“You can’t do this!” I pleaded with Sam. “If I’m locked up, who is going to warn my other cousins about Fran?”

“You heard what the Chief said,” said Sam.

And then he unlocked my cuffs! HUH?!?!

“The Chief said he expects to see you behind bars when he gets back to the office,” said the detective. “So I’d say that gives us two hours tops to pinch the Werewolf and prove the Chief gave you a bum rap. So let’s shake a leg!”

Sam led me back to the bathroom door the Werewolf had shredded.

“What a bunch of hooey!” Sam said, shaking his head. “The Chief is so sure you were the one meeting Lavenza, he didn’t leave anyone to search for clues the Werewolf might have left. That means it’s up to us, J.D.!”

I followed Sam as he went into the bathroom and started looking around.

“I don’t know why the Chief didn’t believe me.” Sam sighed. “But he’s always looked down on the Monster Crimes Unit.”

“Oh, man! In all the excitement about going to jail and my life being over, I totally forgot! You’re in the Monster Crimes Unit!” I said. “That means you know all about monsters!”

“Well, yes and no,” said Sam as he searched the bathroom for clues. “The Vampire, the Mummy, the Fishman from the Dark Lagoon — when mugs like that get into some bad business, then yeah, I catch the case. But Frankenstein’s Monster never committed any crime in Los Angeles. At least as far as I know. He was a bit before my time. He disappeared years before I became a gumshoe.”

I guess he could see I was disappointed he couldn’t tell me more about my dad.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t help you find out about him,” Sam added quickly. “I am a gumshoe after all. As soon as we pinch the Werewolf, I promise, I’ll — holy mazuma!”

Sam had been digging through the trash can next to the sink. Now he started digging even faster. “I found something!” he exclaimed. “Look!”

In Sam’s hands were ripped-up pieces of paper.

“You found some trash in the trash can? What’s so strange about that?” I asked.

“This isn’t trash. It’s a clue! A really swell clue! This paper wasn’t ripped. It was shredded. See the cut marks on the edges? You’ll find the same marks on the door,” he said. “Because they were both shredded by the Werewolf’s claws!”

I looked. He was right!

“The Werewolf must have tried to destroy this when he heard us outside,” Sam said as he collected more pieces of paper. “Now let’s put this back together and see what it says!”

We got to work piecing the paper back together. Unfortunately, it turned out werewolf claws were really good at shredding! We couldn’t find all the pieces, but we taped what we found onto a page in my journal (good thing I kept some tape — as well as a couple of pens — in my back pocket with my journal).

“There’s a lot missing, but these are definitely instructions for the crime the Werewolf’s plotting tonight!” said Sam. “He must have been planning to give this to Lavenza. But he never got the chance!

“And look at this,” said Sam, pointing to what looked like part of a necklace of circles at the top of the page. “That symbol looks familiar. I can’t remember where I’ve seen it, though. Somewhere back at HQ. Maybe in the Werewolf’s police file.”

“Then let’s go! We gotta show this to the Chief of Police,” I exclaimed excitedly. “It proves the Werewolf was the one Lavenza was here to meet.”

Sam shook his head. “I don’t see where this is signed by the Werewolf, do you?” he asked. “In fact, it doesn’t mention the Werewolf anywhere. This doesn’t prove squat. Anyone could have written this. Including you, J.D.

“At least, that’s what the Chief of Police would say,” he finished.

I slumped. We were no closer to figuring this out than when we started!

“Just because a clue doesn’t tell you everything doesn’t mean it’s telling you nothing,” Sam said. “Sometimes, a sleuth just needs someone to give him a little more information to put the puzzle together.”

“That’s great,” I replied. “But who’s going to give us more information?”

“The Werewolf,” Sam said with a smile.