by David Lewman
It seemed as though Greg had just been waiting to tell someone what he’d done. Now that he’d started confessing, he was telling the whole story.
“I knew I didn’t have enough money to buy Brittney a Quark Pad. We don’t have much money at home. It’s just me and my mom.”
“So you decided to steal the money to buy it?” Ben asked.
“Borrow!” Greg insisted. “Not steal the money! I was going to pay it back!”
“Okay, we believe you,” Hannah said.
Greg wiped the hair out of his eyes. “I remembered last year when we raised money for our seventh-grade trip, and Mrs. Ramirez kept all the money in her desk drawer. So I slipped into her room when no one was around.”
“How’d you get into the locked drawer?” Ben asked.
Greg looked embarrassed. “Actually, I looked up picking locks on the Internet. It wasn’t that hard. All I needed was a screwdriver and a paper clip. The lock was old and loose.”
“But what about the padlock on the metal box?” Corey asked.
“Well, I remembered the formula for the combination from Mrs. Ramirez’s class last year,” he said.
“You remembered that formula for a whole year?” Hannah asked, impressed.
“I’m actually pretty good at math,” Greg said. “I like it. Anyway, the numbers on a padlock only go up so high, so there are only so many combinations of three numbers that would solve the formula. I worked them all out and wrote them down ahead of time.”
“And when you saw the dial was on 35, you figured maybe that was the last number, and that Mrs. Ramirez had forgotten to spin the dial,” Ben said.
Greg looked amazed. “Yeah, that’s right! I just looked at my list of numbers to see which set ended with 35. Then I knew the combination.”
“And when you opened the box, you saw a fat envelope right on top, so you slipped out a hundred dollars, relocked the box, and stuck it in the drawer,” Corey concluded.
“Was there a security camera or something?” Greg asked. “It’s like you saw the whole thing.”
“No,” Hannah said. “If we’d seen the whole thing, it wouldn’t have taken us this long to come to you.”
Greg let out a big sigh. “It actually kind of feels good to tell someone. Don’t worry. I’ll turn myself in and take my punishment. And I will pay back that money somehow.”
Hannah pushed the Quark Pad toward him. “Maybe you could return this and get your money back.”
Greg shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He took the tablet. “At least if I can’t go out with Brittney, and I’m going to get in trouble, I’ll still have one of these.”
Corey looked a little disappointed that the tablet wasn’t going to end up being his. But then he patted Greg on the shoulder. “It could be worse. At least you didn’t steal the whole four hundred bucks to buy one of these.”
“Four hundred?!” Greg said. “I didn’t pay four hundred. I only paid a hundred.”
“For a new Quark Pad?” Ben asked, astonished.
“That’s impossible!” Corey said.
Greg shrugged. “That’s what I paid. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go find Mrs. Ramirez and apologize. And arrange to pay back the money.”
He got up and walked off. He wasn’t happy, but he actually did feel better than he had in days.
Club CSI watched him go, happy to have solved the crime. But there was something bothering
Ben. . . .
How could Greg Marshall possibly have gotten a Quark Pad for only a hundred dollars?” Ben asked.
He had called a quick meeting of Club CSI that afternoon after school. It was a beautiful spring day, so they met in the park near the school. They were sitting on the fort in the playground. When he was younger, it had been Corey’s favorite thing to climb on. Secretly, he still liked it.
“That is an excellent question,” he said, balancing on a rail.
“Why are we still talking about this?” Hannah asked. “We solved the mystery! Greg took the money, and he’s going to pay it back. Case closed.”
A kid climbed up the side of the fort and passed right by them on his way to the slide. “Excuse me,” he said as he brushed by. Before he slid down the slide, he turned back and shouted, “Aren’t you guys kind of big for the playground?”
The three friends ignored the nosy kid.
“Hannah,” Corey said, “this is definitely worth talking about.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because maybe I could get a Quark Pad for a hundred bucks too,” he said.
