The Case of the Cool-Itch Kid Read Online Free

pound.
    “Who’s there?” yelled Lizzie Lee.
    The door banged shut.
    Someone began to scream.
    Dawn scrambled to her feet.
    In the mist it was hard to see.
    “Look,” she said.
    A shape. Someone moving across the parking lot.
    Someone she knew?
    Yes.
    But who?

CHAPTER 9
    M ISS P ERRY BLEW HER whistle. “It’s a great day, everyone. Open your eyes.”
    Dawn opened one eye.
    It couldn’t be morning yet.
    She had just gotten to sleep.
    She’d been dreaming . . . dreaming about running.
    Something kept catching her feet.
    Glue.
    A whole parking lot filled with glue.
    Dawn opened the other eye.
    Yellow patches shone on the cabin wall.
    Miss Perry was right. It was a beautiful day.
    Dawn sat up straight.
    She snapped her fingers. “I’ve almost got it. I’ve almost solved the crime.”
    “Oh, no,” said Lizzie Lee. “I wanted to solve it first.”
    In the bunk above, Jill turned over. “Too tired,” she said.
    “Wake up, lazybones,” Miss Perry said.
    Lizzie Lee jumped out of her bunk. “Tell me,” she said to Dawn.
    Dawn pulled a comb through her hair. “I don’t exactly have it. Not yet, I mean. I know it has to do with glue.”
    “Today is Wednesday,” said Know-It-All. “The best breakfast. It’s pancakes.”
    Dawn was starving.
    She rushed out of the cabin with the others.
    They headed for the Devil’s Den Dining Room.

    “Tell me about the mystery,” said Lizzie. “I’ll help you finish it up.”
    Dawn raised her shoulders in the air. “It’s about the glue. I just can’t—”
    “Remember what the Cool-Cat Detective Book says,”
    They said it together: “Go back to the beginning.”
    Dawn stopped walking.
    She closed her eyes, “In the bus—”
    “I’m sick of the beginning,” said Lizzie. “Try to remember the middle part.”
    “What’s the middle?” Dawn climbed the steps into the dining room.
    Inside, the pancakes smelled wonderful. Almost as good as Noni’s. Dawn thought for a minute. “Last night,” she said. “That’s the middle. We went into the bus. We found a broken shell.”
    She slid into her seat.
    She poured a gallon of syrup on her pancakes. She shut her eyes. “Someone went back into the bus. Someone took my mirror.”
    “Someone broke your mirror,” said Lizzie.
    Dawn nodded. “Someone who likes cookies.”
    She opened her eyes. “Oh, no. I’ve just solved the mystery.”
    Jill looked up. She had a ring of syrup around her mouth. “Oh, no,” she said, too.
    “Oh, yes,” said Dawn. “Jill Simon. My only friend.”
    “Not your only friend,” said Lizzie Lee.
    Jill put a huge piece of pancake in her mouth.
    At the same time she started to cry.
    Dawn felt like crying, too. “You went back into the bus.”
    “It was scary, very scary.” Jill took a breath. “I had to do it, though.”
    “But what . . . how?” Lizzie Lee began.
    “I went back that first day, too,” Jill said. “Back for my wallet. I wanted to buy a piece of Triple Dipple Bubble Gum.”
    “You took a bite of my chocolate chip cookie,” Dawn said.
    Jill took a gulp of milk. “I just love—” She broke off. “I was going to tell you. I knew you wouldn’t mind.”
    Dawn nodded.
    “But then . . .”
    Lizzie Lee leaned closer.
    Jill put down her glass. She swiped at her mouth. “I sat on your mirror.”
    “Oh, no,” said Dawn.
    “Only a little bit,” said Jill. “I was going to fix it one two three.”
    “But then . . .” Dawn said.
    “I had to get the glue.” Jill sighed. “Then I had to find the missing shell.”
    Dawn nodded.
    “But something horrible was inside the bus,” Jill said. “I couldn’t get—”
    Dawn and Lizzie laughed. “We were the horrible thing,” said Lizzie.
    And Dawn said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got the shell. We’ll fix the mirror together.”
    Know-It-All leaned over. “I’ll help. I’m good at that kind of stuff. I learned it here at camp.”
    “I’m sorry,” Jill said. “Really sorry.” She mopped up the last of her