The Case of the Mummy Mystery Page 3
At long last, Ms. Gleason let us go outside for afternoon recess. Here was the moment we’d been waiting for.
Eddie Becker clapped Joey on the back. “Nearly everybody bought a ticket,” he said. “We’re going to be rich!”
We crowded into a tight circle. Joey selected a worm from the box. It was short but thick.
Joey looked at Bobby. “Show me the money,” he said.
Mila made a face. “You couldn’t pay me a million dollars to eat one of those things.”
Ralphie Jordan volunteered. “For a million dollars,” he said, “I’d eat a hundred of those suckers.”
Bobby held out a portrait of George Washington. Joey reached for the money.
Bobby caught him by the wrist. “No swallowing it whole,” he said. “I want to see you chew.”
Lucy Hiller turned green.
Nicole Rodriguez turned away.
“Do it, Joey!” Mike Radcliff urged.
“I need something to wash it down with,” Joey Pignattano said. I was prepared for that. I handed him a juice box.
“Joey, don’t!” Danika said. “That’s a living creature.”
Joey scratched his head. “It’s just a worm,” he replied.
“So,” Danika said. “Worms are people, too. That little guy has a mom and dad just like you. How do you think they’ll feel when they find out that their son was eaten by a second-grader?”
“Who asked you, Danika?” Bobby shot back. “This is between Joey and me.”
Danika shook her head sadly. “That little fella’s probably got a name. Like Slimy or Slippy or something.”
Joey poked at the worm with his finger. “Hi, Slippy,” he said. “Are you ticklish?”
“Enough!” Bobby demanded. “Eat it or give my money back.”
Joey looked at Danika. “Sorry,” he said. “But this is business.”
Joey opened his mouth. The worm dangled above his tongue.
And he ate it.
Three chews and a swallow.
He actually ate it.
I was right. It wasn’t something you see every day. And that’s probably a good thing.
Yuck!
After school, I split the dollar with Mila, fifty-fifty, and we went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. We saw witches and ghosts, fairies and superheroes. But we didn’t see any more mummies.
That was fine with me. I’d already seen enough for one day.
And as they say in the detective business … that wraps up another case for Jigsaw Jones!
Don’t miss this special sneak peek at a brand-new, never-before-published JIGSAW JONES MYSTERY:
The Case from
Outer Space
When Joey and Danika find a mysterious note tucked inside a book, all signs point to a visitor from outer space. Yikes! Can Jigsaw solve this case, when the clues are out of this world?
Chapter
1
A Knock on the Door
Call me Jones.
Jigsaw Jones, private eye.
I solve mysteries. For a dollar a day, I make problems go away. I’ve found stolen bicycles, lost jewelry, and missing parakeets. I’ve even tangled with dancing ghosts and haunted scarecrows.
Mysteries can happen anywhere, at any time. One thing I’ve learned in this business is that anyone is a suspect. That includes friends, family, and a little green man from outer space.
Go figure.
It was a lazy Sunday morning. Outside my window, it looked like a nice spring day. The sky was blue with wispy clouds that looked like they had been painted by an artist. A swell day for a ball game. Or a mystery. Maybe both if I got lucky.
I was standing at my dining room table, staring at a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle. It was supposed to be a picture of our solar system. The sun and eight planets. But right now it was a mess. Scattered pieces lay everywhere. I scratched my head and munched on a blueberry Pop-Tart. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. As a cook, I’m pretty good with a toaster. I began working on the border, grouping all the pieces that had a flat edge. Sooner or later, I’d work my way through the planets. The rust red of Mars. The rings of Saturn. And the green tint of Neptune. I’ve never met a puzzle I couldn’t solve. That’s because I know the secret. The simple trick? Don’t give up.
Don’t ever give up.
My dog, Rags, leaped at the door. He barked and barked. A minute later, the doorbell rang. Ding-a-ling, ding-dong. That’s the thing about Rags. He’s faster than a doorbell. People have been coming to our house all his life. But for my dog, it’s always the most exciting thing that ever happened.
Every single time.
“Get the door, Worm,” my brother Billy said. He was sprawled on the couch, reading a book. Teenagers, yeesh.
“Why me?” I complained.
“Because I’m not doing it.”
Billy kept reading.
Rags kept barking.
And the doorbell kept ringing.
