The Case of the Piggy Bank Thief Read Online Free PDF Page A

explained. “And the cat was out there where the gold was supposed to be.”
    Zach grinned. “Plus, cats dig, too, you know? Like when they—”
    â€œEwww!”
I made a face. “I am not writing
that
part down.”
    What I did write was:
    â€¢
Fat, waddling cat hangs out in hedge between dig site and Rose Garden
.
    â€œIf we’re going to write that, then we should go ahead and put in the other strange thing that happened today—Humdinger,” Nate said. “You know, how he got out and went downstairs.”
    â€œWait . . . what?” Dalton said. “No! I mean, that doesn’t have anything to do with the missing gold. It’s not like it was even outside.”
    I shrugged. “It does seem crazy. But Granny says we should pay attention to coincidences.”
    Dalton frowned, and I wrote:
    â€¢
Humdinger escaped from cage (how?), flew downstairs (how?) and practically caused riot among million White House visitors
.
    â€œNow what do we do?” Zach asked.
    â€œWe study the list and see if anything looks extra weird,” Nate said.
    â€œLike the timing. See?” I said. “Wen Fei did her survey yesterday afternoon, and there was no hole outthere then. So the hole was dug and the gold disappeared sometime after that but before we were out there today.”
    Nate nodded. “Right. So whoever dug up the gold must have done it overnight or earlier today.”
    â€œThat’s good,” Zach said. “It eliminates about ninety-nine-point-nine percent of the population. After all, the White House has a big fence around it and it’s guarded. The only people out there those times are people allowed to be out there.”
    I said, “In other words, us, the staff, the Secret Service, the marines, the Park Service people and the people who work in the West Wing, like Ms. Major. That’s still a lot.”
    â€œThere’s something else, though,” Nate said. “The thief has to be somebody who knew there was gold in the first place.”
    â€œAnd that’s almost nobody,” Zach said. “I mean, the only people who knew about the gold are Wen Fei and Stephanie, right?”
    â€œBut what about the other students?” I asked. “And Professor Mudd?”
    Zach shrugged. “But none of them believes it about the gold.”
    â€œAnd there’s something else I thought of,” Nate said. “What happened to Wen Fei and Stephanie today? After the argument with Professor Mudd, they disappeared.”
    â€œThey were mad,” I said. “He wasn’t very nice to them.”
    â€œThat’s one explanation,” Nate said. “But here’s another one: Maybe they were making their getaway with the gold! I don’t know about you guys, but right now I’d say Wen Fei and Stephanie are our prime suspects.”

CHAPTER TEN

    MY cousin Nate is some kind of piano genius, and now he had to go practice. With him gone, detecting was officially on hold.
    And I had nothing to do till dinner.
    Uh-oh.
    Was it possible I would have to take extreme measures?
    Like doing my homework for Monday even though it wasn’t Sunday night yet?
    Back in our bedroom, Tessa had tidied up, except for the crayons and drawing paper. Cleaning must have tired her out, because she was lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. I told her we had figured out that Wen Fei and Stephanie might be suspects, partly because they were the only ones who really believed there was gold at the dig site at all.
    Tessa didn’t say anything. I guessed she was still upset. “Do you want me to help you look for your piggy bank?” I asked.
    Tessa still didn’t say anything, but I opened my notebook. Looking for an old piggy bank was better than doing homework. “When did you have it last?” I asked.
    Tessa sighed and sat up. “It won’t help, Cammie. But okay. It was yesterday before dinner.