The Chocolate Fudge Mystery (4 page)

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.

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.”

“
O
h, 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.

The last police car stopped by Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen. A tall officer with gold braid on the shoulder of his jacket got out of the car. He came over to Mr. Jansen and introduced himself.

“I’m Captain Gardner. Are you the one who found the thief?”

Mr. Jansen shook his head and said, “No. It was my daughter, Jennifer, and her friend Eric.”

“Well,” Captain Gardner said as he shook Cam’s hand and then Eric’s hand. “On behalf of the people of this city, I thank both of you. I’m sure the local newspaper and TV reporters will want to know that two young children helped us find a dangerous criminal.”

Captain Gardner took out a small note-pad. He wrote Cam’s and Eric’s names and addresses.

“Now,” Captain Gardner said, as he turned and started to walk to his car, “you’ve helped me. If at any time, I can help you, please let me know.”

“Wait!” Eric called out. “You can help me now. We’re selling chocolate fudge bars and rice cakes to raise money for Ride and Read. We bring homebound elderly to our local library.”

Captain Gardner bought two rice cakes from Cam and Eric and told them, “Now follow me and I’ll help you raise a lot more money for Ride and Read.”

At the police station, Captain Gardner announced that Cam and Eric were raising money for charity. Many of the officers were eating lunch. Eric sold them chocolate bars and rice cakes for dessert. Cam entertained the police officers by doing memory tricks.

Cam looked at all the officers gathered around Eric. She closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”

“Officer Adams has red hair,” Cam said, “and his necktie is crooked. Officer Lopez has three rings on his left hand.”

“Maybe she’s peeking,” one of the officers said. “Maybe her eyes are not closed all the way.

Cam turned around and went on.

“Officer Davis has a drop of mustard on her collar.”

“She’s amazing,” Officer Davis said.

Mr. Jansen smiled and said, “Yes, she is. And she’s
my
daughter!”