Cam Jansen and the Sports Day Mysteries (7 page)

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Authors: David A. Adler

BOOK: Cam Jansen and the Sports Day Mysteries
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Amy was the first batter. She hit the ball on the ground and right at Danny.
Danny stood with his glove down and legs apart and waited for the ball. He watched the ball as it bounced quickly toward him. Then he turned and watched the ball as it bounced behind him.
Amy ran past first base. She stopped at second base with a double.
The next two batters hit the ball to the outfield. Beth caught the first ball. Hector caught the second.
Eric turned from his position at third base. “One more out,” he called to the team. “Then it’s our turn to bat.”
The next batter on Mr. Dane’s team hit the ball to shortstop. Danny held up his glove and the ball flew right past him. Amy ran around third base and scored. Mr. Dane’s team was ahead 1-0.
The next batter hit the ball on the ground toward third base. Eric reached to his right. He caught it and threw to first base in time to get the third out.
“Hey, what happened to you?” Hector asked Danny as Ms. Benson’s class walked off the field. “I thought that glove was a vacuum cleaner.”
There was a high metal fence behind home plate. Ms. Benson’s team walked behind the fence. Most of the players dropped their gloves on the ground and sat on a long bench.
Danny still had his glove. He turned it over and looked at the back of it.
“Hey,” Danny told Hector. “Here’s the problem. It’s the on-off switch. I forgot to turn my glove vacuum on.”
“No,” Hector said. “You forgot to catch the ball.”
Sarah was the pitcher for Mr. Dane’s team. Cam was the first of her team to bat. She hit the first pitch, a slow roller to third base. Cam ran quickly and was safe at first. Beth and Danny struck out. Eric hit the ball deep to centerfield, but the ball was caught for the third out. The inning was over.
After that first inning, there were a few hits but no more runs. Then, in the third inning, when there were two outs, Cam hit a single. Then Beth and Danny each hit a single. The bases were loaded. It was Eric’s turn at bat.
“Get a hit!” Ms. Benson called out.
Many of Eric’s classmates gathered behind the fence.
Eric stood at home plate. He took a few practice swings. Then he held his bat back and waited.
Sarah pitched the ball. It was high, way out of Eric’s reach. He didn’t swing.
“Ball one,” Mr. Day called.
“Wait for a good one,” Ms. Benson called out.
Cam stood at third base and watched. She was ready to run home. Beth stood on second base. Danny stood on first base. They were ready to run, too.
Sarah pitched the ball. This time it came in right over home plate.
Eric swung. He hit the ball high over the third baseman’s head.
Everyone still sitting on the bench ran to the fence right behind home plate. Those in Ms. Benson’s class hoped the ball would go over the left fielder’s head. Mr. Dane’s class hoped the ball would be caught.
Cam ran home. She crossed home plate. Then she turned to see what would happen. Beth and Danny were running toward home, too.
Felix, the left fielder, held up his glove. The ball was over his head. He chased after it.
“Go! Go!” Ms. Benson called out.
Eric touched first base. He ran toward second. Felix chased after the ball.
“Go! Go!” Ms. Benson called again.
Eric ran from second to third. Felix grabbed the ball.
Eric touched third base and ran toward home. Felix threw the ball to Sarah who was standing in front of home plate. The ball reached Sarah before Eric did. Sarah tagged Eric.
“You’re out, Eric!” Mr. Day shouted.
“That’s okay,” Danny said. “Three runs scored. We’re winning, 3-1.”
The players on Mr. Dane’s team walked off the field. The players on Ms. Benson’s team turned from the fence. They went back to the bench.
“Hey,” Hector said. “Where’s my glove?”
“Where’s mine?” Danny asked.
“All our gloves are gone,” Eric said. “Someone stole them.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Beth said, “Maybe the gloves fell under the bench.”
“All of them?” Hector asked.
Beth and Danny looked under the bench. The gloves weren’t there.
“I think I saw someone run toward the lake,” Ms. Benson said. “She ran off while Eric was running around the bases.”
Ms. Benson hurried to the path toward the lake. Cam, Eric, and others in Ms. Benson’s class followed her.
“Let’s help,” Mr. Dane told his class.
They ran to the path, too.
“Look,” Eric said and pointed. “There she is.”
 
