The School Play Mystery (4 page)

“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.”

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 that,” 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.”

“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.”