Chapter 12

Chapter 12 Josh rubbed his stomach. "I think I'm going to explode," he said. "Gee, why?" asked Ruth Rose, eyeing the two empty pizza boxes on Dink's picnic table. "You only ate ten pieces." Josh fed his last crust to Pal under the table. "Nine pieces," Josh said, grinning at Dink. "I wanted to save room for dessert." "There is no dessert," Dink said. "Not until we find out who took those baseballs."

"I wonder if Officer Fallon had any luck," Ruth Rose said. "Maybe the crook already sold them," Josh said. "Where would he sell them?" Dink asked. "Well, if it were me, I'd use the Internet," Buddy said. "The crook would reach millions of people at the same time." "A lot of people shop online with YuBuy," Ruth Rose said. "Yeah, they sell all kinds of stuff," Dink said. "Do any of you guys know how to use YuBuy? I sure don't." "Me neither," Josh said. "But Mrs. Mackleroy does." "The library closes at six," Ruth Rose said. "Why don't we go see her?" Dink checked his watch. "We've got ten minutes. Come on!" The four kids and Pal trotted to Main Street, then down to West Green Street. It was one minute to six when they ran up the library steps. Mrs. Mackleroy was still sitting at her desk when they hurried inside. "Hi there. I was just

getting ready to close," she said. "Do you need something?" The kids introduced Buddy then quickly explained their idea. "And you think the thief would try to sell the baseballs on YuBuy?" she asked. "It would be the fastest way wouldn't it?" Buddy asked. "Well, online shopping is fast," Mrs. Mackleroy said. "Could we try?" Dink asked. "Sure, why not?" Mrs. Mackleroy said. She booted up her computer, clicked on Internet, and typed in YuBuy.com. A few seconds later, they were all looking at YuBuy's home page. "Look, there's a place to type in what you want to buy!" Josh said. "Should we type in baseballs?" "That would give us too many choices," Mrs. Mackleroy said. "How about we try autographed baseballs." She typed in the words. Seconds later a window popped up telling her that there were about fifty possibilities. "How do we choose?" Dink asked.

"We need to be more specific," Mrs. Mackleroy said. "Do you know whose signatures Mr. Pocket had?" "One ball was signed by Babe Ruth," Ruth Rose said. "Okay," said Mrs. Mackleroy. She scrolled back up and typed in baseballs signed by Babe Ruth. A new window popped up. It said there was one Babe Ruth ball for sale. Mrs. Mackleroy clicked, and there was a picture of a baseball. Babe Ruth's signature was clearly visible. Next to the picture were these words: BUY THIS BASEBALL SIGNED BY THE GREAT BABE RUTH! OTHER AUTOGRAPHED BASEBALLS AVAILABLE! "Does that look like it could be Mr. Pocket's ball?" Mrs. Mackleroy asked. The four kids leaned closer to her computer screen. "I don't know," Dink said. "Why don't we call Mr. Pocket?" Ruth Rose suggested. "We should also call Officer Fallon," Dink said. He pointed to the screen. "If this is the thief, Officer Fallon should be the first to know!"

"This is exciting!" Mrs. Mackleroy said, reaching for the telephone. A few minutes later, Officer Fallon and Mr. Pocket hurried into the library. Mr. Pocket put on his glasses and leaned close to the monitor. "That's my baseball!" he announced. "How can you tell?" Officer Fallon said, also peering at the picture. "Look closely," Mr. Pocket said. "Right above Babe's signature there's a dent in the ball. That's where his bat struck. Babe Ruth signed this ball for my father personally." Everyone moved closer to the screen. "I see it," Officer Fallon said. "But a lot of used baseballs would have bat dents, wouldn't they?" "But not in the same place," Mr. Pocket insisted. "If I held the ball in my hands, I'd be sure." "Why don't you buy the ball?" Dink suggested to Mr. Pocket. "Have the thief mail it to you. Then, once you have it, Officer Fallon can arrest the guy and get your money back!" "It won't work," Buddy said. "The guy'll be suspicious if someone who lives in Green Lawn

tries to buy the ball. This is where he stole it!" "Buddy's right," Officer Fallon said. "And our thief may very well live in this town. So what do we do?" "I have a suggestion," Ruth Rose said. "E-mail the guy, saying you want to buy the baseball. Then ask him where you should send the check." "And if he really does live around here, you can go arrest him right now!" Dink said. "Yeah," Josh said with a grin. "The dude will probably still be sitting at his computer when you ring his doorbell!" They all looked at each other. Then Officer Fallon nodded at Mrs. Mackleroy She clicked on a small window that said BUY IT NOW FOR $1,000. Under the window was a space to type a reply. "A thousand bucks!" Josh squeaked. "Okay, Mrs. Mackleroy, let's reel this fish in," Officer Fallon said. Mrs. Mackleroy typed a message that said: I wish to buy the Babe Ruth baseball. Please e-mail me your address, and I'll send $1,000 immediately. I may want to buy other balls as well.