“Yes,” he said, “but … I-I did not do it.”
The crowd, all ready to hang somebody after Valerie’s speech, didn’t believe him. Alice took Roberto away and put him in the town jail.
3
ROBERTO TAKES THE FALL
THE CITY CHARTER STATES THAT if anyone is arrested, he or she must go to jail until an investigation can be completed. This was the first time in Kidsboro’s short history that we had to use this page of the city charter.
Alice would do the investigation, Roberto would be put on trial, and then if he were found guilty, the jury would have to decide what the punishment should be. If Roberto were convicted, there would be no other choice for us but to kick him out of town. This was a serious crime.
Scott started to argue with Alice about who should do the investigation, but Alice put a stop to that right away. “Are you a member of the police force?” she asked, pushing up her sleeves.
“No,” Scott said.
“Well, this is official police business.”
“I’m a private investigator. I can investigate for you.”
“If a private citizen hires you, you can investigate. Until then, this is a crime scene. Get back.”
Scott backed off without another word. This was the first real police work Alice had had the opportunity to do. No way was anybody going to move in on it.
Alice looked over the crime scene, took statements from Marcy and Roberto, and checked around to see if there were any other witnesses.
There weren’t. Things didn’t look too good for Roberto. In fact … I was beginning to think he might actually have done it. I wanted to believe him, but frankly, all the evidence pointed in his direction. I went to the jail to talk to him.
Roberto was obediently sitting in the cell, which was barely larger than a closet. The bars were made out of thin tree branches, and anybody with the strength of a kitten could get out, but the understanding was that you wouldn’t try. I guess all of our rules were pretty much this type of understanding.
Roberto barely looked up when I walked in. He acted like a guy who’d just missed a million-dollar free throw. Being a part of Kidsboro was his chance to fit in somewhere, and it looked like it was slipping away.
I sat at Alice’s desk outside the cell and looked into his eyes. He stared back at me blankly. I decided to be up front. “Did you do it?”
“No,” he said sincerely. He explained in his accent, “I was in my house putting pictures on my walls. Then I heard someone call me. So I went to see who, and I saw this girl Marcy’s door was open. I thought that maybe the voice came from inside. So I went in and saw the whole place was torn up. Then I turned around and Marcy was there watching me. She yelled. I did not know what to do. Then that big police girl came and pushed me up against the wall.”
“You said you heard somebody call out your name. Was it a boy’s voice or a girl’s voice?”
“Boy.”
“Did you recognize it?”
“No.”
“Did you tell Alice all of this?”
“Yes, but I do not think she believed me.” He looked at me sadly and asked, “Do you believe me, Ryan?”
It suddenly occurred to me that my opinion might be important to him. Maybe I was the only person who had ever given him a chance. Now my answer to this question would do one of two things: show me to be a true friend, or lump me in with all of the other kids who distrusted him because of his father’s reputation. Maybe the way I answered this was more important to him than being a part of the city. “Yes, I believe you,” I said. I think I meant it, but to be honest, I’m not sure.
I was on my way to ask Alice about the investigation when I saw a crowd of people gathered around Jill. She was holding up a newspaper and everyone around her was waving their money to get one. “Special edition! Five tokens a copy! Read all about the Kidsboro Burglar!”
The normal price for an issue of the paper was three tokens. This was the biggest story ever to hit Kidsboro, so five tokens was probably a bargain. Unfortunately for Jill, there was not a lot of news to report in a town of 30—especially when the crime rate, before now, was basically zero. A donut had been stolen from Sid’s Bakery a couple of months earlier and Jill had had a field day with that. It was front-page news for three issues. She did extensive interviews, took photographs of the crime scene, wrote feature stories on the history of the bakery and the history of donuts and the history of stolen donuts—and then Sid remembered that he had eaten the donut. Jill had got a lot of ribbing for that. I was sure that she wanted to save face now with this new story.
I went up to Jill and took five tokens out of my pocket. “How did you do this so fast?”
“Ryan, dear, old news is no news. And this is the biggest story in the history of Kidsboro.”
“Yeah, but how did you get all the information already?”
“You wanna know what made the front page of my last issue? Alice’s new police badge that she bought at a carnival,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Let’s just say I was inspired.”
I smiled and looked at the story. She had certainly made headway in the last two hours. She had summaries, interviews, pictures of the scene (apparently she’d gone to a one-hour photo place), biographies of all the people involved …Wait a minute!
My face turned hot as I flipped to page two of the story. Jill had made her way down the street and was giving change to someone. I stormed over to her.
“What is this?” I shook the paper.
“What?” she asked innocently.
“You mentioned that Roberto’s father is in jail!”
“Yeah.”
“First of all, that’s a rumor. Second, how dare you print it!”
“It’s a fact related to the story.”
“It has nothing to do with the story.”
“Don’t you think it’s important?”
“No, I don’t!” I shouted. “It has nothing to do with whether he broke into Marcy’s house!”
“He did it, Ryan. Everybody knows it.”
