Free 1997 - The Chocolate Money Mystery by Alexander McCall Smith Page B

velvet collar, and tiny pebble-like spectacles. He was very polite, and insisted on carrying their suitcase for them. And when they were sitting in his car, which was waiting outside, he put a thick rug over their knees, just to make sure that they were warm enough. As they sped along the streets on the way to Mr Huffendoifs house, they saw snow everywhere—on the roofs of the houses, on the branches of the trees, and even on people’s hats. And behind the town, climbing up towards the sky, there were mountains, and these too were covered with snow, rather like white icing on a cake.
    Mr Huffendorf said nothing for a while, but then he suddenly turned to Max and asked him a question.
    “Where do you keep your money?” he enquired, peering at Max through his tiny round spectacles.
    “I don’t have very much,” said Max, thinking of how he had spent his savings, every last coin of them, on two large bars of chocolate to eat on the journey.
    “But you must get pocket money,” said Mr Huffendorf. “Where do you put that?”
    “In my pocket, I suppose,” answered Max. “Or, if I decide to save it up, I put it in my pencil case, or maybe in the drawer where I keep my socks.”
    Mr Huffendorf shook his head sadly. “Oh, dear!” he said. “Oh, dear! Oh, dear! The best place for pocket money is a Swiss bank! Everybody knows that. Now, if you gave me your pocket money, I would put it in my bank and then it would be as safe as can be, all tucked away in the Huffendorf Bank!”
    Max thought for a moment. “But what about all these bank robberies?” he asked. “No robber would think to look in my sock drawer…”
    Mr Huffendorf suddenly looked taken aback. “I suppose I’d forgotten about that,” he said sadly. “You’re quite right. Swiss banks aren’t as safe as they used to be, I’m sorry to say. And all because of these dreadful robberies.”
    The banker paused and looked at the children.
    “I have a photograph of one of the robbers, you know. Would you like to see it?”
    “Well,” said Maddy, “if we’re going to help you find the robbers, I think we should know what they look like.”
    Mr Huffendorf fished into the inner pocket of his jacket and took out a small, folded poster. On the top, printed in very large letters, it said: WANTED FOR BANK ROBBERY !
    “Here,” he said. “This is one of them. It was taken by a secret camera in the bank at the very moment of the robbery.”
    He handed the poster over to the children, who studied it carefully. Then they looked at one another in puzzlement.
    “But it’s a dog!” said Max. “You said it was a photograph of a bank robber.”
    Mr Huffendorf smiled. “Exactly,” he said. “It’s a photograph of one of our famous Swiss mountain dogs, a St Bernard. They are usually used to rescue people who have got lost in the snow. They have wonderful noses, you see. But now, I’m ashamed to say, they seem to have taken up bank robbery. Every single one of these robberies has been carried out by a dog!”
    As the car made its way along the winding mountain roads that led to Mr Huffendorfs house, the two children listened in astonishment to the story of the extraordinary robberies.
    “The first time it happened,” said Mr Huffendorf, “people could hardly believe it. The dog came into the bank, jumped over the counter, and immediately started to collect piles of bank notes in its mouth. St Bernards have very large mouths, you know, and he managed to fit an awful lot in. Then he gave a growl—he couldn’t bark, because his mouth was full up—and he ran out of the door. Everybody was too astonished to give chase, and it was all over in minutes.”
    That was the first bank robbery. Mr Huffendorf went on to explain that the next one, which took place a few weeks later, was much the same, although this time it was a different dog. At this bank, the dog slipped in unseen, and then managed to run up to the manager’s desk and start growling at him in a most