Cam Jansen and the Basketball Mystery Read Online Free Page A

wrong?” the tall red-haired assistant asked.
    Brian looked at Coach Jenkins, Governor Zellner, his assistants, and the guards.
    “I’ve got to go,” Brian said.
    “No, wait,” Mr. Shelton said. “I’ll pay the cleaning bill.”
    Brian didn’t wait. He rushed to the door. He seemed scared. He kicked balloons aside and ran out of the cafeteria.
    “Stop him,” Cam told the governor’s guards. “He knows something about the missing basketball.”
    Coach Jenkins asked, “What missing basketball?”
    “Don’t worry,” one of the guards told the coach. “We’ll find it.”
    “Find what?” Governor Zellner asked.
    “The basketball you signed is missing,” the guard said. “It must have rolled off. We’ll find it.”
    “No, you won’t,” Cam said. “If that boy gets away you won’t ever find that basketball.”
    Cam, Eric, and others hurried to the door. They watched Brian hurry through the parking lot.
    “Stop him!” Eric said. “We have to stop him before he gets away.”
    “Did he take the basketball?” one of the guards asked.
    “We think he did,” Cam answered.
    Governor Zellner said, “We can’t stop someone because you think he did something wrong.”
    Danny pushed into the crowd. He had two balloons and a sharp toothpick.
    “Hey, Mr. Governor, do you know who I am?” Danny asked. “I’m ‘Buster’ Danny.” He pointed the toothpick at the balloon and said, “Watch this.”
    “Not now,” Eric told him.
    “Yes now,” Danny said, and pushed the toothpick into one of the balloons. “This is funny.”
    Pop!
    The busted balloon fell to the floor.
    “That’s why they call me ‘Buster,’” Danny said and pushed the toothpick into the second balloon.
    Pop!
    The second busted balloon fell to the floor.
    Cam looked at the two busted balloons.

    “That’s it!” Cam said. “I know where the basketball is hidden. And that boy has it!”
    “Are you sure?” Governor Zellner asked.
    “Yes,” Cam told him. “I think I am. I think I know where to find that basketball.”
    The guards looked at the governor.
    “Go ahead,” Governor Zellner told the guards. “Tell that boy I want to see him.”

Chapter Eight

    Two of the guards rushed outside.
    “I hope you’re right,” Governor Zellner told Cam. “I don’t want to bring him back here if he did nothing wrong.”
    “I also hope I’m right,” Cam said.
    Cam, Eric, and the others watched the two guards run through the parking lot. Brian started running, too, but the guards were too fast for him.
    The guards caught up to Brian and talked to him. One stood on one side of Brian. The other guard stood on the other side. They were much taller than Brian.
    “Look,” Eric said, and pointed. “He’s coming back.”
    Brian walked slowly into the cafeteria. The guards were right behind him. His head was down. He kicked aside some balloons and stood in front of Governor Zellner.
    “They said you wanted to talk to me.”
    “Yes, I do,” Governor Zellner said.
    Eric said, “Ask him what’s in the bag.”
    “Stuff,” he answered. “I didn’t do anything wrong. It’s not against the law to have stuff, is it?”
    “If there’s just stuff in your bag,” one of the guards said, “you won’t mind if we look in it.”
    Cam said, “I think the ‘stuff’ you have in that bag is a stolen basketball.”
    Brian laughed. “A basketball wouldn’t fit.”
    “He’s right,” Governor Zellner said. “That bag is too small to hold a basketball.”
    Cam took a balloon off the floor. Cam asked Brian and Governor Zellner, “Do you think I could fit this balloon in my pocket?”
    “Of course not,” the governor answered. “It’s too big.”

    “Please,” she said to Danny, “give me a toothpick.”
    Danny gave Cam a toothpick. She poked it into the balloon.
    Pop!
    The balloon broke.
    Cam put the broken balloon in her pocket.
    “You see,” she said. “Without the air, it fits in my pocket. And without the air in the