Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery

by David Adler

  “Ghim ghakigh thum gnow,” he whispered to Beth.

  “What?”

  Danny swallowed.

  “I’m taking cookies now,” he whispered. “I’m taking the good stuff before Cam’s father gives it all to Ken for the wedding.”

  “Look at all the people around Ken’s truck,” Eric said to Cam once they were outside. “We won’t be able to get close enough to find clues.”

  Mr. Jansen, Danny, and Beth walked ahead.

  Cam and Eric stopped by the entrance to the senior center.

  Cam looked at the people crowded around Ken’s truck and her father’s car. She blinked her eyes and said, “Click! ”

  “Did you see something? Did you find a clue?” Eric asked. “Can you solve the mystery?”

  “I see lots of things,” Cam answered. “But I don’t know who stole the cakes.”

  Cam and Eric walked toward the truck.

  “There you are,” Bob called. “I found clues.”

  Bob unfolded a small piece of paper.

  Eric looked at the paper.

  “It says ‘milk, juice, cereal, bread, and carrots,’ ” Eric said. “It’s a shopping list.”

  “Don’t read the paper! Look at the broken cookie and cookie crumbs on the paper. I found them near the truck. And there are lots more. Whoever stole the wedding cake and cookies opened those big doors at the back of the truck and took them out.”

  “I bet he took lots of things all at once,” Eric said. “That’s why he dropped the cookies.”

  A police car drove up. It parked behind Mr. Jansen’s car. Two officers got out, a tall woman and a not-so-tall man.

  “I know them,” Cam said. “They came to our school. They’re Officers Davis and Oppen.”

  Everyone gathered around the two police officers.

  Ken told the officers, “I left my keys in the back door lock. Later, when I found my keys and opened the doors, the cake, pastries, and cookies were gone.”

  Officer Davis said, “You shouldn’t have left your keys in the door.”

  “Yes, I know,” Ken said.

  “Look what I found,” Bob said. He showed the officers his collection of cookie crumbs. “It’s a clue.”

  “Hey,” Officer Oppen said to Cam. “Aren’t you the girl with the ‘click, click’ memory?”

  “Yes,” Cam said. “I say ‘Click!’ when I want to remember something.”

  “She has an amazing memory,” Eric told the police officers. “She uses it to solve mysteries. I bet she’ll remember something that will help you find the missing cake and cookies.”

  “I hope she remembers something soon,” Ken said.

  “She’s not the only smart one,” Danny told the police officers. “I’m smart, too. And I just saw something that I think will help. I may even know where to find the cake.”

  Chapter Five

  “Someone saw the keys in the lock,” Danny said. “He opened the truck and took the cookies, cake, and pastries. Now who could have seen the keys?”

  Danny looked at the two police officers. He looked at the many people who had gathered around them.

  “This is like school,” the old woman with curly white hair whispered. “That boy is the teacher and he’s giving us a test.”

  “I don’t like tests,” another woman whispered back.

  Danny waited.

  “Well,” Officer Davis asked him. “Are you going to tell us?”

  Danny pointed to the house next to the senior center.

  “Do you see that big front window? Someone in that house looked out and saw the keys. He opened the truck and stole the cakes.”

  “I don’t think so,” Beth said. “A big front window doesn’t mean someone is a thief.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Danny said. “I bet right now someone is sitting in that house and eating wedding cake. I bet he has lots of white icing all over his face and shirt.”

  “I could knock on the door,” Officer Oppen said. “Maybe whoever lives there looked out the window and saw something that will help us.”

  “Can I go with you?” Bob asked.

  Officer Oppen turned and looked at Bob.

  “I’ll be quiet,” Bob said. “I just want to see how a smart police officer solves a mystery.”

  “Okay,” Officer Oppen said. “You can come along.”

  “I’m coming, too,” Danny and Beth said.

  “We’re all going,” Mr. Jansen said.

  “Not me,” Officer Davis said. “I’m staying here with the baker and his friend. I need to fill out a report, and I still have some questions.”

