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 8)

John, Mike and Ben went over the possibilities. Sally didn't say anything. She was looking over at Greg and Jessica. Suddenly she snapped her fingers and turned back to the others.

"I think you've got it all wrong about Jessica," she told them. "She's in the clear and I can prove it to you."

"Come on, Sally," said John. "It's an open-and-shut case."

"If you'll just shut your mouth and open your ears, John Jenkins, I'll prove to you that it isn't," said Sally fiercely. "Come on back over while I try something, all right? But don't you say anything, let me do all the talking."

Jessica was waiting for them, looking very nervous. "I know what you guys are probably thinking," she said as they approached. "The money's gone and I was the last one to see it-"

"Forget about the money," Sally told her. "That's over and done with. We'll just turn the wallet over to the principal and figure the case is closed. I mean, what else can we do?" she said, shrugging her shoulders. Then she turned to Greg. "Listen, Greg, John was saying that you were going to buy walkie-talkies. Is that true?"

"Sure," said Greg. "My dad just gave me a whole lot of money."

"Well, since we're not working on this case anymore, why don't we go down and buy them this afternoon?" Sally continued. "Or don't you have enough money on you right now? I bet they're going to cost almost fifty dollars."

"Hey, no sweat," said Greg with a smile. "I've got the money my dad gave it to me last night. We can go down to the store right away." As he spoke he reached into his pocket and took out a wad of bills.

As soon as she saw it, Sally snatched the money away. "Do you still have the serial numbers?" she asked Jessica.

Jessica held the list out to Sally. Sally checked the numbers against Greg's money with John watching over her shoulder.

"It's a match," cried Sally triumphantly, and John nodded.

"What's the idea?" said Greg. "Give me back my money!"

"Miss Kimberley's money, you mean," said Sally. "We were just checking it against the list Jessica made when she found the wallet earlier today. And guess what? The money you just took out of your pocket is the same money that was stolen at lunch."

"What are you talking about?" Greg, demanded.

"I'm talking about what really happened," Sally told him. "I knew it was you as soon as Ben told us about how you were fooling around with the paper dispenser in the corner stall. You were the one who hid the wallet there, weren't you? You stashed it there right after you stole it during lunch. Jessica found it just before afternoon recess but she didn't touch the money. You were the one who took that, Greg. When you heard us talking about looking for the wallet you got worried that one of us might find it. So you went down to the washroom to get it out again. Only Ben was there, so all you could get was the money. You left the wallet behind so Ben wouldn't notice it in your pocket. That's how it was, wasn't it, Greg? It was you all the time."