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Authors: David A. Adler

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BOOK: The Mystery of the Gold Coins

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As Cam put the camera in its bag, a young man in a red plaid jacket ran past. He knocked into Cam. Her camera fell, and the man bent down to pick it up. But Eric had it.

“It’s lucky I caught this before it hit the ground,” Eric said. “It might have broken.”

Cam wasn’t listening. She was watching the man run off. “He must be in some rush,” she said. “He didn’t even say he was sorry.”

Chapter Two

Cam put her camera back in the bag. Eric picked up his sundial, and they walked together toward school.

As they walked past a large wooded area, Cam heard the sounds of twigs breaking. Eric stopped walking so he could rest. Cam stopped, too. So did the sounds. Cam turned around, but no one was there.

“Did you hear anything?” Cam asked Eric.

“No.”

Eric said he was ready. He picked up the sundial, and he and Cam began to walk. Cam heard the sounds of twigs breaking again.

“Did you hear that?” Cam whispered.

“Yes. It sounds like something moving in the woods. Maybe it’s an animal.”

“Stop for a minute.”

Eric put down the sundial, and the sounds of footsteps stopped.

“It’s not an animal,” Cam whispered. “An animal wouldn’t stop whenever we do. Someone is following us.”

“Why would anyone follow us?” Eric asked.

“I don’t know. But let’s not stay here and find out! Can you run with that thing?”

“I’ll try.”

Eric picked up the sundial. He tried to run, but his knees kept hitting the sundial. He and Cam stopped at the corner. Cam turned, but she didn’t see anyone behind them. Then Cam and Eric crossed the street and ran the one block to school. They went in through the side entrance. When they got inside, Eric dropped the sundial and collapsed on the floor.

“Were we followed here?” he asked. He was out of breath.

“I don’t know. I don’t see anyone out there,” Cam said.

Cam waited while Eric rested. Then they went together to the auditorium. Near the door a teacher was sitting behind a desk.

“I’m Jennifer Jansen and this is Eric Shelton. Where should we put our science projects?”

The teacher looked at Cam for a moment. Then she said, “Are you the girl Ms. Benson told me about, the one with the amazing memory?”

“Yes, she is,” Eric said. “We call her Cam, and she remembers everything. Just watch.”

Eric told Cam to look at the teacher and say,
“Click.”

Cam looked at the teacher. She said,
“Click,”
and closed her eyes.

“Now ask Cam anything,” Eric said. “Ask her what color your hair is or what it says on that button you’re wearing.”

“All right. What does the button say?” the teacher asked.

Cam’s eyes were still closed. She said, “You’re wearing a lot of buttons. The campaign button you have on your collar says, ‘Vote Smart. Ed Smart for Senator.’ The buttons on your dress say GGC for Gully, Gully Clothes. And the second button from the top is chipped.”

The teacher looked at her second button. “It is chipped,” she said. “Amazing. Well, it’s a real pleasure to meet you, Jennifer.”

The teacher looked at a list she had on her desk and said, “Jennifer, you can set up your project on table 54. Eric, you can set your project up next to table 48.”

Cam and Eric walked into the school auditorium.

“Look over there,” Eric said. “Linda Baker is talking to Ms. Benson. I’ll bet she’s telling Ms. Benson how great her project is. She’d do anything to win.”

Cam said, “Let’s set up our projects. Then we can look at what Linda and everyone else made.”

Cam went to table 54. She took her camera, two folders, and some tape from the bag she was holding. Cam opened the folders and taped them to the table. The first folder explained how Cam had made the camera. The second folder had some photographs Cam had taken with the camera. Cam put her camera between the two folders and went to find Eric.

Eric was looking at Linda Baker’s project. It was called “Light Helps Plants Grow.” There were a few pots with different-size plants growing in them and with signs saying how many hours of light each plant got each day. One pot was empty. The sign in the empty pot said, “Zero.”

“How do you like my project?” Linda asked. “Ms. Benson said it was very well done.”

“It’s very nice,” Cam said.

Linda smiled. “I think it’s going to win. I’ll get a science trophy just like my brother did.”

As they walked away, Eric whispered to Cam, “I’ll bet Linda never watered the plants that she didn’t want to grow. She’d do anything to win.”

Cam and Eric looked at some of the other projects. There was one called “The Invisible Zoo.” It had empty cages and a report on animals that are extinct. There was a scale made from a hot water bottle and a tube. And there was one girl who experimented with her baby teeth. She let the teeth soak in soda. After two weeks the teeth had dark stains.

While Cam read the report “Soda, Sugar, and Teeth,” Eric wandered off, looking at other projects. Then he came running back.

“Cam, Cam, where’s your camera?”

“It’s where I left it, on table 54.”

“No, it’s not. The folders are there, but the camera is gone.”

Chapter Three

Cam ran to table 54. The camera wasn’t there.

“Help me look for it,” Cam said to Eric.

They looked on the other tables and on the floor. Then, as Cam was looking near a window, she saw a man outside run past. He was carrying something under his jacket and running toward the woods. Cam looked straight at him and said,
“Click.”

Cam called to Eric. “Come with me. I think whoever took my camera ran outside with it.”

Eric followed Cam to the side entrance. No one was out there.

“Let’s go back in,” Eric said. “Let’s tell Ms. Benson. I’ll bet it was Linda or her brother who took your camera.”

“No. Not now. I just saw a man run from here. Maybe he has the camera. If we hurry, maybe we can catch him.”

Cam ran ahead. She stopped running when she reached the edge of the woods. She had seen the man run in there, but now it was dark and quiet. Cam saw a few birds and some squirrels moving in the woods, but nothing else.

When Eric caught up with Cam, she told him to be quiet and listen.

Cam and Eric stood at the edge of the woods for a minute. Then they heard a noise. Cam saw a man move in the middle of the woods. She looked straight at him and said,
“Click.”

The man turned and saw Cam and Eric. He dropped what he was holding and ran.

“Let’s get Ms. Benson,” Eric said.

Cam wasn’t listening. She was already going into the woods. She tried to run, but she couldn‘t—too many low branches got in her way. When Cam reached the other side of the woods, the man was gone.

“Did you see which way he went?” Eric asked when he caught up with Cam.

Cam shook her head.

“Let’s go back then.”

“No. He dropped something. Let’s look for it.”

Cam closed her eyes and said,
“Click.”
“He dropped it into a big leafy bush next to a tree with white bark, a birch tree,” Cam said with her eyes still closed.

Cam and Eric found the birch tree. They searched in the bushes nearby.

“Look! Over here!” Eric said. “I found it! I found your camera! Now we can go back to school.”

“But why would someone take it and then throw it away?” Cam asked.

“Maybe he was scared,” Eric said.

Cam took the camera from Eric and looked at it. “Whoever took my camera opened it up. I can tell because he didn’t put the top on right. Now the film is ruined.”

Cam opened the camera. “The film isn’t ruined. It’s gone!”

Cam sat on the ground. She held the camera in her lap. Eric sat next to her.

“You have your camera back. Why are you so upset?” Eric asked.

“I’m not upset. I’m puzzled. Why would someone want the film in my camera?”