Sophie the Snoop (4 page)

S
ophie peered up, through her 3-D glasses, into the eyes of Ms. Steele. She had never looked at the eyes of a thief before! It made her heart beat very fast. She quickly bent her head to stare at the shoes of the thief instead.

“Sophie, why didn’t you go to lunch with the rest of the class?” Ms. Steele asked.

Why? Sophie bit her lip. She could not tell the sub the truth. And she also couldn’t pretend that she was just being slow. If she went to lunch now, she’d be leaving a thief there alone!

No. Sophie had to stay.

So she swallowed hard and looked back up. “Can I stay here, Ms. Steele … with you?”

“Here?” Ms. Steele sounded surprised.

I’ve foiled her plans
! Sophie thought.

“Please,” Sophie begged. “It would be such a great chance …” She tried to think. “… to do extra reading!” she finished.

Ms. Steele chewed on her fingernail.
Suspicious behavior
! Sophie thought.

“Um, well, okay,” Ms. Steele said. “I was just going to eat my lunch here, myself.” She shrugged. “But if I were you, I wouldn’t try to read with those glasses on,” she said.

The sub returned to her desk and Sophie sighed with relief. That had been very quick snoop thinking, if she did say so herself.

Sophie sat down at her table and slipped her glasses off. Then she nibbled on her sandwich and took out her chapter book. She opened it and held it up in front of her face. But did she read it? Nope. She did not.

What she did was watch the sub. She watched
her very carefully. But Ms. Steele did not do much. She just took out her lunch from a green bag behind her desk.

A
big
green bag, Sophie noticed. Big enough to hold all kinds of stolen stuff!

Then, with a smile at Sophie, Ms. Steele took out a book, too.

Sophie wondered if just maybe it was Sophie A.’s missing book….

But nope.

Sophie squinted to read the title:
The Cat Who Robbed a Bank
.

Hmm
. She had two thoughts. One: That was just the kind of thing a thief would read. And two: It sounded good.

But maybe, just maybe, the sub was only
pretending
to read. Of course! Ms. Steele was probably watching Sophie — and waiting for a chance to steal
more
stuff. Sophie could not help smiling. She was stopping more crimes from being done.

Then again, Sophie kind of wanted the sub to
steal more stuff. Then Sophie could catch her dead-handed! (Or was it
red
-handed? She wasn’t sure.)

That was when Sophie decided it was time to set a trap.

She had brought her backpack to her desk for lunch. She took out her detective hat and put it on the floor. She pushed it into the aisle very slowly with her foot. Then she crumpled up her brown paper lunch bag. She waved it as she stood.

“Oh, Ms. Steeeeele!” she called. “I’m going to throw this away. And go all the way over there — to the sink — to get a drink.”

The sub looked up and smiled. “Okay, Sophie.”

Sophie turned and tiptoed away, humming softly. Then she stopped and spun around. She was sure she’d see Ms. Steele standing up. But the sub was still sitting down.

Sophie tiptoed a little more, then turned. Then tiptoed. Then turned. Then stopped. She had
reached the sink. Still nothing. She bent to take a drink and sighed.

She kept peering over her shoulder as the cold water dribbled down her chin.

Come on, Ms. Steele
! she thought.
Take my hat. I know you want it
!

All of a sudden, her patience paid off. Ms. Steele got up and walked toward Sophie’s hat, just as she’d hoped.

Sophie held her breath. She watched the sub bend over and scoop the hat right up.

Then Sophie bolted across the room. “Gotcha!” she called.

“Excuse me?” said Ms. Steele. The sub stared at Sophie’s finger. It was pointing at her. “This is your hat, isn’t it?” she asked. “I just found it on the floor. You really shouldn’t leave it there. You should hang it on your cubby hook.”

Huh?

Sophie dropped her finger. This was not her plan at all. Ms. Steele was way too sneaky! (Or
else she did not like Sophie’s hat enough to really steal it.)

“Thanks,” Sophie mumbled. She took the hat and hung it up.

She guessed it was time for Plan B. If only she knew what Plan B was.

If I could just get Ms. Steele’s bag,
Sophie thought,
and take it to Principal Tate …

And right then, as if he’d heard her thoughts, the principal appeared in the doorway. Sophie couldn’t believe it!