“I don’t know it. In fact, I’m beginning to doubt that he had anything to do with it. The point is, he hasn’t had a trial yet. He’s innocent until proven guilty in court.”
She breathed heavily a few times, then realized she had no comeback.
“Don’t tell me how to do my job.” She charged off.
The trial process was a little sketchy, but it was outlined in the city charter. There were three lawyers in town. One was Pete Marvison, whose only qualifications were that he liked the idea of being a lawyer and watched a lot of lawyer television shows. Pete was Roberto’s lawyer.
Pete was smart enough, and I didn’t doubt that he might actually make a good lawyer. The problem was that his opponent was none other than Valerie Swanson. Valerie could make anyone look dumb, and Pete knew it. He knew he would be no match for her, and everyone could tell he was more than a bit nervous about opposing her.
Pete came into the court room with a huge stack of disorganized papers, and, of course, as soon as he stepped through the door, he dropped all of them. He fell to his knees and scrambled to retrieve them before too many people noticed.
I knew Pete was really in trouble when he shouted, “Objection!” before the trial even started. Amy, the judge, said, “What are you objecting to?” and Pete slid back down in his chair and sheepishly answered, “Never mind.”
Valerie spoke well. She used big words and concepts like “reasonable doubt.” She even threw in some Latin at one point, and I could tell this made an impression on the jury. Her first witness was Officer Alice. Alice obviously thought Roberto did it. Later on, Valerie had the nerve to mention Roberto’s father. I glanced at Pete, hoping for an objection, but he was sitting in his chair, trying to get chocolate off of his sleeve.
Pete asked Alice a few questions too, but they were completely beside the point. He asked her if she really thought girls could be police officers. Alice, and pretty much everyone else in the room
, was offended by this question. Alice rolled up her sleeves like She was going to deck him, but before she could, Pete quickly said, “No further questions, Your Honor,” and backed away.
The five-person jury went outside to discuss the case, but everyone knew the verdict was already decided. They returned in 30 seconds to declare Roberto guilty. And just as I had figured, the punishment was banishment from the town.
After the trial, I stepped over to the defense table. Roberto had his head in his hands.
“I’m sorry,” was all I could say.
He stood up. He wouldn’t look me in the eye.
“Hey,” I said. “We’re still friends, okay?”
He thought for a second, chuckled, then said, “Were we friends before?”
“We will be now.”
I don’t think he believed me, but he managed a smile anyway. “Yes. I’m sure we will.” I think he assumed that I would never talk to him again.
I was hoping to look further into the crime, but I felt like I had to get on with some may oral duties first. I had several appointments with Kidsboro citizens who I thought might be in the same predicament Scott was in—they were broke.
The first appointment was with a boy named James—a puny little kid who was probably the only person in town who would lose to Scott Sanchez in a fight. He didn’t even have to duck his head as he came through the door into my office. He stood in front of me, a nervous look on his face.
“Hi, James,” I said, trying to set him at ease.
“Hi.”
“Sit down.” He sat. “I’m having meetings with a bunch of people today just to get some idea of how everything is going. How you like living here, how you like your job, whatever. I’m always trying to get new ideas for ways to improve things.” He seemed to loosen up a bit and I went on. “So how is everything going?”
“Good.”
“You like being a citizen here?”
“Sure.”
“How’s your job going?” He looked at me as if I had just asked him why he didn’t hand in last night’s homework.
“Fine.”
“What is it you do again?”
“I’m a doctor.” This was the scariest thing I think I ever heard.
“Really? And have you … treated anyone?”
“No,” he answered and I breathed a subtle sigh of relief. “You know, I only do first aid anyway. No surgery or anything.”
“Of course.”
“I figured since we’re in the woods, somebody might get hurt. So I got this medical kit at the store. It’s got bandages, antiseptic, stuff like that. And I took a CPR course, too. I’m pretty good at it.”
“Congratulations.”
“But nobody trusts me. A few people have gotten hurt, but they won’t let me put anything on it, not even a Band-Aid. You remember when Max fell out of that tree and hurt his ankle?”
“Right.”
“I went over and tried to help him, but he wouldn’t let me. He called me a quack and limped home.”
“So, you’ve never actually used any of your medical skills?”
“Just on the dummies at school.”
“Then you’ve never made any money since you’ve been here.”
“No.”
“No side jobs?”
“No.”
“So, you’ve never bought anything in town?”
“At first, with the money I had left over after I bought my house. But not for a couple of months.”
“Hmm.” I tapped my lips with my pencil. “Okay, James, that’s all I need. If you ever have any suggestions for making the town better, just let me know, okay?”
“Sure.” He turned around and left.
I wanted to think that James was not the norm. James was, after all, known for being a pretty lazy person. Surely the others would be vital participants in the town’s economy.
I was wrong. All of the interviews were the same. I talked to 10 people, and eight of them had never made any money in two months. I had to do something about this.
