The Kids From B.A.D.
	Stories by Allen Morgan
	detective story collection
	no illustrations
	six stories - 128 pages

The Case Of The Missing Bike (part 7)

"Follow that van!" he told the cabby breathlessly.

The cab driver turned around and stared at him. "You've got to be kidding," he said.

"He's not," said Sally. "Hurry, we don't want to lose them!"

"I've been driving this cab fifteen years now," said the cabby, "and not once has anyone ever told me to follow that car."

"Van," insisted Sally. "Come on, it's getting away."

"You kids have been watching too much TV," the cabby continued. "Let's go. Out of the cab now and no fooling around. I'm working."

"But we can pay," John explained, pulling out the twenty-dollar bill his grandmother had given him. He knew the time had come to use it.

The cabby looked at it for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Your money, your cab," he said and turned on the motor, muttering to himself, "Fifteen years and I thought I'd heard everything. Follow that car. Who'd believe it?"

He started his meter and pulled out into the street. Sally and John grew restless as the blue van continued to pull farther and farther ahead of them.

But the cabby didn't seem very concerned about staying close behind.

"You two seem a little young for cops," he said conversationally.

"We're detectives," explained John. "I'm the chief "

"And I'm the assistant chief," said Sally.

"And I'm the Minister of Transport," said the cabby, chuckling to himself. "I bet that van's full of money from a bank hold-up, right? Or maybe it's just a simple kidnaping case?"

"Stolen bicycles," said John, and he went on to explain the case.

"Stolen bike ring, eh?" said the cabby, suddenly serious again. "Sounds like you might have something. My boy just had his bike taken two weeks ago. You think these guys had something to do with it?"

After that the cabby gave all his attention to staying right on the tail of the blue van. He almost lost it a few times in the heavy traffic, but he was right behind it when it turned into a driveway on the other side of town. He pulled over to the curb half a block farther on.

The meter read $8.80. John gave the twenty-dollar bill to the cabby and told him to drive around the block.

"Just wait a minute. I can't do that."

"Isn't twenty dollars enough to hold the cab?" John asked.

"It's more than enough," said the cabby. "Only I don't like the idea of you kids messing around with those crooks."

"We can take care of ourselves," said John. "We're detectives."

"We aren't going to do anything, really," Sally assured the cabby. "We're just going to look in the windows to see if we've got the right place. They won't even notice us."

The cabby thought about that for a minute. "Maybe I should stay parked outside just to make sure," he said finally.

"But they might see you waiting and get suspicious," said John. "Then they might just take off."

The cabby sighed. "All right, I'll go around the block. But you better be here when I get back. Just one peek in the window and that's all. I don't want you getting hurt."