Bait for a Burglar

by Joan Lowery Nixon

  Finally, Mrs. Martinez left her customer and perched on the sofa next to Brian. In a low voice she asked, “Would you mind if I asked you to come back tomorrow, Brian? My customer’s travel plans have become quite involved, and I won’t be able to talk to you for at least another hour.”

  “That’s okay, Mrs. Martinez,” Brian said. “I’ll come back.”

  As soon as Brian and Sean left the store, Sean said, “Miss Garrett seems to have more run planning trips than Mrs. Martinez does. Mrs. Martinez seemed kinda quiet and even a little bit nervous every time she looked at you. Do you know why?”

  Brian was surprised. “You noticed, too?”

  “A good detective pays attention,” Sean said and laughed as he poked Brian. “Isn’t that what you always tell me?”

  Brian smiled at Sean, and he said, “You’re right. There was something bothering her, but I don’t know what it was.”

  He didn’t want to think of Estella’s mother as a suspect in the high-tech burglaries. She couldn’t be, Brian told himself. Or could she?

  6

  THE MEMBERS OF THE TWO investigative teams got together at four o’clock at the Channel Two studios, all six of them on time.

  “Take a look at this,” Jack said, and held up a new video camera.

  Holly gave it one glance and shouted, “Wow! That’s expensive stuff. I couldn’t afford a camera like that. I didn’t think you could, either.”

  Jack turned red with embarrassment, and looked as though he wished he could hide his camera.

  Brian knew that Jack’s family was not well off, and for a moment he wondered, too, how Jack could afford equipment that cost so much. But he said, “That’s a really great camera, Jack. It’s perfect for a talented photographer like you.”

  Jack gave Brian a grateful smile. “Thanks,” he said.

  “Was your camera a birthday present?” Estella asked, and Jack’s face turned red again.

  “No,” he mumbled. “I bought it for myself.”

  “Oh, sure,” Holly teased. “How many banks did you have to rob to get the money for it?”

  Jack glared at Holly. “It’s none of—” he began, but Brian interrupted.

  “Twenty-five,” Brian said. “I helped him. C’mon, Holly. No more jokes. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Read my news story and tell me what you think.”

  As Holly read to herself, Brian thought about the camera and Jack’s embarrassment and anger at Holly’s blunt questions. Where did Jack come up with so much money? Could Jack be involved in the high-tech burglaries?

  No! Brian told himself.

  Holly shoved the pages of Brian’s report at Mark. “This is okay,” she said. “The part I like best is the interview with the detective. You’re the photographer. See what you think about it.”

  As Estella’s partners went over her script outline, Holly pointed out two changes Brian would need to make in his script. “Take out this site,” she said. “It picks up too much traffic noise from the highway. Let’s put it over on a quiet neighborhood street. And Mark and I agree that a playground background would be good when you talk about safety for younger kids. Okay?”

  “Okay” Brian said. He was surprised that he liked the teamwork of sharing ideas. Mark’s and Holly’s ideas would make the whole story better.

  Pete came in to take a look at what the teams had accomplished. He brought cans of soft drinks and a big bowl of popcorn and placed them on the table. For a few minutes no one thought of work.

  Estella drew Brian aside, her eyes sparkling. “I’ve got some terrific news,” she said.

  “For That’s News 2 Me?” Brian asked.

  Estella giggled. “No. It’s strictly my news, but I want to share it with you.” She clasped her hands together and said, “Mom started a college savings plan for me years ago, but she couldn’t afford to put much into it, so it’s still pretty small. That’s where my mom’s Uncle Jake comes in. Mom told me he telephoned. He said that he’s adding a great deal of money to my college account—enough to take care of the whole four years!”

  “That’s super cool!” Brian said. “Uncle Jake must be a really great guy.”

  “Yes. He has to be.”

  Brian was surprised. “What do you mean, ‘He has to be’? You make it sound like you never met him.”

  “I haven’t,” Estella answered. “It seems a little crazy, but Mom has never even mentioned him. She comes from a big family, but I’ve never heard of an Uncle Jake until now.”

