The Chocolate Fudge Mystery Read online

  “Make sure you wash your hands,” Mr. Jansen told Cam.

  Mr. Jansen looked at the letter carrier walking toward them. Then he said, “There’s a mailbox next to the front door and it’s empty. Either someone is in this house and is taking in the mail, or the people who live here are on vacation and have stopped their mail delivery. We’ll see in a minute.”

  The letter carrier went up the Millers’ front walk. He put some letters and a magazine in their box. Then he walked toward the yellow house.

  Mr. Jansen smiled.

  “Good afternoon,” the letter carrier said, as he walked past.

  He didn’t deliver anything to the yellow house.

  “Well, no one is home,” Eric said. He picked up the bag of candy and rice cakes. “Now let’s raise some money for Ride and Read.”

  Cain stared at the yellow house. “You say no one is home, but there’s a box of food on the back porch.”

  Cam looked at the front windows and at the closed curtains hanging inside. She looked at the outdoor furniture that was neatly stacked on the front porch, and the many newspapers on the front lawn.

  Cam “clicked.”

  She “clicked” again.

  Cam stared at the house for another minute. Then she said slowly, “Someone went to a lot of trouble to make us think that no one is living in this house. But that woman probably brought that box of food here and the garbage she was carrying was from this house. There is someone hiding in there and I’m going to find out who it is.”

  Chapter Five

  Cam quickly went next door. She found a spot in the Millers’ yard where she could see between the hedge and the fence. She sat on the grass and watched the back of the yellow house.

  “Why is she so sure that someone is hiding here?” Mr. Jansen asked Eric.

  Eric shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. He didn’t know.

  “And where did she go?”

  Eric shook his head again.

  Eric and Mr. Jansen walked ahead, toward the Millers’ house. Then Mr. Jansen saw Cam sitting in the Millers’ backyard.

  “She can’t do that. She shouldn’t be sitting on someone else’s lawn,” Mr. Jansen said.

  “We know the people who live here,” Eric said. “They bought candy and rice cakes from us. We can ask them if Cam can stay there.”

  Mr. Jansen stood behind Eric as he rang the doorbell of the Millers’ house. Mrs. Miller came out wearing the same long, frilly apron.

  “Hello again,” she said. “The chocolate fudge bar is delicious.”

  “The rice cakes are good, too,” Eric said.

  Mr. Jansen stepped forward.

  “My daughter is Jennifer Jansen, the pretty girl with red hair and freckles who came to your house earlier. She’s sitting in your yard right now and watching the yellow house next door. If you don’t want her there, I’ll tell her to leave.”

  “She thinks someone is hiding in there,” Eric added.

  “She does? Oh, my goodness! I must tell Jacob.”

  Mrs. Miller came back a moment later with her husband.

  “The Pells live next door,” Mr. Miller said, “but they’re on vacation. They won’t be back for several weeks.”

  “Someone left a box of food on the back porch,” Eric said. “Cam is watching to see if anyone will come out and get it.”

  “Who is Cam?” Mrs. Miller asked.

  “Jennifer’s nickname is Cam,” Mr. Jansen explained. “It’s short for ‘The Camera.’ We call her that because she has a photographic memory.”

  “Oh, well, your camera daughter might be right,” Mrs. Miller said. “The Pells’ nephew may be in the house. I’ve never met him, but I know he’s a writer. Mrs. Pell has told me that he has trouble finding a quiet place to work.”

  “Let’s go outside and see if Jennifer has seen anyone,” Mr. Miller said.

  Mr. Jansen and Eric waited while Mrs. Miller took off her apron and hung it in the closet. She put on a straw hat with a wide brim.

  They all walked to the backyard. Eric sat on the grass next to Cam. The Millers and Mr. Jansen stood next to them.

  Mr. Jansen asked Cam, “What makes you so sure there’s someone hiding in there?”

  “It’s the newspapers on the front lawn,” Cam said.

  “The newspapers!” her father said. “That’s a sure sign that no one is in the house.”

