“Scrumping for apples?” exclaimed the inspector “This is 2020 and we’re not in some Enid Blyton novel”.
“That’s right. We caught Bradley Wiles in the orchard behind the Cockroft Manor” explained the officer. “It had been called in by the groundsman, Mr. Tarpin.”
“Well, we better hear them out. We don’t want another tribunal…”
Wiles and Tarpin were being kept separately in the police holding cells. The inspector and the officer first went to the groundsman to listen to his account.
Tarpin was a tall man with wrinkled features, black hair and grubby overalls.
“I was feeding the dogs and checking the house was all locked up. I get ‘round the back and see something in the orchard. I ran down there but I couldn’t make out anything in the dark and I had left my torch in the house. I called the police straight away and waited by the orchard wall to make sure nothing else happened.”
“I appreciate your co-operation” said the inspector. “This seems like a straightforward case of scrumping. Let’s see what the boy has to say.”
They shuffled into the next room.
The 16-year-old Bradley Wiles was seated and started to look nervous as soon as the door was opened. “I didn’t do anything!” protested the schoolboy. “I was just at the bus stop waiting for the number 11. There’s only one every hour. I had been waiting about 20 minutes when the police roll up and throw me in the back of a van. I’ve never even been in the orchard!”
The inspector left the room and furiously tugged on his moustache.
“One of them is lying,” he said.
“You’ve cracked the case?” enquired the officer.
“Not quite. I’ve no idea which one it is.” replied the inspector.
Rather conveniently, Detective Case had just popped in to use the facilities at the back of the small rural police station. “I couldn’t help overhearing your conundrum. One of the testimonies has a clear inconsistency.”
Who is guilty and what was the lie Detective Case spotted?