The Trail of the Screaming Teenager (3 page)

She had to search the blanket before the teenagers came back.

She started at one corner.

She shook out one size-twelve sneaker. She shook out another one.

Nothing was in them.

Next she shook out the towels. They were wet and sandy.

She hated to touch them.

She tilted the picnic basket to see underneath.

No almost-diamond necklace . . . but plenty of sand.

These teenagers certainly were messy.

Only one place was left. Inside the picnic basket . . . in with the lunch.

She opened the lid. It was crammed with half-eaten sandwiches and two apple cores.

Yucks.

She picked up a sandwich to look underneath.

Just then she heard shouting. The voices were angry.

“What’s that kid doing? Stop, thief!”

She looked up.

Maybe someone had solved the crime ahead of her.

Long Hair and Chicken Head were coming down the boardwalk steps.

They were pointing . . . pointing at her . . . racing toward her.

She dropped the sandwich back in the basket.

She slammed the lid.

Then she scrambled up. “Noni, save me,” she yelled.

She looked around.

Noni was way down at the end of the beach.

Jason and Jill were nowhere in sight.

“When I get my hands on you . . .” Long Hair yelled.

Dawn started to run.

She darted around a green beach blanket, circled a litter basket, and headed for the water.

She could hardly catch her breath.

She looked back over her shoulder.

Chicken Head had stopped at the blanket. He was checking out the picnic basket.

Long Hair was still after her.

And he was closer. Much closer.

Dawn put on a burst of speed. She ran along the water’s edge.

Waves lapped against her feet.

“Noni,” she yelled again.

Noni’s hat bobbed along. She was still a long way away.

“Someone help me,” Dawn yelled.

No one even paid attention.

She looked back once more . . . and fell.

Her nose and cheeks scratched against the sand.

A big hand grabbed her shoulder.

D
AWN SCRAMBLED UP.
She had sand in her eyes and in her mouth.

It tasted gritty against her teeth.

She tried to talk. “I didn’t take anything,” she said at last.

She kept her eyes closed and rubbed at them with two fingers.

“You’re a thief,” said a voice.

She opened one eye. She could see long brown hair.

She could see something else too.

Chicken Head had come down toward the water. He was hopping up and down, listening to the radio on his shoulder.

He was jerking his head back and forth.

He was making
cluck, cluck
noises with his teeth.

Dawn drew herself up as tall as she could. She watched for Noni with one eye. “I am the Polka Dot Private Eye,” she said.

Chicken Head stopped clucking. “Then I am Princess Di,” he said.

He began to laugh at his joke, slapping his knee.

The girl with the freckles was coming toward them. “Did you hurt yourself?” she asked.

Dawn felt like crying.

She didn’t, though.

Detectives never cry.

She shook her head. “No.”

Sand flew all over the place.

“We caught the thief,” said Long Hair.

“Cluckity-cluck,” said Chicken Head.

“Ridiculous,” said the girl. She wiped sand off Dawn’s forehead. “You didn’t take the necklace, did you?”

“Of course not,” said Dawn. “I solve crimes.”

She wanted to ask if the girl had taken the necklace.

She’d probably hurt her feelings, though.

Too bad. She had to do it.

Right was right. That’s what Noni always said.

She opened her mouth.

She could see Jason and Jill coming toward her.

Jason was carrying a drippy ice cream cone in each hand.

Jill had chocolate ice cream all over her mouth.

They were running as fast as they could.

They were weaving around blankets and litter baskets.

The kindergarten kid threw a pail at them.

His mother didn’t even look up.

“We’re coming to save you,” Jason yelled. “Don’t worry.”

“Hold on,” yelled Jill. Her last bow sailed off her head.

Dawn looked at the teenage girl. “Did you take—”

At the same time the girl shook her finger at the other teenagers. “This little girl never took our almost-diamond necklace. Look how sweet she is.”

“Our almost-diamond necklace?” Dawn said slowly.

The girl waved her hand. “We gave it to Gladys . . . I mean Mindy . . . for her birthday.”

“Cluckity-cluck,” said Chicken Head, bobbing with the music.

Long Hair pushed his hair out of his eyes. “Had to work three hours at the dry cleaner’s for my share.”

Just then Jason plowed into them. “Watch out,” he yelled to Chicken Head. “The police are coming.”

The ice cream flew out of the cones.

They landed on Long Hair’s feet.

“These kids are wacko,” Long Hair yelled. He raced for the water.

“Cluckity-cluckity-cluck,” said Chicken Head. He danced back to the blanket.

The girl reached into a pocket. “Here’s a dollar,” she said. “Get yourself another ice cream.”

