“The Sweet Stop” read Karen.
“Let’s check it out” said Marrisa.
When they walked in, they were surrounded by the smell of chocolate. Around them, there was shelves and shelves full of chocolate, candy, cookies, and cakes of all sizes.
“Wow, this is amazing!” breathed Rachel.
“Thank you young lady, I pride myself in it as well” said a booming voice behind them.
The girls whirled around and faced a tall man in a suit. He had shiny black hair, and a shiny black mustache. He wore a smug expression. The girls could tell he was the sort of person who drove flashy cars, and prefered suits to jeans and t-shirts.
“Excuse me for being so straightforward, but who are you?” asked Karen.
The man straightened up, (which was amazing because he was already unbelievably straight) and adjusted his striped tie.
“I am Antonio Delagrue, owner of the Sweet Stop. But you can just call me Mr. Delagrue. Welcome to the Sweet Stop!”
“Thank you, Mr. Delagrue. Would you mind telling us about the candy and stuff you make? My mother doesn’t like me eating certain foods” said Rachel, in an effort to keep the conversation going.
“But of course! Each good is carefully made with only healthy products…” as Mr. Delagrue droned on, Karen studied him. He seemed to be keeping them away from the counter. Now, being a young detective, Karen was naturally suspicious. She decided to figure out what was behind the counter.
“Excuse me, but where are the restrooms?” asked Karen.
Mr. Delagrue pointed beyond the counter, and Karen saw a sign that pointed toward a hallway. The sign read:
Restrooms
Karen nodded and made her way toward the restrooms. When Mr. Delagrue’s back was turned, Karen ducked behind the counter. She crawled along, but didn’t see anything suspicious. Then she noticed a door beside the counter. It was slightly open. When she listened carefully, she could hear voices.
“So this is the plan. Final plan. We sneak around to the back, and climb in through the window. We will end up in the janitor’s closet. When we exit that room, on our right is the money room. Then we…”
Karen felt her nose tickle.
Do NOT sneeze Karen! she thought. She looked at all the dust around her.
Ahh, ahh, she squeaked a sneeze.
“Did you hear that?” someone said inside the room.
She heard footsteps. She crawled to the end of the desk, and saw Mr. Delagrue still talking. His back was to her, but Marrisa saw her.
What are you doing?! she mouthed.
Tell you later! Karen mouthed back.
She crawled out as Mr. Delagrue was turning around. She scrambled to her feet just in time. She pretended to be inspecting a shelf of cookies.
“Now that you know about what we make, would you like to buy anything?” asked Mr. Delagrue.
“Sure!” Karen said in a fake cheerful voice. She couldn’t stop thinking about what she had heard.
The girls bought some chocolate chip cookies, and some candy. They walked out of the store eating.
“Now tell us what you were doing behind the counter” said Marrisa.
“Well, he seemed to be luring us away from the counter. So, I wanted to see what was behind it. There was a door on the wall beside it. I could hear voices inside the room.”
“What were they saying?” asked Rachel.
“Something about a plan. They said they were going to sneak up to the back of someplace. There should be a window there. When they climb in, they will be in the janitor’s closet. When they exit that room, to their right should be the money room. That’s all I heard because I sneezed and they heard me.”
“It sounds like they are going to rob someplace. They talked about sneaking in, and a money room” said Marrisa.
“You know, they did open the store right next to the bank. There was a bigger space next to Libby’s Salon. Why would they choose to open here?” asked Rachel.
“Let’s investigate more tomorrow. We shouldn’t jump to conclusions before we have enough evidence. Though we do have really good points so far” said Karen. The girls walked to the parking lot where Marrisa’s dad was parked. Then they drove home.
Chapter 2
A salty surprise
The next day, the girls met in front of the Sweet stop again. When they walked in, Mr. Delagrue wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Instead was a large man with a bandana tied around his head. He didn’t look very nice.
The man yawned. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. We were up all night discussing our plan, and making sweet stuff.”
Karen nudged Marrisa. Was this man so tired, that he would sleepily tell them all about whatever they had been discussing?
“What is your name?” asked Rachel.
