriver (because his new tracking device had helped him locate it under Lauries sofa, and he was determined to use it for something).

Meanwhile, Laurie was flicking through outfits on his wardrobe rail.

Mmmm Vikings Vikings lets see too dark too bright wrong shade of pineapple oh now