Cam Jansen and the Mystery Writer Mystery (3 page)

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Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: Cam Jansen and the Mystery Writer Mystery
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“That’s tomato sauce,” Mr. Winter said. “I ate spaghetti for dinner.” Mr. Winter turned to Danny’s father and asked, “Are you sure you remember where you parked your car?”
“Yes,” he answered. “The parking spots are numbered. My car was in number thirty-six. I just went outside, and spot number thirty-six is empty.”
Cam was still facing the wall. Her eyes were still closed. “You’re wearing blue jeans,” she said, “and cowboy boots.”
“Isn’t she amazing?” Eric asked.
No one answered.
Mr. Winter took a sheet of paper from the table. He took a pen from his shirt pocket. “Please,” he said to Mr. Pace, “describe your car.”
Cam opened her eyes.
“It’s dark blue,” Danny’s father said. “It has four doors and it looks like any other car. It has two big round lights in front, and lots of windows.”
Mr. Winter wrote the description on the paper.
“Do you remember the license-plate number?”
“There’s a
G
in it, and an
E
,” Danny’s father answered. “There’s a seven and some other numbers. I don’t remember them all, but I can check. My car registration is in my wallet.”
“Ha!” Mr. Winter said. “It’s just as I thought. You’re not very good with numbers! Maybe the car was not in spot thirty-six. Maybe it was spot sixty-three or thirty-three or sixty-six.”
“No. It was in thirty-six.”
Eric asked Cam, “Do you remember if their car was in that spot?”
“They came after us,” Cam said. “We were leaving the coatroom when they came in. I didn’t see their car.”
Just then Mrs. Pace returned to the gym. Water dripped from her closed umbrella and raincoat. She walked to the head of the line.
“I checked,” she told her husband. “You’re right. The car is gone.”
“Don’t worry,” Mr. Winter said. “I’ll find your car.”
“No,” Eric said. “Cam will find it. She’ll just say,
‘Click!’
and solve the mystery.”
“‘
Click! Click!
’ You keep saying that. Hey, wait. All those
clicks
gives me an idea,” Jim E. Winter said. He stepped around the table. He stood right by Danny’s father. “I may have already solved this mystery.” Mr. Winter held his hand in front of Danny’s father and said, “Let me see your car keys.”
Mr. Pace reached into the right pocket of his raincoat. Then he reached into his left pocket and took out his keys. He gave them to Jim E. Winter.
“Look at this,” Mr. Winter said. “You have a clicker on your key chain. I don’t need to know where you parked your car. All I have to do is go to the parking lot and press this clicker. The lights on one of the cars will flash or the horn will honk. And that will be your car.”
There was still a long line of people waiting to get their books signed.
“I’ll be right back,” Mr. Winter said. “I’ll sign all your books. But first, I’ll solve this mystery.”
Chapter Four
“This is so exciting,” Beth said. “I’m going out. I want to be there when Jim E. Winter solves this mystery.”
Eric said, “I’m going, too.”
“I have to do something with these books,” Cam said. “I didn’t pay for them. I can’t take them out of the gym.”
“And I have to get my dad,” Beth said. “I’ll have to tell him I’m going outside.”
Cam and the other children put their books on a table near the entrance. Beth got her dad. Then Cam, Eric, Diane, Danny, Beth, and their parents all followed Jim E. Winter out of the gym. They followed him to room 17 for their coats, hats, and umbrellas.
“Button your coat. Put on your rain hat,” Mrs. Jansen told Cam. “I don’t want you to get sick.”
Jim E. Winter put on a large dark-blue raincoat and an old felt hat. He bent down the front brim of his hat and walked outside.
Cam and all the others followed him.
“Look, Mom,” Cam whispered. “There’s our car.”
“Oh, good,” Mrs. Jansen told Cam.
Danny’s father pointed to parking spot thirty-six and said, “My car was right there, and now it’s gone.”
“Well,” Mr. Winter told him, “that part of your story checks out. There’s no car in thirty-six. But I think you got your numbers mixed.” He smiled. “I don’t need to know where you think your car was. This clicker will find it.”
Mr. Winter held the clicker out and pressed it as he walked through the side parking lot. No lights blinked. No horn honked.
Cam and the others followed him.
Mr. Winter walked to the lot behind the building. He kept pressing the clicker, but still, no lights blinked. No horn honked.
A gust of wind blew Mr. Winter’s hat off. He ran and grabbed it. He shook the water off the hat and put it on.
“This is a terrible night to be outside,” he complained. “It’s so windy. It’s so cold and wet.”
The parking lot was dark. The only people outside were those looking for Danny’s father’s car.
“Here,” Jim E. Winter said, and gave Danny’s father his keys. “I have books to sign. I’m going inside.”
Cam watched Mr. Pace take the keys. As he put them in the pocket of his raincoat, Cam looked at him, blinked her eyes, and said,
“Click!”
“But what about my car?” Danny’s father asked. “You said you would find it.”
Danny’s father ran after Mr. Winter. Danny, his mother, Cam, and some of the others followed the two men into the school.
“What about my car?” Danny’s father asked again.
“I solved that mystery,” Jim E. Winter said as he walked into room 17. “I know what happened to your car. Now I have to sign more books.”
Jim E. Winter took a hanger from the coatrack. He took off his raincoat and hat and hung them up. Then he turned and faced Danny’s father.
“Your car was stolen,” Jim E. Winter said. “That’s what happened to it. Now you must call the police. And I have to sign more books.”
Jim E. Winter quickly left the room.
“Hey,” Mr. Pace said. “He didn’t solve this mystery. If he did, I would have my car.”
Danny turned to Cam. “Now it’s up to you,” he said. “It’s up to you to find my dad’s car.”
Chapter Five
Danny’s father took out a cell phone. He pressed some of the buttons, waited, and then said, “My car has been stolen.”
Mr. Pace described his car and gave the address of the school.
He listened.
“Thank you,” he said. “I’ll wait for you in the front lobby.”
He returned the cell phone to his pocket. Danny and his parents left room 17. Cam was about to follow them.
“Hang up your coat and hat,” Mrs. Jansen told Cam. “I don’t want you wearing your wet things.”
Cam hung up her coat and hat. Then she followed Danny and his parents to the lobby.
“My car was stolen from the school parking lot,” Danny’s father told Dr. Prell. “The police are coming.”
“That’s terrible,” Dr. Prell said. “I’ll wait here with you. I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“I’ll help, too,” Cam said.
“Please,” the principal told Cam, “go back to the gym. The police will handle this.”
“I agree with Dr. Prell,” Mrs. Jansen told Cam. “When it’s all over, Danny will tell us what happened.”
Mrs. Jansen walked with Cam into the gym. Beth and her dad went, too. Cam and Beth took their books from the table near the entrance to the gym.
“Let’s get back on line and have our books signed,” Beth said.
“You go ahead,” Cam said. “I’ll wait here. I want to see what happens.”
“Stay right here,” Mrs. Jansen told her. “I don’t want you bothering Dr. Prell.”
Beth got on line to have her books signed. Her father went back to the biography table. Cam’s mother returned to the history book table.
Cam stood by the entrance to the gym. She looked through the open doors and waited.
Danny and his parents stood in the lobby with Dr. Prell. Cam could see that they were talking, but she couldn’t hear what they were saying. Two police officers walked into the school. Cam watched them talk to Dr. Prell and Danny’s parents.

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