Cam Jansen and the Mystery Writer Mystery Read Free Page B

Officer Gray said.
    “I read them to my children now,” Officer Oppen told Mr. Winter.
    Officer Gray was a tall woman with curly black hair. Officer Oppen was not so tall and had a short beard.
    Cam, Eric, and Mrs. Jansen joined them.
    “Hello,” Officer Oppen said to Cam. Then he laughed, blinked his eyes, and said, “ Click!
    “I know this girl,” he told his partner. “She’s smart. She has a great memory.”
    “That’s very nice,” the taller officer said. “But we must get going.”
    Officer Gray reached into her pocket and took out a set of car keys.
    “Are you left-handed?” Cam asked.
    “Yes, I am, but how did you know?”
    “You keep your keys in your left pocket,” Cam explained.
    “That’s very interesting,” Officer Gray said, “but we really must go.”
    Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!” Then, with her eyes still closed, she said, “And, Mr. Pace, are you right-handed?”
    “Yes, I am,” Danny’s father said.
    “I know that,” Cam said with her eyes still closed, “because when Jim E. Winter asked for your keys, you first reached into your right pocket.”
    “But the keys weren’t there,” Mr. Pace said.
    “No,” Cam said. “They were in your left pocket.”
    “Right pocket, left pocket!” Officer Gray said. “Let’s go. We have reports to file.”
    Cam opened her eyes.
    “You’re right-handed,” Cam told Danny’s father, “so you would have put your keys in your right pocket. But I think someone took your keys out of your pocket and then put them back.”
    “The thief?” Mr. Pace asked.
    “Yes,” Cam said. “I think he took off your car key. Then he put the keys back. He used the key to steal your car.”

    Mr. Pace took his keys out of his right pocket. There were several keys on his key ring. He checked them all.
    “You’re right,” he said. “My car key is missing.”
    Mr. Shelton took out his key ring and looked at it. “Hey,” he said. “My car key is also missing.”
    “What does all this mean?” Jim E. Winter asked.
    “It means,” Cam said, “that the thief came into the school. He went into room seventeen, stole the keys, and then stole the cars.”

Chapter Seven
    Officer Oppen took out his pad. Jim E. Winter took out a pad, too.
    “I’ve got to write all this down,” Officer Oppen said.
    “I’ll tell you what happened,” Cam said. “I remembered that Danny’s father first reached into one raincoat pocket and then the other to get his keys. That told me two things. First, he kept his keys in his raincoat, which he left in room seventeen. Anyone who went into the coatroom could take his keys.”
    “I know what’s second,” Eric said. “Someone must have moved his keys from one pocket to the other. Since his car was stolen, it must have been the thief.”
    Jim E. Winter wrote all this in his pad. “This is clever, very clever,” he said as he wrote. “I can use this in one of my books.”
    “But how did he know which coats to search?” Officer Gray asked.
    “He was somewhere in the parking lot,” Cam said. “He watched people as they got out of their cars. If he saw someone put his keys in his coat pocket, he remembered the coat and stole the keys.”

    “He didn’t even have to remember the coat,” Officer Oppen said. “He just went to room seventeen and checked which raincoat was still dripping wet. That meant it was just hung up.” Officer Oppen closed his pad. “I told you this girl is smart,” he said to Officer Gray.
    “Okay, she’s smart,” Officer Gray said. “We know how the thief stole the cars. But we still don’t know where to find him.”
    “You also don’t know where to find my car,” Mr. Pace said.
    “Or mine,” Mr. Shelton added.
    “We do know something else,” Jim E. Winter said. “He came back after he stole the first car, so he must have left it nearby. Maybe it’s hidden somewhere.”
    “Yes!” Officer Gray said. “Let’s drive around. If he’s anywhere near this school,