Jo Hammet, Kid Detective, Solves the Great Jewel Robbery

Jo Hammet, Kid Detective, Solves the Great Jewel Robbery is a non-illustrated short story based on JumpStart Adventures 5th Grade: Jo Hammet, Kid Detective. It was written by Karen Elizabeth Bush.

It was included with the JumpStart Summer Vacation Activity Book for 5th Grade, published in 1999.

Characters

 * Jo Hammet
 * Bernie
 * Hotel Bandit
 * Henry
 * Mehitabel Green
 * Sergeant Smithson
 * Alfie Gargle
 * Tom Zimmer
 * Corporal Jones

Chapter 1
The story begins with Jo Hammet taking Mrs. Green's dog Henry for a walk. As Jo trudges through the streets of Hooverville, she laments the fact that she has no mysteries to solve. She lets go of Henry's leash for a moment to tie her shoe, and at that moment, a cat darts across the street, and Henry chases after it. Jo Hammet uses the skateboard she had been carrying with her to catch up to Henry, and they both wind up in the front yard of a spooky old house. A pile of dirt is in front of the house, and the sunlight causes something to glint which catches Jo's eye. Jo picks it up, and discovers that it's a gold ring. Henry begins to dig in the dirt, and uncovers a diamond necklace with a gold chain. Jo finds it suspicious that the ring and necklace were hidden in the pile of dirt, and she speculates that they were stolen.

Chapter 2
Jo decides to look for someone who might've lost the ring and necklace. First she visits the houses in the surrounding area to ask if anyone lost a ring and a necklace. She doesn't mention the gold or diamonds to avoid anyone who might want them only because they're valuable. After talking to a few people and not finding any clues, Jo decides to talk to Sergeant Smithson at the police station. Sergeant Smithson tells her that there haven't been any robberies reported recently. Then Jo decides to visit her friend Bernie at the Juice Bar. She figures that since Bernie is a reporter for the Hooverville Daily newspaper, he's bound to have heard something about this. On the way to visit Bernie, Jo is suddenly confronted by Alfie Gargle, the "meanest boy in town". He sees the end of a gold chain sticking out of Jo's pocket, and demands that she give it to him. Jo picks up Henry and uses her skateboard to speed off, with Alfie in tow.

Chapter 3
Alfie tries to run after Jo, but he falls behind. Jo reaches the Juice Bar, and goes to the counter. Bernie greets her and gives her a lemon soda. Jo explains about the ring and necklace, and Bernie takes a look at them. He says that he can put an ad in the paper to see if anyone knows anything about it. Jo agrees, and heads back with Henry. She passes by the spooky old house again, and pauses to lean against a post and wonder if there's any way to learn more about. A sudden clacking noise draws her attention, and she realizes the post she had been leaning against was a mailbox, and the clacking noise was the door falling open. She reaches into the mailbox and pulls out a soggy yellowed envelope. The envelope is postmarked 1948 and appears to be addressed to Hetty Green, 1607 Roseland, Hooverwille. Jo Wonders who the addressee could be.

Chapter 4
At her home, Jo tries searching for Hetty Green on the internet, but there are no results. She then tries searching for Hooverville residents with the last name Green. She comes across someone named Mehitabel Green, and realizes that the name might've actually been "Hitty" instead of "Hetty". She then looks at the address on the envelope again, and realizes that it's the address of Mrs. Green, the owner of Henry. She rides her skateboard to Mrs. Green's house with the jewelry. It appears that Mrs. Green used to live in the old house, which was abandoned for years. She doesn't recognize the jewelry that Jo has, but she recalls that in the past, there was a great jewelry robbery at the Hooverville Hotel, and the thief behind it became known as the "Hotel Bandit". Mrs. Green says that her mother was one of the victims in that incident, and she lost a star-shaped pin and a bracelet. Jo thanks her and decides to visit the police station to ask Sergeant Smithson about the Hotel Bandit. She stops at her house, where a very old man in a wheelchair with a motor is waiting for her. He says that she found something of his, and Jo feels her skin crawl at his nasty smile. On his lap, there is a copy of the Hooverville Daily news.

