Cam Jansen and the Basketball Mystery

by David A. Adler

  The governor pointed to a spot on the ball. “Look here,” he said. “Matt Taylor, the famous actor, signed it.”

  Coach Jenkins laughed. “He’s a great actor, but he wasn’t a very good basketball player.”

  Governor Zellner said, “Toby Coleman, the great artist, signed it. He drew a little picture on it, too.”

  Coach Jenkins looked at the picture and said, “Wow! It’s like his famous line and circle paintings.”

  Governor Zellner smiled. “I signed it, too. I’m the governor and one day I hope to be president.”

  Coach Jenkins smiled and said, “And you were a pretty good basketball player.”

  People cheered.

  A few people shouted, “Zellner for president!”

  Coach Jenkins and Governor Zellner put the two basketballs on a bench at the edge of the court. Then they hugged.

  People left their seats and surrounded the governor and the coach. The Hamilton Helper standing by Cam and Eric cut the two nets. Hundreds of balloons fell out. They fell onto the bleachers and onto the court.

  Danny caught one of the balloons. “Just call me Buster,” Danny said. Then he stepped on the balloon.

  Pop!

  “Please,” Jordan Gold shouted into the microphone. “Please join us at the party. It’s in the cafeteria.”

  Danny said, “I love parties.”

  Children and their parents hurried through the door toward the cafeteria. Danny and his father started down the stands.

  “Let’s go!” Donna said.

  “No, let’s stay,” Diane said. “It’s so pretty looking at all the balloons.”

  Diane looked out across the gym. Then she asked Cam, “Please, take a picture for me.”

  Cam looked at all the people and the colorful balloons. She blinked her eyes and said, “Click!”

  “Now let me see it,” Diane said. “Let me see the picture.”

  “You can’t,” Eric told her. “Only Cam can see the pictures in her head.”

  “That’s not fair,” Diane said. Then she turned to her parents and said, “Let’s go.”

  The Hamilton players followed their coach and Governor Zellner out of the gym. The Franklin players went the other way, into the locker room.

  The Sheltons followed Danny down toward the gym floor. When Cam and Eric got to the bottom, Eric said, “Look! One of the governor’s assistants is looking around. I think something is missing.”

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

  Cam looked at the picture she had in her head of the coach and governor. She looked at the pictures she had of the people in the gym, all the seats, and the benches.

  Cam opened her eyes. “Look at that bench,” she told Eric. “There’s just one basketball on it. Was Coach Jenkins carrying one of the basketballs when he left the gym?”

  “I don’t know,” Eric said.

  Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click!” again.

  “He wasn’t,” Cam said and opened her eyes. “He wasn’t carrying a basketball.”

  “Then one of the signed basketballs is missing,” Eric said. “I bet it’s the one the governor brought, the one Matt Taylor signed. That’s why the governor’s assistant is looking around.”

  Chapter Four

  “The basketball signed by the governor, Matt Taylor, and that artist is real valuable,” Eric said. “I bet it was stolen.”

  “Maybe not,” Cam told him. “It may have fallen off the bench. With all the balloons on the floor, it’s hard to tell. Or maybe one of the guards has it.”

  One of the governor’s guards was standing by the side door. The governor’s assistant was looking around. Everyone else had left the gym.

  Cam and Eric walked down to the floor of the gym. On their way, they kicked aside lots of balloons. They stopped by the bench at the edge of the court. Eric picked up the basketball. He looked at all the signatures.

  “Matt Taylor’s name isn’t on here. There are no lines and circles,” Eric said. “This is the one signed by the team.”

  “Put that down.”

  Eric turned. The governor’s assistant was walking toward him. She was a tall woman with long red hair.

  Eric put the ball on the bench.

  Cam told the assistant, “The ball signed by Governor Zellner is missing.”

  “Please, go to the cafeteria with the other children.”

  Cam told her, “I don’t think Coach Jenkins had the other basketball when he left the gym. Does one of the guards have it?”

