The Case of the Stolen Film by Gareth P. Jones

He led a fair-haired, red-faced man into the room. The man was breathingheavily and flapping his arms agitatedly. Chase poured himself a coffee and sat down. ‘Now what is it?’ he said.
    The other man remained standing, continually moving with nervous energy. He took a deep breath then spoke. ‘We were filming in the desert …’
    â€˜Why do we need a boring old desert in the film?’ asked Petal.
    â€˜It’s for the opening sequence. It’s symbolic, you know, representing a cultural desert, isolation … that kind of thing,’ said Chase.
    â€˜Yeah, well, we got lots of nice shots using the long-angle lens …’ continued Theo. ‘We went early morning and just where you said, two miles down the road from the southern entrance to Joshua Tree National Park. You were right, the light’s real nice at dusk. It made for real pretty shots. The sun was coming up and the desert had a kind of reddish glow.’
    â€˜Sounds beautiful,’ said Chase, stirring cream into his coffee.
    â€˜Then …’ Theo faltered. ‘Then something got in the way of the shot.’
    â€˜What sort of something?’
    â€˜Something big. It was in the distance but you could see what it was. There were two of them. I lookedback at the film to check.’
    â€˜Well,’ said Chase patiently, ‘what was it? A road-runner? A wolf? There’s not much that lives out there.’
    â€˜It wasn’t any of those things,’ said Theo. ‘It was … Well, it looked like … You know, from a distance it seemed to be …’
    â€˜Spit it out,’ said Chase. ‘I haven’t got all day.’
    â€˜D … d … d … dragons,’ whispered the red-faced man.
    Petal and Dante hooted with laughter.
    A smile spread across Chase’s face.
    Holly and Archie said nothing.
    â€˜I think you may have got the wrong idea about the sort of movie we’re making,’ said Chase, sipping his coffee.
    â€˜Look, I know it sounds crazy but I know what I saw and I saw dragons. They looked like those Joshua trees you get out there – you know, all spiky like cactuses, but they had jaws and limbs and they were fighting.’
    â€˜How ridiculous,’ said Petal scornfully. ‘Dragons don’t exist in real life, do they, Chase?’
    â€˜Not in my experience,’ replied the director ponderously. ‘Look, Theo, I’ll tell you what, let me see the rushes. I’d like to have a look at these dragons. It’sprobably just a trick of the light.’
    â€˜That’s the problem,’ said Theo. ‘That’s what’s so odd. Everyone will think I’m making it up but I know what I saw.’
    â€˜Then let me see the film,’ said Chase firmly.
    â€˜I can’t,’ replied Theo. ‘The film’s gone missing. It was stolen.’

Chapter 11

    Dirk was in the middle of a dream about the moon being a huge orange, which had ripened and was heading on a collision course with earth, when the phone rang.
    â€˜Someone get a juicer!’ cried Dirk, waking up with a start. His mouth was parched and two empty bottles of orange squash lay on his desk. He groaned, knocked them on to the floor, and answered the ringing phone.
    â€˜The Dragon Detective Agency,’ he said gruffly. ‘Dirk Dilly speaking. How can I help you?’
    â€˜Have you just woken up?’ It was Holly. ‘What time is it there?’
    â€˜What do you mean
there
? Where are you?’ said Dirk.
    â€˜I’m calling long distance,’ said Holly. ‘I’m in Los Angeles.’
    â€˜Los Angeles in America?’ spluttered Dirk.
    â€˜No, Los Angeles in Kuala Lumpur,’ said Holly, laughing.
    â€˜I thought you were grounded,’ said Dirk.
    â€˜We got flown here on Brant Buchanan’s private jet.’
    â€˜I don’t trust your dad’s boss as far as I can throw him. In fact, I