The next morning, a faint whiff of burned wood still floated over the soccer field. Yellow police tape had been strung around the burned-out shed.

“Okay, we don’t have much time,” Alice said as they locked up their bikes. “Let’s take a look around and then start getting ready for the fund-raiser.”

The kids couldn’t get too close because of the police tape. They could see the charred remains of the small shed where the fire had started. But the main part of the building wasn’t damaged.

The MVP Club spread out and started checking the ground near the police tape. They looked for anything that the police might have missed. But all they saw was soggy grass and burned embers until Luke spotted something.

“Look! I’ve found a clue!” he called out. The others came running over.

Luke picked something up from the ground. He held it out in the palm of his hand for the others to see.

It was a small pink-and-green piece of paper.

“That looks like the gum wrapper that Mr. Jennings dropped on our table!” Alice said.

“It is.” Luke nodded. “I remember it from when I picked it up yesterday.”

“And look,” Nico said. “It’s wet. That means it was probably here before the firefighters shot all the water on the fire. That means it wasn’t dropped here this morning.”

“Then maybe it was Mr. Jennings and not Mr. Danforth who set the fire!” Max said. “Mr. Jennings hates the field house! He even told us he couldn’t wait to see the building gone.”

“Yeah,” Nico said. “He was worried we’d save it, so he tried to burn it down. But we stopped him!”

Alice glanced at the other side of the field. Kat’s mom had just pulled up. She and Alex were starting to walk from the car to the field.

“Hey, we have to go help set up,” Alice said. “What do we do about Mr. Jennings?”

“We can tell a police officer when they get here,” Max said. “I bet some of them will come to the fund-raiser with their families.”

The MVP Club ran across the field to help unload stuff from the car. They pulled out a bag of soccer balls they had borrowed from the school. Nico and Max grabbed a long table and a few chairs. They set them up on the sideline. They put out Kat’s model of the field house. Kat had even cut a slot in the roof so that people could drop their money right in!

While they waited for people to show up, Alex had the kids practice. After running up and down the field twice to warm up, Alex took her place in front of the goal. The MVP Club all lined up and tried to sneak shots past her. But Alex blocked them all.

Soon, other kids and parents arrived. Many brought cookies, popcorn, and oranges for the bake sale.

Alex got ready for the fund-raiser while the kids helped out at the tables they had set up. Nico and Max sat at the bake sale table. Alice took a seat behind the donation table. She wrote down people’s names as they dropped money into the model of the field house. Then Kat or Luke would lead each person to the center of the soccer field for a chance to take a shot on goal.

Kat and Luke had fun as they watched Alex stop lots of shots. Every now and then, someone would get lucky and sneak one in. When they did, Alex would run forward, shake the person’s hand, and give them a signed picture from a bag near the goal. Everyone seemed happy to try their luck against one of the best soccer players of all time.

The fund-raiser was going great. Lots of people were lined up to take shots at Alex. Every time Alex stopped a ball, the crowd cheered. Once people took their turn, they would buy food from the bake sale table or just hang out and talk. Everyone was talking about the fire at the field house.

The fund-raiser had been going on almost an hour when Max finally spotted a policewoman near the edge of the field. He asked Kat’s mom to take over at the bake sale, and motioned for his friends to come with him.

“Excuse me,” Max said when they reached the policewoman. “We think we know who started the field house fire!”

The policewoman looked down at them. “You do?” she asked. “What do you know about it?”

Max told the policewoman what had happened at the supermarket with Mr. Jennings. Then he explained how they had seen the fire and investigated it this morning, and how Luke had found a matching gum wrapper near the burned-out shed.

“We think Mr. Jennings did it!” Max concluded.

The policewoman nodded. “I’ll have to say, you kids are pretty smart,” she said.

Luke looked at Alice and Max. “What do you mean?” he said.

The policewoman smiled. “You’re right about the clue,” she said. “Mr. Jennings did start the fire!”