The Mystery at Claudia's House

I took him into the kitchen and we looked around in the breadbox, in the refrigerator, and in the cupboards. I didn’t see anything even resembling a cake. “How about a cookie?” I suggested.

  “No!” cried Todd. “Cake!”

  Four-year-olds can be very stubborn. “Here’s a nice banana,” I said, picking one out of a fruit bowl on the counter. “Wouldn’t you like a banana?”

  “Cake,” insisted Todd.

  “But there isn’t any cake.” I was beginning to panic. Any minute, Todd could throw a tantrum. Then a light bulb went off in my head. “How about a Popsicle?” I asked, smiling.

  “Yay!” said Todd. “A blue one!”

  At that moment, Derek ran into the kitchen. “I’ve got it,” he said. “Janine was abducted by aliens and brainwashed. Then they brought her back to Stoneybrook. She’s like a totally different person now. That’s why she’s acting so strange.”

  “Derek,” I said, “that doesn’t sound like something you learned from Kid Detectives. That sounds like something you picked up from reading those magazines in the checkout line at the supermarket.”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. “I’ve got another theory. How about this? Janine is a kleptomaniac. She’s stealing all the time. She can’t help herself, but she knows she should disguise herself when she goes into certain stores.”

  “Hmmm …” I said. “I like that idea a little better. It would explain the clothes and the makeup.” Then I thought for a second, and realized it was ridiculous. A kleptomaniac? Janine? “I don’t think so,” I said.

  “I could prove it if we could follow her,” persisted Derek.

  “Yeah, let’s!” said Todd, licking his Popsicle and looking up at his big brother.

  “Not today,” I said. “It’s pouring.” It was, too. The rain was coming down in sheets outside the kitchen window. “Plus, Janine’s grounded and she’s not leaving the house today. Anyway, we need to think of some more realistic ideas about what she could be up to.”

  We spent the rest of the afternoon playing around with every wild and not-so-wild idea we could imagine. For every idea, Derek had a plan: how to follow Janine, how to catch her in the act, how to prove she was a bank robber, or a jewel thief, or whatever. I was impressed by how much Derek knew about detecting. Maybe we couldn’t do much that rainy day, but we had a good time.

  Just as school was ending on Wednesday, Mary Anne reminded me that she would be sitting for Derek and Todd that afternoon. “I’m looking forward to it,” she said. “Maybe we’ll play detectives, since they seem to like that so much.”

  “Believe me, they do,” I said. “Well, have fun. Say hi to Derek and Todd.” I headed home. I was planning to work on stringing those beads again.

  When I entered our house, I found Janine in the kitchen. She was eating rice cakes and reading a thick, boring-looking book. I pulled my after-school snack — a Devil Dog — out of my backpack, and sat down with the latest issue of Seventeen. Janine and I didn’t seem to have much to say to each other lately. She wasn’t ready — or willing — to tell me what she was up to, and I was tired of asking.

  The kitchen was pretty quiet. “Is Mom still mad at you?” I asked, finally. The night before, Janine had come home late for dinner again, and Mom had been furious. Janine hadn’t been grounded this time, but I knew that, for her, Mom’s being mad at her was almost worse.

  “No, not really,” said Janine. “I apologized again this morning, and she said she forgave me.” She turned back to her book after she answered me, as if to let me know that she didn’t want to talk.

  I stood up, feeling a little mad at her, and went to my room. “Sisters aren’t supposed to keep secrets from each other,” I muttered to myself, as I set out my bead boxes. “Sisters are supposed to be best friends, and tell each other everything.” But I knew that Janine and I were different. Oh, we get along most of the time. In fact, lately we’ve been getting along better than ever, except for the past couple of weeks. But the two of us are very, very different, and I know we always will be. So I had to get used to the idea that Janine wasn’t about to tell me her secrets.

  But boy, was I dying to know what they were! As I sat stringing beads, I couldn’t stop thinking about what could possibly get perfect Janine in so much trouble. “Green, white, blue,” I said out loud as I strung. “Green, white, blue.” Then suddenly I threw down the necklace. I couldn’t take it anymore! Janine’s secret was making me crazy. I grabbed the phone and dialed the Masterses’ number. “Mary Anne,” I said, when she answered, “it’s me, Claud. Can I come over?”

