Meg Mackintosh and the Mystery at the Soccer Match

by Lucinda Landon

  “No, honest, she said she was putting it back no matter what.” Peter noticed a piece of paper next to Meg’s knapsack. “Hey, here’s that secret message. Give me your pencil and I’ll finish it up.”

  Meg fumbled in her knapsack. “Can’t find it,” she said and handed him her pen instead. “You’re pretty smart, do the puzzle in ink!”

  “Gee, thanks,” joked Peter.

  But Meg wasn’t listening. Suddenly she realized she had missed two important clues. She grabbed her magnifying glass and examined her photos again. “Just as I thought!” she said. “Something that should be in the first photo isn’t there, and something that shouldn’t be in the second photo is!”

  WHAT CLUES HAD MEG MISSED?

  “Why isn’t the gum wrapper in the first photo?” Meg wondered out loud. “And what’s my pencil doing in the second one? That’s why you have to solve the code in ink!”

  “How can you be sure it’s your pencil?” asked Peter.

  “It’s got my teethmarks on it!” But before Meg could explain further, two paws landed on her notebook. It was her dog, Skip. She had been taking Gramps for a walk around the soccer field.

  “Good match, kids,” Gramps said. “Too bad you both couldn’t win. But then you would have to tie, or be on the same team, or some such. Oh, never mind. Hand me your camera and I’ll take your picture.”

  “Cheesedoodles,” Meg and Peter chorused, smiling as Gramps clicked the shutter.

  Suddenly Skip yanked her leash out of Gramps’s hand and charged off to play with Farley.

  “Come on, girl” Meg called. She caught up to the dogs and grabbed them both by their collars — one in each hand.

  “Hold on, I’ll take a photo of the pups, too,” Gramps said.

  “What about the mystery, Meg-O,” Peter reminded her. “You said there were two things about the photos that were odd — what else?”

  “Actually, there are four careless clues,” said Meg, as she watched the instant photos develop.

  WHAT ARE THE FOUR CARELESS CLUES?

  “I’ll explain in a minute,” Meg told Peter as she re-examined her notes and photos.

  “But first, it’s time to award the gold medal,” said Meg.

  “What do you mean? It’s missing,” Peter said.

  “Not anymore,” Meg answered. “I just figured out who took it, why, and where they put it.” Meg snapped her notebook shut and pointed. “It’s someone standing over there.”

  WHO TOOK THE GOLD MEDAL?

  “Hey Alex!” Meg took him aside. “You really caught on to detective work fast.”

  “I guess I am pretty good at it.” Alex said, blushing.

  “But you don’t fool me — anymore,” she continued.

  “What do you mean?” he stammered.

  “I bet you knew that Heather took the medal, because you saw her put it back at the end of the game. Then, you decided to take it yourself — so you planted a clue that would make Heather look guilty.”

  “You put the gum wrapper on the award table,” Meg continued. “You figured everyone would think it was Heather’s. But if she had dropped it when she took the medal, it would have been at the scene of the crime all along.”

  “How do you know it wasn’t there, Meg,” Alex asked.

  “It isn’t in the first photo I took of the scene,” Meg answered.

  Alex looked around nervously. “It’s still not proof that I had anything to do with the missing medal,” he argued.

  “By itself it’s not,” Meg agreed. “But it helped me pick up on other clues — including one that shows where you hid the medal. Look at this picture,” she said, pulling out the ones Gramps had taken only moments before, along with one Alex had taken earlier.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about — I don’t have it.” Alex shrugged his shoulders.

  “It’s no use, Alex. You left so many careless clues, and I know where you hid the medal.”

  WHERE IS THE GOLD MEDAL?

  Meg whistled for Farley and pulled his collar over his head. Because of Farley’s thick fur it looked like a regular dog collar, but it was the gold medal!

  “Sharp eyes, Meg-O!” Peter exclaimed

  “That wasn’t the only clue,” Meg replied. “When I caught Farley early in the game, I had to hang on to his fur, because he didn’t have a collar. But when I went to grab him a few minutes ago, he did have a collar.”

  “What about the pencil?” Peter asked again.

  “It wasn’t in the first crime scene photo, but it was in the second,” Meg answered. “I knew Alex had been using it on my word puzzle, so I figured he dropped it at the scene by accident. And I figured out what the strange round footprint was in the mud — the print from Alex’s cast!”

  “You’re right,” Alex confessed, kicking the dirt hard with his cast. “I couldn’t stand to let the Panthers have the medal. When I saw Heather put it back, it seemed the perfect chance to get it.”

  Alex hung his head. “Sorry, Meg.”

  “Don’t tell me, tell the others. Go give it to Coach Lee and tell him the truth.”

  “What do you think Heather’s and Alex’s punishment will be?” Peter asked Meg after Alex left to talk to Coach Lee.

  “It’s hard to say,” said Meg. “Admitting that you’re wrong isn’t always enough.”

  “Maybe if Alex and Heather had unscrambled the secret message, they would have thought twice,” Peter said.

  “You mean you solved it?” asked Meg.

  “Sure thing,” Peter said. “A real…

  “… winner knows how to win and lose,” he read.

  “You can say that again,” said Meg.

  And so, of course, he did.