The Case of the Locked Box Read online

  The principal came in with the judge from the middle school, who banged her gavel and called the room to order.

  The judge explained that each side would get to make a closing statement. Then the jury would go off to decide whether Chelsea had proved Jazz’s guilt.

  Milo barely heard the judge’s words. His eyes were pinned to the cashbox she had set before her on the desk, and his brain was working furiously.

  Omar’s key hadn’t opened the box. Neither had Jazz’s. And the lock hadn’t been picked.

  So how had more than a hundred dollars disappeared from a locked box?

  There had to be some trick—some other way of opening the box. But Milo had spent hours trying to break into the model cashbox, the one they’d gotten from the hardware store.

  Where had he gone wrong?

  Maybe the problem was their model. It looked just like the cashbox sitting on the judge’s desk—an ordinary cashbox with an ordinary lock. Was there some hidden difference, though?

  Like the hardware store man said: those little padlocks might all look the same, but they weren’t really the same.

  Look the same.

  But not the same.

  Milo sat bolt upright. That was it!

  “Your honor!” He jumped to his feet. “Wait! Stop!”

  “What is it?” the judge asked.

  “I—I need to go out for a minute,” Milo said.

  “You should have done that before you came in,” she told him.

  “No! I don’t—I mean—” He gave up. “Never mind! I’ll be right back! Please, please, don’t finish the trial without me!” Not waiting for an answer, he burst out of the room.

  Milo hurtled down the hall, praying he wouldn’t get stopped for breaking the No Running rule. He bet he was leaving scorch marks in the hallway!

  When he returned, huffing and puffing, Jazz rushed up to him. “Milo! What’s going on?”

  Milo bent over, gasping for breath. “I . . . know . . . who . . . stole . . . the . . . money.”

  “What? Who?”

  Hands on knees, he looked up at Jazz. “Who wanted to get you in trouble? Who wanted to take your place as president?”

  “Chelsea?” she gasped.

  He nodded. “It was Chelsea all along.”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Pandemonium.

  Chelsea was on her feet. Her mouth moved, but her words couldn’t be heard over all the other excited voices.

  Bam. Bam. Bam. “Order in the court!” The judge pointed at Chelsea. “Sit.”

  “But he can’t—”

  “Now.”

  Chelsea sat.

  The judge turned to Milo. “Explain, please.”

  “It was the padlocks!” Milo said. “They didn’t have to be the same at all. They only had to look the same.”

  “What do you mean?” Jazz cut in.

  “Remember how Chelsea knocked the worms and dirt on the floor? And I thought she did it so she could steal the money while you were cleaning up?”

  Jazz nodded.

  “Well, I was right. Or almost right. She didn’t take the money then. But she took something else: the lock.”

  “Huh?” Jazz said. “But the lock was still on the box at the end of lunch that day. I locked it myself.”

  “You locked a lock,” Milo told her. “But it was Chelsea’s lock, not yours.”

  Jazz frowned. “No, that’s impossible. The next day I unlocked it again—with my own key.”

  Milo glanced around the room. Everyone looked as confused as Jazz, except for Chelsea, who looked sick.

  He turned to the jury.

  “Okay, let’s go back to the beginning. Chelsea’s at the snack table with Jazz. The cashbox is sitting open on the table. The open lock is hanging from the box.”

  Milo walked over to the cashbox. “Can I use this?” he asked.

  The judge nodded.

  Milo held his hand out to Jazz. “Key, please.”

  Jazz slipped the string over her head and handed it to him. He unlocked the padlock, flipped the cashbox lid open, and left the open padlock dangling.

  “With me so far?” he asked the jury.

  A few nods.

  Milo went on. “Chelsea ‘accidentally’ knocks a cup off the table and makes a big mess, which Jazz has to clean up. While Jazz is down on the floor, Chelsea pulls the switch.”

  Milo reached for his jacket pocket, and then stopped. “Does anybody have a pair of gloves?”

  A girl handed him a pair of pink gloves with white snowflakes. Ignoring the snickers, Milo put them on, then pulled a small padlock from his pocket. He held it up so everyone could see.

  “Chelsea takes the lock off the box. Then she puts her own lock on.”

  He took the lock from the cashbox, hanging the new lock in its place.

  “As you can see,” he told the jury, “it’s the same kind of lock. It looks just like the other one, so Jazz doesn’t notice the switch.”

  Murmurs from the jury.

  “At the end of lunch, Jazz locks the cashbox up—” He snapped the lock shut. Click. “—and takes it to the office, just like always.”

  He glanced at Jazz. Her bright eyes told him she had caught on.

  “Later, when no one’s in the office, Chelsea sneaks in and unlocks her lock.” Milo pulled out a little key, opened the new lock, and dropped it on the table. “She takes the money. Then she switches locks again.” He put the first lock back on and shut it. Click.

  “So when Jazz goes to open the box—”

  “It’s locked, but the money is gone,” Jazz finished for him. “And it looks as if no one could have taken it but me.”

  For a moment, no one spoke.

  “Can you prove it?” the judge asked.

