"It is a vampire hunt, mates. We are looking for a heartless blood sucker or many of them.", Jake turned around to imform the team. He seemed too confident about it. Everybody in the room turned silent and looked at the white board where Becky had written 'VAMPIRE HUNT' in capital letters.
We were a team of nine. Jake was our leader and Becky led the girls. Our leader was smarter, sharper and stronger but the girls, being girls, would not admit. Then there was Smith, Alex, Lisa, Emma, Ron, me and Barney, the dog.
"Oh my God. I am sorry, Captain. I won't be able to work on this case. Even if the vampire spares me, my mom won't. Call me back if you need someone to find a lost Grand dad or a dog.", Alex got up to leave. Did I mention that Alex was a chicken heart? And that her mother was the scariest creature I had ever seen on animal planet? If I ever had to choose between being Alex and being Mowgli, I would have chosen 'being Barney'.
"Stop that chicken, Barn.", Jake shouted. Barney was the smartest member in the team. He was Jake's dog. Jake believed that he and his dog were over qualified for the job and that they were doing a favor to the team by being there. I was a fan of Jake too but that was not important right now. Barney pulled Alex back to his seat. Jake went to him and asked, "Are we a team of cowards, mate? Do you not remember  the pledge we took when all of us joined this team?", he turned and said," Becky, please tell one of your girls to repeat the words we swore on."
"That we would protect the dogs and weak old grand parents of the society", Lisa volunteered to speak these words.
"But this is a cat, captain.", Alex protested.
"I get your point, Alex. But tell me, what do our dogs feast upon on their birthdays? The cats. Don't they? Every cat issue is a dog issue.", Becky said. Everybody clapped and praised her smartness. Alex couldn't say no to this and stayed. This was one of the rarest moments when Leader Jake praised Co-leader Becky too.
Jake pointed towards a table that was lying in a corner. It was a wooden plank adjusted on few bricks. There was a board by the right leg which said 'Examination cell'.
Jake started walking towards the table and we followed him. He took a stick from the small box that was lying next to the table and said," Look, mates. This is Mrs. Doyle's cat, Jess. Smith found it in the garden. See those marks?", he pointed towards the wounds on Jess's neck and continued," These are bite marks and I believe.. Ummm..  I mean Beckie and I believe that these are caused by a vampire." He wouldn't have mentioned Beckie if she hadn't given him an I-will-kill-you-stare.
"And we have to find the... ", Beckie stopped and I uttered "sucker?" She didn't seem very impressed by my remark. Every face turned towards me, then looked at Beckie and turned back to the dead cat.
"Barney? Jake, I think Barney smells something. Some clue, may be.", Alex exclaimed. Barney was sniffing around the body and then licked it. "Oh yes, look our genius Barney smells something. I guess food. Any other guessess? Anybody?", Ron laughed and other girls followed.
Jake assigned work to everyone. Smith, Emma, Ron and I went to check the garden. Alex and Lisa were sent to check around the city if there were any other victims. Jake and Beckie took Barney along to talk to the Mrs. Doyle.
In the park...
"Does anybody know what exactly are we looking for? Because I don't.", Ron sounded disappointed. "A fallen vampire tooth? Blood? I don't know. Foot prints?", I thought of few things we could be searching. Emma looked around and said, "All I see is our footprints all over the wet muddy place. Why do Jake and Beckie get to do the cleanest job always?" She didn't like all the mud sticking to her shoes.
While the three of us were talking, Smith was busy smelling the flowers and watching the plants.
"Done, mates. I collected enough stuff to catch the murderer. Let us head back.", Smith pointed towards a translucent bag in his hand and smiled proudly. Ron and Emma exchanged looks. Emma took that bag from Smith's hand and said, "Let us see what has Detective Smith got in his little magic bag."  We didn't call each other as detectives unless meant sarcastically. Smith let her take the bag easily but with a warning,"Easy, Emm, you wouldn't want to ruin the only clues that can lead us to the killer."
"Ok, Smith", Emma put her hand inside the bag to take out things and said,"A biscuit pack because?"
"I believe these biscuits were used by the killer for snacking with the blood.", Smith replied.
"A toothpick because?", Emma put her hand in again and took put a used dirty toothpick. Ron had an eww look on her face.
"Because I think that the killer used and threw it here.", Smith said.
Emma didn't want to put her hand in again. She returned the bag to Smith. "And Detective Smith, how will we know if these things you believe are true or not?", Ron asked. "I don't know. I can't do everything. That is for the team to decide.", Smith said and walked to the exit.
Back at the shed...
By the time we got back, everybody had come. Beckie was telling everyone how useless had the chat with Mrs. Doyle gone. "We returned her cat's body. All she said was that she will kill the monster who did this to Jess.", she said.
"Hey, guys. You are back too. Any luck?", Jake looked at me with a raised brow. "Luck favored Detective Smith only. He has something for you.", Ron winked and sat on her seat.
Jake checked the bag, the things and asked the same questions, "How can we know if these were killer's? And how will these things help us to catch the killer?"
"We can take these to Paddy's lab. I am sure he will know what to do with these.", Alex said. Jake was not happy with the idea. He ignored Alex's remark.
There was a reason behind our all-kids-team and that was that Jakr made us realise that our parents didn't take us seriously because we were 'just kids', 'good for nothing kids', 'can do nothing on their own kids' etc.
"You mean seek help from an elder, Alex?", Beckie said, "No. We are not doing that."
Jake seemed disappointed. He took the marker and made a small circle on the board. "This is our today's progress. Zero. We need to work harder, mates.", he said.
"Yes. Tomorrow Jake and I will take Barney with us and talk to Mrs. Doyle again. And you all can get back to your work. Results, people. We want results.", Beckie continued when Jake finished talking. 
Next day, Jake and Beckie left with Barney to visit Mrs. Doyle again. Rest of us stayed. "I am not doing garden again. You boys go to check the garden and we will go around the city.", Emma said.
"Yes. And you've got Detective Smith with you. No worries. Right, girls?", Ron giggled.
We went to turn the leaves in the garden. Girls wandered all around the city.
Later that day when we returned to the shed, girls were already back. Jake and Beckie were sitting there in their chairs. Barney was tied with his chain and he was sitting so quiet. Jake always left Barney unchained.
"Something is wrong.", Smith whispered. Even the girls were silent. We just pushed each other forward and sat down.
"Jake?", I called his name. Everyone was eager to know whay had happened. "Guys, turns out that our guess about a vampire being the killer was wrong. We will have to drop this case.", Jake said.
Beckie interupted, "Seriously, Jake? This is how you tell the truth to our team? You promised you won't hide anything. Ok, guys", she turned towards us and continued,"We went to see Mrs. Doyle today and we took Barney along. Mrs. Doyle recognised and almost killed the 'Monster' who killed Jess. Turned out that our victim cat was Barney's birthday feast food."
The room roared with exclamations. All thought so big of the smart dog Barney. But now he was a culprit tied in chains.