Framed by Gordon Korman Read Free Book Online

alone
, Griffin thought. But he was too intimidated to say it.
    The boy jumped in front of him. “Sheldon Brickhaus. My friends call me Shank — or they would, if I had any.” He grasped Griffin’s hand and squeezed with crushing force.
    “Hey, that hurts!”
    Shank grinned and tightened his grip. “Aren’t you going to tell me
your
name?”
    “Griffin. Griffin Bing.”
    “Good to meet you, Griffin Bing.” Shank held on for a good ten seconds longer.
    When Griffin finally got his hand back, red and throbbing, he mumbled, “I have to get to English now.”
    “English? Great. I’m going to the same class. There aren’t a lot of middle school kids here. I bet we’ll be together all day.”
    “Probably,” Griffin agreed, trying to keep a mournful note out of his tone.
    What was worse than being ripped from yourlife and dumped into a place where you didn’t know a soul?
    Answer: Making “friends” you didn’t want.
    Thankfully, Griffin still had his real friends. When Jail For Kids was mercifully over for the day, he gathered the team in his garage. They sat in the shadow of a dozen different versions of the Vole-B-Gone, which lined the shelves and cluttered the workbench.
    Pitch frowned at the wire-mesh enclosures as Griffin ushered the team members inside. “No offense to your dad, but I think the birdcage has already been invented.”
    “They’re not for birds; they’re for voles,” Griffin explained. “Every year, hundreds of orchards lose their crop thanks to vole problems.”
    Savannah, the animal lover, regarded the traps disapprovingly. “I hope they’re humane. Just because you’re a pest, it doesn’t mean you should have to suffer.”
    “Except for Darren,” Ben added. “Anyway, don’t worry about these traps. Griffin’s dad says no vole will go near them.”
    Griffin cleared a space on the workbench and placed a sheet of paper where everyone could see it.
    OPERATION JUSTICE
    OBJECTIVE: To find out who FRAMED me.
    List of suspects:
    (i) Dr. Evil
    Motive: worships the ring and hates me. Stealing it gets him exactly what he wants — the ring + me out of his hair. Also, has key to display case.
    (ii) Darren Vader
    Motive: notorious money grubber. Has talked about how much the ring must be worth. Also knew about retainer + as football player, has access to the school after hours.
    (iii) Tony Bartholomew
    Motive: believes the ring is rightfully his. Needs to blame me to distract from himself as a suspect.
    (iv) Celia White
    Motive: stealing ring proves that her columns about youth crime are true. Possibly eyeing better job at bigger newspaper.
    “Wow.” Logan whistled, impressed. “Which one do you think did it?”
    Pitch rolled her eyes. “If we knew that, they wouldn’t be called suspects, would they? My money’s on Vader. He’d sell his own mother for a buck!”
    “Darren’s a saint compared to Celia White,” said Savannah with an expression of distaste. “A person who would call animal control on Luthor is capable of anything.”
    Melissa agitated her head, allowing her beady eyes to emerge from behind her curtain of hair. “How
are
we going to find out which one of them is guilty?”
    Griffin had thought they’d never ask. “I have a plan.”
    Nobody wanted a plan. But Griffin was in trouble when he had done nothing wrong. He was going to get all the support they had to offer.
    “All right, Griffin.” Ben sighed. “Lay it on us.”
    Ferret Face buried his head under Ben’s shirt, as if he couldn’t bear to listen.
    “It’s a sting operation,” Griffin announced.
    “We’re going to use
bees
?” asked Logan, wide eyed.
    “It means we trick the bad guy into revealing himself,” Griffin explained.
    “Or
her
self,” Savannah amended, still thinking of Celia White.
    “But how do we do that?” Pitch persisted.
    “Why does anybody steal a valuable Super Bowl ring?” Griffin mused. “The suspects may have different motives, but there’s one common denominator: