by David Lewman
“Can you tell how big the guy is?” Corey said.
She smiled, shaking her head. “I’m afraid not. That kind of analysis is beyond my expertise.”
“You can’t tell what brand the shoe was, can you?” Hannah asked hopefully.
“No, I can’t tell that either,” Mrs. Corelli said. “There are thousands of brands of shoes. I’m familiar with quite a few of them, and if this were a really unusual brand, I might recognize it. Especially if it had the name on the bottom!”
They laughed. She slid the plaster cast back into the bag and handed it to Hannah. The investigators thanked her and started to leave.
“May I ask what you’re investigating?” Mrs. Corelli asked as they opened the door.
“A missing dog,” Corey said, as if that explained everything.
Mrs. Corelli looked puzzled, but then she smiled and wished them good luck with their investigation.
Chapter 10
As they walked away from Mrs. Corelli’s shoe repair shop, Ben asked, “Has anyone called about the five-hundred-dollar reward for Molly?”
“No,” Hannah said. “At least, they hadn’t when I left for school this morning. We can ask my parents when we get there.”
Corey looked surprised. “You mean, we’re all going over to your house right now?”
Hannah nodded as she walked quickly down the sidewalk. “We’re going to tell them what we’ve learned about the evidence. Maybe then they’ll believe that Molly was stolen.”
Corey and Ben looked at each other. They weren’t sure they wanted to be in on a confrontation with Hannah’s parents. But once Hannah got an idea in her head, there was pretty much no stopping her. Instead of wasting your time arguing, it was best just to brace yourself and go along for the ride.
They’d spent quite a while at the shoe repair shop, so by the time they reached Hannah’s house, her parents were in the kitchen, working on getting dinner ready.
“There you are!” Hannah’s mom said. “I was starting to get a little worried.”
“Sorry,” Hannah said. “I should have called. We went to a shoe repair shop owned by a friend of Corey’s mom.”
Hannah’s mom stopped peeling carrots for a moment. “Did your shoes need to be repaired? I thought you just got those.”
“We didn’t actually go there to get our shoes fixed,” Ben said. “We needed her expert opinion on our plaster cast of the shoe print we found in the backyard.”
“Ah,” Hannah’s dad said as he chopped parsley. “Your investigation. How’s that going?”
Hannah, Ben, and Corey told Hannah’s parents what they had learned about the evidence they’d gathered. How the crumbs matched one of the dog biscuits from the dog show—the kind Molly didn’t like. How the pieces of broken glass matched the base of the bulb in the safety light and how the tungsten trick proved the light was on when it was broken. And, finally, how the shoe print was made by a man who wore size 10D shoes.
After they heard everything Club CSI had to say, Hannah’s parents were quiet for a moment. “Well,” Mr. Miller said. “You’ve certainly done your homework on this one.”
“I just really want to get Molly back,” Hannah said. “I miss her so much.”
Mr. Miller turned to his wife. “What do you think, honey?”
“I think that maybe Hannah was right about someone breaking into the yard and taking Molly,” Mrs. Miller answered slowly. “It certainly would explain the things you found in the backyard. And no one’s called, even though we offered the five-hundred-dollar reward.”
Hannah’s father nodded. “I agree with Hannah that someone may have stolen Molly. And in that case, I think we should tell the police.”
Hannah was thrilled. Her parents finally agreed with her idea of how Molly had disappeared.
“We just happen to know a very helpful policeman,” Ben said.
Officer Inverno showed Hannah, Corey, and Ben into a small room at the police station. His brother was the principal at their middle school. Twice before, the three kids had done an excellent job of investigating crimes at their school. When they wanted to talk to him about a possible crime, he took them seriously.
“All right,” he said. “What is it this time? Grand larceny? Arson? Murder?” He smiled to let them know he was kidding.
“Dognapping,” Corey said.
“Okay,” Officer Inverno said slowly. “Whose dog?”
“Mine,” Hannah said. “Her name’s Molly.” She brought up a picture of Molly on her phone and showed it to him.
