Free The Trail of the Screaming Teenager by Blanche Sims Page B

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    The girl bumped into his beach chair.
    She waved at him, then bounced up the steps to the boardwalk.
    “Well!” Noni told Dawn. “I hope you have better manners.”
    Dawn hopped up. “I do, I do.”
    She slammed down the cover of her detective box. She raced across the sand and dived into the water.
    It was cool, salty, wonderful.
    Behind her came the kindergarten kid and his mother.
    She was still reading. She was holding the book up in the air.
    The book was getting wet anyway.
    The boy looked at Dawn. He pulled back his arm. Then he splashed her as hard as he could.
    “Arno,” said the mother without looking at him, “I don’t think that was very friendly.”
    Dawn scrunched up her nose. She’d like to give Arno a quick punch.
    Dawn looked around for Jill and Jason.
    One of Jill’s bows was floating on the water.
    Jill was floating too.
    Jason was swimming in the doughnut tube. “Great,” he yelled.
    Dawn lay on her back. She kicked her feet. “I love to float,” she said. “I learned it at camp.”
    She closed her eyes. If only she had a mystery to solve.
    Then she thought she heard something. “Is someone yelling?” she began, and got a mouthful of water.
    “Everyone’s yelling,” Jill said.
    Dawn kicked once more. Then she stood up to see what was happening.
    On the boardwalk, the merry-go-round was going around.
    In front was the sand and umbrellas and people sitting on blankets.
    She could see Noni bent over her crossword puzzle . . . and the teenagers standing near her.
    The girl with the long blond hair was standing on her blanket.
    And she was screaming as loud as she could.

CHAPTER THREE
    D AWN RODE IN ON a wave.
    She scrambled up on the sand.
    The girl was still screaming.
    She waved her arms around.
    Even Noni looked up from her crossword puzzle to watch.
    Dawn shook the water out of her hair. She raced for the blanket.
    “Wait for me,” yelled Jill.
    Dawn didn’t stop. She had to see what was going on.

    Besides, poor Jill wouldn’t be any help at all.
    “It’s gone,” the girl said. She was wringing her hands. “My almost-diamond necklace with the two almost-ruby hearts.”
    The chicken-head boy with the radio clicked his teeth.
    “It must have fallen off,” said the freckle-faced girl.
    “We’ll look all over the place,” Long Hair said. “We’ll dig in the sand around the blanket.”
    The blond girl shook her head. “I bet someone picked it up. That makes someone a thief.” She opened her mouth. “Help. Someone’s a thief.”
    The other teenagers shook their heads. They searched through the blanket.
    They scooped up the sand around them. Dawn crept closer.
    “Help,” the girl yelled again.
    “I’ll help,” said Dawn.
    The girl stopped screaming. “You’re just a little kid.”
    Dawn drew herself up. “I’m the Polka Dot Private Eye. I’ve solved at least eight cases.”
    “Seven,” said Jill from behind her.
    “Six,” said Jason.
    “Anyway,” said Dawn, “I’m ready to solve this one too.”
    She reached for her Polka Dot Private Eye hat. “Tell me the clues.”
    “No clues. Not one,” said the girl. “I had it on the blanket. I didn’t have it on the boardwalk.” She opened her mouth wide. “Thieeeeef.”
    “What’s your name?” Dawn asked.
    “Mindy Merrill,” said the girl. “I made it up myself. I want to be an actress.”
    Dawn frowned. “But what’s your real name?”
    The girl frowned too. She opened her mouth. “Glad—”
    Just then someone else started to scream. Someone up on the boardwalk.
    “Gladys Gump,” yelled a boy with brown hair and glasses, “if you don’t get home right this minute, Mom’s going to kill you.”
    “My brother,” said the girl. “I have to go home.”
    She looked around one last time. “It’s a great necklace,” she said. “The rubies shine in the dark.”
    “Did you hear me?” the boy shouted. “Time to go home.”
    The girl shook out her shoes.
    She put on a blue flowered