Cam Jansen and the Summer Camp Mysteries (3 page)

Jacob started walking again. He walked even faster now. Danny ran beside him.

“The balloon said, ‘Hello, Buster,”’ Danny told him.

Jacob pretended not to hear Danny. He just kept walking. When he reached the edge of the baseball field, he waved to a
woman standing by second base. In one hand, the woman held a clipboard and lots of papers. She waved back, and Jacob walked across the field to her.

“Where were you?” the woman asked. “It’s time to take your children to the bunk.”

The woman had short gray hair. She was dressed in a blue sweat suit and around her neck was a whistle on a chain. Her tag said,
HELLO. MY NAME IS SADIE ROSEN, CAMP DIRECTOR
.

Jacob showed her his handful of envelopes. “I have all these,” he said, “but I can’t find the lock box.”

“What box?” Sadie Rosen asked.

Cam, Eric, Terri, and their parents had caught up with Jacob.

“The blue metal box by the parking lot,” Mr. Shelton said. “It was for the snack money. There was a sign on it telling us what to do.”

Cam closed her eyes and said, “
Click
!”

“The sign said, ‘Put money in an envelope.”’
Cam said with her eyes still closed. “‘Write your child’s name and bunk number on the front. Seal the envelope and deposit it here.”’

“There’s no box for snack money,” Sadie Rosen said.

Cam opened her eyes.

Mrs. Jansen told her, “Well, there was a box, and lots of people put money in it.”

“If only half the campers did,” Terri said, “there would be thousands of dollars in there.”

“If you don’t know anything about the box,” Mr. Shelton said, “then someone must have put it by the parking lot to steal the money.” He shook his head and said, “It’s all gone now.”

“No one stole your money,” Sadie Rosen said. “This must be a prank. Someone thinks this is funny.”

She looked at Jacob.

“I don’t think it’s funny,” he said. “I didn’t know anything about the box until these campers told me.”

Sadie Rosen asked Cam and Terri, “Who’s your counselor?”

“Fran.”

“She couldn’t have taken it,” Jacob said. “She’s been with her children the whole time. Right now she’s watching mine, too.”

Sadie Rosen looked around. Most of the counselors were leading their campers to their bunks.

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Sadie Rosen blew her whistle and everyone stopped. She walked to Matthew, the B1 counselor, and asked him if he knew about the blue box. Lots of children and their parents were nearby.

“Yes,” Matthew said. “Jacob told me about it. Then I asked my campers. Most of them said they had already put their money in it.”

“It’s not a camp box,” Ms. Rosen said. “I don’t know who put it there.”

“What about our money?” one of the parents asked.

“I don’t know,” Sadie Rosen told her.

“You don’t know?” the woman said. “Does that mean our money was stolen?”

The woman turned and said really loudly, “Did you hear that! Our children’s snack money was stolen!”

The bad news spread from one group to the next. Lots more parents and their children gathered around Sadie Rosen.

“What about our money?” they asked.

“Who stole it?”

“I blame the camp.”

“Where’s my money,” one little boy cried. “I want my snack money!”

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Sadie Rosen blew her whistle and everyone was quiet.

“Someone put a blue box by the parking lot,” she said. “Some of you may have put your children’s snack money in there.”

“I did!” someone called out.

“So did I,” many others shouted.

“Well,” Sadie Rosen said, “we don’t know who put the box there or who took it away.”

Children and their parents started talking again. Some were angry. Ms. Rosen held up her hands.

“I promise you,” she said, “we will do everything we can to get your money back.”

“And what if you don’t?” someone asked.

“I assure you, every child will get snacks,” Sadie Rosen said. “Now please, go to your bunks. Unpack. At noon we’ll have lunch.”

Most of the children, their counselors, and their parents walked toward the bunks. Cam, Eric, Terri, Danny, and their parents didn’t.

Ms. Rosen took a cell phone from her pocket. She pushed a few buttons.

“Let’s go,” Jacob told Eric and Danny.

“I want to stay here with Cam,” Eric said. “We’re good at solving mysteries.”

Eric told Jacob and the others about Cam’s amazing memory. “We have solved lots of
mysteries together. Once we even found a thief who stole diamonds from a jewelry store.”

Ms. Rosen held her cell phone by her ear. “This is Camp Eagle Lake. I need to report a robbery,” she said. “Please, send some police officers.”

“Let’s go,” Jacob told Danny.

“I’ll go with you,” Danny told him. “I have some more questions to ask you.”

“Please, no more riddles,” Jacob said. “And Terri, you should come with me, too. I’ll take you to G8.”

Danny, Terri, and their parents went with Jacob.

Sadie Rosen put the cell phone in her pocket. Then she noticed that Cam, Eric, and their parents were standing beside her.

“You should be with your groups,” she told Cam and Eric.

“But we want to solve the mystery,” Eric said. “We want to find the blue lock box.”

“The police will handle this,” Sadie Rosen told them. “It’s time to go to your bunks and unpack.”

