Detective Nanny – The Broken Window (Story 1)

It was a warm autumn morning. The neighborhood had big houses and shiny cars.

The houses were close together, so the yards were small. But some houses had small pools or trampolines. Children were outside, playing. Some children were playing soccer and some were playing catch.

While Nadine walked down the street, she checked the house numbers.

Number 34, 36, 38…

40! This was the house.

Nadine looked up at the big, green house. It was beautiful. In front of the house, there was a large garden, swings and a wooden bench. The house had 2 floors, and on the second floor, there was a wide balcony.

They must have a large backyard, too, thought Nadine. She walked around and looked toward the back of the house.

But as she started to walk around the house, she stopped. One of the house windows was broken! She looked around, but didn’t see anything unusual. Just a broken window.

She heard yelling. Inside the house, people were arguing. And crying?

Oh my… what is happening here? Nadine thought. She ran back to the front of the house and knocked on the door.

A woman answered the door. She was wearing a business suit and her hair was in a bun. She looked angry. Her lips were tight.

“Yes?” said the woman.

“Um, I am Nadine, your new nanny.” Nadine pulled her business card out of her purse.

“Oh, thank goodness. Please, come in!” The woman rushed Nadine inside without taking the business card. “This morning has been terrible!”

She brought Nadine to the kitchen and introduced her to the family. “Everyone, this is our new nanny,” the woman said, gesturing toward Nadine.

“Hello, everyone, my name is -“ Nadine started to say.

But nobody was listening. The two children were crying and the father was yelling.

Nadine turned to the mother. “What is going on?”

“It’s against the house rules to throw balls inside the house,” the mother explained quickly. “But this morning, the children were playing catch in the kitchen. Now the window is broken. It took me 10 minutes to clean up. The glass was all over the kitchen!”

“No! It wasn’t us, Mommy!” said the young boy. “I promise!”

“Stop lying,” shouted the mother. “You are in big trouble.”

“Did you see them break the window?” Nadine asked the parents.

“No, we were getting ready for work,” said the mother, “but we heard the window breaking. Look! There are a lot of baseballs on the floor. They were playing catch and one of them threw a ball at the window.”

The boy turned to Nadine. “Miss? Do you believe us? We didn’t break the window! It just broke suddenly. We didn’t touch it!”

The little girl came up to Nadine, too. “Yes! The window broke by itself. We didn’t do it!”

Nadine patted the boy’s and girl’s heads. “I believe you.”

The mother and the father looked at Nadine, in surprise. The father said, “The children were playing catch in the kitchen and they hit the window. They are lying. Why do you believe them?”

Nadine said, “I believe that the children were playing catch in the kitchen, but I don’t believe that they broke the window.”

Question: Why does Nadine believe that the children didn’t break the window?