  Brian was so startled he couldn’t think of anything to say. He mumbled something about how everybody should have an Uncle Jake, but all he could think of was the large amount of money that was going to be put into Estella’s college account. Where was it really coming from? Mrs. Martinez suddenly seemed like a very strong suspect in the case of the high-tech burglaries.

  Estella rested a hand on Brian’s arm, which made it tingle. “Mom said she was really nervous when you were at her travel agency. She was afraid you were there to talk her into being interviewed on television, and the idea of being on camera terrifies her. I hope you understand.”

  “Sure,” Brian said, but he couldn’t help wondering if this excuse was nothing more than Mrs. Martinez’s attempt at a cover-up.

  7

  ON MONDAY AFTERNOON HOLLY, Mark, and Brian met in front of the Quinn’s house. “This is where we open the story,” Brian said. “I’ll give just a few sentences about how we can watch for crime in our own neighborhoods. Okay?”

  Mark studied the house and yard and looked through the viewfinder on his video camera. “Okay,” he said. “Stand over there on the sidewalk. I’m going to shoot down the block, not just the one house.”

  Brian stood on the spot Mark indicated while Holly adjusted her sound equipment. “Ready,” Holly said.

  Brian cleared his throat, tried not to think of all the people who’d be watching, and said into his hand mike, “Qyan Brinn here for That’s News 2 You.”

  Holly doubled over laughing, and Mark yelled, “That’s a wrap.”

  Brian had to laugh, too, but he felt a lot better when Mark said, “Lots of people get tongue-tied in front of a camera. There’s no problem. We’ll just start over.”

  Brian tried again. This time he said the opening line right, but Holly waved her hands and yelled, “Cut! The noise from that van is ruining everything.”

  Brian turned around to see a white van with an Appliance Repairs sign on the front door suddenly pull out of the Robinson’s driveway, two houses away. Brian got a quick look at the driver of the van before it sped off.

  “Take it again. Ready…start,” Holly said, and they finished the shot.

  “The next background is one street over,” Holly said and grinned. “This time, just for fun, we’ll be in front of my house.”

  Their equipment was light, so they carried it around the block. As they approached Holly’s house she stopped. “Hey, wait a minute,” she said. “There’s another white van. What’s it doing in our driveway?”

  “Picking up your cleaning,” Matt said. “Take a look at the sign on the side. It says, Speedy Dry Cleaning.”

  “It’s not supposed to be there,” Holly said. She put her sound equipment case on the lawn and ran toward her back door, Brian and Mark right behind her.

  Suddenly, someone in a white uniform rushed out of the door, head down. He shoved Holly to the pavement and pushed Mark and Brian off their feet.

  Even though he was lying in the bushes next to the driveway, Mark turned on his camera and filmed the man, who jumped into the van and backed it down the driveway.

  Brian scrambled to his feet and ran after the van. As it bounced into the street he got a look at the driver. It was the same man he had seen in the other white van.

  As Holly and Mark joined Brian, he wrote the license plate numbers on his script. “One van with an assortment of magnetic signs that can easily be changed,” he said aloud. “No one would pay attention to it.”

  Holly bent
to brush dirt off her jeans, and Brian said, “Are you all right? Did he hurt you?”

  “I’m fine,” Holly said. “What did that jerk think he was doing?”

  “Burglarizing your house, I’m afraid,” Brian answered. “Holly, let’s look around inside and see if he got anything.”

  Brian and Mark followed Holly as she ran through the open kitchen door.

  She pointed at a computer, printer, VCR, and fax machine that were piled on the floor, next to the door. “I bet he was going to carry those out to his van, only we surprised him,” she said. Holly hugged her arms around her chest and began to shiver.

  “It’s okay, Holly,” Mark said. “It’s even better than okay because the burglar didn’t get any of your stuff.”

  “But the creep was in our house,” Holly complained. She shivered again.

  “Is your mother at work? Call her,” Brian said, but Holly shook her head.

  “Mom and Dad are on a business trip. Mom was worried enough about leaving me and my little brother with my aunt for a few days. I hate to call her about a burglary and scare her.”

