It looked like the entire school was waiting outside Principal Butler’s office when Frank and Joe came out. Everyone wanted to be near the door when it opened.
“Did Adam do it? Is the talent show back on? Is he going to be expelled?”
A dozen voices asked the same questions as Frank and Joe walked away, but they just shook their heads. Adam had confessed … but they were sure he was innocent. Nothing was adding up.
“What do we do now?” asked Joe after they had pushed their way clear of the crowd.
“I don’t know,” said Frank. “Thirty minutes isn’t a lot of time to figure out this mystery.” Frank looked up at the clock. It wasn’t even thirty minutes anymore. Now it was more like twenty-eight minutes! Time was running out fast.
“What would Dad say?” asked Joe. He paused for a moment.
“Start with the evidence,” the boys said at the same time.
“The frogs are gone,” said Frank. “So the only evidence would be back in the auditorium itself. Maybe we missed something. Let’s go look.”
Joe didn’t have a better idea, so the boys headed back to the school auditorium. From outside, they heard voices shouting.
“No! Stop that!”
What was happening? Could the prankster be causing trouble again? Frank and Joe shoved open the doors and rushed inside.
On the stage, Melissa was chasing Todd around. She had taken off her yellow-and-black checkered cap, and was trying her best to hit him with it. But Todd had longer legs and was managing to keep just outside her reach.
“You keep starting the second horus too soon! You’re cutting off my line.” Melissa swung her hat again, and Todd skipped backward.
Out of the corner of her eyes, Melissa must have caught a glimpse of Frank and Joe. She spun around quickly. She hid the hat behind her back, and a big fake grin lit up her face.
“Well, hello there!” She beamed. “Our performance has been put off for a little while, but we’ll be on in just a bit! But it’s always good to see our fans.”
She gave a little bow. She seemed surprised to find Frank and Joe still standing there when she straightened up. The grin left her face.
“You can leave now,” she said.
“Actually, we’ve got a few questions for you,” said Frank. He took out his notebook and got ready to record her statement.
“Oh!” said Melissa. “You want an autograph. Of course.”
Melissa hopped down off the stage and ran over to Frank. She grabbed the pen and notebook from his hand.
To my biggest fan! 
Melissa. She wrote in big curling script, and she dotted her letter i’s with stars. But that wasn’t the information Frank wanted.
“Thanks, but we wanted to ask you about the frogs. Did you notice anything strange before they started to appear?”
Melissa put one hand dramatically to her forehead. “I’m still too upset to talk to the press,” she said. “I might faint.”
She sat down dramatically on one of the chairs.
Frank shrugged.
“What about you?” Joe yelled out to Todd.
“Me?” Todd seemed surprised anyone would talk to him. Apparently, he was used to Melissa getting all the attention.
“Did you see anything strange?”
But before Todd could answer, Melissa was back on her feet.
“It was horrible! Simply horrible. There I was, ready for my big number, when that frog hit me smack in the face! It was cold and wet and awful. And I know Principal Butler thinks it was a prank on the talent show, but I know I was the target. Whoever did it must have read the interview I gave to the school newspaper, where I talked about my love of frogs and how I would never want to see them hurt. Did you read that issue? I have signed copies if you want one. When I’m famous—I mean, more famous than I am now—I’m going to start a charity for frogs.”
Once Melissa started talking, there was no stopping her. Frank tried to jump in, but Melissa just kept going.
“It must be one of those crazy stalkers that celebrities get. I guess this is going to be my life from now on, so I had better get used to it. It’s the price of fame.”
Melissa paused to take a breath, and Frank jumped in.
“But where did the frogs come from? Did you see anything?” If they could figure out where the frogs had come from, maybe they could find some evidence of who brought them in the first place.
“What? I—I don’t remember.” Melissa was stumped.
“Did someone throw them from the audience? Or from backstage?”
Todd had been lingering in the background, listening to their conversation. Now he jumped in.
“They weren’t thrown,” he said. “I saw the one that hit Melissa fall from a crack in the ceiling—right up there.”
Todd pointed above their heads. Frank and Joe peered up at the ceiling. It was too dark to make out much of anything all the way up there. It must have been thirty feet above their heads! But if that was where the frogs came from, that was where they had to go. Now, how could they get up there?
