The Tennis Trophy Mystery by David A. Adler Page A

row. “Play as a team.”
    “I think it’s coming from Mr. Day’s office,” Cam whispered to Eric.
    “Sh,” Eric said. “Don’t talk. We’re in enough trouble.”
    A boy in the back row hit the ball straight up. Everyone watched the ball go up. It almost touched the ceiling. Then they all watched the ball come down. No one tried to hit it.
    “Don’t just watch!” Mr. Day shouted to the children. “This isn’t a television show. This is a game.”
    Cam quietly stepped closer to Mr. Day’s office.
    It was Janet Teller’s turn to serve. She held the volleyball in her left hand. She made a fist with her right hand and hit the ball. It flew to the side, right at Mr. Day.
    “Oh no,” Janet screamed.
    Mr. Day put his hands in front of his face and caught the ball.

    Cam stepped even closer to the office.
    Eric took a step, too. Then he whispered to Cam, “What are you doing?”
    Mr. Day stood next to Janet.
    “Hey,” Danny called to Cam and Eric. “Where are you going?”
    “Whisper!” Eric told Danny.
    Danny moved next to Eric and whispered, “Where are you going?”
    “Cam wants to know why there’s a strange smell coming from Mr. Day’s office.”
    “Maybe he’s cooking garlic,” Danny said. “Or maybe he’s burning old sneakers. That would really stink.”
    Mr. Day held the ball in his left hand. “When you serve, hit the ball like this,” Mr. Day told Janet. Then he took an even swing and hit it high over the net.
    Cam took one more step and was by the office. She turned and looked through the small window in the door.
    It was a small office. When Cam looked through the window, all she could see was Mr. Day’s desk and the old cabinet behind the desk.

    The desk was piled high with papers.
    The cabinet was against the back wall of the office. The cabinet had two locked glass doors. Cam looked through the glass doors to the back wall. It was painted yellow.
    “That’s it,” Cam said. “That’s the smell. The office was just painted. It was blue before and now it’s yellow.”
    “Yellow!” Danny said.
    Eric and Danny looked through the window.
    “It’s a big square banana. That’s what it is,” Danny said. “Mr. Day’s office is a big square yellow banana.”
    “The cabinet looks a little empty,” Cam said, and looked through the window again. “I think something is missing.”
    Cam closed her eyes and said, “Click!”
    “That’s it,” Cam said with her eyes still closed. “That’s what’s missing.”
    Cam opened her eyes and looked at the top shelf of the cabinet. On the shelf were two silver trophies.
    “He had three trophies on the top shelf,” Cam said. “Now he just has two. His tennis trophy is missing.”

CHAPTER THREE
    “That’s the trophy he won at last year’s teachers’ tournament,” Eric said. “He’s so proud of that one.”
    “Bam! Whoosh!” Danny said, and pretended to be swinging a tennis racket. “He beat Ms. Green.”
    “Maybe the trophy is in his desk,” Eric said. “Maybe he took it home.”
    Mr. Day turned. He saw Cam, Eric, and Danny standing by the door to his office.
    “I told you to study the rules,” he said. “You can’t see the sign from there.”
    “How did that happen?” Danny asked as he looked to his right and looked to his left. “How did we get here?”

    Cam, Eric, and Danny went back to the corner. They looked straight ahead at the sign.
    “I’ve got to get in there,” Cam whispered. “I’ve got to get in that office and look for that trophy.”
    “It’s time to stop playing. Line up, please,” Mr. Day told the class. He stepped forward and caught the volleyball. “You, too,” he called to Cam, Eric, and Danny.
    The children hurried to the entrance to the gym. They got in line and waited for their teacher, Ms. Benson.
    “What happened to your tennis trophy?” Cam asked as she walked past Mr. Day.
    “I won that last year,” Mr. Day said. He was very proud of that trophy. “I won it in the