

Snaggle  
by pd kiernan

Snaggle  
Copyright: Lightning Bug Studios, LLC  
Published: 2 January 2015  
Publisher: Lightning Bug Studios, LLC  
The right of PD Kiernan to be identified as author of this Work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.  
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in retrieval system, copied in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise transmitted without written permission from the publisher. You must not circulate this book in any format.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

Find out more about upcoming Suzie Snaggletooth books online at  
suziesnaggletooth.com

Find out more about the author and upcoming books online at  
pdkiernan.com

I want to thank my family for their love and support.  
It truly makes anything possible.

#  Chapter 1

Suzie Singleton blinked open her green eyes beneath the long flowing curls of her bright red hair. She stretched her arms wide and sat up in her bed. A cool breeze unfurled the yellow sunlit curtains that veiled her second floor window. The buzzing calls from the cicadas outside were an unmistakable sign summer was coming to an end. She jumped up, put on the clothes she had laid out the night before, and headed down for breakfast.

She tip-toed down the hallway and stairs. She didn't want to wake her mother after her night shift at the restaurant. She also desperately did not want to wake _The Beast_. This was the current nickname she had for her little sister Debbie. The names have come and gone as her sister has morphed over time. When she was very little she was _Little Urchin_ , then _Crawling Drooler_ , and recently _Tiny-Whiney_. But _The Beast_ was the perfect fit now, especially since she crowned herself queen and ruler of their small castle.

Not only was it Suzie's job to look after her little sister, but also cater to her every whim. Suzie's mom had to constantly remind her of that responsibility. Things weren't always that way. She could remember when she was the one being fawned over, but those were different times, the good old days. Life was sweet, and so was Debbie. That seemed ages ago, and if it wasn't for her grandmother coming over to help, Suzie probably would have lost her wits long ago. She felt it was Debbie who kept her from pure happiness, so now she wanted to enjoy the quiet.

She crunched on a spoonful of frosted cereal and looked around the small kitchen lit so nicely by the early sunlight. _It was a pretty boring summer so far_ , she thought. There were the occasional adventures, but really these were all pretend. They were made up stories that Suzie would come up with for her friends. She did have to admit she was very good at it.

If you wanted to go on a quest set on the high seas and battle pirates, she was your guide. Felt like spending an afternoon bike-jousting fellow knights with Wiffle Ball bats while princesses rescued themselves, she was the girl to see. Suzie was never short of playdate requests. If word got out she was at your house, expect bored kids appearing out of nowhere by the car load thirsting for fun and adventure.

It was all good entertainment, but recently Suzie began to want more. She wanted something she could hold onto before the end of the summer. Before the start of- she had to stop herself. She refused to even think the word... _school._

She was outside in no time. She wheeled her five-speed streamlined gold-sparkle painted bike out of the garage. It had mirrors with streamers on the sides of the handlebars and a gear shifter in the middle for super-fast speed changes. Her seat and chain guard were accented with butterfly stickers that matched the rainbow-sheened butterfly stickers on the sides of her golden helmet. She absolutely loved her bike. It was the first birthday gift she picked out with both her mom and dad and, as it turned out, the last. She also loved that it was fast!

She zipped down the narrow driveway and onto the sidewalk. She was only allowed in the street to cross it or to save life and limb. Suzie stretched the rule from time to time, but for now she stayed on the sidewalk for the two and a half blocks to her best friend's house.

She didn't have many close friends, so something about Cassidy Dibella was special. Cass was a genuine tomboy who got into more fights with boys than most boys do. And she was brutally honest. She told you right to your face what she thought about you or anything else. That's usually what got her into trouble. Suzie admired that because it was so unlike herself.

As she rode Suzie passed her old elementary school, with its now empty playground full of chipped concrete and wonderful memories. She jumped her bike off the curb and around the double parked police cars lined up in front of the police station, the 102nd Precinct. She thought about running in to say hi to Sergeant Joe and see if he had any spare bubble gum today, but she quickly dismissed the idea. She was on a mission to save summer and it was too important to stop.

On she rode, her bike clanging when she slammed down broken curbs and up driveways to cross streets. She flew up the rest of 118th Street and made a left onto Jamaica Avenue. She looked up at the elevated train tracks climbing high above the street. Somewhere unseen atop massive columns of green painted iron a line of subway cars thundered by sending electric sparks showering down. Suzie stopped to marvel at the sparks as they magically disappeared before they reached the ground.

She flew past the Top-Mart grocery store that stood on the corner. She waved hello to Mr. Granger as he swept the wide sidewalk of his storefront. He looked up sleepily and waved back.

"Gonna be a nice day, Suzie," he said as he smiled. "Better make the most of it."

"I will!" she yelled back. She turned her head around a little when she passed him and thought, _What kind of odd advice was that?_ Even he realized the summer was winding down. She pedaled harder, shifted to third gear and picked up speed.

She shot past the other stores with their shopkeepers lifting up their metal gates to open up for the day. Passed the O'Donnell Bakery, and the German delicatessen, the jewelry store owned by the Kleins who lived behind her, and then there was Kane's Toy Store. She slowed down in front to look into the main display window.

New dolls! No, wait- she was past all of that, wasn't she? Still, they had set up the perfect house, with the pool right next to it. They were all sitting around the dining room table; the Mom, Dad, and the kids. It was very impressive.

_It is really hard to get them to stay that way_ , she thought. It all looked so perfect it made her sigh. The next window was dedicated to back-to-school supplies. She turned away quickly and rode on.

In another minute she had looped down 117th street and was joyfully coasting over some brand new sidewalk cement. Then her bike abruptly clanked over the uneven slates that made up the sidewalk in front of Cassidy's house. She skidded to a stop by her front gate, but heard strange yelling and other noises from Cassidy's next door neighbor's backyard.

# Chapter 2

Cassidy Dibella was worn out. She had been up for only an hour but it seemed like all day. It all started when the little girl who lived next door, Sarah, couldn't wait to play with her that morning. Sarah was a couple of years younger than Cassidy, but Cass was a little small for her age and kept her blonde hair short which made her look even younger and close to Sarah's age. They liked playing together, so they didn't care about the age difference most of the time.

Cassidy really liked Sarah's dog, Cody. He was a little Yorkie who yelped a little too much but was still a ton of fun, especially playing tag. It was almost like he knew the rules. He knew what was base, which changed often, and who was it, which was Cody himself most of the time. Cassidy asked her dad every other day for a dog like Cody. His answer was always the same: why did they need another Cody when there was a perfectly good one next door.

Playing with Cody was really the only thing that lured Cass out of bed when Sarah knocked at her door as the sun came up. It wasn't too long before they were running around playing tag with Cody. Cassidy had no idea her best friend Suzie had pulled up on her bike, but Sarah knew.

Over the tops of the bushes that lined the front yard Sarah caught a glimpse of the rainbow sheen of a butterfly stickered helmet. She saw the streams of curly red hair swirling in the wind. She jumped up, put her arms out to her sides like an airplane, and began to run around the yard, yelling at the top of her lungs.

"Snaggle! Snaggle! Snaggletoooooooooooooooth! Snaggletoooooooooooooooth!" She ran across the yard and back, and ran along the side of the house towards the front, yelling even louder.

"Suzie, Suzie, Suzie Snaggletooo-" Sarah stumbled over a tree root, stood back up and continued, "ooooooooooooooooooooooth!"

One of the upper windows of the old Victorian house banged open. Out popped the half asleep head of Mrs. Simmons, Sarah's mom, along with the sprawling mess of her dark pillow-pressed hair.

"Sarah Elizabeth! You stop yelling this instant!" she yelled. "People are sleeping! Do you hear me?"

"But mom, it's Suuuuzieeee!" she cried as she ran into the front yard, jumping and waving her arms around frantically. "Suzieeeeeeeeee!"

Even before the monumental episodes awaiting in this book, Suzie was a bit of a celebrity, especially with the younger crowd. She had a passion for justice that was never more evident than the time she stood down some sixth grade boys who were ganging up on some third graders earlier that year.

It was right after school one day and the older boys had stumbled into a group of third graders playing outside the school yard. They thought it would be fun to start picking on them. As fate would have it, Suzie was walking nearby. The moment she saw what was going on she knew it looked wrong and stepped in between them.

"Hey, they don't like that. Why don't you turn around and walk on outta here," she said with a gulp in her throat. She stood her ground and the sixth graders stood theirs. It made for some very tense moments. At that time she was still a fifth grader, so it was understandable when the third graders were stunned by her brave defense. Slowly, one by one, the brutes peeled away. As he walked on in defeat, one of the sixth grade boys started name calling.

"Ya gonna get yours someday, Snaggletooth!" he bellowed out, causing all of his gang to burst out laughing.

"Hey, wait!" Suzie yelled. They all stopped and went silent as Suzie's face lit up. "I like that! Suzie Snaggletooth! That's brilliant!" This caused them to turn away and further retreat in utter confusion.

To Suzie, the nickname fit perfectly. She had always had a crooked tooth to the left of her two big front teeth. It has been that way since she could remember. Plus it sounded so cool, like the saber toothed tiger she had learned about in school who roamed this land in the distant past. Who's going to mess with a saber toothed fifth grader. Nice!

So by the time little Sarah and her second grade buddies got wind of the tale, Suzie was a legend. In their version she single-handedly fought back an army of bullies by snarling and baring her Snaggletooth, saving half the third grade. This gave her the reputation as _the_ go-to person for super-fun adventure.

It was with this excited expectation that Sarah opened her front gate and ran over to see Suzie. Sarah hugged the legend so hard Suzie nearly tumbled over off her bike.

"Whoa there!" she yelled as she braced herself. "Hiya Sarah!"

"Hey Snaggle!" Sarah replied.

"Seen Cass around?" asked Suzie.

"Am I glad to see you!" yelled out a voice from behind the tall bushes next door. It was Cassidy, and as she ran out she tilted her head with a nod towards Sarah. That meant she needed a break from Sarah and Suzie arrived just in time.

Cassidy didn't close the Simmons' metal gate behind her all of the way. It bounced back open ever so slightly, leaving a gap. That small gap would bring forth great consequences for Cassidy, Suzie and everyone around them.

"This is going to be the bestest play date ever!" Sarah exclaimed.

"Right," said Cassidy as she rolled her eyes a little. "Suzie, I've got some big kid stuff to tell you. C'mon into _my_ backyard. Bee right back, Sarah!" she said with a smile to little Sarah, who turned and kicked a rock down the sidewalk.

Cassidy ran ahead up the narrow cement driveway that separated her house from her neighbor and motioned for Suzie to hurry up and follow. Suzie zoomed past Sarah on her bike and caught up to Cass.

"Boy, she's up pretty early, isn't she?" Suzie asked as she stood up on her pedals carefully to keep the bike moving next to the walking Cassidy.

"You have no idea! Between Sarah getting me up at the crack of dawn and my crazy uncle coming over last night and stomping around with my dad like elephants, I don't think I slept more than five minutes!" Cass was waving her arms around as she spoke. She continued, "My mom keeps saying I'm never going to get up for school in a couple of weeks, and ya' know, I think she's right."

"School!" Suzie stopped and dropped her feet down off of the bike pedals. "School?"

"Yeah, what?" asked Cass as she stopped walking.

"We have almost a month left. I mean really, what are you trying to do to me?"

"Nothing- I mean, wait, _what_?" Cass replied with a scrunched face. "Hey, ya know, you've been acting kinda funny lately."

Suzie looked around and thought for a second. "Right now, people are talking about school and it feels like the summer just started, and now it's almost over. They have a whole window full of notebooks and backpacks at Kane's, for cryin' out loud." Cass looked at her with a confused look. Suzie continued, "Don't you want to do make the summer count for something before it just...ends? Something more important. Ya know what I mean?"

Cass shook her head in confusion. "You mean, like, serious stuff? Like, do work, or something? Isn't that what school is for?"

"I mean do more meaningful-type stuff. Fun stuff," said Suzie.

"Fun work?" Cass replied and shook her head some more and started to walk back to where Sarah was. "I don't think you're going to find that. Play- now _that_ I understand. I don't think you will find _fun_ work- hey, where did she go?"

Cassidy was referring to the fact Sarah was no longer in her driveway. As they walked out front they could see her running frantically around her house next door. What was even stranger was Mrs. Simmons was now outside in her pink bathrobe and fuzzy white slippers along with her crazy hair, and she was running around as well.

"What's goin' on Mrs. Simmons?" Cass called over the fence.

"Someone left the front gate open! We think Cody might have run out. We can't find him anywhere!"

A horrifying thought raced through Cassidy's mind. "Oh no," she said. "When?"

"It must have been right after Sarah ran over to see Suzie," she answered while looking under her front porch.

"I was the last one out," Cass said slowly, more to herself than anyone else.

"What was that?" Mrs. Simmons asked. Suzie stepped a little closer to Cass to hear her as well.

"I was the last one out. I thought I shut the gate, now I'm not sure," Cass said and paused to take a breath. "It was me."

"He's nowhere!" Sarah yelled as she ran in from the backyard.

"And the gate was open when I looked out," Mrs. Simmons said shaking her head squarely at Cass. Cassidy had heard her repeatedly yell at her own kids about the gate, but she didn't yell at Cassidy. That made her feel even worse. Unfortunately, Cody was the kind of dog who would run and keep running if he ever got loose. They knew that, which is why they were so strict about the gate.

Everyone started to wander down the block, calling out his name, except for Mrs. Simmons. She stayed in front of her own house. She lingered around, calling his name and clapping her hands. By the time they reached the end of the block Cassidy had a sinking feeling. Cody was nowhere to be found. She took a quick look at the heartbroken face of Sarah and turned to Suzie.

"We have to do something," she said. "This is all my fault."

"We're going to make it right," she calmly said while looking at Cass. "But first, we're going to need some help."

They walked Sarah back to her house. They said some reassuring words to Sarah's mom she barely listened to, mounted their bikes and headed out.

"I guess you got what you wanted, some work to do," Cassidy said as they rode off together.

Cassidy had more of a dirt bike with a pale yellow frame, knobby tires, and no fenders. There was nothing close to being decorative on it. Her bike was all business. Even though it could out-climb and out-jump anybody, she struggled to keep up with the speedy Snagglemobile in front of her.

"Yeah, but it's not fun yet. It will be!" Suzie said as she looked back and smiled.

Cassidy smiled a little but kept looking around nervously, looking for the light brown fur of Cody in someone's backyard or driveway. _We have to find him_ , she thought.

"So, do you have a plan or something?" Cass yelled to Suzie as she pedaled harder to keep up while they flew through another block.

"We need a good old fashioned posse. Like in the old west." Suzie yelled back.

"A what? Hey, wait up!" she yelled as Suzie was picking up speed. "Where the heck are you racing to?" asked Cass.

"We have to get Pete!"

#  Chapter 3

Peter Reynolds was enjoying his poached egg on toast on his covered back porch. It was one of his mom's specialties and he loved it. He pretty much loved anything his mom cooked for him. He had slept later than usual today and wasn't very hungry, but finished it all the same. It was that good.

When he was done he strolled inside and put on the TV. He plopped in the chair his dad usually occupied and put his feet up on the conveniently placed ottoman. He found his favorite science show was on and so he settled back to enjoy a relaxing mid-morning rest.

He was so into the show he didn't notice the crash of collapsing bikes onto his front walkway, or the stomping of feet up his front steps. The sudden pounding of bare fists on his front door shook him and he nearly fell out of his comfy chair.

"Peter! Pete! Peter!" yelled both Suzie and Cass as they knocked and pounded and repeatedly rang the doorbell.

Mrs. Reynold's instantly appeared. She had a shocked look beneath her dark brown hair as she opened the door quickly.

"Oh, my! Hello girls. What on earth is going on?" she asked through the screen door.

"Is Pete home?" they both asked in unison, smiling politely.

"Sure, come on in," she opened the screen door wide and they piled in.

Peter strolled in from the living room. He closed his dark blue terrycloth bathrobe around his pajamas and stood scratching his head while they quickly surrounded him. His mom left the room.

"Pete," Suzie started, "we need your help."

"I lost a dog!" Cass blurted out.

"Wow- I didn't even know you had a dog," Peter said with a confused look as he put his hands into the front pockets of his robe.

"No, not _my_ dog- Sarah Simmons' dog." Peter was still confused. Cassidy continued, "You've met her, Sarah, next door."

"Oh right- little girl, yup, yup." Pete replied through half a yawn. "Nice little dog. Why would you want to lose a nice dog like that?"

"I didn't mean to!" Cass said and looked at Suzie. "Zeesh!"

"Anyway," Suzie stepped in, "point is- Cass feels awful, and she's with us, so we feel awful too."

"We do?" Peter asked.

"Yes, we do- you do." Suzie answered. "And we have to go out there and do something about it."

"Out there?" Peter asked, pointing to the street.

"Well, not right there." Suzie answered.

"We have to find him!" said Cassidy.

"Alright, yeah, sure. My show is finishing up. And my mom said I can have a marshmallow peanut butter with banana sandwich today. It is ridiculous!" Peter got all excited as he spoke about it. "Hey mom, how long until lunch? Hey, do you guys want to stick around and have one too?"

"Listen up! We've got no time for peanut-banana-crazy-nutjob sandwiches!" Cass said firmly as she stepped forward with a pointed finger towards Peter. Suzie quickly put her arm between them.

"What she means is," Suzie said calmly, "we need your help right now. We have to get everyone together and spread out, like a search party. Canvas the neighborhood. That's what they call it on detective shows."

"On TV? Okay, now you're talkin'." Peter started to slowly nod his head. "It's like a manhunt- or more like a dog hunt!" He giggled to himself.

"Whatever," Cass said motioning to the street outside, "but we have to go!"

"Yeah- like now!" Suzie said firmly.

"Hey mom- they need me," Peter yelled to the back of the house, "but save my sandwich!"

Peter couldn't find a shirt to wear before the girls dragged him out. With shorts and his plaid pajama top he ran to his bike and they were all on their way. They circled around from Peter's house on Lefferts Boulevard and made their way back through the neighborhood, looking for recruits. The first stop was the Nelson twins, Jesse and Jimmy.

It was easy to get them out of their house. Mrs. Nelson even helped get their bikes out of the garage. She said to be home by the time the street lights went on. The twins' fights between each other were legendary, but with Suzie involved they were eager to help and work together. They even came up with more people to enlist.

The next kid to call on was Dwayne Wiggins. He was a year older, but he was all in. He had two dogs himself and wanted to make sure the little guy was okay. He brought out his bike, a banana seat special with the front wheel stretched out way forward. Everyone stopped and checked it out for a quick second with a collective, "Whoaaah!"

"Yeah- my uncle tricked out the wheel last week," Dwayne said as they all looked at him turn the small tire. "Every time I make a turn it feels like I am going to flip right off the bike!"

"Cool!' Cass said, then added, "C'mon, we're wasting time!"

They next called on their elusive friend Roberto Rodriguez. He lived in one of the oldest and largest houses in Richmond Hill. They knew him from school, but rarely saw him during the summer. He was always at some sort of camp, or off to violin lessons, piano lessons, tennis lessons, and even karate lessons. They always called on him because when he was around he was funny. He also had the largest backyard and could host any type of game you could come up with. Plus, his house was always loaded with the best candy you ever saw. Jars of the stuff would be laid out all over. It turns out his dad worked for a candy company and he had quite the sweet tooth, so he always kept the candy stock full.

Roberto answered the door wearing a tennis outfit; a bright blue collared shirt with white shorts complete with bright white tennis sneakers. He looked a little shocked to see all of the bikes crowded into the long neatly manicured garden path that led to his front porch. He stepped out with a confused look on his face.

"Hey guys, what's going on?" he asked, turning to Suzie.

"We are in a hurry, we need your help," Suzie said quickly.

"Yeah," Peter said, "we're on a mission!"

"Oh-kaaay," Roberto said slowly.

"We need to find a lost dog," Cass stepped up and continued, "and we are in sort of a hurry, so are you in?"

Roberto looked over the entire group sitting on their bikes and took a quick glance back to his front door and down at his watch. A few of the gathered kids leaned on their handlebars and impatiently glared in his direction.

"C'mon, man. This is holding us up," Dwayne said as stood up high on his pedals and jumped back down.

"Yeah," Cass said, "let's go already!"

