Read Edgar Allan's Official Crime Investigation Notebook for Free Online Page B

love! Edgar wondered who they were talking about.
    Ms. Cassatt jumped. “There he is! Ask him!”
    Edgar looked out the door and saw Mr. Browning walking by with a ladder.
    Ms. Barrett pulled the other teacher back. “
Shh!
”
    Edgar got out his notebook.
    Ms. Barrett wrote a love poem on a card and left it in Mr. Browning’s supply closet! Ms. Barrett has a secret side. Does every teacher?
    He put the last spot of paint on his mask. The shape of the mask was his face, but the colors and designs made the mask look bold and powerful. Is this the real me or am I a boring, ordinary boy? he wondered. He washed his brushes and asked if he could go.
    Finding Destiny was easy. She was where she always was during recess: sitting underneath the willow tree on the far end of the playground. But the picture was incomplete. Maia was usually with her. Where was Maia? She wasn’t on the basketball court or by the giant chessboard or with Sammy and the other kids playing soccer in the field. He walked to the side of the building and peeked around the corner. Maia and Gabriela were there! Why were they hiding?
    Edgar wondered if he had his theory backward: Maybe Destiny was staying away from Maia because she had become a thief with Gabriela!
    â€œLet’s start at the beginning again,” Maia said.
    The two girls stood back to back.
    â€œ
Uno, dos, tres, cuatro
,” Gabriela said, and then they began to dance.
    Dance? What kind of thieves danced? Edgar stepped out from his hiding place. Maia stopped and made a face. “This is a
private
rehearsal.”
    â€œFor what?”
    â€œYou know how Gabriela is the Star of the Month?” Maia asked.
    Edgar knew.
He
had hoped to be chosen.
    â€œWell,” Maia continued. “She wanted to do a Mexican folk dance for her Star-of-the-Month talent, and I said I do Mexican folk dancing, and so she asked me if I would do a dance with her.”
    Gabriela smiled and nodded.
    â€œGo away so we can practice,” Maia said.
    Edgar walked back to the main playground and sat on the tree stump. Back to investigating Destiny. He glanced at the willow tree, where Destiny was still sitting, and read over her poem again.
    What Am I?
    by Destiny Perkins
    I weep.
    My graceful arms hang
    with the weight of sadness.
    once I heard happy voices
    beneath me.
    Now…silence.
    An idea hit him like a ray of sunlight.
    I think I cracked the mystery of Destiny’s riddle poem. The answer is
willow tree
! The willow tree has graceful arms that hang down and it’s weeping because Destiny and Maia used to sit beneath it and talk happily, and now thereis only silence. Why is there only silence? Because Destiny is alone!
    Maia and Destiny have been best friends since first grade. Now Maia isn’t hanging out with Destiny anymore. I think Gabriela came along and stole Destiny’s best friend! I think Destiny is sad and lonely!
    Can sadness be a motive for stealing something? Or maybe she is jealous?
    Did she steal the goldfish to get revenge on Maia for leaving her in the dust? Has she decided to turn to a life of crime?
    Patrick is watching me! I cannot give away the fact that Destiny is my prime suspect. I will pretend to be observing somebody else.
    I was pretending to observe Kip who was sitting on the bottom of the slide, eating a candy bar, and then Clarice Stolnup came along and stole the candy right out of Kip’s hand. Kip got up to chase after her, but his shoe was untied and he tripped. Guess who went after Clarice and got the candy back for Kip?
    Taz!
    Life is a surprise.

CHAPTER TEN

    Edgar was on a roll! After recess was over, it was time for social studies in Mr. Crew’s room, and Edgar knew what he wanted to investigate: the metaphor poems from yesterday that were on the bulletin board. He hurried to class and searched until he found Destiny’s.
    Friend
    Â Â Â by Destiny Perkins
    A true friend swims
    close to you
    never leaving