The Chocolate Fudge Mystery (3 page)

Cam
“clicked.”

She
“clicked”
again.

Cam stared at the house for another minute. Then she said slowly, “Someone went to a lot of trouble to make us think that no one is living in this house. But that woman probably brought that box of food here and the garbage she was carrying was from this house. There is someone hiding in there and I’m going to find out who it is.”

C
am quickly went next door. She found a spot in the Millers’ yard where she could see between the hedge and the fence. She sat on the grass and watched the back of the yellow house.

“Why is she so sure that someone is hiding here?” Mr. Jansen asked Eric.

Eric shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He didn’t know.

“And where did she go?”

Eric shook his head again.

Eric and Mr. Jansen walked ahead, toward the Millers’ house. Then Mr. Jansen saw Cam sitting in the Millers’ backyard.

“She can’t do that. She shouldn’t be sitting on someone else’s lawn,” Mr. Jansen said.

“We know the people who live here,” Eric said. “They bought candy and rice cakes from us. We can ask them if Cam can stay there.”

Mr. Jansen stood behind Eric as he rang the doorbell of the Millers’ house. Mrs. Miller came out wearing the same long, frilly apron.

“Hello again,” she said. “The chocolate fudge bar is delicious.”

“The rice cakes are good, too,” Eric said.

Mr. Jansen stepped forward.

“My daughter is Jennifer Jansen, the pretty girl with red hair and freckles who came to your house earlier. She’s sitting in your yard right now and watching the yellow house next door. If you don’t want her there, I’ll tell her to leave.”

“She thinks someone is hiding in there,” Eric added.

“She does? Oh, my goodness! I must tell Jacob.”

Mrs. Miller came back a moment later with her husband.

“The Pells live next door,” Mr. Miller said, “but they’re on vacation. They won’t be back for several weeks.”

“Someone left a box of food on the back porch,” Eric said. “Cam is watching to see if anyone will come out and get it.”

“Who is Cam?” Mrs. Miller asked.

“Jennifer’s nickname is Cam,” Mr. Jansen explained. “It’s short for ‘The Camera.’ We call her that because she has a photographic memory.”

“Oh, well, your camera daughter might be right,” Mrs. Miller said. “The Pells’ nephew may be in the house. I’ve never met him, but I know he’s a writer. Mrs. Pell has told me that he has trouble finding a quiet place to work.”

“Let’s go outside and see if Jennifer has seen anyone,” Mr. Miller said.

Mr. Jansen and Eric waited while Mrs. Miller took off her apron and hung it in the closet. She put on a straw hat with a wide brim.

They all walked to the backyard. Eric sat on the grass next to Cam. The Millers and Mr. Jansen stood next to them.

Mr. Jansen asked Cam, “What makes you so sure there’s someone hiding in there?”

“It’s the newspapers on the front lawn,” Cam said.

“The newspapers!” her father said. “That’s a sure sign that no one is in the house.”

“I smell something,” Mrs. Miller said.

“Shh,” Eric said. “I hear something.”

Mr. Jansen and the Millers bent down, so they were hidden by the hedges.

They were quiet. They didn’t see anyone, but they heard something or someone moving.

The black-and-white cat jumped onto the back porch again. With its paws and mouth, it tried to open the cardboard carton of milk.

Mr. Jansen and the Millers stood up.

“Eric and I each looked at a newspaper,” Cam said, “and both papers had the same headline. Whoever is hiding in that house probably bought a bunch of papers the day he went into hiding, rolled them up, and threw them on the lawn so people would think the house was empty.”

Eric said, “The woman with the dark glasses may have thrown the papers there.”

The cat pulled the milk carton to the edge of the steps and stepped away. The carton fell down the steps and tore open. The cat began to lick up the spilled milk.

Suddenly the cat stopped. It looked up. Its legs were bent. The cat was ready to run.

“It heard something,” Mr. Jansen whispered.

He and the Millers bent down.

There was a creaking sound. Then the back door of the yellow house opened.

“
S
cram!”

A tall, thin man with a light brown beard came out of the house. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark green shirt. The man ran across the back porch and chased the cat away.

Cam stood up. She looked straight at the man, blinked her eyes and said
“Click.”
Then she quickly sat down.

The man watched the cat run off. He picked up the juice carton, cereal box, and the few other groceries that were on the porch. He put them all in the large box and carried them into the house.

“That’s not Mr. Pell,” Mr. Miller whispered.

