A to Z Mysteries: The Bald Bandit Read online

  Dink walked in, setting off the sleigh bells hanging over the door. Whenever he came to Howard’s for a haircut, Dink thought about Christmas.

  “What’ll it be today, Dink?” Howard asked. “Want a flattop? How about one of them Mohawk jobbies, with the stripe down the middle?”

  “I don’t want a haircut,” Dink said. “I need to ask you something.”

  Howard squinted one blue eye. He lifted Dink’s baseball cap. “What happened to your hair?”

  Dink blushed. “I was a vampire last night. I used black shoe polish in my hair and it won’t come out. I tried.”

  Howard grinned. “Hop up in the chair, me lad. I’ll dose you with me special shampoo. You can ask your question while I perform a little magic.”

  Dink hung his hat on a peg and climbed into the barber chair. Howard pulled a bottle and some white towels out of a cupboard.

  “I was wondering if you know any kids with red hair,” Dink said. “Besides Josh.”

  Howard draped a towel around Dink’s shoulders and pinned it in back. He misted Dink’s hair with a spray bottle of water.

  “I might,” he answered. “Why do you want me to dye your hair red?”

  Dink laughed. “No, I’m looking for a certain kid who has red hair. I think he’s a teenager.”

  “I know one teenager who had red hair,” Howard said, pouring green shampoo onto Dink’s hair. “But I shaved it all off last week. Came running in here all excited, out of breath. ‘Shave my head!’ he tells me. So I did.”

  The smell of the shampoo made Dink’s eyes water. He felt his heart start to tap-dance.

  “Was he carrying a video camera?” Dink asked.

  Howard rubbed the shampoo into Dink’s hair.

  “Why all the questions about this redheaded boy?” he asked.

  Dink thought for a few seconds, then decided to spill the beans. He told Howard about the bank robber, about the kid with the video camera, and about the three hundred dollars the detective had promised.

  Howard chuckled. “Oh, now I see why the boy ran in here yelling for me to cut off all his hair. He didn’t want the bank bandit to recognize him. So if I tell you this lad’s name, you’re going to persuade him to give you the videotape?”

  “Yes, if I can,” Dink said.

  “What about the money?” said Howard.

  Dink looked at Howard in the mirror. “What about it?”

  “Would you be planning to share the reward with the redheaded boy?”

  Dink grinned. “Sure. We’ll give him half of what we get from the detective.”

  “That sounds like a fine idea.” Howard rubbed Dink’s hair vigorously. Dink watched in the mirror. His hair was a slimy green mess.

  “Does this stuff really get shoe polish out?” he asked.

  “Yup. Invented it meself,” Howard said. “Secret recipe. I used it once to get bubble gum out of me granddaughter’s hair. It took tar out of our dog’s fur, too.”

  Howard swung the barber chair around and lowered its back. He positioned Dink’s head over the sink.

  “Close your eyes, me boy. Let’s wash this gook out and see what’s what.”

  Dink liked the feel of the warm water and Howard’s fingers smoothing the shampoo out of his hair. After a few minutes, Howard sat him up and plopped a fresh towel on his head.

  “Dry off. I think you’re back to normal.”

  Dink rubbed his hair with the towel, then looked in the mirror. He laughed out loud. “You did it!”

  Howard smiled at Dink’s reflection. “I should sell this stuff and make a million dollars.”

  “How much do I owe you?” Dink asked.

  “This one’s on me, young fella. And the boy with red hair is Lucky O’Leary. He lives over on Robin Road with his mum and his little brothers and sisters. All six of ’em! Nice kids, and every last one’s a redhead.”

  Howard grinned as he lowered the chair.

  “Except for Lucky, who suddenly decided to go bald.”

  “He’s bald?” Josh said climbing Ruth Rose’s front steps.

  Dink had run right home from the barbershop and called Josh. Now they were picking up Ruth Rose so they could go to Robin Road together.

  “That’s what Howard said,” Dink told Josh. He pushed the doorbell.

  “So that’s why we didn’t spot him at the high school!” Josh said.

  “COME IN!” Ruth Rose screamed from inside.