  “You may be right,” the assistant said.

  She wore an earpiece. Attached to it was a small speaker. “Max, Fred, Amy, Jane,” she said into the speaker. “Does one of you have a basketball?”

  She put her hand to the earpiece. She waited for each of them to answer. Then she asked, “The one the governor brought is not here. If you don’t have it, where is it?”

  She listened again and then said, “Yes, I’ll look for it and get back to you.” Then she told Cam and Eric, “You should go to the party. I’ll take care of this.”

  Cam said, “It must have rolled off the bench. It’s got to be mixed in with all these balloons. My friend and I are good at finding things.”

  Eric said, “We’ll stay out of your way.”

  The assistant was not listening to Cam and Eric. She was busy kicking aside balloons and looking under the benches at the side of the court.

  Cam said to Eric, “It might have rolled under the bleachers. Let’s look there.”

  “I don’t think it rolled anywhere,” Eric whispered. “I think someone took it.”

  Beneath the bleachers were long metal poles supporting the seats. Lots of balloons had fallen there. There were papers and candy wrappers, too.

  Cam and Eric walked slowly between the metal poles.

  “Look,” Eric said. He bent to pick up something. “I found a dime.”

  Cam looked among the balloons. Eric searched through everything on the floor. They came out at the other end of the bleachers.

  “Look what I found,” Eric said. He showed Cam a handful of coins. “Sixty-four cents. I’ll share it with you.”

  “Thanks. But we didn’t find the basketball.”

  Eric told Cam, “We each get thirty-two cents.”

  The assistant had left the gym. The guard was still standing by the side door. Cam told him they had looked under the bleachers but did not find the basketball.

  “Max, Amy, Jane,” the guard said into his speaker. “The ball is not under the bleachers. I don’t think it’s in here.”

  He held his hand to the earpiece. He listened for a moment.

  “Yes, Max,” he said. “I’ll watch the gym and the door. No one will leave here with that ball.”

  The guard turned to Cam and Eric. “Why don’t you go to the cafeteria. It’s a real party with lots of ice cream and cake. Don’t worry. We’ll find that basketball.”

  Cam and Eric walked toward the cafeteria.

  “He’s wrong,” Eric whispered to Cam as they walked. “They won’t find that basketball. We will!”

  Chapter Five

  Two Hamilton Helpers were standing in the hall.

  “The party is in the cafeteria,” one of them told Cam and Eric. “It’s at the end of this hall.”

  “Did you see anyone walk by with a basketball?” Eric asked. “One is missing.”

  “People rushed past us,” one of the helpers said. “We couldn’t see everyone. Ten of them may have had basketballs.”

  “Maybe twenty,” the other helper said. “We’re just pointing the way to the party.”

  Cam asked, “Is there another way out of the gym?”

  “No. The gym door to the parking lot is closed. We want everyone to go to the party.”

  “And there’s a guard by the side door,” the other student said. “No one can leave there. That’s where the governor’s car is parked.”

  “But what about the Franklin players?” Cam asked. “They went through an
other door.”

  “They went to the locker room to take showers and get dressed. But they can’t leave from there.”

  “That’s right,” the other helper said. “Everyone has to walk past us to get to the party. They can leave from the cafeteria.”

  “Thank you,” Cam and Eric both said.

  They walked ahead and Eric whispered, “Then whoever took the basketball must have gone through the cafeteria.”

  Cam and Eric stopped by the entrance to the cafeteria. It was crowded. Most of the people stood by tables. Cake and ice cream and bottles of juice and soda were on the tables. Balloons hung from the ceiling. The walls were decorated with lots of THANKS COACH! signs.

  Eric pointed to the far end of the cafeteria and said, “There’s someone standing by the door. She’s wearing an orange Hamilton Helper sash. She’ll know if someone left here with the basketball.”

  Cam and Eric slowly walked through the crowded room.

