The Chocolate Fudge Mystery Read online

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Is someone after Cam and Eric?

  Cam walked ahead. Then she stopped. She held out her hand and Eric stopped, too. She put her finger in front of her mouth so that he would be quiet. They listened. They heard the sounds of coins and keys jingling. Someone was walking behind them and was getting closer.

  Jingle.

  Jingle.

  “What should we do?” Eric asked.

  Cam looked across the backyard. It was surrounded by a metal fence.

  Jingle.

  Cam whispered, “Let’s run around the back of the house to the other side and then out.”

  Jingle.

  Cam and Eric started to run. Whoever was following them started to run, too.

  “Stop! Stop running right now!” someone called out.

  The Cam Jansen Adventure. Series

  #1 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds

  #2 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the U.F.O.

  #3 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones

  #4 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Television Dog

  #5 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Gold Coins

  #6 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Babe Ruth Baseball

  #7 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Circus Clown

  #8 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Monster Movie

  #9 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Carnival Prize

  #10 Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Monkey House

  #11 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of the Stolen Corn Popper

  #12 Cam Jansen and the Mystery of Flight 54

  #13 Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Haunted House

  #14 Cam Jansen and the Chocolate Fudge Mystery

  #15 Cam Jansen and the Triceratops Pops Mystery

  #16 Cam Jansen and the Ghostly Mystery

  #17 Cam Jansen and the Scary Snake Mystery

  #18 Cam Jansen and the Catnapping Mystery

  #19 Cam Jansen and the Barking Treasure Mystery

  #20 Cam Jansen and the Birthday Mystery

  #21 Cam Jansen and the School Play Mystery

  #22 Cam Jansen and the First Day of School Mystery

  #23 Cam Jansen and the Tennis Trophy Mystery

  #24 Cam Jansen and the Snowy Day Mystery

  DON’T FORGET ABOUT THE YOUNG CAM JANSEN

  SERIES FOR YOUNGER READERS!

  To my nephew Donnie,

  who inspired my very first book,

  and to his lovely bride, Aliza

  PUFFIN BOOKS

  Published by Penguin Group

  Penguin Young Readers Group,

  345 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England

  Penguin Books Australia Ltd, 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia

  Penguin Books Canada Ltd, 10 Alcorn Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4V 3B2

  Penguin Books (N.Z.) Ltd, 182-190 Wairau Road, Auckland 10, New Zealand

  First published in the United States of America by Viking,

  a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1993

  Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc., 1995

  Reissued, 1999, 2004

  Text copyright © David A. Adler, 1993

  Illustrations copyright © Susanna Natti, 1993

  All rights reserved

  eISBN : 978-1-101-07611-8

  [1. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Natti, Susanna, ill. II. Title. III. Series: Adler, David

  A. Cam Jansen adventure; 14.

  PZ7.A2615Caae 1993 [Fic]—dc20 93-18622 CIP AC

  RL: 2.3

  http://us.penguingroup.com

  Chapter One

  Cam Jansen’s father looked up. He was sitting in his car and reading a mystery novel. He was also waiting for Cam and her friend Eric Shelton. They were selling chocolate fudge bars and rice cakes to raise money for a local charity.

  Mr. Jansen saw Eric look at a sheet of paper. He’s trying again, Mr. Jansen thought. I hope this time he can remember his speech.

  Eric Shelton put the paper in his pocket. Then he turned to Cam and said, “Good morning or afternoon. We’re here to ... to ... to ... Oh, I can’t remember what to say.”

  Cam said, “Let me try.”

  Cam put the shopping bag she was carrying on the sidewalk. She took a chocolate bar and a rice cake from the bag. Then she closed her eyes and said, “Click.”

  Cam smiled. With her eyes still closed, she said, “Good afternoon. We’re here to raise money for Ride and Read. We bring homebound elderly people to our local library. By buying this chocolate fudge bar or this rice cake, you will help us with our work.”

  Cam opened her eyes.

  “You got every word right,” Eric said. “I’ve been studying and studying that speech and I still can’t remember it. How long did it take you to memorize it?”

  “I looked at it once, blinked my eyes and said ‘Click’ and I knew it.”

  Cam has what people call a photographic memory. She remembers just about everything she sees. It’s as if she has photographs stored in her brain. Cam says “Click” is the sound her mental camera makes when it takes a picture.

  Cam’s real name is Jennifer Jansen. When she was very young, people called her “Red” because she has red hair. But when they found out about her amazing memory, they began calling her “The Camera.” Soon “The Camera” was shortened to “Cam.”

  Cam and Eric walked up the front path of a small brick house. There was a large broom next to the front door. Eric moved it aside and rang the doorbell. An old woman with curly white hair, wearing a long, frilly apron, came out.

  “Good afternoon,” Cam said. “We’re here to raise money—”

  “Good afternoon,” the woman answered.

  Cam started her speech again. “Good afternoon. We’re here to raise money for Ride and Read.”

