The School Play Mystery

by David A. Adler

  “What!” Ms. Benson said. “There should be lots more money than that.”

  Eric and the other children on stage heard Ms. Benson. They gathered around her, to hear what happened.

  Cam told them all about the shoe box and the missing money.

  “How could that happen?” Eric asked. “How could someone steal the money without opening the box?”

  “What are we going to do?” Susie asked.

  “Cam and I will find the money,” Eric said. “This is a mystery and Cam and I will solve it. We solve lots of mysteries.”

  “You are not solving anything,” Ms. Benson told Eric. “You’re President Lincoln.”

  Ms. Benson looked at the children who had gathered around Cam. “Now, get to your places,” Ms. Benson told them. “People came here to see a play, and they’re going to see one. We’ll find the money.”

  Eric got back on the ladder. “Don’t worry,” he told everyone. “Cam will say, ‘Click’ a few times. She’ll look at all those pictures she has in her head and find the money.”

  Ms. Benson took a small telephone from her pocket. She called the police and quickly told them what happened.

  “Please, go outside and wait for the police,” Ms. Benson told Cam. “They will be here soon.”

  Then Ms. Benson called out, “Dim the lights!”

  Cam hurried to the side of the stage. She watched the children in the center of the stage wait for the curtains to open. Then Cam looked to the back of the stage, at the Offutt’s General Store sign, the table, and the barrels.

  “Open the curtains!” Ms. Benson called out.

  Cam looked at the table again. Suddenly, she remembered something. She closed her eyes and said, “Click!”

  Cam said, “Click!” again.

  She opened her eyes. “I just saw some-thin g,” she told Ms. Benson. “I don’t know who took the money, but I think I know when it was taken.”

  “That’s a start,” Ms Benson said. “Tell the police whatever you know.”

  “I will,” Cam said, “but first, I have to talk to Sara and Danny.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  The curtains opened.

  “A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Eric called out. “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”

  Cam hurried down the aisle to the back of the auditorium. “I need to talk to you,” she told Sara and Danny.

  They followed Cam out of the auditorium.

  “You said you never left the room, but you did. When I came back, there were two empty soda cans on the table.”

  Sara told Cam, “We didn’t leave the room to get the soda. A boy came in here with an ice cooler.”

  “There were only a few people in line,” Danny added. “Some of them also bought soda.”

  “That’s when the money was taken,” Cam said. “The money was taken when there were four people still in line. They bought their tickets after the money was stolen. That’s why, when I opened the box, there were only four dollars in it.”

  Cam looked outside. There were still many children in the playground. She saw a boy with a large cooler sitting under a tree in the corner of the school yard.

  Cam pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “Did he sell you the soda?” Cam asked.

  Sara and Danny looked at the boy.

  “That’s him,” they told Cam.

  Just then there were flashing lights. A police car parked near the school yard. Two officers got out, a man and a woman.

  Cam ran to them.

  “I’m Officer Feldman,” the woman said, “and this is my partner, Officer Zuto.”

  Cam pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “That boy may be the thief,” she told the officers. “He may be the one who stole the ticket money.”

  “We have to speak with Ms. Benson,” Officer Zuto told Cam. “Is she inside?”

  “I’ll take you to her,” Sara said.

  The two officers started to follow Sara and Danny.

  “Wait!” Cam said. “Can’t one of you stay with me and watch the thief?”

  “I’ll stay,” Officer Feldman said.

  Cam told her about the play, the almost empty shoe box, and the boy with the ice cooler.

  “Let’s talk to him,” Officer Feldman said. “Let’s see what he knows about the missing money.”

  Cam and Officer Feldman walked across the playground.

  “Do you want a soda?” the boy asked.

  “No,” Officer Feldman answered. “We want to talk to you.”

  The school doors opened. Officer Zuto came out. He was followed by Sara, Danny, and Ms. Benson.

  “That’s him,” Sara told Ms. Benson. She pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “He’s the one!”

  CHAPTER SIX

  “What’s going on?” the boy asked. “What did I do?”

  “Did you go into the school?” Officer Feldman asked.

  “I went in there to sell soda,” the boy answered. “That’s what I always do.”

  “And what about the money?” Officer Zuto asked. “Did you go near the table? Did you go near the shoe box?”

  “Excuse me. Please, excuse me,” a girl said. “I’m thirsty. I’d like an orange soda.”

  Everyone waited and watched while the boy reached into the cooler. It was filled with ice and lots of cans. The boy found an orange soda. He gave it to the girl and she paid him.

  “Do you always do that?” Ms. Benson asked. “Do you always find the sodas?”

  “No one else knows my system,” the boy answered. “Watch this,” the boy said. “I’ll get a cola.”

