on the way home jean heard a noise behind them
she turned back to see what it was
and she saw a man step behind a tree.she whispered to Jim ,
she said "Jim there is a man behind us, I think he is following us".
"Jim said lets just hurry and get home jean,
maybe he is just going the same way we are".
" I hope so" said jean as she glanced over her shoulder
and saw the man step behind a tree again.
so they hurried along but unknown to them,
the stranger stayed close behind them all the way home.
when they got home they took the box out to the garage
and used Mr.Taylor's torch to burn off the lock.
then Jim raised the lid to the box,
and they looked inside ,"oh how beautiful " ,cried jean.
Jim said "wow" I have never seen anything like this before.

the box was lined with white satin on the inside,
and lying on the satin was a beautiful golden cross,
it was covered with ,diamonds and rubies and emeralds,
the twins had never seen anything so beautiful.
they just stood there staring in amazement at it,
then jean spoke up and said.
"where do you think it came from Jim ?
",Jim who couldn't take his eyes off the cross said,
"I don't know jean but I bet that's why that man that you seen was following us.
"what do you think we should do with it Jim,? said jean
"well it's too late to do anything about it tonight "said Jim
but I think we should take it to the police department
 in the morning and ask them about it.
"ok Jim, whatever you say, but I'm scared what if that man comes back?"
"we just have to hope he doesn't jean.
"well I hope he doesn't", said jean, "he looked awful mean"
"where should we put it it's not safe here in the garage?"
"lets put it in dad's safe in the study", said Jim .
"and get some sleep and not worry about this till tomorrow".
so they put the box in the safe and went to bed.

early the next morning ,they hurriedly got dressed,
they were about to go to the study and get the cross
 when ,Mrs. Taylor called to them,
she said," come on you two it's time to eat".
they were so excited about what the day had in store for them,
they could hardly eat.
after breakfast, they told Mrs. Taylor they were going back out to explore some more.
she said, "ok you two but make sure you check in with me in a while to let me know
that you are ok."
they both said we will at the same time, and then laughed.
so they went to the safe and got the box, then off they went to the police station.
they hadn't gone far ,when jean thought she heard a noise behind them.
she turned around just in time to see a man hide behind the neighbors house
he was peeping out to see if she seen him, she whispered to Jim.
she said ,"Jim, that man is following us again, Jim said quietly,
"take my hand jean maybe we can lose him if we run.
so the ran as fast as they could, after awhile they stopped
Jim said," is he still coming jean" jean said "no I think we lost him.
"good and just in time "said Jim, "there's the police station.

they took the box and went inside, Jim walked over to the desk
he told the officer, that was there who they were.
and said we would like to talk to some one about the Jenkins place.
the officer said just have a seat and I will have someone talk to you.
after a while an offer walked over to them and said ,"good morning you two"
he said with a very friendly voice
"my name is captain Greg, what can I do for you two,
"well I am Jim Taylor and this is my sister jean", said Jim.
"and we found this box over at the Jenkins place, that burned down last week."
and he handed captain Greg the box, then the captain opened the box.
as he stared at the cross in the box, he said "where did you say you found this."
"at the old Jenkins place on west shore drive", Jim said.
"why do you know where it came from?"
"yes" said captain Greg, "it was stolen from a church over in Simmons county
last month and the minister was killed."
"oh how terrible", said jean," did they find out who did it ."
"no" said captain Greg, "not yet they haven't."
maybe the man who was following us is the killer ,said jean,
"what man" said captain Greg,

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