Mystery

Chapter 1

Stolen!

I’m Kate, and in one week, people will announce the winner of an election for who the president will be. My friend, Jessica, is voting for the same person as me.

“Are you excited to see who the winner is?” said Jessica.

“Of course I am,” I replied.

Diiiiiing! Diiiiiiing! Back to class. We settled in and did math. Diiiiing! Lunch time! We ate lunch.

“What happens if one of the candidates cheat?” said Jessica.

“Don’t worry, people will eventually figure it out,” I said.

3:00. Time to go. We packed our school books in our bags. We went out. My mom was picking up Jessica with me because Jessica’s parents were busy. We went to my house, did our homework, and watched some television. But this time something was wrong. Since we were so excited about the election, we turned the channel to the one where the election information was. But someone said that a few votes were stolen! Since my dad worked at the election place, we were allowed to go to his office. We sprang into action.

“My dad has maps of this place. We could use them to navigate through this building. We can even mark down places the thief could have come in through and look for clues in those spots,” I said. I brought out my school pencil and put X’s on places where the thief could have come in through.

We investigated a room. The room looked normal. But I had a feeling that the thief went through this spot because it was the floor closest to the ground. If she or he was spotted, then they would have a quick escape. Especially because it had the most votes. But we can’t be accurate. That’s the problem. We investigated more. Still nothing. When we were about to give up, an idea popped in my head! 

Chapter 2

Planning…

“Maybe we need to make a stakeout so that we can catch the thief in action!” I said.

“Great idea!” Jessica said.

After all, the thief only stole a few votes. Maybe they would want to steal more. I thought for a moment. How would we get the thief in action if we don’t know where they came in through? Maybe the thief could have chosen to come through a different place just in case we may know for sure where he was. Or maybe — 

I wasn’t able to finish because right then my mom said it was time to go.

“Make a plan the next time we see each other, ok,” I said.

“Ok. Bye!” Jessica said.

“Bye!” I replied back.

By the time I was back at home, it was 8:00, one hour before bedtime. I guess that’s enough time to make one plan and two backups, I thought. I was wrong. I brought the map but it would be easier in-person. One plan. That’s all. I brushed my teeth and changed into my pajamas. I didn’t even need a book to make me go to sleep. I was super tired so I fell asleep after THREE minutes.

The next day was Saturday. I called Jessica.

“I can come over. And also, did you make any backup plans?” I asked.

“I made one but that’s all,” said Jessica.

“Good. One is enough. We can make more. But first things first, let me get ready. I’ll be there in about one hour,” I said.

I changed, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, and packed up a few things. That took me 30 minutes. After 30 more minutes, I left. I was there just in time! Jessica was ready too!

We spent an hour making backup plans. I asked my dad earlier if we could go to his office. The answer was yes. So right then, my dad pulled his car up to the front steps. We got in.

Since we were only allowed to stay in my dad’s office and we needed to work around the building, we made a plan to convince him to let us out. Or more like kick us out.

Chapter 3

Stakeout!

When we got there, we made so much noise that my dad said that we could play outside. Quietly. We put our bags on. Plan succeeded! We taped surveillance cameras on the walls. Jessica and I were tech experts so the surveillance cameras would ding our phones if they saw someone unknown. We were ready. And I asked my dad if we could stay during the night. He said yes. We brought sleeping bags that we could sleep in.

During the night, the alarm went off! We went to our spying headquarters. Someone with a black cap, jeans, and black hoodie was at the corner of the window. It looked as if he didn’t see us. He had some kind of tool with him. He used it to break the window! Glass shattered on the floor. How did no one know that a person was stealing the votes if they were making noise? Did they even see the glass on the floor the last time? Maybe they just saw that there wasn’t the same number of votes…  Thoughts swirled around in my head but I knew that we weren’t just going to stand here and do nothing.

“Let’s go get him on the count of three,” I whispered. “One… Two… Three!” I whisper/shouted.

“Who are you?” Jessica asked.

I turned the trap on so he wouldn’t escape. There was silence for a minute. Finally, I said,

“He won’t answer. Let’s just call the police.”

Beep! Beep! Beep! Diiiiiing!

We told the police the address and what the problem was.

“They will be here in about five minutes,” I said.

We programmed the surveillance cameras to take a picture of our suspect so that we could see clues. We opened all of his pockets. Nothing. He has to be hiding something because he can’t just go unprotected. Interesting… 

Chapter 4

Punishment!

The police came.

“What’s the matter?” they asked.

“We found out who was stealing the votes!” I said.

 We both pointed at the trap.

“You’re getting arrested!” one of the police officers said.

I saw them handcuffing the thief. What if he’s working with other people? They could come again but this can’t just go on forever, I thought. It should be fine. For now…

The police went away with the thief.

“Thanks for your help!” one of the police officers said.

“You’re welcome!” we replied back.

We went to the office where people count the votes. We looked at the document about how many votes were supposed to be here. A LOT. Literally. It felt like it was going to take forever to count the votes.

“I don’t know if we can count all of this in time,” I said.

“I think we can count enough. Especially because tomorrow is a weekend!” Jessica said. We spent three whole hours. Then we thought that we would die. And right then, we passed out. Not like the passing out, passing out, but like the sleeping kind of passing out. When we woke up, it was 7:00 sharp. Sunday. Last weekend day of the week. Still, I was concerned if the thief had people with him. They could come again! This time, Jessica came to my house. We played for a long time. Pretty much, everything was handled.

The End