"Okay," Roberto answered, "I'm in. Give me a second to tell my mom. Meet me by the garage and I'll grab my bike."

They all spun around and rode past the neatly trimmed line of bushes until they arrived at the driveway. They could see Roberto inside his garage, pulling his bike down from a rack next to a red convertible classic car that was half covered by a canvas tarp. They all wheeled their bikes closer to peek in. In the back corner was an old stand up arcade game and a darkened pinball machine that looked interesting. Everything was neat, organized and very clean.

He popped his bike down. It was a sleek 24-speed racing bike. It had a white frame with red pinstripes and a little Italian flag on the front with a brand name nobody recognized. From the way Roberto was handling it, it looked super lightweight. Roberto was tall for his age but he still had a tough time reaching the ground when he climbed aboard.

"C'mon, let's find that dog," Roberto said as he motioned to Suzie to lead the way. All of the kids turned their bikes around and poured down the driveway behind Suzie. Roberto pushed off next to Peter. "Pete, you wearing pajamas, bro?"

"Suzie was in a hurry." Peter answered shaking head. "They can be very tough. It's a mission, ya know."

"Right," Roberto chuckled as he changed gears and caught up with the rest.

Suzie led them the few blocks back to Cassidy's house, where her neighbor, Mrs. Simmons, was walking by. She turned and seemed a little startled by all of the bikes pulling up.

"I searched up the block, all around," she said. "He's gone. I think I lost him." Mrs. Simmons was struggling to talk through tears.

"We'll find him," Cass blurted out and jumped off her bike. Mrs. Simmons shook her head and walked back inside her yard. Cassidy wandered around kicking at the ground and looked hard at Suzie.

"Alright," Suzie spoke up, turning around to everyone. "We've got to get this going, and do it the right way." The kids all gathered around her on their bikes. "What we are going to do is a simple grid."

"A what?" asked Dwayne.

"It's a canvas...uh, thing. Like a manhunt," said Peter, feeling important. "That's, like, TV detective talk."

"Okay, a grid. What does that even mean?" asked Roberto.

Suzie continued, "The only way this works is if we all move at the same time." She then explained she wanted everyone to line up at each corner, starting with the main cross street, Jamaica Avenue, and continuing in one direction, going block by block. She gave some other last minute instructions and then they took off.

They all moved out after each block was clear and looked over to see the others riding out with no sign of success. After the fourth block Suzie was about to wave her arm down to move to the next one when she stopped and looked around.

"Where's Roberto," she yelled out to Peter. Peter raised his arms and shrugged his shoulders.

Another minute passed by and all of the other riders were getting anxious. Suzie was about to ride over when out shot Roberto's racing bike like a white streak. It went clear into the street and Suzie could hear his hand brakes squeal as he jammed on them. Suzie caught her breath for a moment, squinted her eyes and tried to make out what he was doing.

He jumped off his bike, stood tall, and waved his arm in the air in large circles over his head. It was the 'roundup' signal, as Suzie had called it, and it meant Roberto had found Cody!

Suzie laughed aloud and could make out the bright white teeth of Roberto smiling back. She stood high on her pedals and started to repeat the round up signal, this time pointing towards Roberto so everyone behind her could see. Roberto turned around and disappeared back into the block.

She was joined by Peter and Dwayne first, then Cass zoomed in next to her saying, "Ya think he really found him?"

"He wouldn't be doing that if he didn't," Suzie said as they all converged on Roberto's street.

"C'mon, we're gonna miss him!" Roberto yelled back as he raced ahead of them while they all tried to follow as fast as they could. Suzie was first as she slam-shifted into a higher gear, but she still couldn't catch up to Roberto who was speeding towards the middle of the block. She could see him jam on his brakes in front of a dark green house that was mostly hidden in the shade of some overgrown willow trees. He waved at them to hurry and pointed to the closest tree on the left side of the house.

Suzie stopped her bike next to his and let it fall gently to the ground as she stepped closer to the tree. Underneath the long flowing branches of the willow was the small figure of a little dog, backing up into the shadows. The light sparkled off his eyes as they darted back and forth. He was looking nervously at the two approaching faces. It was so dark Suzie couldn't tell what the dog even looked like.

"Wow," Suzie whispered quietly to Roberto, "how did you spot him?"

"Eagle eyes. They used to call me that in cub scouts," he answered in the same whispering tone.

More tires skidded and screeched to a stop as Dwayne, Peter and Cassidy appeared on their bikes in front of the house.

"Shhhhh!" Suzie whispered, putting her finger to her lips. Then she made some hand motions to the others who were coming in behind them. "Go around that way, in case he runs!" She ordered the Nelson twins in one direction and Dwayne and Peter to cover the other.

"We'll make a road block, it'll be great!" Peter said as he tried to keep his front tire in contact with Dwayne's.

"It's a dog, Pete. He'll run around us," Dwayne said as he folded his arms over his high handlebars and gazed at Peter in disbelief.

Cassidy dismounted her bike carefully and peered into the darkness. "Cody, is that you, boy? Is that you in there?" She slowly crept underneath the willow branches with Suzie at her side. The dog looked nervously around and his little face caught a bit of the light. "It is him!"

The door of the house opened to their right and out came someone onto the top step of a moldy chipped cement stoop.

"Hey, what are you kids doing over there?" said an old woman's scraggly voice. She stepped forward and they saw an old lady bent over a cane wearing a long black sweater and two pairs of eyeglasses; one on her wrinkled face and the other dangling back and forth from a chain around her neck. It swung feverishly as she waved her free arm at them. "I said hey! What are you up to there?"

She came out another step and the green wooden screen door behind her creaked back and slammed closed. The loud bang shook everyone, including Cody. The little dog sprang forward and started to run! He dashed past Cass and around Suzie. Roberto tried to grab him, but Cody went right through his legs.

He ran onto the sidewalk and turned right, but there were the bikes of Peter and Dwayne blocking the way. Dwayne leaned out to grab him, but Cody turned around too quickly for that and ran back the way he came. One of the Nelson twins, Jimmy, had leapt off his bike and was closing in from that direction. Cody stopped when he saw him. Jimmy let out a roar like a lion. Everyone stopped and stared at him in astonishment for a brief moment. The roar made Cody scamper back in fear towards the willow tree. He then leapt into the arms of the one person he knew well: it was Cassidy.

She grabbed him and hugged him tight, making sure not to let him go. He let out a scared whimper and was shaking in her arms.

"What was that, a lion?" asked Roberto to Jimmy.

"Well, it worked didn't it?" he answered.

"Nice work everyone!" Suzie said as they gathered around Cassidy with little Cody secured in her arms.

Peter smiled and patted the top of his handlebars and said to Dwayne, "See, I told you, roadblock."

Dwayne answered, smiling, "Yeah right, road block."

#  Chapter 4

Mrs. Simmons was sitting on her porch, looking sadly out onto her front lawn. Sarah was still looking under the porch and calling out Cody's name. Cody could hear it from a half block away and began to bark. Sarah instantly looked up, while Mrs. Simmons climbed up the steps to get a better view.

She saw all of them clearly, a long line of bicycles riding two by two along the sidewalk. The Nelson twins were hooting and yelling at the rear. In the front was Cassidy, riding with one arm on the handlebars and the other holding onto the littlest member of the Simmons family. He was yelping now, and trying desperately to jump away.

They all streamed into the driveway of the Simmons house. Mrs. Simmons had already run out and started to cry. She reached out her arms and carefully took Cody from Cassidy.

"I can't believe it! I really can't!" she said as she hugged Cody while Sarah kissed the top of his head. "Where was he?" she asked Cassidy.

"Well," Cass replied, "he was maybe five blocks away, ya know, across a few and down a couple. Far enough I guess. The little guy sure was scared."

"Well, Cass, I can't thank you enough," Mrs. Simmons said solemnly, still wiping the tears away.

"Don't just thank me. It was everyone who helped. And Suzie's the one!" Cass said, pointing out her friend who was pulling up towards the rear. "Suzie got everyone together and planned the whole thing out."

"Oh, well, um," Suzie said, looking around at the others, "really everyone worked together. We all made for a very good team."

This was when good fortune presented itself, as it often does to the doers of good deeds. The Mister Softee ice cream truck had turned the corner and was heading down the block. The truck turned on its distinctive music, with the chimes that can summon any kid from three blocks away.

"Let's celebrate!" Mrs. Simmons said loudly out to everyone. "Who wants ice cream?" She knew that was a silly question, especially in the summer heat.

Everyone crowded together as the truck spotted them and pulled right up next to all of the bikes. Mrs. Simmons stepped forward, still holding Cody. "They get whatever they want," she said to the man who popped his head out of the small window on the side of the blue and white truck. He was middle aged and wore a crunched up Mets hat. He smiled widely as he looked at all of the kids.

"You got it, lady," he said.

They all lined up and most ordered chocolate and vanilla swirled soft ice cream in double scoop cones, all with sprinkles on top, usually rainbow flavored. Suzie ordered chocolate ice cream with chocolate sprinkles. Dwayne ordered a Bomb Pop, with its red, white, and blue ice that started to drip as soon as he unwrapped it. Everyone thanked Mrs. Simmons profusely as they began to devour the ice cream before it dripped all over themselves.

A small green car was driving by slowly and a man with sunglasses leaned out the window. He seemed very interested in the group gathered around the ice cream truck. He pulled over in front. He got out without much notice from them as they were busy angling their cones to catch every melting drip.

Mrs. Simmons couldn't help but look at the man curiously as he looked and laughed at the whole gang. He was young, mid-twenties, had a short beard and large gold-rimmed sunglasses with green lenses. A khaki bucket hat covered his long hair. He had a denim shirt casually draped over blue jeans. Slung over his shoulder were two cameras on long straps and some other camera equipment. He kept his wide smile as he approached Mrs. Simmons.

"Wow, that's a lot of ice cream. Great idea for a hot day," he said to her.

"Well, they all deserve it," she said, and held up Cody a little as he tried to sniff at the man. "They rescued my dog and I had to give some them some kind of a reward."

"Really? A rescue? You don't say," the man said as his thick eyebrows raised over the rims of his sunglasses. He reached into his jeans back pocket and presented Mrs. Simmons with a little white card.

"Greg Flynn, I'm with the Post," he said. "I'm a photographer slash reporter, slash everything really," he laughed a little as Mrs. Simmons inspected his card. "Photojournalist, I guess that's my official title nowadays. I'm out looking for summer photos. Good natured filler really, and your kids here would make for some great shots for the paper. Is it alright if I take a few photos, before it all melts?"

"Well, sure," Mrs. Simmons answered, "I guess so. Is that okay with you guys?" she asked the group, as only a couple were paying any attention to the conversation. One of them was Dwayne.

"Yeah! Cool! Can you get me on my bike? And get my new wheel in the picture?" he asked very excitedly.

"Sure thing, what's your name?" the man replied.

"Dwayne Sampson Wiggins", he said proudly, folding his arms with his Bomb Pop and sitting high up on his bike.

"Why don't you all come close together, let's get a nice group shot," said Mr. Flynn as he directed everyone to close in around Dwayne.

Suzie hung back a bit as she had finally received her ice cream and wanted to enjoy it for a minute, so she was in the rear of the pack.

"So tell me about the rescue. Where did it happen?" asked the man as he took a couple of pictures while kneeling in front of everyone and looking through his camera.

"Ah yeah- ya know, that's just in a day's work around here. I mean, that _is_ what I'm all about," Dwayne said as he motioned and punctuated everything with the bomb pop. "Ya know, I rescue stuff all the time."

"Really?" the man asked, now pulling out a little yellow notebook and a little pencil as he started to jot things down.

"Hey-" Cassidy spoke up, "wait a minute now. It was Suzie's idea." She then stepped in front of Dwayne's bike which prompted a very harsh look from Dwayne. "Yeah," she continued, shooting a harsh look right back at Dwayne, "she's the one. She organized the whole thing. She got everyone together. Came up with the plan. She did it!"

The man turned around towards Mrs. Simmons. "Sounds like you have a fan," he said to her.

"Oh," she answered him, "I'm not Suzie. Suzie, come out front and take some credit."

Suzie took a step forward while she licked the other side of her double cone to catch some melting sprinkles. She did a quick wave with her free hand.

"Hiya," she said with her mouth still half full.

The man snatched up his camera and took a few quick shots of Suzie with her cone still in hand.

"So what's your full name?" asked the man.

"Suzie Snaggletooth!" replied the Nelson twins in unison.

"It's, um, Singleton, Suzie Singleton," Suzie answered the man, then smiled back to the twins. "That's just a nickname."

"Well, Ms. Singleton, why don't we start this story from the beginning?" the man asked as he got his little notebook ready and began to write down most of what Suzie said, while Cassidy filled in any of the details she left out.

Before too long they were done, but not before Dwayne emphasized his role in the roadblock. Peter immediately spoke up, saying it was his idea, but he had to admit Dwayne played an important role. Then the man packed up his things and started to head back to his little green car.

"Hey mister," Cassidy yelled out to the man as he sat down. "When is this in the paper?"

"Oh, I don't know. It depends if it's a busy news day. Could even be in a couple weeks. Sometime before summer is over, maybe. Keep an eye out, and keep buyin' papers!" And with that he started his car and drove off, leaving them all a little bewildered as to when they might see their picture.

"Keep buying papers? What kind of answer is that? Goober!" Cassidy blurted out.

"Cassidy Dibella!" Mrs. Simmons said sternly.

"Sorry, but it was a simple question, "said Cass. "I mean, zeesh!"

The ice cream truck left and everyone drifted away one by one. Roberto and Dwayne seemed to hang on for another minute, but Suzie stood and stared at little Cody and remained quiet so they headed home as well. Suzie snapped out of it long enough to thank them for helping, then she returned and watched Cody as he ran around his front yard, regaining his courage.

"What are you all quiet about?" Cass finally asked her.

"I dunno, am I?" Suzie answered.

"Wanna play something?" asked Cass.

"Sure," Suzie said, and they headed inside Cassidy's house.

Cassidy brought out a few board games, but Suzie seemed a little distant the entire time. It wasn't until Sarah came over that Suzie really put her heart into it.

Suzie made up a whole story about a kidnapped princess taken to a deserted island, which turned out to be Cassidy on a chair in her room. Suzie led a rescue team of herself and the ninja warrior, Sarah.

They were on a flying raft (that happened to be Cassidy's bed). They had to leap over sharks and step on crocodiles (that remarkably resembled pillows on the floor), to get to the island and free Cassidy. It made for an afternoon of great fun. Still, Suzie was more excited about the rescue of Cody and what it could mean for her mission to save summer.

#  Chapter 5

It was well after sunrise when Suzie awoke the next day. She couldn't sleep well the night before. She was too excited about the events of yesterday. Ideas had been flying around in her mind constantly, keeping her from getting any rest. She wandered into the kitchen to fill up on her favorite frosted cereal again. She failed to notice her neighbor, Mrs. Krankle, running from her house across the street with her arms up. She was flailing them back and forth, with one arm holding something.

"Oh my gawdness! Wouldja look at this! Oh my gawdness! As I live-n-breathe!" she yelled, causing Suzie to look up and lift the large mass of her curly hair away from her eyes.

Mrs. Krankle had now rushed up their walkway and onto their steps. She was a middle aged woman who always had her hair up. She moved her large frame up the front steps quickly. She bent down sideways and peered into the partially opened glass panels of the aluminum screen door. "Anybody home? You guys awake in theah? Hey Linda?"

Suzie gulped down her mouthful of cereal and spoke up. "Hi Mrs. Krankle," she said, "need some help or something?"

"Oh my! Did you see? You didn't see? Wheahs ya mutha?" she asked her. She was shaking the newspaper frantically against the screen door.

"Oh, um, well," Suzie paused, then answered slowly as her tone climbed hesitantly with each word, "she's still sleeping, I think? She worked late last night, and-"

"Hello, Florence. Good morning," a woman grumbled in a raspy voice as she entered the room, scraping her slippers across the kitchen floor and drifting behind Suzie, who watched her mother slump over the countertop and reach up for the box of her usual multigrain cereal. She looked more tired than usual, Suzie thought. She had on her pale blue robe that was torn in a couple of spots. Her hair was sticking high up on one side, showing she slept like a rock and didn't move in the night. She turned a little to see Suzie had left the milk on the table. With a yawn, she slid her way over to it. Then she remembered who had woken her up so ridiculously early.

"Oh," she said as she stopped halfway sitting down, "Florence, please, do come on in. What brings you over so early on a Saturday?"

Mrs. Krankle quickly opened the screen door and entered. "It's only Friday, dear," she said, making a surprised face at Suzie, who wasn't sure how to respond, so she didn't. "I am guessing you don't get the Post?" she asked.

"What? Uh- the Post?" Suzie's mom asked, still in somewhat of a daze. "Why, did they give you an extra one?"

"No. Theah's a write up ya should take a look at," Mrs. Krankle said as she placed the paper on the small table in the middle of Suzie and her mom. She opened it to a page near the front.

Suzie's mom sat down and cradled her bowl of cereal and took a quick look at it. Next to a skinny article on a possible sanitation worker strike was a photo of a bunch of kids standing in front of an ice cream truck. Cute, she thought. Then there was a large headline above that:

GIRL DETECTIVE SAVES THE DAY

Dragnet Rivals NYPD

_Huh_ , she thought.

Then she looked closer at a second picture inserted in the middle of the article and noticed the girl the article was obviously about. She was smiling widely holding up an ice cream cone. She had wild curly hair, some familiar freckles, the cutest dimples, and a single crooked tooth slightly sticking out from the top of her smile. Suzie's mom dropped her spoon into her cereal and milk splattered everywhere.

"Aww, well don't go and get it all wet!" cried out Mrs. Krankle.

"Hey," Suzie said as she jumped up on her chair and leaned over the paper, "that's me!" She thought she looked good, and she remembered how that ice cream was really good.

"Oh my," said Suzie's mom, "when was this?"

"It was only yesterday!" Suzie said. "I didn't get a chance to tell you, Mom. We found Mrs. Simmons' dog. You know, the nice lady who lives next to Cass. She has a dog named-"

"Cody!" Mrs. Krankle interrupted. "Oh shaw, it's all right theah, in black and white. Unbeleeevuhble. It says Suzie was all organized and what not. She ran a dragnet, they called it. They even said New Yawk's finest can learn a few things. Really!" Mrs. Krankle smiled again. "Weeah all so proud a you, Suzie. Yaw so smaaht!"

"Thanks, Mrs. Krankle," Suzie said in a low murmur. "It was nothing, really. We wanted to get their dog back. Everyone helped out."

"Well, well. This is really something," Suzie's mom said as she lifted the paper to get a better look at the photos. "This is a big deal."

"I'd say! The Post gets 1.2 million in circulation," Mrs. Krankle pointed out.

"I'd say! Well Suzie, what do you say you grab your friends here and come over to Lillian's to celebrate?"

The one upside to working at an ice cream parlor was giving ice cream to your kids, and Suzie's mom was always looking for a good reason it. "I have to cover someone during the lunch rush. Maybe you can come over after. Say, around two. It'll be slow. We should be able to get everyone sundaes. That way we can celebrate properly," said Suzie's mom with a nod to Mrs. Krankle. She didn't want to be shown up on how important this was to Suzie, _especially_ by the very particular Mrs. Krankle.

"That is so great! Thanks mom!" Suzie said as she hugged her mom tightly.

"Awww, okay, that's it," Mrs. Krankle said raising her hands. "My work heah is done. Have fun Suzie!" And with that she walked out the door humming a classic oldies song that Suzie was sure she had heard before.

Suzie's mom worked around the house, with help from Suzie, until Debbie Do woke up. Then everything changed, as usual. Debbie demanded attention. She sought out Suzie immediately. She stuck close by her side while Suzie moved the wash along, took the clothes from the dryer, and washed the dishes. Of course, Debbie did little to help. Suzie felt she was in the way most of the time.

Suzie's mom finally found time to close her eyes for a little while before she had to run off to work again. Suzie's grandmother's car pulled up into their driveway. It was a small little orange car with a loud muffler and it spewed black smoke every now and then. The door opened to reveal a very large woman who turned little by little to get her legs out of the car first, then a cane followed. Then she raised up out of the seat that surrounded her.