  “Sure,” she said. “We’re kind of bored.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “I know just what to do about that!”

  I raced over to the Masterses’ house and banged on the door. Mary Anne, Derek, and Todd let me in, and immediately I began talking. “Okay,” I said. “Here’s the situation. Janine is at home now, but my bet is that she won’t stay there much longer. Are you guys ready to tail her?”

  “Yeah!” yelled Derek and Todd.

  “Um, okay,” said Mary Anne, a little nervously. “But what if she sees us?”

  “She won’t,” said Derek, sounding confident. “I know all the tricks. Just watch me and do what I do.”

  “Are we ready to go, then?” I asked.

  “Just a minute,” said Derek, holding up one finger. He ran to his room. When he returned he was wearing a hat like the ones detectives wear in old movies. “I got this when I was on the show,” he said proudly. “The director gave it to me.”

  “Nice,” I said. It really was a neat hat. The only thing was that it didn’t exactly make Derek look inconspicuous. You don’t see too many eight-year-olds in fedoras wandering the streets of Stoneybrook. But it didn’t matter. If Derek wanted to wear the hat, it was fine with me.

  “Let’s go!” he said.

  Mary Anne glanced at me and started to say something. “Maybe we shouldn’t —”

  “Oh, come on, Mary Anne,” I said. “It’s just for fun. We’ll have a good time!” Sometimes Mary Anne is too timid for her own good.

  “Yeah, come on!” said Todd, grabbing her hand. Derek took her other hand and gave her that Waldo grin.

  “Oh, all right,” said Mary Anne. She couldn’t help grinning back at Derek. “But I hope you really do know what you’re doing!”

  “Trust me,” he said as he led the way out the door and down the street.

  We walked all the way around the block, so we could approach my house from the side where the bushes are the tallest. (That was my idea.) When we got there, Mary Anne and Derek and I squatted down. Todd didn’t have to squat, since he’s still pretty little. “Shhh!” said Derek, putting his finger over his lips. “Now we just wait for a while. This is called a stakeout.”

  “Are we having a barbecue?” asked Todd.

  We were all confused for a minute. Then I giggled. “Not steak like meat,” I said. “This is different. We’re watching for Janine to come out of the house.” Mary Anne and Derek were giggling, too. We put our hands over our mouths to muffle the sound.

  “Oh,” said Todd. “Well, isn’t that her?” He pointed toward the front door. Janine had just walked through it!

  “Oh, my lord!” I whispered. I ducked down to make sure I was completely hidden, and pulled Mary Anne along with me. “What’s she doing?” I hissed to Derek.

  “Looks like she’s waiting for somebody,” he whispered. “She keeps looking down the street.”

  I peeked through the bushes. Janine was standing on the front steps, and sure enough, she was watching for something.

  “It’s the mailman,” whispered Mary Anne suddenly. She sounded excited. “That’s who she’s waiting for,” Mary Anne’s eyes were bright. She certainly wasn’t feeling timid anymore.

  “You’re right,” I whispered, after I’d taken another peek. “The mailman’s here. She’s taking the mail from him, she’s looking through it —”

  “And she’s putting a letter into her pocket!
” said Derek, a little too loudly.

  “Shh!” Both Mary Anne and I turned to him with our fingers over our lips.

  “Sorry,” he whispered, looking sheepish.

  By then, Janine had turned and gone back inside. She didn’t seem to have heard a thing.

  “Wow,” said Derek. “That was good stuff. I’d do just about anything to get my hands on that letter! I bet it would tell us everything we need to know.”

  “Maybe,” I said. “But I’m not about to steal Janine’s mail.”

  “Yeah, right,” said Derek, looking disappointed. “Oh, well. I guess we just wait some more, then.”

  We settled in behind those bushes. Derek kept an eye on the house, but Janine seemed to have settled in, too. There were no signs of activity. After a while, Todd started to get squirmy; it’s hard for a four-year-old to sit still for very long. “Todd,” I heard Mary Anne whisper (he was sitting on her lap), “can you say your alphabet for me?” That kept him occupied for a few minutes. Then he made up a song about numbers, colors, and shapes. Soon, though, Mary Anne began to run out of ideas. She was beginning to seem a little desperate, when Derek suddenly sat up straight.