  “That’s wonderful,” the woman said. “Ride and Read is a fine program. Sometimes they take my husband to the library.

  Now, don’t say another word. I want my husband to meet you.”

  Then she called, “Jacob. Jacob!” Her husband, an old man with rosy cheeks and a bushy white mustache, came to the door.

  The woman introduced her husband and herself to Cam and Eric. “This is Mr. Jacob Miller and I’m Mrs. Janet Miller.”

  “My name is Jennifer Jansen,” Cam said, “and this is my friend, Eric Shelton.”

  The woman told her husband, “These children are raising money for Ride and Read.”

  “Good afternoon,” Cam said. Then she waited. She expected to be interrupted again. When Mrs. Miller didn’t say anything, Cam went on.

  When Cam had finished her speech, Mr. Miller smiled. “What you’re doing is nice, but I don’t eat candy and I’ve never tasted a rice cake.”

  “What about me?” Mrs. Miller asked. “I love chocolate. And anyway, it’s for charity. We’ll take two of each.”

  Eric gave her the chocolate fudge bars and rice cakes. Mrs. Miller paid Eric. He put the money in an envelope.

  As Cam and Eric went to the next house, Eric said, “That was easy.”

  A man and woman were running toward them. They were looking straight ahead and swinging their arms as they ran.

  “Let me talk this time,” Eric said. “I think I can remember what to say.”

  Eri
c took a chocolate bar and a rice cake from the shopping bag. When the runners were a few steps away, Eric smiled and said, “Good afternoon. We’re here to raise money ...”

  The runners didn’t stop.

  “Hm,” Eric said. Then he pointed to a woman who was walking along the side of the yellow house next door. She was wearing a long blue raincoat and dark glasses. She was carrying a large, filled, black plastic bag. When she reached the sidewalk, she turned and walked quickly toward Cam and Eric.

  “Good afternoon,” Eric said. “We’re here to raise money ...”

  The woman didn’t look at Eric. She just kept on walking.

  “Hm,” Eric said again.

  Cam looked straight at the woman. Just as she was about to walk past, Cam blinked her eyes and said, “Click.”

  “Those people were rude,” Eric said. “Didn’t they know I was talking to them?”

  Cam kept watching the woman. Then she whispered to Eric, “That woman is hiding something. She’s wearing dark glasses and it isn’t sunny out. She’s wearing a raincoat and it’s not raining. There’s something in that bag that shouldn’t be there. Let’s follow her.”

  Chapter Two

  “You can’t just follow people,” Eric said. “There must be some law against doing that. And anyway, we came here to sell candy, not to play detective.”

  “I’m not playing. I am a detective and you know it. I’ve already caught a few criminals. You helped me. Now are you coming with me or not?”

  Cam started to follow the woman. Eric grabbed the shopping bag and joined her.

  Crinkle! Crinkle!

  “Shh,” Cam said.

  Crinkle! Crinkle!

  “Shh!” she said again.

  Eric whispered, “I can’t help it. It’s the rice cakes. They make noise when they move around in the bag.”

  Brooom! Brooom!

  A gardener was mowing a lawn across the street.

  Cam and Eric saw the woman stop in front of a blue house, right next to two garbage cans. She looked quickly to the right and then to the left. Then she lifted the lid of a garbage can and dropped the plastic bag in.

  Cam and Eric watched as she crossed the street. She walked quickly past the gardener and into a large white house.

  When the door closed, Cam said, “Let’s see what’s in that bag.”

  “We have no right to look in there. It’s not our garbage,” Eric told her.

  “It’s garbage,” Cam said. “She threw it away. Now it belongs to anyone who wants it. There might be evidence of some terrible crime in there. That’s why she crossed the street to throw it away. Maybe she robbed a bank and the bag is filled with those small paper bands they put around the money.”

  “And maybe the woman had a party last night,” Eric said. “She’s wearing dark glasses because her eyes hurt. She’s wearing a long coat because underneath it, she has on a nightgown. This morning, she was too tired to get completely dressed. And there was so much trash from her party that she couldn’t fit it all in her own garbage can.”

  When Eric finished talking he smiled and folded his arms.

  “Maybe you’re right,” Cam said. “Let’s find out.”

  Cam walked ahead and Eric followed her. They had reached the blue house. Cam was about to lift the lid of the garbage can.

  “Stop!” Eric said. “Don’t lift that lid.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s not your garbage,” Eric said.

  “Oh, that’s silly.”

  Cam began to lift the lid again.

  “Stop!” Eric told her. “There may be a bomb in there.”

  Chapter Three

  Cam very gently put the lid down.

  Eric said, “You know, we were told in safety class not to go near strange packages.”

  Cam stepped away from the garbage can. She closed her eyes and said, “Click.”

  “What are you trying to remember?” Eric asked.

  Cam “clicked” again. Then she said, “I was looking at the pictures I had in my head of that woman carrying the bag. She wasn’t holding it like she was afraid it would explode. And she just dropped it in the garbage can. She wouldn’t have done that if there was a bomb inside.”

