Cody was right. He did not know what he was right about. But he knew he was right. He could smell the aroma. He needed to find the proof. Somehow the little prowler must find a way into Fred Taylor's clapboard house in the Historic District of Astatula. He had to know why Taylor ran him over with his car.

This was the first time Cody was allowed to leave the Sheriff's home in a week. The term of Beth's grounding him for sneaking out to Matt's slumber party. Cody felt fortunate it was only seven days.

At first, Beth told him "You are confined for a whole month!"

But after she thought about the situation some more she relented.

Cody wasn't idle during his grounding. He had many more chores than usual to occupy his time that week. Beth also made him write a ten thousand word explanation of why sneaking out of the house behind Sheriff Daniels back was wrong. That was more writing than Cody ever remembered doing before.

"Ten thousand words!" Cody protested after hearing Beth's proclamation.

"Yes, ten thousand words," Beth reiterated herself not wanting to hear any excuses from the boy.

Then she warned him, "You have all week to write the essay so you better get started on the project right away. Because I will keep extending your grounding until it is completed!"

"And, no. You can not type them on the computer. You must write them all down by hand on paper," she further required of Cody.

"I don't even know that many words," Cody remarked trying to talk Beth into lessening the assignment.

"Then having you write this essay will also help increase your vocabulary won't it?" Beth asked him.

"Yes," Cody responded knowing he was fighting a losing battle.

So Cody wrote. And he wrote. And he wrote some more! Until he was sure his hand would fall off. Many times he shook his hand to get the circulation back in it. Finally he accomplished all ten thousand words. He was proud to complete the task.

Now, here he stood outside Fred Taylor's back door checking to see if it was unlocked. Cody pulled on the doorknob. No such luck. However, Cody was not easily defeated. One way or another he would find a way inside the house. There were four windows on the backside of the house. Cody remembered in Astatula it was not uncommon to leave a window unlocked.

Cody tried to gain entry through the first window. It was tightly locked. He would have to keep checking the other ones. The second window had a crack in the glass pane it contained.

"The right sized rock would resolve this challenge," Cody thought to himself.

Cody reasoned he better not break that window.

"The shattering glass will make a sound the neighbors were sure to hear," his inner little voice told him.

So far none of them noticed he was up to no good. Cody wanted it to stay that way so he attempted to push up the bottom of the third window.

To the boy's surprise the window slid right up.

"Success!" he smiled broadly.

Now to get inside the darkened house. Like the little monkey he was, Cody shimmied up the rock wall of the backside of the house until he could stick his upper half through the opening the raised window made in its frame. Swinging his legs up he was inside.

"Should I close the window or leave it open?" Cody asked himself. He had never been a burglar before.

Cody decided if he needed to make a hasty retreat an open window would be much easier and faster to exit out of so he decided he would risk a passerby walking around outside spotting the open window. Cody did not plan to remain in Taylor's house for any length of time.

"You're only going to be here long enough to find what you came here for," Cody reminded himself.

Then he would hightail it out of Dodge!

"But what are you looking for and where will you find the answer you are after?" Cody pondered. He had no way of knowing.

He was glad no one was home. Taylor had run him over with his car. No telling what the lunatic would do if he caught Cody breaking into his house. Probably shoot him dead...or worse!

Slowly Cody made his way into the living room of the residence. He could feel his heart beating faster with every step he took. To find what he hunted he knew he must remain calm so he took a couple deep breaths to settle himself down.

"Okay Cody," he said to no one around, "let's just see how clever you really are."

Then he asked himself, "If you were Taylor where would you hide the evidence?"

Cody was up to his ears in the haystack. Locating the missing needle would be another story.

"Let the lookie-look begin," he told himself opening the first drawer he could reach.