Free Cam Jansen and the Wedding Cake Mystery by David Adler

Chapter One
    â€œHey,” Danny said. “What color is a hiccup?”
    â€œThat riddle is just silly,” Beth told him. “I hope you won’t tell it at the talent show. And you always talk too fast when you tell your jokes.”
    â€œFast talking makes my jokes even funnier.”
    Eric said, “Beth and I will juggle. That’s not silly.”
    â€œAnd I’ll do memory tricks,” Cam Jansen said.
    Mr. Jansen was driving everyone to the senior center. Cam was in the front seat of the car, next to her father. Her friends Eric, Danny, and Beth were in the backseat.
    Cam and her father help out at the senior center. This year they helped plan the Fall party and talent show. Cam asked her friends to be in the show. This was Eric, Danny, and Beth’s first visit to the senior center.
    â€œSo, what color is a hiccup?” Danny asked again.
    Mr. Jansen stopped the car. He waited for the traffic light to change to green.
    â€œHow could we know the answer to that?” Mr. Jansen asked Danny. “We’ve heard hiccups, but we’ve never seen one.”
    â€œIt’s burple,” Danny said, and laughed. “A hiccup is burple.”
    The light changed to green. Mr. Jansen turned onto a quiet street with large old houses and big front lawns.
    â€œIt’s funny,” Danny said. “A hiccup is like a burp and ‘burple’ sounds like ‘purple.’ So a hiccup is burple.”

    â€œIt’s silly,” Beth told him.
    Mr. Jansen parked his car in front of the senior center. He parked between a blue truck and a yellow truck. Ken’s Bake Shop was printed on the side of the blue truck parked in front. Mr. Fancy Fix-It was printed on the side of the yellow truck.
    â€œLook,” Cam said, and pointed. “Lucy Lane is taking pictures.”
    â€œLucy Lane is a photographer,” Mr. Jansen told Cam’s friends. “She will make lots of copies of the pictures. Then Cam and I will help the seniors send them with holiday cards to their friends and family.”
    Cam and the others got out of the car. They hurried up the front walk.
    â€œTake my picture,” Danny said to Lucy Lane.
    Lucy Lane was standing just a few feet from an old man with a white mustache.
    â€œI will,” she told him. “But first I’m taking Bob’s picture.”

    â€œEverybody calls me ‘Old Bob,” the old man said. “I own a bookshop. I was on my way into the center when this nice woman said she’d take my picture.”
    â€œSmile,” Lucy Lane told Old Bob.
    He smiled and she took his picture.
    Then she turned to Cam and the others.
    â€œSmile, everyone.”
    Mr. Jansen, Cam, Eric, and Beth smiled. Danny stuck out his tongue. Lucy Lane took their picture.
    Cam looked at Lucy Lane and said, “Smile, please.”
    Lucy Lane put her digital camera down. She pushed her hair back and smiled.
    Cam blinked her eyes and said, “Click!”
    â€œCam, take my picture, too,” Danny said.
    Danny stuck his tongue out.
    Cam looked at Danny, blinked her eyes and said, “Click!”
    Lucy Lane held up her camera. “Here, take a look,” she said. Danny and the others looked at the picture on the small screen on the back of her camera.
    â€œI’m sorry,” Cam said. “You can’t look at the pictures I took. Only I can see them. They’re all up here,” she said, and pointed to her head.
    Cam has an amazing memory. It’s as if she has a camera in her head and pictures there of everything she’s seen. When she wants to remember something, Cam just looks at the pictures she has in her head. Cam says “Click!” is the sound her mental camera makes when it takes a picture.
    â€œLet’s go inside,” Mr. Jansen said. “It’s almost time for the talent show to begin.”
    Mr. Jansen, Cam and her friends, Lucy Lane, and Old Bob all went into the