“Hello there, Ms. Steele,” he said. “Just checking in.” His eyes fell on Sophie. “Why, Miss Miller. This is a surprise!” Principal Tate looked back at the substitute. “Is this a punishment?”

“Oh. Um, no. Not at all, Mr. Tate.” Ms. Steele shook her head very fast. “Sophie just wanted to do some extra reading.”

Principal Tate turned to Sophie. One eyebrow was up, and one was down. “Extra reading?” He looked confused. But that was okay. Sophie knew that it would all make sense as soon as she
turned the substitute in. “Well, I’m sure Ms. Moffly would be very proud,” he went on. Then Principal Tate turned back to the sub. “Ms. Steele, could we have a word in the hall?”

Ms. Steele looked more nervous than ever as she followed the principal out of the room and closed the door.

Poor Ms. Steele. Sophie almost felt sorry for her. But no! What was she thinking? Sophie tossed that thought away fast.

Then she got a new one. This was Sophie’s chance to get the sub’s bag full of loot and give it to Principal Tate!

Sophie didn’t waste a second. She tiptoed — fast — up to the teacher’s desk.

She bent down beside the big green bag. It was open. Yes! Of course, Sophie knew she’d see Ben’s Tweety Bird, Dean’s cards, and Grace’s shoes. She was sure she’d find Mindy’s lip-gloss phone and Sophie A.’s chapter book, too.

And who knew? There might be more stuff. Stuff no one had even realized was gone yet.

But Sophie didn’t see those things when she looked inside the bag. All she saw were:

Sophie couldn’t believe it. Where was all the stolen stuff? This was even more of a mystery than she’d thought.

That’s when she spied something else, down at the bottom of the bag….

Was it? Yes!

A phone!

And it was
pink
!

Sophie had to do it. She reached in. And she pulled it out.

Then she sighed one of the biggest sighs she’d ever sighed in her whole life.

It wasn’t Mindy’s lip-gloss phone. It was a
real
cell phone.

Aw! Too bad!

She started to put the phone back into the bag. Then suddenly, she jumped. The phone began playing a song. And a man’s picture popped up on the screen.

The real phone was ringing!

What do I do?
Sophie thought.
What would a
snoop
do?

She knew that a snoop would answer the phone So that’s what she did (in a disguised voice, of course).

Sophie punched the “talk” but ton. “Er … hello?” she said, very low.

“Hi … Sophie?” a man’s voice replied.

Sophie felt her stomach flip-flop. “Um, yes — I mean,
no
!” she said. “I mean … how did you know?”

“Isn’t this your phone?” asked the man. “Are you okay, Sophie? Do you have a cold?”

Suddenly, Sophie realized something. Ms. Steele’s name was Sophie, too!

“Um …” She tried to think quickly. “Actually,
that
Sophie is busy right now. Can I take a message?” she asked.

The man paused. At last, he said, “Sure. Just tell her good luck.”

Then he said good-bye and the phone went dead.

Sophie’s heart began to thump.

Good luck?

That was bad!

So! The Case of the Room 10 Thief had taken a turn. Ms. Steele
was
the thief. But she was not working alone!

This was even bigger than Sophie had thought. She had to tell Principal Tate right away! But before she could even move, the classroom door opened.

There stood Ms. Steele — the thief! — with Principal Tate. But that wasn’t all. The rest of the class was there, too, back from lunch.

They were all looking at her. And most of their eyes were wide.

“Sophie! What are you doing with my phone?” Ms. Steele cried.

T
he next thing Sophie knew, she was in the school office — with Principal Tate.

She had planned to go to him, but not exactly like this. Somehow, Sophie had ended up standing there like
she
was the thief.

“I must say, Miss Miller, I am very surprised,” the principal said, shaking his head. “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Sophie stood in front of his desk very calmly. It would all be okay just as soon as she explained.

She took a deep breath. “I am not the thief, Principal Tate,” she said. “The
substitute
is!”

The principal lifted one eyebrow, then the other. (He was good at that.) Then he leaned forward on his elbows. “Now,
this
is even more surprising. What in the world makes you say that?” he asked.

