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‘Don’t worry, Alfie,’ Salmon said kindly. ‘We’ll catch the culprit and save your show.’

I was suitably reassured as we left Salmon to go to our last port of call for today, which was Dustbin. Although Snowball agreed with me that it couldn’t be Tommy doing all of this, we both felt that it would be a good idea to go and check that he was alright. I was worried that others might be pointing the finger at him, the way Claire and Jonathan had.

‘It’s been a long day, already,’ Snowball said as we made our way to the restaurant yard in the freezing cold. It was as though she could read my mind.

‘God, it has, and if we don’t get this sorted, every day might be long from now on.’ I wanted to time our visit for after school so I could get a sense of whether it possibly could have been Tommy.

‘At least we’ll get some food when we get there,’ she said, suddenly cheering. Oh yes, we had definitely earned some treats, as we’d been working so very hard.

‘Ah, I thought we might see you,’ Dustbin said as we greeted him. ‘And I think you are just in time.’ He gestured to the yard behind Tomasz and Franceska’s house, where Aleksy and Tommy were stood, staring at each other.

‘You did it,’ Aleksy was shouting, his face red. Uh oh, it wasn’t just Jonathan that thought Tommy could be our culprit.

‘No, I did not.’

‘You said you’re helping with the show but you still call it stupid and now look what’s happened.’

‘It is stupid but that doesn’t mean I did it.’ Tommy and Aleksy were standing quite close together. I ran to get in the middle.

‘Meow,’ I said loudly.

‘Alfie, Tommy is the one ruining our show,’ Aleksy said.

‘Yowl.’ I really don’t think he is.

‘I’m not,’ Tommy shouted back. Thankfully, Franceska appeared.

‘What is all the shouting about?’

‘Tommy won’t admit that he’s the one messing up the show.’

‘Aleksy, your brother wouldn’t do that; right, Tommy?’

‘I didn’t, Mum. Look, I may not have been as supportive as I should have been but I am trying, and I wouldn’t do anything to ruin it for the shelter. I’m not a monster.’

‘You are a monster,’ Aleksy shot back.

‘Aleksy, stop it. Listen to me, if Tommy says he didn’t do it then that’s good enough. And last night he was definitely here all evening, so it couldn’t have been him.’

‘See,’ Tommy said.

‘Yes, but Tommy you have to see that your behaviour has been so bad lately that people might suspect you, and for that you only have yourself to blame,’ she added.

‘Right.’ Tommy looked at the ground.

‘Can we try to stop this? Christmas is coming soon and the show needs you and Charlie for the social media. He has been doing a good job so far, hasn’t he, Aleksy?’ I was glad that Franceska was able to remain so calm.

‘He has,’ Aleksy said grudgingly.

‘So can we agree that Tommy, you’ll make more effort, and Aleksy, you give your brother another chance.’

‘I am sorry, Aleksy, but I really didn’t do it and I wouldn’t hurt the show.’ Tommy sounded sincere.

‘OK, I’m sorry I accused you, but maybe you could stop taking the mickey out of me now and just get on with it?’

‘Deal.’

The boys shook hands and I felt we had made a real breakthrough. But then, if it wasn’t Tommy, we still didn’t know who was the show wrecker in our midst.

That night at rehearsals, it all seemed normal as I patrolled the backstage area. I was so tired from the day’s adventures but as George kept saying ‘the show must go on’. No one seemed hostile, no one was acting suspiciously. Tomasz still hadn’t found his keys and he asked if anyone had seen them – they had not. But then, if someone had taken them they wouldn’t say, would they? Polly was ranting about the damage, and how it was taking money from people who already had less than nothing – how you could have less than nothing I wasn’t sure – but again, I looked for reactions, but no one looked guilty. The only conclusion was that either the person wasn’t here tonight, or they werevery good at acting. Oh boy, that gave me an idea. I went to find George.

‘George,’ I hissed.

‘What?’ I ushered him into the corner. I would have rounded up Hana and Snowball as well but Harold was holding them both, one in each arm, so I couldn’t tell them yet.

‘You know I’ve been looking for clues and I discovered that no one showed any guilt backstage, which means that the culprit either isn’t here or is a very good actor.’

‘And what does that mean?’

‘It means that we are looking for someone with big feet who is also a good actor.’

‘But apart from me we don’t have anyone that good in the show,’ George pointed out.

‘Well, yes, OK, but we need to look closely at the people in the Nativity. Not Matt and Tomasz of course, but the men we don’t know. So, our first step, pardon the pun, is to look at everyone’s feet and pick out those who have the biggest.’

‘What do you mean, about the pun?’ George eyed me as if I was a little mad.

‘Never mind, just keep your eyes open for a big-footed actor.’ How hard could he be to find? It wasn’t as if we had a cast of thousands.