Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9 Green Lawn Elementary didn't have a cafeteria. All the kids brought their lunches from home. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose took their bags outside and sat on the swings in the sun. A lot of

other kids came out to eat, too. "Tuna fish," Josh said, smelling his sandwich. "What've you guys got?" Ruth Rose peeked inside her plastic bag. "Baloney and cheese," she said. Dink's sandwich turned out to be egg salad. "Who wants to trade?" he asked. "I'll take the egg," Ruth Rose said. "I want the baloney and cheese," Josh said. "Good," Dink said. "I wanted the tuna." The kids swapped sandwiches and began eating. "A kid from each class in the school found a key and a drawing," Dink said after he'd swallowed his first bite. "So there are six keys and six drawings and six footprints," Josh said around a mouthful of sandwich. Ruth Rose shook her head. "Now every class is trying to find Miss Shotsky's skeleton before anyone else does." She sighed. "That's about a hundred kids!" Two small boys walked past, looking for a place to eat their lunches. One of the boys carried a drawing of a skeleton.

"Even the little kindergartners!" Josh wailed, kicking some sand. "It's not fair." "I just thought of something," Ruth Rose said. "There's a door that connects Mr. Dillon's office to the nurse's office. He could have snuck in when Miss Shotsky wasn't there and taken the skeleton." "It would take him only a couple of minutes," Josh said. "Guys, I thought we already decided the snatcher couldn't be Mr. Dillon," Dink said. "He wasn't wearing sneakers." "But he could easily have taken Mrs. Waters's powder," Ruth Rose reminded him. "The powder, the door to the nurse's office … everything else points to Mr. Dillon." "But why would the school principal steal the school skeleton?" Dink asked. "He's the one offering the reward for finding Mr. Bones!" Josh balled up his lunch bag. "Let's go see Mrs. Waters again. Maybe she's remembered where she saw that zigzag sneaker sole."

The kids hurried into the school and headed for the principal's office. "Let's leave our lunch stuff," Dink said, stopping at his locker. They opened their locker doors and put their lunch bags inside. They found Mrs. Waters sitting at her desk with a cup of tea in front of her. She looked up when the kids walked in. "This school has gone wacky," she said. "First Miss Shotsky's skeleton disappears. Then I start losing things. I've been searching for my closet key for two days! Whatever will be next!" "You're missing a key?" Josh asked, already digging in his pocket. "Yes. I haven't been able to put my purse and coat in the closet," Mrs. Waters said. Josh found the skeleton drawing wrapped around the key. He removed the paper and put the key on Mrs. Waters's desk. "Is this it?" Mrs. Waters picked up the key and examined it. "No, this isn't the one I lost."

"Could it be a copy of your key?" Dink asked. "I suppose." Mrs. Waters looked at Dink. "Why would anyone take my key and make a copy? Where did you find it, Josh?" "In my locker," he said. "Along with this." He showed Mrs. Waters the picture of the skeleton. "A key and a skeleton?" she said. "What does it mean?" "We think the key leads to the skeleton," Ruth Rose said. "So it might be in your closet!" "My closet! Who would do such a thing?" Mrs. Waters stood up and marched over to her coat closet. Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose followed her. Mrs. Waters inserted the key into the lock and turned it. The door slowly swung open. Hanging from Mrs. Waters's coat hook was the school skeleton. Mr. Bones had a big grin on his face. "IT'S MR. BONES!" Ruth Rose screamed.

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