Read Online Ten Thumb Sam by Rachel Muller - Free Book Online

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    â€œShhh,” said the librarian at the circulation desk.
    â€œSorry,” said Sam. His voice dropped to a whisper. “It’s the man in the gray suit! The mustache is a little thinner, but it’s
him
! I knew it—he must work for Mr. Beaverwick.”
    Harriet nodded. “You were right! And remember I told you I thought he looked familiar? Now I know where I saw him before. He hadn’t grown the mustache yet, but I’m sure he was hanging around the Leaping Lizard just before it went bankrupt.”
    The photograph the cousins were studying had been taken outside a courthouse in Vancouver. According to the caption under the photo, the owner of the Kit and Kaboodle Circus had taken Circus Enormicus to court to try to stop a forced bankruptcy sale. The photo showed Mr. Beaverwick next to his wife and two of his lawyers. Behind them was a fifth person: the man Sam had bumped into, the man Harriet had followed after the safety net fell on the clowns.
    â€œThis photograph proves he’s connected to Mr. Beaverwick,” Sam whispered. “We’ve got them both!”
    â€œWe haven’t actually seen him do anything,” Harriet cautioned.
    â€œLook,” said Sam. “There’s something else.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œLook under the photograph. Do you see Mr. Beaverwick’s wife’s name?”
    â€œMrs. Audrey Burkenoff-Beaverwick. Nice name. Oh.
Oh
!” Harriet exclaimed, a light going on in her eyes. “Burkenoff!”
    Sam nodded. “It all makes sense! Beaverwick must be related to the safety inspector who fined us. We’ve got to get back to the circus,” he said. “We’ve got to tell my dad!”
    â€œLet me finish my notes,” said Harriet. “What am I saying—I’ll just print out these pages instead.”
    As soon as they had paid for the printouts, the cousins hurried out of the library. They ran most of the way back to the Triple Top.
    â€œWhere’s Dad?” Sam asked Annabel when they reached the Stringbini bus. Annabel was sitting on the grass, playing with paper dolls.
    â€œIn a meeting,” said Annabel.
    â€œWho with?”
    â€œWith Mom and the Pigattos and the men in the long black car,” Annabel replied without looking up.
    Sam peered around the side of the Stringbini bus. Sure enough, there was Mr. Beaverwick’s limousine, half-hidden behind one of the circus trailers. “It’s his car all right,” Sam said to Harriet. “Mr. Beaverwick must be here right now!”
    â€œWhere’s the meeting?” Harriet asked Annabel. “In the main tent?”
    Annabel nodded. “They won’t let you in,” she warned. “It’s private.”
    But Sam and Harriet were no longer listening to Annabel. They were already racing to the big top.

Chapter Fifteen
    Sam and Harriet entered the tent just as Mr. Beaverwick and two other men in suits were leaving.
    â€œWhat happened?” Sam asked his parents and the Pigattos when the men were gone. “You didn’t sell the Triple Top, did you?”
    â€œNot yet,” said Max. “Mr. Beaverwick’s lawyers are still drawing up the contract.”
    â€œBut you
can’t
sell out,” said Sam.
    Mr. Pigatto shook his head sadly. “We don’t have a choice, Sam. We can’t afford to pay our fines by the deadline. This is the only way to keep the Triple Top from going under.”
    â€œBut you don’t understand,” Sam sputtered. “Beaverwick is the one sabotaging the circus!”
    â€œThat’s quite an accusation!” Sam’s mother said. “Do you have any proof?”
    Sam and Harriet took turns telling their story, from Sam’s first encounter with the man in the gray suit, to what they’d learned from their research at the library.
    â€œDid you ever actually see this man doing anything to sabotage the Triple Top?” Mr. Pigatto