Chapter 5
The old man claims that the jewelry that Jo found is his. Jo realizes he saw Bernie's ad in the newspaper. She asks the man to describe the jewelry for her. At first, the man tries to ask where Jo found them, but when she refuses to answer, he correctly describes the appearances of the ring and necklace. He claims that they belonged to his deceased wife, who was robbed at the Hooverville Hotel. Jo still has a suspicious feeling about the man, but just as she decides to put it aside and retrieve the jewelry from inside her house, Alfie Gargle shows up and asks the old man, whom he calls "Gramps", if Jo gave him the jewelry yet. Jo looks at the old man again and notices his resemblance to Alfie. Jo gets a bad feeling again, and she rushes inside the house, slamming the front door behind her. She grabs the jewelry and heads out the back door on her skateboard towards the police station. Alfie Gargle begins to run after her, but Jo is faster on her skateboard. Just as she thinks shes lost him, she hears him shout at her to give the jewelry back to his grandfather, and she realizes that he's using a bicycle to catch up with her.

Chapter 6
Jo makes it to the police station ahead of Alfie. She explains the situation to Sergeant Smithson and tells him about the old man. She gives the jewelry to Sergeant Smithson for safekeeping. The sergeant retrieves a file about the Hotel Bandit case, and finds out that the ring and necklace belonged to one of the victims in the robbery. Jo wants to find the rest of stolen jewelry and return it to the rightful owners. Then Sergeant Smithson shows Jo a photo of the chief suspect in the case. The only part of the suspect that is visible in the photo are his feet, which are sticking out from the wreck of a milk wagon. Sergeant Smithson explains that after the suspect fled from police, he ran into an oncoming milk wagon and was badly injured. Since there was no evidence against him, he was never arrested. Jo thinks for a while, and sees Alfie outside the police station, on his bike and heading in the direction of the old house. She decides to pursue him.

Chapter 7
Jo follows Alfie and stays out of sight. She sees him digging around in the dirt pile in front of the old house, but Alfie doesn't seem to be able to find anything, and he shows signs of frustration. Jo skates over to a nearby policeman directing traffic and tries to get his attention. The policeman says that he knows Alfie is trouble, but he can't stop Alfie from digging up the yard of the old house, since the house is abandoned and nobody is there to make a complaint. Jo tries to explain again, but the policeman only says he'll check it out when he's off-duty, and returns to directing traffic. Jo returns to her hiding spot near the house and observes Alfie for a bit longer. Eventually, Alfie gets fed up and vows to return. Then gets on his bicycle and rides off. Jo follows him from a distance for a while, and then turns and heads towards the Juice Bar instead.

Chapter 8
At the Juice Bar, Jo and Bernie muse that Alfie will eventually find the rest of the jewelry if he keeps digging, and when he does, he'll hide it again, and the jewelry will never make it back to the rightful owners. Bernie then tells Jo that Alfie came to the bar the other day to brag about how he'd be going to be at Disney World all next week, and he speculates that Jo could use that time to find the jewelry, but Jo says that she can't because she promised to do for Mrs. Green that week. Jo wants to find a way to keep Alfie from digging for the treasure, and at that moment, one of Juice Bar's frequent customers, Tom Zimmer, drops into the conversation. Tom says that his little brother Willy has chickenpox, and if Alfie got it from him, he'd be sick in a week. Jo says she has a plan, and asks Tom to help. Later, she apologizes to Alfie, and offers to buy him soda at the Juice Bar and tell him where the jewelry is. Alfie is confused, but he decides he can't resist free soda and goes to the bar with Jo. At the bar, Tom invites Alfie to his house and shoot basketballs. As they leave, Tom whispers to Jo that he'll make sure Alfie spends plenty of time with Willy.