Somebody was in a hurry.
I opened the door. Joey Pignattano and Danika Starling were standing on my stoop. We were in the same class together, room 201, with Ms. Gleason.
“Hey, Jigsaw!” Danika waved. She bounced on her toes. The bright beads in her hair clicked and clacked.
“Boy, am I glad to see you!” Joey exclaimed. He burst into the room. “Got any water?”
“I would invite you inside, Joey,” I said, “but you beat me to it.”
Danika smiled.
“I ate half a bag of Jolly Ranchers this morning,” Joey announced. “Now my tongue feels super weird!”
“That’s not good for your teeth,” I said.
Joey looked worried. “My tongue isn’t good for my teeth? Are you sure? They both live inside my mouth.”
“Never mind,” I said.
“Pipe down, guys!” Billy complained. “I’m reading here.”
“Come into the kitchen,” I told Joey and Danika. “We’ll get fewer complaints. Besides, I’ve got grape juice. It’s on the house.”
“On the house?” Joey asked. “Is it safe?”
I blinked. “What?”
“You keep grape juice on your roof?” Joey asked.
Danika gave Joey a friendly shove. “Jigsaw said ‘on the house.’ He means it’s free, Joey,” she said, laughing.
Joey pushed back his glasses with an index finger. “Free? In that case, I’ll take a big glass.”
Chapter
2
One Small Problem
I poured three glasses of grape juice.
“Got any snacks?” Joey asked. “Cookies? Chips? Corn dogs? Crackers?”
“Corn dogs?” I repeated. “Seriously?”
“Oh, they are delicious,” Joey said. “I ate six yesterday. Or was that last week? I forget.”
Danika shook her head and giggled. Joey always made her laugh.
I set out a bowl of chips.
Joey pounced like a football player on a fumble. He was a skinny guy, but he ate like a rhinoceros.
“So what’s up?” I asked.
“We found a note,” Danika began.
“Aliens are coming,” Joey interrupted. He chomped on a fistful of potato chips.
I waited for Joey to stop chewing. It took a while. Hum-dee-dum, dee-dum-dum. I finally asked, “What do you mean, aliens?”
“Aliens, Jigsaw!” he exclaimed. “Little green men from Mars—from the stars—from outer space!”
Thank you for Reading this FEIWEL AND FRIENDS book.
The Friends who made
The Case of the Mummy Mystery
possible are:
Jean Feiwel, Publisher
Liz Szabla, Associate Publisher
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Holly West, Editor
Alexei Esikoff, Senior Managing Editor
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OUR BOOKS ARE FRIENDS FOR LIFE.
Read more Jigsaw Jones Mysteries by James Preller
The Case from Outer Space —New!
The Case of the Smelly Sneaker
The Case of the Bicycle Bandit
The Case of the Glow-in-the-Dark Ghost
The Case of the Mummy Mystery
The Case of the Best Pet Ever
The Case of the Buried Treasure
The Case of the Disappearing Dinosaur
The Case of the Million-Dollar Mystery
About the Author
James Preller is the author of numerous books, including the acclaimed novels The Fall, Bystander, and Six Innings, and the Scary Tales and Jigsaw Jones series. He travels throughout the country visiting classrooms and book festivals. He lives in Delmar, New York, with his wife and their children.
Visit him at jamespreller.com, or sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1 Guess He’ll Go Eat Worms
Chapter 2 Not Hungry
Chapter 3 The Legend of the Mummy
Chapter 4 It’s a Mystery
Chapter 5 Halloween Fever
Chapter 6 Eddie’s Big Idea
Chapter 7 Worms in a Box
Chapter 8 The Robbery!
Chapter 9 An Eyewitness
Chapter 10 Pumpkin Pie?
Chapter 11 Mila Saves the Day
Chapter 12 Joey’s Big Moment
Sneak Peak: The Case from Outer Space
Other Books By James Preller
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 1999 by James Preller
Art used with permission from Scholastic
A Feiwel and Friends Book
An imprint of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
mackids.com
All rights reserved.
Illustrations by John Speirs
Feiwel and Friends logo designed by Filomena Tuosto
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at (800) 221-7945 ext. 5442 or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Feiwel and Friends edition 2017
eBook edition August 2017
Originally published by Scholastic in 1999
eISBN 978-1-250-11081-7