“I’ll bet he’s a criminal and that house is his hideaway. We should call the police,” Eric said.

“I can’t keep standing here. I’m tired,” Mrs. Miller said. “Let’s go inside.”

Eric and Mr. Jansen followed the Millers into the house. Cam continued to watch the back of the yellow house. The door opened. The tall, thin man came outside. He was carrying a broom and a large, empty, black plastic bag. He looked around. Then he walked down the steps of the back porch. He put the empty milk carton in the bag. Then he swept away as much of the milk as he could. The man turned and looked right at where Cam was sitting. He stood there for a minute. Then he went into the house.

Cam waited. When the man didn’t come out again, she joined Eric and the others in the Millers’ kitchen. Cam washed her hands with soap. Then she looked to see what the others were doing.

Cam’s father and the Millers were sitting by the table drinking coffee and eating cookies, chocolate fudge bars, and rice cakes. Eric was reaching into a large paper bag filled with newspapers.

“The Millers recycle their newspapers,” Eric told Cam, “and the pickup isn’t until tomorrow. I’m looking for the paper with the
Ding, Dong
headline. If we find that, we’ll know when the man went into hiding.”

Mrs. Miller was eating a rice cake. She put it down and said, “I think he’s the Pells’ nephew. Mrs. Pell told me how hard he works and how he hates to be disturbed when he writes.”

“Is her nephew tall and thin?” Cam asked. “Does he have a beard?”

“Maybe. I’ve never seen him.”

Eric emptied the bag of newspapers onto the kitchen floor. The daily newspapers, a few supermarket flyers, and the weekly community newspaper fell out.

“Here it is. Here’s the
Ding, Dong
paper,” Eric said. “Now I’m going to look for a report of an escaped criminal who is hiding somewhere.”

“What’s the date on that paper?” Cam asked.

Eric showed her the masthead. “It’s Tuesday’s newspaper.”

Cam looked through the pile of newspapers on the floor. She found the Wednesday newspaper and began to look through it.

Mr. Jansen put down his cup of coffee and asked Cam, “Why are you looking at Wednesday’s paper?”

“If that man went into hiding on Tuesday for something he just did, then it would be written up in the next day’s paper, on Wednesday,” Cam explained.

When Eric heard that, he closed his newspaper. He looked through the Wednesday paper with Cam.

“Some stores will deliver groceries,” Mrs. Miller said. “If the Pells’ nephew is busy writing, he may not have time to go shopping.

That’s why there was a box of food on the back porch.”

Cam turned the page of the newspaper.

Mrs. Miller went on. “Many years ago, I tried to write a story for a mystery magazine, but as soon as I sat down to write, the telephone rang. Then the mail was delivered. Then it was time for me to eat lunch. The Pells’ nephew probably just doesn’t want to be disturbed. That’s why he’s pretending that no one is at home.”

“Look at this,” Eric said. He pointed to a column with the headline,
Crime Watch.

Eric picked up the newspaper and read from it.

“In a daring robbery today at the Midtown Savings Bank a teller was handed a withdrawal slip for $10,000. ‘You must fill in your account number and sign your name,’ the teller told the man. The man showed the teller a gun and said, ‘You have just one minute to give me the money.’ The thief is described as tall and thin, with light brown hair.”

“That’s him. That’s the man hiding next door,” Cam said.

M
r. Miller picked up the telephone. He pressed a few buttons, waited, and then said, “There’s a bank thief hiding in the house next door and he has a gun.” Then he gave the police the address of the yellow house.

Cam, Eric, Mr. Jansen, and the Millers went to the front window to watch for the police.

While the others looked to the right, toward the yellow house, Cam looked for a moment the other way. She saw a woman come out of the large white house across the street. She was carrying a suitcase.

“Look,” Cam said. “It’s that woman again. She’s walking this way. Maybe her friend saw us watching him and now they’re going to run away.”

Cam ran to the front door of the Millers’ house and went outside.

“Wait. The police will get her,” Mr. Miller called.

Mr. Jansen said, “I have to stop her. That woman might be dangerous.”

Mr. Jansen and Eric quickly followed Cam outside.

Cam was holding the broom, pretending to be sweeping the front walk. She was really watching to see what the woman would do.

“Stop!” Mr. Jansen called out.

Cam stopped sweeping. She turned to look at.her father. The woman stopped, too.

“Now she knows that I’m watching her,” Cam whispered.