Read The School Play Mystery Online

Authors: David A. Adler

The School Play Mystery (3 page)

BOOK: The School Play Mystery
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Eric leaned back, opened his mouth, and laughed. The children on stage and lots of people in the audience laughed, too.
The children finished their shopping and left the store. Eric waited. When no one else came into the store, he counted the money he had been paid. He took the small pad from his pocket and looked at it.
“Oh my,” he said. “Mrs. Olsen paid too much for her groceries.”
“When he counted his money, he found too much,” Danny whispered. “When we opened the shoe box and counted our money, we found too little.”
Eric put lids on the barrels. He covered the table with a large cloth. Then he walked very slowly across the stage, toward Susie. He gave her a few coins.
Susie looked to the right again. Then she said, “You walked all this way to bring me six cents?” She patted Eric’s shoulder and said, “Now I know why people call you Honest Abe.”
Eric and Susie walked to the center of the stage and bowed. The children who had been in Offutt’s Store came out and bowed, too. People in the audience clapped.
As the curtain closed, Sara said to Cam and Danny, “This is a play about Honest Abe Lincoln, but there’s someone here who’s not honest at all.”
“He’s not honest, but he’s clever,” Danny said. “Somehow, he stole the money without opening the box. And he stole the money without Sara or me seeing him do it.”
“Ms. Benson said she was counting on me,” Cam said, “and now the money is gone. I’ve got to tell her what happened.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Cam hurried backstage. Ms. Benson was busy there, getting the stage and the children ready for the next scene.
“Clear the table. Move it to the side,” Ms. Benson said. “Roll the barrels to the back of the stage. Take down the Offutt’s sign and put up the LINCOLN FOR PRESIDENT sign.”
“Ms. Benson,” Cam said. “I have to talk to you.”
“Good, Cam,” Ms. Benson said. “I’m glad you’re here. Make sure everyone is in place for the next scene.”
“It’s about the money,” Cam said.
“Go ahead! Go ahead!” Ms. Benson told Cam. “Get everyone in place. The audience is waiting.”
Everyone backstage was busy. Cam watched as the table and barrels were moved. Then someone brought out a small stepladder and placed it in the center of the stage.
Eric had on a top hat and a long black coat. He got up on the ladder. With one hand, he held onto the lapel of his coat. He pressed his lips together and tried to look very serious.
Cam stood to the right of Eric and called out, “Susie, Hillel, Jane, and Jacob. You belong here, facing Eric.”
Then Cam went to Eric’s left and called out, “Samuel and Deborah, you belong here.”
“Are we set now?” Ms. Benson asked Cam. “Is everything OK?”
“The scene is ready,” Cam told her. “But everything is
not
OK.”
She told Ms. Benson there were only four dollars in the shoe box.
“What!” Ms. Benson said. “There should be lots more money than that.”
Eric and the other children on stage heard Ms. Benson. They gathered around her, to hear what happened.
Cam told them all about the shoe box and the missing money.
“How could that happen?” Eric asked. “How could someone steal the money without opening the box?”
“What are we going to do?” Susie asked.
“Cam and I will find the money,” Eric said. “This is a mystery and Cam and I will solve it. We solve lots of mysteries.”
“You are not solving anything,” Ms. Benson told Eric. “You’re President Lincoln.”
Ms. Benson looked at the children who had gathered around Cam. “Now, get to your places,” Ms. Benson told them. “People came here to see a play, and they’re going to see one. We’ll find the money.”
Eric got back on the ladder. “Don’t worry,” he told everyone. “Cam will say,
‘Click’
a few times. She’ll look at all those pictures she has in her head and find the money.”
Ms. Benson took a small telephone from her pocket. She called the police and quickly told them what happened.
“Please, go outside and wait for the police,” Ms. Benson told Cam. “They will be here soon.”
Then Ms. Benson called out, “Dim the lights!”
Cam hurried to the side of the stage. She watched the children in the center of the stage wait for the curtains to open. Then Cam looked to the back of the stage, at the Offutt’s General Store sign, the table, and the barrels.
“Open the curtains!” Ms. Benson called out.
Cam looked at the table again. Suddenly, she remembered something. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click!”
Cam said,
“Click!”
again.
She opened her eyes. “I just saw some-thin
g
,” she told Ms. Benson. “I don’t know who took the money, but I think I know when it was taken.”
“That’s a start,” Ms Benson said. “Tell the police whatever you know.”
“I will,” Cam said, “but first, I have to talk to Sara and Danny.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The curtains opened.
“A house divided against itself cannot stand,” Eric called out. “This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.”
Cam hurried down the aisle to the back of the auditorium. “I need to talk to you,” she told Sara and Danny.
They followed Cam out of the auditorium.
“You said you never left the room, but you did. When I came back, there were two empty soda cans on the table.”
Sara told Cam, “We didn’t leave the room to get the soda. A boy came in here with an ice cooler.”
“There were only a few people in line,” Danny added. “Some of them also bought soda.”
“That’s when the money was taken,” Cam said. “The money was taken when there were four people still in line. They bought their tickets after the money was stolen. That’s why, when I opened the box, there were only four dollars in it.”
Cam looked outside. There were still many children in the playground. She saw a boy with a large cooler sitting under a tree in the corner of the school yard.
Cam pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “Did he sell you the soda?” Cam asked.
Sara and Danny looked at the boy.
“That’s him,” they told Cam.
Just then there were flashing lights. A police car parked near the school yard. Two officers got out, a man and a woman.
Cam ran to them.
“I’m Officer Feldman,” the woman said, “and this is my partner, Officer Zuto.”
Cam pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “That boy may be the thief,” she told the officers. “He may be the one who stole the ticket money.”
“We have to speak with Ms. Benson,” Officer Zuto told Cam. “Is she inside?”
“I’ll take you to her,” Sara said.
The two officers started to follow Sara and Danny.
“Wait!” Cam said. “Can’t one of you stay with me and watch the thief?”
“I’ll stay,” Officer Feldman said.
Cam told her about the play, the almost empty shoe box, and the boy with the ice cooler.
“Let’s talk to him,” Officer Feldman said. “Let’s see what he knows about the missing money.”
Cam and Officer Feldman walked across the playground.
“Do you want a soda?” the boy asked.
“No,” Officer Feldman answered. “We want to talk to you.”
The school doors opened. Officer Zuto came out. He was followed by Sara, Danny, and Ms. Benson.
“That’s him,” Sara told Ms. Benson. She pointed to the boy sitting under the tree. “He’s the one!”
BOOK: The School Play Mystery
6.54Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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