The Mystery of the Circus Clown (4 page)

That’s the clown who
helped us before, Cam said to herself. “Hi,” she called to him and waved.

The clown didn’t wave back. He pulled at the sleeve of the woman standing next to him. Cam saw a little green make-up on her face, too.

The two of them quickly pushed through the crowd toward the doors. Cam tried to catch up with them. When she got to the doors, she saw they were already downstairs, running through the lobby.

Chapter Seven

Cam ran down the steps to the lobby. Eric and Aunt Molly were waiting for her.

“I saw the clown with the chalkboard, the one who helped us before,” Cam said. “He was with a short woman, and they’re both carrying shopping bags. I think she’s the pickpocket.”

Cam ran through the doors and onto the sidewalk. Eric and Aunt Molly followed her. It was raining hard outside. Some people had umbrellas. Others covered their heads with magazines and newspapers as they ran to their cars. Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly looked for the couple.

“Is that them?” Eric asked. He pointed to a man and woman walking quickly toward the parking lot.

“Yes.”

“You get the guard,” Aunt Molly said as she took a scarf from her handbag. “I’ll stall them.”

Eric ran back to the arena. Aunt Molly walked quickly toward the couple. Cam followed her.

“Excuse me,” Aunt Molly said to them, “but do you have the time?”

“It’s four-thirty,” the woman called out over the sound of the pouring rain.

Aunt Molly stood in front of the woman as the man walked ahead. “You know it’s not four-thirty in London,” Aunt Molly said. “It’s later there. I travel a lot and I never really know what time it is. That’s why I ask people.”

“Come on,” the man called.

“Please, I’m getting all wet,” the woman said. “And I’m in a hurry.”

While they were talking, Cam sneaked behind the woman and looked in the woman’s bag. She saw a red wig, a white jacket, and pants with red and blue stripes. Cam was standing behind the woman. She pointed to her and nodded her head so that Aunt Molly would know they had found the Bumping Clown.

“People over here always seem to be in a hurry,” Aunt Molly said. “It’s not like that all over, you know.”

The woman started to push past Aunt Molly. The man was coming to help. Just then two of the guards ran up.

“You, over there. Stop!”

The woman started to run off, but she slipped on the wet street and fell. The man ran to his car. As he was opening the door, the guards caught up with him. They led him back to where the woman was sitting on the wet street. The guards helped her up and led them both back to the arena. Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly walked behind them.

They all went into an office behind the ticket booth. The woman sat down with the shopping bag on her lap. The man stood next to her. One of the guards called the police.

The woman’s dress was soaking wet. The paper shopping bag she was holding was wet too. Aunt Molly took a handkerchief from her handbag and wiped the rain from her face. Then she gave the handkerchief to Cam.

“Why are you holding us here?” the man asked. “We did nothing wrong.”

“And look at me. I’m all wet,” the woman said.

“You stole my wallet. That’s why we stopped you,” Aunt Molly said.

“And you took other people’s wallets, too,” Cam said. “And I’ll bet they’re all in those bags you’re holding.”

“I didn’t take anything,” the man said.

“Neither did I. Everything in this bag is mine,” the woman said, and lifted her bag.

As she lifted it, a big hole ripped through the bottom of the wet bag. Clown shoes, a jacket, pants, a small white hat, a red wig, and several wallets fell out.

Aunt Molly picked up one of the wallets. She opened it and took out a credit card. She showed the card to one of the guards and said, “This is mine.”

Chapter Eight

Jack Wally walked into the office. He was still wearing his bright red suit and carrying his top hat. He wrote a list of all the names and telephone numbers of the people whose wallets were stolen. He said that he would call the people and tell them that their wallets had been found.

Then the police came. “So it’s you two again,” one of them said. “The last time we caught you, you were dressed as train conductors. One of you picked pockets while the other one looked out for the real conductor.”

“That’s what they did this time,” Cam said. “She picked the pockets while he made sure that they weren’t caught. We didn’t find them right away because with her clown’s costume on, we thought the Bumping Clown was a man. We looked for her in the lobby and in the men’s room. It was the clown with the chalkboard who stopped me from looking in the women’s room. The Bumping Clown was probably in there the whole time taking off her makeup.”

“And the other one probably took his makeup off while we were talking to the guard,” Eric said.

The police looked through the man’s shopping bag. They found his clown costume and a few wallets in there.

“I see you were more than just a look-out this time,” one of the police officers said. “Well, come with us.”

The woman picked up her clown costume from the floor. She dropped the wig on her head, and the police led her and her partner away.

“I’m really glad you caught them,” Jack Wally told Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly. “First I want to give you passes to see the circus again. One of the guards told me that you missed most of the second half.”

Jack Wally reached into his hat and took out a few slips of paper. “Now what are your names?”

“I’m Jennifer Jansen,” Cam said.

“I’m Eric Shelton.”

“And I’m Molly Jansen.”

Jack Wally wrote their names on the circus passes. Then he asked, “Do you have sisters or brothers you’d like to bring to the circus?”

“I do,” Eric said. “I have twin sisters, Donna and Diane, and a baby brother, Howie.”

Jack Wally took three more passes from his hat. He wrote on the passes and gave them to Eric. Then he said, “Come on. I’ll get you some circus programs and flashlights. Then we’ll meet the Bailor Brothers.”

Cam, Eric, and Aunt Molly followed Jack Wally to his office. As they walked there, Cam and Eric thanked Aunt Molly for taking them to the circus. They said they had had a good time. “And the best part,” Eric said, “is that we’re going to meet the Bailor Brothers.”

Jack Wally gave them the programs and flashlights. Then they followed him to a small dressing room. One of the Bailors was sitting with his feet up on the dressing table. The other one had his feet soaking in a bucket of hot, soapy water.

“I’d like you to meet some heroes,” Jack Wally said to the Bailor Brothers. “Maybe you can autograph their programs.”

The two brothers signed the programs. Then the one with his feet in the bucket of water asked, “What did you do to become heroes?”

“Well,” Aunt Molly said, “my niece Jennifer and her friend Eric caught two clowns who were pickpockets. Jennifer has an amazing memory. She has a head full of pictures and that’s how she remembers things and finds people. And do you know how Jennifer takes pictures and looks at them? She just closes her eyes and says, ‘Clock.’ ”

“Cam doesn’t say, ‘Clock,’ ” Eric said.

“Cluck?”

“No.”

“Clack?”

Cam laughed and said, “No. I make the same sound a real camera makes.”

Cam looked at Eric, Aunt Molly, the Bailor Brothers, and Jack Wally. “Smile,” she said. “I’m taking your picture.” Then Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”