  “Then call your aunt, and next call the police,” Brian said. “No, don’t call the police. I’ll call myself and ask for Detective Kerry.”

  After Brian made his call he turned to Mark. “Did you take any pictures of the van?”

  “Yes,” Mark said, “but I made the first shots while I was lying on my back. The rest were made while I was running toward the street to keep the van in sight. I don’t know how clear they’re going to be.”

  Brian turned to Holly. “Did a travel agent arrange your parents’ trip?”

  Holly looked surprised. “Sure. Martinez Travel,” she answered. “Miss Garrett arranges all my parents’ trips—business and pleasure. But what has that got to do with anything?”

  Brian got a lump in the pit of his stomach. Martinez Travel. One more clue that Estella’s mother could be guilty.

  Detective Kerry arrived within ten minutes and listened to Holly’s story. He telephoned headquarters to put out information about the white van and its license plate numbers. Then he walked throughout the house with Holly as she looked for anything that might be missing.

  “You kids have given us the best leads yet on this perp,” Detective Kerry said.

  “The High-Tech Burglar,” Brian said.

  Detective Kerry nodded, but he said, “I know you’re working for a Channel Two news show, but I’m going to ask you to keep quiet about this. The High-Tech Burglar is targeting the Redoaks area, but he’s selling the stolen items someplace else. As long as he thinks he won’t get caught here, we have a chance of nabbing him.”

  Brian, Mark, and Holly agreed, and Mark handed Detective Kerry the film that had been in his camera. “It’s okay if you keep this,” he said. “We’ll shoot again tomorrow and start from the beginning.”

  “We’ll shoot that interview with you, too,” Holly added.

  Holly’s aunt rushed into the house soon after Kerry had left. “I got your message!” she cried in a rush of words. “Jimmy and I were at the park! What did the burglar take? We’ll call your parents.”

  “Everything’s okay now, Aunt Marsha. Calm down,” Holly said. She introduced Brian and Mark and told her aunt what had happened and how she’d gone all through the house with Detective Kerry.

  “How did the burglar get in?” Marsha asked.

  Holly looked surprised, but Brian had done the same kind of investigating that Detective Kerry had. They had both noted the scratches around the back-door lock.

  Brian showed them to Marsha and Holly and pointed out, “You don’t have deadbolts. Almost anyone could open a lock like this one.”

  “That settles it. We’re having deadbolts installed today, if possible,” Marsha insisted. “Here and at my house, too.”

  As Marsha drove Holly and Mark back to the television studio, Holly shouted out the car window, “Same place tomorrow afternoon at four-thirty!”

  Brian walked toward home, but when he turned the corner he saw a police cruiser and a few neighbors in a cluster at the end of the Robinsons’ driveway.

  Sean suddenly broke from the group and ran to meet Brian.

  “The Robinsons’ house was hit by a burglar!” he yelled. “Mrs. Clooney was collecting the mail and watering the Robinsons’ plants while they’re on vacation, and she noticed that the back door was open!”

  “What was taken?” Brian asked.

  “Mrs. Clooney saw that their computer and printer and VCR were missing, but she doesn’t know what else.” Sean lowered his voice. “Do you think it was the High-Tech Burglar?”

  “I think so,” Brian said. He told Sean what had happened at Holly’s house and added, “I’d better call Detective Kerry and tell him about the van I saw in the Robinsons’ driveway.”

  Brian left a message, but it wasn’t until nine o’clock that Kerry returned his call.

  “We traced the van’s license plates and a clear shot of the man’s face that Mark got on film, and we came up with a positive I.D.,” Detective Kerry said. “His name is Zeke Cunningham. He has a long record of burglaries, and he’s now out of prison on probation. In the past he’s operated out of San Francisco.”

  “Then that’s where he’s probably selling the stolen stuff,” Brian said.

  “That’s what we think,” Detective Kerry said.

  “Does Zeke have any relatives or friends in Redoaks?” Brian asked.

