Cam Jansen and the Summer Camp Mysteries (4 page)

“Wait,” Cam said. “Maybe I can tell you more.”

Cam closed her eyes again. She said, “
Click
!”

“I can see the car,” she said. “I can see the license plate.”

Cam told the officer the license plate number.

The red-haired officer wrote down the number. He closed his pad and said, “Now we have enough clues. We’ll look for the car. We’ll let you know if we find the box and the money.”

“And Barry, the man at the gate, may be able to describe the man,” Sadie Rosen said. “He sees everyone who comes in here.”

The officers got into their car. Cam and the others followed them to the entrance.

Barry said, “When that man came in, he didn’t give me his name. He pointed to the car just ahead and said, ‘I’m with them.’ When he left, he drove past me really fast.”

The red-haired officer wrote some notes
on his pad. Then he said, “We’ll go looking for him.”

Sadie Rosen thanked the officers. Then she told Cam and Eric, “Now, please go to your bunks.”

“Can’t we wait?” Eric asked. “We want to know if the police catch him.”

“No, I’m sorry. You can’t,” Sadie Rosen said. “It’s time for you to unpack. And I’m sure your parents want to get on the road before the late afternoon traffic.”

Mr. Shelton nodded. “It sounds like the police have everything under control.”

“Let’s go,” Mrs. Jansen said to Cam and Eric.

Cam’s bunk was on the girls’ campus, to the right of the dining hall. Eric’s was on the boys’ campus, to the left.

In the middle of a row of small bunk buildings was one with a large sign that said G8. Cam and her mother went into the bunk.

There was a row of cots on each side of the large room. Beside each bed was a wooden nightstand. Girls and their parents were making beds and putting things in the nightstands. At the other end of the bunk was a place to hang clothing. Beyond that were sinks, showers, and bathrooms.

Cam found the only empty bed. Her mother helped her unpack.

“It’s almost noon,” Fran announced. “It’s time to say good-bye to your parents.”

“Here,” Mrs. Jansen whispered. She gave Cam some money. “If they don’t find the thief and the box, you’ll have this for snacks.”

“But Mom …”

“Just take it,” Mrs. Jansen said. “And if they catch the thief, you’ll have extra snack money.”

Mrs. Jansen hugged Cam.

“I’ll miss you,” Mrs. Jansen said. There were tears in her eyes.

“I’ll miss you, too, Mom. But I’ll be fine. I’m already having a good time. Trying to solve that snack money mystery was fun.”

Mrs. Jansen and the other parents left the bunk.

At lunch, Cam sat next to Terri, the math whiz. Terri told Cam all about camp.

“We swim in a lake,” Terri said. “It’s better than a pool, because it’s bigger. But after it rains, the water is cold. And arts and crafts is great. Last year I made a jewelry box.”

After lunch, the G8 girls stood by their table in the dining room. Fran stood with them and held up a Camp Eagle Lake sign. “Smile!” Jim, the sports counselor, said, and took their picture.

The G8 girls went back to their bunk. They changed clothes and got ready for tennis. They were walking to the courts when
Cam’s and Eric’s names were announced on the camp loudspeakers.

Jennifer Jansen and Eric Shelton, please report to the main office.

“It’s right by the main entrance,” Terri said.

Cam walked across the tennis courts to the office. A police car was parked outside. The two police officers and Sadie Rosen were inside. Eric was there, too. He was wearing a bathing suit.

He told Cam, “We were on our way to the lake.”

“We found the thief,” the red-haired officer told Cam and Eric. “The blue box was in the backseat of his car.”

“Thanks to both of you,” Sadie Rosen said, “we have all the snack money.”

Sadie Rosen smiled.

“Aren’t you going to give these children a reward?” the red-haired officer asked.

“A reward?” Ms. Rosen said.

She thought for a moment.

“Yes. Tomorrow everyone in bunks B8
and G8 will get ice-cream sundaes.”

When they left the office, Cam told Eric about the extra snack money her mother had given her.

Eric said, “My dad gave me extra money, too. He thought the police might not catch the thief. But I told him, of course they will. They have my friend Cam helping them.”

