Read Online The Case of the Missing Dinosaur Egg by Martha Freeman - Free Book Online

on a plane bound for the capital of a certain nearby nation.”
    Can I tell you a secret?
    I wasn’t that upset that the interview was canceled. With Easter on Sunday and the egg roll on Monday, my family had a lot going on.
    Maybe Tessa, Nate and I could just chill until Mr. Morgan and Mr. Webb came back from Pittsburgh. Didn’t we already have enough to report?
    After we got into bed and turned the lights out, I confessed this to Tessa.
    She said, “You’re right, Cammie. Mr. Morgan and Mr. Webb probably got the rest of the evidence they need in Pittsburgh, anyway. And now they’ll be able to prove it was Professor Bohn all along.”
    â€œWait!” I rolled over. “No! Not Professor Bohn—Mr. Valenteen! Or maybe Professor Rexington.”
    â€œOkay, fine,” Tessa said, “but you know what Aunt Jen says: ‘If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.’”
    I sighed. “So you’re saying we don’t get the weekend off?”
    It was dark in our room, but from the way her sheets rustled, I knew my sister was getting all dramatic the way she does. “What I’m
saying
is: Don’t worry about a thing because—lucky for you—I am about to hatch a foolproof plan!”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

    There was no time to talk about plans on Saturday morning. As usual, Granny took Tessa to ballet, and Dad went with me to my soccer game. I play for the D.C. Destroyers, and that day we got D.C. Destroyed.
    Luckily, unlike some people I could mention, I am not a grumpy loser.
    Granny made us sandwiches for lunch. We ate in the Family Kitchen. This was the first chance Tessa and I had had to tell Nate that the interview with Mr. Valenteen had been canceled.
    â€œNo worries, though,” said Tessa. “I have a foolproof plan!”
    â€œWhat is it?”
    â€œI’ll tell you tomorrow,” Tessa said. “Right now, it still needs time to incubate.”
    â€œVery funny,” said Nate.
    Tessa giggled. “I know. Sometimes I crack myself up. Get it?”
    When lunch was over, Nate went upstairs to meethis math tutor. Aunt Jen says Nate’s not challenged by fifth-grade math, so he’s learning trigonometry. Did I mention how it’s lucky Aunt Jen isn’t my mom? Meanwhile, I was thinking I might invite my friend Courtney to come over and go bowling—the White House has its own bowling alley—but before I could, Mom came in.
    â€œMama!”
Tessa hopped up and hugged her around the waist. “Are you taking the afternoon off to play with us?”
    â€œI wish I could,” Mom said. “But actually, I’m here because Ms. Ann Major has a project, and she needs your help.”
    Ms. Ann Major is a deputy assistant press secretary on my mom’s staff. We know her because her beagle, Pickles, went to obedience school with Hooligan.
    â€œWhat project?” I asked.
    â€œMs. Major wants to help us make sure the news guys cover your visit to Toni’s house tomorrow,” Mom said. “If they do, it will be good for the friendship between our government and President Alfredo-Chin’s.”
    â€œI’m confused, Mama,” Tessa said. “Eb Ghanamamma doesn’t like President Alfredo-Chin, right? And Eb Ghanamamma wants democracy. Don’t we want democracy, too?”
    â€œOf course we do,” Mom said, “but not just yet.”
    â€œSo what does Ms. Major want us to do?” Tessa asked.
    Mom looked at her watch. “Meet her at her desk in ten minutes, and she’ll tell you.”

    Ms. Major’s desk is in a maze of cubicles in the West Wing—which is a building next to the house part of the White House. You get there through a special kind of hallway called a colonnade. Charlotte came, too, and the three of us scrunched into chairs.
    The project turned out to be a short video about Tessa’s and my friendship with Toni. Right now, Ms.