Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery (2 page)

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Authors: David Adler

BOOK: Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery
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“Let's go inside,” Mr. Jansen said. “It's almost time for the talent show to begin.”
Mr. Jansen, Cam and her friends, Lucy Lane, and Old Bob all went into the building.
“Hello! Hello!” a young woman in a long red dress said to Eric, Beth, and Danny. “I'm Judy.”
Cam whispered to Eric, “She's the director of the senior center.”
“Thank you for helping,” Judy told Mr. Jansen, Cam, and her friends. “The main hall is ready. The lights and microphone are set. It's almost time to start.”
Mr. Jansen, Cam, and the others followed her into a large room. Lots of chairs were set up in rows. They all faced a small stage. People were standing by tables on the side of the room. Many of the people held canes. Some had walkers. On the tables were trays of cakes, cookies, and fruit. There were also pitchers of water and ice tea.
“Please, find seats,” Judy told the seniors. “You can eat later. The show is about to begin.”
Chapter Two
Mr. Jansen stood by the microphone.
Cam and her friends sat in the first row of seats facing the stage. Lucy Lane and a man wearing a white apron sat behind them.
“This is Ken,” Lucy Lane told Cam and her friends. “He baked the cakes and cookies for the party.”
Mr. Jansen waited while the seniors went to their seats.
“That reminds me,” Danny whispered. “I' m hungry.”
“You just want some cookies,” Beth said.
“I don't just want
some
cookies,” Danny whispered. “I want lots of cookies and lots of cake.”
Mr. Jansen held the microphone. When everyone was seated he said, “Good morning. Welcome to the Fall party and talent show. Our show begins with jokes. Here is the very funny Danny Pace.”
Mr. Jansen gave Danny the microphone. Danny bowed and everyone applauded.
“Listen to this,” Danny said, really fast. “I told my teacher to please not punish me for something I didn't do. She said she wouldn't. Then I told her I didn't do my homework.”
No one laughed.
“I built a dog house and hammered a nail. Wow! That hurt! It was my fingernail.”
Danny waited. But again, no one laughed.
“Then I dropped the hammer on my toe and do you know what I did? I called a tow truck.”
This time Danny didn't wait for people to laugh. He quickly told another joke.
“I dropped the hammer on a leopard. Wow! That hit the spot! And I once heard a singing cow. It made beautiful moo-sic.”
“His jokes aren't funny,” Ken the baker whispered to Lucy Lane.
“And he talks so fast,” Lucy said.
Mr. Jansen got on the stage.
“Thank you. Thank you,” Mr. Jansen said.
“No, wait. I have more jokes. Do you know what's cold and white and flies up and down and up and down? It's a mixed-up snowflake.”
Mr. Jansen took the microphone from Danny.
“Thank you, Danny Pace,” he said.
Cam, Eric, Beth, and a few other people applauded.
“Now,” Mr. Jansen told the seniors, “we'll see some memory magic.”
Cam got up on stage and stood next to her father.
“Here is my daughter Jennifer Jansen, the girl with the amazing photographic memory.”
Jennifer is Cam's real first name. But when people found out about her great memory, they started calling her “The Camera.” Soon “The Camera” became just “Cam.”
Cam bowed and people applauded.
“Please, come up here,” Mr. Jansen said to Lucy Lane and Ken the baker.
When they were onstage, Lucy Lane whispered to Mr. Jansen, “We can't stay very long. We're going to a wedding.”
Cam looked at Lucy and Ken. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click!”
Cam turned and faced the wall behind the stage.
“What color is Lucy's shirt?” Mr. Jansen asked.
“It's blue,” Cam answered.
Cam's eyes were still closed. She was still facing the wall.
Cam said, “There are small white flowers on Lucy's shirt. In the middle of each flower is a red dot. And there are ten buttons down the front of her shirt.”
Lucy pointed to each of her buttons as she counted them out loud. Cam was right. There were ten.
“She's amazing,” Ken said.
Old Bob stood and called out, “What about me? You saw me outside when Lucy took my picture.”
“You have a white mustache,” Cam said with her eyes still closed.
“What about my shirt?”
“Your shirt is white with green stripes. You have two pens in your shirt pocket. You're wearing black pants and white sneakers.”
“Wow!” Bob said. “She really does have a great memory.”
Cam opened her eyes. She turned and bowed.
People cheered and applauded.
Lucy Lane whispered to Mr. Jansen, “We really have to go.”
“Let's thank Lucy, who took your photographs, and Ken, who baked all the cookies and cakes,” Mr. Jansen said. “The photos and cakes are their gifts to the center.”
The people in the audience applauded some more. Then Lucy Lane and Ken left the room.
“Now,” Mr. Jansen said into the microphone, “here are two great jugglers, Eric Shelton and Beth Kane.”
Eric and Beth walked onto the stage. Each held two red rubber balls. They stood beside the microphone and bowed. Then they stepped to the front of the stage several feet apart and faced each other.
Eric threw a ball to Beth. At the very same moment, Beth threw a ball to Eric.
Just then Lucy and Ken hurried back into the room. They rushed down the aisle. Eric and Beth turned to look at Lucy and Ken, and the two balls bounced off the stage.
“I can't find my keys,” Ken told Mr. Jansen. “On the way out I reached into my pocket and the keys to my truck were gone!”
Chapter Three
“That's terrible,” Mr. Jansen said.
“It's worse than terrible,” Lucy Lane said. “The wedding is in three hours, and we have to get there. Ken baked pastries, cookies, and a cake for the wedding and I'm taking pictures.”
“Hey,” Old Bob said. “Who stole the keys? That's a mystery. I love mysteries.”
“I have my car here,” Mr. Jansen told Lucy and Ken. “I can drive you to the wedding.”
Ken shook his head.
“My cake is in the truck. If I can't get into my truck, I can't deliver the cake.”
“I read lots of mysteries,” Bob said. “And do you know what? I always solve the mystery before the end of the book.”
“Cam Jansen doesn't solve mysteries in a book,” Eric said. “She solves real mysteries.”
Bob said, “I think someone reached into Ken's pocket and stole his keys.”
Cam went to the window and looked out.
“The truck is still here,” Cam said. “If someone stole the keys, he would have taken the truck. I think Ken just misplaced his keys.”
Lucy told Ken to check his pockets.
“I'm right-handed,” Ken said, “so my keys are always in this pocket.”
Ken reached into his right pants pocket.
“Nothing!”
He reached into the pocket on the left side of his pants.
“No keys.”
“You drove here,” Eric said. “You had your keys then.”
“You brought trays of cookies and cakes in here,” Lucy said. “You used your keys to unlock the back of the truck.”
“Yes, I did. Maybe I dropped the keys on the walk.”
Lucy and Ken left the main hall of the senior center. Then they left the building. Cam stood by the window. She watched Lucy and Ken walk slowly down the front walk looking for Ken's keys.
“Let's get back to our show,” Mr. Jansen said into the microphone. “Here again are two great jugglers, Eric Shelton and Beth Kane.”

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