  He closed his eyes. Then he lifted the top off the cooler and reached in. He took out a can and said, “Cola.”

  He was right.

  He put that back. With his eyes still closed, he took out another can and said, “Ginger ale.”

  He was right again.

  He opened his eyes. “I know where everything is,” he said proudly. “I can reach in and find any kind of soda you want.”

  “When you came into the school,” Ms. Benson asked, “did you stay by the cooler?”

  “Yes,” the boy answered. “I always do.”

  “But when you got your drinks,” Ms. Benson said to Sara and Danny, “you weren’t by the table. That’s when someone stole from the shoe box.”

  “The shoe box,” Cam said. She thought for a moment. “The shoe box,” she said again. Then Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click!”

  “What happened when you came into the school?” Officer Feldman asked.

  “People crowded around me. They all bought drinks,” the boy answered.

  “Did you see anyone else come into the school? Did you see anyone go to the table?”

  Cam said, “Click!” again.

  “No,” the boy answered. “But I wasn’t watching the table.” “Click!”

  “What’s all this clicking?” Ms. Benson asked Cam. “Do you remember something?”

  “Yes,” Cam answered and opened her eyes. “You keep asking about your shoe box. But that’s not the one I opened.”

  “Sure it is,” Danny said. “I saw you do it. I saw you cut the tape and take out four dollars.”

  “I saw it, too,” Sara said.

  Ms. Benson lifted her right foot and said, “These shoes came in that box. They’re new.”

  “No,” Cam insisted. “I didn’t cut tape off your shoe box. Wait right here and I’ll prove it.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Cam hurried across the playground. She went into the school and found the box and the lid. They were still on the table. Cam looked at them carefully, to see if they matched the picture she had in her head.

  They did.

  Cam grabbed the box and the lid. She ran outside and gave them to Officer Feldman.

  “That isn’t the shoe box Ms. Benson left on the table,” Cam said. “It’s a sneaker box, a size ten sneaker box.”

  “And I didn’t wrap the whole box in tape like th
at,” Ms. Benson said. “I taped it neatly, along the sides.”

  “Whoever stole the money,” Cam said, “switched the boxes.”

  “Did you see anyone come into the school with this box?” Officer Feldman asked Sara and Danny.

  They both said they hadn’t.

  “So,” Ms. Benson said, “we know when and how the money was stolen. What we need to know is who did it. If we knew that, maybe we’d get the money back.”

  Officer Feldman took the sneaker box and said, “That’s true, but we do know a few things about the thief.”

  “The thief,” Cam said quickly, “is a boy with a new pair of blue, size ten sneakers.”

  Ms. Benson looked at the box. “And these are expensive sneakers,” she said. “I bet he’s very proud of them. I bet that right now, he’s wearing them.”

  “Let’s start looking,” Officer Zuto said.

  “Wait,” Cam said to the two police officers. “If the thief sees you here, he might get scared and run off. Then we may never find him. I’ll look for him.”

  “And I’ll help,” Ms. Benson said. “He never saw me. He won’t know I’m from the school.”

  “We’ll give you a few minutes,” Officer Feldman told Cam and Ms. Benson. “We’ll wait here, under the tree. Then, if you don’t find him, we’ll look, too.”

  Sara and Danny waited with the two police officers. Cam and Ms. Benson walked slowly through the playground and looked for a boy wearing a new pair of size ten blue sneakers.

  Ms. Benson pointed to a boy on the swings. “He’s wearing blue sneakers,” she said.

  “He can’t be the thief,” Cam said. “He’s too young. Those sneakers are probably size two.”

  There were many children, mostly boys, playing basketball.

  “You know, he may not be here,” Ms. Benson told Cam.

  Cam stopped and said, “Wait a minute. I may know what he looks like.”

  Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!”

  “Some boys came into the school,” Cam said, with her eyes closed. “They wanted to know what we were doing. I told them about the play, but they weren’t interested. One said he learned enough about President Lincoln in school.”

  “Oh, no,” Ms. Benson said. “You can never learn enough about President Lincoln.”

  “One of those boys must have seen Sara and Danny put money into the shoe box. He must live near here. He went home. He taped up the sneaker box. Then, when he saw the boy go in with the cooler, he sneaked in and switched the boxes.”

  “Was one of them wearing blue sneakers?” Ms. Benson asked.

  “Yes,” Cam said with her eyes still closed. “A tall boy with long blond hair had blue sneakers on. And he wore a white T-shirt and black pants.”

  Cam opened her eyes. She looked among the many boys playing basketball. “There he is,” Cam said, and pointed. “There’s the thief. Let’s go get him.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  “Are you sure he’s the thief?” Ms. Benson asked.

