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

The Case Of The Stolen Wallet (part 7)

Mike brought Ben and Greg in from the stakeout. "What's up?" he asked. "Have we found a clue?"

Sally and Jessica smiled at each other but they kept the secret.

John came back a few minutes later. "The case is solved," he announced proudly, pulling out the wallet.

"All right!" cried Mike. He slapped John on the back. So did Ben. Greg just stared at John with his mouth open.

"Jessica's the one who found it," said John as he opened the wallet. "Boy, I'll bet Kimberley's going to be glad to get her money back again. I'll bet she never thought... " He stopped in mid-sentence. The wallet was empty.

Nobody said a word. They all just stared at the wallet, then looked over at Jessica. Jessica turned bright red.

"That's crazy," she cried. "It was there this afternoon."

John snapped the wallet shut and glared. "I'm calling an emergency meeting of all the regular detectives right now," he said. "Jessica, you wait here for a minute. The rest of you guys come over where we can talk."

"What about me?" asked Greg.

"You can come," said John.

"No, he can't. He's a detective-in-training too," said Sally. "If Jessica can't come then he can't either."

John, Mike, Ben and Sally huddled together off to one side.

"What's all this about?" asked Sally. "Why can't Jessica come?"

"I'm afraid there's a problem with Jessica," said John. "She's been lying to us. She's the one who stole the wallet."

"What?" exclaimed Sally.

"But she's the one who found the wallet," said Ben.

"Exactly," said John. "That's what made me suspicious. She knew right where to look, or so she said. But what if she didn't find it like she said she did? The whole thing's pretty fishy."

"Jessica would never steal anything," said Sally.

"Oh, no? Well, just figure it out. She's in Kimberley's class, isn't she? If she got caught sneaking in during lunch she could just say she was getting a book or something. She stole the wallet and took the money out. Then she put the empty wallet into the boys' washroom before afternoon recess, so everyone would think that a boy did it. Pretty sneaky, eh? Just like a girl."

Mike whistled and Ben looked convinced. But Sally wasn't convinced at all. "I still don't think she did it," she said.

"Isn't it obvious?" said John. "She set the whole thing up so she could solve the crime herself. That way she gets to be in the detective club and everyone thinks she's hot stuff."

"You're right," said Mike. "I see the whole thing now."

"And to think Greg and I could have found the wallet ourselves," said Ben. "We knew that paper dispenser was jammed but we didn't think to look inside to see why.",

"Greg knew about the paper dispenser?" asked Sally.

"Sure, he tried to get some paper out but it wouldn't work," said Ben, and he told the others what had happened that afternoon.

"Forget about that," said John. "You had a chance to solve the case and you missed it, that's all. The big question now is, what do we do about Jessica now that we know she's the thief?"