A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit (3 page)

When Dink got there, Josh was already shooting hoops in front of his
barn. He grinned at Dink.

“What’s wrong with your hair?” he asked.

Dink yanked his hat off. “Take a look. The stupid shoe polish from last night won’t wash out. I had to be a vampire, right? I couldn’t just be a cowboy or an astronaut.”

Josh dribbled and took a shot. He missed the hoop.

“So have you thought of a plan for finding that kid with the video?” Josh asked.

“No,” said Dink, jamming his hat back over his hair.

“Well, what do we do now?” said Josh. “Ask at more houses?”

“I don’t know,” Dink said. “Now that Halloween is over, we’d look pretty suspicious. Besides, Green Lawn has hundreds of houses. We’d be knocking on doors for a month.”

Josh made a perfect shot. “Two points!”

“We have to use our heads instead of our feet,” Dink said, grabbing the ball after Josh’s basket.

A door slammed behind them.

“Uh-oh,” Josh mumbled.

“Josh, it’s time to go,” his mother called. “Come in and brush your teeth, please.”

“I have a dentist appointment,” Josh said. “Call me later, okay?”

“Okay.” Dink tossed Josh’s ball into the barn and started walking away.

“Hey!” Josh yelled behind him. “I think your new hair color looks just
adorable!”

“Very funny,” Dink muttered, tugging his hat down even tighter.

Maybe I’ll cut my hair off
, he thought.
Go to school bald on Monday
.

Suddenly, he stopped walking.
Thinking about cutting his hair off gave him an idea.

He ran toward Main Street. At Howard’s Barbershop, he peered through the glass. Howard was watching an
I Love Lucy
rerun on a small TV set.

Dink walked in, setting off the sleigh bells hanging over the door. Whenever he came to Howard’s for a haircut, Dink thought about Christmas.

“What’ll it be today, Dink?” Howard asked. “Want a flattop? How about one of them Mohawk jobbies, with the stripe down the middle?”

“I don’t want a haircut,” Dink said. “I need to ask you something.”

Howard squinted one blue eye. He lifted Dink’s baseball cap. “What happened to your hair?”

Dink blushed. “I was a vampire last night. I used black shoe polish in my
hair and it won’t come out. I tried.”

Howard grinned. “Hop up in the chair, me lad. I’ll dose you with me special shampoo. You can ask your question while I perform a little magic.”

Dink hung his hat on a peg and
climbed into the barber chair. Howard pulled a bottle and some white towels out of a cupboard.

“I was wondering if you know any kids with red hair,” Dink said. “Besides Josh.”

Howard draped a towel around Dink’s shoulders and pinned it in back. He misted Dink’s hair with a spray bottle of water.

“I might,” he answered. “Why do you want me to dye your hair red?”

Dink laughed. “No, I’m looking for a certain kid who has red hair. I think he’s a teenager.”

“I know one teenager who
had
red hair,” Howard said, pouring green shampoo onto Dink’s hair. “But I shaved it all off last week. Came running in here all excited, out of breath. ‘Shave my head!’ he tells me. So I did.”

The smell of the shampoo made Dink’s eyes water. He felt his heart start to tap-dance.

“Was he carrying a video camera?” Dink asked.

Howard rubbed the shampoo into Dink’s hair.

“Why all the questions about this redheaded boy?” he asked.

Dink thought for a few seconds, then decided to spill the beans. He told Howard about the bank robber, about the kid with the video camera, and about the three hundred dollars the detective had promised.

Howard chuckled. “Oh, now I see why the boy ran in here yelling for me to cut off all his hair. He didn’t want the bank bandit to recognize him. So if I tell you this lad’s name, you’re going to persuade him to give you the videotape?”

“Yes, if I can,” Dink said.

“What about the money?” said Howard.

Dink looked at Howard in the mirror. “What about it?”

“Would you be planning to share the reward with the redheaded boy?”

Dink grinned. “Sure. We’ll give him
half of what we get from the detective.”

“That sounds like a fine idea.” Howard rubbed Dink’s hair vigorously. Dink watched in the mirror. His hair was a slimy green mess.

“Does this stuff really get shoe polish out?” he asked.

“Yup. Invented it meself,” Howard said. “Secret recipe. I used it once to get bubble gum out of me granddaughter’s hair. It took tar out of our dog’s fur, too.”

