The Case of the Wilted Broccoli (12 page)

"Mr. Hutchins is going to jail."

"I heard. I hope you're not in trouble," Elon said.

"No, no." There a soft chuckle from the other end of the line. "I actually wanted to say thank you. If it wasn't for you three, Mr. Hutchins could have gone on longer, more people would have gotten sick, and Bannon Foods and I could have gotten into bigger trouble. So I really appreciate you solving this mystery."

"You're welcome," Elon said.

"But the judge said I have to buy you kids a new drone. Will a thousand dollars cover it?"

Elon's eyes went big. A thousand dollars? They could build a supersized drone. But he didn't want to be dishonest. "It's too much, actually, Mr. Bannon. The first drone only cost about two hundred."

"Ah... Well, I'll send you a thousand dollars, and you can keep the rest as a reward."

Holy cow, a thousand dollars. Elon barely heard the rest of the conversation. Finally, after saying good-byes, he got off the phone and ran looking for the other kids.

"Willow, Linden, have I got some news!"

THE END

THANKS

Dear Reader,

Thanks for buying
The Case of the Wilted Broccoli
. I hope you enjoyed it.
 

I'm an independent author. That means I don't have a big publishing company with a marketing department to help sell my books. I'm dependent on you, the reader, to tell others about my books.
 

If you like
The Case of the Wilted Broccoli
, please tell your friends or parents, ask your school library to buy a copy, or post a review online. Thank you!

Visit
www.williamhertling.com
if you'd like to learn more about my books, or subscribe to my monthly newsletter to find out when new books are released.

If you're looking for my books in stores, I write children's fiction under Will Hertling and books for adults and teens under William Hertling.

Sincerely,

Will Hertling

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thank you to my children for prompting me to write this novel, and continuing to remind me to work on it even as I was distracted by other projects, and for your patience.

Thank you to Erin Gately, as always, for your extensive support watching kids so I can write, reading and providing feedback, and general enthusiasm.
 

Thanks also to Maja Carrel Herrera for her support.

Thanks to the Wine Writers critique group for their incredibly helpful feedback on this and other projects: Catherine Craglow, Cathy Heslin, Shana Kusin, Amy Seaholt, and David Melville. Thanks also to Dr. Shana Kusin for medical advice.

Thank you to Maureen Gately, for your wisdom, knowledge and general excellence in all things design, print, and publishing related. I would be lost without your guidance.

Thanks to M.S. Corley for the cover design and illustration, Steve Bieler for copy editing, and Kiersi Burkhart for manuscript feedback.

A big thank you to the kids who provided feedback: Abby, Ella, Gifford, Jake, Liam, Luc, Luka, Roland, and Rowan. Thanks also to their parents who helped with the process: Amelia, Brain, Dawn, Grace, Petar, Rebecca, and Brian. (Last names intentionally left out to protect their privacy.)

My apologies if I've missed anybody. Any errors that remain are my own.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

William Hertling is an award-winning science fiction writer, and the author of the
Singularity
series of novels for teens and adults:
Avogadro Corp.
,
A.I. Apocalypse
, and
The Last Firewall
.

A computer programmer and social media strategist, he lives in Portland, Oregon.

The Case of the Wilted Broccoli
is his first novel for children.

To contact the author:

Web:
www.williamhertling.com

Email:
[email protected]