"Grandma!" yelled Debbie as she raced down the driveway and into the open arms of her grandmother. Suzie followed behind and also gave a big hug. Suzie's grandmother wore a large dress that flowed over her. She had an enormous mane of white hair and wore dark purple sunglasses. She seemingly always had a smile, and was thrilled to see the kids again.

"Your mom told me about the paper, Suzie. That's wonderful," she said as they walked towards the house. "I can't wait to read all about it."

After lunch Suzie said goodbye to her grandmother and Debbie and set off to roundup the gang. Cassidy was bored out of her mind, so she was very excited to go to an ice cream parlor. Peter was also excited to come. Having the words "free" and "ice cream" together, two of his favorite phrases, was enough for him.

They stopped at a few other houses, but everyone was busy. The twins were off at day camp, while Roberto was at another tennis lesson. Dwayne was visiting his aunt upstate, and they couldn't track down anyone else.

"Oh well, guess it's just us three," Cass said as they rode side by side through the neighborhood. They zigzagged on the sidewalks together, going around fire hydrants and fire alarm boxes as they made their way through the blocks.

#  Chapter 6

They parked their bikes against some black iron railings that lined the front of a very old building. Lillian's Ice Cream Parlor had been an institution in Richmond Hill since the 1800's. It had old dark wood carvings of pillars and ornate moldings across the entire front of the dark brick structure. Gold leaf frames bordered large windows and two large glass bowl lamps glowed bright white on each side of the front door with the scripted letters, "Iced Creamery" on one and "Welcome All" on the other.

They slowly walked in together, passing a massive wooden door that was propped open. Old iron ceiling fans drifted in complementary circles beneath the silver painted tin tiles that made up the ceiling. The floor was made up of thousands of small black and white marble tiles and held small piles of dust in the corners.

Along the walls were rich mahogany wood panels standing half way up, topped off with aged gold wallpaper decorated with ornate red velvet patterns. They held up large reproductions of Norman Rockwell paintings, all in thick dark wood frames with shiny brass corners. The atmosphere had the aura of a hundred years of history, mixed with the sweet smell of ice cream with a myriad of toppings.

They all wandered in and looked in awe at the mystique of the place, all except for Suzie. She had been there so many times that it was the same old Lillian's to her. The others marveled at everything. Along the length of the white marble and brass countertop that made up one side of the restaurant there was a long line of shiny brass swiveling stools with red leather cushions.

The few customers who were there were enjoying a late lunch and reading papers. A couple of them had nice big bowls of half eaten hot fudge sundaes with whipped cream and cherries strewn about. That looked great to Peter, so he knew what he was getting.

"Hi Mom!" yelled out Suzie as she spotted her mother bringing out plates of sandwiches and fries. She had one pencil stuck behind her ear, with another one stuck through her hair that served to hold it in a bun on top of her head. She had on a red striped dress with a large apron that was already smudged with dessert toppings. She turned a bit still holding the tray of plates and smiled at the approaching group.

"Hey great! Glad you could make it. Where's everyone else?" she asked.

"This is all we got," Suzie answered.

"Okay, well, that makes things easier. Why don't you guys use the booth over there," she said as she pointed towards one in the far corner of a narrow enclosed porch towards the back of the restaurant.

"Perfect!" Suzie said. "Thanks!"

"Sure, I'll be over in a minute," said Suzie's mom as she walked away balancing the plates while moving between booths and tables.

They had to walk down a couple of steps to enter the porch. Peter looked around to see it was walled in glass from floor to ceiling. The glass was frosted, giving off a soft glow from the outdoor light. There were beautifully intricate patterns etched into the glass panels that curved over their heads to make up the ceiling as well. Between metal ceiling fans were large hanging fern plants that seemed to cool down the room.

They all piled into the wide corner booth and onto its springy black and red cushioned seats. Cassidy grabbed the long ice cream menu first and opened right away to the toppings.

"You know, I skipped lunch for this!" she said as she read. "Wow, they even have clumps of smushed brownie as a topping. And candy bar bits! That's new!"

"Personally, you can't beat the melted marshmallow with the whipped cream over that, all smothered in hot fudge," Suzie said. "I mean, it's like everything's swimming in it, you know."

"With cherries on top, of course," added Peter.

"Of course!" Suzie agreed, and they all laughed.

Before long Suzie's mom came over and gathered everyone's order, which took a couple of minutes to get the toppings all correct. As her mom was leaving, she placed the newspaper on the table.

"Page four. Did everyone see it?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Peter answered.

"Well, everyone around here got a chuckle out of it. Be right back with everything," she said and walked back through kitchen door that wasn't too far from their table.

Cass slid the paper over and looked again at the photo closely, making out her tiny smile. "Ya know, I think I had sprinkles on my chin for the picture," she said. Then she started to read from the article:

A local girl turned detective yesterday when she organized a search party consisting of a group of friends. Their target was not a lost person, but a neighbor's dog who had wandered off. She set up a first class dragnet that could teach the NYPD a few things.

"Ya know, I looked it up, the circulation, "Peter said. "It's in the front. Guess how many people saw us?" he asked.

"I couldn't even guess a number," Suzie said. "I think my neighbor said something like-"

"One million!" Yelled Cass after she had turned to the front of the paper. "One million and two hundred fifty thousand people!" she yelled louder.

"Hey, you were supposed to guess!" Peter exclaimed.

"Zeesh! That's crazy!" Cass continued as she looked closely at her name in print under the photo. "We're, like, famous."

"I don't know about that," Suzie said as she sat up, placed her elbows on the table and leaned a little closer, "but I do have a new idea that came to me."

Peter and Cass both stopped what they were doing and looked at Suzie curiously.

"This whole thing," she continued, "this is just what I was looking for. I mean, not really looking for lost dogs, even though that was fun and all."

"Yeah!" Cass agreed.

"I mean, something more. You know, we are good at this type of thing." said Suzie.

"We are?" Peter asked.

"Yes," Suzie answered him firmly. "And that's not only me talking. You read it for yourself," she said as she picked up the newspaper and placed it in front of him. "I think we can do this. Like, _for real_ , do this."

"Yeah!" Cass said even louder. "Cool!"

"Like what, be bike cops, or something?" Peter asked.

"Bike cops? Not bad-" Suzie said with a smirk and a nod, "but, I mean even bigger than that."

"Wow- bigger than bike cops?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, I'm talking about helping people. Solving real problems. Getting out there and doing real stuff. I'm talking about being detectives!"

Both Peter and Cass sat there for a second and blankly stared at Suzie. Suzie could tell they were a little perplexed by the idea.

"It's like this," she expanded, "Mrs. Simmons needed help. She counted on us, right? We got everyone together, organized the thing, worked as a team. There was no way we weren't going to help her, right?"

"That's right," Cass said.

"Well, we can do the same thing for other people," said Suzie.

"Yeah- but," Peter said, "isn't that what the real cops do? I mean, detectives? It sounds kind of dangerous, doesn't it?"

"Danger, yeah!" Cassidy said loudly.

"Look, it's not like we're going to go after crazy criminals or anything. We are going to help with little things. Things the police don't have time for. Things for people we know who need help."

"I don't know," Peter shook his head and held up the newspaper again, "I mean, do you think cops would want us trying to do their jobs?"

"C'mon, Pete!" Cass said, "Don't be such a wet blanket all the time!"

"I am not! What does that even mean?" Peter asked.

"Look," Suzie continued, "we have a lot on our side. We have tons of time- at least until school starts. And we have way more energy than all of them put together!"

"That is so true," Cassidy said. "You should see my dad after work. He wanders around like a zombie and collapses in his chair. It's like he's sleeping with his eyes open!"

Peter laughed at how true that is for his own mom and dad most of the time.

"But if we do this, we have to be all in," Suzie said. "It takes commitment. I'm kind of glad it is us three here now. We can make a pact. Band together, and do this thing right."

"Like we're on a mission!" Peter exclaimed.

"Sure, I like the sound of that," Suzie said.

"We need a cool name," Cass said. "What about the _New_ _CSI!_ The C could be for Cassidy, the S could be Suzie, and the I- Pete, you're going to have to change your name to Ian or something."

"It's okay Pete, I'm pretty sure that one is taken," Suzie said calmly.

"The _Dynamic Duo!_ No, wait- _Dynamic Trio!_ " Peter added.

"Naaa," Cass answered. "C'mon, dude."

"I dunno. I'm trying. It's better than making me change my name," Peter said to her with a crinkled brow. "Hey, we could always go with _Bike Cops_."

"There is plenty of time to make up a name," Suzie said. "First thing we have to do is get a case. That'll force us to get organized, get things together." Suzie tapped the table quickly with both hands. "This is too exciting!"

"How can we get a case without a name?" Peter asked.

"How about the _Sharks!"_ Cass blurted out.

"I don't think it says cops enough to me," Peter added.

"Double scoops all around, guys," Suzie's mom said as she showed up with a tray that had three deep metal bowls dripping over with fudge and whipped cream.

"Double Scoop Detectives!" Suzie yelled out. "That is _so_ perfect"

"Yes!" Cassidy agreed.

"So we can get ice cream here when we get a case," Peter said, "and also when we plan the case. And then again when we finally solve the case. Yes! That is perfect!" He continued as he dug a spoon into his mammoth double-scoop sundae and pulled out a heaping spoonful of yummy goodness. "This is the best idea you've ever had."

"Thanks, Pete!" said Suzie as she did the same.

"Oh yeah?" Suzie's mom asked. "What's the great idea this time?"

"We're gonna be crime fighters!" Cass said as she pushed her spoon towards the corner of her mouth, stood up and put her two fists out like a boxer. "We're gonna take down the bad guys!"

"Oh, really?" Suzie's mom said with a sly smile as she turned towards Suzie.

"Well- not _really_ bad guys. We have to start with small stuff," Suzie said.

"Well, finding Mrs. Simmons' dog was a great place to start, "her mom said. "You guys deserve a big thank you for helping someone out like that. You keep doing good deeds, you can have all the ice cream you want."

"Sweeeeeet!" Peter said as he shoved in another mouthful.

"Nothing dangerous," she said to Suzie. "I mean it. Right?"

"Yes, mom." Suze answered. "Besides, you know what careful girl I am. Don't ya?"

#  Chapter 7

Suzie could hardly contain herself as she rode home. She quickly ran into her room and took out some old index cards and spread them out on her bed. Detectives used cards to get tips from people, at least that's how they did it on TV. She took a scissors and cut them all in half and wrote out her name and other important details. She folded them neatly into an old wallet her dad had left behind.

She decided she also needed a good detective's kit. That was essential in every detective story she ever read. She glanced over at her bookshelf where all of her old detective novels were lined up, where Agatha Christie's Miss Marple sat next to Nancy Drew and the master, Sherlock Holmes. They seemed to stare back at her with all-knowing silence and send her hints of what she needs.

_A flashlight!_ she thought. _And a magnifying glass, of course._

She gathered those from an old geology project supplied by her school. She found a small pair of binoculars her dad had left in his old desk. The last thing would be the hardest. She needed some sort of fingerprinting kit.

She borrowed an old makeup compact that used to belong to her grandma, with a large brush that went along with it. She found some leftover baby powder with all of Debbie's baby items still kept back in her closet. She grabbed some clear packing tape and went off to try it out.

She went to where Debbie was eating her lunch and found the empty glass of milk left out, as usual. She loaded the brush with the powder and dusted the glass. A little thumb print magically appeared on the side of the glass.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Suzie whispered as she took out the magnifying glass and peered closely at the little lines of the fingerprint so visible in white. She peeled out a piece of the clear tape and pressed it onto the fingerprint and peeled it off again. On the tape was the perfect imprint of Debbie's thumb. "I'm saving you for later," she said as she carefully placed it with a few more things into an old lunch box she had. After a little squishing together it all fit and made for her very own professional detective's kit. Then she said goodbye to her grandma and headed out.

She placed the little lunch box on the back of her bike and rode the block and a half to the police precinct as fast as she could. She parked the bike right next to the front door under one of the huge black iron lanterns. They were always lit green on both sides of the massive stone steps at the entrance.

She walked slowly up the steps and passed her usual spot, a glass water cooler near the main door. A short hallway led to a very large room with high dark ceilings. A tall wooden desk stood beneath low hanging fluorescent lights. The lights were connected by a tangle of dusty electric cords hanging down across the large space.

Suzie approached the desk and looked towards the top, but saw no one there. She waited as a few police officers walked past her on their way out. Then a couple more came in and didn't pay her any attention. Finally Suzie cleared her throat once, then again a little louder. A big head popped out from the top of the desk. She was relieved. It was the one face she knew.

"Huh? Oh, it's Suzie!" said a large man, who was bald on the top of his head, with dark bushy hair on the sides. He had a light blue police shirt that barely fit around his thick neck with no tie. The police badge that was on his shirt had little squares below it in all sorts of colors. He smiled widely as he leaned down towards Suzie.

"Hey Sergeant Joe," she replied. She knew him as Joe. His last name was very long and she could never pronounce it anyway.

"Come in for some water? I'm afraid I'm all out of gum," he said with his hands held up over the desk.

"Oh, that's okay. Did you see the paper today?"

"Yeah, sure. I got the News right here," he said pulling out the large paper and plopping it on the top of the desk.

"How about the Post?" she asked.

"Post? Uh- no. Wait a minute," he said as he leaned back and turned around. "Hey Charlie! Hey- ya got the Post over there?"

"What? Yeah, sure," the other policeman said and handed the newspaper over to the Sergeant Joe.

"Don't worry, I'll give it back for ya horoscopes," he said to the other officer with a smile. "Okay, what am I looking for kid?" he asked.

"Turn to page four," she said excitedly.

He put on a pair of thin black reading glasses and thumbed through a few pages, had to turn back one, and looked closely among the articles. Suzie stood and waited for a few seconds and he still didn't see it. Then he stopped and grabbed the paper and lifted it close to his eyes.

"Hey! Hey- that's you!" he yelled. "Hey Charlie, hey guys, look at this! Little Suzie here made the paper."

"That's usually not a good thing," another police officer said as he slowly strolled up to the front desk and looked over Sergeant Joe's shoulder at the article. A couple of other officers joined him.

"Don't be a wise guy," Joe said to Charlie and then turned back to Suzie. "Ya take a cute picture there, sweetheart. Ya mom must be thrilled. Hero girl, huh?"

"Well, I don't know about 'hero'. I only got my friends together to help," Suzie said as the other officers drifted back to their desks.

"Pretty good! I like this bit- _'She could teach the NYPD a few things'_ , ya hear that Sammy!"

"Huh? What?" said another man from far behind Joe where Suzie couldn't see.

"Ah, never mind," Joe yelled out, and turned back to Suzie. "He's a detective. Ha! Think they know it all, and can't even hear what's goin' on in the same room!"

"I heard dat!" the other man said.

"Right!" Sergeant Joe said as he cleared his throat. "So, anyway. This is great Suzie. Did you need help with anything else?"

"Well, actually," Suzie said in a lower voice and took a step closer to the large desk. She nervously took out one of her home made cards from her pocket and handed it over to Joe. "The article gave me an idea. It's all right there on the card."

Sergeant Joe held up the card closer to see it over his reading glasses. He leaned back and smiled a little as he took a quick look down at Suzie and back at the card. He started to read aloud.

Double Scoop Detective Agency  
"No Case Is Too Small"  
Suzie Snaggletooth  
Lead Detective  
118th Street, Richmond Hill, Queens  
New York City, New York, USA

"Well, I see." He took another closer look at the card, inspecting the back and the little logo design of an ice cream cone with its two scoops. "I love it! I absolutely love this! You made this yourself, Suz- uh- I mean, Ms. Snaggletooth?"

"Yup, and you know that's not my real name. That's called an alias, you know, for undercover type stuff," she said with a smile as she leaned an elbow on the desk.

"Oh sure, sure, of course. For undercover type stuff," he said as he inspected the card again.

"I was wondering, you know, to get started with this kind of thing, someone needs cases to solve. Ya know."

"Oh sure. I would think that would be very true," he said squinting his eyes at Suzie over the narrow lenses of his glasses and smiling. "Well, I am sure we have enough room in this neighborhood for some helpful legwork from a top notch detective such as yourself, Ms., uh-" he stopped and picked up the little card again, "Ms. Snaggletooth. Let me take a look here."

He walked over to the side of the desk and brought up a metal basket that contained a large pile of papers. Suzie was so excited she practically skipped over to the side of the big desk and could barely contain herself as she stood next to Sergeant Joe.

"Okay, let's see what we have here," he said as he picked up a handful of the papers. "Umm- no," he muttered as he leafed through several of them. "Definitely not that, and this one neither. Stay away from the likes of that fella. Nope, that's not going to work. Let's see."

Suzie began to get nervous as paper after paper fell to the side and he grabbed another batch, and put those aside, and grabbed up another.

"Naaa, no way on this one." Then he looked towards another smaller basket. "Yeah- wait a minute, let's check the new ones." He picked up a few papers and lifted one up high and looked at it closely. "Sure, I think this one will work just fine. Yeah, that'll do nicely. Okay, c'mon over this way kid," he said.

He walked over to the side of the big desk and opened a brass metal gate that was part of a blue painted metal railing that divided the entire room. Suzie entered the gate and they both moved passed the large desk to a smaller one. Suzie looked around at the hanging lights. She could see dust particles in the streaks of sunlight that made it past the dark window blinds.

People were either moving about quickly with files in their hands or sitting at desks and typing on computers. There was barely a word spoken except for those answering the constantly ringing phones that sat on desks next to spinning metal fans and small computer screens. It was a busy, hectic place full of noise and activity, and she loved it. Joe motioned to the seat in front of the desk and Suzie sat down, then he did.

"Okay, ya gotta notebook handy?" he asked her. She quite embarrassingly shook her head no, she didn't think of that! "That's alright, I've got an extra," he said as he opened his desk and pulled out from a pile a small brown leather-bound official case notebook. It was brand new and even had a little pencil that fit perfectly in a little holder at the top. He handed it to her.

"Wow," Suzie said as she rotated the notebook around in her hands and inspected it from every angle. "This is great. Thanks!"

"Sure, kid. Consider it an investment. Now, here are the details of the case. Looks like a family in our neighborhood reported a bike missing yesterday. It happened sometime in the night. It was a kid's bike. Um, name of Nelson. Jimmy Nelson."

Suzie began to write and stopped. "Jimmy Nelson! Someone stole Jimmy's bike?" Suzie asked excitedly.

"Yeah. You know him?" Sergeant Joe asked.

"Of course, everyone knows the Nelson twins. They live over by school. That's weird, because when we rode by to get them, their bikes were locked up in the garage."

"Not according to the police report, it says here Jimmy left his bike in the driveway. The other one, his brother's, was locked up in the garage. I guess he should have followed what his brother did. Anyway," Joe continued, "if you want, try to track the bike down. Maybe some kid saw it in the driveway, took it for a joyride, and dropped it somewhere. It would be a good case to solve, for your first one. Ya know?"

"Second case, remember?" Suzie smiled and pointed a thumb over towards the newspaper.

"Right! Well, it's your first _official_ case, Detective Snaggletooth," Joe said and laughed. "Well, you're not really an officer, so I guess we can say officially unofficial," he said and tapped the side of his nose with his forefinger.

"Right," said Suzie and she did the same back to him.

Suzie left the precinct and was off on her first officially unofficial case.

#  Chapter 8

It was right before noon when she reached Cassidy's house. Cass was somewhere inside playing with her neighbor, Sarah, and was glad to go outside after a long playdate. She was very excited to find out Suzie had gone to the police precinct to get an actual case.

"Wow, you really were serious about this whole detective thing, huh?" she asked.

"Well, yeah," Suzie answered. "I used my police connections to get some inside info."

"You mean Sergeant Joe," Cass said as she took out her bike and they both walked down the driveway. "That's your super-secret inside connection?"

"I never said super-secret," Suzie said as they mounted the bikes and put on their helmets. "But we go back a long way. I used to go in there for bubble gum way back when I was in second grade."

"Yeah, that was a long time ago," Cass said as they started to pedal down the block.

They went by Peter's house, but he didn't feel like coming, so they decided to go at it with the two of them. Luckily, the twins were home when they got there and Mrs. Nelson answered the door.

"Hello Suzie, Cassidy. Let me see where the boys are," she said as she invited them in. They waited in a small room that was near the front door.

