Cam Jansen and the Basketball Mystery Read Online Free

we’re going back. Wait for us.”
    Eric poked at one of the canvas bags.
    A tall Franklin player looked down at Eric and asked, “What are you doing?”
    Eric looked up and said, “I just wondered what basketball players keep in these bags.”
    The player laughed. “Dirty clothes,” he said, and unzipped the bag.

    Eric looked in. There was a blue towel in the bag and a green and yellow Franklin uniform.
    The players from the two teams talked about the game and Coach Jenkins.
    Cam looked at all the gym bags. She was right. They were all much too small to hold a basketball.
    “We’ll see you at the party,” Jordan Gold told the Franklin players.
    Eric watched Jordan Gold and the other Hamilton players walk toward the locker room. Cam turned and watched the Franklin players walk toward the cafeteria.
    “Hey,” Cam whispered. “Look at him.” She pointed to a short boy in a green and yellow Franklin jacket. “I don’t remember him on the court.”
    The boy was carrying a small green canvas bag.
    Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!” She said, “Click!” again. Then Cam opened her eyes. “I was right,” she said. “He’s not on the team.”
    “Then he doesn’t have a dirty uniform,” Eric said. “Why would he have a canvas bag? I bet he didn’t even take a shower.”
    Cam and Eric followed the Franklin players into the cafeteria.
    “But he can’t have the ball,” Eric whispered. “He’s too thin to be hiding it under his shirt. And that bag is too small.”
    “I know,” Cam whispered. “This whole thing is strange. He walked down the hall with the Franklin players, but they never spoke to him. I don’t think they even looked at him. He’s pretending to be with the team, but he’s not.”

    Eric asked, “Are you sure he’s not on the team?”
    Cam nodded her head. She was sure.
    “I looked at the pictures I have in my head of every player on the court,” she said. “He’s not in even one picture.”
    The Franklin players took plates of cake and ice cream and cups of juice or soda. But the short boy in the green and yellow jacket didn’t. He walked straight through the cafeteria.
    “Look at that,” Eric whispered. “He’s walking right to the exit. That’s real strange. I’ve never seen a teenager walk past free cake and ice cream.”
    “He’s leaving,” Cam said, “and we’ve got to stop him. I’m sure he knows something about the missing basketball.”

Chapter Seven

    Cam and Eric hurried into the cafeteria. Cam quickly stopped by one of the tables. She took a plate, a large piece of cake, some melted ice cream, and a napkin.
    “Get some juice,” she told Eric.
    “But I’m not thirsty.”
    “Just get some juice,” she told him again.
    Eric filled a cup with apple juice.
    The boy was almost by the exit. Cam caught up to him. She bumped into him and got buttercream icing and melted ice cream on his jacket.
    “I’m so sorry,” Cam said. “I’ll wipe it off.”
    With the napkin, Cam spread the icing and the ice cream across the back of his jacket.

    The boy twisted his head and looked at the back of his jacket. He turned and told Cam, “You made it worse.”
    BRIAN was stitched onto the front of his jacket.
    “Don’t worry, Brian,” Cam said. “I’ll wash it off.”
    Cam took the cup of juice from Eric and spilled it on the jacket.
    “Hey!” Brian screamed. “Now I smell like apples.”
    The Sheltons hurried over.
    “What happened?” Mrs. Shelton asked. “Why are you shouting? Did my son do something?”
    “No,” Brian said. “It’s your daughter. She got cake stuff and ice cream all over my jacket.”
    “Oh, she’s not my daughter. She’s a friend.”
    “What’s the problem?” the Hamilton Helper standing by the door asked.
    “This girl got cake and ice cream all over my jacket,” Brian shouted.
    Mr. Shelton took out his wallet.
    Coach Jenkins, Governor Zellner, three of his guards, and his two assistants came over.
    “What’s