Howard swung the barber chair around and lowered its back. He positioned Dink’s head over the sink.

“Close your eyes, me boy. Let’s wash this gook out and see what’s what.”

Dink liked the feel of the warm water and Howard’s fingers smoothing the shampoo out of his hair. After a few minutes, Howard sat him up and
plopped a fresh towel on his head.

“Dry off. I think you’re back to normal.”

Dink rubbed his hair with the towel, then looked in the mirror. He laughed out loud. “You did it!”

Howard smiled at Dink’s reflection. “I should sell this stuff and make a million dollars.”

“How much do I owe you?” Dink asked.

“This one’s on me, young fella. And the boy with red hair is Lucky O’Leary. He lives over on Robin Road with his mum and his little brothers and sisters. All six of ’em! Nice kids, and every last one’s a redhead.”

Howard grinned as he lowered the chair.

“Except for Lucky, who suddenly decided to go bald.”

“He’s
bald?”
Josh said climbing Ruth Rose’s front steps.

Dink had run right home from the barbershop and called Josh. Now they were picking up Ruth Rose so they could go to Robin Road together.

“That’s what Howard said,” Dink told Josh. He pushed the doorbell.

“So that’s why we didn’t spot him at the high school!” Josh said.

“COME IN!” Ruth Rose screamed from inside.

Ruth Rose was sitting on the floor
watching a video with her four-year-old brother, Nate.

“Come on, Ruth Rose. I think we found the redhead!” Dink said. “We’re going to his house.”

Ruth Rose jumped up and screamed, “I’M LEAVING WITH THE GUYS, MOM! WATCH NATE!”

Dink and Josh covered their ears.

Ruth Rose told Nate, “You stay right here and wait for Mommy, okay?”

Nate nodded and kept his eyes on the TV set.

“Let’s go.” Ruth Rose led the way back to the door and skipped down the front steps.

“How’d you find the kid?” she asked.

Dink explained how he hadn’t been able to get the shoe polish out of his hair.

“That made me think about cutting
my hair off. And
that
made me think about the barbershop. Who would know all the redheads in Green Lawn?”

“HOWARD THE BARBER!” she screamed.

The boys covered their ears again.

“I’m going to need a hearing aid like old Mr. Kramer,” Josh muttered.

Dink had looked up O’Leary in the phone book to get the address on Robin Road. They stopped in front of house number 33. It was a big blue house with toys and bikes and sneakers and basketballs all over the lawn. Loud music came out through the front door.

They walked onto the porch and stepped over a baseball bat. Four pumpkins sat in a row, all carved with scary faces.

Dink rang the bell. “Keep your fingers crossed,” he said.

A little girl opened the door. She
had red hair and a face full of freckles.

“Hi! I’m Josephine and I’m five and a half!” She held up ten fingers.

“Is your brother home?” Dink asked.

“Which one? I have this many!” Josephine held up ten fingers again.

Dink laughed. “Do you have a big brother named Lucky?”

The music went off.

“Who’s out there, Jo?” a voice called. A tall, skinny teenager wearing torn jeans and a T-shirt came up behind Josephine. Dink noticed red fuzz covering his head, like a new red lawn.

“Are you Lucky O’Leary?” Dink asked.

The kid looked down at Dink and Josh and Ruth Rose. “Who wants to know?”

“We do,” Ruth Rose said. “How’d you like to earn some money?”

“I might,” he said.

“We’re looking for a kid who got the Green Lawn bank robber on video last week,” Dink said. “The bank hired a detective to find the video, and we’re helping the detective. He’s paying us to get the video, and we’ll split the money with you. If you’re the kid, I mean.”

“Are you?” Ruth Rose asked.

The kid rubbed the top of his fuzzy red head. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m the guy.”

Then he crossed his arms. “But I’m not giving my tape to any detective.”

The kids stared at Lucky.

“Why not?” Ruth Rose asked. “The detective is helping the bank find the robber. You could be a HERO!”

“Shh!” said Lucky. He looked around nervously. Then he beckoned Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose inside.

“Come on.”

Inside Lucky’s house, the kids followed him down a hallway into his bedroom. Dink noticed that he was limping. His room had posters of basketball players on the walls. There were
clothes all over the floor.

Lucky flopped down on his bed.