  “We’re checking,” Kerry answered. “But we haven’t come up with anything. His only known relative is a sister named Barbara Cunningham. The address we have for her is in Ohio. We’ve asked the Cincinnati police to contact her.”

  “But Zeke must have some kind of connection here in Redoaks.”

  “Right,” Kerry said. “Someone who knows which people are out of town and when they’ll return.”

  Like Mrs. Martinez? Brian thought. He knew he should tell his suspicions to Detective Kerry, but he couldn’t. If Brian were responsible for Mrs. Martinez being arrested, it would mean the end of his friendship with Estella.

  Withholding information would be wrong, Brian knew. But he didn’t have real, factual information. It was still only guesswork.

  Brian gulped and said, “Thanks for your help, Detective Kerry. I hope you catch Zeke soon.”

  8

  THE TELEPHONE RANG AS soon as Brian’s call with Detective Kerry had ended. Brian was surprised to find it was Jack. “I—uh—I’ve got to talk to you,” Jack said. “Have you got a minute?”

  “Sure,” Brian said.

  “It’s…well, it’s about my camera. I’m telling you, Brian, because you stood up for me when Holly…” He sighed and said, “I made a mistake getting so mad at Holly that I didn’t…well, tell the truth.”

  Brian gripped the phone. “What are you talking about, Jack?”

  “My camera,” Jack said. “I shouldn’t have brought it to the station, but I did because I was so proud of it.”

  “But you said you hadn’t told the truth,” Brian said. “What did you mean by that?”

  “Oh. I told Holly I bought the camera myself, and I didn’t. Just between you and me, Brian, my grandparents gave me the camera as a reward for staying out of trouble. I couldn’t tell Holly that. I’d never hear the end of it.”

  Brian gave a huge sigh of relief. “It’s okay, Jack,” he said, and chuckled. “Holly doesn’t have to know everything.”

  “Speaking of Holly, I heard that her house almost got robbed and you guys saw the robber,” Jack said.

  “How’d you hear that?” Brian asked. “We were supposed to keep quiet about it.”

  “She didn’t tell me it was a secret,” Jack said.

  “She? Who’s she? Holly?”

  “No, Estella,” Jack said. “But Holly may have told her.”

  “Yeah,” Brian said. That lump was coming back in his stomach. He managed to say goodbye to Jack, then leaned against the wall, trying to think. It might not have been H
olly who told Estella. It might have been…to Brian’s surprise, the facts were beginning to add up to another possible answer.

  Sean stopped in front of Brian. “What’s the matter with you, Bri? You look weird.”

  “We’ve got to talk,” Brian told him. “I learned a couple of things tonight that you should know, too. The Casebusters have got to get busy.”

  Brian told Sean about the phone conversations with Detective Kerry and with Jack.

  Then he took a deep breath and said, “I don’t have to film until four-thirty, so right after school you and I are going to the Martinez Travel Agency. There’s one very important question we have to ask.”

  Sean looked puzzled. “Ask who?”

  “I’ve got to think about it some more,” Brian answered. “Okay?”

  “Sure, okay,” Sean said. He studied Brian. “It has to do with Estella, doesn’t it?”

  “I told you,” Brian said, “that I’ve got to do some more thinking.” He felt a cold chill run up and down his backbone as he wondered if he was right and if his idea would really work.

  The next afternoon Brian and Sean set off on their bikes for town.

  “C’mon this way,” Brian said. “Let’s take the side streets. We’ll get to the travel agency faster than if we have to deal with the traffic on the boulevard.”

  “Are you sure this will work?” Sean asked.

  “All we can do is try,” Brian said.

  “Bri,” Sean said.

  “I mean, a lot depends on the answer, but—”

  “Bri,” Sean tried again.

  “If she—”

  “Listen to me!” Sean interrupted. “There’s a white van back there. It turned off when we did. I think he’s following us.”

  “White van?” Brian turned around, trying to catch a look at the driver.

  The van speeded up, heading straight for Brian and Sean.

  “Help!” Sean yelled, but no one was around to hear or see what was happening.

  “He’s going to run us down!” Sean shouted.