  Cam lifted the lid again. She opened the bag and looked inside,

  “What do you see? What’s in there?” Eric asked.

  “Lots of apple peels.”

  Cam shook the bag.

  “There’s an empty skim milk carton under the peels and an empty box of oat bran,” Cam said.

  Eric leaned closer.

  “Yuck,” he said. “It stinks.”

  Then he looked in and said, “Maybe the paper money bands are at the bottom.”

  Cam rolled up her sleeves and dug into the bag.

  “What’s in there?” Eric asked.

  “More garbage.”

  Cam pulled out a few soda cans, some paper plates, an orange juice carton, and a cereal box.

  “Super Sweet Wheats!” Eric said. “And the box top is still attached.”

  He tore the top off the cereal box. “I can send this in and get a Super Sweet Wheats watch,” he said. He put the box top in his pocket.

  Cam shook the bag again. She reached in and took out a large envelope. It was empty.

  “Nothing but garbage,” she said. Then she put it all back in the bag.

  Cam put the lid on the can. She was about to roll down her sleeves, when she smelled her hands.

  “Yuck! Now my hands stink! If I roll down my sleeves, my shirt will stink, too.”

  Cam stretched her hands out. She told Eric she was keeping her smelly hands away from the rest of her. Then Cam said, “I just don’t understand it. That woman looked so guilty and mysterious.”

  “Oh, everything is a mystery to you,” Eric said as they walked past the Miller house. Eric kicked two rolled up newspapers out of the way as he and Cam walked up the front path of the yellow house next door.

  Eric rang the front doorbell. He waited. Then he rang it again. He knocked on the door, but there was no answer.

  “There’s probably no one at home,” he said.

  Cam nodded. “Look at these newspapers. It looks like no one has been here for a while.”

  They each picked one up and looked at it. Eric read the headline, “Ding, Dong! Four-Alarm Fire Blazes On.”

  “Mine says that, too,” Cam said. “These newspapers are from last week.”

  She dropped the paper and walked toward the back of the house. Eric ran after her and asked, “What are you doing now?”

  “I still think that woman with the dark glasses was up to something and I want to find out what it was. We first saw her walking along the side of this house. Maybe there’s a shortcut back here or maybe some secret hideaway.”

  “Oh, stop talking about that woman,” Eric said, but he followed Cam.

  All the windows of the yellow house were closed and the shades were down. Cam lifted the lids of the two garbage cans that were along the side of the house. Both were empty.

  Cam walked ahead. Then she stopped. She held out her hand and Eric stopped, too. She put her finger in front of her mouth so that he would be quiet. They listened.

  They heard the sounds of coins and keys jingling. Someone was walking behind them and was getting closer.

  Jingle.

  Jingle.

  “What should we do?” Eric asked.

  Cam looked across the backyard. It was surrounded by a metal fence.

  Jingle.

  Cam whispered, “Let’s run around the back of the house to the other side and then out.”

  Jingle.

  Cam and Eric started to run. Whoever was following them started to run, too.

  “Stop! Stop running right now!” someone called out.

  Chapter Four

  Cam and Eric stopped running. Cam held Eric’s hand and they slowly turned around.

  “What are you doing here? I told you that I had to be able to see you from my car at all ti
mes.”

  It was Cam’s father.

  “You’re standing on someone’s private property,” he said. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

  “Did you see that woman with the dark glasses?” Cam asked. “She looked mysterious to me. She was walking back here. I just wanted to find out what she was up to. She may have been involved in a crime.”

  Mr. Jansen was holding a book. He showed it to Cam. “Do you see this? If you want to solve crimes, do what I do. Read a mystery. It’s safer. Now let’s get out of here.”

  Tinkle.

  Tinkle.

  Someone or something was moving nearby.

  “Watch out!” Eric called.

  He jumped to get out of the way of a black-and-white cat. A small bell was tied around its neck. The cat leaped onto the back porch and poked its head into a cardboard box.

  “Let’s go,” Cam’s father said.

  The cat pulled on the box and tipped it over. Containers of milk and juice, a box of Super Sweet Wheats, and a wrapped loaf of bread fell out. The cat bit into the plastic wrapping around the bread. It ran with the loaf to the far end of the yard, right in front of the metal fence.

  Mr. Jansen started to walk toward the front of the house. He called to Cam and Eric, “I expect both of you to be following me.”

  Cam caught up with her father and asked him, “If there’s no one at home, why is there food on the back porch?”

  “Maybe there’s a homebound person living in that house, someone too sick to go shopping,” he answered, “and he has his groceries delivered.”

  “And too sick to come to the door to buy chocolate or rice cakes,” Eric added.

  Cam, Eric, and Cam’s father had walked to the front sidewalk. Mr. Jansen stopped.

  “Something stinks,” he said. He checked the bottoms of his shoes.

  “It’s my hands,” Cam said. “I was looking through some garbage.”

  “What!”

  Just then a letter carrier turned the corner.