“She’s a great-looking dog,” the policeman said. “But what makes you think she was taken? Could she have run away?”
“That’s not what the evidence says,” Corey said.
“What kind of evidence are we talking about?” Officer Inverno asked.
Hannah opened her backpack. She took out the bag with the crumbs, the jar of broken glass, the base of the broken lightbulb, and the plaster cast of the shoe print.
Together the three friends described how they’d analyzed the evidence with Miss Hodges and Mrs. Corelli. Officer Inverno listened carefully.
“And so, we believe that someone came into my backyard and took Molly,” Hannah concluded.
“What do you think?” Corey asked.
Officer Inverno seemed to be choosing his words carefully. “I think you three have done a wonderful job. You’ve collected evidence, stored it carefully, and examined it thoroughly, even getting help from experts.”
Corey frowned. “That’s really nice, but why do I get the feeling you’re about to say ‘but?’”
The policeman chuckled. “You’re right. I was about to say ‘But there isn’t much I can do.’ All this evidence is circumstantial, not conclusive.”
“Remind me of what ‘circumstantial’ means, please,” Corey said.
“With circumstantial evidence, the circumstances suggest something. But they don’t really prove it,” Officer Inverno explained.
“So you don’t believe Molly was taken?” Hannah asked, disappointed.
“She may have been,” he said gently. “But nothing else was taken. And a dog is certainly capable of running away so I can’t be sure a crime was committed here.”
He pushed his chair back and stood up. “Still, it’s good that you came in to tell me about this. It was the right thing to do. I will certainly keep all this in mind, and if any additional information comes in to really support your theory, I will definitely launch an investigation, okay?”
“Okay,” Ben said. “Thanks for your time. We appreciate you listening to us.”
Outside, as they walked away from the police station, Hannah felt as though she might start to cry. She missed her dog. Who knew how Molly was being treated? And it seemed the police weren’t going to do anything at all to find her.
Corey and Ben could tell she was upset. “Don’t worry,” Corey said. “We’ll find Molly.”
“You keep saying that,” Molly said miserably, “but it keeps not happening.”
Chapter 11
As they walked back to Hannah’s house, the three members of Club CSI discussed what they should do next.
“Maybe I should dress up as a dog to lure the dognapper into taking me,” Corey said, hoping to get a smile out of Hannah. He didn’t.
“Well,” Ben said, “we’re sure that somebody took Molly. The question is who? Let’s try to come up with a list of suspects.”
The three of them walked in silence for a moment, thinking. Then Hannah spoke up.
“I hate to accuse anyone without any hard evidence pointing to them,” she said, “but that high-school girl Lauren seems like a suspect.”
“The girl who owns that little dog? Princess?” Ben asked. “Why would she take Molly?”
“I don’t know,” Hannah replied. “Maybe she was jealous that her dog came in second in the contest. Since she works at a pet supply store, she might know something about how to handle dogs. And she definitely had a bag of those treats
, like the smashed one we found in the yard.”
“Yes, but does she wear men’s shoes? Size ten D?” Ben said slowly.
“She could have worn someone else’s shoes that night, just to confuse us,” Corey said. “Like her dad’s shoes. Maybe she even left the shoe print behind on purpose.”
“I guess that’s possible,” Hannah said. “But now that you say it out loud, it sounds pretty unlikely.”
They walked on, thinking. A kid rode by on his bicycle and waved, but they barely noticed.
“Why would anyone steal a dog, anyway?” Corey asked. “Can’t you get one for free at the dog pound?”
“Some people might steal dogs in order to sell them,” Ben said. “Certain breeds are really expensive.”
“Including Australian cattle dogs,” Hannah said. “I think my parents paid a lot of money for Molly when she was a puppy.”
They reached Hannah’s house. “I’ve got an idea,” Ben said. “Maybe we should check online to see if anyone is trying to sell an Australian cattle dog. Someone around here, that is.”
“That’s a good idea,” Hannah said. “Come on in, and we’ll check.”
