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tight shirt over his well muscled body.
    â€˜Me. Why else would I be asking you?’ said Amy and stopped because Mum would say that sounded rude. Amy felt better when the second guard explained.
    Apparently Mr Ng was a private collector. Very rich,he travelled a lot. Originally he made his money from noodle factories. Now he owned property all over the world. He didn’t like having his photo taken. His hobby was collecting art works. But unfortunately, someone stole one of his favourites. That was the reason for the ad in the newspaper.
    â€˜Why didn’t he call the police?’ asked Christopher as the guard re-read the newspaper ad. Amy held out to him. ‘He couldn’t complain to the police when it was stolen from his private collection because he wasn’t supposed to have it either.That Ming vase was originally stolen from an Amsterdam gallery. If it’s the same one. Somehow, Mr Ng got hold of it.’
    Amsterdam! Wasn’t that where Tess said she had been? And hadn’t Brut been in Amsterdam too? Was there a link? ‘Have you been a guard long?’ asked Amy. If you are a part-time mystery solver, then you need to collect answers as well as clues. And you look for mysteries everywhere.
    â€˜A couple of years,’ said the first guard flipping through a glossy art catalogue. It had pictures of Asian art.
    â€˜Do you always watch paintings?’ asked Amy.
    The first guard nudged the second and laughed.’I watch T.V., but when I’m on the job, I watch people. I’m a professional people watcher. I’m pretty good at telling what people are like, just by the way they walk or talk or what they do.’
    â€˜Ace,’ said Christopher when the guard looked at him. ‘What can you tell us about us,... and about him?’ Christopher pointed towards Red Cloak.
    The guard looked closely at the two children. ’How much do you want to know?’
    â€˜Everything,’ said Christopher. The guard smiled. ‘Don’t know if I can manage that but I’ll give it a try. Okay.’He looked sideways at their carry-on bags with all the stickers.
    â€˜You’re brother and sister, because you’ve both got LEE as a family name on your bags. Am I right?’
    â€˜Partly. We’re twins.’ explained Amy.
    â€˜Okay. You’d be about ten or eleven and you travel a lot.’
    â€˜You saw the old luggage labels and stickers on our bags,’ said Christopher looking in the same direction. That was easy. ‘You’ve been to Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Bali and to Cairns.’
    â€˜Right.’
    â€˜You’re going to Tokyo?’ said the guard.
    â€˜So is or was everybody on this plane. That’s not much of a secret.’
    The guard accepted the challenge. ‘You.’ he pointed to Amy. ‘Collect coins and swap cards. I saw you flipping through them earlier.’
    â€˜ Retro phone cards,’ corrected Amy.
    â€˜Same thing.’
    Amy didn’t agree. Used phone cards were special to collectors. Other people didn’t understand the thrill of getting a set. ‘USED phone cards,’ she added.
    The guard shrugged. ‘A waste. What’s the use of collecting used phone cards? You can’t even use them for a call.’
    â€˜YOU wouldn’t need to.’ Christopher had noticed the gun-shaped two-way mobile strapped to the guard’s belt.
    â€˜But others might,’ argued the guard.
    Amy knew that some kids had pasted stickytape over the holes of used cards. But she wasn’t interested in that kind of re-cycling.
    â€˜Most times, reading clues is just a matter of common sense.’ said the guard.
    â€˜Now, what could you tell us about him?’ Christopher pointed towards Red who was still earnestly playing a game with his friends.
    The guard shrugged. ‘R.P.G. game player. Got the wrong photos back at the airport FAST-FOTO shop.He works there part-time.