The Secret at the Polk Street School (2 page)

She went outside.

She and Jason stopped at the corner.

She wanted to show Carmen, the school crossing guard, how she looked.

Carmen wouldn’t tell anyone about the play.

Carmen blew her whistle. “Pretty nifty,” she said.

“We’re doing
Red Riding Hood
,” Dawn said.

Jason hopped up and down on the curb. “We’re going to surprise the school.”

“Don’t tell anyone,” said Dawn.

“Not a soul,” Carmen said. She went to the middle of the street. “Watch out for the wolf,” she called back.

Jason nodded. “That’s what I say.”

Dawn and Jason crossed the street.

Dawn looked over her shoulder. “It wasn’t a real wolf,” she said. “I know that.”

“It was a person,” said Jason. “He was dressed in my sister Peggy’s wolf suit.”

“A big person, I think,” said Dawn. “A person with a scary voice.”

She could feel her lips moving.

Maybe she was going to cry.

She hoped not.

She put her hand up so Jason couldn’t see.

Jason thought for a minute. “He couldn’t have been so big.”

Dawn frowned. “Why not?”

“He was wearing Peggy’s suit.”

Dawn crossed her fingers. “I knew that all along.”

“I hope Peggy doesn’t go down to the basement,” Jason said. “I hope she doesn’t look for her wolf suit.”

“Maybe she won’t,” said Dawn.

Drake Evans was walking ahead of them.

“Arf, arf,” he said when he saw Dawn.

Dawn made believe she didn’t hear him.

Drake’s friend Louie was with him.

Louie was loud.

Louie was big.

Louie was mean.

He was even meaner than Drake Evans.

They were skipping stones across the street.

“You’re not supposed to throw stones,” Dawn said.

“Dog voice,” Drake told her.

“Dog face,” Louie said.

Dawn put her tongue out.

Jason did a wolf growl.

Then they started to run.

They stopped on the next street.

“Whew!” said Dawn.

“I just thought of something,” said Jason.

Dawn clicked her cowgirl boots. “What?”

Jason scratched his knee. “Itchy,” he said. He looked back at Drake and Louie. “Maybe one of them . . .”

“One of them what?”

“Maybe one of them was the wolf.”

Dawn looked back, too.

“You think Drake wore your wolf suit?”

“Maybe,” said Jason. “And my fake fingernails.”

Dawn shivered. “You think Drake is going to get me?”

“I hope not,” said Jason. “It’s a mystery.

Dawn didn’t answer. She knew Jason was looking at her.

He was waiting.

She took a breath.

She opened her mouth.

“I’m the Polka Dot Private Eye,” she said. “I’m the one who solves mysteries.”

“That’s what I was thinking,” said Jason.

“I’ll solve this mystery, too,” said Dawn. “I’ll call it The Secret at the Polk Street School.”

“D
ON’T SAY A WORD,”
Dawn whispered.

“Don’t even breathe,” said Jason.

They were at Drake Evans’s house.

They were kneeling behind the bushes.

It was muddy back there.

Dawn could feel her good jeans getting wet.

She tried to kneel on one knee.

One clean knee was better than two dirty ones, she thought.

Jason tapped her arm. “I hear them coming.”

They ducked down.

Dawn’s clean knee dug into the mud.

Drake had a pile of cookies in his mouth.

So did Louie.

Louie stepped in a puddle. Water went over Drake’s jeans.

“Hey!” Drake said. He opened his mouth wide. It looked like sawdust inside.

Louie started to laugh.

Cookies sprayed all over the place.

“Yuck,” Dawn whispered.

Drake stopped chewing. “What was that noise?”

Louie raised one shoulder. “The cat. A bird. Who cares?”

Drake and Louie sat down on the steps.

Drake leaned over. He said something to Louie.

Behind the bushes, Dawn tried to hear. She moved closer.

She could feel her knees squish.

“We did it!” said Drake.

“Yup,” said Louie.

“Did what?” Jason said to Dawn.

“Sh!” Dawn said.

“Where did you put . . .” Drake began. He put a cookie into his mouth.

“In the auditorium,” said Louie. “In the stage closet.”

Jason and Dawn looked at each other.

Dawn nodded.

Just then, Drake leaned over the bushes.

He saw Dawn looking up at him. “Spies!” he yelled. “Let’s go, men!”

Louie stopped. He put a cookie into his mouth.

Then he jumped off the steps, too.

Dawn slid out from behind the bushes. The branches stuck into her cape.

She ran across the lawn.

Jason ran after her.

“Get them!” Drake shouted.

Dawn ran down the street. She went as fast as she could.

Jason was running, too. He was right behind her.

She could hear him taking big breaths.

Drake came next.

Louie pounded after him.

At the corner Dawn ran one way. Jason went the other.

“Which way?” yelled Louie.

“You get her!” shouted Drake. “I’ll get Jason.”

Dawn reached the A&P. She pushed open the doors.

