Silence fell over the classroom as the phone on the desk continued to ring. The teacher answered the phone, listened, then responded, “Yes, I’ll send her right up.” She walked over to the student’s desk and tapped her on the shoulder. “Principal Robbins wants to see you.” In response, some of the boys in the room called out:

“Oh, you’re in trouble!”

“Now what have you done?”

“Another mystery for the great “Fifth-Grade Detective” to solve?”

 The kids started to laugh but instantly became silent as the teacher glared down upon them. The teacher patted the student’s shoulder reassuringly. “Don’t mind them. And don’t worry about the test. You can finish it when you get back.” 

She wasn’t worried. In fact, she’d been waiting for the meeting and was surprised it had taken so long to come about. After all, it had been over a month since the sixteen pumpkins had mysteriously vanished off a school bus enroute back from Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm, only to reappear two days later at the front of the school in a cardboard box with no explanation as to who dropped them off or why. 

Like many, she had her theories but no real facts – at least not yet. For facts she needed to assemble her team – something she had already started to do. As she walked up to the office and knocked on the principal’s open door, she thought about the additions to her team this year. At the top of her list was one certain fourth grader – one whose deductive reasoning had lately rivaled even her own.

 Principal Robbins greeted the student, “Come in, come in. Have a seat. Guess you know why I need to talk to you?”

She smiled, “Pumpkins?”

Mr. Robbins returned the smile, nodding his head. “Pumpkins.” Leaning back in his chair he opened his trademark, small black notepad, pulled out a pencil and continued, “Because he could find no real crime and his investigation has hit a dead end, Police Chief Hammond has handed this case over to me. Would you like to help us figure out what happened?”

Without hesitation she answered, “Without a doubt.”

Mr. Robbins smiled, “Thought you would. Let’s go over what we already know.” For the next five minutes, he read from the black notepad everything the police and the school staff knew about that day, the sixteen missing pumpkins, and how they somehow arrived at the school two days later with no one taking credit for the delivery. Closing the notepad, he exhaled resignedly. “Well, that’s all we got. It’s a real mystery. Think you can solve it?”

Sitting up in her chair she answered, “Mr. Robbins, we’ll do our best.”

“Good! Thought you might want to give it a try. Is there anything you need?”

“There is one thing,” she quickly wrote down a list of names. “I’ve already started gathering my team. Can these students meet me during our specials this afternoon, so we can talk over the case?”

He took the list, gave it a quick read, then placed it inside his black notepad. “We’ll see to it this happens today.”

The Fifth-Grade Detective left the office mentally reviewing the case as she walked back to the classroom. She already had a good working theory of what had happened, but without further investigation, it was only a theory. To get to the real solution, she needed to meet with her team, and that wouldn’t happen until 1:00 pm.

***

During specials that afternoon, The Fifth-Grade Detective met with her team in the library to review the case. After going over the school’s and police department’s investigations, she ended the meeting by saying, “Y’all are the best deductive minds in this school. I know together we can solve this case, but we only have three weeks before school is out. Conduct your investigations and bring back your best solutions. Let’s meet again in two weeks. I know we can solve this!”

Before she left the room, she asked the fourth grader to stay behind for a minute. She saw a lot of herself in the younger investigator. “Do you a theory as to what happened?” 

The fourth grader thoughtfully answered, “No. Not yet.”

***

Two weeks later, the team reassembled in the library to share their findings. Gifted in both math and science, Ethan went first. He paced back and forth, reading off papers held in his hands, “Using math, the solution is quite easy. I asked my mom to take the drive back down to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm with me. The trip took ninety minutes. If you take out the time spent when the bus slowed down and stopped at three traffic lights and six stop signs, then stopping at not one but two railroad crossings, there was exactly eighty minutes of travel time left.”

Ethan stopped pacing, looked up and smiled. “That means, if a kid in the back of the bus threw a pumpkin out the window every five minutes or two kids threw pumpkins every two and a half minutes, they would have time to toss sixteen of them on the way back to school.” He sat back down with a satisfied look on his face. “The math is right. I doubled-checked.” 

The Fifth-Grade Detective did a quick mental calculation before responding, “Nice work. That math is indeed correct, but your answer is still, I believe, wrong. The buses were loaded with kindergarteners, and the probability of a kindergartener throwing anything out a bus window is…well…zero. Now a fifth grader throwing something out? The probability of that happening is, let’s just say, much higher.”

Ethan sighed and conceded with a nod. 

She then turned to the fourth-grade student sitting quietly in her chair and asked, “Do you know the solution?”

Her response was short and to the point. “No. Not yet.”

Noa stood up next. “Here’s is my solution. The office staff called the bus drivers and asked them to check for the missing pumpkins, but they could only contact one of the drivers. The second driver was already off duty. She had borrowed the pumpkins to use as decorations for a Halloween party she was giving that night, with the intention of returning them the next morning. She thought no one would notice. At the party she heard about the mystery and decided to return the pumpkins but waited two days to do so.”

Noa sat down, confident she had the correct answer.

“Good deductive reasoning and well thought out,” The Fifth-Grade Detective responded. “But I was at that party and noticed all the miniature pumpkins. I also noticed something else. All of them still had stickers from the grocery store on them. If they had come from Pete’s Farm, there would be no stickers.” She then turned to the fourth-grade student who was still sitting silently, “Do you know what happened?”

She responded just as before, “No. Not yet.”

The Fifth-Grade Detective turned to the last two of her teammates. “Evie and Caroline, y’all teamed up. What did your investigation turn up?”