  Stillwearing the gloves, Milo picked up the lock he had taken from his pocket. “I’m sure the police can check this for Chelsea’s fingerprints.”

  Chelsea let out an angry shriek.

  “You had no right to go digging in my backpack—” She clapped a hand over her mouth.

  Milo grinned at the judge.

  “How’s that for proof?” he asked. “Your Honor?”

  For the first time, the judge smiled. “I’d say it’s pretty good.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  Milo handed Omar a dollar and took a packet of sunflower seeds and a napkin folded into the shape of a watering can. Omar put the dollar in the cashbox.

  “Not much money in there now,” Milo said.

  “Omar and I decided it was safer to leave most of it with the office lady,” Jazz said. “We only keep enough in the cashbox to make change.”

  “How much have you earned so far?” Milo asked.

  “About a hundred and fifty bucks! Counting the hundred Chelsea stole.”

  Chelsea had given back the money. The principal offered her a student trial, but she begged him to just choose her punishment himself.

  Chelsea had to write an apology to Jazz—and read it aloud over the school PA. She also was suspended for a week. When she came back, she’d miss recess for two more weeks while she helped dig the new school garden.

  Of course, she also lost her position as student council vice president. And she wouldn’t be allowed to run for president the next year.

  “Who’s going to be the new veepee?” Milo asked.

  “Me!” Billy came up to the table, beaming even more brightly than usual. “That’s what happens when the vice president turns out to be a crook.”

  They all laughed.

  “Now we’ll need a new secretary.” Jazz poked Milo. “Interested?”

  He shook his head. “I’m too busy with trials.”

  Everyone but Chelsea loved the new student court. And Milo was the most popular lawyer in school.

  “Not too busy for sleuthing, though,” Jazz said. “Right, partner?”

  Milo dug out his detective notebook. “I was just figuring out what to tell Dash about The Case of the Locked Box.”

  “I’ve
been wondering,” Omar said. “When you went running off during the trial, you weren’t gone that long. How did you find Chelsea’s lock so fast?”

  Milo and Jazz exchanged a glance.

  “I didn’t,” Milo said.

  Omar’s eyes widened. “But we saw it. And you said—the fingerprints—”

  Milo grinned. “I said the police could check for Chelsea’s fingerprints. I didn’t say they’d find them!”

  “Milo and I bought that lock at the hardware store.” Jazz explained about the model cashbox, then went on, “The lock was on the cashbox in Milo’s desk. When he realized what Chelsea had done, he ran and got it.”

  “I figured Chelsea wouldn’t be able to tell it wasn’t hers,” Milo continued. “After all—”

  Jazz finished the sentence with him. “All these locks look the same!”

  SUPER SLEUTHING STRATEGIES

  A few days after Milo and Jazz wrote to Dash Marlowe, a letter arrived in the mail. . . .

  Greetings, Milo and Jazz,

  Congratulations! This case was one for the record books. Milo, very few detectives have argued a case in court—and won! And Jazz, even fewer have wound up as defendants! Of course, I was once falsely accused of faking evidence—by a jealous rival sleuth. My blood still boils when I think of The Case of the Dirty Detective. . . .

  Happy Sleuthing!

  Warm Up!

  Here are some brain stretchers to keep you fit to foil the cleverest culprits! If you have any doubts about your answers, take a look at the last page of this letter.

  1. How can you make seven an even number?

  2. The barber shop in your town has two barbers. One has a nice, neatly trimmed head of hair. The other’s hair is a mess. Which barber should you use?

  3. What happens once in a minute, twice in a moment, and not even once in a hundred years?

  4. The more it dries, the wetter it gets. What is it?

  Hello, Burglar! Come On In! An Observation Puzzle

  Your mystery reminded me of a building I once came across. What careless tenants! Only one worried about robberies. The rest left doors and windows open—and keys in obvious places! See if you can spot all the careless things the tenants did. (Hint: There are six.)

  Answer: Windows are open in 1B and 3A; doors in 2A, 1B. And see the keys by 1A’s mat and 2B’s windowsill? 3B is the only place a burglar would skip!

  A Robber’s Guide to Theft Prevention: A Logic Puzzle

  Three ex-robbers always worried about . . . robbers! Each had a special item he wanted to keep safe and his own idea of how to do that. Try to figure out what item each guy treasured and how he protected it.

  Look at the clues and fill in the answer box where you can. Then read the clues again to find the answer.

  Answer Box (see answers on next page)

  Rocky Louie Sal

  Treasure

  How protected

  1. Rocky loved the clown mask he wore on his first bank holdup.

  2. The ex-robber who adored his rubber ducky put it in a box, hung it from a canoe, and put the canoe in a lake.

  3. Louie hid his treasure in his cat’s litter box.

  4. One guy hid his most beloved item in a package in the freezer labeled “Lasagna.”

  5. One ex-robber prized his first Wanted poster and meant to keep it forever.

  Stolen at Sea: A Mini-Mystery

  Check this out and draw your own conclusion!

  It was a dark and stormy night—really. I wouldn’t have minded except that I was on a ship and more than a little queasy. I was wishing something would distract me from the rolling and lurching when the captain called me. Sometime during the last half hour a fortune in jewels had been stolen from the safe in a film star’s state room.

