Charlotte's first mystery

Chapter 5: It's him!

The next morning Charlotte ate breakfast, and then she new exactly what she needed to do. She put on a lady bug print tank top, shorts, and flip-flops, and slung her Detective kit over her shoulders so she was ready to do her detective work. She marched up to Elizabeth, and said, "Miss Elizabeth, may I please see that message in secret code for a second? I promise to be very careful." "Well, okay, for a minute." Charlotte waited patiently for Elizabeth to get it. When she saw it, she gasped. It was a piece of paper and on it was a explanation point, a picture of a man with spikey hair, and a picture of a dog." "What?" Charlotte cried."This is picture code!" Elizabeth beamed, and asked "How did you know that?" "My detective kit came with a list of secret codes, and one of them explained picture code. Now all we have to do is see what these pictures represent, put them together, and then we'll know what it means." Charlotte told her proudly. She looked at the first picture. Hmmmm... she thought. What is something that needs an explanation point?

Later Charlotte finally decided she needed help figuring out what the exclamation point meant. She went to the couch in the living room, where Paige was reading. "Paige, can you please help me with something? " She asked. Paige looked up, put a marker in her book, and replied, "What do you need help with?" Charlotte explained everything to her, and then Paige frowned. "That sure is tricky, I agree. Well, you know how when you are happy, sad, angry, or excited the first word you say has an explanation point?" "What? I'm confused." Charlotte exclaimed. "You just did it!!!! Charlotte, you were confused, and the first word you said was "What?" Then you paused for a split second before you went on. If I were writing a book and I wrote what you just said, I would add a question mark after the word, "What".

"Oh! I get it now! Charlotte grinned." So now we have to think of words with exclamation points. I think I've some: Yippee! Whoa! Wow! Yay! Huh?! Ahhh!" Paige laughed. "Those are some good ones. How about: Help!" "That's it!!! " Charlotte cried. "Help! I am positive that "Help!" is the one." "Why? It could be any of those." Paige pointed out. "Paige, just help me think of the next one now." "The guy with spikey hair? Maybe that is the person who needs help." "Maybe..." Charlotte said slowly. "But if that were the case, wouldn't the picture of him be at the end of the code to say that it was from him?" Paige gasped. "You're right. And you just gave me an idea. Why don't you try to find out who the person is? That way, you'll get a little information. Just don't tell anyone why you want to know."

"That's exactly what I'll do. Thank you! You have been so much help!" Charlotte yelled. Then she rushed to tell Mama that actually she did want to go on a walk with her and Elizabeth and Flora and aunt Olivia ."Don't forget!" Paige called after her. "Don't tell people why you want to know!!" But Charlotte was already outside.

When Charlotte, aunt Olivia, Elizabeth, Mama, and Flora reached the beach, the grown-ups decided to sit in the sand for a little while before going back. Charlotte immediately said she was going to walk around, and that she promised to stay close to where they were sitting. Then, when they were not looking, she went up to the first family she saw and said, "Hello, sorry to bother you, but have you by any chance seen a man with spikey blond hair walk by, or just seen one?" A lady smiled and said, "Are you lost sweetie?" "Oh, no, I just... need to find this man because I want to compliment his shirt, and I lost track of where he went." Charlotte wasn't sure if this would work, but luckily the lady told her that she had seen a man with spikey blond hair, and that he was the boss of the surfing class a couple blocks down.

Charlotte remembered that Elizabeth and Flora  worked for a surfing class, and she asked if a Flora or a Elizabeth Pearl worked there. "Hmmm... let me think... yes, I believe a Flora and an Elizabeth work there. Does that help you?" the lady asked. "Oh, yes, very much. Thank you, and again, I am very sorry to bother you. Good-bye!" Charlotte jogged over to aunt Olivia, Mama, Elizabeth, and Flora and asked if she could see where Elizabeth and Flora worked. They said yes, and then they took Charlotte there. Charlotte asked to see the boss. Elizabeth and Flora were surprised, but they took her to see the boss anyway. When Charlotte saw him, she had to stop herself from gasping. The man looked almost exactly like the man in the picture code!

"Hello. I'm Charlotte. What's you're name?" Charlotte tried to avoid the surprised faces of her companions and squinted. Did she see a little bit of hesitation in the man's eyes? She wasn't sure, but something about him made her shiver a little bit. "I'm Jack Elkon. Um, nice to meet you. Oh, hi Elizabeth and Flora." said the boss. By now Charlotte was positive that this man was the man in the picture code. "Then, do you know why you are in this sec-" Suddenly, before she could say " secret code" a hand cupped over her mouth.