  “I smell something,” Mrs. Miller said.

  “Shh,” Eric said. “I hear something.”

  Mr. Jansen and the Millers bent down, so they were hidden by the hedges.

  They were quiet. They didn’t see anyone, but they heard something or someone moving.

  Tinkle.

  Meow!

  The black-and-white cat jumped onto the back porch again. With its paws and mouth, it tried to open the cardboard carton of milk.

  Mr. Jansen and the Millers stood up.

  “Eric and I each looked at a newspaper,” Cam said, “and both papers had the same headline. Whoever is hiding in that house probably bought a bunch of papers the day he went into hiding, rolled them up, and threw them on the lawn so people would think the house was empty.”

  Eric said, “The woman with the dark glasses may have thrown the papers there.”

  The cat pulled the milk carton to the edge of the steps and stepped away. The carton fell down the steps and tore open. The cat began to lick up the spilled milk.

  Suddenly the cat stopped. It looked up. Its legs were bent. The cat was ready to run.

  “It heard something,” Mr. Jansen whispered.

  He and the Millers bent down.

  There was a creaking sound. Then the back door of the yellow house opened.

  Chapter Six

  “Scram!”

  A tall, thin man with a light brown beard came out of the house. He was wearing blue jeans and a dark green shirt. The man ran across the back porch and chased the cat away.

  Cam stood up. She looked straight at the man, blinked her eyes and said “Click.” Then she quickly sat down.

  The man watched the cat run off. He picked up the juice carton, cereal box, and the few other groceries that were on the porch. He put them all in the large box and carried them into the house.

  “That’s not Mr. Pell,” Mr. Miller whispered.

  “I’ll bet he’s a criminal and that house is his hideaway. We should call the police,” Eric said.

  “I can’t keep standing here. I’m tired,” Mrs. Miller said. “Let’s go inside.”

  Eric and Mr. Jansen followed the Millers into the house. Cam continued to watch the back of the yellow house. The door opened. The tall, thin man came outside. He was carrying a broom and a large, empty, black plastic bag. He looked around. Then he walked down the steps of the back porch. He put the empty milk carton in the bag. Then he swept away as much of the milk as he could. The man turned and looked right at where Cam was sitting. He stood there for a minute. Then he went into the house.

  Cam waited. When the man didn’t come out again, she joined Eric and the others in the Millers’ kitchen. Cam washed her hands with soap. Then she looked to see what the others were doing.

  Cam’s father and the Millers were sitting by the table drinking coffee and eating cookies, chocolate fudge bars, and rice cakes. Eric was reaching into a large paper bag filled with newspapers.

  “The Millers recycle their newspapers,” Eric told Cam, “and the pickup isn’t until tomorrow. I’m looking for the paper with the Ding, Dong headline. If we find that, we’ll know when the man went into hiding.”

  Mrs. Miller was eating a rice cake. She put it down and said, “I think he’s the Pells’ nephew. Mrs. Pell told me how hard he works and how he hates to be disturbed when he writes.”

  “Is her nephew tall and thin?” Cam asked. “Does he have a beard?”

  “Maybe. I’ve never seen him.”

  Eric emptied the bag of newspapers onto the kitchen floor. The daily newspapers, a few supermarket flyers, and the weekly
community newspaper fell out.

  “Here it is. Here’s the Ding, Dong paper,” Eric said. “Now I’m going to look for a report of an escaped criminal who is hiding somewhere.”

  “What’s the date on that paper?” Cam asked.

  Eric showed her the masthead. “It’s Tuesday’s newspaper.”

  Cam looked through the pile of newspapers on the floor. She found the Wednesday newspaper and began to look through it.

  Mr. Jansen put down his cup of coffee and asked Cam, “Why are you looking at Wednesday’s paper?”

  “If that man went into hiding on Tuesday for something he just did, then it would be written up in the next day’s paper, on Wednesday,” Cam explained.

  When Eric heard that, he closed his newspaper. He looked through the Wednesday paper with Cam.

