Chapter
1
Leaves
Every fall my dad makes us rake the yard, front and back. He calls it “The Big Fall Cleanup.”
I call it something else.
Yeesh.
My oldest brother, Billy, wasn’t around to help. He worked weekends at the gas station. And my sister, Hillary, was like a magician. If there was work to do—poof!—she disappeared. That left me and my brothers Daniel and Nick.
I leaned against my rake and groaned. “How come we always get the dirty work?”
“Almost done, boys,” my dad hollered from the front stoop, a newspaper open on his lap. He enjoyed watching us work. Rags sat beside him, slobbering cheerfully. Rags liked watching us work, too.
The lazy furball.
“Me and Nick are starting a leaf-raking business,” Daniel told my dad.
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” Nick chimed in. “We put up flyers and everything.”
“Good for you,” my dad said. “But you’ve got competition. Buzzy Lennon has most of the neighborhood all signed up.”
“Buzzy’s a rip-off artist!” Daniel exclaimed. “His prices are way too high. I heard he charged poor old Mrs. Rigby a hundred dollars last year.”
“Buzzy’s a thief,” Nick claimed. “That’s why we’re gonna steal his business!”
He smiled like a fox.
Then he pushed Daniel into a leaf pile. Daniel turned and tackled Nick around the legs. Naturally, I joined in. That was probably a mistake. Daniel and Nick were stronger than me. Pretty soon I was getting the worst of it.
I felt like an ant at a square dance. Squish, squish, if you know what I mean.
Buzz, buzz. Daniel pulled a phone from his back pocket. He glanced at the message and frowned. “That’s weird.”
“Put that phone down,” Nick said to Daniel. “I need help stuffing this scarecrow.”
I squirmed while Nick kneeled on my chest. He shoved crispy leaves down my shirt.
“Time out for second,” Daniel declared. “Jigsaw, do you know a girl named Kim Lewis?”
“She’s in my class,” I said.
Daniel glanced down at his phone. “Well, I just got a text from her sister, Kayla. She says that Kim needs a detective. The famous Jigsaw Jones, world-famous detective and scarecrow!”
Nick rolled off my chest, though I could tell it broke his heart. I rose to my feet. Crunch, crackle. A few leaves had found their way inside my underwear. I staggered to Daniel, rustling and crackling with each step. “Let me borrow your phone,” I said. “These mysteries don’t solve themselves.”
Chapter
2
The Client
I climbed up to my tree house. Ten feet off the ground, it was where I did all my Big Thinking. I sat down (crunch, crackle) and spoke into the phone, “Jigsaw Jones, private eye.”
“Jigsaw?! This is Kim Lewis from Ms. Gleason’s class. I need your help.”
I told her she had called the right place. For a dollar a day, I made problems go away.
We talked briefly. Kim mentioned a stolen necklace. She talked about a mysterious note. We decided to meet at her house. An hour later, I’d washed my face, combed my hair, eaten lunch, and changed my underwear. Now I could walk without itching.
Mila Yeh was waiting outside. We’d been friends since forever. Maybe longer. Mila was also my partner. We ran the best detective agency in the school.
“So what’s this about?” Mila asked.
“It’s about a stolen necklace,” I replied.
Mila whistled. “Sounds like a mystery to me.”
Softly, Mila began to sing. Nothing new there. Mila was always singing something. She liked taking regular old songs and making up brand-new words. I recognized the tune. It was the “glory, glory” song, called “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Instead of the word Hallelujah, she sang Kimmy Lewis.
Copyright © 2001 by James Preller
