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smell and the sound would have driven the polecat crazy. That would explain the depth and ferocity of the teeth marks.’
    Just then, Grandad Nightingale appeared.
    ‘Back from the zoo, then?’ he said. ‘What did you find out?’
    ‘It’s a polecat,’ said Tom.
    ‘A polecat!’ said Grandad, raising his eyebrows. ‘Well, I never. I’d never have guessed that. You never used to get them in this part of the country. And aren’t they carnivores?’
    ‘Yes, but we think he was chasing a pigeon!’ Tom announced.
    ‘But what about the bite marks in the cabbage,’ Grandad said, ‘and the dug-up flowers. Why would a polecat do that? As soon as it got through the fence, the pigeon would have flown off, wouldn’t it?’
    ‘Hmm,’ said Violet, ‘we’d better look at the other bite marks. The ones in the cabbages.’
    Grandad led them to the far side of the allotment. Although the evening was drawing in, Tom, Sophie and Violet could still just about make out the dents and hollows that had been left in the vegetables. Sophie ran her finger along the edge of a half-eaten cabbage.
    ‘It’s definitely been gnawed,’ she said, ‘not bitten into.’
     

     
    ‘So whatever did this,’ Tom said, ‘was more like a rat. Remember how they only have chewing teeth.’
    Violet nodded. ‘There are no canine teeth marks here. This animal doesn’t have teeth for tearing flesh.’
    ‘A herbivore then,’ Sophie said, getting up. ‘So not a polecat. A completely different animal.’
    ‘But which animal?’ Tom said, getting frustrated. ‘We know there was a pigeon in here. But a bird didn’t do this. They don’t even have teeth.’ Then he realised that he wasn’t completely sure this was true. ‘Do they?’ he asked Violet.
    ‘No, they don’t,’ said Violet with a smile. ‘They just peck, gulp, swallow.’
    ‘So there was a third animal,’ said Sophie, holding her chin and peering into the distance.
    ‘Let’s look for more clues!’ exclaimed Tom.
    He started to rummage around among the chewed-up lettuces and half-eaten radishes.
     

     
    Violet and Sophie also got down on their hands and knees.
    ‘Look for footprints, droppings, anything,’ Sophie said, as she began to look around.
    After a few minutes Tom stood up and held out a long stick. ‘Look at this,’ he said. ‘More gnawing.’
    Violet and Sophie got up and looked. It was a small branch from a nearby tree, and they could see that much of the bark had been chewed off. The wood underneath had scrape and scoop marks in it.
    ‘This is great stuff, Tom,’ said Violet. ‘This means we know we’re looking for an animal that needs to gnaw branches to stop its teeth growing too long.’
    ‘Look at the teeth marks, Violet,’ said Sophie. ‘Two long parallel grooves. So this animal had two large front teeth.’
    ‘A rabbit!’ both children said together.
    Violet nodded. ‘Almost certainly.’
    ‘But if there was a rabbit in here, why didn’t the polecat eat it?’ Tom asked, looking confused.
    ‘Hmm,’ said Sophie. ‘Let’s go to Grandad’s shed and look at all of our evidence. We know that a polecat, a pigeon and a rabbit visited the allotment last night. We’ve just got to piece together how it all happened.’
     
    Tom, Sophie, Violet and Grandad were in the shed looking at three pebbles on an old wooden table.
    ‘OK, Grandad, are you paying attention?’ Sophie asked.
    ‘Absolutely,’ Grandad replied, putting on a large pair of glasses that made his eyes look gigantic.
    ‘So this brown pebble is the pigeon,’ Sophie explained, ‘this black pebble is the polecat, and this speckled one is the rabbit.’
    ‘And this is the fence,’ said Tom, stretching a piece of string across the table.
    ‘I must say, this is all very imaginative,’ said Grandad. ‘It’s almost as if I’m there.’
    ‘You are, Grandad,’ said Sophie. ‘This is meant to be the allotment.’
    ‘Oh yes, oh yes,’ said Grandad, ‘of course. Go