  “Some stores will deliver groceries,” Mrs. Miller said. “If the Pells’ nephew is busy writing, he may not have time to go shopping.

  That’s why there was a box of food on the back porch.”

  Cam turned the page of the newspaper.

  Mrs. Miller went on. “Many years ago, I tried to write a story for a mystery magazine, but as soon as I sat down to write, the telephone rang. Then the mail was delivered. Then it was time for me to eat lunch. The Pells’ nephew probably just doesn’t want to be disturbed. That’s why he’s pretending that no one is at home.”

  “Look at this,” Eric said. He pointed to a column with the headline, Crime Watch.

  Eric picked up the newspaper and read from it.

  “In a daring robbery today at the Midtown Savings Bank a teller was handed a withdrawal slip for $10,000. ‘You must fill in your account number and sign your name,’ the teller told the man. The man showed the teller a gun and said, ‘You have just one minute to give me the money.’ The thief is described as tall and thin, with light brown hair.”

  “That’s him. That’s the man hiding next door,” Cam said.

  Chapter Seven

  Mr. Miller picked up the telephone. He pressed a few buttons, waited, and then said, “There’s a bank thief hiding in the house next door and he has a gun.” Then he gave the police the address of the yellow house.

  Cam, Eric, Mr. Jansen, and the Millers went to the front window to watch for the police.

  While the others looked to the right, toward the yellow house, Cam looked for a moment the other way. She saw a woman come out of the large white house across the street. She was carrying a suitcase.

  “Look,” Cam said. “It’s that woman again. She’s walking this way. Maybe her friend saw us watching him and now they’re going to run away.”

  Cam ran to the front door of the Millers’ house and went outside.

  “Wait. The police will get her,” Mr. Miller called.

  Mr. Jansen said, “I have to stop her. That woman might be dangerous.”

  Mr. Jansen and Eric quickly followed Cam outside.

  Cam was holding the broom, pretending to be sweeping the front walk. She was really watching to see what the woman would do.

  “Stop!” Mr. Jansen called out.

  Cam stopped sweeping. She turned to look at.her father. The woman stopped, too.

  “Now she knows that I’m watching her,” Cam whispered.

  The woman turned and began to run the other way.

  Cam dropped the broom and ran to the sidewalk. She looked straight at the running woman, blinked her eyes and said, “Click.” Then she started to walk after the woman.

  Screech!

  Suddenly there were flashing lights as three police cars quickly turned the corner. They sped past the running woman and Cam. Mr. Jansen waved his hands and signaled them to stop. The first two didn’t. They sped past Mr. Jansen to the front of the yellow house. But the third car stopped. There were two police officers sitting on the front seat.

  Mr. Jansen spoke quickly through the open window of the car.

  “My daughter. It’s dangerous. She’s following that woman.” He was too upset to speak clearly.

  Eric explained, “You just passed a woman who was running with a suitcase. She is a partner of the thief.” Eric pointed to Mr. Jansen. “His daughter is following her.”

  “Get in,” one of the police officers said.

  Eric and Mr. Jansen sat in the back of the police car. The officer driving the car was a woman with short blond hair. The name on her tag was “Robinson.”

  The other officer was a man. The name on his tag was “Gomez.” He turned to the back and told Eric and Mr. Jansen, “Put your seat belts on.”

  “My daughter has red hair,” Mr. Jansen said.

  “And the woman she’s following has long brown hair,” Eric told the police. “She’s wearing dark glasses and a long blue raincoat.”

  Officer Robinson quickly turned the car around and sped toward Cam and the woman. Cam was in the middle of the next block. Officer Robinson stopped the car and Cam got in.

  “The woman just went around the corner,” Cam said. Then she told her father, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t getting too close.”

  They turned the corner. Officer Robinson drove slowly down the street, and they all looked for the woman.

  There were many people going in and out of stores along the street. Then, at the end of the block, they saw the woman run into a large supermarket. Officer Robinson stopped the car. She and Officer Gomez ran out, past some people pushing shopping carts, and into the store. Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen were right behind them.