  “Did you have some cake?” Donna asked Eric.

  “Not now,” he told his sister. “I’m busy.”

  Danny’s father was standing by a table near the middle of the room. He was wearing the top of his very tight orange uniform. Danny was in front of him.

  “Look at me,” Danny said to Cam and Eric. He had put buttercream icing from the cake under his chin and nose. “I’m Old King Cole!”

  “That’s cute,” Cam said as they squeezed past Danny.

  Some Hamilton players were talking with Coach Jenkins and Governor Zellner. The players were still in their uniforms.

  Eric whispered, “Look how tall they are.”

  Cam and Eric walked past them.

  “I feel like I just walked past a redwood forest,” Eric whispered. “And those Hamilton basketball players are the tall redwood trees.”

  Eric turned and looked back at the players. He laughed and said, “They got all sweaty playing basketball. Those players are trees who need showers.”

  At last, Cam and Eric were by the exit to the parking lot.

  Eric asked the helper, “Did anyone leave here carrying a signed basketball?”

  “I wouldn’t let anyone leave with that,” she said. “And anyway, no one has left. This party is just getting started.”

  Cam and Eric turned and looked at the crowded cafeteria.

  “If no one left,” Eric said, “then someone here must have that ball.”

  Cam said, “A basketball is big and round. It’s not easy to hide.”

  They looked across the room.

  People were holding plates with cake and ice cream. Lots of people were talking with Coach Jenkins. There was a line of people waiting to talk with Governor Zellner.

  “Hey,” Eric said. “Look at her. She might be hiding the basketball under her shirt.”

  He pointed to a woman with a large round stomach.

  Cam laughed. “I think there’s a baby in there. I think she’s pregnant.”

  “Oh.”

  Then Eric pointed to a bag by one of the tables. Then he shook his head and told Cam, “I almost did it again. I was about to tell you that bag is big enough to hold a basketball. But it’s our bag! It’s got all Howie’s baby stuff.”

  Jordan Gold stood on a chair. He held up his hands and called out, “It’s time to let Coach know how much we love him. Let’s all sing ‘For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.’”

  Governor Zellner stood on a chair, too.

  The Hamilton team’s best player and the governor waved their arms and led everyone as they sang.

  Eric told Cam, “My dad said Coach Jenkins really is a good fellow. My dad loved playing for him.”

  When the song was done, people gathered around the coach. They shook his hand. They hugged him.

  Eric said, “I really want to find Coach Jenkins’s basketball.”

  “So do I,” Cam said. “If it was stolen, then that’s wrong. And anyway, when there’s a mystery, I like to solve it.”

  Eric told Cam, “I’m sure you’ll find it.”

  Cam looked again across the room. She didn’t see anyone holding a bag or box large enough for a basketball.

  Cam shook her head.

  “You may be sure,” she told Eric, “but I’m not.”

  Chapter Six

  “Let’s walk through the room again,” Cam said. “Someone here must be hiding that ball.”

  Cam and Eric slowly walked away from the door. Cam looked to the right. Eric looked to the left.

  “We were losing by twelve points,” Cam heard one man tell another. “And do you know who led the team to victory? It was Governor Elliot Zellner.”

  “I want more cake,” Eric heard a child tell his father. “And I want more juice and more ice cream.”

  Cam and Eric were almost by the entrance to the cafeteria. They had looked at everyone. No one had a bag or box big enough to hold a basketball. They stopped and turned. They looked across the room.

  The Hamilton players were walking toward them. Eric pinched his nose closed.

  “They should really take showers,” Eric whispered.

  “Showers,” Cam said. “Of course! Not everyone is at the party. The Franklin players are in the locker room taking showers.”

  “Good,” Eric said. “That’s what they should do after a game.”

  “But they’re not here,” Cam said. “Maybe one of the Franklin players stole the ball.”

  The Hamilton players walked past Cam and Eric. They walked into the hall toward the locker room.