“No, thanks.” Dawn smiled at the girl. “I have a mystery to solve.”

Jill picked up the Marvelous Metal Finder.

“Here I go again. I’m still looking for that necklace, don’t worry.”

She began to sweep.

Buzz, click.

“Another penny,” Jill yelled. “Nineteen fifty-two. That’s old!”

Dawn shook her head. “This whole mystery is taking longer than I thought.”

She looked toward the kindergarten kid.

They had saved the worst suspect for last.

N
ONI CAME PUFFING
up to them. “Wonderful walk,” she said. She looked at her watch. “I think it’s time to go home.”

Dawn shook her head. “We can’t. We have to check out one more—”

“Your mother will be home from work soon.” Noni bent down. She reached for the picnic basket. “Your father too.”

Dawn looked back at the kindergarten kid.

He was burying his mother in the sand.

Her face was sticking out of the sand. Her arm holding her book was too. So was one toe.

“If we don’t check on this now,” said Dawn, “it’ll be too late.”

“I have to peel potatoes,” Noni said. “I have to slice cucumbers.”

“Five minutes,” said Dawn. “Just five quick minutes.”

“Five minutes,” Jill begged too. “I haven’t found one pirate coin. I haven’t found the necklace either.”

Buzz, click
went the detector.

“A pink bottle-cap,” she said.

Noni sat down. She smiled at them. “All right. A fast five minutes.”

Dawn nodded. She was still watching Arno, the kindergarten boy.

He was covering his mother’s toe.

Dawn and Jason marched toward him.

He looked back over his shoulder.

He picked up a shovel.

Dawn raced back to Jill. “Can I borrow a nickel?”

Jill reached into her green jar. She pulled out a greenish-looking nickel.

Dawn tossed it up in the air.

She wanted to be sure the kindergarten kid could see it.

She walked over and held it out toward him.

At the same time she tried to check out his blanket.

It was hard to see with his toys all over the place.

“Turn the page for me, someone,” said the mother. “Please.”

Dawn reached over and turned the page.

Arno was smashing the sand down around his mother’s toes.

“Listen, Arno . . .” Dawn began.

“Nice burying job,” said Jason at the same time.

The boy stopped pounding with his shovel. He looked at the nickel. “That’s from the jar?” he asked.

“It’s for you,” Dawn said. She handed it to him. “I want to ask you about a necklace.”

The boy waved the nickel in the air. “What else is in the bottle?”

Dawn rolled her eyes.

She went back to Jill. “Could I borrow the jar, please?”

Jill laughed. “Why not? This beach is full of stuff.”

Dawn walked back to Arno. She rattled the jar.

He held out his hand, looked inside, and dumped out half of it on the blanket.

Dawn leaned over. She tried to make him pay attention. “I’m looking for a necklace.”

Arno mounded more sand up on his mother’s feet.

“I’m going to make an apartment house,” he said. “Right here on top of my mother.”

“It’s an almost-diamond necklace,” Dawn said.

“It has two ruby hearts,” said Jason.

The boy sat back. “I think I’ll dump some water here. I’ll make it a little squishy.”

He kicked at his pail. He pointed to Jason. “You can get it,” he said.

“No, thanks,” said Jason.

“No answer,” said the boy.

Jason started for the water. “Some kid,” he said over his shoulder.

His mother waved her book around. “You’re telling me.”

Dawn leaned closer. “Come on, kid. What’s your name?”

“Killer,” he said.

His mother started to laugh. “Come on, Arno. Be serious.”

“Listen, Arno,” said Dawn. “What about the necklace?”

“No.” He shook his head. “You think I play with girls’ stuff?”

His mother opened her other eye. “One thing I have to say about Arno. He tells the truth. Another thing. He doesn’t like girls’ stuff.”

Arno piled sand on his shovel. “What a dummy,” he said. “You’d better get out of here.”

“Turn the page first,” said the mother. “Thanks.”

Dawn bent over. She flipped the page.

Arno tossed the shovelful of sand at her knees.

Dawn took a deep breath.

She wished she were Arno’s mother for two minutes.

She went back to the blanket.

Noni was gathering everything together.

Jill was making one last sweep with the Marvelous Metal Finder. “Bad news,” she said. “The necklace isn’t here. Definitely.”

D
AWN STILL HAD SAND
in her hair, sand in her ears, sand all over.

She blasted water into the tub. She waited until it was almost to the top.

Then she dumped in half a bottle of Beautiful Bubbles for Beauties.

She made sure the door was locked.

Noni would have a fit if she saw the bubbles sloshing out of the tub.

She didn’t bother to take off her bathing suit.