“My name is William, but my friends call me Will, or Bill. Tony calls me banana bandana because I love bananas and always wear bandanas.”
The girls looked at each other. The man was telling them a lot, but not the kind of lot they wanted to hear.
“So was last night tough?” asked Rachel, trying to get to the good stuff.
“Yeah. We wouldn’t stop arguing, and on top of that, we still had a lot of stuff to make. I stayed up all night. Of course banana bandana ends up doing all the work” he grumbled.
The girls were excited. They bought some more cookies, and some chocolate. Then they went and sat down at a table in the outdoor café across the Sweet stop.
“Well, now we know a little bit more about this crew. Let’s make notes on what we know” Rachel said.
The girls whipped out their notebooks and began writing things down.
Karen’s notebook:
Things we know
Mr. Delagure Dalegru Mr D. is owner of the Sweet Stop.
I heard them talking about sneaking into someplace
The guy talked about some plan.
Marrisa’s notebook:
Things to know:
Mr. Delagrue owns the sweet stop.
Karen overheard them talking about sneaking into someplace, and a money room
They have started next to a bank.
Rachel’s notebook:
We know:
Mr. D owns the Sweet stop
They are sneaking into someplace.
They are next to a bank
Mr. D might be a part of the crew. The guy mentioned ‘tony’ and Mr. D’s name is Antonio.
As the girls compared notes, they began to eat their chocolate. As Karen bit into hers, a strange expression came over her face.
“What’s wrong?” asked Marrisa.
“It’s… Salty.”
Rachel looked at her in disbelief, then took a bite of her own. She immediately spit it out.
She looked at the wrapper.
“It doesn’t say Sea Salt, so there shouldn’t be any salt in it” she said.
“Why would they put salt? I mean, even if they stayed up all night… That’s It!” Karen cried.
“What?” asked Marrisa and Rachel at the same time.
“If they stayed up last night so late, and he was really tired,”
“Then maybe he put salt in instead of sugar!” Rachel finished.
“But we need more proof” Marrisa said.
“So all we need to do is catch them in the act!” said Rachel.
Chapter 3
helpless
The girls went to the police station and told them their suspicions. Unfortunately since they had no evidence, the officers didn't take them very seriously. They walked out in angry moods.
“I can't believe they wouldn't help us”. Rachel was furious.
"Well then we have to catch them ourselves" Marrisa decided.
"Um, no offense or anything, but we are three girls with no law enforcement. How could we catch them, or even make them take us seriously?" Karen asked her.
"We can record them or something." Marrisa offered.
"Well I guess tonight is going to be stakeout night" Rachel said with a little sigh. Then she smiled.
***
“I can't believe we have to wait in garbage cans" Rachel muttered that night.
The girls were waiting behind the bank to see if the men would show up.
They had to hide in garbage cans. Soon they heard footsteps.
"Is this the wall with the window?" a gruff voice asked.
Marrisa put her camera up to the crack of the garbage can lid.
"We have to get up there somehow."
"Here are some garbage cans. We could stand on one."
The men dragged Karen's bin under the window. She was silently freaking out.
They stood on top of the bin, and the five of them slipped one by one through the window.
When they were inside, the girls burst out of the bins.
"One of us has to go to the police, and the other two have to go follow them. Two kids would definitely slow them down, even if they don't know we are there."
So Marrisa ran to the police office and Karen and Rachel slipped through the window after the men.
***
Inside the building, the men were sneaking around, toward the money room. Little did they know, they were being followed by two girls.
"Which door is it?" asked one of the men.
"Maybe this one?"
"Nope, that's a bathroom".
The girls rolled their eyes silently.
They kept following them and waited for them to find the door. Rachel was recording their conversation on her phone for evidence.
Finally the men found the money room. They broke the door open and an alarm went off. The biggest of the men pulled out a pipe cleaner and stuck it in the alarm system, then fiddled with his phone and the alarm went silent.
The girls looked at each other with wide eyes. The door was wide open now, and the men were inside, and putting money in large bags.
Karen looked frantically at the door. Where was Marrisa?
***
The door to the police station burst open. The officer looked up.