  “Yes, I’m sure. Now let’s go get him.”

  “No,” Ms. Benson said. “That’s a job for the police.”

  Cam and Ms. Benson went to the corner of the school yard, where the police officers were waiting. Cam pointed to the boy. She explained why she was sure he was the thief.

  Officer Feldman walked directly toward the boy. Cam, Ms. Benson, Sara, and Danny followed her. Officer Zuto went the other way. He wanted to be on the other side of the playground, in case the boy turned and ran.

  The boy with blue sneakers was running toward the basket. Another boy had the ball. He threw the ball to the basket and missed. The boy with blue sneakers jumped. He got the ball. He turned to pass the ball and saw Officer Feldman. The boy quickly turned and ran the other way, right into the arms of Officer Zuto.

  “We need to talk to you,” Officer Zuto said.

  “About what? I’m playing basketball. Is there some law against that?”

  “There is a law against stealing,” Ms. Benson said. “And you stole money we raised for charity.”

  “You have no proof I stole anything,” the boy said.

  “Those sneakers you’re wearing are proof,” Officer Feldman told him. She showed him the box and said, “This is the box they came in.”

  The boy looked at the box. Then he looked at his sneakers.

  “OK! OK! I’ll give the money back,” the boy said. “I’m sorry. I’ll give it all back.”

  There were two large zippered pockets on the front of the boy’s pants. He reached down and opened them. He took out lots of bills and coins. He gave them all to Officer Feldman. She gave them to Ms. Benson.

  “Can I go now?” the boy asked.

  “No, I’m sorry,” Officer Zuto said. “You did something terribly wrong. We’re taking you to the police station.”

  “Wait,” Ms. Benson said. “First, I want him to see something.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Everyone followed Ms. Benson to the front of the auditorium. A sign, THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, was on the easel. Now Eric wore a stick-on beard. He stood on the small stepladder.

  “That this nation,” Eric was saying, “under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

  People in the audience stood and cheered. Eric got off the ladder and bowed to the audience. The other children on stage bowed, too. The play was done.

  “Wait!” Ms. Benson called out. “There’s more.”

  “There is?” Sara asked.

  Ms. Benson hurried onto the stage. She spoke to the children. The curtain closed. People in the audience sat and waited.

  “What is she doing?” Officer Zuto asked.

  “I don’t know,” Cam answered. “Ms. Benson likes to surprise us.”

  Everyone waited. Then the curtain opened.

  The stage was set again for the first scene, “Honest Abe Lincoln.”

  Eric walked slowly toward Susie. “Hello, Mrs. Olsen,” Eric said to her.

  Susie put her hand to her mouth. She looked to the right of the stage. Cam heard Ms. Benson whisper, “No laughing onstage. Don’t laugh!”

  Susie took her hand from her mouth and said, “Hello, Abe.”

  When the scene was done, people in the audience stood again and cheered.

  Ms. Benson thanked the police officers. Then she told the boy who had stolen the money, “I hope you watched that. You can learn a lesson from Honest Abe Lincoln.”

  Officers Feldman and Zuto took the boy who had stolen the money into their police car. They drove off.

  Cam went backstage. Her parents were there with Eric and his family.

  Eric told Cam, “I knew you would click and find the thief.”

  Cam said, “And I knew you would be a great President Lincoln.”

  Eric smiled.

  “You really were great,” Cam’s parents, Eric’s parents, and Donna and Diane said.

  “Maybe I was good,” Eric said, “but I’m happy to be Eric Shelton again.” He reached into his pocket and took out his stick-on beard. “This itches.”

  Then, with the beard, Eric teased his sisters. He tickled Donna and Diane’s noses.

  “Hey,” Donna said, “that does itch.”

  Diane giggled and said, “And it tickles.”

  Donna and Diane laughed.

  Diane took the stick-on beard and put it on. “I’m President Lincoln’s sister,” she said. “Don’t I look like him?”

  “That’s funny,” Eric said and laughed. “That’s very funny,” he said. Then Eric leaned back, opened his mouth wide, and laughed. It was his great President Lincoln laugh.

  When Cam, her parents, the Sheltons, and Ms. Benson heard Eric laugh, they laughed, too. Soon everyone in the auditorium was laughing. They all laughed along with Eric Shelton, the star of the play Stories of President Lincoln.

  A Cam Jansen Memory Game

  Take another look at the picture on page
5. Study it. Blink your eyes and say, “Click!” Then turn back to this page and answer these questions—remember, don’t peek at the questions before you study the picture.1. How many people are in the picture?

  2. Who’s wearing polka dots?

  3. What is Sara reading?

  4. Who is wearing glasses?

  5. What book is Danny holding?

  6. How many books are on the table?