"Actually, Mrs. Nelson," Suzie said in a respectful tone. "We are here to investigate the stolen bicycle incident."

"Oh, really?" asked Mrs. Nelson.

"Yeah, we're on official police business," said Cass.

"Well," Suzie added, "we are more like helping them out."

"Yeah, we get called in when they need us," said Cass.

"Oh, and the police need help?" Mrs. Nelson asked.

"Yes, they sent us out to gather information, and hopefully solve the case, which I believe we will be able to do," Suzie said confidently.

"Okay then, what do you want to know?"

"Well, Mrs. Nelson," Suze said as she pulled out her leather-bound detective's notebook, "why don't we start from the beginning? When did you first notice the bike missing?"

"Sure. It was in the morning. The boys woke up to go out and play. They usually go out and get on their bikes, but immediately Jimmy remembered he left his bike in the driveway," said Mrs. Nelson. She was holding her hand on her chin and trying to remember. "Let's see, what time was that," she said and leaned back and called up the stairs next to the living room in one of the loudest voices the girls ever heard. "Hey, Jimmy! What time was it when you saw the bike gone?"

Jimmy, one of the Nelson twins, came bounding down the stairs. He had on a striped short-sleeved shirt that was really too small for his wide frame, and he had one sneaker on with its laces untied and on the other foot was a very dirty sock. "What mom? Hey, it's Snaggletooth!"

"Hiya Jimmy," Suzie said as he rumbled into the small room, causing everyone to move over slightly to one side.

"That's detective Snaggletooth, buddy," Cass said firmly. "We got a thing now."

"A thing? Really?" he asked, with an astonished look.

"Yeah, really. It's all official, kinda. Anyways, we're gonna track down your bike for sure," said Cassidy as she snapped her fingers and slapped one hand on the other.

"That is very optimistic, Ms. Cassidy. I like your positive attitude!" Mrs. Nelson said with a chuckle.

"Okay- um, Mom, what did you want?" Jimmy asked.

"It was Suzie, dear," Mrs. Nelson said, motioning a hand over to Suzie for her to speak up.

"Right, okay, thank you Mrs. Nelson. Jimmy, we are trying to figure out the timeline of events," Suzie said as she marked off times on one side of a sheet in her notebook. "So, we all left Cass' house at around three o'clock, give or take. Do you remember when you left your bike in the driveway?"

"Sure- well, we didn't go straight home. We went over to Tommy Pinto's house to see if he was around, and tell him all about our big dog rescue, which was super cool, by the way." Suzie nodded as a quick thank you. "And we ended up playing a short game of box ball, which he won- but it was close. There was this crazy crack in the corner of his sidewalk- but anyway. We got back here sometime after, I don't know when, but it was around dinner time.

"We ate a little early that night, so that must have been around five o'clock," Mrs. Nelson said nodding.

"Okay," Suzie said writing it down, then she looked up and pointed the back end of her pencil at Jimmy, "but you meant to put the bike in the garage?"

Jimmy reluctantly said yes as Mrs. Nelson shook her head.

"He has left it outside overnight before," Mrs. Nelson continued. "I don't know how many times I have to tell him. This is a good neighborhood and all, but still, you're asking for trouble when you leave it out like that."

"Do you mind if we take a look in the driveway?" Suzie asked.

They all agreed and went out and took a look around where Jimmy thought he left the bike. They saw nothing on the ground, and nothing was left. It was a place in the driveway that had no windows next to it on either side. Suzie also noticed there was no light on the sides of the house or over the garage and it was well back from any street lights.

"This would be very dark all night," she said to Cass as they walked around a little.

"I don't see how anybody could even see a bike back here in the dark of night," Cass said.

"Unless they were already looking for one," said Suzie.

She then headed to the front of the driveway and pulled her lunchbox detective's kit off the back of her bike and quickly headed back. She pulled out her magnifying glass and looked over a few spots in the driveway as Jimmy and his mom looked on. Cass knelt beside her and looked at the floor as well.

"See anything?" she asked.

"Not yet. Wait- hold this for a sec, will ya?' she asked as she handed Cass her case after pulling out a tweezers she had at the bottom.

She bent down lower and put the tweezers into a crack in the driveway and slowly pulled out a thin piece of plastic. She held it up and looked at it through her magnifying glass, grabbed her little flashlight and lit it up from below. It glowed clear green and was no bigger than a toothpick.

"Wow, how did you see that?" Cassidy asked.

"That's why I have this," she said holding up the magnifying glass.

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Nelson.

"I think this is a piece of a green plastic soda bottle," Suzie said while she stood up still looking at the plastic piece carefully. "Too thin for any fingerprints."

"What does it mean?" Cassidy asked.

"I don't know," Suzie said, "but it is a definite clue."

"Cool!" Jimmy said as he stepped closer and looked at it.

Suzie held it up a little higher, looked at it from all angles, and placed it carefully in a little plastic bag inside her kit.

"Okay, I think we have enough," Suzie said as she turned to Cass and back to the Nelsons. "Thanks so much Mrs. Nelson, we'll be in touch. Here is my card should you think of anything else." Suzie handed her one of the ripped index cards.

"Oh, okay. Or I can call your mom, right?" Mrs. Nelson asked.

"Yeah, that'll work too," Suzie said.

"Hey, you guys wanna play something?" Jimmy asked. "Me and Jesse are thinking of racing our cars on the track in the basement."

"Sure, that would be great!" Cass said.

"But," Suzie jumped in, "sorry, Cassidy and I are on a case. Maybe later, okay?"

Cassidy looked a little sullen as they walked away from the driveway and got on their bikes.

"Zeesh, Suzie. What's wrong with taking a timeout to play something else?" asked Cass.

"Nothing, except this isn't _playing_ , Cass," Suzie said as they both pulled their bikes out of the driveway and rode onto the sidewalk. "This is a real case. It has an official report at the precinct and everything."

"Right, I know, okay. It seems like a lot of work," Cass said.

"Yeah, well, important stuff can take some work, Cass."

Cass looked up at the passing trees. "I guess so, but it helps if it's fun, too."

"Sure. Don't worry, fun is on the way," Suzie said.

As they were riding, they noticed a kid up ahead was walking quickly around his driveway, yelling and waving his arms. They thought he was only playing at first, but he actually looked a little upset.

"Isn't that Tommy Pinto?" Cass asked as she tried to look closer at the kid but he disappeared back into his driveway.

"It is," Suzie agreed. "Let's go check it out."

They rode down and stopped in front of Tommy's house. He was a skinny kid, a year older than Suzie and Cass, with loose jeans on and an extra-long white t-shirt. He wore a red cap that was turned to one side. He was pacing around, then running, throwing his arms up. "I can't believe this!" he said.

"Hey ya, Tommy. You alright?" Cass yelled out to him as she and Suzie turned a little into his driveway.

"My bike is gone!" he yelled back. "I left it right here next to the garbage cans, same as I always do, and now it's gone!"

Suzie and Cass looked at each other wide eyed, and it was obvious to Cassidy that Suzie was a little too excited, although she turned her head away and tried not to show that to Tommy. They both got off their bikes and walked up to an open gate near the front of his driveway.

"Was this gate closed?" Suzie asked.

"It sure was, same as I leave it every night," Tommy said. He was still pacing back and forth across the narrow space in the driveway. "Ya know, it has my route book, who owes what- who gets what! What am I gonna do?"

"You're route book?" Cass asked.

"Yeah- my paper route! I got it all in there. The whole thing. Man, this burns me up!" he said as he jumped up and down a little.

"Wait a minute, let's calm down. Maybe someone borrowed it, or something?" Suzie asked.

"I ain't got no brothers or sisters. It's just me-" he shook his head. "Naa, someone took it, man. Aww, man, that's my bike, my ride, my world- ya know!"

"When did this happen, last night?" Suzie asked.

"Naa, Suzie. I delivered my papers this morning. That's what's so crazy. This bike was sittin' here in broad daylight, and now it's gone!"

"Wait a minute. Your bike was stolen today! Like, right now!" Cass exclaimed. She looked at Suzie and then they quickly walked out past the gate out onto the sidewalk. The thief could still be around! They looked up and down the block. They saw nothing moving.

"Not right this minute- at least I don't think so. I would've heard the gate. I went back to sleep after my route this morning. Then I woke up, ate breakfast, lunch. Spoke to my mom and dad. I dunno- this is too crazy!"

"So, what time did you get back this morning?" Suzie asked as she got out her notebook.

"That was around 7:00," Tommy said as he leaned down and put his hands on one of the metal garbage cans in his driveway. "Then my dad leaves at 7:30, and then my mom leaves at 7:45. I would think they would have noticed the bike missing, but I'm not sure. Man! I gotta call them. This is bananas!"

"Yeah! We've got to go to the cops, like now! Get a whole army of them out here. This creep could be still around!" Cass said as she jumped out towards the front of the house again.

"He, or she, is long gone Cass," Suzie said. "They are on a bike, remember?"

"Oh, yeah? You think it might be a she?" Cass asked, walking back towards her.

"Probably not," Suzie said. "These kind of crimes are usually thugs. Guys who are out for the money they can get for the bike. We should go to the police, though. Tommy has to file a report."

"Yeah. I hope they find it real quick!" Tommy said.

"That's what we're here for," Cass replied and Tommy looked at her with surprise, and then with a slight smile.

They went with Tommy to the police precinct. There was Sergeant Joe behind the desk at his usual spot.

"Hey Suzie, how is the case going?" he asked and smiled widely.

"Well, it's moving," she said and then motioned to Tommy behind her. "Unfortunately, we have another victim here. Tommy's bike was stolen this morning."

"Oh," Joe said as he frowned a little. "Sorry to hear that kid. What's your name?"

"Tommy- Tommy Pinto."

"Okay Tommy. C'mon over here. We have a report for you to fill out, what the bike looked like, when it went missing, that kind of thing. Then I'm sure one of our detectives will want to have a quick word,"

"Oh, did Jimmy Nelson talk to a detective?" Suzie asked.

Sergeant Joe walked back to the front where Suzie was standing. He spoke to her in more of a hushed tone, "Well, Suzie, the case has grown a little larger than when you came in here this morning. Eight more bikes were reported stolen since then. All went missing over the past three days, and this makes it nine. So that pushed it up to grand larceny," Suzie gave a confused look. "Basically, sweetheart, it means they're giving it to that division, and they have assigned a detective to the case."

"What does that mean? Does it mean I am off the case?" Suzie asked in a concerned tone.

"Well- I wouldn't say that. I think you only have to talk to him. I'm sure he will want your input, and anything you know about the case for sure. Let me get him out here and we can all have a chat."

Suzie and Cass joined Tommy on a nearby side bench as he filled out information about his bike. After several minutes, Sergeant Joe returned, with a stern look on his face.

"Hey kids, the detective will be right down," he said and went back to the front desk in the center of the large room.

A couple of minutes later they heard loud trudging down some steps near the rear of the room, close to where they were sitting. A tall Hispanic man with a large frame came down the wide steps slowly, one by one, and was looking around. He had a narrow brimmed hat and a loose fitting light colored shirt with a gold chain moving around beneath that. He made his way over to them.

"I heard someone over here is reporting a bike stolen? Is dat you?" he asked Cassidy, who stared at him as he towered over her.

"That's me, sir," Tommy said and stood up. "I finished this," he said and handed the report to the man who grabbed it and looked it over.

"Okay. This morning, huh? Alright," the man said and looked down at them. "My name is Detective Rosario. I'm assigned to this case. There's been quite a few missing bicycles reported over the past few days, so you need to know it has our attention now. We'll get to the bottom of it. Okay?"

"Okay," Tommy said. "I have some important stuff in a bag, on the front handlebars. Ya know, across the top. It's very important to my paper route."

"Yeah, I read that in your report. We'll find out all we can. Thanks for coming down so soon." Detective Rosario motioned his hand towards the front door and said, "Have a nice day, now, okay."

Suzie immediately got up off the bench as the detective walked away. He was already back towards the stairs when she called out, "Mr. Detective, sir."

He stopped and turned half way around.

"Hi, I'm Suzie," she said as she walked up and extended her hand and he shook it rather gingerly. "I have been helping out on the case and I think we have some good leads. Maybe if we got our notes together, it might help the case."

"Ah, okay. You're that girl," he said as he waved his finger towards her. "The one in the newspaper. The one the boys here have been talkin' about. Girl detective. A real prodigy, right?"

"Well," she said, "I don't know about that. We're really trying to help our friends."

"Well, that's very good, Shirley."

"Suzie."

"Right. The professionals are on it now. If we need your help, we'll be in touch. Okay? Now, if you don't mind, I have to get back to work," he said as he started away again. Then he said loudly, "there's a lot of cases here, and not all of them involve kids' bicycles." He then disappeared up the stairs.

#  Chapter 9

Suzie and Cassidy swung by Peter's house, who finally came out when they told him they were headed back to Lillian's for ice cream again. Suzie had to think, and ice cream always seemed to help. They ended up back in the same corner booth and they ordered the same thing from Suzie's mom. When she walked away Suzie almost erupted out of her seat.

"Ya know, now that I'm thinking, I can't believe that guy!" she said. "He calls himself a detective? He didn't even listen to what I had to say about the case! Maybe I already solved it? Did he even think of that?"

"Did you?" Peter asked excitedly.

"No!" she exclaimed. "But _he_ didn't know that."

"Yeah, he didn't care at all," Cass said. "You could tell. He was probably getting back to his doughnuts and crossword puzzles, or whatever."

"Yeah, right!" Suzie agreed. "And he probably didn't even read Tommy's report."

"Filed it right into his garbage can," Cass said.

"Ha! You got that right!" Suzie said as she leaned back and growled at the ceiling. She pulled out her notebook. "Well, at least Sergeant Joe was nice enough to give us the addresses of the other stolen bikes. That should help try to come up with a reason, a pattern, something."

"Maybe there is no reason. Maybe it was just mean people," Peter said.

"It was mean people. We have to figure out a way to stop them. What we need-" Suzie stopped talking as she looked up and saw something out of the corner of her eye. She sprang up and ran passed all of the tables, grabbed something from a small plastic holder on the wall by the front door, and came running back. "What we need is a map!" She unfolded a large map of Richmond Hill put out by local businesses listing them and other points of interest.

"Nice!" Peter said.

"I know, I should have thought of this before," Suzie said.

"No. I mean nice, the ice cream is coming!" he said.

Suzie's mom showed up with three dishes of double-scoop desserts with all of the toppings.

"If all detectives work like this, I'm doing this for life!" Peter said and dug into the hot fudge and marshmallow topping.

"Okay, c'mon, let's check this out," said Suzie. She flipped open her notebook. On the map she put a little chocolate chip down on each spot where a bike was taken. They seemed randomly spread out. No pattern. "It doesn't make sense."

"What if you put them out day by day," Peter suggested.

"That's not bad, Pete," said Suzie. She did that but there was still no pattern.

Cassidy leaned over and spoke with her spoon still hanging from her teeth, "What about by the bikes with a lot of speeds?"

They did that, and still no pattern. Sitting there was a bunch of random chocolate chips all over the place. They all sat there and kept eating. They would think a little, eat some ice cream, and think some more. Ice cream definitely helped them concentrate, Suzie concluded. Still, there seemed to be something they were missing.

"Wait a minute!" she said. "Let's sort things by night and morning. We'll leave out the ones who aren't sure about the time."

She used gumdrops for the daylight, and chocolate chips for the night. One by one they went on the map until the gumdrops still looked scattered, but the chocolate chips looked a little different. Suzie leaned up on the seat, curling into a ball as she leaned over the map. She never let go of her intense gaze on the little chocolate chips, even as the curls of her red hair started to drop over her face.

"There it is," she whispered. 'We have it! There it is in plain sight!"

"What?" Cass said as she leaned in closer. "It looks like a jagged mess."

"It does, yes, but it has a purpose. You see," Suzie said and placed her palm slightly over the map. "It starts over here, right before Atlantic Avenue. But see, it cuts through. Looks random, yes, but see how it cuts back down and over, and back again, all going in one general direction." She motioned with her hand across the map and as Pete and Cass watched, the little chips did start to make sense now. It was as she said. They had a direction.

"Oooooh!" Pete and Cass said together.

"Yes, and the day ones are still pretty random. What does that tell you?" Suzie asked.

"That the day ones taste a little bit better," Pete said as he reached over and snatched up a gumdrop and gobbled it up quickly.

They all laughed as Suzie rolled her eyes a little and continued. "Yes, that and the thief had a purpose at night. The thief was going somewhere, a lot. I would bet you dimes to doughnuts this thief works the night shift somewhere." She reached into her detective's kit and pulled out the sliver of green plastic she found in Jimmy Nelson's driveway and held it up. "I bet wherever he does work, he is around plastic soda bottles, and lots of 'em."

"Like the food store!" Cassidy yelled out.

"Or a deli!" Peter added.

"I'm thinking somewhere where they either make these bottles, or move a lot of them around. Anyway, when he would finish his shift he would pass by many a bike left on the side of a house on his long walk home. He realizes, hey, there's an easy way to get home faster."

Cass and Pete looked at each other and back at Suzie.

"So that's how it started. What a lowlife," Cass said.

"That's right," Suzie said. "That's how it started, but that's not how it ended."

"No, he kept right on going," Peter added, shaking his head.

"Yup," Suzie continued. "I'm guessing he was able to sell the bikes, or something like that, because it must have seemed like easy money all of a sudden."

"What a thug!" Cass said loudly. A little too loudly, as a few people looked over from the other tables and she quickly hid with a whimper behind Peter.

"Then he moved his operation into the morning, see. The day ones are all recent," said Suzie. "He didn't have to stick to a certain route. He wandered around, picked up bikes he could see in the early morning light, before anyone was up. It was probably too easy."

"Or so he thought, until snagged by the Snaggletooth!" Cass called out raising her fist above the table.

"Well, we didn't get him yet," Suzie said. "We still don't know where he's was going to, and where he's coming from, but we're on the trail."

"Here's to the trail!" Peter said as he picked up his dish and drank the melted ice cream at the bottom.

"Here's to double scoops!" Cass said as she did the same.

Suzie was still preoccupied staring at the map. _Where are you going next, Mr. Thief?_

# Chapter 10

It was almost dark when she arrived back home. Her grandma had been watching Debbie Do all day, and she looked like it. Her hair was a mess and she looked like she needed a nap. Suzie came in and collapsed on the couch.

The three agents of the Double Scoop Detective Agency had spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the locations where the bikes were stolen and filling up on candy and soda from the Top-Mart corner grocery.

They talked to a few of the kids who had lost bikes, and they all were still upset. Suzie tried to reassure them she would do her best to get their bikes back, but she knew that might not happen. Even if she helps catch the guy who took them, their bikes could be long gone.

She was about to close her eyes for some sleep on the couch when there was a loud knock at the front door. She was startled because everyone they knew either used the doorbell or came right in. Her grandma walked by and opened up the door. Suzie heard a man's voice, so she got up after a minute and wandered behind her to take a look.

It was Detective Rosario, still wearing his little hat. This time he added a pair of orange tinted sunglasses. He was smiling with a toothpick again between his teeth and talking to her grandma. He handed her a little black wallet she opened to reveal a gold detective's badge.

"Oh, there she is now," he said motioning behind her. "If you don't mind, miss, I would like to have a quick word with your granddaughter."

"Well, yes, of course. Do come in," Suzie's grandmother said as they backed up and he stepped into their front room.

"Thank you," the detective said.

"We're all very proud of her," her grandmother said, "how she helped find the lost dog and everything."

"Right- yeah, lost dog," he said with a confused look towards Suzie. "I'm actually here about another case."

The phone rang and Suzie's grandmother said she would be right back and went to answer it. Detective Rosario stepped a little closer to Suzie, which caused her to step back.

"Listen Suzie," he said. "I've been doing some legwork and was a little surprised to find out that the parents and kids of those stolen bikes already talked to a detective. They told me a girl with her friend and a police notebook had been by, and been all over it. That everything would be fine, she was on the case."

"That's right," Suzie said excitedly. "In fact, we have a couple of deductions that I think you should know, I mean about the thief."

"Oh yeah?" he responded with a grimace.

"Oh yes! We have a map. It's a neighborhood map, but it is very interesting," she said. "I started with chocolate chips and gumdrops but have changed to color highlights, and have transferred it to the maps in my tablet, but the paper map is larger and easier to look at and make connections. Ya know?"