  Ruth Rose was sitting on the floor watching a video with her four-year-old brother, Nate.

  “Come on, Ruth Rose. I think we found the redhead!” Dink said. “We’re going to his house.”

  Ruth Rose jumped up and screamed, “I’M LEAVING WITH THE GUYS, MOM! WATCH NATE!”

  Dink and Josh covered their ears.

  Ruth Rose told Nate, “You stay right here and wait for Mommy, okay?”

  Nate nodded and kept his eyes on the TV set.

  “Let’s go.” Ruth Rose led the way back to the door and skipped down the front steps.

  “How’d you find the kid?” she asked.

  Dink explained how he hadn’t been able to get the shoe polish out of his hair.

  “That made me think about cutting my hair off. And that made me think about the barbershop. Who would know all the redheads in Green Lawn?”

  “HOWARD THE BARBER!” she screamed.

  The boys covered their ears again.

  “I’m going to need a hearing aid like old Mr. Kramer,” Josh muttered.

  Dink had looked up O’Leary in the phone book to get the address on Robin Road. They stopped in front of house number 33. It was a big blue house with toys and bikes and sneakers and basketballs all over the lawn. Loud music came out through the front door.

  They walked onto the porch and stepped over a baseball bat. Four pumpkins sat in a row, all carved with scary faces.

  Dink rang the bell. “Keep your fingers crossed,” he said.

  A little girl opened the door. She had red hair and a face full of freckles.

  “Hi! I’m Josephine and I’m five and a half!” She held up ten fingers.

  “Is your brother home?” Dink asked.

  “Which one? I have this many!” Josephine held up ten fingers again.

  Dink laughed. “Do you have a big brother named Lucky?”

  The music went off.

  “Who’s out there, Jo?” a voice called. A tall, skinny teenager wearing torn jeans and a T-shirt came up behind Josephine. Dink noticed red fuzz covering his head, like a new red lawn.

  “Are you Lucky O’Leary?” Dink asked.

  The kid looked down at Dink and Josh and Ruth Rose. “Who wants to know?”

  “We do,” Ruth Rose said. “How’d you like to earn some money?”

  “I might,” he said.

  “We’re looking for a kid who got the Green Lawn bank robber on video last week,” Dink said. “The bank hired a detective to find the video, and we’re helping the detective. He’s paying us to get the video, and we’ll split the money with you. If you’re the kid, I mean.”

  “Are you?” Ruth Rose asked.

  The kid rubbed the top of his fuzzy red head. “Yeah,” he muttered. “I’m the guy.”

  Then he crossed his arms. “But I’m not giving my tape to any detective.”

  The kids stared at Lucky.

  “Why not?” Ruth Rose asked. “The detective is helping the bank find the robber. You could be a HERO!”

  “Shh!” said Lucky. He looked around nervously. Then he beckoned Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose inside.

  “Come on.”

  Inside Lucky’s house, the kids followed him down a hallway into his bedroom. Dink noticed that he was limping. His room had posters of basketball players on the walls. There were clothes all over the floor.

  Lucky flopped down on his bed.

  “Listen,” he said. “I’m afraid to give that tape to the detective. What if the robber found out I handed it over? With my luck, he’d come after me.”

  “Ho
w would the robber know it was you who taped him?” Dink asked.

  Lucky sat up. “Because he looked right at me when he ran out of the bank. The guy saw me taping him! That’s why I ran to Howard’s to get my head shaved.” Lucky scratched his fuzzy head.

  “But if you turn in the tape, the robber will get caught. Then you won’t have to worry about him at all,” said Josh.

  “Besides, we’ll give you half of our reward,” Ruth Rose said. “Right, guys?”

  “Right,” Dink said. “Is Lucky your real name?”

  The kid shook his head. “It’s Paul. Lucky is my nickname. People call me that because I always have such rotten luck. Since school started, my dog died, my bike got stolen, and I broke my toe. I can barely walk to school.”

  “You can buy a new bike with the reward money,” Ruth Rose said. “Then you won’t have to walk.”

  Lucky smiled at Ruth Rose. “I’m saving all my money for college,” he said. Then he sighed. “It seems like I’ll never get enough.”