I told the city council what was going on, and they agreed we needed to make sure that everyone had a legitimate job. I proposed that we establish a law where every person had to find some way to make at least 10 tokens a week. Those who failed to do so three weeks in a row would lose their houses for a month. I thought this was tough, but fair. I called it the Everybody Works program.
Making 10 tokens a week should be a cakewalk. All these people needed was incentive. I knew that every citizen of Kidsboro had enough creativity and intelligence to come up with ways to make money. But until now, there had never been anything there to push them to do so. This program would force them to think for themselves and become productive members of society.
After some tough discussion, the city council voted four to one that we enforce this law for the good of the people, so that what had happened to Sid wouldn’t happen to others. Scott voted against it, undoubtedly because this meant he would have to find a way to make some money himself. Scott needed a kick in the pants more than anyone.
I left the meeting feeling as though I had accomplished something. The Everybody Works program seemed like a good long-term idea, even if it wouldn’t win me any popularity contests at first. I was working for the good of the city, so popularity was not my top priority.
A couple of days later I headed to my clubhouse office. Valerie and a few others were gathered out front in what looked like a press conference. Jill was there, writing down everything Valerie said. The others were listening intently.
“I don’t know about anyone else,” Valerie said, “but I’m embarrassed for our mayor. What is this Everybody Works program? Now he’s forcing us to work? Don’t we work enough at school and at home without having to worry about the daily grind in Kidsboro? This guy is in love with rules. And another thing, he selected Roberto to be a member of our community, and not two days after he was voted in, Roberto committed the biggest crime ever in Kidsboro. I’m beginning to think the mayor doesn’t really know what’s best for the city anymore.”
Valerie spotted me as I walked up. She smiled that evil smile of hers. “Well, hello, Mr. Mayor.” Jill stopped writing and looked up at me as well. I guessed She was still mad at me because she smiled her own version of an evil smile. She obviously planned on printing Valerie’s every word in the next issue.
Valerie continued the press conference. “Like I was saying, I’m beginning to lose my trust in a mayor who votes to put criminals on our streets….”
I turned away, realizing that her vision to destroy me was only just beginning. Suddenly, it dawned on me. Of course! Valerie wanted to disgrace me in front of the whole town. What better way to do it than to disgrace one of the people I had chosen to join the town! Valerie set Roberto up! I stepped into my office. The investigation was reopened!
4
SUPER SLEUTHS
OFFICER ALICE HAD ALREADY DECLARED that the investigation was over, so I couldn’t ask her for help. I decided to go to the Scott Sanchez Detective Agency. I realized Scott had never actually done any detective work before, but another set of eyes and brains wouldn’t hurt, no matter how untrained the eyes and brains were. Plus, I had promised Scott after we passed the new law that I would help him find work. Keeping my promises—what a great elected official I was!
When I walked through his doorway, Scott was sitting in a lawn chair reading a comic book. It never even occurred to him that I might be a client. “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
“I’m here to hire you,” I said.
“You what?”
“I want to hire you.”
“Pardon me for being dense, but I don’t follow.”
“Aren’t you a detective?” I asked.
“Sure.”
“I need a detective.”
He dropped the comic book as if his hands had suddenly gone numb. He acted like he had no idea what to do at this point. Should he ask a bunch of questions? Should he get his magnifying gla
ss?
“How much do you charge?” I asked as I pulled a few starbills out of my pocket. Scott seemed clueless.
“How much? Um … I don’t know. I—I used to have this written down somewhere. Hold on.” He began to rummage through a shelf. It was filled with comic books, cereal box tops, and a paddle ball game. You know—important detective equipment. He stopped looking and faced me again. “I’ll tell you what. Since you’re a friend, I’ll forget the rates and give you a discount.”
“Sounds fair,” I said, knowing he was winging it.
“How about half a starbill an hour?”
This rate was a little steep, but I thought I’d give him a break.
“It’s a deal.”
“Great. Okay.” He nervously looked around, probably hoping by some miracle that there might be something lying around his office that would tell him where to start.
“Listen,” I said as he continued to search. “I don’t think Roberto broke into Marcy’s house. I think we should reopen the investigation.”
“Here it is,” he said triumphantly. He held up a plaid hat, like the one Sherlock Holmes wore. He returned to his shelf. I hoped that he wasn’t searching for a pipe.
“Great. Did you hear me?”
“Yes. Marcy’s house. Who do you think did it?”
“I have my suspicions, but I’d rather not say right now.”
“Okay,” he said. I waited for him to suggest a course of action, but I was torn. I wanted to give him the chance to lead the investigation, but at the same time, he was charging me half a starbill an hour for this. I wanted to get started on it.
“Why don’t we go to Roberto’s old house?” I said finally.
“Good idea.” He started out the door.
“Um,” I said, “are you going to wear that hat?”
He stopped and thought about it. “You don’t like the hat?”
“It’s just … a little … goofy.”
He seemed offended and, for the first time, showed me who was boss here. “I’m leading this investigation, thank you. Come on.”
The Fight for Kidsboro Page 3