She ran down the aisle.

“Excuse me,” she said to a lady with a shopping cart.

She dashed around her.

She looked over her shoulder.

Louie was behind her. He was stuck in back of the lady with the cart.

The lady was reaching for a can of peaches.

Dawn dived around the corner.

She hid behind a stack of cereal boxes.

Louie ran past her.

Dawn waited a minute. Then another.

She peeked out.

The lady with the cart reached for a box of Krispies.

She jumped when she saw Dawn.

“Excuse me,” Dawn said.

She looked around the lady.

Louie was gone.

Dawn tiptoed down the aisle. She passed the frozen foods.

She stopped to see if they had any orange ice.

It was her favorite.

There were a zillion boxes in the freezer.

Too bad she didn’t have any money.

She looked out the window. Sherri Dent’s mother was talking with Mrs. Arrow outside.

No one else was around.

She went outside.

She hoped Jason was all right. She wondered where he went.

For a minute she stood there.

There was something she had to do.

She had to go back to school.

Too bad it was getting dark. The street lights were on. It was almost suppertime.

She was a detective.

She couldn’t even cry.

T
HE WIND WAS BLOWING.
It had gotten colder.

Dawn put her hands into her cape pockets.

A pack of gum was in one pocket. A piece of paper was in the other.

Dawn turned in at the school-yard gate.

No one was in the yard. Everyone had gone home.

She hoped she could still get into school.

She pulled on the handle. “Whew!” she said. The door was open.

It was good to get inside. Everything looked different, though.

The lights were on.

There was no noise.

She could hear Ms. Rooney in the office. She and Mrs. Gates were laughing.

Dawn loved to hear Ms. Rooney’s laugh. It had a nice “ha-ha” sound.

Dawn tiptoed past the office. If Ms. Rooney saw her, she’d be in trouble.

The door to the auditorium was closed.

She opened it quietly. It always squeaked.

The lights were off. She could just about see the seats.

The stage curtain looked black instead of blue.

She went down the aisle. She had to see what Drake had put in the closet.

She bet it was the wolf suit. And the fake nails, too.

It was really dark on the stage.

She couldn’t find the closet door.

She reached around the wall with her hands.

Then she felt the knob.

The door swung open.

Inside it was black.

Dawn blinked. She couldn’t see a thing.

She heard Ms. Rooney call, “Good-night, Clara.”

The outside door banged open and shut.

Dawn stepped away from the closet.

She was ready to run.

“Don’t do that,” she told herself. “Be brave.”

She opened her mouth. She started to sing: “Don’t be afraid. Be brave as a wave. Brave as a cave.”

She put her hand into the closet.

“Plain air,” she sang. “Not a bear.”

She took a step inside.

There was stuff on the floor. She felt around.

There should be a wolf suit somewhere.

There should be fingernails, too.

No. Just some old tools.

The door slammed shut.

She pushed it hard.

It wouldn’t open.

“Yeow!” she yelled. “Noni, save me!”

She pushed again.

“Let me out! Drake? Louie?”

No one answered.

She put her ear against the door.

She couldn’t hear anything. Not one thing.

She sank down on the floor.

There were probably spider webs.

Spiders, too.

She’d have to stay in there all night.

No dinner.

No bed.

She was starving. All she had was some gum.

Her grandmother, Noni, would look for her.

She’d never find her, though.

Dawn couldn’t even cry. Detectives don’t cry.

She leaned against the door.

Then she heard something.

Footsteps.

Maybe it was Drake or Louie.

Suppose it was someone else?

Maybe someone was going to get her.

She backed up against the closet wall.

The footsteps were louder.

They were click-clacking.

She began to scream.

T
HE DOOR BANGED OPEN.

“I’ve got a gun!” Dawn yelled.

“Don’t be silly,” said Jason. “I thought you were brave.”

“Of course I’m brave,” Dawn said. She stepped out of the closet.

“It wasn’t even locked,” Jason said.

“I pushed,” Dawn said. “I pushed hard.”

Jason laughed. “You have to turn the knob.”

Dawn laughed a little, too. She didn’t feel like laughing, though.

They started across the stage.

“Be very quiet,” Jason said. “Jim is sweeping. We’re not supposed to be in here.”

Dawn stopped. “How did you find me?”

Jason took a breath. “I got away from Drake. I climbed a tree. He went right past me.

Jason swung off the stage. “I could have jumped down on top of him. Pow.”

“Sh,” said Dawn. “Not so loud.”

“I’m glad Louie didn’t get you,” Jason said.

“Not me.” Dawn made a fist. “Double pow.”

They hurried down the aisle.

They opened the auditorium door.

It made a loud squeak.

Jim was sweeping at the end of the hall.

They started to run.

Jim banged his broom on the floor. “Hey, you two!”

They looked at each other. They slowed down.

“Dawn Bosco,” Jim said. “Jason Bazyk. What are you doing?”