"No," he said flatly.

"Do you want me to get it?"

"Look, little girl," he said firmly, taking the toothpick out of his mouth and pointing it at Suzie. "I'm not here for any color highlights on a map, or crazy connections, or to listen to _your_ deductions. I'm here to tell you to back off. You're not helping me."

Suzie was taken aback for a moment. "But, there is a pattern. On the map, I can show you. Plus I found something," she said as she grabbed her detective's case. She pulled out the little shard of green plastic from Jimmy Nelson's driveway and held it up. "It's a piece of plastic I found at the first crime scene. I think it might be an important clue. Maybe if we worked together," she said as she went to hand it to him. He lifted his hand and waved it away, almost causing Suzie to drop it.

"No!" he said forcefully. Then he paused and took a breath. "Listen to me, you are impeding an active investigation. Leave this all to the professionals. Ya got it! You _will_ let this go."

Her grandmother came back into the room. "That was your mom, Suzie," she said. "She's getting off work now. She was very excited to hear a police detective was coming by to say thanks."

"Yes, that's right. And we had a nice chat, right Suzie?" he asked with a forced smile, placing the toothpick into the side of his hat. Suzie stood and looked at him blankly. "Right, okay then. Well, it was nice meeting you, miss. Have a good night," he said as he walked out the door.

"Well, he seemed nice enough," said Suzie's grandmother.

"Not really," Suzie said. "I need to call Cass."

"Okay, dinner is almost ready," she reminded Suzie.

Suzie's head was spinning. She felt like she was on the right track, but now she wondered if she should go further. Maybe the detective was right. She needed to talk to her best friend to clear her head, and she hoped she was around.

"Hey ya, Snagglemeister. What's up?" Cass said when she finally came to the phone.

"Not much. We had a visit here from our favorite detective," said Suzie. "He wants us to stay away from the case. He said we were interfering, or something."

"Ha! I hope you set him straight," said Cass.

"No. Actually, I think he might be right," said Suzie.

"What! Hello, is this Suzie? Genius detective Suzie?" asked Cass.

"No. I'm not a real detective; he is. I'm only a kid, right? What do I know about any of this stuff?" Suzie asked.

"What do you know? What does _he_ know," said Cass.

"Well, for one thing, it's his job. And I'm sure he has a lot of experience at it," Suzie said.

"Did you show him what you came up with, the pattern thing? Did you show him the map?" asked Cass.

"I tried. He wouldn't even look at it. He wanted nothing to do with it, or us," Suzie said.

"And do you think that's smart? If he is so good, why wouldn't he listen to you? I didn't like him from the start. He's probably all afraid you're gonna show him up!"

"I don't know about that," Suzie said.

"Yeah, and ya know what, he should be. We're probably way ahead of him and he doesn't like it. And I tell ya what else, he has a thing against kids. I could tell, ya know. It's like how you can tell a mean teacher after the first class. Not the ones pretending to be mean in the beginning. Remember Mr. Brunelli."

"Ooof. Oh yeah. That was rough," Suzie agreed.

"Yeah. Don't let this guy put you down, sister friend! You're Suzie Snaggletooth. He has no idea who he's up against!"

"I don't want to be against anybody," Suzie said.

"Yeah, well, like my mom always says, the world is tough out there for us girls. We have to stick together or fall apart. Ya know!" Cass said.

Suzie took a deep breath. She could always count on Cassidy. "Yeah, I know. You're right, Cass."

"Of course I'm right. Zeesh!" she said. "When are you gonna learn that."

Suzie laughed, "So you're right _all_ the time?"

"Well, most of the time," Cass answered with a chuckle. "Hey, tomorrow is Saturday already and we got my block party going on. If you can get away from your fancy detective work for a little bit, wanna come over?"

"Sounds great!"

"It's gonna be a good one," Cass said. "There's gonna be fireworks this year."

"I can't wait," said Suzie.

#  Chapter 11

Suzie shifted her bike into third gear and raced down her block. It was very hot this morning, and the air was heavy and humid. The only relief Suzie felt was cooling herself a little by the breeze rushing past her from the speed of her bike. She zigzagged in and out of garbage cans left empty from the garbage men who came through early in the morning. She made a game of it, a point for a can passed on the left, two points for those on the right. And ten points if she could shoot her bike between two fallen cans while lifting up her feet.

She turned the corner and could see on Cassidy's block they were setting up for the big block party. She arrived as they were closing the street. Cassidy's dad and one of her neighbors were carefully maneuvering their cars back to back to block the entrance to the street, and it was not an easy task. Suzie shot past them up the sidewalk and took a look back to see the street was now blocked on both sides. All of the parked cars were removed and the best part of the block party had begun. 117th street was completely free of cars and all clear.

She bounded up the corner of a driveway, skidded along the curb, and did a jump onto the street. She rode in wide circling arcs, made huge figure eights, and did a fast paced bounce from one curb across to the other all the way up the middle of the street. It was pure joy.

It only took a few minutes for the kids who lived there to realize the car traffic was gone. Not only bicycles but scooters, tricycles, skateboards, roller skates and even wagons piled onto the black asphalt. It went from a wide open race course to a congested street of crisscrossing kids. Even with that, everyone remained very cordial to one another, with the younger kids yielding to the older kids. That was the unwritten rule.

Cassidy was already outside her house when she saw Suzie riding on the street. She hopped on her bike and quickly joined her. "This is awesome, isn't it?" she yelled as she rode in wide circles around Suzie.

"Yes! They should do this every day," said Suzie.

"It's gonna be great. They are going to put up a bouncy house at noon. First there are going to be games. There's going to be a water balloon toss we just _have_ to win! Mrs. Simmons has prizes for everyone," said Cass. "C'mon, there's my dad."

They rode over to the top of the block where Cassidy's dad was placing a sign on the side of his car saying, 'STREET CLOSED'. He was a short man with a very large belly and large hands. He had on a green t-shirt stretched over his large belly with blue jeans that were a little torn over his work boots.

"Hey sweetheart!" he said to Cass. "Hey-ya Suzie! Thanks for coming. Nice work gettin' this one's mug in the paper," he said as he lifted one of his large hands and squished Cassidy's helmet down over her face a little. "I'm shocked the camera didn't break!"

"Ha ha, very funny- quit it, dad! You're messing it all up!" Cass said as she backed away, taking the helmet off. "Ya know, I hate when you do that!" Suzie looked on and wished she was so lucky.

"What, are ya grown up now? Ya need pretty hair all of a sudden?" her dad asked as he tried to muss up her hair but she ducked him easily and jumped off of her bike and ran away, leaving him far behind.

"Hey girls!" A yell came from behind them. It was Cassidy's mom. She was tall and thin and had large hair done up in a big swirl that had a few streaks in different shades of brown mixed together. "They're going to set up the volleyball net right here. Come give us a hand. C'mon Tony, enough with the cars. We need some help over here."

Suzie leaned her bike on its kickstand, popped off her helmet and headed over as well. They had a big net from a school gym and it had to be wheeled out and set up. A large beach ball made for an excellent volleyball.

Before long the tournaments were underway. It was kids versus parents at first, then husbands versus wives, then house versus house. Finally, it turned into complete chaos with crowds of people on both sides. That's when they knew it was time for the next event, the water balloon toss.

Two lines of participants stretched out in front of a few houses and met in the middle of the street. Each was given a water balloon and all you had to do was toss it to your partner across from you and don't break it. It was simple enough, until every successful toss resulted in a step back. It wasn't too long until balloons were shattering and team members were soaked.

It came down to three teams on the last throw. Cassidy and Suzie were up against Mrs. Simmons and her sister, Judith, and a father and son team from the other end of the block. They were all the way backed up near the curb on either side of the street. The contest had never gone this far before. The son, probably close to eighteen years old, gave his balloon a good heave, but threw it way too fast for his dad to catch. It went right through his hands and splattered on his head and covered him. The gathered crowd laughed and loved it.

"It feels great!" he said, laughing himself. It was one way to beat the summer heat.

Then it was Mrs. Simmons' turn. Her pink balloon went up, went sideways, twirled around and somehow made it over to her sister. The throw was a bit short but she reached out and somehow grabbed the balloon as it was about to hit the ground. They made it. The crowd cheered, led by Sarah, who was jumping up and down next to her mom.

It was Suzie's turn to throw. She got ready, took a deep breath, and let it go. The red balloon spun lazily as it went high into the air. The water inside forced it to twist and contort into different shapes, and then it started coming down fast. Cassidy readied herself. She grabbed the balloon while spinning, twirled around, received the balloon in her hands without it breaking, and let it slip right out again before she stopped spinning.

Out the balloon leapt from her arms. Up it went into the nearby crowd. Her dad was unsuspectingly talking with his brother-in-law when the balloon crashed onto his shoulder. Instantly it splattered all over. It soaked his head and shirt, then doused the two people standing near him, one of whom was Cassidy's mom. She was laughing at first when she saw it was going to hit him, but that turned to stunned shock when she got soaked as well. Mr. Dibella turned and laughed when he saw his wife soaking wet.

"Hey- it does feel good!" she said and turned to Cassidy. Cass had fallen to her knees from laughing so hard. She was pointing and laughing some more at the sight of her parents being drenched.

"Oaah!" yelled her dad to Cassidy. "How did you manage not get any on ya?"

There were two large bins nearby full of water balloons made for more rounds of the toss. Her dad reached into one of the bins and grabbed the largest balloon he could find and heaved it towards Cass.

She was still on the ground looking down and laughing when the balloon erupted on top of her head. She shrieked and held out her arms to drain them of water, then tried to wipe the water from her eyes.

Suzie was standing close to Cassidy but was able to duck out of the way when she saw the balloon in the air. Now she was laughing and dropping to the floor next to Cass. Cass shot her a look as she tried to blow off the dripping water from the side of her face and then she smiled and chuckled. That made Suzie laugh so much she doubled over, trying to catch her breath.

"Hey Suzie, what are you laughing at?" Cassidy's dad said as he grabbed another balloon and let it fly towards her.

She ducked down and it splashed through a half dozen people's legs who were standing behind Suzie at this point. One of them was Cassidy's uncle who quickly grabbed an entire bin of balloons and dragged it over to their side. Everyone reached in and the Great Water Balloon Battle of 117th Street was on.

It probably only lasted a few minutes, but no one was spared. Balloons were flying in every direction amongst cheers and laughter. The only ones who escaped somewhat dry were the little kids running around, but a few got soaked being near the ruckus. It was only after the balloons ran out and the laughter quieted down did everyone wander off.

They sloshed in their wet flip flops and sandals back to their chairs, tables and grills that had been dragged out onto their front lawns. The main event of the block party was a huge success, but everyone needed to catch their breath and dry off.

"That was insane!" Cass yelled out as she met up with Suzie and they both walked slowly back towards the volleyball net.

"I know!" said Suzie.

"You didn't even get that wet," Cass said as she stopped and looked at Suzie.

"Yeah, it's all on my back."

"Wow, what happened to you?"

They both looked up to see Roberto walking towards them. Dwayne was behind him, walking next to Peter who was on his bike. Suzie and Cassidy stopped.

"Nothin'," Cass said with a smirk as she stood there with her hair still dripping. "Why do you ask?" she asked as she flipped her hair around, causing some water to land on Roberto.

"Oh, no reason," Roberto answered with his own smirk as he wiped some drops off of his face.

"Forget all that! Suzie, we need your help," Dwayne said as he and Peter caught up to Roberto. "And it's no lost dog. It's a lost bike. My bike!"

"They stole your bike?" asked Suzie.

"Yes, they stole his, but first they stole mine," said Roberto.

"What!" said Cassidy.

"Yes, my garage was broken into the night before last, and his was broken into last night," said Roberto.

"That's awful!" said Cass.

"Did they break the glass? Pop the locks?" Suzie asked.

"Pop the locks? No, um, it was a little less exciting," Roberto said.

"What does that mean?" asked Suzie.

"It means we left the doors unlocked," said Dwayne with a grimace.

"Yeah. Actually, my dad was pretty mad at me. Like it was my fault someone stole my bike!" said Roberto shaking his head.

"Well, we never have our garage locked," Dwayne said. "I think it's broken."

"We have to go to the police right away," Suzie suggested.

"We reported mine yesterday," Roberto said.

"My dad was on his way over there this morning to report mine," Dwayne said. "Man, I loved that bike!"

Roberto said, "The word is out you are doing some detective work, for kids, and you are on the case already. Did you get anywhere?"

"A little. Actually, I was thinking of getting off the case. At least that's what the police told me to do," Suzie answered and kicked a small pebble across the pavement.

"Not the whole police!" Cass interjected. "Just a detective who is one rude dude!"

"So you got something? You must have something, right?" Dwayne asked.

"Well, I may have. Look, I want to help, and the detective was rude, but he was right. What can I do, they're the professionals," Suzie said, leaving them all with stunned looks.

"Well," Cass said after there was a long awkward pause, "we can at least have some fun here. They have the bouncy house coming. Even big kids can go in. My dad said so. And there's fireworks later. C'mon over to my house. My uncle brought his snow cone machine."

"Snow cones! Sweeeeet!" Peter said as he raced with his bike over towards her house.

"Hey! Wait for us!" Cassidy yelled.

"Wait up, Cass. Let me grab my-" Suzie had turned around, but couldn't finish her sentence.

She stopped cold. Her heart had rushed into her throat. Where she left her bike next to the cars closing the block was now an empty street. Underneath Cassidy's father's car she could see a small butterfly reflecting back at her from the sides of her helmet that had been dropped there.

"It's, it's-" Suzie stammered.

"What?" Cass asked as she turned around.

"It's gone!" Suzie said slowly.

Cassidy walked next to her and looked back at what she was staring at.

"Your- YOUR bike! Wait a minute. Wait, someone must have moved it."

Cass ran over to the spot with Suzie walking slowly behind her.

"Wait a minute!" Cass repeated. "Who moved Suzie's bike?"

A couple of younger kids were playing nearby but looked confused. They said they didn't see anything.

"No way, there's NO way!" Cass yelled.

"He took it," Suzie said as she reached down and pulled out her helmet from under the car. "He stole my bike."

"Right here, on this block. On _my_ block! There's no way!" Cass said and started to look around frantically, asking anyone if they saw anything. The bike was nowhere.

Peter rode over when he heard the commotion followed by Dwayne and Roberto.

"What's going on?" Peter asked.

"My bike was stolen," Suzie said sadly.

"Whoa," Dwayne said.

"Wait, it was right there," said Roberto, pointing towards the car. "Wow, that was, like, five minutes ago."

"What!" Cass yelled.

All four immediately ran out and passed the two cars blocking the road and looked up and down the cross street. They saw nothing except a few people walking and the traffic up on Lefferts Boulevard, the main road that was two blocks away. Then Cass thought she saw something turn onto Lefferts. It was a short man in a blue hooded sweatshirt riding a bike. The bike was gold, with the distinctive streamers and side mirrors so beloved by Suzie. It was her bike!

"Arrrghhh! There it is!" Cass yelled pointing to the hooded sweatshirt two blocks away. "Pete, give me your bike."

"Wait, my bike?"

"Yeah, mine is at my house. C'mon!" Cass insisted.

Peter looked down at his bike's beautiful green paint as it sparkled in the sunlight. "Fine, I'll go follow the guy."

"Follow the guy! Are you kiddin' me? I'm gonna go get Suzie's bike _back_! Get off the bike, Pete!" Cass said as she stepped towards him. He instantly rose up and backed away in one motion and she hopped on. "Now go to my house and tell my dad to call the cops! And move, now Pete!" She stepped up on the top pedal and took off.

"He went in that direction," she added, pointing to her left as she started to zoom away.

"Right, we'll cut him off!" Roberto yelled as Cass was already a half block away from them.

"Be careful!" yelled Suzie to Cass, but she didn't think she heard her.

"Cut him off? Whadya mean? On foot?" said Dwayne as they all started to run.

"Yeah, you look like you could use the workout!" Roberto said as they quickly crossed the street.

"Oh yeah!" Dwayne replied and picked up a burst of speed and shot passed Roberto up the next block.

They were all running as fast as they could. Suzie couldn't help but think of Cassidy and how crazy it was that she took off after the thief. They all ran across the next street and cut over a block closer to Lefferts. Roberto was now in the lead. They were getting near the place on the block that was behind his house when he turned and yelled back at them.

"Follow me, I know a shortcut!"

He ran into the side yard of a large house. It didn't look like anyone was home, but they didn't look too closely as they ran past the house, jumped over some bushes and right into the backyard. It was a lovely large yard with patio furniture strewn about and a small above ground pool off to one side.

"Wow, they have a nice pool!" Dwayne said, partly gasping for air.

"We should jump in on the way back," Suzie said as she ran by.

Roberto disappeared into a long line of very tall bushes that made a wall across the rear of the back yard. Dwayne was right behind him and looked back at Suzie with a slightly frightened look as he also vanished inside. Suzie followed in right behind him.

It was dark and cooler in there, and all Suzie saw was the dirt at her feet mixed with ivy. The ivy grew very thick and continued along the tall bushes well over their heads, enclosing them in darkness. She could see Dwayne was actually struggling to get through it ahead of her. Roberto was in front of him, grabbing apart the ivy branches that grew along the backs of some more tall bushes in front of him.

"Man, this stuff wasn't here last time I went this way," Roberto said.

"We're gonna lose them!" Suzie yelled.

"I know, I know," he said as he ripped a few more out of the way and climb through the bushes beyond and back into daylight. They all followed him.

They found themselves in another beautifully manicured garden, but this time it was occupied. There was an elderly couple sitting at a table under a large umbrella near some open glass doors that led to a screened-in porch.

"Hello Mrs. Dunbar, Mr. Dunbar," Roberto said as he raced past them and they sat there with their mouths dropped slightly open.

"Hello," said Dwayne as he followed.

"Hiya," Suzie said as she did a little wave and ran on.

"Roberto? Is that you?" the woman asked as she put down her iced tea.

"Yes, Mrs. Dunbar. Just taking a shortcut. Don't mind us!" he said as he raced down and out of their driveway.

"Well, really!" the woman said, looking at her husband, who picked up a newspaper and started to read.

They all ran into the front yard and out onto the wide sidewalks of the very busy Lefferts Boulevard. Traffic was streaming by and they were frantically looking side to side while trying to catch their breath. They did not see Cass on Pete's bike, or Suzie's bike either. Then a half block to their left they could see Cassidy. She was on the sidewalk, walking Pete's bike and looking down. They quickly ran over to meet up.

"What happened?" Roberto asked as he was the first to reach her.

"I was catching up to him, and I didn't make a sound. But somehow he saw me coming." Cassidy stopped, turned and pointed back behind her and across the street. "He turned down an alley between those two buildings over there. I followed him, but as soon as I turned in, he was gone. Just gone. Like he disappeared. There was no way he doubled back. No way he went past those buildings. It ends up in the train yards, and I would've seen him. I went into the yards for a little, but there was no sign of him. I rode back and forth in the alley a few times. That's when I rode over a nail. Poof- flat tire. I could hear the hissing sound right under me."

The others caught up and they all were still gasping a little for air. Suzie came up and put her hand on Cassidy's shoulder.

"Thanks," she said, "but don't you go off like that without anyone. You're not a superhero, you know!"

"Well, maybe I should be," Cass said.

"Did you check out the buildings?" Roberto asked.

"Of course," she continued. "They are all locked up. I tried to look inside but there aren't any lights, or noise, or anything coming out of them. He's not in there."

There was a honk of a car passing on the other side of the street. It was Cassidy's father with Peter sitting next to him. The large car made a quick u-turn and pulled up near them.

"Aww, man! Is that a flat?" Peter asked.

"I'm okay, but thanks for asking, Pete," said Cassidy.

Mr. Dibella came running out of the driver's side and onto the sidewalk. "Cass, zeesh! We were worried sick! What, did you think you could just run after a bike thief like that? What are you crazy? He could have been dangerous!" he said with reserved anger, kneeling down next to Cassidy.

"I know, I know. I wanted to help get Suzie's bike back. I saw the guy, dad. I saw him!" Cass said, looking down. "From the back, maybe, but I still saw the guy."