  “There she is!” he hissed. “She sure looks different, though.”

  “Wow,” breathed Mary Anne, peering through the bushes. “I’ll say. She looks almost like —”

  “Claudia,” Derek chimed in.

  I had been trying to get a look, but my foot had fallen asleep and I couldn’t get up. Finally, I peered through the bushes from where I was sitting. “Hey! That’s my red sweater,” I said.

  “Shhh!” said Derek and Mary Anne.

  “Sorry,” I said, covering my mouth. But it was true. Janine was wearing my sweater again.

  “Boy, I see what you mean about the makeup,” whispered Mary Anne, turning to me. “She’s putting on a lot of it these days, isn’t she?”

  I nodded. “I keep trying to tell her that subtle is better, but she can’t seem to get the hang of it.” Even from where I was sitting, I could see Janine’s red lipstick and blue eyeshadow.

  “Okay, time to move out,” said Derek suddenly. Janine had turned right at the end of our driveway, and was walking quickly down the street. “She looks like she’s on her way to meet somebody,” Derek went on. “She keeps checking her watch.”

  Mary Anne and I glanced at each other, impressed. Derek was pretty good at this!

  We followed Janine as she walked down Bradford Court. It wasn’t easy to keep ourselves hidden while we kept Janine in view, but we managed. Mary Anne was carrying Todd piggyback, since he’s kind of a slow walker.

  “Want me to take a turn?” I asked.

  “I’m okay for now,” she said. “He’s light.”

  “Turning!” said Derek. Sure enough, Janine had turned left off Bradford, and then, after checking the traffic, she’d crossed the street and taken a quick right onto Rosedale Road.

  “She must be going back to school for something,” I said. I was disgusted. As if Janine doesn’t spend enough time at Stoneybrook High. Now she had to drag all of us there, too. Then I realized that I was being ridiculous. After all, we’d chosen to follow her!

  “Aha!” said Derek. “See? What did I tell you? There’s the person she’s meeting.”

  I looked, and my mouth dropped open. There, in front of the school, was the most gorgeous guy I’ve ever seen. He was tall and strong-looking. He had black hair, and he was dressed in a way cool pair of jeans and a beautiful blue shirt.

  “That can’t be one of Janine’s friends,” I said. “He doesn’t have a plastic pen-holder in his pocket, or a slide rule in his hand.”

  But Janine walked right up to him. They shook hands and smiled at each other. Then they started to walk away together — and they didn’t go into the school!

  “Claudia!” I heard Mary Anne’s voice as if it came from a great distance. I was still staring at Janine and that hunky guy. “Claud, I hate to say this, but it’s after five! We have to get the boys home and then get to the BSC meeting. Mrs. Masters promised to be home by five-twenty.”

  I couldn’t believe it. We had to leave, just when things were really starting to happen. What could Janine possibly be doing with a boy like that? I was mystified — frustrated, too. I wanted to solve the mystery now!

  “He really was very good looking,” said Mary Anne. “You guys would have thought so, too.”

  It was about 5:45. We’d taken care of all the club business during the first few minutes of our meeting, and then I’d filled everyone in on the latest news on Janine. Mary Anne had added a few comments here and there, to back me up.

  “This is so awesome,” said Mallory, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor next to Jessi. “Do you think that guy is some kind of spy or something? Maybe Janine is passing secret results to him. She’s always working in the chemistry lab, isn’t she?”

  “Well, yes,” I said. “But it’s hard to imagine that there’d be any major scientific breakthroughs in the chem lab at Stoneybrook High.”

  “You never know,” said Mal.

  “She’s right,” agreed Jessi. “The other day I was reading about this discovery made by a kindergarten teacher in Louisiana —”

  Just then the phone rang. I was so involved in our conversation that I’d almost forgotten the reason we were gathered in my room. Kristy was leaning back in her director’s chair, but she rocked forward and grabbed the phone. “Hello, Baby-sitters Club. Can I help you?” Kristy’s always so businesslike. “Well,” she said, after she’d listened for a moment.“Normally the jobs just go to whoever is free. But I think in this case that can be arranged. Why don’t I call you back as soon as we’ve checked those dates?”

