âYouâre solving a mystery, but you donât know what it is?â
Milo explained about Dash Marlowe and his detective lessons.
âSo now I have to come up with a real case to solve. But so far, Iâm not having any luck.â He shook his head. âIâll bet there hasnât been a missing diamond or a stolen code in this whole town today.â
âYou need to let people know youâre a detective,â Jazz said. âAdvertise.â
âYou mean, like on TV?â Milo pictured himself bellowing into the camera like Crazy Larry, the car dealer.
Jazz laughed. âI was thinking more like putting up signs. Thatâs what my sister did when she wanted a babysitting job.â
Signs. That made sense.
Milo followed Jazz into her house. She got out some paper and a purple glitter pen. They sat down at the kitchen table.
âSo, what do you want to say?â she asked.âI donât know. . . . âCall me if you have a caseâ?â
Jazz shook her head. âIt needs to be catchier. Something people will remember.â
He thought. âHow about, âMilo can solve any case, even if itâs from outer spaceâ?â
Â
She giggled. Then she said, âHang on. Iâve got it! âMilo and Jazz, private eyes. Mysteries of any size.ââ
Milo and Jazz? What did she mean, âand Jazzâ? âHey, wait a minuteââ
She kept right on talking as if she didnât hear him. âGive us a shoutâweâll figure it out!â
Suddenly they heard someone shouting.
Jazz ran up the stairs, with Milo close behind. They followed the yells to an open door.
âGone! Gone,
gone,
GONE!â
Milo peeked in the room. Whoa. His mom thought
his
room was messy. She should see this.
Drawers hung open. Clothes trailed from the closet. A laundry basket lay on its side, dirty laundry spilling everywhere.
Â
At first Milo couldnât see anyone in the mess. Then he spotted two long legs poking out from under the bed.
âDylan, whatâs wrong?â Jazz asked.
The legs wriggled backward, and a teenage boy stood up. He wore a blue T-shirt that said
Westview Wildcats
in gold. He looked upset. âMy lucky socks!â he said. âTheyâre gone!â
Milo looked around the room. There were socks all over the place.
Jazz must have noticed them too. âAre you
sure
theyâre gone?â
Her brother nodded. âIâve looked everywhere.â
âWhere did you last see the socks?â asked Milo. His mom always asked that when he lost something.
âIn my locker,â Dylan said. âI always keep them in my locker between games.â
âThen why were you looking here?â
Dylan shrugged. âJust in case I brought them home by mistake.â
Jazz looked at him. âIf you never bring them home, how do they get washed?â
âThey donât.â
âDylan, thatâs disgusting!â Jazz said.
âI was wearing them when I pitched a no-hitter in the first game of the season,â her brother protested. âI donât want to wash away the luck.â
âDonât they smell bad?â Milo asked.
âThey stink! Thatâs how I noticed they were gone. My locker stopped smelling so rotten.â Dylan glowered. âWhen I catch the creep who stole themââ
Stole
them? Miloâs ears perked up. Could this be his first case? He pulled out his notebook.
Jazz said, âWho would steal your stinky socks?â
âI think it was an eagle,â Dylan said.
âAn eagle?â Milo pictured a bird with sharp talons swooping down to snatch the socks away.
âThe Eggleston Eagles,â said Dylan. âWhile I was at practice, someone on their team must have sneaked into our locker room and nabbed my lucky socks.â
âWhy?â asked Milo.
âThe Eagles and the Wildcats are big, big rivals. Weâve got a game