“Well …” Sophie bit her lip. Where should she begin? “For one thing, all this stuff was stolen today — the day that Ms. Steele is here. So it’s pretty elementary, don’t you think?” she said.

“But your classmates seem to think that
you
did it, to be some kind of snoop,” the principal said, looking at her closely. “And the fact is,
you
were the one caught holding Ms. Steele’s phone.”

Me? The thief? Never
! Sophie felt her face get hot.

“Me? The thief? Never!” She crossed her heart. “I swear! I’m not the one who got a phone call telling me good luck with my robbery! Don’t you think that’s suspicious? Plus she reads books about cats who rob banks!” Sophie paused to take a breath. “And her name is Ms.
Steele
!”

She crossed her arms. He could not argue with that!

“I bet she robs schools all the time, Principal Tate,” she told him. “You should probably call all your principal friends and see if they’re missing anything.”

“Sophie, Sophie, Sophie.” The principal shook his head.

Uh-oh,
Sophie thought.
Was that good? Or very bad?
The principal never used first names. And now he was using hers. Three times. In a row.

“I would be surprised to learn that Ms. Steele leads a life of crime,” Principal Tate said. “As far as I know, she’s working hard to earn her teaching degree. And this is her first day substituting.” He sighed. “Ever.”

“Well, that’s even better!” Sophie told him. She grinned. “Good thing I was in her class! I showed her that she can’t get away with robbing kids. And the judge might be easy on her if it’s just her first time. Do you want to call in the police now? Or should I?”

The principal opened his mouth. But there was a knock at the door before anything came out.

“Come in,” said Principal Tate.

The door opened. There was Ms. Steele … and Toby.
What’s
he
doing here?
Sophie wondered.

“Um … this young man has something to tell you, Mr. Tate,” Ms. Steele said.

Sophie felt her jaw drop. She tried to close it. But she could not. This was just like Toby to try to get her in more trouble!

Sophie glared at him and thought hard about sticking out her tongue.

Then Toby took a deep breath and said, “I’m sorry. I took all the stuff.”

Huh?

Now Sophie was really confused.

Ms. Steele
wasn’t
the thief? But Sophie had been so sure!

And Toby
was
the thief? Wow! That surprised even her.

But not as much as the feeling she suddenly got. She felt bad for Toby. He was going to be in
big
trouble. She started to wish she hadn’t told Principal Tate to call the cops.

Of course, Sophie was also mad. But not at Toby. At herself. What kind of snoop could be so wrong about so much?

The principal looked mad, too. “Mr. Myers, this is very serious,” he said.

Ms. Steele put a hand on Toby’s shoulder. “Why don’t you explain?” she said to him.

Toby looked at Sophie — and looked away fast. “I wasn’t going to steal the stuff and
keep
it,” he said.

“Then why did you do it?” Principal Tate asked.

“To help
her,
” Toby said quietly. He nodded at Sophie. She almost gasped.

Help her?
How?
Sophie had to hear this.

By then, Toby’s face was so red his freckles had almost disappeared.

He took another breath. “She was just so crazy to solve mysteries,” he went on. “She even had a detective hat. But there weren’t any mysteries.
So I thought I’d make some up.” Toby shrugged and looked down at the floor. “And it was so easy to take the stuff while everyone was lining up for gym. It’s all in my backpack. I was going to return it, really. I mean, if Sophie the
Snoop
didn’t find it first.”

Sophie was speechless. But a zillion thoughts zipped through her head.

Thoughts like
What?
And
Really?
And
Sorry, Ms. Steele…
.

Sophie had snooped around in the substitute’s bag for nothing. And missed lunch, too.

And speaking of missing, how had she missed Toby’s taking all that stuff? She guessed it was because she had not wanted to look at him much.

What was Toby thinking? She made herself look at him just to see. But his face was down. He was looking at his feet.

So she looked at his red head and wondered,
Why did he do what he did?

Was it really because he liked the name Sophie
the Snoop and wanted to help her earn it? Or was he just saying that to get out of trouble? Was he trying to prove she
couldn’t
really solve mysteries? Was he just being mean?

That, for sure, was the biggest mystery!