“I’ve got to get home pretty soon,” Corey said. “It’s almost time for dinner.”
“This’ll only take a second,” Hannah assured him. “Come on.”
Hannah opened the front door and led the way into the house. Her parents heard them come in.
“What did the police say?” Hannah’s dad asked.
“Officer Inverno was nice about the whole thing,” Hannah said. “But he called our evidence ‘circumstantial,’ and he said there really wasn’t much he could do.”
Her dad shook his head. “I was afraid of that.”
“Did anyone call about the reward while we were gone?” Hannah asked.
“I’m afraid not, honey,” her mom said.
Hannah started up the stairs to her room, followed by Ben and Corey.
“Dinner’s just about ready,” Mrs. Miller said.
“We’re just going to check something on the Internet,” Hannah called. “It’ll only take a second.”
In Hannah’s room, the three friends gathered around her computer, staring at the screen. Ben was the fastest typist, so they let him “drive.”
He quickly found a few Australian cattle dogs for sale, but when they checked the pictures, none of them was Molly. And only one of them was anywhere near their part of Nevada.
Since Australian cattle dogs were a fairly unusual breed, there weren’t that many of them for sale.
“Well, it was worth a shot,” Ben said.
“Yeah,” Hannah said. “It’s always easy enough to do a quick Internet search. It’s just so disappointing when you don’t find what you’re looking for.”
“Maybe we should do a quick search for ‘cute kitten,’” Corey suggested. “Then we’ll get, like, a billion hits.”
Hannah’s mom called from downstairs. “Hannah, dinner’s ready!”
“What are you having?” Corey asked. “It smells good.”
Hannah smiled. “I’d invite you to stay, but you said you have to go.”
“Yeah, my parents are expecting me,” Corey said. “I just hope whatever they serve tastes as good as your dinner smells.”
After Ben and Corey had said good-bye and left, Hannah and her parents sat down together to eat dinner. No matter what they talked about, Hannah couldn’t stop thinking about her dog. Where was she? Was she all right? Was she cold? Hungry? Sad?
As she picked at her food, Hannah thought about how Molly used to sit under the table during meals. She’d bump Hannah’s leg with her nose, hoping to get a bite of dinner. And whenever her parents weren’t looking, Hannah would sneak food under the table to Molly. Not too much. She didn’t want Molly to get fat. Just little nibbles.
She looked around the dining room, hoping to distract herself from thoughts about her missing dog, but the first thing she saw was a picture of her family with Molly. She was sitting on the ground, and Hannah had her arms around her neck, hugging her.
Hannah really didn’t feel like eating.
Ding-dong.
The front doorbell rang.
“I’m not expecting anyone,” Mrs. Miller said, puzzled.
“Me either,” Hannah said.
Mr. Miller stood up and wiped his mouth with his napkin. “I’m not expecting anyone either, but I’ll see who it is.”
He left the dining room. They heard him open the front door. Then he called excitedly, “Hannah, come here!”
Hannah got up and hurried to the front hallway. When she looked through the doorway she saw . . . Molly!
Chapter 12
Hannah ran to hug her dog. Molly jumped up and licked her face. Her dog was back!
Kneeling to pet Molly (and hug her a few more times), Hannah looked up to see who had brought her back. She was surprised to see their neighbor Mr. Webster, standing on their front step.
“Mr. Webster! Thank you so much for bringing Molly back! Where did you find her?”
Mr. Webster ran his fingers through his thinning brown hair. “Oh, um . . . down by Jackson’s Pond.”
Hannah was surprised. “Really? What was she doing? Was anyone with her?”
Mr. Webster looked at his shoes. “No, she was by herself. Just . . . running around. I recognized her from seeing you walk her around the neighborhood. She’s a very unique-looking dog!”
Something in Mr. Webster’s manner made Hannah suspicious. He wasn’t looking her in the eye. And he hesitated before he answered her questions. Giving someone back a dog should have been a happy moment, but he seemed uncomfortable, as though he wanted to leave.
