The Case of the Bug on the Run Read Free Page A

Ks are heavy enough,” I said. “And wait a sec—where
are
the Ks?” I scanned our bedroom without seeing a single one. “Oh, great. I wonder if they left at the same time the bug did. Maybe someone let them out.”
    Tessa smiled. “Know what, Cammie? This seems to me like the start of a mystery.”
    Since we moved into the White House in January,Tessa, Nate and I have helped solve five mysteries. We’ve even been on TV! Granny’s the one who taught us about detecting. Before she was a judge, she was a police officer.
    â€œI don’t think so, Tessa,” I said. “I mean, where’s the bad guy? No one would steal a cockroach. Come on—James Madison’s got to be around here somewhere. Let’s keep looking.”
    I peered under my bed, then Tessa’s. I looked under our dressers, then under each of the chairs. I looked in the closet and even in my shoes.
    Tessa didn’t look anywhere. She just stared at the tank.
    â€œSome help you are,” I said.
    â€œI’m thinking!” said Tessa. “If the Ks didn’t knock it over, who did?”
    I shrugged. “Hooligan, I guess.”
    â€œOka-a-ay,” said Tessa. “So say I’m Hooligan.” She put her hands up like doggy paws and let her tongue loll out of her mouth. For a blond seven-year-old girl, she looked surprisingly like our big, furry, too-energetic dog.
    Then she shoved the tank, and it tipped over. Only it didn’t fall onto the floor. It stayed on the table. And the lid didn’t come off, either.
    Now I was interested. “Okay, so that’s not what happened. How about if Hooligan banged into the table and made the whole thing tilt?”
    Tessa made her Hooligan face again, dropped down on all fours and—
bam!
—bumped her rear end into thetable with too much energy. Sure enough, the table tipped and the tank slid to the rug. Then it rolled once and came to rest upside down.
    â€œHunh,” I said after a second. “If it happened that way, James Madison couldn’t have escaped. He wouldn’t have had a way out.”
    â€œAnd the dirt didn’t spill, either,” Tessa said.
    â€œMaybe it wasn’t an accident,” I said.
    â€œMaybe not.” Tessa was excited. “Maybe somebody just wanted it to look like one. And that would be a mystery! You know what I think? The First Kids are back in business!”
    â€œNot right this minute they’re not.” Charlotte had come in the door behind us. “Because the First Kids are supposed to meet Ms. Major in the State Dining Room for photos.” Charlotte spotted the tank on the floor. “What happened?”
    â€œJames Madison is gone,” I said.
    Charlotte frowned. “What about Thomas Jefferson and George Washington? Are they still around?”
    â€œNot President James Madison!” Tessa waved her arms. “The bug James Madison!”
    Charlotte pressed a button on her radio. “Hang on while I tell Mr. Ross.”
    â€œNo-o-o!”
Tessa whined. “Mr. Ross will get out the bug spray for sure!”
    Charlotte muted the radio. “Girls, be real. The White House can’t host a formal dinner when there’s a foreign cockroach on the loose.”
    Tessa glared at me. “Cammie, you never shouldhave told Charlotte! In the end, she’s just a grown-up, and she’s on the grown-up side.”
    Charlotte protested. “Hey, no fair. I used to be a kid! I even had a pet iguana that one time ran away and scared the neighbors’ dogs.”
    â€œDid you get it back?” I asked.
    â€œYeah, but then Mom sent it to live in a swamp in the country. At least”—Charlotte looked thoughtful—“that’s where she told me it went. All right. I won’t tell Mr. Ross . . .  yet.”
    I said, “Thank you,” and Tessa gave Charlotte a great big hug.
    â€œBut hurry and get dressed