The Case of the Piggy Bank Thief Read Online Free Page A

Either way, I felt intimidated, and I guess Zach, Nate and Dalton did, too, because several seconds passed with us all standing around in silence. Finally, Professor Mudd looked straight at me. “Yes, Cameron?”
    I gulped and said in a small voice, “We found a hole, too.”
    Professor Mudd snorted, threw up his hands and called, “Roy? Bring the maps and come with Mike and me. We’ll have to plot the locations of these dratted holes. Buried treasure—ha! That’s the
last
thing I need. Oh—and Daryl? Could you help our young volunteers clean up, please? We’ll see you kids back tomorrow, I trust? I realize it’s Sunday.”
    â€œYes, sir,” I said. “If it’s okay, I mean.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t it be okay?” the professor said. Then he grabbed a clipboard and left.
    After that, Daryl went with us to the trench where we had been digging so we could retrieve our tools, clean them up and put them away. All this time I hadn’t seen Stephanie or Wen Fei anywhere. Had they left because they were mad the professor didn’t believe that their new gadget had found gold? But now it looked like somebody else believed it. Otherwise, what were all these holes doing out here?
    â€œI don’t get it,” I said a few minutes later. Nate, Dalton, Zach and I were walking back toward the White House with Jeremy, who had come over from his station at the west fence to accompany us. “Why isn’t Professor Mudd excited about the idea there might be gold out there?”
    â€œThat’s just how professors are,” Zach said. “I mean, our dad’s one, so that’s how I know. Probably, Professor Mudd’s already sure what he’s going to find at that dig site. If he finds something different, like gold, then that means he was wrong.”
    I nodded. “I get it. If there’s one thing grown-ups hate, it’s being wrong.”
    Zach nodded. “Professors hate it most of all.”
    This gave me an idea. “Hey, Nate—maybe you should be a professor when you grow up. I mean, you already think you know everything.”
    Nate didn’t argue or act insulted. He just nodded and said, “You’re right.”
    By then we were back at the door to the White House, the South Entrance under the Dip Room awning. Malik, my second-favorite Secret Service officer, was stationed outside. We said hi to him and bye to Jeremy, then went inside.
    On the stairs to the second floor, Nate asked, “Cammie, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
    I grinned because I was. “You mean how the holes and the missing gold are almost like a mystery?”
    Nate looked at his watch. “And it’s not that late. How about if we make a list?”
    Zach and Dalton didn’t know what we were talking about, so Nate explained. The first time we solved a mystery, Granny gave us tips, and one thing she told us to do was to start by writing a list of everything we knew.
    â€œGranny is the only person in our family with actual crime-fighting experience,” I added. “A long time ago, before she was a lawyer and a judge, she used to be a police officer.”
    At the second-floor landing, we agreed to meet in a few minutes in the West Sitting Hall. In the whole White House, it’s got the most comfortable sofa, so it’s my favorite spot for thinking.
    First, though, I wanted to check on my sick sister.
    I thought I’d find her in her pajamas in bed, or—yuck—in the bathroom.
    But when I went into our room, I got a big surprise.
    My sister was dressed, sitting on the floor and folding clothes.
    Okay, so that was strange, but it wasn’t the surprise. The surprise was how the rest of our room looked pretty much like Kansas after the cyclone!

CHAPTER EIGHT

    FOR a minute, I stood in the doorway and surveyed the damage. Not only were most of Tessa’s clothes on the floor, but every dresser