Hannah moved aside as another kid went barreling by.
“Comin’ through,” the kid said as he headed for the slide.
“I just don’t see what the big deal is,” she said.
“That’s just the point,” Ben said. “A hundred bucks for a Quark Pad is a big deal. A great deal. An unbelievable deal! Right, Corey?”
“Yeah,” Corey agreed. “Unbelievable.”
“Have you really checked the prices all over town?” Hannah asked.
“Yes,” Corey said. “I’ve never seen one for less than four hundred dollars.”
“Well,” Hannah said, thinking, “what about the Internet? Maybe you can get them online for a hundred dollars.”
Corey shook his head. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I’ve searched and searched, and I’ve never seen one anywhere close to that price.”
“Me either,” Ben admitted.
Corey turned to him, surprised. “You want a Quark Pad too?”
“Of course!” Ben said. “They’re incredibly cool.”
A third kid pushed past Hannah. “Come on,” Hannah said. “Let’s get off the fort.”
“And go where?” Corey asked.
“The swings?” Hannah suggested.
“I don’t know,” Corey said. “We’d have to get three swings next to one another. And then we’d have to swing together perfectly if we’re going to talk. And I’m pretty sure I’d swing higher than you two. I’m kind of a daredevil.”
“Let’s just walk,” Ben said, climbing down from the fort.
The three of them walked toward the edge of the park. “I still don’t get why you called a Club CSI meeting to talk about this,” Hannah said. “If you guys want to buy Quark Pads, just go ahead and buy them.”
“‘Just go ahead and buy them,’” Corey mimicked. “Great idea. I’ll just use the four hundred dollars I forgot I had in my wallet.” He picked up a stick and tossed it at a tree. Whack!
“The reason I called the meeting is because the case isn’t completely over,” Ben explained. “Sure, we know Greg took the money. But he’s not telling us the whole truth. He didn’t just walk into a store and buy Brittney a Quark Pad for a hundred dollars.”
“So what do you want to do?” Hannah asked.
“I think we should talk to Greg again,” Ben said. “We could go to his house right now.”
Hannah looked at Ben in disbelief. “But we don’t even know where he lives!” she protested.
Ben held up a small piece of paper. “Sure we do,” he said, smiling. “I’ve got his address right here.”
Hannah snatched the paper out of his hand and read it. It listed a nearby street and an address with an apartment number. “Where did you get this?” she asked.
Ben shrugged. “The Internet may not be any good for finding deals on Quark Pads, but it’s great for finding addresses.”
The apartment building Greg lived in looked rundown. Some of the windows had sheets instead of curtains. The patches of ground outside were more dirt than grass. The cars parked in back were older models, some of them rusty.
They found apartment 203 and knocked. The curtain in the window next to the door was pulled aside and then the door opened.
“What are you doing here?” Greg asked, looking annoyed. “I told you I was going to admit to taking the money, and I did.”
“We were just wondering if we could talk to you about one more thing,�
�� Hannah asked uneasily. “We don’t mean to bother you.”
“Well, you are bothering me,” Greg said. He stood there looking at the three seventh graders for a minute. The Club CSI members tried to look as nice and friendly as possible. “Okay,” he finally said. “Come on in.”
They followed him into the living room of the small apartment. It didn’t have much in it, but the furniture and the room itself seemed clean. Greg plopped down on the couch. His hair flopped into his eyes. He pushed it back.
“How’d it go with Mrs. Ramirez?” Corey asked.
Greg shrugged. “Not too bad. She was pretty nice about the whole thing, actually. We went to Principal Inverno together, and it’s all settled. I’m going to pay back the money in installments. I’m also going to help out around the principal’s office.”
“That’s good,” Hannah said.
“So what’s this ‘one more thing’ you wanted to talk to me about?” Greg asked. “My mom will be home pretty soon, and I haven’t told her about this yet, so . . .”
They knew what he meant. Greg wanted them to leave before his mom got home.