“We discovered that all the pumpkin boxes that were loaded on the buses were marked Willis Road on the side. After talking to Pete the farmer, he stated that three other elementary schools visited the pumpkin farm that day. We believe his boys had counted and filled the boxes with miniature pumpkins early that morning and they marked on the side: WillisRoad. We also believe that their count was correct.”

“After the buses arrived at the farm that morning, they loaded all the boxes except…” They exchanged a knowing smile then continued, “One of the boxes they had forgotten to mark. It was left behind. When their dad asked about the missing pumpkins, they went back, checked in the barn, and found the missing box, but they didn’t want him to know about the mistake, so they didn’t say anything.”

The Fifth-Grade Detective paused for a moment before responding, “Very possible, very possible indeed. Hadn’t thought of that. But it still doesn’t explain how pumpkins arrived at school two days later and who brought them.” Looking over at the fourth grader again, she asked, “Do you have a theory?”

“No. Not yet.”

The meeting ended with no solution to the case. The Fifth-Grade Detective decided to take another trip down to Pete’s Pumpkin Patch and Farm over the weekend to see if she had missed anything.

***

Early Saturday morning when she and her mom arrived at the farm, it was in chaos. All the animals were out of their pens, and Gertude the goose was on the loose again. With non-stop honking and flapping wings, she was waddling around with what looked like keys in her mouth, and Pete the farmer was close behind trying to catch her. He stopped briefly and out of breath to greet them. 

“Sorry,” he panted. “That Gertude! She’s always stealing stuff and letting the animals out. A real magician that one. Be back soon as I get my keys.” He turned to run. “Gertude! Git back here you silly goose.” 

They watched as Pete and his boys finally rounded up all the animals and secured them back into their pens. Pete walked over while wiping the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. Still out of breath, he declared, “I swear, if I didn’t love her so much, she’d be our dinner tonight. Now what can I help you folks with?”

As her mom started to say why they were visiting, the Fifth-Grade Detective interrupted, “We were going to ask you some more questions, but I think we have all the answers we need. Good luck with Gertude.”

Pete laughed, “Think I’m gonna need more than just luck with that one. If you folks need anything else, just give me a call.”

As they left the farm, the mom looked over her shoulder and asked, “You just solved the case, didn’t you?”

The answer drifted up from the backseat, “Almost.”

Monday morning, the Fifth-Grade Detective met with Mr. Robbins to present her findings. He opened his black notepad and asked, “So you’ve solved the case?”

The Fifth-Grade Detective smiled and answered, “Well, yes and no.”

He leaned back in his chair and listened intently.

“Go ahead.”

“Pete’s boys did put the correct number of pumpkins on both buses that day, but they didn’t place them at back of the bus as they always had done before. Why, I don’t know. But when they left the buses, that’s when Gertrude came into the picture.”

“And who is Gertrude?” 

“Gertrude the goose. During the kindergartener’s visit, she had opened the gate to all the pens, letting the farm animals out. I believe while everyone was trying to get the animals back in their pens, Gertrude did her thing.”

“And what was that?”

“She got on the bus, picked up a miniature pumpkin, then hid it around the farm. She kept doing this until she had taken almost all the pumpkins from the first box that had been placed next to the driver’s seat. Sixteen to be exact. While they were out of their pens, the goats found them and had a free meal. That’s why there was no evidence.”

“So, the boys did put the correct number on the buses?”

“Yes, sir, they did.”

“So, who brought the sixteen pumpkins to the school two days later – and how?”

She shifted in her chair a little, “That’s what I haven’t figured out yet.”

Mr. Robbins leaned forward, closed his black notepad and said, “Well, that’s good enough for me. Thank you for your help. We are sure going to miss you next year. With you gone, who’s going to solve any mysteries around here?”

The Fifth-Grade Detective smiled, “I just happen to know someone you may want to talk to.”

***

The following Friday was the last day of school, and the awards ceremony for fourth and fifth grades was in the gym. At the end of the ceremony, Principal Robbins took to the mic once again to announce a special award. Holding up a large certificate, he said, “Because she volunteered her time and solved the case of the missing pumpkins, I’m proud award this special certificate of achievement to Quinn Chauncey.”

Applause followed the Fifth-Grade Detective as she walked to the podium. Mr. Robbins asked, “Do you want to say a few words?”

“Mr. Robbins, I can’t accept this award. I didn’t really finish solving the case. We still don’t know who left the pumpkins at the school’s front door. Guess we never will.” With this news, a hush fell over the crowd.

In the audience, a small hand arose, and the shy voice from a certain fourth grade member of the investigative team announced, “I know.”

Mr. Robbins invited the student to the front of the gym and asked her to explain. 

“I agree with how the pumpkins went missing, but when I was at the farm investigating, I noticed one of the teenage boys was driving a tractor. That meant he could drive a car. When I asked why they placed the boxes next to the driver’s seat and not in the back of the bus like they normally did, their explanation was logical. 

The fishing had been really good in their pond that morning, and they wanted to get back to it. So rather than taking the extra time to put them in the back, they just left the boxes closer to the driver. When they found out pumpkins were missing, they didn’t want to admit what they’d done to their dad and get into trouble. They waited two days and then drove to Willis Road Elementary when their dad was away on a business trip and left the sixteen pumpkins at the front door.”

Quinn handed the certificate to her and said, “This belongs to you. You’re the only one who solved this entire case. Congratulations, Macey Laveau. You are the Fourth-Grade Detective!”Writer’s note: Join us again next year, starting the last week in May, for another new Fifth Grade Detective story!