Sly the Sleuth and the Food Mysteries by Donna Jo Napoli

spring? What if he makes the team and I don’t?”
    â€œOh,” I said. I sympathized. Jack worked even harder at soccer than I worked at baseball. And I love baseball.
    â€œNow I’ll never get better at soccer.” Jack’s voice was sad. He dribbled his soccer ball around me again. “Why? Why would Princess take my oranges?”
    â€œI’m not entirely sure it’s Princess.”
    â€œWhy would anyone take my oranges?” Jack kicked the ball against a tree. “Someone is being mean to me. Find out who, Sly.”

Decision
    Did I want to take Jack’s case?
    Jack’s case was about oranges. I love fruit. So this case was fun.
    But Taxi had no interest in fruit. I couldn’t take a case Taxi wouldn’t care about.
    I went home and into our garage. That’s where we keep Taxi’s little house. It’s really a picnic cooler. Brian had the idea. He turned it upside down and my mother cut a hole in it so Taxi can get in and out. Taxi loves it.
    â€œHey, Taxi.”
    Taxi came out of her cooler. She rubbed against my legs.
    I squatted to pet her. “Do you even know what an orange is?”
    Taxi purred and pressed harder against my legs.
    I pet her more.
    She bumped her head into me hard. I fell onto my bottom on the cold garage floor.
    Taxi jumped in my lap. Then she climbed to my shoulder. Like she used to do when she was a kitten.
    â€œHey, I’m not a tree.”
    Taxi purred more.
    I laughed. That was it. This case wasn’t just about oranges. It was about orange trees too. Taxi loved to climb trees. She’d care about a tree case. Probably any cat would.
    Good. Because this case had hooked me. I was almost sure Princess was the culprit. The question was, why?

Hunches
    In sleuthing it helps to make a list of what you know.
    This is what I knew.
    Jack went to Princess’s house three days in a row to talk about soccer with Mr. Monti. Mr. Monti gave him an orange. Jack slipped it into his backpack.
    When he got home, his orange was gone.
    Always.
    Maybe Princess was nabbing back the oranges that her father gave Jack. Maybe she didn’t want Jack to have oranges.
    But she gave him an orange at lunch. She even peeled it. And she seeded it. Seeds.
    Princess had cored the apples this morning. She said it was important to get rid of the seeds.
    And at lunch she and Angel talked about how gross it was that Jack ate apple cores.
    Princess and Noah’s project was on poisons in the foods we eat.
    Fruit’s my favorite food. I know a lot about apples. And I know a lot about apple seeds.
    I went home and put a baked apple into a plastic container. I went back to Princess’s house. I rang the doorbell.
    â€œHi, Sly. What’s up?”
    â€œI brought you a baked apple,” I said.
    â€œThanks.” Princess took the apple. “This is the third time we’ve seen each other today.”
    â€œI know.” I couldn’t think of what else to say. Finally, I blurted out, “Did you know that your father has been giving Jack oranges?”
    â€œYes,” said Princess.
    â€œDo you know why?”
    â€œIs there a special reason?”
    â€œYes,” I said. “But I can’t tell you. Have you been stealing them back?”
    â€œYes,” said Princess.
    â€œBecause you’re afraid he’ll eat the oranges whole, seeds and all, like he does apples?”
    â€œYes,” said Princess.
    â€œAnd you think he’ll get poisoned?”
    â€œYes. With arsenic.”
    â€œBut arsenic is in apple seeds,” I said.
    â€œNot only apple seeds” said Princess. “All kinds of fruit seeds.”
    â€œWhy didn’t you just tell Jack the seeds have poison?”
    â€œI did. But Jack never listens.” Princess shrugged. “What else could I do?”

No One Dies
    Princess showed me her library book. She was right: Arsenic is in most fruit seeds. But we checked out another book.