“I don’t know if you’ve seen our posters around the neighborhood, but we were offering a five-hundred-dollar reward for Molly’s return. You’ve earned it. I’ll write you a check,” Mr. Miller said.
Mr. Webster shook his head. “Oh no. I don’t want any money from you. Just seeing your daughter reunited with her dog is enough reward for me. My daughter has a cat, and she’d be heartbroken if it was lost. I’m just happy to help.”
He turned to leave. Hannah stood up to ask him another question before he left.
“Mr. Webster, I’m just curious,” she said. “There’s such a big park area around Jackson’s Pond. Where exactly was Molly when you found her?”
Mr. Webster scratched his neck. “She was, um, near the pond.”
That wasn’t very specific.
“My friends and I have been doing an investigation of Molly’s disappearance, so I’d love to ask you a few more questions if you don’t mind,” Hannah said.
He pursed his lips. “I’m sorry, Hannah, but I’m afraid I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.”
He hurried away down the sidewalk.
“That was odd,” Hannah said. “I got the feeling Mr. Webster wasn’t telling us the whole truth about where he found Molly.”
“Well, wherever she was, it must have been muddy,” Dad said, laughing. Hannah looked at the carpet and saw Molly’s muddy paw prints.
“Oh, sorry,” Hannah apologized.
“Who cares? It’s only a little mud,” Mrs. Miller said, joining them. “We’re just thrilled to have Molly back!”
“Me too!” Hannah said, giving Molly another hug.
Molly barked with joy.
“Maybe I should put a lock on the back gate,” Hannah’s dad said. “I don’t want anyone taking Molly away again.”
“That’s what’s so strange,” Hannah said. “Why would someone take Molly and then leave her down by Jackson’s Pond?”
“Maybe they didn’t like paying her food bills,” Mr. Miller kidded.
“Speaking of food . . . Come on, Molly,” Hannah’s mom said. “Let’s get you some dinner.”
Hannah stopped hugging Molly and let her follow her mom into the kitchen.
“Did Molly seem all right when you were hugging her?” her dad asked. “She didn’t seem hurt in any way, did sh
e?”
“No, she seemed perfectly fine. No injuries. Her coat seemed smooth. And she seems as though she’s been fed and watered,” Hannah said. “Whoever took her must have taken good care of her.”
“But didn’t Mr. Webster say he found her alone?” Mr. Miller asked. “Maybe we were wrong. Maybe Molly did run away.”
“But then how do you explain the broken light? The dog biscuit? The shoe print?” Hannah asked. “The evidence still makes me believe someone broke into the yard and stole Molly.”
“I’m just glad she’s back,” Hannah’s dad said, smiling.
Hannah went into the kitchen, where Molly was happily crunching away at her dry dog food.
“Mom?” Hannah asked. “What do you know about Mr. Webster?”
“Well, I know he’s the wonderful man who returned our Molly,” she said. She was sitting in a chair at the table, just watching Molly eat. It had never seemed all that interesting before, but now it was fascinating.
“What else do you know about him?” Hannah tried again.
Mrs. Miller gave Hannah a puzzled look. “You’re not suspicious of him, are you?” she asked. “Hannah, he returned our dog to us. Please don’t tell me you’re now suspicious of him! I don’t want to worry that your Club CSI is turning you into a suspicious person!”
“I’m just curious,” Hannah said. “That’s all.”
“Well, all right. Let me think,” her mom relented. “Mr. Webster lives about two blocks away. He has his own restaurant that he runs downtown. We’ve never eaten there, but it’s supposed to be pretty good. I think maybe his wife works in the restaurant too.”
“Do they have kids?” Hannah asked.
“Yes, a daughter. I think her name is Megan. She plays soccer—very competitively. I believe she goes to special soccer camps and everything.”
“Oh, right,” Hannah remembered. “He mentioned his daughter. He said she’d really miss her cat if it went missing, and that’s why he refused to take the reward.”