  Lucky thought for a minute.

  “Listen, that reward money would really help,” he said. “But you guys have to promise not to tell who gave you the video.”

  They all nodded.

  “Okay,” said Lucky. He got off the bed and limped over to his closet. He pulled a box from the top shelf. The box was filled with videotapes. He handed one of the tapes to Dink.

  Lucky looked embarrassed. “Um… when can I get the money?” he asked.

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Dink said. “We’ll let you know, okay?”

  “Sure, that’ll be fine,” said Lucky. He pretended to zip his lips closed. “And remember, you promised not to tell anyone where you got the video. Not even that detective.”

  The kids nodded again.

  Lucky walked them to the door, stepping around a pile of kids wrestling on the living room floor. Dink noticed they all had red hair and freckles.

  Josephine popped up out of the pile.

  “Bye!” she said, smiling at Dink.

  As soon as they were on the sidewalk, Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose triple-high-fived each other.

  “We got it!” Josh yelled.

  Dink slipped the tape into his pocket. “Now we just have to call Detective Reddy and get our money!”

  The kids hurried back to Dink’s house. There was no one home. Dink opened the front door with his key.

  He saw a note on the kitchen table.

  Dink was glad his folks were out. He knew they wouldn’t like him playing detective. When this was all over, he’d tell them how he earned the hundred bucks.

  Josh opened Dink’s refrigerator. “What do you have to eat?” he asked.

  Dink set the tape on the counter. “There should be some doughnuts on the counter.”

  He pulled the paper with the detective’s number on it out of his pocket. He called the number.

  “Hello, is this Detective Reddy? This is Dink Duncan. Me and my friends found that video for you. What? No, we haven’t looked at it. Okay. Bye.”

  Dink hung up smiling. “He’ll be right over. He said we were good detectives. He told us not to look at the video.”

  Josh was eating a doughnut. “Why not?” he said with his mouth full.

  “He said it was top secret.”

  They all looked at each other.

  “Come on!” Dink said, grabbing the video.

  They ran into the living room. Dink turned on the TV and slid the tape into the VCR.

  The first part of the video showed a big dog chewing on a rubber bone. Then they saw a girl in a bathing suit. She was laughing and running away from the camera. Next came a birthday party. Most of the people in the picture looked like Lucky O’Leary. Dink recognized little Josephine.

  Finally, they saw the front of the Green Lawn Savings Bank. The door opened and a man came running out. He was pulling off a ski mask.

  “That must be the robber!” Dink said. He pressed the pause button.

  The man on the tape was completely bald. His head was shiny in the sunlight. He was wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt, and he was carrying a gym bag. He had a surprised look on his face.

  “That must be when he noticed Lucky taping him,” Josh said.

  Ruth Rose moved closer to the TV. “Look, he’s got a dimple on his chin.”

  Suddenly, Ruth Rose gasped. She ran across the room and out of the house. The door slammed behind her.

  Dink looked at Josh. “What’s going on?”

  Josh shrugged. “Maybe she doesn’t like guys with dimples.”

  A minute later, the door burst open and Ruth Rose ran back in. She was carrying her Elvis wig and her fake eyebrows.

  Ruth Rose stuck one eyebrow on the TV screen, under the bandit’s nose. It looked like a mustache. She held the wig over the bandit’s bald head.

  “Who does that look like?” she demanded.

  Josh jumped into the air. “Oh, my gosh! The bank robber looks exactly like Detective Reddy!”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Dink peeked through the front window.

  “Who is it?” Josh asked.

  Dink’s eyes were bugging out when he turned around. “It’s Detective Reddy!”

  Ruth Rose snatched the wig and eyebrow off the TV and hid them behind her back.

  Josh pushed the eject button and slid the video inside his shirt.

  Dink stared at the door. He didn’t think he could walk.

  The bell rang again.

  Dink looked at his friends. Then he took a deep breath and opened the door.

  Ruth Rose slipped out just as Detective Reddy walked in.

  “Hi, there,” said Detective Reddy. He grinned at Dink and Josh. “Gee, you kids are clever. How’d you find the redhead with the video?”