“It’s the girl who was sitting near us when we were eating lunch,” Danny said. “It’s the teenager with the black, green, and purple hair.”
It was a winding path. It was also not a level path. The girl was at a high point. She had stopped running. She turned and was facing Ms. Benson and the others running toward her.
“Look,” Hector said. “She has our gloves.”
The girl stood there at the top of the hill and watched as everyone ran toward her.
“Why did she stop running?” Beth asked. “Doesn’t she want to get away?”
“Let’s just get her,” Danny said. “I want my glove.”
Ms. Benson, Mr. Dane, and their students ran up the hill. Then, just as they were getting close to the teenager, she turned and started to run again. When she turned she dropped one of the gloves.
“I hope that’s mine,” Danny said.
It wasn’t. It was Beth’s glove.
The girl ran down the hill toward the entrance to the park. She dropped gloves as she ran.
Eric said, “She can’t hold them all.”
“This is mine,” Hector said, and picked up a glove.
“Here’s mine,” Danny said. He picked up his glove and hugged it.
The girl fell near the entrance to the park. She had just one glove. She threw it toward Ms. Benson and laughed.
“That was fun,” she said. “That was great fun.”
“This was
not
fun!” Ms. Benson told the girl. “Taking what doesn’t belong to you is wrong. It’s wrong even if you return what you stole.”
“Wow!” the girl said, and laughed. “You are one serious lady.”
“She’s a teacher,” Hector told her. “She’s a good teacher.”
Ms. Benson glared at the teenage girl for a moment.
The girl glared back at Ms. Benson.
Ms. Benson turned to her class. “Let’s go back,” she said. “Let’s finish the game.”
Ms. Benson and Mr. Dane started to slowly walk back. Cam, Eric, and the others followed her.
Eric told Cam, “That was a strange joke.”
Cam turned. She looked back to the park entrance. The girl was no longer on the ground. She was on her way out of Franklin Park.
“This whole thing is strange,” Cam said. “And I don’t think it was a joke.”
Cam, Eric, and the others followed Ms. Benson back toward the baseball field.
“Oh, my!” Cam Jansen said.
Cam looked at Ms. Benson, closed her eyes, and said,
“Click!”
“Quick!” Cam told Eric when she opened her eyes. “We have to find Danny’s father. He said he has a cell phone. He has to call the police.”
CHAPTER FIVE
“Why do we have to call the police? And why do we have to find Mr. Pace?” Eric asked. “What about Ms. Benson? She’s right here, and I’m sure she has a phone.”
“Look at her,” Cam said as she looked for Mr. Pace. “She doesn’t have her purse with her cell phone. She must have left it by the baseball field when she ran to get our gloves.”
Eric turned and looked at Ms. Benson. Cam was right. Ms. Benson didn’t have her purse.
Cam and Eric ran ahead to find Mr. Pace. “Mr. Pace,” Cam said when they caught up to him. “Please, dial 911. We need the police.”
“Why?” he asked. “We have the gloves.”
“Yes, why?” Eric asked.
“I think something else was stolen,” Cam said. “I think that girl took the gloves to get us away from the baseball field. I think when we ran after the gloves, her friend took Ms. Benson’s purse.”
“Hey,” Eric said. “The envelopes are in her purse, the ones with the money for our treats.”
“That girl and her friend were right there when Dr. Prell gave Ms. Benson and Mr. Dane the money,” Cam said. “I bet that’s when they decided to take it.”
“I don’t know,” Mr. Pace said. “Maybe taking the gloves was really just a joke. Maybe Ms. Benson’s purse is still on the bench.”
“I don’t think so,” Cam said. “While we were chasing the girl with the purple hair, where was her friend with the yellow pants?”
“Maybe he’s on the lake,” Mr. Pace said. “Maybe he rented a boat.”
Cam shook her head and said, “I think she took our gloves just to get us away from the field. I think while we chased her, he grabbed Ms. Benson’s purse and the envelopes from Dr. Prell.”
“Let’s go,” Cam told Eric. “Let’s find Ms. Benson.”
Cam ran along the path. Eric and Mr. Pace followed her.
“Ms. Benson! Ms. Benson!” Cam called.
Cam’s teacher stopped and turned.
“I think someone stole your purse,” Cam said. “I think he stole Dr. Prell’s envelopes.”
“Oh, my!” Ms. Benson said. “I left my purse by the baseball field.”
Eric and Mr. Pace caught up with Cam. Mr. Pace was breathing hard.
“I can’t run so fast,” Mr. Pace said.
Cam told Ms. Benson, “We’ll go ahead. If your purse is not there, we’ll call the police.”
“I’ll go with you,” Ms. Benson said.
“Here’s my phone,” Mr. Pace said. “I can’t keep up with you.”
Mr. Pace gave his cell phone to Ms. Benson.
Cam, Eric, and Ms. Benson hurried toward the baseball field.
“There’s the bench,” Eric said and pointed when they were close to the field. “And there’s something on it.”
Cam, Eric, and Ms. Benson got closer to the bench. In the middle of it was Ms. Benson’s purse.
“This time you were wrong,” Eric said. “The purse wasn’t stolen.”
The purse was open. Ms. Benson looked inside of it.
“Cam wasn’t wrong,” Ms. Benson said. “The purse is here. But the envelopes are gone.”
CHAPTER SIX
Ms. Benson said, “I’m calling the police.”
She pressed a few buttons on Mr. Pace’s cell phone and held the phone to her ear.
“There has been a robbery at Franklin Park. Someone stole two envelopes filled with money. I have someone here who I think can describe the thief.”
Ms. Benson gave the cell phone to Cam.
“This is Jennifer Jansen,” Cam said. “Officer Oppen knows me. Just tell him it’s the clicking girl.”
Cam waited. Then she said, “Hello, Officer Oppen. I can describe the man who I think took the envelopes.”
Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click!”
“He was wearing beads, a purple shirt, and yellow pants,” Cam said with her eyes closed. “His friend ran out of Franklin Park toward Zelda’s. Maybe you’ll find them somewhere near the bakery.”
Cam opened her eyes.
“Thank you,” Cam told Officer Oppen. “We’ll be at the baseball field.”
Mr. Pace, Mr. Dane, and lots of Cam’s schoolmates were on the baseball field.
Trill! Trill!
Mr. Day blew his whistle.
“Let’s play ball!” he shouted. “Bring in the second teams. Anyone who wasn’t playing during the first half of the game should play now.”
Eric told Cam, “We’re no longer playing.”
“That’s good,” Cam said. “I keep thinking about the envelopes. If the ball came to me now, I would probably miss it.”
Cam and Eric sat on the bench. Jared was pitching for Ms. Benson’s team.
Jared threw the ball toward home plate. Shane swung and missed. Jared pitched again and Shane swung and missed.
“Look how slow he’s throwing,” Danny said.
“He’s great,” Sarah said. “Shane just can’t wait to swing at those slow pitches. He’s swinging too soon.”

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