  Franklin players were leaving the locker room. They had on regular clothes. They were wearing green and yellow school jackets. Each of them carried a small green canvas bag.

  “Hey! What’s in the bags?” Eric asked.

  “Their towels and dirty uniforms are in there,” Cam said.

  Eric said, “I bet there’s something else in one of those bags. I bet the signed basketball is in one of them.”

  “I don’t think so,” Cam said. “Those bags are much too small.”

  Cam and Eric followed the Hamilton players.

  The players from the two teams met in the middle of the hall.

  “Hi,” Jordan Gold said to the Franklin players. “You played a good game.”

  “Thanks. How is the party?”

  “It’s great,” Jordan Gold answered. “We’re just going to clean up. Then we’re going back. Wait for us.”

  Eric poked at one of the canvas bags.

  A tall Franklin player looked down at Eric and asked, “What are you doing?”

  Eric looked up and said, “I just wondered what basketball players keep in these bags.”

  The player laughed. “Dirty clothes,” he said, and unzipped the bag.

  Eric looked in. There was a blue towel in the bag and a green and yellow Franklin uniform.

  The players from the two teams talked about the game and Coach Jenkins.

  Cam looked at all the gym bags. She was right. They were all much too small to hold a basketball.

  “We’ll see you at the party,” Jordan Gold told the Franklin players.

  Eric watched Jordan Gold and the other Hamilton players walk toward the locker room. Cam turned and watched the Franklin players walk toward the cafeteria.

  “Hey,” Cam whispered. “Look at him.” She pointed to a short boy in a green and yellow Franklin jacket. “I don’t remember him on the court.”

  The boy was carrying a small green canvas bag.

  Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!” She said, “Click!”again. Then Cam opened her eyes. “I was right,” she said. “He’s not on the team.”

  “Then he doesn’t have a dirty uniform,” Eric said. “Why would he have a canvas bag? I bet he didn’t even take a shower.”

  Cam and Eric followed the Franklin players into the cafeteria.

  “But he can’t have the ball,” Eric whispered. “He’s too thin to be hiding it under his shirt. And that bag is too small.”

  “I know,” Cam whispered. “This whole thing is s
trange. He walked down the hall with the Franklin players, but they never spoke to him. I don’t think they even looked at him. He’s pretending to be with the team, but he’s not.”

  Eric asked, “Are you sure he’s not on the team?”

  Cam nodded her head. She was sure.

  “I looked at the pictures I have in my head of every player on the court,” she said. “He’s not in even one picture.”

  The Franklin players took plates of cake and ice cream and cups of juice or soda. But the short boy in the green and yellow jacket didn’t. He walked straight through the cafeteria.

  “Look at that,” Eric whispered. “He’s walking right to the exit. That’s real strange. I’ve never seen a teenager walk past free cake and ice cream.”

  “He’s leaving,” Cam said, “and we’ve got to stop him. I’m sure he knows something about the missing basketball.”

  Chapter Seven

  Cam and Eric hurried into the cafeteria. Cam quickly stopped by one of the tables. She took a plate, a large piece of cake, some melted ice cream, and a napkin.

  “Get some juice,” she told Eric.

  “But I’m not thirsty.”

  “Just get some juice,” she told him again.

  Eric filled a cup with apple juice.

  The boy was almost by the exit. Cam caught up to him. She bumped into him and got buttercream icing and melted ice cream on his jacket.

  “I’m so sorry,” Cam said. “I’ll wipe it off.”

  With the napkin, Cam spread the icing and the ice cream across the back of his jacket.

  The boy twisted his head and looked at the back of his jacket. He turned and told Cam, “You made it worse.”

  BRIAN was stitched onto the front of his jacket.

  “Don’t worry, Brian,” Cam said. “I’ll wash it off.”

  Cam took the cup of juice from Eric and spilled it on the jacket.

  “Hey!” Brian screamed. “Now I smell like apples.”