Read The First Day of School Mystery Online

Authors: David A. Adler

The First Day of School Mystery (4 page)

BOOK: The First Day of School Mystery

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“Oh, my,” Ms. Benson said. “I just started teaching, and it’s already time for lunch.”

The children closed their books and hurried out of the room.

“Jennifer,” Ms. Benson called to Cam. “Please wait.”

Cam and Eric stopped by Ms. Benson’s desk.

“I know I wasn’t listening to the lesson,” Cam told Ms. Benson. “But I was thinking about your car. There must be some way to find out who stole it.”

“That’s a job for the police,” Ms. Benson said.

“Cam is really good at solving mysteries,” Eric said.

“Cam? Who’s Cam?” Ms. Benson asked.

Eric explained to her about Cam’s amazing memory. “And we saw your car this morning,” Eric said. “Maybe Cam will remember something that will help the police.”

Ms. Benson smiled. “I don’t think the police need your help,” she said. “I think you should go to lunch. And when you get back, pay attention to the lesson.”

Cam and Eric went to the cafeteria. They sat at a table by the window and opened their lunch bags.

“Hey,” Danny, called to Cam from the next table. “Did Benson yell at you? Are you in trouble for not doing the math?”

“I’m not in trouble,” Cam answered.

“Oh yes you are,” Danny said. “That Benson is tough.”

“I think she’s nice,” Janet Teller said.

Cam unwrapped her sandwich. While she and Eric ate their lunches, they talked with their friends about the summer and Ms. Benson.

Eric pushed a straw into his drink container and grabbed it. Juice squirted out of the straw and onto his shirt.

“Yikes!” Eric said. “Look what I did!”

“You should be more careful,” Janet said.

After lunch, the children returned to class, and Ms. Benson started a geography lesson.

“What’s the world’s most important food?” she asked.

“Cotton candy,” Danny called out.

“Please, raise your hand,” Ms. Benson told him.

“Milk is important,” Janet said when Ms. Benson called on her.

“Yes. That’s true,” Ms. Benson said. “But for more than half the people of the world, rice is their most important food.”

Cam tried to pay attention to the lesson, but she kept thinking about Ms. Benson’s car.

“And other than water,” Ms. Benson said, “people have more coffee than any other drink.”

“More than soda? More than juice?” Danny asked.

Juice,
Cam thought. She looked at Eric. There was a stain where juice had spilled on his shirt.

I wonder,
Cam thought.

Cam closed her eyes. She said,
“Click!”
and looked at a picture she had in her head.

“I just remembered something,” Cam called out, and opened her eyes. “Ms. Benson, I just remembered something I saw in your car.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

“Cam said, ‘
Click!
’” Danny called out, and got up. “Hey, I’m a camera,” he said, and blinked his eyes a few times. “
Click! Click! Click!”

Janet turned to Danny. “Don’t make fun of Cam,” she told him.

“What did you remember?” the other children asked Cam.

“Please, sit down,” Ms. Benson told Danny. “And if you want to say something to me or to the class, please raise your hand.”

Cam raised her hand.

“Do you want to say something?” Ms. Benson asked Cam.

“Yes,” Cam answered. “When you talked about drinks, I remembered that Eric spilled his drink. Then I thought about cleaning his shirt and I wanted to ask you if you brought some clothing to the cleaners this morning.”

“That’s a strange question.”

“There’s a cleaners near the school,” Cam said. “Mrs. Lane, our bus driver, goes to it. This morning, while she was driving, a cleaning ticket fell out of her pants pocket.”

“I didn’t go to the cleaners this morning.”

“Well,” Cam said. “There was a pink piece of paper on the front seat of your car. I think it’s a cleaning ticket.”

“I saw it, too,” Eric called out.

“It’s not mine,” Ms. Benson said. She thought for a moment. “And do you know what’s on a cleaning ticket?” she said as she went to her closet. “A name.”

Ms. Benson opened her closet. She took out a small telephone, and pressed some buttons.

“Hello Officer Oppen,” she said. “This is Margie Benson.”

“Margie,” Danny whispered. “Our teacher’s name is Margie.”

“There may be a cleaning ticket in my car,” Ms. Benson said, “but it isn’t mine. It might be the thief’s. If it is, the thief’s name will be on the ticket.”

Ms. Benson listened. Then she thanked Officer Oppen and said good-bye.

“This is exciting,” she said, and smiled at Cam.

Ms. Benson returned the telephone to her closet. “Well,” she said to the class. “Let’s continue the lesson.”

Ms. Benson went to the bulletin board on the side wall. “Most of the world’s rice grows in Asia,” she said. She pointed to the map of the world and asked, “Who can find Asia?”

“Who lost it?” Danny asked.

Ms. Benson glared at Danny. Then she looked at the children who had raised their hands. She called on Eric and asked him to come to the map and find Asia.

He did.

Ms. Benson continued the lesson. She told the children where coffee beans grow. Then she asked them to find those continents on the map.

Cam was no longer listening. She thought about the cleaning ticket and wondered if the police would find the thief.

CHAPTER NINE

Just before the end of the school day, the door to Ms. Benson’s classroom opened. Dr. Prell and the police officer with the short beard walked in.

Dr. Prell told Ms. Benson, “Officer Oppen has good news.”

Officer Oppen smiled. “We caught the car thief,” he told Ms. Benson. “But something still puzzles me. How did you know there was a ticket in the car?”

“She didn’t!” Danny shouted, and jumped up. He pointed at Cam.
“She’s
the smart one. She has a
Click! Click!
memory.”

“That’s right. Jennifer Jansen knew about the ticket,” Ms. Benson said, and pointed to Cam. “I’m lucky to have smart students.” She told Officer Oppen about Cam’s amazing memory.

“That cleaning ticket helped to solve the mystery,” Officer Oppen told her. “We looked at the name and address on the ticket and we knew who stole the car.”

Officer Oppen told Ms. Benson that the thief was at the police station. “He told us he was walking home from the cleaners when he saw you park your car. He told us he was only borrowing it, that he was going to return it before school was out.”

Danny called out, “I don’t believe him.”

Officer Oppen said Ms. Benson’s car would have to stay at the police station. Then it would have to be repaired.

Dr. Prell told Ms. Benson, “I can drive you home.”

“Well,” Officer Oppen said, “that’s about it.”

Officer Oppen put his hands on his hips and tried to look mean. “Unless there are some other problems here.”

When he said that, he looked right at Danny.

Danny was still standing.

Ms. Benson asked Danny, “Do we have any problems here?”

“No,” he said, and quickly sat down.

Rrrr!

The school bell rang. It was time to go home.

While the children got ready to leave, Ms. Benson thanked Cam for her help. “I’m glad you’re in my class.”