Crime in the Cards Read Free Page B

Pane opened the drawer. Mr. Pane frowned. Chet’s jaw dropped.
    â€œWhat is it?” Frank asked.
    â€œThe cards,” Chet said. “They’re gone!”

3 Cardnapped
   Creatures “Did you take the cards out of the desk?” Frank asked Mr. Pane.
    The teacher shook his head. “No,” he said. “I haven’t even opened the drawer since I confiscated them.” He pulled the drawer all the way out and emptied the contents, but there was no sign of the cards. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “They couldn’t have just vanished!”
    â€œDoes anyone else have access to your desk?” Joe asked.
    â€œNormally, no,” Mr. Pane said. “I had seventh period off today, though, and the room was empty. I was in the teachers’ lounge. Anyone could have come in then, I guess. The desk was still locked, though.”
    Frank picked up the drawer and examined the lock. “It doesn’t look as though it’s been forced,” he said. “If it was picked, it was picked by an expert.”
    â€œI’ll have to tell Principal Chambers,” Mr. Pane said. “All of you wait here until I come back.”
    He went out the door and headed for the school offices.
    Chet collapsed into a chair behind a student desk at the front of the room. He buried his face in his large hands. “I can’t believe it,” he said.
    Iola walked over and put her hands on her brother’s shoulders. “Don’t worry, Chet,” she said. “We’ll find your cards.”
    â€œThat deck had the Coyote and the Bargeist in it!” Chet moaned. “I have some spare cards at home, but how will I ever rebuild my deck in time for the tournament?”
    â€œYou could buy more,” Callie suggested.
    â€œAt six dollars for a pack of thirteen?” Chet scoffed. “No way. Most of the cards in every pack are common cards—duplicates of ones I already have. It’s taken me almost two months to build up that deck to tournament level through buying and trading. I don’t have the time or money to replace the rare cards I’ve lost.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his short blond hair distractedly.
    â€œWe’ll just have to get your cards back, then,” Joe said. He and Frank had been poking around the room, looking for any clues.
    â€œDo you think you can find them?” Chet asked hopefully.
    â€œWe’ve solved tougher cases,” Frank said. He replaced a row of books he’d been paging through. “I’m not finding anything here, though. How about you, Joe?”
    Joe, who had been searching under the desk, stood up. “Nothing,” he said. “Too many people use this room on a regular basis. We’d have to be pretty lucky to find a clue pointing directly to the culprit. Unless, of course, the robber got careless.”
    â€œWhoever opened that drawer knew what he was doing,” Frank said. “A pro couldn’t have done better.”
    Just then Mr. Pane returned with the principal. Chet stood up hopefully as they entered.
    â€œI can’t say that I’m really surprised about this,” Mr. Chambers said.
    â€œWell, I’m surprised,” Mr. Pane replied. “No one’s ever broken into my desk before.”
    â€œThose cards have been causing a lot of trouble in this school. It was your deck, Mr. Morton?” the principal asked.
    Chet nodded.
    â€œWere the cards valuable?”
    â€œSome of them. Yeah.” Chet said.
    â€œI don’t mean to sound unsympathetic,” Principal Chambers said, “but this is one of the reasons I banned Creature Cards from school this morning. If you’d kept the cards in your locker, as I suggested, this wouldn’t have happened. We’ll look into it, of course, but we have a lot of students and we can’t just interrogate everyone. We could call the police, though.”
    Chet shook his