“Are you sure?” Ms. Benson asked.
Cam nodded.
“Okay. Go ahead,” Ms. Benson told her.
Ms. Benson asked Mr. Tone to watch her class. Then she followed Cam to the library office. Eric, Danny, Beth, and others in Cam’s class went, too. They crowded around her as she knocked on the door.
When the door was opened, Cam said, “Someone dressed in black stole the necklace.”
“Please,” the agent with long blonde hair said. “Let us take care of this.” She started to close the door.
Ms. Benson put her hand out and stopped the door.
“This girl is one of my best students,” she told the agent. “She’s very smart, and she has an amazing photographic memory. She’s solved lots of mysteries. You should at least listen to her.”
“Okay. I’m listening,” the agent said.
“I’m listening, too,” Governor Zellner said.
Cam took a deep breath.
“Someone knew that when he dropped a book flat on a cement floor it would make a noise like a gun being shot. When Governor Zellner dropped to the floor, a man dressed in black pushed the Pearls behind the desk.”
“He wanted to protect them,” Governor Zellner said.
“But he wasn’t one of the Secret Service people. Only four agents came with you. There was someone else dressed in black.”
“Max and I were checking the governor, to be sure he wasn’t hurt,” the blonde agent said. “Jimmy and Susan checked the room.”
“Yes,” Cam said. “Those were the four agents I saw get out of those long black cars. And I saw just four when you came into the library.”
“Well, someone pushed me behind the desk,” Emma Pearl said. “He squeezed my arm when he pushed me.”
“And he stole your necklace,” Cam said.
Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click!”
“He has curly brown hair,” Cam said, with her eyes still closed, “round eyeglasses, and a funny little beard.”
“Funny?” the agent asked. “What was funny about his beard?”
“It was crooked,” Cam said. “He had on a black shirt and pants and white sneakers.”
“Our shoes are black,” the agent said, and held up her foot.
“Hey! I saw him,” Danny said.
“I was at the water fountain when that man and a real thin woman walked by. They were about to go out the back door when Mrs. Adams stopped them.”
“Who is Mrs. Adams?” the agent asked.
Dr. Prell said, “She’s the custodian.”
“Well,” Danny went on, “she pointed to a car and asked, ‘Is that yours?’ When the man said it was, Mrs. Adams told them not to park there again. Their car was blocking the back door.”
“Don’t worry,” Governor Zellner told Mrs. Pearl. “We’ll get your necklace back.”
He hurried out of the library. The two Secret Service agents followed him. They were soon back with two police officers.
“Please,” Governor Zellner said to Cam and Danny, “tell officers Taylor and Gold what you told us.”
They stood just outside the library office. Cam and Danny told the officers about the thief dressed in black and the thin woman. Officer Gold wrote what they said in a small notepad.
“I bet it was that thin woman who dropped the book,” Cam said.
Officer Taylor said, “First we’ll speak to Mrs. Adams. Maybe she can describe their car.”
Officer Gold closed his notepad. Then he and Officer Taylor started out of the library.
“We’ll go with you,” Cam said. “We can help you catch the thieves.”
“Yes, we’ll go with you,” Danny said.
“Oh, no you won’t,” Dr. Prell told them. “The police and the Secret Service will handle this.”
Dr. Prell stepped up to the microphone. She thanked Governor Zellner and the Pearls. Then she told the teachers to take their children back to their classrooms.
Ms. Benson thanked Mr. Tone for watching her class. Then she led her children into the hall.
“Hey!” Eric said. He bent and picked up something small, brown, and hairy from the floor. He held it by just one hair and said, “I think I’ve seen this somewhere.”
“We’ve all seen it,” Cam said. “We have to show it to Officers Taylor and Gold. It may help them find the thieves.”
