A thought on how it was done

The detective arrived at the scene of the house theft. Every window and door had been locked securely. On the ground beside the house was a spring connected to a piece of wire.

The detective went inside, looked around and arrested the butler immediately. “Why”, asked the owner. The detective explained that a spring had been stretched down the chimney probably under the pretext of cleaning it. The butler stole the items, put them in a bag, hooked it to the spring and let go. It went up the chimney, into the air and dropped beside an accomplice who escaped.