Who Took the Book? by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

5

On Zack’s Trail

The three friends stared at the suspect list. Chet polished an apple and took a big bite. Joe stirred his soup with his spoon.

“If you stir that any more,” Frank told his brother, “you’re going to make a tornado in there.”

Just as Joe stopped stirring, a wadded paper ball landed in his bowl. Soup splashed all over his shirt.

“Hey!” Joe shouted. He picked up his napkin and used it to wipe the soup off his shirt.

Chet and Frank looked around. They were hoping to see who had thrown the paper ball at Joe. They didn’t see any obvious suspects.

Joe picked the paper ball out of his soup. It had floated on the surface, so it wasn’t too wet.

“Hmm,” Joe said. He looked at the trash can next to the lunch table. “Maybe somebody was trying to take a shot at the basket and they just missed.”

Joe held the paper ball above his soup, letting drops of liquid fall back into the bowl. “If they did, though,” he said, “they should apologize.”

Joe turned to the trash can. He held up the paper ball as if it were a tiny basketball. He aimed and got ready to take a shot at the basket.

“Wait!” Frank said. “Let me see that paper.”

“Why, do you want to lick the soup off?” Chet asked with a laugh.

“No,” Frank said. “I think there’s something written on it.”

Joe handed the paper across the table to his brother. Frank took it by the corner. He didn’t want to smudge the writing he could see on the paper.

Frank put the paper on the lunch table. He used his fingers to smooth out the paper.

Chet leaned over Frank’s shoulder to look at the paper. His eyes widened. “Wow,” he said. “There is definitely something written here.”

“What does it say?” Joe asked.

“I think it was for Joe,” Chet said. He looked at Joe and made a kissing noise with his lips.

“What?” Joe asked.

Frank turned the paper around so that his younger brother could read it.

“ ‘There is a girl in this school who likes you,’ ” Joe read aloud. “Somebody likes me? No, this must have been for Frank!”

“Not for me,” Frank said. “It landed in your soup.”

“So, I wonder who Joe’s secret admirer is,” Chet said.

“I don’t have a secret admirer!” Joe yelled. His voice was so loud that kids at other tables looked up at him.

Joe leaned across the table. He whispered in an angry voice, “I don’t have any secret admirer.”

Frank looked in the direction that the paper ball had come from. He saw three different tables. All three tables had girls sitting at them.

Some of the tables had girls he knew. At one table sat Iola and her friends from second grade. Tanya Wilkins, Wendy Kay, and some other girls were at another table. And at the third table were girls he didn’t recognize.

“Great,” Chet said, “just what we need. A second mystery.”

“Chet’s right,” Joe said. “Let’s handle one case at a time. We need to figure out who put that book in Frank’s backpack.

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