The Case of the Library Monster (7 page)

Mr. Poe and Mom don’t know where the key to the furnace room is.

Maya had a key to the furnace room.

I think Maya took the key. But why would she do that?

There are more things that I
don’t
know about this new case than there are things that I do know. Here is what I don’t know:

Why was Maya in the furnace room?

Why does she have a key to the furnace room?

Why did she say, “No! No! No! No! No!” when she was in there?

Who are Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy?

Where did Felix, Freckles, and Fluffy go?

What do mice have to do with anything?

Why did Maya and her brother run back into the school?

Here is what I’m going to do to find out what I don’t know:

???

Maybe I should go back to the Case of the Library Monster. Or the case of the Four Lakes Elementary School Ghost. But I don’t have a plan for figuring out how to solve either of those cases, either.

Sometimes being a detective is hard.

The next morning when Mom, Connor, and I arrive at school, I spy Alex on the playground. He’s playing basketball with some other boys.

I don’t see Maya.

Connor has hold of my leash because Mom is getting something out of the trunk. It’s a BIG box. But not a very deep box. It doesn’t smell very interesting.

“Can I go play basketball with those boys?” I ask Mom as she slams the trunk.

“I think Buddy wants to play on the playground, Mom. Is that okay?” Connor asks.

Did Connor understand me?

“That’s fine,” Mom says. “As long as you bring him to the office when the bell rings.”

Connor and I join the basketball game.

I stick close to Alex. He smells like dog and rabbit and bacon and eggs. He does not smell like blue-tongued skink. If Maya has a blue-tongued skink for a pet, Alex must not spend much time with it.

I follow Alex all around the basketball court. I sniff. I listen. I watch. But I don’t learn anything that will help me solve any of my mysteries.

The bell rings and all the kids run toward the school. Connor brings me to the office. I go on ahead of him and plop down on my pillow. I’m exhausted.

Connor doesn’t come in. Instead, he PUTS A GATE across Mom’s doorway.

“Hey! What are you doing?” I charge toward the gate. It doesn’t budge.

I rest my chin on top of the gate and peer at Connor. “Did you know you just locked Mom and me in her office?”

Connor looks a little sorry. “See you later, Buddy,” he says with a wave.

I gaze over at Ellie. She makes sad eyes at me, then reaches into her treat jar and tosses me a beef treat. I catch it in my mouth. I love beef treats, but they don’t make me feel any better about that gate.

“I’m sorry we had to put up a gate, Buddy,” Mom says. “But we can’t have you running around loose in the school.”

“I only run around loose in the school when I have something important to do,” I tell her.

At least I am only stuck behind that gate for eleventy-two minutes. Then Mrs. Christie comes to get me.

“Oh, boy!” I say, hopping to my feet. “Time to read!” I wonder if Maya will read to me today. Or Alex.

As Mrs. Christie and I turn a corner, I pick up a trail. I smell blue-tongued skink! He’s still around. But where is he?

I am sniffing ... sniffing ... sniffing ...

Darn. I lost the trail.

“This way, Buddy.” Mrs. Christie steers me into the library.

I can’t tell whether Blue-Tongued Skink has been back to the library or not. And there’s no time to explore because there’s already a kid sitting on my pillow when I get there. He waves at me and Mrs. Christie.

“Hi, Noah,” Mrs. Christie says as we settle in on the pillow.

Noah smells like cereal and milk. I LOVE cereal and milk. They’re my favorite foods! Noah reads to me about things that go up and down. Then I play dead for him and he goes back to his class.

The next kid reads about a boy named Henry, a dog named Mudge, and a very dirty cat. The parts about the cat are boring, but I like Mudge. He reminds me of my friend Mouse.

Another kid reads to me about snakes. And the kid after that reads to me about lizards.

Just when I think I’m not going to see Maya today (or ever again), she strolls into the library.

I wag my tail. “Hi, Maya,” I say. “Are you going to read to me?”