Ann Martin - Claudia And the Clue in the Photograph

that Mr. Zibreski," I crowed. "But he wasn't clever enough."

Hours later, when I finally went to bed, I slept better than I had in weeks. For the first night in what seemed like a long time, I didn't have to worry about Mr. Zibreski being after me. The case was dosed, and he wasn't going to be around for a long, long time.

Chapter 15.

"Savvy Teens Find Key to Bank Mystery.' How about that? My daughter's famous," said my dad, peering over the newspaper at me the next morning, as I sat down to breakfast.

"I love that headline," said my mom, passing me the jelly. "And the article is terrific. The police gave you girls practically all the credit for solving the case."

"I know,” I said. "Isn't it great?"

"Well, it’s great that it worked out," said my mother, frowning. "But I would have been worried if I'd known what you were up to. Playing detective can be dangerous."

"Oh, Mom," I said. "We were careful. All we did was figure out dues from those pictures we took."

"Your deductive reasoning, though flawed at times, proved fruitful in the end," said Janine. She helped herself to some toast. I noticed she still wasn't looking me in the eye.

"I guess that photography class is really paying off," said my dad.

"It sure is," I said. "But you know what? We might have solved the case a lot sooner if some of my pictures hadn't been ruined."

"Ruined?" asked my dad. "How?"

Janine and my mom looked at me curiously.

"Oh, just a mistake I made," I said. There was no way I could tell the truth. My parents would never let me "play detective" again if they knew about what had really happened. I thought for a second about how scared I'd been that day when somebody opened the darkroom door, but I shrugged off the feeling. The main thing was that Mr. Zibreski had been caught, and now I was safe.

The article mentioned that Mr. Zibreski had been squirrelling money away for some time. Apparently, he couldn't stop worrying about his "retirement years," and stole money so he could be sure he'd have plenty when he was older. Reading the article, I realized he must be a very troubled person, and I was glad to know he'd be in prison for quite awhile. I wouldn't have to worry about him following me, and he would get the help he needed.

After breakfast, I headed upstairs to get ready for summer school. Just as I was putting on my earrings — a pair I'd made out of green

beach glass — I heard a tentative knock on my door, "Claudia?" Janine called softly. "May I come in?"

"Sure!" I said, opening the door for her. "What’s up?"

Janine came in and sat down on my bed. Instead of answering me, she stared at her hands.

"What is it, Janine?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

"No," she said, finally. "Well, I mean, yes — but. . ."

"Janine!" I said. "Spit it out!"

"It’s just that I — I have a confession to make," she said, after a long pause. She blushed and looked down at her hands again.

"A confession?" I asked. "About what? Did you rob a bank, too?"

"No," she said, smiling a little. "But I did do something wrong, and then I compounded the error by refusing to admit it."

"Huh?" I asked.

"I should have told you this a long time ago," said Janine. She took a deep breath. "I was the one who opened your darkroom door that day."

"I knew that," I said. "Remember? You apologized all over the place."

"No, not that day. The second time."

"Ohhh!" I said. Duh. I finally realized what

she was trying to say. "That was you?" I asked. "I was sure it was Mr. Zibreski, trying to ruin my film on purpose."

"That’s what I thought you thought,” she said. "That's why I wanted to confess. I was just so embarrassed before that I couldn't stand to tell you. After all, I had ruined your film once, and that was bad enough. Doing it twice was ridiculous. So when I realized what I had done that day, I just ran out of the house. I couldn't face you."

"Janine, you are a wacko!" I said, laughing. Then I remembered the "z-alarm" I had set up — and set off! — that night and I started to laugh even harder. It was such a relief to know Janine had been the one who had opened the door.

"So you're not angry?" asked Janine.

I was laughing too hard to answer her, but I managed to shake my head. Then she started to laugh, too.

About a week later, I was putting the finishing touches on a special display in my room when Stacey walked in. She was a little early for our BSC meeting.

"Claudia!" she said, looking around at the pictures I'd hung. "These are great." She stepped closer to one of them. "Looks like Mr. Geist thought so, too." She was pointing at a

big red A+ written on a Post-It note stuck to the side of the photo.

"He loved them.” I admitted, feeling a little shy all of a sudden. I remembered the way he'd smiled when he told me how well I'd carried out the portrait assignment. That’s what those pictures were: my portraits, which I'd finally finished and handed in. Now I had them back, and I couldn't wait for my friends to see them. I gazed around the room and saw the faces of the BSC looking back at me. There was Kristy, shooting me the peace sign, and Mary Anne, throwing her hands over her face, Stacey, striking a pose and looking totally cool, Shannon, looking serious and thoughtful. And there was Jessi, caught in mid-plie, and Mal, showing the camera her pile of books.

Just to make the show complete, I'd added snapshots of Dawn and Logan, so the entire BSC was up there on my walls. The picture of Dawn was one she'd sent us from California, and it showed her carrying a surfboard as she walked across a beautiful beach. And Logan's picture showed him in his track uniform, after a big race.

"This is so, so cool,” said Kristy, who had come in behind Stacey. "Can I have a copy of the one of me?"

"Sure, no problem," I said. And by the time

the rest of the dub members had showed up and looked at the pictures, I had orders for copies of all of them, and I had also promised to make up a set to send to Dawn. I was going to be busy in the darkroom that night, but I didn't care. I was proud of my work, and happy that my friends liked the pictures as much as they did.

"I did really well on my math test, so my parents agreed to let me keep on taking photography classes when regular school starts this fall," I told them. "Mr. Geist says I'm one of his most promising students!"

"Yea, Claud!" said Stacey. "I think you deserve a big round of applause — not only for these pictures, and for passing math, but for all the work you did on solving the bank mystery."

"Hear, hear," said Kristy. She started to dap, and everybody else joined in.

I gave a little curtsy. "Thank you, thank you," I said. "And now, to celebrate — "I held up a huge box of Mallomars. "Mallomars all around! And popcorn, too," I added, passing the bag to Stacey.

Once our meeting began, we were busy for awhile taking phone calls and setting up jobs. Then, during a lull, Kristy said, "You know, I've been thinking about that lady with the baby carriage. I'd like to track her down."

"Why?" I asked. "She's innocent. We know that for sure now."

"I know," said Kristy. "But she does have a baby, you know. She might need a sitter one of these days."

That’s Kristy for you. She never stops thinking about business!

Just after our meeting ended that day, the phone rang one more time. I grabbed it. "Hello?" I said.

"Is this the famous Girl Detective of Stoneybrook?" somebody asked.

"Dawn!" I said. "I guess you got the newspaper clippings I sent you."

"I sure did," she said. "Great work! And I got the book you guys made, too. It’s wonderful. I can't tell you how much it made me miss Stoneybrook."

I talked with Dawn for a few minutes, and then I passed the phone around the room so she could talk to everybody else. Before she hung up, she told Mary Anne that she was writing a thank-you letter to the kids who had made the book.