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she said.
    “We’re doing Red Riding Hood ,” Dawn said.
    Jason hopped up and down on the curb. “We’re going to surprise the school.”
    “Don’t tell anyone,” said Dawn.
    “Not a soul,” Carmen said. She went to the middle of the street. “Watch out for the wolf,” she called back.
    Jason nodded. “That’s what I say.”
    Dawn and Jason crossed the street.
    Dawn looked over her shoulder. “It wasn’t a real wolf,” she said. “I know that.”

    “It was a person,” said Jason. “He was dressed in my sister Peggy’s wolf suit.”
    “A big person, I think,” said Dawn. “A person with a scary voice.”
    She could feel her lips moving.
    Maybe she was going to cry.
    She hoped not.
    She put her hand up so Jason couldn’t see.
    Jason thought for a minute. “He couldn’t have been so big.”
    Dawn frowned. “Why not?”
    “He was wearing Peggy’s suit.”
    Dawn crossed her fingers. “I knew that all along.”
    “I hope Peggy doesn’t go down to the basement,” Jason said. “I hope she doesn’t look for her wolf suit.”
    “Maybe she won’t,” said Dawn.
    Drake Evans was walking ahead of them.
    “Arf, arf,” he said when he saw Dawn.
    Dawn made believe she didn’t hear him.
    Drake’s friend Louie was with him.
    Louie was loud.
    Louie was big.
    Louie was mean.
    He was even meaner than Drake Evans.
    They were skipping stones across the street.
    “You’re not supposed to throw stones,” Dawn said.
    “Dog voice,” Drake told her.
    “Dog face,” Louie said.
    Dawn put her tongue out.
    Jason did a wolf growl.
    Then they started to run.
    They stopped on the next street.
    “Whew!” said Dawn.
    “I just thought of something,” said Jason.
    Dawn clicked her cowgirl boots. “What?”
    Jason scratched his knee. “Itchy,” he said. He looked back at Drake and Louie. “Maybe one of them . . .”
    “One of them what?”
    “Maybe one of them was the wolf.”
    Dawn looked back, too.
    “You think Drake wore your wolf suit?”
    “Maybe,” said Jason. “And my fake fingernails.”
    Dawn shivered. “You think Drake is going to get me?”
    “I hope not,” said Jason. “It’s a mystery.
    Dawn didn’t answer. She knew Jason was looking at her.
    He was waiting.
    She took a breath.
    She opened her mouth.
    “I’m the Polka Dot Private Eye,” she said. “I’m the one who solves mysteries.”
    “That’s what I was thinking,” said Jason.
    “I’ll solve this mystery, too,” said Dawn. “I’ll call it The Secret at the Polk Street School.”

CHAPTER FOUR
    “D ON’T SAY A WORD,” Dawn whispered.
    “Don’t even breathe,” said Jason.
    They were at Drake Evans’s house.
    They were kneeling behind the bushes.
    It was muddy back there.
    Dawn could feel her good jeans getting wet.
    She tried to kneel on one knee.
    One clean knee was better than two dirty ones, she thought.
    Jason tapped her arm. “I hear them coming.”
    They ducked down.
    Dawn’s clean knee dug into the mud.
    Drake had a pile of cookies in his mouth.
    So did Louie.
    Louie stepped in a puddle. Water went over Drake’s jeans.
    “Hey!” Drake said. He opened his mouth wide. It looked like sawdust inside.
    Louie started to laugh.
    Cookies sprayed all over the place.
    “Yuck,” Dawn whispered.
    Drake stopped chewing. “What was that noise?”
    Louie raised one shoulder. “The cat. A bird. Who cares?”
    Drake and Louie sat down on the steps.
    Drake leaned over. He said something to Louie.
    Behind the bushes, Dawn tried to hear. She moved closer.
    She could feel her knees squish.
    “We did it!” said Drake.
    “Yup,” said Louie.
    “Did what?” Jason said to Dawn.
    “Sh!” Dawn said.
    “Where did you put . . .” Drake began. He put a cookie into his mouth.
    “In the auditorium,” said Louie. “In the stage closet.”
    Jason and Dawn looked at each other.
    Dawn nodded.
    Just then, Drake leaned over the bushes.
    He saw Dawn looking up at him. “Spies!” he yelled. “Let’s go, men!”
    Louie