The Riddle of the Red Purse Read Free Page B

freezing,” he said. “On the way where?”
    “On the way to Wuff Wuff’s Pet Store.”
    “Good idea,” he said. He stopped to think. “Why?”
    “We can show the list to the man,” Dawn said. “Maybe he’ll remember someone with a red purse.”
    Jason blew on his fingers. “Let’s hurry. We don’t have all day. I have homework to do.”
    They raced down the street.
    They stopped at Dawn’s house.
    Dawn threw her books onto the table.
    She took two cookies.
    One for her. One for Jason.
    Noni smiled. “Take two more.”
    Jason took a bite. “Almost as good as my mother’s fig cookies.”
    Outside they hurried around the corner.
    It was a long walk to Linden Avenue. The wind was blowing hard.
    Dawn kept turning in circles.
    “I’m a windmill,” she yelled.
    At Wuff Wuff’s, Dawn put her hands over her ears.
    Dogs were barking.
    Cats were meowing.
    Birds were squawking.
    A hamster raced around on a runner.
    “Look at that guy go,” Jason said.
    Dawn nodded. “He loves it.”
    The man was in the back. He was dropping fish food into a tank.
    “Pretty,” said Dawn.
    She watched the fish swimming around.
    “Can I help you?” asked the man.
    Dawn held out the purse. “We found this.”
    “It’s not mine,” the man said. “Ask one of the snakes.”
    He started to laugh. He slapped his leg.
    Dawn pulled out the list.
    “See,” she said. “ ‘Food for Angel.’ ”
    The man scratched his head. “We had kittens last week.”
    He looked up at the ceiling. “Yes. Someone came in and bought one. I think she called her Angel.”
    Dawn leaned closer.
    So did Jason.
    Jason smelled like sugar cookies.
    “What did she look like?” Dawn asked.
    “Skinny like a stick,” said the man. “Red hair. Brown eyes. A skillion freckles.”
    Dawn raised one shoulder. “I don’t know anyone with red hair.”

    “What’s her name?” Jason asked.
    “Cindy,” he said. “No, Candy.” He scratched his head again. “Maybe it was Catherine.”
    “Think hard,” Jason told the man.
    “Katie,” said the man.
    “How old was she?” Dawn asked.
    “Fifteen,” said the man. “Sixteen.”
    Dawn sighed. “Thanks anyway. It’s the wrong person.”
    They started back out of the store.
    They stopped to watch the fish again.
    One of the fish was swimming along the bottom.
    It swam around a little castle in the sand.
    “Come on,” Jason said. “We have homework.”
    They went outside.
    “How do you know it was the wrong girl?” Jason asked.
    “There are no teenagers in our school,” Dawn said. “Only kids from six to twelve.”
    “So?” Jason asked.
    “So she couldn’t have dropped the purse in the schoolyard.”
    Jason sighed. “We walked all the way here for nothing.”
    Dawn shook her head.
    The wind blew her scarf across her face.
    “Not for nothing,” she said. “I was wrong about something.”
    She tucked her scarf around her neck. “I think I can solve the mystery.” She nodded. “Tomorrow.”

CHAPTER 9
    T ODAY THERE WAS more snow.
    Dawn wore her red boots. They came up to her knees.
    She gave Noni a quick kiss. “I have to hurry.”
    Dawn was the first one in the school-yard.
    The snow was high.
    She waded through it.
    She bumped into the picnic table.
    She fished around underneath. Then she put something in her schoolbag.
    The school bus stopped at the gate.
    Other children were coming.
    She saw Jason. He was hopping across the snow.
    “Are you ready to solve the riddle?” he asked.
    “Two of them,” Dawn said.
    They went inside. Jason pulled off his hat. Snow flew all over.
    Dawn reached into her schoolbag.
    She pulled out a mitten. A red one. “The mystery of the missing mitten,” she said.
    Jason’s eyes opened.
    “My detective book says ‘THINK,’ ” said Dawn. “I thought. I remembered. The picnic table was our jail. You left the red mitten in jail.”
    “Bad news,” Jason said. He held up his hand.

    “What?” Dawn asked. She marched along. She liked the slap-slap