"Alright," Mr. Dibella came over next Suzie. "Suzie, I'm sorry about your bike. It's horrible. I called the cops already and, well, they weren't too motivated to run out here. I guess they have other things to do, or whatever. The detective looking into this is off for the weekend. So, me, you, and police woman here, will go down to the precinct together and straighten this out on Monday, okay?"

"Okay," Suzie answered solemnly.

Mr. Dibella knelt down next to Suzie. "Look, Suzie," he continued in a hushed tone, "I know your mom works a lot, and I want you to know I don't mind going in with you. I want to help whenever I can. Me and the misses, well, we think you're like family to us. Okay?" He nodded a little to Suzie and she nodded back to him. "So," he said standing up and turning to the group, "everybody in the car. We're going back to the block party."

"Okay," Suzie said and sighed. She took another look around to try to see her bike, but gave up and resigned to the back seat of the large car.

"Hey Pete, I can't fit the bike anywhere. You don't mind if you ride it back, right?" Mr. Dibella asked as he went around and sat in the driver's seat.

"Uh, okay. That's fine-" Peter was cut off by the slams of the doors, "but I have a flat tire," he finished the sentence as the car pulled away. "Okay, right. I'll go ahead and push it there."

They arrived back at the block party in time for the bouncy house. Suzie didn't feel like going in, but after everyone else did, she joined them, but only for a couple of minutes. It wasn't until one of Cassidy's neighbors set up his deejay equipment that she started to have some fun. She danced a little and played some games, and had some very sweet cotton candy.

When the Mister Softee truck showed up she had nearly forgotten about everything else going on. She enjoyed her double chocolate ice cream cone with chocolate sprinkles. She picked a good spot on Cassidy's lawn to watch the fireworks.

They started well before dusk, with Cassidy's uncle trying to creatively explode everything from soda cans to watermelons. This was much to the distress of his wife, who brought over the watermelons to eat and not splatter across the middle of the street.

In the end, Suzie had a good time, and was glad she came. She wished she had parked her bike closer to Cassidy's house. Now she had to go home and tell her mom.

#  Chapter 12

Suzie arrived at her house before her mother arrived from work. She collapsed in a ball on her living room couch. She was exhausted. The block party helped her forget things but now she kept thinking about her bike. She kept remembering when she bought it, how she put it together with her dad. She was wishing he was there right now. Maybe he could be the one to go with her to the police station instead of Cassidy's dad. He _should_ be.

She wondered where he was and what he was doing right now. Maybe he had found another family, another daughter, and was helping her build her own bike. She started to imagine what she would look like. Then she quickly decided thinking about this kind of thing was pointless and didn't change the fact her bike was gone. She was the only one who could do anything about it. But first she had to break the news to her mom.

She was drifting off and almost asleep when she heard the key turn in the lock. The large front door swung open with a long creak. Her mom came in and clanked her keys into a bowl in the front room. She stepped in and stopped as she saw Suzie sitting on the couch.

"Oh, hey Suze. I'm surprised to see you still up. Where's Grandma? "

"She's sleeping up with Debbie," Suzie answered her mom. She had a sullen look as she tried to think of something else to say. "How was work?"

"Oh," her mom answered as she sat down next to her and started to straighten Suzie's hair a little, "the usual. Crowded at lunch. Crowded at dinner. Speaking of which, did Grandma warm up the leftover spaghetti?"

"Yes, I mean- I don't know, really. I would think she did," Suzie stammered.

"What do you mean? Were you not here for dinner?" her mom asked.

"No, I went to Cassidy's block party."

"Oh, right. They had food?"

"Yes. Cass' dad had his grill out. It was good, actually. I almost forgot what happened." Suzie could feel her throat tighten up with a gulp. Her mom looked intently at her in silence. "While I was there, my bike was stolen," she said as tears welled up and streamed down her cheeks as she looked down.

"What? Oh no- sweetheart," her mom said as she wiped the tears and rubbed her shoulder. "I know you love that bike. I'm so sorry. What happened?"

Suzie explained how Dwayne and Roberto had their bikes stolen over the past couple of days. How hers must have been taken soon after they arrived at the party. How Cassidy chased the thief down Lefferts Boulevard. How he got away.

"But that's not your job, Suzie. I mean, what if you and your friends did catch up to him? You could have gotten hurt. You don't know what kind of person that is," Suzie's mom said in a serious tone with a twinge of anger.

"I know. I-", Suzie looked around the darkened room, "I didn't know Cassidy was going to do that. I don't know, I only wanted my bike back."

"Of course, but a bike isn't worth getting hurt over, is it?" her mom asked.

"I understand, but Cass knows what the bike means to me. It was the last time we were all together, like _really_ together. You and Dad, Debbie, and me. Getting a birthday gift, just for me." Suzie said as more tears streamed down her cheeks. She's not going to all out cry, she thought. She refused to give in.

Suzie's mom looked at her for a long moment and then reached for her hand, "Look, it has been tough for all of us lately. I know. I'm sure we can get another bike. Maybe not for a few weeks, but I am sure we can come up with something."

"I'm not saying I need another bike," Suzie said and stood up. "That's not what I mean. I want _that_ bike. I wanted it back. I just wanted to get it back somehow." Suzie was crying uncontrollably now.

"Sweetheart, you know I didn't choose this," her mom said, reaching for her hand again.

"I want to know why. Why did he just leave? Why didn't he want to say goodbye, at least see us again? Why did he have to take the car? Leave us with nothing. How can a dad do that?" Suzie asked as she sat back down and collapsed into her mother's arms.

"I don't know sweetheart. I don't think we will ever know," said her mom in a soft voice that started to crack.

"You once said the only way to find him was hiring a private detective, but it costs too much. You said that. Mom," Suzie said, turning around and gripping the couch, "I'm getting better at this sort of thing. I'm not a professional and all, but I can see how it works. How to figure things out. I can probably find a cheap detective and help out to save money. If I do most of the work, I think we can find him." Suzie wiped the tears from her eyes and her mom could see in them a spark that refused to go out.

"Okay," she said, slowly. "But, you know Suzie, some people don't want to be found. Some things don't have easy answers. Even if you could find your father, you probably won't find out why. I don't even think he knows. I don't even want to know anymore." Suzie's mom was tearing up herself now.

Suzie turned and leaned on her mom's shoulder. She sat for a quiet moment. She listened to the slow breathing of her mother, and her own breathing slowed down to match. She felt calm again. She was tired.

"I wanted my bike back," she whispered.

"I know, sweetheart," her mom whispered back. "C'mon, let's go up to bed."

Suzie's head was still swimming with ideas when she rested it on her soft pillow. She must be missing some clue about the thief, somewhere, she thought.

As she drifted in and out of sleep, she thought she heard a car door slam, announcing someone's arrival. Then a motor turned on, and a loud car slowly rumbled away into the night.

#  Chapter 13

Cassidy and her father honked their car horn outside of Suzie's house by mid-morning. It was Monday of a new week, and, as it happened, Mr. Dibella was off from his job that day. Cassidy kissed her grandmother goodbye and jumped into the backseat of the large car.

"Howyadoin' Suzie?" Mr. Dibella asked.

"Hey Suzie," Cassidy added.

"Hi Cass. Very well, Mr. Dibella. Thank you," she said.

"You're very welcome. Maybe these cops will have some answers. We can hope," Mr. Dibella said as he pulled away.

They walked in to see good old Sergeant Joe standing behind his large desk once again. He had his head down while writing in some papers and didn't see them walk up.

"Hey there, Sergeant Joe!" Suzie said.

"Well, hello there, Suzie!" he said, lookup up at them over his reading glasses. "And who's this?"

"Hello officer, my name is Tony Dibella. This is my daughter, Cassidy."

"Oh yeah, me and Cassidy go way back. Right, Cass? When was that, like a year ago Suzie brought you in here for gum?"

"That's right, maybe a little longer," Cassidy answered.

"Well, we aren't here for gum today, Sergeant Joe," Suzie said.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes. My bike was stolen," Suzie said.

"Oh, I- I'm so sorry to hear that, Suzie," Sergeant Joe said as his face grew serious. "When did this happen?"

"It was the day before yesterday," Suzie said, and Joe seemed a little surprised.

"I called it in," Mr. Dibella said. "The person who answered said there have been quite a few, and we should come down this morning to fill out a report, when the detective is back in."

"Yeah, right. I think whoever you spoke to was, what we call in the police business, passing the buck," Sergeant Joe said with a smile. "Let me go grab the detective, I think he's around. In the meantime, come over here and I'll have you fill out this report. Just the top part, okay?"

They all moved over to a side bench and completed the report. Sergeant Joe returned after a few minutes and said the detective would be down in a little while, but it was a long time before a man strolled down the stairs.

He had light colored pants with a dark short-sleeved shirt and his usual light colored tightly brimmed hat on. The toothpick was hanging from his teeth along with the slim smile he put on as he approached them.

"Hello again, Suzie, right? And who's this?" he said to Mr. Dibella.

"Hi, I'm Tony Dibella. I'm with my daughter, Cassidy, and her friend Suzie here, who I guess you've met."

"Yes. I'm Detective Rosario, petty theft, among other things," he said with a sneer. He turned towards Suzie and spoke a little louder to her. "So, Suzie, I was sorry to hear from Joe that your bike was the latest to go, huh?"

"Yes, that's right," she answered.

"Well, I'll take the paper, if you don't mind, and we'll get that processed right away," he said and she handed him the sheet. "Okay, we'll be in touch when we have something," he said and walked away.

"Well, I, uh-" Suzie said but was cut off by Cassidy.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Cass yelled and started to walk after Rosario.

"Hold on, Cass," her dad said as he put himself between her and the detective. "I think what the girls are trying to say," Mr. Dibella began to say cordially, "is they actually have some information. See they've been working with a map, and Cass here, she's actually seen the guy riding away on Suzie's bike."

"She's seen the guy?" the detective asked. He raised his eyebrows, tipped his hat back, and stuck his toothpick in the brim. "Well, that changes things." He quickly took out a small notebook, similar to Suzie's. He flipped it open and took out a small pencil. "If you saw some photos, do you think you can recognize his face again?"

"Well, I didn't see his face," Cass said.

"No? Well," he knelt on one knee next to Cass, "what _did_ you see?" he asked and held out his notebook. "Let's start with that, okay?"

"He was a little far away, but I definitely saw he was young, or- not really young, but not old, definitely not old like my dad," Cassidy said, which made her dad raise his eyebrows. "I mean, he moved really quick, like. He had on a hooded sweatshirt, and jeans, I think."

"You think?" The detective wrote down a note, stopped and stood up. "What color was the sweatshirt?"

"Um, it was blue, I think- no," Cassidy stammered as Rosario looked at her sideways. "Maybe, yes, blue, definitely," Cass continued.

"Definitely?" Rosario asked.

"Actually, Cass, I hate to say this, but I'm pretty sure it was green. Like a dark green," Suzie added and Cass quickly gave her a stern look. "But I can see how you would think it was blue, really. It was close."

"Maybe it was blue-green," the detective said as he closed his notebook and put it away. "Look, I'm sure you got a good look at his sweatshirt, but this is a big precinct and we have a lot of cases here. Don't get me wrong, this is an important one." He then placed the toothpick back into the corner of his mouth. "There's a lot of bikes missing, and if it is all one guy-"

"It is, officer," Suzie said cutting him off.

"That's detective," Rosario quickly said.

"That's right, she is!" Cass said.

"Yes, I apologize, of course, _detective_ ," Suzie continued. "But we've found a pattern on the map."

"Right, you said that," Rosario said.

"Detective, I know you're busy, but these bikes are all these kids got," Mr. Dibella said. "They use 'em all day long. And I don't have to tell you in this neighborhood we can't go out and get new bikes at the drop of a hat. Maybe you can listen to Suzie for a minute."

"Look, Mr. Dibella, I would love to stand here all day and look at kid's maps and scribbles, and whatever else they have, but, unfortunately, like they say, the city never sleeps, and I have to get back to work. So, Mr. Dibella, kids," the detective lifted his hat up as a goodbye and turned quickly and started walking towards the stairs.

"What about all of my friends' bikes!" Cassidy yelled out.

"It takes a while sometimes, but we'll get 'em," he said without stopping or turning around.

"But the summer is almost over!" Suzie pleaded, but Rosario kept walking while glancing down at Suzie's report, then he disappeared up the stairs.

"What a goober!" Mr. Dibella said, then looked at Suzie and Cass who were a little surprised. "I'm sorry, but he is what he is. He barely gave us the time-a-day! I mean, really!" They all started walking out.

"Hey kids. What did Rosario say?" Sergeant Joe said as they walked past.

"Not much," Suzie said.

"No, well. He's a little, uh, I'm not sure of the word I'm lookin' for," Joe said.

"Rude!" Cass said.

"That might work," Joe said. "Did he give you his card?"

"No, nothing," Suzie answered.

"Here," he said as he waved Suzie closer to the desk, "take mine." He handed her a little card with the police shield on it and his full name, which she still couldn't pronounce. "It has my mobile number on the back. You call me if you need help, anytime. You might wake up the wife, but I'm awake most of the time, okay? I overheard some of what you said over there. You guys saw the creep?"

Suzie nodded, still holding the card up and admiring how nice it was compared to hers.

"Listen, stay away from that guy if you see him again. You call me, right away. You guys stay safe, okay?"

"Okay," Suzie said.

"You take care, okay kid," he said with a wink beneath his reading glasses.

"Yes, sir," Suzie said.

"Thank you, officer," Mr. Dibella said as they walked out.

#  Chapter 14

The next day Suzie and Cassidy decided to round up as much of the gang as they could and head back to Lillian's for ice cream and some serious thinking. They could get Pete, Dwayne, and Roberto to swing by. When they came in they saw Suzie's mom and then ordered the usual: double scoops of chocolate, vanilla, with fudge and whipped cream, finished with cherries on top, of course.

Suzie brought her map and when everyone was sitting in their corner booth waiting for the ice cream she unfurled it across the table. Wayne and Roberto had not seen it, so they immediately leaned over to take a close look.

"Wow, that's a lot of bikes!" Dwayne said.

"Yeah, I got a bunch more from Sergeant Joe on the phone yesterday. The new ones seem to be all taken in the early morning, which helps, I think," Suzie said.

The map had little red dots that signified overnight thefts. They lined up on a definite path around the neighborhood, same as before. Suzie had written little dates next to each one, but now all of the red ones were old. The yellow dots were the early morning thefts, and were newer, but they all seemed to be randomly spread out around the neighborhood.

"It looks like they changed, or maybe it's two people?" Roberto asked.

"Naaa. I still think it's that one creepazoid, creeping around our neighborhood with a creepy hoody on," Cass said.

"You're creepin' me out!" said Peter.

"I think it's the same guy too," Suzie said. "We need to figure out the pattern." She looked over the map again and slowly moved her hand over the yellow dots. "The answer is right here. We have to crack the code."

"Well, we can start with some ice cream, right?" Peter asked.

"Zeesh, Pete. Give your stomach a rest for once!" Cass said.

"My mom said she would be over in a little with it all. So hang tight," Suzie said. "I was thinking maybe we try to figure this out first. Hold on a sec."

She grabbed one of the long ice cream menus and took out her short pencil and laid them down on top of the map.

"Cass, where exactly did you say the guy disappeared?" she asked.

"Well, let's see. I was riding up Lefferts, here," Cassidy said, tracing the boulevard with her finger on the map. "And, he ducked between these two buildings, here, and whammo, he was gone."

"Over near the railroad yards," Suzie added.

"Yeah, that's right. But he didn't go in there, or else I would have seen him for sure," said Cass.

"Did you look carefully around those buildings?" Roberto asked.

"Yes. I rode all around them, and back," Cass said with a twinge of anger towards Roberto. "I think that was his getaway plan all along, to get over there if he was chased. There must have been a trick he knew, or something."

"Well, that's as good a place as any to make our center point. So, do you remember when we had to plot out points in Mrs. Degrom's math class?" Suzie asked.

"You mean, like, on graph paper?" Dwayne asked.

"Exactly. They would give us the numbers and we draw points on the graph paper. Only this time, we're going to put the graph paper _over_ our points, watch," Suzie said.

She took the straight edge of the menu and meticulously started tracing out straight lines, one after the other over the map. Then she turned the map the other way and start doing the same thing in the other direction, ending up with little square boxes all across the entire map. It made for a very neat looking grid, like a large sheet of graph paper."

"Wow," Cass said, "Mrs. DeGrom would be proud."

"Thanks," Suzie said. "Now, see, all of the yellow ones are the ones we were looking at. Notice how they are all to the right, or east, of where Cass saw the guy last."

"Yeah, so what. Put the center at my house and they are all to the left," Dwayne said.

"That's true," Suzie said, "but now we have the place of his escape. It's a place he knew well. A place he felt safe to run to. That is important."

"I still don't see anything. So what, they are all on one side?" Dwayne asked.

Suzie looked at the grid with the yellow dots for a long moment. Then something clicked in her head and she excitedly picked up the menu again. She started tracing lines, connecting the different points.

"If we connect the ones on the cross streets only, that are near the same long blocks, let's see," Suzie said as she continued to work, picking up the pace. Everyone else leaned up a little to try to get a better view.

"So, wait, what are you doing?" Roberto asked.

"The cross streets would be on their own, see? So we can connect those," she said as she continued to trace out the lines. "Easy, see, and then we connect these up top." She quickly slid the menu along the top of the map, moving her arms furiously along the edges. "And if we follow each of these paths."

Suzie took the menu and carefully extended each line with her pencil back near the starting point. One by one she traced them back past the origin of the graph. And one by one they crossed over each other at one place on the map.

She leaned back and the ice cream menu fell from her hand and onto the floor with a spat. She quickly grabbed her pencil and took a deep breath. She drew a big star with a circle over the area on the map where all of the lines crossed each other.

"Here is where that creepazoid lives. I'm sure of it!" she said proudly.

Everyone stared at the map in amazement. Cassidy leaned over the star and looked over the lines and back to the star. Dwayne joined her. The circle was a location on the eastern edge of Richmond Hill, in a group of houses on the other side of the railroad yards.

"Wait, so how do you know this?" Dwayne asked.

"It makes sense. Think about it. If he is venturing out, stealing bikes, he is not going to do it right near his house. But he still wants to grab a bike, and get out quick, so there really is no wasting time, or space. So he sets off, gets a bike, and comes back, probably not all the way back home, but close enough. We trace the points back further, and there it is."

"Yeah, but, that is a pretty big area there. It's not like you found his house or anything," Roberto said.

"True," Suzie agreed. "But we're close. Close enough to wait him out!"

"Wait him out?" Peter asked.

"You mean-" Cassidy added.

"Oh yeah," Suzie said.

"Stakeout!" said Cass loudly.

"Uh oh," said Peter.

"What, uh oh?" Dwayne asked.

"You don't watch TV? Those never end well," Peter said.

"That's why it's called TV, Pete," said Cass. "This is _real_."

"Exactly!" Peter said with a worried look.

"You have a plan?" Roberto asked Suzie.

"I'm thinking of one, yes," answered Suzie.

"Okay, count me in," Roberto said.

"Me too," Dwayne said.

"Great, thanks," Suzie said.

"Ya know I'm there," Cassidy said.

There was silence and everyone looked over at Pete. He looked down, then over at the other tables, and finally back at everyone staring at him.

"What?" he finally asked.

"We need a bike, Pete," Suzie asked.

"Why?" Peter asked.

"Isn't it obvious? We need bait!" said Cassidy.

"No, that isn't obvious. And there are other people still with bikes, ya know. What about you, Cass?" Peter asked. He looked nervously around and added, "Where's that ice cream?"

"We need another bike, or else how do you think we catch him?" Cassidy asked.

"Cass is right, Pete. We need another bike to follow him, but we aren't going to catch him," Suzie said.

"We're not?" Cassidy asked.

"No, we're going to find out where he is taking the bikes, and call Sergeant Joe. Then we let the police take over."

"Well, when do you want to do this? There's like a week and a half before school starts," Roberto asked.

"Aww, man, really? Is that true?" Dwayne asked disappointedly.

"Well then, as soon as we can," Suzie answered. "He stole most of these latest bikes sometime between 4:30 and 6 am, so I'm thinking we pick a spot. Cass and I will scout out a good place, and meet up at a little after four, and plant the bike. Then we wait nearby."

"Like four in the morning, four?" asked Peter.

