by Ron Roy
Officer Keene took him outside.
Officer Fallon put his hand on Ruth Rose’s shoulder. “Ruth Rose, are you all right?”
Ruth Rose nodded. “I’m fine, Officer Fallon.”
“So where’s this videotape you told me about?”
Josh ran upstairs and got Lucky’s video. He came back and slid it into the VCR. While they watched, Dink told Officer Fallon how it all happened.
Officer Fallon laughed. “Pretty clever of our thief. He hired you to find the video with his own face in it. If he got rid of the tape, no one could prove he was in that bank.”
“He couldn’t look for the tape himself,” Ruth Rose explained. “The kid who taped him might have recognized him, like I did.”
“How did you kids get hold of this video?” Officer Fallon asked.
Dink remembered their promise to Lucky. “We can’t tell where we got it. We promised.”
Officer Fallon smiled. “Well, whoever caught that guy on tape deserves a reward. Speaking of which, I believe you kids will be sharing a five-thousand-dollar reward from the bank.”
“Five thousand dollars!” Josh jumped out of his seat. He and Dink did a little dance around the living room.
Officer Fallon laughed. “Ruth Rose here is a brave girl. She snuck over to her house and called the police station.”
Ruth Rose turned her favorite shade of pink.
When Officer Fallon left, Ruth Rose did some math on Dink’s calculator. “After we give Lucky his half, we’ll each get $833.33,” she said. “With a penny left over.”
“We’re rich!” said Josh. “Let’s spend it!”
Dink laughed. “Mine’s going into my savings account.”
“Mine, too,” Ruth Rose said. “I’m saving for a computer.”
Josh slumped into a chair. “Yeah, you’re right. My folks would kill me if I blew eight hundred bucks on pizza and ice cream.”
On Monday, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose ran to the high school as soon as Green Lawn Elementary let out. They sat on a bench in front of the high school, out of breath.
“What did Lucky say when you told him he’s getting half of five thousand dollars?” Josh asked.
“Nothing,” Dink said, smiling. “I didn’t tell him.”
Just then the bell rang. A few seconds later, kids came streaming out of the high school.
“There he is!” Ruth Rose ran to meet Lucky O’Leary. She brought him over to the bench. He was smiling.
“Ruth Rose says you got paid. Did you bring my hundred and fifty?” he asked.
Dink shook his head sadly. “Not exactly.”
“What do you mean, ‘Not exactly’?”
The three friends burst out laughing.
“We don’t have a hundred and fifty dollars, but we do have this,” said Dink.
He handed Lucky a check for $2,500.
Lucky’s mouth and eyes popped open. “Twenty-five hundred bucks!” he yelled. “Where did this come from?”
“That’s your half of the reward from the bank,” Dink said. “We looked at your tape when we got home. Ruth Rose recognized the robber. He turned out to be the detective, only he wasn’t really a detective. He was just pretending to be one so he could find you to get your video.”
Lucky blinked. “So you guys nabbed him?”
“Yeah, right in Dink’s house!” Josh said. “Ruth Rose snuck out and called the cops.”
“It was exciting!” said Ruth Rose.
Lucky stared at his check again. He shook his head and grinned. “This is my lucky day. Now my mom can get the kids all their school stuff and have the car fixed.”
“What about college?” Dink asked. “I thought that’s what you were going to do with your money.”
Lucky shook his head. “College is out for now. I’ll have to work for a while till Mom and I can save more.” Lucky looked at his check. “Maybe next year.”
He shook hands with the three kids. “Anyway, thanks a lot for this check. I can’t wait to see my mom’s face when I give it to her!”
Dink watched Lucky walk away. Only he wasn’t limping as much today.
“I wonder how many college courses Lucky could buy with my $833.33,” he said.
Ruth Rose smiled at Dink. “I wonder how many college books he could buy with mine,” she said.
Josh stared. “What? You’re giving your money to Lucky? But you earned it!”
Dink shook his head. “No, we didn’t. We just ran around talking to people. Lucky really earned the reward money.”
“That’s right,” Ruth Rose said. “He’s the one who caught the robber on videotape.”
Dink and Ruth Rose started walking toward Main Street.
“Hey where you guys going?” Josh yelled.
“To the bank,” Dink said over his shoulder. “And then to Lucky’s house.”
Ruth Rose turned around and looked at Josh. “You coming with us?”
Josh grinned, then caught up with Dink and Ruth Rose. “I wonder how many college meals Lucky can buy with my $833.33,” he said.
“Race you to the bank!” said Ruth Rose.
And the three friends took off.
Text copyright © 1997 by Ron Roy.
Illustrations copyright © 1997 by John Steven Gurney.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.
Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York.
http://www.randomhouse.com/
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Roy, Ron. The bald bandit / by Ron Roy; illustrated by John Gurney.
p. cm. — (A to Z mysteries) “A Stepping Stone book.”
SUMMARY: Third-grader Dink and his detective friends hope to receive a big
reward by finding the person whose video recorder picked up a picture of the
local bank robber.
eISBN: 978-0-307-51373-1
[1. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Gurney, John, ill. II. Title.
III. Series: Roy, Ron. A to Z mysteries.
PZ7.R8139Bal 1997 [Fic]—dc21 96-40473
v3.0
