and Stephanie were telling about the gold they found with their gadget. Thatâs when my stomach started to hurt, remember?â
âI remember, but, Tessaââ
ââSo anyway, I picked it up and brought it inside and washed it off and then, because I never saw one like it, I made yellow crayon rubbingsâI couldnât find a gold crayonâand after thatââ
âTessa!â
She blinked. âWhat?â
âI donât think it counts as confessing unless first you admit it really was your fault.â
Tessa looked surprised. âWho made that rule?â
I didnât have an answer, so I asked another question. âWhy did you go and put the gold coin in your piggy bank, anyway?â
Tessa looked at me like I was crazy. â
Duh
, Cammie. Because a piggy bank is where a person keeps coins!â
âSo,â I said, thinking out loud, âit wasnât the two dollars and twelve cents in the piggy bank that the thief wanted. And it wasnât an antique piggy bank withpimples, either. It was a gold coin that might be worth a million dollars. In that case, the question is: Who besides you knew what was in the piggy bank?â
Tessa waved her arms the way she does. âIf I knew
that
, I couldâve solved the case myself, Cammie! But thatâs just it. Nobody knew. Honest, I didnât tell a soul!â
CHAPTER TWENTY
I had one more question for my sister. âSince all along you knew where the gold was, why did you act like you thought Wen Fei and Stephanie had it?â
Tessa turned pink. âI feel bad about that,â she said. âBut I figured if you and Nate suspected them, you wouldnât suspect me. And then I thought I could get the gold back myself before anybody got in real trouble.â
âYou realize now we have to tell the grown-ups?â I said.
Tessa said, âI know,â and if Iâd been smart, I would have marched her to the kitchen to tell Granny right away.
Onlyâcall me a wimpâI couldnât do that to my very own sister. So for a while she and I both sat there in our bedroom being dejected.
Then I had an idea. The piggy bank had been in Tessaâs laundry hamper, right? Which meant it smelled more or less like Tessa. And since that was true . . .
It was a dumb idea, and it would probably neverwork. But: (a) it wouldnât hurt to give it a try; and (b) it was an excuse to put off Tessaâs execution.
I explained, and Tessa was so totally relieved not to have to confess right away that she said, âYouâre the best sister
ever
!â and gave me a big, clingy hug.
âBut, TessaââI undid the hugââif this doesnât work, we go to Granny. Deal?â
Tessa nodded solemnly. âDeal.â
Half an hour later, full of grapes and vegetable soup, we were back in our room, this time with Hooligan. We had borrowed him from Mr. Ng.
âOkay, Cammie,â Tessa said, âIâm ready! Now what do we do?â
I opened my mouth to answer . . . and realized I didnât know. Iâd gotten the idea that we could use Hooligan to track a piggy bank that smelled like Tessa from books Iâve read. I mean, Hooligan has to be at least part bloodhound; Dad says heâs part every kind of dog.
The thing is, what I remembered was the idea, not the details. I hadnât exactly been taking notes when I read those books.
Then I looked at Tessa and Hooligan, who were looking back at me with total faith. Since I couldnât let them down, I had only one choice: Fake it.
âWhat we do first is . . . uh, we give Hooligan something to smell that smells like the piggy bank,â I said.
Tessa looked doubtful. âLike dirty laundry, you mean?â
I tried to sound confident. âTotally.â
Tessa wrinkled her nose. âIf you say so.â She went over to her laundry hamper, opened it and pulled out
Suzanne Weyn
Steven Savile
Sherryl Woods
Hallie Swanson
Patrice Michelle
Craig Johnson
Aneesa Price
Mary Marks
Kate McMullan
Yenthu Wentz