"Yes. C'mon, Pete. I want my bike back!" Dwayne said to Pete.

"Well, can we at least get our ice cream before then?" Pete asked, and then Suzie's mom showed up as if she heard him and placed a large tray on the table. The double scooped desserts helped everyone forget about the bikes, the plan, and especially the danger that lay ahead.

# Chapter 15

Suzie and Cassidy set out the next morning to scout out a good spot for the stakeout. They started by going to the buildings where Cassidy lost the thief. Suzie took a slow walk around. They looked like they housed some electric motor company, or used to. Now they were old and run down, but locked up tight. Suzie didn't see anything out of the ordinary. An older man showed up out of nowhere and was walking around with a broom in his hand. He gave them a strange look so they decided to move on.

They traced the path back Cass had taken to follow the thief. It went straight up Lefferts Boulevard. They looked at a few houses that looked like good candidates. They saw Roberto's house, hidden behind its long wall of tall bushes. The garage was very visible from the street so it was easy to how the thief would have seen his bike.

"Roberto's house would be the perfect spot for a stakeout," Suzie said. "It's too bad the guy hit there already."

"Yeah," Cass agreed. "You know who has a house with a very similar setup, right?"

"And it's on the next block," Suzie said.

They walked up Peter's steps slowly this time and politely rang his doorbell only once. His mother answered and invited them in. Peter was up in his room and he called down for them to come up.

They walked into his large bedroom and couldn't help but notice how neat and clean everything was. He had toy soldiers lined up on a desk. His toy cars were arranged in size order. There wasn't a speck of dirt or dust or anything misplaced. Everything was organized and had a place. The only thing slightly out of order was the unused pile of small blocks he had been playing with.

"It must be nice not to have any brothers or sisters to mess up all of your stuff," Suzie said as she picked up one of the army men and took a close look at it.

"Actually, I wish I had a brother, or a sister. Somebody to play with would be nice sometimes."

"Yeah, but sometimes they can be annoying too, " Suzie said as she picked up a little toy truck off of the desk the army men were all piled into.

"I was in the middle of that battle. I am getting back to it. They are attacking the fort, just over the hill there. Can you put them back in the same exact place, please?" Peter asked nicely as he came over and checked on the location of the little soldiers.

"Sure thing, Pete," Suzie said as she carefully returned the truck back to its position and sat in a chair next to his bed.

"We're not here to play army men anyway," Cassidy said.

"Oh yeah, did you find your stakeout spot?" Pete asked.

"Sort of, yes. We only need some cooperation from the person who lives there," Suzie said.

"Oh, well, I'm sure they would go along with it when they find out how important it all is," Pete said as he sat back down on the floor and started to clean up his tiny blocks and place them in the proper container.

"We were hoping you would say something like that, Pete," Cass said as she sat on his perfectly made bed and looked at him with Suzie for a long moment in silence.

Pete stood up and walked around a little in front of them. "Wait a minute- here? You want to have a stakeout at my house? What? How would that even work?"

"It's pretty simple, really," said Suzie. "We use your bike as bait, like we planned. We put it near the front of your driveway. Then we hang around out of sight, and wait."

"Like, wait up here in my room or something?" Peter asked.

"We probably should be somewhere outside, so we can easily hear him coming," Suzie said.

"Yeah, and get after him right away!" said Cassidy.

"Follow him, remember?" Suzie turned to Cass.

"Right, that's what I meant," Cassidy said a little disappointedly.

"So, you want to be outside," Pete said as he started to walk around his room. "This is great! We can have a campout!"

"Stakeout," Cassidy said.

"Same thing. C'mon, this will be fun. We have a big tent. We can set it up right in the backyard. Make a campfire! S'mores!"

"We're not trying to earn one of your Cub Scout badges, ya know," said Cass.

"Hah! The stakeout patch. That would be so awesome!" Pete said.

"Yes, it would," said Suzie. "I don't think the backyard will work. It's too far from the front. We might miss him."

"We can set it up on the front porch. That is even better!" Peter said.

"That would work. Would your mom be cool with that idea?" Suzie asked.

"I'll ask her right now. I don't see why not. This is going to be so much fun!" Pete said. Suzie and Cass looked at each other. They hoped he was right.

#  Chapter 16

Everything was set for the big stakeout-sleepover. Dwayne and Roberto showed up early with sleeping bags. Everyone looked at it as an end of summer slumber party, although Suzie refused to acknowledge it was even close to the end of summer. Peter's father set up his big tent on the large covered front porch that stood next to their long driveway.

Suzie and Peter chose a nice spot to plant his bike. It was a little ways up the driveway, in between some metal garbage cans. It was far enough in that you really had to be actively looking for bikes to see it, but was plainly visible if you were. The streetlight nearby was also in view, which helped get it noticed. They buried Cassidy's bike behind the house, well out of sight.

By the time everyone settled in, it was after dinner and time for dessert, Pete's favorite meal of the day. S'mores was still on the menu, even though Peter's mom refused to light any type of camp fire, especially on a wooden porch, which everyone agreed was a wise decision.

In the kitchen they melted the chocolate on the stove and smushed in the marshmallows over the graham crackers. It all came together splendidly. Ice cream was next on the agenda, and although Pete's mom didn't have the toppings of Lillian's, there was still hot fudge and sprinkles.

Then Pete's dad had the idea to have a lightning bug hunt. He handed out glass jars to everyone and started a simple contest. Whoever nabs the most in their jar gets the air mattress for the night. That was all of the incentive Peter needed.

He ran around the backyard like a man on a mission. He was running in front of people and jumping over lawn chairs to get any fireflies that went streaking by. Everyone else went at a slower pace, but a contest is a contest, and they were all trying hard to win.

Most of the fun was had by trying to follow and capture a lightning bug as it constantly escaped from inside the jar. It took several tries before one could cover it while keeping it trapped inside. It was especially hard to trap the next one without letting all of the previous ones out. This proved to be the hardest challenge for Suzie. Peter, however, seemed to have the knack for it.

Cass was probably the most competitive behind Peter, and caught at least twenty. Suzie caught only two. Most of the time she watched in amazement as the pair of little lightning bugs that kept taking turns blinking at each other in her jar. Some form of communication, she thought, or they were showing off. Either way, it was great to sit and watch.

Pete clearly won the contest, despite the protests by Cassidy that his dad ended it too early, favoring his son. Pete showed true chivalrous spirit, however, and offered the air mattress to Cassidy, which she accepted with gratitude.

That reminded Peter's parents it was getting late and the kids should start getting ready for their night inside the tent. By the time Pete's mom suggested everyone brush their teeth, Suzie realized something. She was having so much fun she had completely forgotten why they were there in the first place.

Suzie grabbed Cassidy and they quickly ran towards the front of the house and peeked into the driveway. Pete's bike was still where they had left it.

"Well, that's a relief!" Cass said to Suzie.

"It is. I'm pretty sure he'll make his move near dawn. Even so, we really don't want Pete to lose his bike too," Suzie said.

"At least not 'till I'm ready to chase him down," said Cass.

"You mean follow him, right?" Suzie asked.

"Right," Cass said with a smile.

Everyone piled into the tent. It was a large red stand up tent that could sleep four comfortably, and five a little squishy. The sole air mattress went to Cassidy, which she thanked Pete for again. Everyone else stacked pillows under their sleeping bags against the hard deck of the porch. Pete's mom made everyone comfortable with some hot cocoa, even though it was still quite warm out. A nice breeze picked up and they kept the door of the tent open which kept it cool inside.

It was lights out pretty early. Pete's mom took breakfast orders and left them alone shortly after they settled in. Pete went out for something so Cass and Suzie quickly maneuvered their sleeping bags by the opening of the tent. They were able to see Peter's bike leaning against the garbage cans through the white spindles of the porch railing.

"This is a good view, right here," Suzie said.

"Yeah, but it's kind of hard to see the street. We're too far back. We can't see anyone coming," said Cass.

"It'll be fine," Suzie said as she reached into her backpack and took out her map and unfolded it onto the floor. "If he sticks to his pattern, he should see the bike."

"Hey, want to play a game?" Peter asked everyone as he came back into the tent with his mason jar full of lightning bugs.

"Hey," Cass said. "I thought your dad made everyone empty out their jars and free them all?"

"I know. I will," Pete said. "Look how cool they look lit up inside the tent!"

He brought the jar inside and immediately the light of the jar began to spread an ever shifting warm glow across the inside of the tent. Roberto turned off his little camping light and then the entire tent was filled with the yellow radiance of the fireflies.

"That is soooo cool!" said Cass.

"Yeah, it's like a lantern," Roberto added.

"Yeah, that's great. You said something about a game?" Dwayne asked.

"Oh yeah, right." Pete said, putting down his lightning bug lantern. "Who's down?" Peter asked as he made a fist with one hand and pounded the palm of his other hand repeatedly.

"Down with what? What are you doing? Is that rock-paper-scissors?" Roberto asked.

"That's right," Peter said as he repeated the motion and then held out his hand like a scissors.

"That's a two player game, Pete," Cass said.

"Not true! Try it, I'm telling you. We can all do this!" Pete said as he moved in closer to everyone. "C'mon, let's go," he continued as he starting his fist again.

"Okay, I'll give it a shot," Dwayne said as he started to pound his fist.

Roberto followed with his and finally Cass and then Suzie. They all put out their choices simultaneously. Peter's rock crushed everyone's scissors, except for Cass, who also put out a rock.

"Alright. It's a playoff!" shouted Pete.

"Okay, don't get too excited, rock boy," Cass said. "You're still going down."

As they started their playoff round, Suzie decided she needed some air. She went out of the tent and Roberto joined her. She could see Peter's parents through the front window sitting nearby in the living room watching television. It looked like they were going to make sure everyone was safe sleeping out there on the porch.

"Hey, what's up?" Roberto asked Suzie as he stepped out and leaned on a railing.

"Oh nothing. I wanted to stretch my legs."

"What's wrong? Aren't you good at rock-paper-scissors?" he asked.

She laughed. "Is anybody good at that, really?" she asked.

"I guess not. It's kind of like tic-tac-toe. After a while, what's the point?" he asked.

He looked over at the glowing television light emanating from the living room windows of Peter's house. "It's not going to be easy trying to get the guy with Peter's folks sitting right there."

"We're not going to try to _get_ the guy," Suzie said. "We're only going to follow the guy and get the cops to get the guy."

"Right, I know. You said that before. What if he gets away?" he asked.

"He's not. Believe me, Cass is not going to let that happen."

"Yeah, that's true. She is pretty persistent."

"You got that right," she said as she turned to listen to a burst of laughter coming from inside the tent.

"Must have been a good round," Roberto said. "C'mon, let's go back inside. It's not too late to have some fun before the guy shows up."

"Yeah, _if_ he shows up," Suzie said and they both went back inside the tent and joined a new round.

They started new games; word games, guessing games, and memory games. They almost started to tell ghost stories, but decided not to after everyone started to get a little creeped out, especially when they thought about what was waiting for them during the night. Finally they got tired, and started to drift off one by one, except for Suzie and Cass.

"What if we miss him?" asked Cass when she started to close her eyes.

"We're going to hear the metal of the cans for sure. He has to move them to get the bike out," Suzie said. "We'll hear him."

Both of them had resumed their positions leaning out of the doorway of the tent, with a good view of the driveway and the bike. Cass was the first to fall asleep, but Suzie could not close her eyes for a long time.

Every little sound kept her awake. If a car slowed down by the street, she strained to see what was going on, but saw nothing. Thoughts started to run through her mind. _Maybe he had someone who drove him around. Maybe he used a van or something like that to grab the bikes._

She started to have serious doubts. Everyone got together because of her that night and the thief might not even see Peter's bike, or even be out on this particular night. What would they do then? Go back to school? Lose their bikes forever? She thought about her mom, about what she said. It would take weeks to save up for a new bike. Probably months.

She started to think how much she missed her bike. The gold paint with the butterfly stickers. She imagined riding again. The wind rushing by as she sped across wide sidewalks. She started to drift off.

She heard footsteps. It was someone running next to her while she was riding. She knew it was him, her father. He was clapping, cheering! It was her first time riding on two wheels by herself. She was finally about to stay up and ride on her own. She kept drifting off as she kept riding on, alone. No one was near her now. She pedaled harder and faster into a long, deep sleep.

# Chapter 17

A slow metal scraping noise shook her awake. She froze for a long moment with her eyes wide open. Had she really heard that? Was she dreaming? She laid still. She had rolled over sometime in the night. Her head was still laying out of the tent's door, but now she was facing away from the driveway. She dared not move. She tried not to breathe. She looked straight ahead at the jar Peter had left on the deck with all of the fireflies inside.

As she stared at the jar sitting on the porch floor she strained to hear anything. The lightning bugs inside the jar seemed to sense something as they all started to blink feverishly at one another. She wondered if they had some kind of sixth sense to danger.

_Maybe she was dreaming_ , she thought after a while as her eyes started to close again.

There was another metal scrape. It was very slow and quiet this time, much softer than the last one, but she was sure now it was real. Then another! A shorter one, like the pull of something heavy. There was no doubt. Someone was moving those trash cans behind her, off the side of the porch in the driveway. It must be him!

Her heart started to pound in her ears. It was so loud she thought the thief must have heard it! As quietly as she could, she slowly started to roll over. The coolness of the night air was falling on her face as she looked up at the ceiling of the porch, with its wood slats of slightly peeled paint. She rolled all the way around until she could see the white railings on the side of the porch. All was in darkness in the driveway beyond. The street light didn't help to make out the shapes. It looked like dark masses of blobs on the other side.

She tried to remember where Peter's bike was placed. She remembered distinctly she could see it through the spindles. She peered through the railing with such intensity her eyes started to hurt. She quickly came to a shocking conclusion: the bike was gone!

She firmly pushed the shoulder of Cassidy who was sleeping near her on the other side of the tent's doorway. Cass stirred a little, then rolled over away from Suzie, and went right back to sleep. Suzie pushed her shoulder again.

"Huh, wha?" she groaned.

"Shhhh!" Suzie leaned over and whispered.

"What?" Cass whispered back.

"Somebody was moving the cans! I can't see the bike anymore," Suzie whispered with as much urgency as she could convey.

"What!" Cass said as she leaned up and looked towards the railing spindles. She saw nothing as well. "We have to take a closer look!"

Cassidy stood up half way in a crouch and very quietly moved towards the railing. The porch creaked slightly under her feet with each step, so she stopped every second or so. She heard nothing from the driveway. Suzie heard nothing as well, so she got up to join Cass.

As she swung her foot around to stand up she inadvertently kicked the jar that contained all of Pete's lightning bugs. It tipped over with a tink and rolled away from Suzie. She tried to grab it, but it rolled too far from her.

"Cass!" Suzie gasped.

Cassidy turned around too late to stop the jar from passing by her opposite side. She reached for it but it was too far along. It picked up speed on the slanted deck and rolled towards the railing. Suzie moved up next to Cass as the jar rolled towards the back corner of the porch and under the wooden base of the railing. It rolled right off the porch deck.

Crash!

The glass jar shattered into a million pieces. On the other side of the railing dozens of trails of yellow lights from the now free lightning bugs shot up. Illuminated in the driveway beyond was the unmistakable shape of Peter's bike. Sitting on the bike was the darkened silhouette of a short man. He had a hood on his head and was looking down at the bike. After the glass shattered he instantly pulled his head up and looked right in the direction of the porch.

Suzie and Cass stood frozen. The man had thick glasses that reflected the twinkling light of the fireflies. Suzie was amazed as he didn't seem to see them. Instead he looked wildly at the circling creatures that flew all around him. Suzie felt a hard shove from behind her back.

"Ahhh! My bike!" It was Peter. He had pushed his way between Cass and Suzie and was pointing at the man. "Thieeeef!"

"Pete!" Cass yelled, knocking his pointed arm down.

The man stood up tall and looked at the porch. The tent shook with the noise of everyone scampering to their feet inside. He rose up on Peter's bike and crashed it through the remaining garbage cans. He was already at the end of the driveway and into the street when Suzie and Cass reached the railing and leaned over to get a closer look at him.

"Pete! Dog gone it! Ya scared him away!" Cass yelled at Peter as she pushed him out of the way and ran past him down the front steps of the porch. "Now I gotta chase this guy, _again_!"

Cass disappeared into the darkness around the other side of the house. Roberto and Dwayne came charging out of the tent. Roberto was struggling to turn on his little camping flashlight, while Dwayne was still rubbing his eyes to wake up. Meanwhile the lights turned on inside of Pete's house.

"So much for quietly following the dude," Roberto said, shining his light off the side of the porch, revealing the tipped over garbage cans.

The blur of a passing bicycle raced by on the driveway. It was Cass on her dirt bike. She turned and yelled back at them.

"C'mon, slow pokes! He's gettin' away!" she said. Then she bounced her bike out onto an empty Lefferts Boulevard and rode off to the left.

Suzie quickly turned around. "Pete, stay here. Talk to your dad, tell him what happened, and call the cops. Roberto and Dwayne, come with me. Let's catch up as fast as we can."

#  Chapter 18

They all ran off the porch and onto the wide boulevard. It was brightly lit beneath the amber street lights. They could see Cassidy. Her bike was a block ahead already. She was staying on the sidewalk and out of sight. In front of her, far off and barely visible, was the dark shape of the other bike rider. They started to run to catch up.

"We're totally gonna lose them," Dwayne called out.

"No, it's fine. She's following him from far back. She's on him. As long as we can keep her in sight, we'll be okay."

As soon as Suzie said that, they could see Cass enter the street and dart across to the other side. They quickly did the same, and found themselves ducking in and out of bushes to stay hidden. Then they saw the thief clearly up ahead as he seemed to be closer now.

"I think he stopped," Suzie said as they all quickly ducked behind a building.

Suzie took a quick look at her phone and could see it was only 4:40 am. The streets were still deserted. She looked down at her favorite bright orange sleeping sweatshirt and realized it was not the smartest wardrobe decision to wear following a thief, but there was nothing she could do about it now. They all stopped and took a look at Cass up ahead. She had hidden behind a building on the next block. She was waving her hands at them to get out of sight, so they made sure they did.

The thief had moved out into the street now, and was looking back in their direction. He was still on Pete's bike, and was moving in slow circles in the middle of the road. He stopped for another moment, looking around. Then he did a quick turn around and took off again.

Cass quickly popped her bike out from behind the building and continued to follow him. Suzie and the rest moved out as well, keeping a close eye on Cassidy. They kept moving, but they didn't have to move too quickly to keep up.

"This guy is not moving all that fast, is he?" Roberto asked.

"Yeah, I was hoping for this," Susie said as they continued to move along the sidewalk. "As long as he thinks nobody is following him, why should he go fast? It would only look suspicious."

"You got it all planned out, huh? What do we do once we catch up to this guy?" Dwayne asked.

"Ah!" Suzie exclaimed. "We call in the cavalry," she said while holding up the little card from Sergeant Joe and her phone.

"Sounds good to me. I'm gettin' tired already," Dwayne said.

After another block they lost sight of the thief, but could clearly see Cassidy. She had stopped on the sidewalk and was waving at them to catch up. They ran as fast as they could and made it to her within a couple of minutes.

"Hey," Suzie said, almost out of breath.

"He went in there, right through that side door," said Cass, pointing ahead to the same building she had followed him to a few days earlier. "I knew it! I knew he had a way in there!"

They could see some lights go on inside. Then there was a shadow on some frosted glass windows. They could clearly see a figure walking around the inside of the building.

"Wow, okay. Good work Cass. This must be where he takes the bikes," Suzie said.

"Great! Let's get 'em back!" Roberto said.

"Hold on, not so fast. That's a job for the police," Suzie said, holding up Sergeant Joe's card. She took out her phone and hit the button to light it up, but nothing happened. She tried and tried, then it blipped on for a sec with a large red battery icon, and went dead again.

"Oh no, I forgot to charge it! Roberto, do you have your phone?" she asked.

"Naa man, it's back at the tent!"

"I can ride to get it," Cassidy said as she moved her bike forward.

"Cass, I need you here, in case he takes off again. You are the only one who can keep up with him. I need you guys to keep your eyes glued to this place."

"What are you going to do?" Cass asked urgently.

"The bagel store will be open by now. It's only two blocks. I'll call the cops and be right back. Make sure we don't lose him!" she said.