  “The police are just knocking on doors and asking questions,” the woman with curly white hair said. “Now this is not so exciting. I’m going inside.”

  “Me, too,” her friend said. “I’m tired. I need to sit down.”

  Most of the seniors went back to the center. Judy, the director of the center, followed them.

  Officer Oppen, Danny, Beth, Mr. Jansen, and Bob walked up the front path of the house next to the senior center. They stood on the small porch. Officer Oppen rang the bell. In the middle of the door was a small window. Behind the window was a curtain.

  Officer Oppen waited.

  Cam and Eric stood in the middle of the walk. Cam looked through the large front window. She watched an old woman slowly get out of a chair by the window. The woman took a cane and walked toward the front door.

  The woman pulled aside the curtain and looked out. Then she opened the door.

  “Good morning,” the woman said to Officer Oppen.

  “We’re looking for a wedding cake,” Danny said. “We’re looking for lots of pastries and cookies, too.”

  The woman slowly shook her head.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I don’t have any cake. My doctor told me not to eat anything sweet.”

  “Were you home all morning?” Officer Oppen asked. “Did you look outside?”

  “I’m always home,” the woman answered. “I sit in that big chair by the window and read.”

  “Did you see anyone by that truck?” Officer Oppen asked.

  “Which truck?” the woman asked.

  Officer Oppen pointed to Ken’s large blue truck.

  The woman looked beyond Officer Oppen and the others.

  “I see people there now,” she said. “But I didn’t see anyone there before. I looked out a few times, but mostly I was reading. I was also sleeping. That chair is really comfortable.”

  “Thank you,” Officer Oppen said.

  The woman smiled. Then she closed her door. Cam looked through the large front window. She watched the old woman return to her chair

  “Did you hear what she said?” Cam whispered to Eric.

  “Yes. She said she doesn’t eat cake. She also said she falls asleep in her chair.”

  “Not that,” Cam said. “She said she looked out a few times so she saw Ken’s truck. But first she asked, ‘Which truck?’ because there were two. Don’t you remember? Dad parked between them. Whoever was in the other truck must have seen the keys Ken left in the back door.”

  Officer Oppen and the others walked to the next house.

  Cam was still standing on the front walk.

  “Aren’t we going?” Eric asked.

  “Just a minute,” Cam answered.

  She closed her eyes and said, “Click!”

  She said, “Click!” again.

  “What are you looking at?” Eric asked.

  “I’m trying to remember everything I’ve seen since we came here. But it doesn’t help.”

  Cam opened her eyes.

  “I keep thinking we’re missing something.”

  Eric said, “Let’s go. Officer Oppen is at the next house. Maybe the neighbor saw something.”

  Cam and Eric went next door. They watched Officer Oppen ring the doorbell.

  He waited.

  He rang the doorbell again and waited.

  “I guess no one is home,” he said.

  “Le
t’s go across the street,” Danny said. “Let’s check with those people.”

  Beth told Danny, “We can’t bother everyone on the block.”

  “You’re right. We can’t,” Danny said. “But Officer Oppen can. He’s the police.”

  Officer Oppen said, “It would really help if one of the neighbors saw something. I’m going to ring some more doorbells.”

  “We’ll all go with you,” Bob said.

  Cam and Eric watched them walk toward the corner.

  “Aren’t we going?” Eric asked.

  “Come on,” Mr. Jansen called. “Stay with us.”

  Cam and Eric followed Officer Oppen and the others.

  “Crumbs, keys, cake,” Cam said to herself as she walked. “What clue am I missing?”

  Chapter Six

  “It’s important to cross at the corner,” Officer Oppen said, “not in the middle of the street.”

  Officer Oppen and everyone with him walked to the end of the block. They looked both ways to be sure no cars were coming. Then they crossed the street.

  “We’ll start with the red brick house in the middle of the block,” Officer Oppen said.

  The brick house was directly opposite Ken’s truck.