  Dink stared at the man in front of him. He couldn’t believe it. Detective Reddy wasn’t a detective at all. He was a bank robber! And he was standing in Dink’s own living room!

  “We were just lucky I guess,” Dink mumbled.

  The man patted his mustache. “So where is it?”

  Dink wouldn’t let his eyes look at the lump under Josh’s shirt. “Where’s what?”

  “The video. You called and said you had the video. So where is it?”

  Dink’s mind went blank. He didn’t know what to say.

  Think, Dink! he commanded himself.

  Josh came to the rescue. “We hid the tape upstairs, remember, Dink?”

  Dink stared at Josh. “Huh? Oh, yeah, now I remember.” He grinned at the man. “We wanted to make sure no one saw it before we gave it to you.”

  “Come on, Dink.” Josh headed for the stairs.

  “It takes two of you to get one video?” the man said.

  “Well…um…it’s in my mother’s room.” Dink held up his front door key. “I’m the only one allowed to unlock her door.”

  Dink hurried up the stairs behind Josh. They ran into Dink’s bedroom and shut the door.

  Dink’s guinea pig, Loretta, started squeaking and running around in her cage.

  “Not now, Loretta,” Dink said.

  “Where’d Ruth Rose go?” said Josh. “I can’t believe she ditched us!”

  Dink didn’t answer. He paced back and forth in front of his bed. He tugged on his hair. He snapped his fingers nervously.

  “Dink, stop, I’m getting dizzy.” Josh said. “What’re we gonna do?”

  Dink stopped. “I don’t know! We can’t give him the video. He’ll destroy it. Then nobody can prove anything! He’ll get away scot-free. And he might even go after Lucky!”

  “We have to catch him and hand him over to the cops,” Josh said. “Do you have any rope? We’ll jump him and tie him up!”

  “I don’t keep rope in my bedroom, Josh,” Dink said. “Besides, he’s bigger and stronger than us. He might even have a gun!”

  “Need any help up there?” the man yelled.

  Dink opened his door a crack. “No thanks. Well be right down.”

  Dink grabbed a soccer video fro
m his bookshelf and handed it to Josh. “Let’s give him this.”

  “But what happens when he finds out it’s not the real video?” Josh asked.

  “I don’t know. But we don’t have any choice.”

  Josh pulled Lucky’s video out of his shirt. He dropped it in Loretta’s cage and covered it with shavings.

  “Guard it, Loretta,” he said.

  They walked downstairs. Dink tried to smile.

  “We found it!” he said.

  Josh handed over the soccer video.

  Just then the front door flew open. Ruth Rose was standing there with Officer Fallon and Officer Keene from the Green Lawn Police Department.

  Dink was never so happy to see anyone.

  “That’s him!” Ruth Rose declared. She pointed at the man holding the videotape. “He robbed the Green Lawn bank!”

  The officers stepped into the living room.

  The man smiled. “I’m a private detective, officers,” he said.

  “Mind showing us some identification, sir?” said Officer Fallon.

  The man patted his mustache. “I don’t have my wallet with me.”

  “You don’t?” Officer Keene said. “Detectives are required to carry their identification at all times.”

  “Sure, and normally I do. But I left my wallet in the car. I’ll get it and be right back.”

  “His mustache is fake!” Ruth Rose said, stepping in front of the officers. “And so is that wig!”

  Everybody stared at the man.

  Suddenly, he grabbed Ruth Rose and held her in front of him.

  “Outta my way!” he yelled. “I’m leaving, and the girl’s coming with me!”

  Ruth Rose took a deep breath.

  Then she let out the loudest scream of her life.

  “AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!”

  Josh, Dink, and the officers covered their ears.

  “Ouch!” cried the bank robber.

  He stumbled backward, clapping his hands over his ears.

  The minute he let go of Ruth Rose, Officer Fallon grabbed him.

  “It’s all over, fella,” Officer Fallon said. He snapped handcuffs on the man’s wrists.

  Officer Keene pulled off the thief’s fake mustache and wig. Now the man looked just the way he did in the video. He had a shiny bald head and a surprised look on his face.