  There were many aisles lined with shelves of cans, boxes, and bags of food. And there were many people pushing shopping carts and a few lines of people waiting to pay for their groceries.

  “You wait here so she can’t get out,” Officer Robinson said to her partner. “I’ll search the store.”

  Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen went with Officer Robinson. They walked through the entire store, but they didn’t find the woman.

  “Is there another way out of here?” Officer Robinson asked one of the people who worked in the store.

  “There’s an emergency exit by the frozen food cases,” the worker answered, “but if you open the door, a loud bell sounds.”

  They walked to the emergency exit. The door was closed.

  “Let’s keep looking,” Officer Robinson said. “It shouldn’t be so difficult to find a woman here carrying a suitcase.”

  Then, just beyond the dairy case Eric stopped. “Look,” he said and pointed to a suitcase, a blue raincoat, a wig of brown hair, and a pair of dark glasses lying on the floor. “She’s not carrying a suitcase anymore. We’ll never find her now.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Oh, yes, we will. We’ll find her,” Cam said. Then she closed her eyes and “clicked.”

  “What is she doing?” Officer Robinson asked.

  Mr. Jansen whispered, “She’s trying to remember something.”

  Cam “clicked” again. Then she opened her eyes and said, “She was wearing a long raincoat, but it didn’t reach all the way down. She has red sneakers on and blue jeans.”

  “Quick, grab those things,” Officer Robinson told Mr. Jansen. “We have to catch her before she leaves here.”

  When they got to the front of the store, they found Officer Gomez still standing there. “No one wearing a long coat and carrying a suitcase left while I was watching,” he told his partner.

  “Did anyone leave wearing red sneakers and blue jeans?” she asked.

  He thought for a moment. Then he shook his head slowly and said, “I don’t know. I wasn’t looking at their feet.”

  The two police officers ran to the door and looked outside. Mr. Jansen followed them. Meanwhile, Cam walked slowly and quietly toward the people waiting to pay for their groceries.

  “Where are you going?” Eric asked.

  “Shh.”

  Cam pointed to the last line. Someone wearing red sneakers and blue jeans was crouched down, hiding behind the other shoppers.

  Cam got closer. Then she looked at the front door and saw
Officer Gomez standing there. He was about to come inside.

  Cam jumped behind the woman and shouted, “Here she is! Don’t let her run outside!”

  When the woman heard that, she ran straight for the door, just as Cam had hoped she would. She ran right into the arms of Officer Gomez.

  “I’m innocent! I’m innocent!” the woman said. “I didn’t rob the bank. Sam did. I just helped him hide.”

  Officer Gomez spoke softly. “Helping a criminal escape is a crime, too.”

  He took a printed card from his pocket. He read from it, warning the woman that anything she said could be used as evidence against her. He locked her in handcuffs and led her to the police car. Officer Robinson put the suitcase, coat, and wig in the trunk.

  Both police officers thanked Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen for their help.

  “It’s lucky that you remembered she was wearing red sneakers,” Officer Robinson said.

  “That wasn’t luck,” Eric told her. “Cam always remembers whatever she sees.”

  The officers said they were sorry for driving off without Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen.

  But with the woman sitting in the backseat, there was no room for them.

  After the police officers left, Mr. Jansen said, “Well, we can’t stay here. Let’s walk back to my car.”

  They passed many shoppers along the way. Eric was anxious to sell them chocolate fudge bars and rice cakes for Ride and Read, but Cam didn’t let him. She was in a hurry to see if the police had arrested Sam, the bank robber.

  When they reached Mr. Jansen’s car, they saw a few police cars parked in front of the yellow house.

  “We’ll watch from here,” Mr. Jansen said. “The police don’t need our help and it might be dangerous to get too close.”

  They saw the man who had been hiding in the yellow house come outside with his hands raised. He was followed by two police officers. The man was locked in handcuffs and led to a police car. Then, one after another, the police cars turned around and drove off.