"You got it, Suzie," said Roberto.

"Yeah, he's not goin' anywhere without the Double Scoops all over him!" Cass said.

"Ha! That sounds good. I'll be back as soon as I can," Suzie said as she started to run up Lefferts Boulevard another two blocks. As she had hoped, the bagel store was open on the other side of the street. She quickly ran across towards the door when something almost hit her as she stepped onto the sidewalk from the street. It was a bike speeding past her.

"Hey! Watch out!" boomed the rider as he flew by, nearly ramming right into her as she quickly hopped onto the sidewalk and fell to one knee.

Suzie looked up in shock. The bike rider was looking back at her. As he blinked and made a mean face behind the very thick glasses she recognized from earlier, there was no doubt about it, it was the thief! He was on a different bike now, a black mountain bike she didn't recognize. There was, however, a round mirror on the side of his handlebars that had a golden butterfly sticker. It was her stolen mirror!

He had somehow made it out of the building without the others seeing him. He sped away and she knew she had to move quickly to keep him in sight. There was no time to find a phone or to go back for help, or anything else. She had to move!

She ran along the sides of buildings, following him from afar. She went in and out the parking lots. The owners of the some of the shops were beginning to show up for work, and she hid around their cars, staying out of sight. The thief slowed down a little as he rode around them as well. Suzie was desperately trying not to alert the thief she was following him and scare him away too fast. She needed to at least find out where he was headed.

He turned onto Jamaica Avenue under the elevated train tracks and disappeared to Suzie's right. She ran to the corner to catch up. When she got there, he was gone. She ran up the avenue while the subway cars thundered overhead, shattering the darkness with flashes of light and sending down showers of sparks. He was nowhere to be seen.

"Where on earth did he go?" she whispered aloud.

She looked down an alleyway to her right and saw the wide open space of the railroad yards beyond some broken chain link fences. On a hunch she decided to run down the alley. At the end she stood looking down onto the train yards. The yards were huge fields that were down a hill about fifteen feet below where she was standing. There were freight cars parked in a few places, with empty rails and train parts strewn about. Right in the center of the yards was the dark solitary figure of a man on a bicycle, pedaling next to one of the tracks.

_He's heading home!_ she thought. She moved quickly.

Down the hill she ran at top speed. Her sneakers were slipping on the steep exposed granite rock face, but she made it down to the level of the tracks before losing sight of him. He didn't look back as he pedaled on towards the other end of the yards. She tried to stay low and run next to parked freight cars when she could, but as she looked down on her orange sweatshirt again, she knew if he ever turned around she was done for. It was getting a little lighter out now, and she would be clearly seen.

He kept right on going and eventually she could see he was heading for a long fence that bordered the neighborhood on the other side of the tracks. He rode up to the fence and then disappeared into the darkness between some trees. Suzie was startled at first, and had to stop and stand up on a crate to try to see him, but he was gone. Then she ran on and within a minute she had reached the same fence.

There was a skinny hole cut into the fence, and it was large enough to fit a bicycle for sure. She cautiously approached it and looked around. She was between trees in darkness and looked ahead. She saw and heard nothing but the loud chatter from the multitude of crickets surrounding her.

Then, on the other side of the fence, she saw the thief. He was crossing the street towards some houses, still slowly pedaling his bike. She moved through the hole with a leap, and was on the other side. She made a little noise on her landing which quieted the crickets, but he didn't turn around.

The sunlight of the next day was still far off, but it was definitely getting brighter by the minute. A pale blue glow emanated overhead. There was a bold stillness in the quiet of the early morning as Suzie crossed the street and passed houses still very much asleep. She tried to walk lightly, but her sneakers uncontrollably crunched the loose stones on the ground and the dirt on the streets.

This part of the neighborhood was completely unfamiliar to her. She was trying to get her bearings but didn't recognize any street names. He was still coasting along as she followed him, two blocks, and then three. Then he turned left around a corner. She ran as fast as she could to catch up. When she got to the corner she ducked behind a large oak tree and slowly poked her head out. There he was, riding down the middle of the street, about five houses into the block. He stopped quickly and turned around!

She ducked back behind the tree and held her breath. She heard nothing. She bent down low and peeked out above the raised roots of the tree, close to the ground. He had moved, and was near the sidewalk across the street now. He stopped in front of a house.

He was still looking around when he leaned over and opened a gate. She could hear the clank and creak as the metal gate swung open. He rode a little inside and closed the gate behind him, disappearing into the driveway beyond.

_That is his house!_ she thought. _I have him!_

# Chapter 19

"I can't stand this waiting!" Cassidy said. "Where did Suzie go? She should have been back by now!"

They had found a good spot to wait across the street from the building where Cass saw the thief enter. They could see a figure walking around inside, whose shadow they could still make out against all of the frosted glass windows that lined the cement walls.

"Maybe that Sergeant Joe is a slow talker on the phone," Dwayne said. "Anyway, we're all good as long as we keep an eye on mister bike thief in there."

They heard a loud clang from the building. They looked over to see the front door of the building open up. They all backed up into the dark of the trees, safely across the street. The shadow they had been watching emerged as light streamed out from behind him. An old gentleman stepped out, lit a cigar and filled the doorway with a disgusting amount of smoke.

Cassidy gasped. "That's not the guy! He's not the thief!" she looked at the others. "That's the wrong guy!"

"Uh oh," Dwayne said.

"Yeah, uh oh is right! If that's not the guy, where's the guy?" Roberto asked.

#  Chapter 20

A million thoughts started to race through Suzie's head now; _Should she run back now and get the police? Should she take a closer look and see if the bikes are all there? Should she wait and watch what he does?_

She needed to get closer. She walked into his block, stopping behind each tree trunk. She made her way across the street and was hiding behind parked cars while she moved closer towards his house. She quickly ducked in behind the car parked in front of his house. She looked through the car's windows, over the metal gate and up into the driveway. The gate was only a dozen feet from her now.

There was barely enough light from the approaching dawn to see that at the end of the long driveway his garage door was left open. It was too dark inside to see anything, however. The thief left his own bike in the driveway, but she couldn't tell if there were any other bikes inside the darkened garage.

She knew if she dragged the police here she would need to show them some kind of proof, some evidence this was the guy. Her mirror on his bike was not going to cut it. Only a stolen bike would. She needed to get a quick look into that garage. She looked back at the house. The windows were barely lit by a light on deep inside somewhere, but other than that, she could see nothing.

She walked around the rear of the parked car slowly, keeping her head down and staying low. She took another peek at the house and again saw no movement. She took a deep breath, stood up and moved to the gray metal gate that was across the driveway. She slowly lifted the latch that held the chain link fence closed. She started to open the gate and it made a very loud creak.

She stopped and looked at the house again. Nothing. She moved the gate some more and it creaked again. She opened it little by little until she had enough room to squeeze in. She left it open behind her, afraid it would be too loud to close again.

She walked by the house and took a peek into the closest window. She could see nothing but a closed blind inside. She crept along the house, staying below the windows. When she had to move by a basement window, she hurried passed. She still couldn't make out anything in the dark garage as she approached the rear of the house.

The backyard was small with rusted metal car parts laying around, along with some very old bicycle wheels. There was an old white refrigerator in the far corner that was tipped over and half covered in orange rust. The ground was overgrown with leafy weeds and vines. The whole place gave her the creeps and she couldn't wait to get out of there.

The garage was on her right, at the end of the driveway, about fifteen feet from the house. It didn't sound like much, but it was a long way to step out into the open and risk being seen. She took another deep breath and moved quickly.

She did a quick little jog past the thief's black mountain bike still laying in the middle of the driveway. She moved into the garage, stopping a step through the open door. It was all dark inside and she turned back towards the house. She still didn't see anything moving. There was a dark gray back door above a few wooden steps that was closed. Nobody was looking out any windows to her great relief.

She turned and took another step into the garage. It was very dark, so she waited a minute for her eyes to adjust to the low light. She started to make out some shapes. There was a lawnmower closest to her. Then there was some kind of small engine laying on the cement floor behind that. Some more heavy looking metal parts were laying around. To her great disappointment, she could see no bikes. There was a large object towards the back. It had a blue tarp covering it. Sticking out the bottom of the tarp was something shiny. She carefully moved in a little more, trying desperately not to make a sound.

Slowly she crept and bent low near the shiny object. It was the unmistakable chrome rim of a bicycle wheel turned sideways, a front wheel! She lifted the tarp slowly. Higher and higher it revealed the entire wheel. Attached to that was a narrow front reflector. Above were the curved handlebars of a racing bike. The white frame had a little emblem on the front with an Italian flag. There was no doubt, this was Roberto's stolen bicycle.

She quickly placed the tarp back down and backed away. She turned to leave and was so excited at finding the proof she needed she forgot about all of the metal parts laying on the floor and stumbled over one of them. She tripped towards the wall on her right and caught herself by grabbing at a shelf. It was loose and tipped over, spilling a half dozen boxes of small parts and tools all over the side of the garage. Worse than the mess was the horribly loud sound it made as it all came crashing down and clanged all over the floor.

Suzie froze. Her heart was pounding and quickly she knelt down to make herself as small as she could behind the lawn mower. She looked over at the house. Nothing was happening. Then she saw a shape moving. A light came on in a back room. Then lights came on in the backyard and flooded everything with a glaring white brightness. It was so bright she had to shield her eyes. She half stood up and looked around. The light was streaming into the garage. There was nowhere to hide!

The back door of the house swung open and slammed outward.

"Hey there! Hey! Hey you in there!" Yelled the thief from the doorway of the house.

_Run!_ she yelled to herself, but she froze.

"Hey! What are you doing in there!" he barked again, this time louder. His thick glasses flickered in the light as he was sticking his large head out of the door. He took a step down while he bent his neck around to get a better view at the garage. "Hey! Who is that? Hey!" he yelled as he started to walk down the steps.

Suzie stood up and looked around frantically. Then something caught her eye. She peered out to the driveway.

"His bike!" she whispered to herself. "C'mon, Suzie. Run!"

She sprang out and ran ahead as he reached the bottom of the steps. She grabbed up the black mountain bike and in one motion jammed her foot down on its pedal while pushing off hard with her other leg.

"My bike!" the man yelled as he started to run towards her.

She was already at the fence before he could reach the driveway. She rammed the front wheel of the bike into the partially opened gate and it flung open wildly with a metallic crash. She bounded ahead and was out on the street. She looked into her old side mirror to check her back. The thief was not there. He had stopped running!

She had to slow down and turn her head around to take another look. Indeed, the man was not there. She pedaled on further and looked into the mirror again only to see Roberto's stolen racing bike come shooting out of the driveway and into the street. She was at the end of the block when she looked again and the racing bike was not far behind her. She could see the thief pedaling hard and shaking his fist at her.

She took a gasp of air and turned right at the first corner. She desperately was looking for anyone to run to, but there was no one up yet. If she stopped she was sure he would catch her, so she fiercely pedaled on. She looked again in the mirror and he was catching up!

She turned onto another block and she could hear him skidding his tires and turning right behind her. On the block in front of her, to her great surprise, was a big blue and white car with the words New York City Police Department printed along the side. It had a bright side light that was shining onto the front yards of houses along the block. They were looking for something, or someone. She let out a yell and the light instantly turned in her direction. She waved an arm frantically. The police car's engine roared and it sped up to meet her, turning on its sirens.

"Hey! Hey! Help!" she yelled.

The police car pulled up next to her, with the red and white lights spinning on the roof, covering everything in the flashing colors.

"Suzie! Hey kid, are you alright!" came a familiar voice. It was Sergeant Joe coming out of the passenger side door and running over to her.

"Yes, he's chasing me. It's the thief!" she said, motioning behind her.

The thief had stopped cold when he saw the police car. He quickly turned the bike around. He pedaled away back towards the top of the block where another police car skidded to a stop in front of him. He tried to race around it but the thin racing tires slipped on the dirty street and he crashed down on the ground. He moved to get up and run. Two officers from the other car had already leapt out and they grabbed him before he could go anywhere.

"Looks like we got 'em," Sergeant Joe said calmly.

"You really got him," she said. Then she took a deep breath and turned back to Sergeant Joe and began to break down and cry.

"It's alright, Suzie. It's gonna be okay now," he said, hugging her and gently patting her back.

"How did you know where to find me?" she asked when she regained some composure.

"You can thank your friends, here," Sergeant Joe said. "They brought me the map, and we grabbed a couple squad cars and went to the area you circled. Pretty easy, actually."

"Easy peasy!" a voice called out. It was Cassidy. She jumped out of the back seat of the police car and ran over to Suzie's side. "Hey, you talk about me goin' off alone after the bad guy!"

"Yes, not a good move at all," said Suzie smiling, wiping away her tears.

"Next time we go as a team," Cass demanded.

"Stick together," Suzie answered.

"That's right!" said Cass.

"And don't forget about the guy who got the cops in the first place!" Peter said as he came out from the back seat as well. "And remembered the map, too."

"I'm just glad I was working the desk," Sergeant Joe said. "Ya know, I had a hunch you were further along than anyone thought. Boy, was I right about that!"

They looked over towards the other police car. The thief was in handcuffs and they were ducking his head down and placing him into the back seat. Another officer was picking up the fallen bike next to the car.

"That's evidence!" Suzie yelled out. She turned back towards Sergeant Joe. "That's Roberto's bike. It's stolen."

"They know," he told her.

"It came from his house. He lives around the block," she exclaimed.

"Don't worry, detective. We'll get it all straightened out," Joe said smiling. "We're all professionals, right?" Suzie nodded and smiled back. He continued, "Hey, you wouldn't believe what they found inside that building your friends were eyeballing."

"Eyeballing! Ya gotta love cop talk!" said Peter.

"Right. C'mon, Sherlock. Let's get you guys outta here," Sergeant Joe said as he helped them back into the car.

#  Chapter 21

It was several days later when they returned to the precinct. Suzie and Cassidy had decided to accompany Roberto when it was time to pick up his bike. Suzie was the first inside and saw the familiar smiling face of Sergeant Joe at his usual post behind the large desk.

"There she is!" he called out loudly to the other police officers behind him.

"Hiya, Sergeant Joe!" she responded.

"C'mon boys and girls," Sergeant Joe said, turning around to the room. "Give it up. Detective in the house!"

Then he started to clap and he was joined by all of the officers behind him, one by one. They each stood up at their desks and they started to clap until the entire room echoed with applause.

Suzie stood there with Cassidy and Roberto by her side. She smiled as her face blushed and turned almost as red as her hair.

"Okay, okay," Sergeant Joe said. "Let's not let this get to her head." He raised his arms and the other officers sat back down and the usual noise and commotion resumed.

"I am guessing Mr. Rodriguez wants his bike back, finally," Joe said.

"Yes, sir!" said Roberto.

"Alrighty. Let me make a call and someone will bring it up to you in a few," he said.

They were about to walk over to a bench when the site of someone stepping down the rear stairs caused Suzie to stop. It was Detective Rosario slowly making his way down the steps and looking straight at her.

"Well, well. Here she is, the super sleuth herself," he said as he approached her. He had his usual hat with a light suit on. The toothpick darted from each corner of his mouth as he continued. "You can't stay out of the papers, eh? That was some story that guy wrote about you, _again_."

"I really had nothing to do with that. They write what they want to write," she said and held her hands out while tilted her head and smiling.

"Spoken like a true celebrity! Well, just the same, thanks for mentioning me. My wife appreciated it. Ya know somethin', I've got to hand to ya. Ya really pulled the whole thing off. That was a big score, kiddo."

"Thanks," Suzie said.

"It's too bad they couldn't get all of the bikes back. That guy at the building," said Rosario, "the old guy, who tried to run when your friend Peter showed up with the cops. He confessed downtown. Him and his thief buddy stole over fifty bikes. They found parts and bike frames in all the boroughs so far. They had quite the operation goin' on."

"Really?" Suzie asked.

Rosario continued, "Yeah- and it turned out the guy you followed, the thief, he used to be-"

"-a garbage man," Suzie said, cutting him off. She couldn't resist. "That was how he got the idea in the first place. He saw all of the bikes that kids left out on his route."

"That's right," Rosario said a little stunned. "Turns out he's been stealing stuff from the job too, so they fired him a couple of weeks ago. Now he's gonna go away for a long time. How on earth did _you_ figure out where he worked?"

"Well, the thefts started on a path," Suzie continued, "a route of some kind. Given the time of them, it all fit with a garbage collection. He changed that after he was fired, I guess. Then he tried to get more bikes, make more money I would think."

"I would think that too," Rosario said with a stunned look.

"And," Suzie continued, reaching into her pocket and pulling out the sliver of green plastic she found and holding it up carefully in her fingers. "This little piece of green plastic got me thinking last night. It is a shard, like it is has been shredded, exactly what they do at the recycling plant. I am sure the thief used to work with that stuff too."

"I think you're right," Rosario said.

"See, if we both worked together on this clue, we could have put this together sooner than we did," Suzie added.

"Then it was a good thing you held onto it," Rosario said as he carefully picked it from Suzie's fingers. "Maybe we can link him to the scene of the crime."

"And it's a good thing we had Suzie, right?" Cass blurted out.

"That's right. And a good thing is a good thing," he said standing up a little taller and taking the toothpick out of his mouth. "I like to think I'm a big enough guy to admit when I'm wrong. So," he paused, cleared his throat and continued in a lower voice. "Good job-" he raised his eyebrows, " _detective_."

"Thanks, _detective_ ," she said likewise, with a wide smile.

"It's too bad they couldn't find your bike, Suzie," he said as he walked away.

Another police officer in a uniform showed up wheeling Roberto's bike across the floor.

"Mr. Rodriguez," she said, holding out a clipboard, "sign here, please."

They all filed out of the precinct. Roberto climbed up on his racing bike as Cassidy climbed up on her dirt bike. Suzie walked next to them.

"Man, it's pretty scratched up on the sides," Roberto said as he looked down at his bike's front wheel.

"Hey, my mom said to swing by Lillian's for some ice cream," said Suzie. "She wants to celebrate again."

"Sure. I've got no problem with that," Roberto said.

After a few blocks they arrived at Lillian's. They went inside and to their surprise they saw Peter already sitting at their corner booth. As they got closer they saw Dwayne was sitting there as well.

"Hey, when did you guys get here?" Suzie asked as they all sat down.

"Thank goodness! We can get our ice cream now!" Peter said.

"Hello Suzie!" the voice of Mrs. Singleton called out to her daughter from the kitchen. "We have a surprise waiting! Come on out back."

She walked through the kitchen with everyone excitingly trailing behind her and out the back door of the restaurant. Standing in an empty space in the parking lot was a beautiful brand new bike. It had a sparkling white and gold paint job, red racing stripes, and large butterfly stickers on the sides of its golden frame.

"Wow," Suzie slowly whispered, as her jaw dropped open.

"Isn't it wonderful? Mr. Kane saw the article and got in touch with me himself. After he read that they never found your bike, he wanted you to have your own again, especially one from _his_ toy store. You made a lot of kids happy, getting all of those bikes back. He said he wanted to make it right," her mom said as her eyes started to tear up.

"Aww, mom," Suzie said, with tears starting to stream down her cheeks as well. "Now you're making me cry!"

"It's okay, it's okay. It's a good cry. The bike is bigger than the other one, so it should last a while. The seat height should fit, we think. Try it out," her mom said, walking Suzie over to the bike.

Suzie took her helmet that was hanging on the handlebars, put it on and climbed up, barely reaching the ground with her toes. She looked over the ten-speed shifters, one on each side of the handlebars. The streamers were gone, replaced with handbrakes. This bike was bigger, faster, and stronger.

"It's perfect," she said.

She kicked up the kickstand and pushed off. It moved like a dream. She moved around the parking lot like she wasn't touching the ground at all.

"What about the ice scream?" Pete yelled out to her.

"C'mon Pete! She's having a moment, will ya? Zeesh!" Cassidy yelled back at him.

"Ice cream, yes!" Suzie called out. "Double scoops all around! Start without me, I'll be back in a few minutes," Suzie said, waving to her mom, who waved back and blew a kiss.

She bounced off the curb from the parking lot and glided out into the street. She was back, out into the open breeze.

#

#

There will be more Suzie Snaggletooth adventures. I invite you to join the mailing list to stay informed on the future releases:

<http://suziesnaggletooth.com/>