They picked up their things and walked off the baseball field and onto the road. Beyond the road were the tennis courts.

“Wait!” Eric said. He saw something and pointed to the courts. “I think I’ve done it. I think I found the thief.”

Eric gave his father and Mrs. Jansen all the things he was carrying. Then he ran across the road to the tennis courts. A man there was pulling a large trunk on wheels.

Eric stopped in front of the man and held up his hands.

“You thought you could get away!” Eric told him. “Well, I caught you.”

The man smiled and said, “Yes. I did get away. I got away for the whole summer. I live in the city, and it’s very hot there right now.”

“And I know what’s in that trunk,” Eric
said. “There’s a lock box in there. It’s filled with everything you stole.”

“The only thing I ever stole,” the man said, “is second base. Watch out for me when I play baseball. I’m a great base runner.”

“That trunk and that box are filled with money,” Eric said.

“Money!” the man said, and looked at the trunk. “I hope you’re right.”

Cam and the others caught up with Eric.

“Eric,” Mr. Shelton told his son. “He’s not a thief. Look at his name tag.”

HELLO. MY NAME IS JIM, SPORTS DIRECTOR was written on his tag.

Jim put down the trunk. He took a key from his pocket and opened it. Baseballs, basketballs, and tennis balls fell out. They rolled across the tennis court.

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Sadie Rosen had blown her whistle. She was walking toward them.

“Why aren’t you in your bunks?” she asked the children. “And why is all this stuff on the tennis courts?”

“It’s my fault,” Eric said. “I thought he had the lock box in there.”

“We’ll take them to their bunks,” Mr. Shelton said, “but first I want to help Eric pick up all this stuff.”

“I’ll help, too,” Cam said.

Eric ran after a basketball that had rolled across the road. Cam ran after some tennis balls.

“Wait,” Mrs. Jansen called to them. “Be
careful. Look both ways. A car might be coming.”

“Why would a car be coming in? All the kids and their parents are already here,” Eric said.

Cam stopped. “That’s right,” she said. “And no parent would be leaving now, not before helping his or her child unpack.”

Eric crossed the road. He picked up the basketball.

Cam folded her arms.

“I should have thought of that,” she said. Cam stood still at the edge of the road. She closed her eyes and said, “
Click
!”

Eric stopped. He saw that Cam’s eyes were closed.

“Did you
click
?” he asked. “Did you remember something?”

“Yes,” Cam answered. Her eyes were still closed. “I may know who took the box.”

Just then a blue-and-white car entered the camp. It stopped by the camp entrance.

“Look,” Eric said. “The police are here.”

Cam opened her eyes. The police car stopped at the camp entrance for just a moment. Then it drove slowly past the baseball field and around the tennis courts.

“I have to talk to the police,” Cam said. “I have to tell them what I just remembered.”

The police car rode past Cam and Eric to the other side of the tennis courts. Cam ran after it. Eric dropped the basketball he had in his hands and followed her.

The police car stopped by the edge of the tennis court, right where Sadie Rosen, Cam’s mother, and Eric’s father were waiting.

Two police officers got out. They were talking to Ms. Rosen. A tall officer with bright red hair and a red mustache was taking notes on a small pad.

As Cam and Eric reached their parents and Sadie Rosen, they heard Ms. Rosen say, “I never saw the thief. I never even saw the box.”

“But I did,” Eric said. “I saw the box. It’s large and blue and has a flap in the front just like a mailbox.”

“And I saw the thief,” Cam said.

“No you didn’t,” Eric told her. “I was with you all morning and we didn’t see any thief.”

“Maybe you didn’t, but
I
did,” Cam said.

Cam closed her eyes and said, “
Click
!”

“I’m looking at him right now,” Cam said with her eyes still closed. “I know he has dark hair and was wearing sunglasses. But that’s all I know. I didn’t see him too well.”

“What are you talking about? Why are your eyes closed?” Sadie Rosen asked.

Mrs. Jansen told her about Cam’s amazing memory.

“A car honked at us when we were walking to the baseball field this morning. Someone was leaving camp. But why was he leaving camp when everyone else was just coming in?” Cam asked.

“Hey,” Mr. Shelton said. “I remember that car. I think I have a picture of it on my digital camera.”

Mr. Shelton took out his camera. He found the picture he had taken of Eric with his hockey stick, tennis racket, and other things.

“Look here,” he said. “That’s the car that was leaving camp. It’s blue.”

The two police officers looked at the picture. The red-haired officer took out his pad. He flipped it open and wrote
blue car, male, sunglasses
, and
dark hair
on the first clean page.

The other officer looked at the pad and said, “A man with dark hair and sunglasses, driving a blue car, was leaving camp before everyone else. That’s not much.”

“But this clicking girl is right,” Sadie Rosen said. “Parents never leave camp early. On the first day, I always have trouble getting them to go home. They want to talk to their children. Watch their children. See what’s for lunch.”

“She may be right about the man and the car,” the officer said. “But we can’t stop every blue car we find.”