Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery (4 page)

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Authors: David Adler

BOOK: Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery

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“Not me,” Officer Davis said. “I'm staying here with the baker and his friend. I need to fill out a report, and I still have some questions.”

“The police are just knocking on doors and asking questions,” the woman with curly white hair said. “Now this is not so exciting. I'm going inside.”

“Me, too,” her friend said. “I'm tired. I need to sit down.”

Most of the seniors went back to the center. Judy, the director of the center, followed them.

Officer Oppen, Danny, Beth, Mr. Jansen, and Bob walked up the front path of the house next to the senior center. They stood on the small porch. Officer Oppen rang the bell. In the middle of the door was a small window. Behind the window was a curtain.

Officer Oppen waited.

Cam and Eric stood in the middle of the walk. Cam looked through the large front window. She watched an old woman slowly get out of a chair by the window. The woman took a cane and walked toward the front door.

The woman pulled aside the curtain and looked out. Then she opened the door.

“Good morning,” the woman said to Officer Oppen.

“We're looking for a wedding cake,” Danny said. “We're looking for lots of pastries and cookies, too.”

The woman slowly shook her head.

“I'm sorry,” she said. “I don't have any cake. My doctor told me not to eat anything sweet.”

“Were you home all morning?” Officer Oppen asked. “Did you look outside?”

“I'm always home,” the woman answered. “I sit in that big chair by the window and read.”

“Did you see anyone by that truck?” Officer Oppen asked.

“Which truck?” the woman asked.

Officer Oppen pointed to Ken's large blue truck.

The woman looked beyond Officer Oppen and the others.

“I see people there now,” she said. “But I didn't see anyone there before. I looked out a few times, but mostly I was reading. I was also sleeping. That chair is really comfortable.”

“Thank you,” Officer Oppen said.

The woman smiled. Then she closed her door. Cam looked through the large front window. She watched the old woman return to her chair

“Did you hear what she said?” Cam whispered to Eric.

“Yes. She said she doesn't eat cake. She also said she falls asleep in her chair.”

“Not that,” Cam said. “She said she looked out a few times so she saw Ken's truck. But first she asked, âWhich truck?' because there were two. Don't you remember? Dad parked between them. Whoever was in the other truck must have seen the keys Ken left in the back door.”

Officer Oppen and the others walked to the next house.

Cam was still standing on the front walk.

“Aren't we going?” Eric asked.

“Just a minute,” Cam answered.

She closed her eyes and said,
“Click!”

She said,
“Click!”
again.

“What are you looking at?” Eric asked.

“I'm trying to remember everything I've seen since we came here. But it doesn't help.”

Cam opened her eyes.

“I keep thinking we're missing something.”

Eric said, “Let's go. Officer Oppen is at the next house. Maybe the neighbor saw something.”

Cam and Eric went next door. They watched Officer Oppen ring the doorbell.

He waited.

He rang the doorbell again and waited.

“I guess no one is home,” he said.

“Let's go across the street,” Danny said. “Let's check with those people.”

Beth told Danny, “We can't bother everyone on the block.”

“You're right. We can't,” Danny said. “But Officer Oppen can. He's the police.”

Officer Oppen said, “It would really help if one of the neighbors saw something. I'm going to ring some more doorbells.”

“We'll all go with you,” Bob said.

Cam and Eric watched them walk toward the corner.

“Aren't we going?” Eric asked.

“Come on,” Mr. Jansen called. “Stay with us.”

Cam and Eric followed Officer Oppen and the others.

“Crumbs, keys, cake,” Cam said to herself as she walked. “What clue am I missing?”

Chapter Six

“It's important to cross at the corner,” Officer Oppen said, “not in the middle of the street.”

Officer Oppen and everyone with him walked to the end of the block. They looked both ways to be sure no cars were coming. Then they crossed the street.

“We'll start with the red brick house in the middle of the block,” Officer Oppen said.

The brick house was directly opposite Ken's truck.

“Hey, I have a question,” Danny said. “It's about wedding cake. What's the best thing to put in one?”

Officer Oppen knocked on the door.

“I also have a question,” Eric said. “If someone saw the cake being stolen, why would he wait for Officer Oppen to knock on his door? Wouldn't he call the police?”

“Maybe not,” Mr. Jansen said. “If he just saw someone take the cake from Ken's truck, he might not have known it was being stolen.”

Officer Oppen knocked on the door again.

“The best thing to put into a wedding cake is your teeth,” Danny said.

Danny laughed.

The door opened.

A young man wearing a bathrobe stood there. He looked at the Officer Oppen and all the people with him.

“Did I do something wrong?”

“No. I just want to know if you saw anyone take pastries, cookies, and a wedding cake out of the truck across the street.”

The young man looked across the street at Ken's truck. Cam turned and looked, too.

“I didn't see anyone take anything,” the young man said. “I just woke up.”

“Thank you,” Officer Oppen said.

“Look,” Cam whispered. “From here I can only see the truck. I can't see Officer Davis, Ken, or Lucy Lane.”

“They must be on the other side of the truck,” Eric told her. “That's why you can't see them. It's a tall truck.”

Mr. Jansen turned and looked across the street.

“Ken needs a tall truck,” he told Cam. “That's because wedding cakes have lots of layers. They can be very high.”

“That's it!” Cam said. “That's the clue I was missing.”

She told her dad she was crossing the street.

“I need to check one of the clues. I may know who stole the pastries and cake.”

“I'll go with you,” her dad and Eric said.

They walked to the corner. They waited as two cars went past.

“Did you see those cars?” Cam asked.

“Of course I saw them,” Eric answered. “That's why I stop and look before I cross the street. I look for cars.”

“Yes,” Cam said. “But none of the people in those cars could have stolen the wedding cake.”

“Of course those people could not have taken the cake,” Cam's dad said. “The cake is already gone.”

When no cars were coming, Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen crossed the street.

Cam shook her head. “They couldn't take it because a wedding cake is too tall to fit in their cars.”

They walked toward Ken's truck.

“Do you know who did steal the cake?” Eric asked.

“Maybe,” Cam said. “I just have to check one of the clues.”

Cam stopped near the front of Ken's truck. She bent and looked at the grass and street by the side of the truck.

“What are you looking for?” Eric asked.

“Cookie crumbs.”

“Bob already found lots of crumbs.”

“I know that,” Cam said. “But I need to know where he found them.”

Cam ran her fingers through the grass. She carefully checked the curb and the gutter. Her dad and Eric helped her.

“No crumbs,” Cam said. “Now let's look behind the truck.”

Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen walked behind the truck. Cam ran her fingers through the grass and found lots of crumbs. Eric found a broken cookie on the curb. Mr. Jansen found crumbs in the gutter.

“Look,” Eric told Cam. “There's a trail of crumbs all the way to your dad's car.”

Cam followed the trail of crumbs to her dad's car. But the trail didn't stop. It went along the side of the car and past it. It continued to the next car.

Cam followed the crumbs past Officer Davis, Ken, and Lucy.

“That's it!” Cam said when she got to the end of the trail. “Now I know who stole Ken's wedding cake.”