  “Hey, I have a question,” Danny said. “It’s about wedding cake. What’s the best thing to put in one?”

  Officer Oppen knocked on the door.

  “I also have a question,” Eric said. “If someone saw the cake being stolen, why would he wait for Officer Oppen to knock on his door? Wouldn’t he call the police?”

  “Maybe not,” Mr. Jansen said. “If he just saw someone take the cake from Ken’s truck, he might not have known it was being stolen.”

  Officer Oppen knocked on the door again.

  “The best thing to put into a wedding cake is your teeth,” Danny said.

  Danny laughed.

  The door opened.

  A young man wearing a bathrobe stood there. He looked at the Officer Oppen and all the people with him.

  “Did I do something wrong?”

  “No. I just want to know if you saw anyone take pastries, cookies, and a wedding cake out of the truck across the street.”

  The young man looked across the street at Ken’s truck. Cam turned and looked, too.

  “I didn’t see anyone take anything,” the young man said. “I just woke up.”

  “Thank you,” Officer Oppen said.

  “Look,” Cam whispered. “From here I can only see the truck. I can’t see Officer Davis, Ken, or Lucy Lane.”

  “They must be on the other side of the truck,” Eric told her. “That’s why you can’t see them. It’s a tall truck.”

  Mr. Jansen turned and looked across the street.

  “Ken needs a tall truck,” he told Cam. “That’s because wedding cakes have lots of layers. They can be very high.”

  “That’s it!” Cam said. “That’s the clue I was missing.”

  She told her dad she was crossing the street.

  “I need to check one of the clues. I may know who stole the pastries and cake.”

  “I’ll go with you,” her dad and Eric said.

  They walked to the corner. They waited as two cars went past.

  “Did you see those cars?” Cam asked.

  “Of course I saw them,” Eric answered. “That’s why I stop and look before I cross the street. I look for cars.”

  “Yes,” Cam said. “But none of the people in those cars could have stolen the wedding cake.”

  “Of course those people could not have taken the cake,” Cam’s dad said. “The cake is already gone.”

  When no cars were coming, Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen crossed the street.

  Cam shook her head. “They couldn’t take it because a wedding cake is too tall to fit in their cars.”

  They walked toward Ken’s truck.

  “Do you know who did steal the cake?” Eric asked.

  “Maybe,” Cam said. “I just have to check one of the clues.”

  Cam stopped near the front of Ken’s truck. She bent and looked at the grass and street by the side of the truck.

  “What are you looking for?” Eric asked.

  “Cookie crumbs.”

  “Bob already found lots of crumbs.”

  “I know that,” Cam said. “But I need to know where he found them.”

  Cam ran her fingers through the grass. She carefully checked the curb and the gutter. Her dad and Eric helped her.

  “No crumbs,” Cam said. “Now let’s look behind the truck.”

  Cam, Eric, and Mr. Jansen walked behind the truck. Cam ran her fingers through the grass and found lots of crumbs. Eric found a broken cookie on the curb. Mr. Jansen found crumbs in the gutter.

  “Look,” Eric told Cam. “There’s a trail of crumbs all the way to your dad’s car.”

  Cam followed the trail of crumbs to her dad’s car. But the trail didn’t stop. It went along the side of the car and past it. It continued to the next car.

  Cam followed the crumbs past Officer Davis, Ken, and Lucy.

  “That’s it!” Cam said when she got to the end of the trail. “Now I know who stole Ken’s wedding cake.”

  Chapter Seven

  “Who stole the cake?” Eric asked. “Do you think he ate it all? Did he eat the pastries and cookies, too?”

  “That’s too much for any one person to eat,” Mr. Jansen said. “He must have shared it, or maybe he was having a party.”

  “Officer Davis,” Cam said. “I have to tell you something.”

  The police officer closed her police pad. She turned.

  “I know who stole the cake,” Cam told her. “It was Mr. Fancy.”

  “Who is Mr. Fancy?” Officer Davis asked. “And did you see him take the cake?”

