Mini Mysteries

by Acologic

The Missing Person

‘Samantha Spring hasn’t been seen for seven days,’ said Inspector Wormstead in a low voice as the milk pony drove by, whistling. ‘We’ve searched the house from top to bottom, but there’s no sign of anything fishy. What do you make of it?’

Slipstar puffed out his cheeks and stepped over the threshold. The next half hour proved fruitless, however, for just like the police, he found nothing out of the ordinary.

‘She’s out-and-out vanished,’ Wormstead remarked once they were back outside. ‘I can’t think why, though. Word on the street says she’s a quiet woman who keeps to herself. Wouldn’t know trouble if it ran up on her from the front. You don’t think it has, do you?’

Slipstar crouched to pick up the forgotten mail on the otherwise empty doorstep and gave it a riffle-through. ‘Just bills,’ he muttered, frowning. He scanned the garden absent-mindedly, thinking hard.

‘Still nothing?’ Wormstead asked the constable stepping through the swinging gate, who shook his head.

‘No leads, I’m afraid, sir.’

‘I might be able to help you there,’ said Slipstar quietly.

What did Slipstar notice?

The fact that after seven days the only thing present on the doorstep was Samantha Spring’s mail – had the milk pony not known of her disappearance, he would have left milk at least once.