  Kristy hung up and turned to me. “That was Mrs. Masters. She said she needs a sitter for Thursday and also for Saturday, and that Derek has asked especially for you.”

  “I guess he’s just as curious about Janine as we are, by now,” I said. “He probably wants to stay on the case until it’s solved. And I could sure use his help. He really is a good detective.”

  “Is this all right with everyone else?” asked Kristy. She looked around the room.

  Jessi and Mal nodded. Stacey gave the thumbs-up sign. “Fine with me,” said Dawn. “Just as long as you keep us posted on the mystery.”

  Mary Anne checked the record book. “You’re free,” she said to me.

  “Okay, then,” said Kristy. “Claud, go ahead and call Mrs. Masters.”

  While I made the call, the others started talking about my sister again. When I hung up, Stacey turned to me. “What are you going to do now that you know more about Janine’s secret?”

  “I’m not sure,” I replied. “For one thing, I still don’t really know what her secret is. For another thing, I’m not about to tell my parents what I saw. They’d just be mad at me for spying and sneaking around, and anyway, I don’t believe in ratting on people.”

  “Maybe you should approach Janine and tell her what you know,” said Dawn. “Then you could ask her to explain why she’s meeting that guy.”

  “No way,” I said. “I’ve tried asking her questions. She just freezes up. I think we’re stuck. We started out being sneaky, and now we have to keep being sneaky.”

  “Hmm,” said Jessi. “Well, I guess Derek’s the best person to help you, in that case.”

  “But we can’t just keep following her around,” I said. “She’s bound to catch us if we do that.”

  “You need a plan,” said Dawn, rubbing her hands together. “Let’s figure out a good one.”

  “You’re sitting for Derek on Thursday, right?” asked Stacey. “Well, what if you thought up some reason for Janine to have to come over to the house —”

  “Like saying Derek needed help with his homework?” I asked eagerly. “Great idea. Janine’s helped me out like that before, so she wouldn’t suspect a thing.”

  “Right!” said Stacey. “Then, once she’s there, you and Derek can trick her into tal
king. About her secret, I mean.”

  “How do we do that?” I asked. That part of the plan sounded tough. Everybody else seemed to think so too, since the room was silent for a few moments.

  “I know!” said Kristy, suddenly. She leaned toward me and started to talk in an excited voice.

  * * *

  “Hi, Janine?” I said, into the phone. “It’s me, Claud.” My heart was beating fast. Derek, who was standing beside me, made an encouraging face. “Listen, I’ve got a problem. I’m sitting over at the Masterses’. And Derek has this civics homework that’s giving him a lot of trouble, and I can’t figure it out, either. So I was wondering —” I stopped to listen for a second. “You will?” I asked. “Really? You don’t mind?” I grinned at Derek. “Okay, we’ll see you soon, then.” I hung up, and Derek held his hand out for a high-five.

  “All right,” he said. “She’s on her way!”

  I nodded. “She must feel guilty for being so cold to me recently. She said she’d be right over.”

  “Okay, let’s get set up,” said Derek. He had understood Kristy’s idea right away, and he couldn’t wait to try it. “Remember, just follow my lead and this is guaranteed to work. You too, Todd,” he said to his little brother. “Just do whatever I tell you, okay?”

  “If I do, you’ll let me play with your G.I. Joe, right?” Todd asked. “You promised.”

  “That’s right,” said Derek. “You can play with my Turtles, too. Just do what I tell you.” Derek had led me and Todd into the rec room by then. “Now, let’s see,” he said. “I think if we move these two chairs over there, and set up the TV table as kind of a podium —”

  The doorbell rang then, and I ran to answer it. “Hi, Janine,” I said, as I let my sister in. “Thanks for coming. The boys are in the rec room.” I was pretty nervous. My heart was beating like a drum, and my palms were sweaty. But if Kristy and Derek thought the plan would work, who was I to question it? I pointed Janine toward the rec room and then stopped in the bathroom to splash some cold water on my face.

  “So, the thing is,” Derek was saying when I joined them in the rec room, “I’m supposed to stage a courtroom drama, and then write up what happened. We’re studying the legal system, and my teacher wants to make sure we understand it.”