Fun E. Toys was a company with a bright future. Its philosophy was simple but novel: pay a higher royalty to toy inventors and they'll give you their best work. Within months of initiating the new policy, F.E. T. was inundated with some of the most exciting ideas in the industry. Three full-time employees were entrusted with combing through the masses of material. And while all three were brilliant, they were as messy as toddlers. Proposals, schematics and samples lay everywhere in the development lab, with some of the best ones hidden behind file cabinets or in the piles of documents that covered nearly every inch of floor space. The cleaning staff didn't even have keys to the top secret room. "We know where everything is," Bob Bentley told them. "If anyone tried to straighten the place up, we'd be lost."
The burglary occurred in late February. Bob, the group supervisor, had left early that day. His two subordinates stayed on, evaluating a few unpromising board games. At 4:55 p.m., the mail room brought up a new submission.
"It's from P.& P. Notions," Hilda Wolverine said enthusiastically. P.& P. Notions was the hottest team of game inventors in the country. Fun E. Toys had been trying for months to get a proposal out of them. And now here it was.
Toddy Garter grabbed the package, almost drooling with anticipation. "I'm tempted to stay late, just to see what they sent us."
"Let's wait until tomorrow," Hilda suggested, "when we can take our time and give it a careful play." And with that last word, she placed the precious submission in a pile of similar-looking packages. A minute later, Toddy and Hilda left for the day, triple-locking the development lab door.
When the cleaning staff arrived at ten p.m., they found the lab door wide open. Due to the room's normal state of confusion, it was impossible to tell if anything was missing. The police contacted the lab employees who rushed back to work, only to discover their worst fears realized.
"Our five best toys and games are missing," Bob Bentley informed the officer in charge. "Two of them were in a closet, one was under the fax machine, one was in the back of a file cabinet, and one was stuffed inside the umbrella stand. Nothing else appears to have been disturbed."
Toddy raced to a pile of packages and let out a little squeal of delight. "They didn't get this one," he said, holding up the unopened package from P.& P. "At least we can salvage something for next Christmas."
"I don't want to cause offense." The officer took out his notepad. "But I'm going to need to know your whereabouts between five and ten p.m. tonight.
"I had a dental appointment until 5:30," Bob volunteered. "Then I went to the video store and rented an old mystery. I was at home watching it when you guys called."
"I was at a play by myself," Hilda said, showing off a ticket stub. "I sat in the rear balcony. Maybe someone remembers me. When I called my machine, I got your message. I came right over from the theater." Toddy had been at home all evening with his invalid mother. "She fell asleep shortly after I fed her dinner. I didn't think she should be alone.
In order to come here, I had to get a neighbor to look after her." The officer checked over his notes and nodded his head. "Looks like an inside job, all right. And I think I know who it was."
