The Triceratops Pops Mystery (3 page)

Read The Triceratops Pops Mystery Online

Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: The Triceratops Pops Mystery

10.98Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub

“Yuck,” Cam said again. “It sounded more like a rotten banana song.”

Cam thought for a moment. Then she leaned close to Eric and whispered, “Maybe a thief broke open the cases, took off the white rectangles, and stuffed the CDs in his shirt.”

“Maybe,” Eric said.

“I'll look for the broken cases,” Cam told him.

Eric said, “I'll check the registers. Maybe I'll find someone buying the Triceratops Pops CDs. Maybe there's no mystery at all. You just got here too late to buy any.”

Cam walked along the aisles. She looked under the tape and CD cases and behind them. She also looked at what people had in their shopping baskets.

Near the back of the store Cam felt a draft of cold air. She turned and saw that the back door was open. And there was no security gate there.

Cam was just starting toward it when she heard a loud “
Beep ... Beep ... Beep
” coming from the front of the store.

Chapter Five

C
am rushed down aisle six, past Jordan, to the store entrance.

Eric pointed to a man standing by the security gate. The guard opened a bag he was carrying.

Cam looked at the man. She blinked her eyes and said, “
Click.
”

“This is it,” the guard said as he took out a videotape rented from another store. “These always set off our alarm.”

The man was about to leave.

“I'm sorry,” the guard said. “I'll have to check your other bag, too.”

The guard was wearing a name tag. HELLO. I'M ERNIE'S HELPER. MY NAME IS BARRY was printed on the tag.

The man with the videotape was holding another large paper shopping bag. Cam got closer to see what was in the bag.

“It's a watermelon,” the man said. “I'm having a party tonight, and this will be dessert.”

Barry the guard looked in the bag. Cam looked in, too. It
was
a watermelon.

“It's a big one,” Barry said.

“I'm having a big party,” the man told him as he left the store.

The bottom of the watermelon bag was wet and left a spot on the floor. Barry the guard wiped the floor and then went back to his seat near the cash registers.

Cam told Eric, “Come with me. I'll show you how the thief got out.”

Eric followed Cam to the back door.

“There's no guard here,” Cam whispered, “and there's no security gate.”

Cam and Eric walked closer and looked out. The door opened out on a back street and driveway.

“Excuse me,” said a woman pushing a handcart loaded with boxes. She was making a delivery.

Cam and Eric moved aside and let the woman walk past. Then they started to walk through the back door.

A tall woman wearing a yellow and green striped jacket stopped them. “This exit is for emergencies only. If you want to leave you'll have to go out the front door.”

On the woman's jacket was a name tag that said: HELLO. I'M ERNIE'S HELPER. MY NAME IS SUSAN.

Cam and Eric walked away from the door.

Eric said, “Maybe the thief got out when Susan was on her lunch break.”

“Sh,” Cam whispered. “Look.”

Cam pointed to a woman wearing a large raincoat. The woman was walking along the back aisle of the store.

“She's wearing a raincoat and it isn't raining,” Cam whispered. “It hasn't rained all week.”

Cam and Eric followed the woman. She stopped by a rack of videotapes. She took a tape from the rack and looked at it.

The woman turned and saw Cam and Eric watching her. She quickly returned the tape to the rack and walked down aisle four.

“Did you see that?” Cam asked.

“What?”

“Her pockets are full. I'll bet she's got the stolen CDs.”

Eric said, “Or maybe she just has a rain hat and gloves in her pockets.”

Cam and Eric walked quietly to aisle four. They stood at the end of the aisle. They pretended to be looking at the CDs. But they were really watching the woman in the raincoat.

The woman turned and saw Cam and Eric watching her. Cam smiled at the woman. Then Cam blinked her eyes and said, “
Click.
”

The woman turned and walked away.

Cam whispered to Eric, “I just took a picture of her with my mental camera. I want to remember what she looks like. She might be the CD thief.”

Cam and Eric walked to the end of aisle four. They looked down aisles three and five.

“Where did she go?” Cam asked.

Just then they heard a loud “
Beep . . . Beep ... Beep.
”

Chapter Six

“
T
hat's her,” Cam said. “She's trying to leave the store.”

Cam and Eric rushed to the front of the store. The woman in the raincoat wasn't there. Barry the guard was looking through a teenager's knapsack. He took out a bag with blank tapes that the boy had just bought at Ernie's. He took out books, papers, a lunch bag, and a videotape from the rental store.

“This is it,” Barry said. “These tapes always set off our alarm.”

Barry helped the boy repack his knapsack.

After the boy left, Cam asked the guard, “Did you see a woman wearing a raincoat walk past here?”

Cam closed her eyes and said, “
Click.
”

“She has white hair and brown eyes,” Cam said with her eyes still closed. “She's wearing tiny earrings, dark red lipstick, eyeglasses, sneakers, and white socks.”

“I didn't see her,” Barry said.

Cam opened her eyes. She leaned close to the guard and whispered, “She's wearing a raincoat and it isn't raining!”

Barry the guard leaned even closer and whispered, “I didn't see her.”

Barry went back to his seat near the cash registers.

Cam said to Eric, “Then she's still here. She may be hiding from us. Or she may be in some corner taking off the magnetic strips.”

Eric followed Cam past the racks of videotapes of old movies and television shows. They walked down aisle one. Then, as they turned to walk up the next aisle, Cam stopped and pointed to a woman just ahead of them.

“She's not wearing a raincoat,” Eric said. “That woman works here.”

“I know she works here. She's Susan. But if Susan is in here, who's watching the back door?”

Cam and Eric went quickly to the back door. It was open.

“Maybe this is how the raincoat woman got away,” Cam said as she walked through the door.

Cam and Eric were standing on a narrow driveway at the back of the mall. Trucks were parked by the back doors of some of the stores and workers were unloading the trucks. NO PARKING. LOADING ZONE was painted on many of the doors.

“I don't see her,” Eric said.

Cam and Eric walked out across the driveway. They turned and looked both ways. Then, as Cam turned again and looked into the store, she saw the woman in the raincoat.

“There she is!”

Cam and Eric hurried across the driveway. But before they could get into the store Susan reached out for the door. She didn't see Cam and Eric as she pulled the door closed.

Cam tried to open the door. It was locked. She knocked and banged, but no one came to open it.

There was a large sign on the door. EMERGENCY EXIT. PLEASE ENTER THROUGH MALL.

Cam gave the door one last knock. Then she and Eric walked around to the front. They entered the shopping mall. Someone dressed in a bear costume was about to hand Eric a flyer when Cam said, “We have no time for that.”

“No, thank you,” Eric said.

Eric put his hands in his pockets.

“
Grrr!
” the bear growled.

Cam and Eric hurried through the crowded mall to Ernie's. They were about to walk in when Cam stopped.

Cam pointed to the floor and asked, “Do you see that?”

Eric looked down at a small, wet trail.

“The thief is not in Ernie's,” Cam said. “He left a long time ago.”

Chapter Seven

C
am closed her eyes and said, “
Click.
”

“The thief has short brown hair,” Cam said with her eyes closed. “He's wearing sunglasses, a green shirt, blue pants, and sneakers.”

Cam opened her eyes and said, “Let's tell the guard.”

Cam and Eric went into Ernie's.