Cam had made lots of new friends at camp. She played number games with Terri and told her about the many mysteries she and Eric had solved.

Cam and Gina traded books.

Betsy’s family liked to travel. She told Cam about the faraway places she had visited.

One afternoon, during the second week of camp, Cam and the girls of G8 were getting out of the lake when Fran came to take them back to their bunk. Kitty, the camp’s pet cat, was following her.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” Fran told the swim
counselor. “Jacob and I were in the middle of a great game of tennis. I won.”

Fran walked to the edge of the lake. She put both hands in the water. “Nice and warm,” she said. “So how did my G8 ducks enjoy their swim lessons?”

“They did very well,” the swim counselor told her.

Kitty looked up at Betsy.

Meow
!

Fran called out to the girls, “We’re going back to the bunk to get changed. Baseball is next.”

Cam and the other girls in G8 wrapped themselves in their towels. They walked quickly ahead, up the small hill near the lake to their bunk. Fran and Kitty followed them.

“Hey, Cam,” Terri called as they walked. “Do you know how many times this summer we’ll take this walk from the lake?”

Cam shook her head. She didn’t know.

“Oh, that’s easy,” Terri said. “We go to the lake every day for swimming and three
times a week for canoeing. Over three weeks, that’s thirty times.”

They were walking across the small, grassy field near their bunk.

“Hurry and change into shorts, T-shirts, and sneakers,” Fran told them. “And remember to get your baseball gloves.”

Cam was the first one to step into the bunk.

Cam quickly looked around the room,
then she shouted, “Hey, what happened?”

Beds had been pushed into the middle of the bunk. Sneakers and pants were piled on the beds. Shirts were hanging from the rafters.
Hello G8! Guess Who
! was written in chalk on the ceiling.

The other G8 girls hurried into the bunk.

“Who did this?” Terri asked.

“I didn’t,” Betsy said. “I was at the lake.”

Just then Fran and Kitty entered the bunk.

“It’s a raid!” Fran shouted. “It’s a raid!”

Fran clapped her hands and sang,

The G8 girls laughed and clapped along.

“But who should we get even-Steven with?” Terri asked. “Who did this?”

“I think it was G9,” Betsy said. “They are always racing us to the dining room and
saying they’re better than us. Or maybe B8. We play them in baseball.”

“Whoever did this didn’t steal my money,” Terri said. “I had eight dimes, three nickels, and twelve pennies in the cup by my bed and it’s all still here.”

Gina found her bed and started to push it back to its spot.

“We’ll clean up later,” Fran told her. “Right now we have to get ready for baseball. While you’re playing, I’ll be thinking.” She pointed to her head and grinned. “Thinking of ways to get even.”

Cam and the other girls searched on the beds for their sneakers. There was a large lump beneath the blanket of one of the beds. Terri lifted the blanket and found their baseball gloves.

Fran stood by the door to the bunk.

“You know what we’ll do?” Fran said. “We’ll figure out who raided our bunk and we’ll move all their beds onto the grass. We’ll fill their left sneakers with popcorn and hide all their right sneakers. They’ll have to hop.”

Betsy said, “No. We’ll put potato chips in their sneakers. It will be so funny hearing them crunch as they walk.”

“Popcorn and potato chips,” Fran laughed. “This is so exciting.”

“But first we have to know who raided us,” Terri said. “It’s a mystery, and Cam has solved lots of those. Maybe she’ll solve this one, too.”

“I solve mysteries by remembering something I’ve seen,” Cam told Terri as they walked to the baseball field. “But I don’t think I’ve seen anything that could help. When we left for the lake, our bunk was neat. When we came back, it was a mess. That’s all I know. I don’t know if that’s enough to figure out who raided us.”

“Close your eyes and say, ‘
Click
!’ Terri suggested. “That should help.”

“Not now,” Cam said. “I can’t close my eyes while I’m walking.”

“Yes you can. I’ll hold your hand. You won’t get lost or bump into anything.”

Terri took Cam’s hand. Then Cam closed her eyes and said, “
Click
!”