  Only two people knew where the jewels had been kept: the star’s assistant, Frank Beck, and her maid, Mabel Drudge. Beck told me he’d been alone in his cabin writing notes. He showed me several different ones, each of which began in neat, precise block letters, “I’m having a pleasant trip but missing you a lot.” The maid, pointing to headphones and a music player, said she’d been alone in her cabin listening to the soundtrack from The Little Mermaid. I knew right away that one of them was lying. Who was it?

  Answer: Beck. There was no way he could have produced such neat, perfect writing while the ship tossed in the savage storm.

  Answer to Logic Puzzle: Sal kept his beloved rubber ducky in a box hung from a canoe in a lake. He often took it out for a swim. Rocky kept the mask he wore on his first bank holdup in his freezer in a package labeled “Lasagna.” Louie hid his first Wanted poster in a plastic bag in his cat’s litter box. (I know—ewww.)

  EEEEK! A Make-a-Model Story

  Making a model has saved me grief in more than one case. There’s nothing better for helping clients understand how something works! Here’s one story.

  A desperate client came to me wringing his hands and crying, “There’s a giant monster in my basement!” He’d gone down there to turn off a light, but when he saw a huge shadow of an eight-legged creature on his wall, he flew back upstairs. Too afraid to return to the basement on his own, he begged me to investigate. When I searched, all I found was a small rubber spider that belonged to his young son.

  I guessed right away what had happened, but my client refused to believe me. So, using a flashlight and the rubber spider, I recreated his “giant shadow monster” on the kitchen wall. How did I do it? (Hint: If you’re not sure, try making a model yourself with a flashlight and any small object.)

  Answer: I asked my client to hold up the rubber spider several feet away from the kitchen wall. Then I shined my flashlight on the spider. The closer the flashlight got to the spider, the bigger the shadow on the wall grew—until it really did look like a monster’s shadow! (Try it for yourself and see what kind of giant shadow creatures you can create.)

  Answers to Brain Stretchers:

  1. Take out the s.

  2. Since there are only two barbers in town, they must each cut each other’s hair. So you should go to the barber with the bad haircut.

  3. The letter m.

  4. A towel.

  Don’t miss book #12 in The Milo & Jazz Mysteries:

  The Case of the Buried Bones

  Milo and Jazz have a bone to pick when it’s time to dig up the town time capsule and all that is found is a mysterious note . . . and a skeleton! (To everyone’s relief, “Herman” turns out to be the long-lost skeleton from the high school’s science classroom.) Milo and Jazz are determined to find the missing time capsule, but first they must take on class prankster Gordy Fletcher and solve the mystery left by Gordy’s mischievous great-grandfather.

  FOR MORE MYSTERIES

  from your favorite kid detectives, visit:

  www.kanepress.com/miloandjazz.html

  Praise for…

  “The Milo & Jazz Mysteries is a series that parents can enjoy reading with their children, together finding the clues and deducing ‘whodunit’. The end of book puzzles are a real treat and will likely challenge most readers, regardless of age level.”—Mysterious Reviews, Hidden Staircase Mysteries

  “Certain to be a popular series, The Milo & Jazz Mysteries are highly recommended additions to school and community library collections for young readers.”—Midwest Book Review

  “My favorite mystery series for younger readers.”—Heidi Grange, Elementary School Librarian

  #1: The Case of the Stinky Socks

  “Gets it just right.”—Booklist, STARRED REVIEW Book Links’ Best New Books for the Classroom

  #2: The Case of the Poisoned Pig

  Agatha Award nominee for Best Children’s Mystery “Highly recommended.”—Midwest Book Review

  #3: The Case of the Haunted Haunted House

  “Builds up to an exciting finish.”—Mysterious Reviews

  #4: The Case of the Amazing Zelda

  “Most definitely lives up to the high quality of its predecessors . . . fun page-turner �
�� a great addition to elementary school and public libraries.”—Library Media Connection

  #5: The Case of the July 4th Jinx

  2011 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award Silver Medalist “Excellent summer reading.”—Midwest Book Review “A good choice.”—School Library Journal

  #6: The Case of the Missing Moose

  “Engaging … Fun pen-and-ink illustrations enhance the story. Numerous clues are provided … and the mystery has a surprising twist at the end.”—Booklist

  #7: The Case of the Purple Pool

  “Young readers might just have to exercise their brains to solve this one. I think mystery fans ages 6–10 will enjoy this series.”—Semicolon blog

  #8: The Case of the Diamonds in the Desk

  “Sprightly illustrations enliven the brief chapters, which are filled with earnest, clever kids being funny—and, more importantly, smart.”—Booklist

  #9: The Case of the Crooked Campaign

  “A hilarious circus of clues . . . Kids will have a fantastic time keeping up with the sleuthing action.”—Midwest Book Review

  #10: The Case of the Superstar Scam

  “A caper with which the audience will really identify. Lots of fun, with plenty of kid-friendly art.”—Booklist

  Visit www.kanepress.com to see all titles in The Milo & Jazz Mysteries.

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