“We were wondering where you got the Quark Pad,” Ben said.
Greg shifted on the couch. “I told you,” he said. “I bought it.”
“Where?” Corey asked.
“A store,” Greg answered, looking toward the front door.
“Which store?” Hannah asked.
“Um . . . Electronics Superstore,” Greg said.
“For a hundred bucks?! No way,” Corey objected.
Greg threw up his hands. “What is this? A trial? You guys aren’t cops. I don’t have to answer your questions.”
Hannah sighed. Now it was her turn to look annoyed. “No,” she said, “you don’t have to answer our questions. But why won’t you? All we want to know is where you got the stupid Quark Pad. I really don’t see why this is such a big deal.”
Greg looked at the floor. “They told me not to talk to anyone about it.”
“Who’s ‘they’?” Corey asked.
“The guys who sold me the Quark Pad,” he said.
“Well, we’re not going to tell anyone you talked to us,” Hannah said. “We promise.”
“Who were these guys?” Ben asked.
Greg looked at the front door again. He wanted these three kids out of the apartment before his mom got home. They sure were persistent.
“Nick Ross and Alex Gray,” he said.
Corey frowned. He’d heard of Nick and Alex, two eighth graders. From what he’d heard, you didn’t want to mess with them. Always getting in trouble. They were held back in grade school and were two of the oldest kids at Woodlands Junior High.
He looked at Ben and Hannah. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they’d heard of Nick and Alex too.
“Since when do Nick and Alex sell Quark Pads?” Ben asked.
Greg shrugged. “I don’t know. But they do. For cheap.”
“Thanks for telling us, Greg,” Hannah said. “We appreciate it.” She stood up, figuring they were done. If the Quark Pad came from Nick Ross and Alex Gray, she didn’t want to have anything more to do with it.
But Ben was still sitting down, looking Greg right in the eye. “So tell me, Greg . . . How do we approach Nick and Alex about buying a Quark Pad?”
As they walked away from the apartment building, Hannah turned toward Ben and said, “I do not want to talk to Nick Ross and Alex Gray!”
“Fine,” Ben said. “I’ll do all the talking.”
“Those guys are really scary!” Hannah said.
“She’s right, Ben,” Corey agreed. “Those guys are pretty scary.”
Ben walked on for a few steps, then stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to face Hannah. “You know, you’re the one who originally had the idea to start a Club CSI. The ‘C’ in ‘CSI’ stands for ‘crime.’ And sometimes the people involved in crimes are scary.”
“Okay, first of all, ‘CSI’ stands for ‘Crime Scene Investigation,’” Hannah said. “I’m interested in investigating crime scenes. After the crime has been committed. When the criminals are gone!”
“Right,” Ben said, “but sometimes—”
“And second,” Hannah quickly interrupted, “we’ve already solved this crime! Greg stole the money! Just because you two guys want to buy a Quark Pad for a really cheap price . . .”
“Wait a second,” Corey said. “I’d like a cheap Quark Pad, but I really don’t want to buy one from Nick and Alex. For one thing, I doubt they offer an extended warranty.”
Ben started walking again. “You don’t have to come along to meet with Nick and Alex if you’re afraid.”
Hannah hurried after Ben. So did Corey.
“Afraid?!” Hannah said. “This isn’t about being afraid. This is about being sensible.”
“Because you’re afraid,” Ben said.
“Okay,” Hannah said. “Maybe I am a little bit afraid of those guys. Did you hear about the time when they set the principal’s car on fire?”
“That’s just a rumor,” Ben said, walking on.
Hannah grabbed Ben by the arm and made him stop walking. “Ben,” she said firmly. “Just explain to me exactly why you want to meet with those two . . . Neanderthals.”
Ben shifted his backpack from one shoulder to the other. “I think it’s important to finish a case once we start it. Yes, we found out who took the money. But he took it for a specific reason—to buy one of these Quark Pads from Nick and Alex. For only one hundred dollars. And that seems really suspicious to me.”
