Complete the table series riddle by finding the number that can replace "??".

A Japanese ship is sailing in the Indian Ocean. The captain of the ship feels tired and decides to take shower to be rejuvenated. He goes to take the shower after keeping his diamond-studded Rolex watch and gold chain on the table.
When he comes back after 15 minutes, he finds them missing. There are 4 crew members on the ship and he calls them one by one to ask them what they were doing in that duration.

Following are the answers:
1. Crew 'A' who is the cook replies that he was cooking mutton for the crew members.
2. Crew 'B' who is a housekeeper tells that he was sleeping in his room.
3. Crew 'C' who is the engineer says that he was checking on the generator.
4. Crew 'D' who is another housekeeper says that he was correcting the hoisted flag that was put upside down.

It took only a couple of seconds for the captain to find the thief. Can you find the thief too?

I am the black child of a white father, a wingless bird, flying even to the clouds of heaven. I give birth to tears of mourning in pupils that meet me, even though there is no cause for grief, and at once on my birth, I am dissolved into air. What am I?

Nodes are shown below and you need to connect them based on the following rule: Every node can be connected to the number of nodes inside them, i.e. the first node there is a value of 1 which indicates that the first node can connect to exactly one node only.Can you do it?

Use only one mathematical symbol and all numbers (0-9) to get a sum of 99

What is in seasons, seconds, centuries and minutes but not in decades, years or days?

John can place six large boxes or nine small boxes into a carton.

Can you find out in how many cartons can he place sixty-six boxes in total?

A word I know has six letters it contains, remove one letter and 12 remain. What is it?

Why is 6 afraid of 7?

The Little ant seems to be always confused. Do you know why?