The Tennis Trophy Mystery (3 page)

Cam opened Eric’s note.

“No,” Cam whispered.

Ms. Benson wrote,
Benthos are plants and animals that live at the bottom of the ocean.

While Cam copied that, another note landed on her notebook. Cam opened it.

“No,” Cam whispered.

Plankton,
Ms. Benson wrote on the board
,
are plants and animals that float and drift in the ocean. Jellyfish are one kind of plankton.

Eric was writing another note.

“Stop writing notes,” Cam whispered.

Eric said, “Then tell me what happened.”

Cam nodded. She wrote a long note about the missing trophy and the locked cabinet.

she wrote at the end of the note,

Ms. Benson turned.
Nekton
, she wrote on the board,
are animals that swim in the water.

While Ms. Benson wrote about nekton, Cam folded her note and tossed it to Eric.

“Please,” Ms. Benson said to the class, “copy what I have written on the board. Then we’ll have silent reading.”

Cam and Eric copied Ms. Benson’s notes. Then they opened their books. Cam was reading a mystery.

In the book she was reading, diamonds were stolen from a jewelry store. The store was in a busy shopping mall. It was the middle of the day, and still the thief got away.

But Cam had trouble reading. She kept thinking about the missing trophy.

“That’s it!” Eric said. “I’ve solved the mystery.”

“Please, read quietly,” Ms. Benson told him. She was reading, too.

“I’m sorry,” Eric said.

He took out his notebook and wrote a note. He waited for Ms. Benson to look in her book again. Then he tossed the note to Cam.

was written on the outside of the note.

Cam looked at Eric.
Did he read my book? How does he know who stole the diamonds? Cam
wondered.
How does he know how the thief got away in the busy shopping mall?

“Read my note,” Eric whispered.

“Cam and Eric,” Ms. Benson called out. “Please come here.”

“What should you be doing now?” Ms. Benson asked.

“Reading,” Eric said.

“But you’ve been writing and passing notes,” Ms. Benson said. “And not just one note. It started just as soon as Cam sat down.”

“You saw all that?” Cam asked.

“Yes,” Ms. Benson said. “I saw all that. I know you remember everything. Well, in this class I
see
everything. Now tell me. What’s going on?”

Cam told Ms. Benson about the trophy.

“That’s terrible,” Ms. Benson said. “Mr. Day is very proud of his trophies.”

“It’s a double mystery,” Eric said. “Who took the trophy, and after he took it, why did he lock the case?”

“No,” Cam said. “It’s a triple mystery. ”If he doesn’t have a key to the lock, how did he lock the case again?”

Ms. Benson smiled. “Maybe I know why he locked the case again.”

“You do?” Cam and Eric both said.

Ms. Benson explained. “The thief could have simply broken the glass door and taken the trophy. But for some reason he didn’t want anyone to notice there was a theft. At least not right away. Somehow he unlocked the case and then, after he took the trophy, he locked it again.”

“I know that,” Eric said. “And I know how he did it.”

Ms. Benson added, “It’s easy to break some locks, but it’s impossible to use them again.”

“I know that! I know that!” Eric said. He told Cam to show Ms. Benson the note. “I solved that part of the mystery.”

Cam gave the note to Ms. Benson.

“After the thief broke the lock,” Ms. Benson read from the note, “he took out the trophy and then put another lock on the cabinet.”

“He couldn’t put the same lock on,” Eric explained, “because it was broken.”

“That makes sense,” Cam said.

“Mr. Day won’t be able to open the cabinet,” Eric said. “It’s a different lock, so his key won’t work.”

“Can we go to the gym to tell Mr. Day?” Eric asked.

“Yes, you may,” Ms. Benson said.

When they were in the hall, Cam said to Eric, “Even if you’re right, we still don’t know who stole the trophy.”

“But we know
how
he stole it and that’s a start,” Eric said. “And I’m the one who got us started.”

A fourth grade class was in the gym. They were playing volleyball.

“Did you forget something?” Mr. Day asked Cam and Eric.

“No,” Eric said, and told Mr. Day about the locks.

“We’ll try your key,” Cam said. “If Eric is right, it won’t open the lock.”

“No,” Mr. Day said.
“I’ll
try the key. This class is leaving soon. Then we’ll go into my office and
I’ll
try the key.”

Cam and Eric sat by the wall near Mr. Day’s office.