"Oh hello Marrisa! What brings you here so late?"
"There's.. a.. robbery... in progress.. at the.. bank" Marrisa panted.
The officer jumped up.
"Robbery at the bank 537 Graysonville downtown" she spoke into a walkie talkie.
Marrisa sighed in relief. Then she looked up at the officer curiously.
"Why would you help me? The other officers didn't. And how do you know my name?'
The officer laughed.
"Do you not recognize me? It's me Ashley! Remember? We met at the apple orchard!"
Marrisa gasped. Her jaw dropped.
"Ashley! Oh my gosh! You're a police officer?"
"I am now! You see.." she was cut of by police officers rushing by them with a team of dogs.
"Oh I see they brought the K-9 unit with them too" Ashley said. Then she motioned another officer over to take her place.
"I am coming with. I have't met the other two yet."
The two rushed out to join the other officers.
***
At the bank the men were stuffing the last of the money into bags. They slung them over their shoulders, and headed back to the window.
"What do we do?" Rachel hissed at Karen quietly.
Karen looked around in panic. Then she got an idea.
***
"Can't we go any faster?" Marrisa cried from the backseat of the patrol car.
"We are going as fast as we can. We should be there in 5 minutes" The officer driving yelled back at her.
"You both could hear each other better if you closed the windows" Ashley snickered closing the windows.
The officer rolled her eyes, then laughed.
The car suddenly pulled to a stop as the walkie talkie blared on.
"We have reached the bank. But it's empty. No people, and the money room is empty".
"But what about Karen and Rachel?!" cried Marrisa.
***
At the Sweet Stop men were untying bags full of money. Behind them, Karen was tied to a chair.
"Well little girl. You gonna rat us out if we let you go?" one of the men asked.
"Of course! Is it even a question?" Karen snorted.
The man glared at her.
"Then I guess we won't let you go."
Karen rolled her eyes.
"You do realize that first, since you robbed the bank, the police will search the stores near it, including this one? And second, their are building inspections too. If I remember correctly, the next one is tomorrow. And how about when people come shopping? How do you know I won't get them to help me?"
The man was speechless for a second. Luckily that second was enough.
While he was just standing there, Karen kicked him in the leg. He jumped and howled in pain. Then Karen jumped up, the ropes falling behind her. The men stared at her, open mouthed.
She smirked.
"While you were busy I untied myself. I thought criminals would know better than to tie up hostages with a single knot."
The men turned and looked accusingly at the man who tied Karen up. He shrugged.
"Well, now that I am free, I have to consider what to do. Should I run away? Or not?"
She smiled.
"But of course, if I run away, I would miss all the fun."
"What fun?" A man growled.
She pointed at the door.
Unnoticed, Rachel had found the police and brought them there. Now, behind each chair, stood a police officer holding handcuffs.
Jaws dropped.
"And Mr. Delagrue, it was nice seeing you again" Karen said to the man on the floor.
The eyes behind the mask looked surprised.
"How did you know it was me?" he asked.
"Only you would wear dress clothes to a robbery" she said with an eye roll and a laugh.
***
After the men were loaded into the vans, the girls had a chat with Ashley.
"After all those robberies at the orchard, I was more determined to become a police officer." Ashley explained. "I had come to the orchard for a vacation from all my studying and stuff to become a police officer. So after I left, I worked harder than ever, and well, here I am!"
"That's really cool! Now we can stay in touch too, since you will be right here anyway" Rachel said.
"Of course" Ashley smiled. "And I am so proud of you guys! Every time I see you, you have either solved a robbery, or need my help for it!"
They all laughed. Then Ashley looked at her watch. It read 2:35
"Well it's looks like it's time for you guys to head home. Come visit me often!"
The girls waved goodbye to her as they walked to the police car that would take them home. As they were walking they passed the car that held the criminals.
Marrisa waved at them with a triumphant smile. The men glared at her. The girls laughed and got in the car.
As they were heading home, Karen leaned her head against the window in thought.
I wonder what our next mystery will be.
She replayed the night's events in her head, then thought of possibilities for other mysteries, and yawned. Those mysteries could wait. Right now, she was going to sleep.
