“Well, Freddie and Gemma,” says Arabella, “does our little idea meet with your approval?”

“It does in principle,” I say, “but we need to know more about who we will be observing and whether they’re dangerous.”

We were sitting on the garden fence underneath the Scots Pine at the front of the property. Rufus was somewhere above us having his afternoon nap after playing in the children’s playground during the morning and exhausting himself on the slide. He was now jumping further than ever with a technique learned from ski jumping. He no longer ate heavily before his exercise and had a large lunch instead, another contributory factor to his afternoon sleep. He was a happy squirrel who hoped his tail would grow before winter came.

“Here’s the thing, Freddie and Gemma,” says Aubrey, “we don’t know for sure who we’re up against. There are a number of suspects, 5 – 10 in number, and we need your observational skills to find out who is doing what and where. You are so good at operating by stealth that we feel 100% sure you can help.”

“What are these humans doing that needs investigating?” Asks Gemma.

“Gemma, we believe they’re siphoning off some diamonds from various shipments and giving them to people who will then buy guns with them on the black market. We believe these are conflict diamonds from Africa, but we might be wrong and in a sense it doesn’t matter because the less arms there are the better.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to stop manufacturing armaments and guns and bullets all together,” I say, “and then innocent people wouldn’t be killed and we could spend the money on worthwhile things that would benefit the whole of humanity like access to clean water and wells and affordable health care?”

“That’s true, Freddie,” says Arabella, “but unfortunately humans thrive on finding differences between themselves and other humans and causing conflicts between groups who fall into opposing camps for whatever reason they decide.”

“We should all try and get along in whatever way we can,” I say, “because we all inhabit the same planet. Anyway, I will stop complaining as we have a job to do here and hopefully catch some bad people who will be imprisoned.”

“Yes, essentially your job will be to follow people and see who they contact and if possible determine whether anything has been handed over. Fortunately, diamonds are a physical commodity that people have to see before deciding how much they’re worth so we know they’ll be moved around. The people involved will need quick answers and can’t send items via the mail for that reason.” Aubrey spoke with some authority and I could see why we were needed.

“Will we have to wear a disguise of any kind?” asks Gemma.

“I think we might have to dye Freddie a ginger colour after a few days as I expect someone will spot him hanging around outside the diamond dealerships, so a change of colour wouldn’t go amiss,” admits Arabella.

Gemma smirks and I giggle a little.