“Do you think Nick and Alex are stealing the Quark Pads and then selling them?” Corey asked.
“Maybe,” Ben said. “I’m not sure. But it seems as though more and more kids are showing up at school with Quark Pads. And I don’t think they all just got great jobs or inherited fortunes or won the lottery.”
“Kids can’t buy lottery tickets,” Corey said. “I tried.”
“I bet all those kids talked to Nick and Alex,” Ben said. “And lived.”
The three friends walked in silence till the end of the block. They stopped. This was where they’d go in different directions to get home. Hannah thought hard for a moment, then came to a conclusion.
“Well,” she said, “if you think it’s important to talk to Nick and Alex, we’ll talk to Nick and Alex. Together. We started this investigation as Club CSI, and we’ll finish it that way.”
“Agreed,” Corey said. “Although I have a question.”
“Which is?” Ben asked.
“Can we talk to Nick and Alex one at a time? They don’t have to both be there, do they?”
Ben smiled. “Whenever I’ve seen them, they were together. But if we’re lucky enough to catch one of them by himself, that’ll be great.”
“Okay,” Corey said, relieved. He was an athlete, so he could take care of himself. Or at least get away. But when it came to Nick Ross and Alex Gray, together, he felt a little nervous.
“All right then,” Hannah said. “See you tomorrow.”
The next day in Corey’s homeroom, Mrs. Ramirez announced that Club CSI had caught the thief, and the missing money was going to be returned. They’d have enough money for their share of the trip to Washington, DC. The students cheered.
“Who took the money?” Victor asked.
“Because the thief came forward voluntarily, Principal Inverno and I have decided not to release his or her name,” Mrs. Ramirez explained.
“But I thought you said Club CSI caught the thief,” Victor persisted.
“We did,” Corey said. “And he—or she—agreed to turn him- or herself in and repay the money.”
“Was it you?” Victor asked accusingly.
Corey started to answer, but then Mrs. Ramirez answered for him. “The thief was not anyone in this class. That’s all you need to know.”
Corey shot Victor a look of triumph. Victor rolled his eyes and looked away.
Between classes, Hannah, Ben, and Core
y zipped through the halls of the school together, looking for Nick and Alex. They also looked for them at lunch, but didn’t see them in the cafeteria.
“Maybe they have a different lunch period,” Hannah said.
“Maybe they’re busy strangling puppies,” Corey said.
“Not funny,” she said.
That afternoon they got lucky. They spotted Nick by himself, hanging around one of the water fountains.
“There he is,” Corey said. “And I don’t see Alex anywhere.”
“Perfect,” Hannah said. “This is it.”
After hesitating for a moment, the three of them walked up to Nick. Ben remembered what Greg had told him to say.
“Hi, Nick,” he said. “My name’s Ben. I heard you’re in the electronics business.”
Nick turned his head slowly and stared at them.
“Who are you?” he said.
“Ben,” he repeated. “And this is Corey and Hannah.”
“Where’d you hear I’m in the electronics business?” Nick asked.
“One of your customers told us,” Hannah said.
“Which one?” Nick asked.
“He said not to say,” Ben answered.
Nick nodded, seeming to be pleased with that answer. “That’s right. My customers are all anonymous.”
He was leaning against the wall. He pushed himself off and took a step toward the three friends. Corey stood up taller and squared his shoulders. Somehow, with guys like Nick, Corey did that automatically.
“You eighth graders?” Nick asked.
Ben and Hannah looked at each other. What was the right answer? Greg hadn’t mentioned this part. They decided to be honest.
“Seventh graders,” they declared at the same time.
Nick shook his head. “I don’t sell to seventh graders. In my experience, they get excited, and they can’t keep their mouths shut.” He started to turn away.
Then Corey spoke up. “We’ll pay extra,” he said. Nick turned back.
“For what?” he asked.
“A Quark Pad,” Corey said. “We heard you charge a hundred. But we’ll pay you more than that.”