Secret of the Time Capsule Read Online Free Page B

loud sigh of relief. “That means somebody wasn’t trying to get rid of me.” He looked to both sides before he added, “And the shuttle wasn’t pushed over by Mr. Vlado’s ghosts.”
    “Right,” Brian said. “The thief wanted to cause a distraction.”
    Sean thought a moment. “Why did the thief take everything in the capsule, and not just the newspaper?”
    “If only the newspaper was missing, the police could look up the November issue, the way we did. Then Mayor Harlow would look guilty.”
    “He is guilty, isn’t he?”
    “We don’t know. The thief might have been Miss Wegman. Or someone we haven’t even thought of. We don’t know what else was in that time capsule that could cause problems for someone.” Brian sighed. “This is going to be a tough case to solve.”
    “Wait a minute,” Sean said. “Dad told us the case was closed.”
    “That was the first case, where we were trying to find all the 1918 fourth graders,” Brian said. “This is a different case. Now we have to find a thief.”
    Sean thought a minute, then nodded in agreement. “What do we do next?” he asked. “We can’t look for footprints. If the thief left footprints in the dirt around the capsule, they were wiped out by the Dickersons.”
    “Let’s take a look at the site anyhow,” Brian said. He led the way, edging through the people who were still milling about. Sean followed. “If I’m right about the fresh wax, we’ll find small flecks of the old, dried wax in the dirt.”
    “Bingo!” Sean said as he bent over the hole. He pointed at a few small slivers of red. “Look over there … and there.”
    Brian pulled tweezers and a small plastic bag from the pocket of his jeans. He stepped into the hole and picked up a few pieces of the dried wax.
    “Hey, you! Get out of there!” Hugh Dickerson yelled.
    Brian looked up. The Quinns’ friend, Detective Thomas Kerry, had been talking to both Dickersons, and they looked very uncomfortable. Hugh’s face and head were an angry red.
    “You ought to chase those boys away!” he growled at Detective Kerry. “They’ve been snooping around here before. I wouldn’t be surprised if they stole the stuff in the time capsule.”
    “Yikes!” Sean said. “We didn’t do it!”
    “But we would like to talk to you, Detective Kerry,” Brian said. Brian stepped out of the hole and held up the plastic bag. “I’d like to tell you what I think about the wax seal.”
    Detective Kerry listened intently, but the Dickerson brothers glowered.
    When Brian had finished his explanation the detective took the bag and said, “Thank you. We’ll check this out.”
    Mr. Vlado hobbled up and peered around Detective Kerry’s shoulder.
    “Are you going to check for fingerprints on the soft wax seal and on the capsule?” Sean asked the detective.
    Brian answered before Detective Kerry could. “There won’t be fingerprints. If the thief had any sense at all, he would have worn gloves.”
    Gene Dickerson gave a start. Hugh Dickerson glanced toward the toolshed.
    “However, the red dye in the wax might leave stains on the gloves,” Brian added thoughtfully.
    “I don’t know where my gloves are,” Hugh Dickerson said. “I lost them.”
    “I threw my gloves away,” Gene Dickerson said. “They had a hole in them.”
    Mr. Vlado chortled. “No you didn’t,” he said. “Your gloves are sticking out of your back pocket.”
    He whipped them out of Gene Dickerson’s pocket and held them up. “Aha!” Mr. Vlado said. “Red stains!”
    “The stains came from pulling the seal off the capsule,” Gene Dickerson insisted. He turned to Detective Kerry. “You saw me take it off. Everybody saw me.”
    “Yeah!” Hugh Dickerson said. “Don’t listen to anything those nosy kids tell you!”
    “I’d check the toolshed,” Brian told Detective Kerry. “Hugh Dickerson’s gloves might be in the toolshed.”
    “And the contents of the time capsule,” Mr. Vlado said. “We wouldn’t want