Chapter 9
At a later point in time, Jo visits the Juice Bar while walking Henry, and Tom tells her the plan worked. With Alfie out of the picture for the time being, Jo decides to go check out the old house. Bernie tells her he's done working for the day and offers to help her dig. Jo, Bernie, Tom and Henry all head to the old house. They start digging all around the house, but there aren't any signs of jewelry. Jo observes that the pile of dirt where she found the ring and necklace before is sandy, and Bernie muses that it's also sandy near the porch. Henry suddenly barks, but is nowhere to be seen. Jo looks around and calls for him, when suddenly Henry turns up from under the porch. As Henry emerges, something sparkly is dangling from one of his ears.

Chapter 10
Jo hugs Henry and exclaims that he found the jewelry. Bernie and Tom tear the lattice away from the porch, revealing a small opening that only Jo can fit through. Jo climbs into the space under the porch and begins looking around, and Henry follows her inside. Jo begins brushing away at a sandy area and uncovers one bracelet, and then another. Henry also begins digging, and and uncovers a heavy box. Jo alerts Bernie and Tom, and together they lift the box out from under the porch. The box is locked, but there is a hole in the top where some of the wood rotted away, and Jo says that the loose jewelry must've come out of there. Bernie wonders how they'll get the box open without damaging what's inside, and Tom suggests that they could take it to Sergeant Smithson. Tom thinks that the box will be too heavy to carry to the police station, but Jo says they can roll it there on her skateboard. After getting the box to the station, Sergeant Smithson says that the has equipment for opening locks, but he knows of an easier way to go about it. He calls in Corporal Jones, an incredibly huge man, to take care of it for them.

Chapter 11
Corporal Jones, with his sheer strength and some help from a screwdriver, is able to open the box, revealing a heap of jewelry inside. Jo recognizes the star pin that belonged to Mrs. Green's mother. Sergeant Smithson laments that they couldn't catch the Hotel Bandit, but congratulates Jo on finding the jewelry and calls her a hero. Jo muses that maybe they can still catch the bandit, and asks the sergeant if he has a better picture of the suspect than the one he showed her earlier. Sergeant Smithson retrieves a photo of the suspect when he was at the hospital, and comments that the suspect was never able to walk after the wagon accident. Jo exclaims that she knows who the Hotel Bandit is - Alfie Gargle's grandfather. Corporal Jones apprehends Alfie and his grandfather, and brings them to the police station. Some time later, Jo visits Mrs. Green to tell her the news. Alfie's grandfather ended up in jail, while Alfie was required to do community service. With all of the jewelry returned to the rightful owners, the Hooverville Hotel hosts a party to celebrate. As Jo rides her skateboard towards the hotel, she muses to herself that she never went to a party at the end of a mystery, and wonders what it will be like.

Chapter 12
That night, Jo visits the Hooverville Hotel to check out the party. The hotel lobby is full of both young and old people. Many of the young people are wearing badges that state that they are a son or daughter of a victim of the Great Hooverville Jewelry Robbery, while many older people wear badges that state that they were a victim of the Great Hooverville Jewelry Robbery. Sergeant Smithson greets Jo, and tells her that a lot of people want to meet her. Jo asks him if all of the jewelry was returned, and the sergeant says that everything is where it belongs, except for one piece, which they are about to take care of. At a platform in the middle of the room, Bernie, Tom, and Corporal Jones are talking to Mrs. Green, who has Henry with her as well. Then Mrs. Green uses a microphone to address everyone in the room, and calls attention to Jo's efforts, declaring her to be the World's Greatest Kid Detective. She passes the microphone to Jo, who says that she couldn't have done without the help from her friends. Mrs. Green says that her mother would've never forgiven her if she didn't give Jo a reward, and offers Jo either a necklace or the star pin. Jo chooses the star pin because it reminds her of a badge, Sergeant Smithson fastens it to her shirt. Jo thanks everyone, pauses for a moment, and then takes the necklace. For a moment, Mrs. Green wonders if she wants it instead of the star pin, but Jo puts the necklace on Henry instead, and proclaims that Henry is a real detective too.