  “I didn’t see him. I don’t even know what he looks like, but I know he did it.”

  Officer Davis shook her head and asked, “How could you know he’s the thief if you never saw him?”

  She turned away from Cam.

  “Here comes my partner,” she said to Ken and Lucy. “Maybe he spoke with someone who saw the cake being taken.”

  Officer Oppen, Bob, Danny, and Beth had just crossed the street. They were walking toward Officer Davis.

  “Who is Mr. Fancy?” Eric whispered. “And how do you know he took the cake?”

  “Tell me, too,” her father said.

  Cam walked a few steps away from Officer Davis. Eric and Mr. Jansen followed her.

  “We know three things,” Cam told them. “Someone saw the keys in the back door of Ken’s truck. To see them, he had to be standing behind the truck.”

  Eric said, “Lots of people may have walked past the truck.”

  “Because of the trail of crumbs,” Cam said, “we also know which way the thief went with the stolen pastries, cookies, and cake. He carried them from Ken’s truck and past Dad’s car.”

  Cam smiled.

  “Dad,” she said. “You gave me the third clue, and it’s very important.”

  “I did?”

  “You reminded me that wedding cakes are tall, that Ken needs a truck with a roof high enough to hold them.”

  “Mom and I had a really tall cake at our wedding. We held hands and cut the first few pieces together.”

  Mr. Jansen smiled.

  “She put a small piece of cake on her fork and fed it to me. Then I put a small piece on my fork and fed it to her.”

  “Would your cake have fit in the back of a car?” Eric asked.

  “No,” Mr. Jansen said, shaking his head.

  “There was a yellow truck parked right behind your car,” Cam said. “ ‘ Mr. Fancy Fix-It’ was printed on the side of the truck.”

  “That’s it!” Eric said. “When Mr. Fancy went to his truck, he must have seen Ken’s keys. Then he must have opened the back door of Ken’s truck. He saw the cake, cookies, and pastries and took them. He has a truck, so he had room for the wedding cake.”

  “He was in a hurry bec
ause he didn’t want to get caught,” Mr. Jansen said. “That’s why he dropped cookies. That’s why he left a trail of crumbs.”

  Mr. Jansen thought for a moment.

  “You didn’t prove Mr. Fancy is the thief,” he said. “But all those clues do point a finger at him.”

  “I think he did it,” Eric said. “Let’s tell the police.”

  Mr. Jansen went to Officer Oppen and said, “My daughter may know who took the cakes.”

  Officer Oppen asked Cam, “Did you remember something? Do you have a picture in your mental camera of something you saw?”

  “I remembered clues,” Cam said.

  She told him the same clues she had told her father and Eric.

  “Listen to this,” Officer Oppen told his partner. “I think the ‘Click! Click!’ girl found the thief.”

  Officer Davis, Lucy Lane, Ken the baker, Danny, Beth, and Old Bob listened as Cam told them why she thought Mr. Fancy was the thief.

  “I may know how to find him,” Lucy Lane said. “I think I have a picture of his truck.”

  She looked at the back of her camera. She pushed a button and looked at the pictures she had taken.

  “Look! Here’s a picture of Ken. Behind him is Mr. Fancy’s truck. It’s yellow.”

  Officers Oppen and Davis looked at the picture.

  “It would really help,” Officer Davis said, “if you had a picture of the truck’s license plate. Then we could find out who Mr. Fancy is. I don’t think that’s his real name.”

  “I have pictures, too,” Cam said. “They’re in my head.”

  Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!” She said, “Click!” again.

  “Here it is! I found it! It’s a yellow truck. MR. FANCY FIX-IT, NO JOB TOO BIG OR TOO SMALL is printed on the side of the truck. There’s also a telephone number and an e-mail address.”

  Cam told the officers the number and the address.

  Officer Davis said, “That might be all we need to find Mr. Fancy. We can check his truck and see if he took the cake.”

  “Could you please hurry?” Ken asked. “It’s almost time for the wedding to start.”