The Adventures of the Clairville Trio: Book 1, May: Foul Play in Clairville

By Walter Thompson

When a friend’s dad is falsely accused of fraud, three conscientious 7th graders jump in to help. The closer they get to the truth, the more dangerous and unpredictable their world becomes. Determined to stay the course, they work harder and take even bigger risks to overcome the challenges arising against them. What can three Middle Schoolers do? Way more than anyone could ever imagine. The action is fast paced and exciting and so is the read. It will keep your attention and moves quickly without all the extra descriptions that can cause books to drag on.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Walter Thompson
• Release date: Jul 8, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370502295

Walter Thompson

Walter Thompson has worked in the Aerospace industry for 34 years, designing trajectories for the Titan, Atlas, and Delta launch vehicles for delivery of payloads to Earth orbit and beyond. He has always believed in the possibilities of young men and women to make an impact on their communities and the world. The Clairville Trio series is a way of communicating that belief to young readers by portraying the characters as strong, capable, and smart. Their use of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math skills to solve problems and investigate issues is a hallmark of this series.

Book preview

The Adventures of the

Clairville Trio

Book 1, May

Foul Play in Clairville

by Walter Thompson

If you wish to contact the author: [e-mail]

Copyright 1998 to 2017 by Walter Thompson, All rights reserved.

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Chapter 1 (May 16, Monday, 4:30 PM)

I have a job for you Meade, said Brian Goss into the telephone with a cold hard voice.

Yea, what’s up? asked Meade, taking a long draw from his cigar.

I helped a guy, Jeff Stubner, get a city contract to do some work, began Goss. He’s supposed to pay me $500 a month for my efforts. It’s the middle of the month and he still hasn’t paid.

You want me to knock him off? asked Meade.

Oh sure, said Goss sarcastically, that’ll get me my money. Just shut up and listen. He’s working the construction contract I gave him over at 9th and University.

What if he has the money? asked Meade.

Then take it, growled Goss. Then do something to let him know I don’t like late payments! Every time I arrange for someone win a contract, I take a risk. One person starts paying late, everyone will walk all over me. Now go do your job!

Isn’t the city going to start figuring this out? asked Meade.

Don’t worry about that, replied Goss. The only guy who could cause trouble is about to go down. I’ll be running the show within a month. That thought brought a big smile to Goss’s face.

You need me to knock someone off? asked Meade.

No, I don’t need you to knock anyone off, you idiot! Mind your own business! Goss slammed down the phone.

Meade hung up the phone smiling and grabbed his baseball cap. He enjoyed being the enforcer for Goss’s illegal contracts game, and he enjoyed annoying Goss almost as much. He didn’t have it all figured out, but he did know that Goss worked for the Clairville Contracts office. Somehow Goss was able to get people jobs doing work for the city and in return they gave him money every month. The payments better be on time. If not . . . well, that’s the part Meade liked, collecting.

Meade walked the few blocks to the construction site. The city was clearing some old buildings to make room for a new park. Goss had seen to it that the right man got the job. There was only one man working there, he was driving a bulldozer.

You Jeff Stubner! yelled Meade above the engine noise.

Yea! yelled the driver. What do you want?

Goss sent me! Meade yelled back.

The man’s face turned pale. He turned off the bulldozer and jumped down.

Listen, I’ll get Goss his money, Jeff started out, nervously handing a $100 bill to Meade. This is for you, I’ll pay Goss everything I owe him first thing next month. Honest.

Meade took the money and put it in his pocket. He loved to watch people grovel.

Jeff continued, Look, I’ve had more expenses than I anticipated getting this job done. The rental company is demanding payment now or I’ll lose the bulldozer and . . .

Goss don’t care none, interrupted Meade as he punched Jeff in the stomach. Goss don’t mess around. I’ll be back tomorrow. Then Meade turned and walked away.

But there is no way I can have the money by tomorrow! groaned Jeff, doubled over in pain.

Meade smiled wickedly, We’ll see about that.

________________

The quiet middle class neighborhood just four miles away was a sharp contrast to the construction zone, but they were about to be tangled in the same web. Nathan Johnson sat in his room looking intently at his computer screen, scanning yet another Internet site for some inspiration on what kind of computer business he could start. At the age of 12 (almost 13 he was quick to tell everyone) life seemed pretty complicated with girls, school, and trying to figure out what to do with his life. Little did he know that some stranger running a scam would suddenly make it much more complicated.

Nathan leaned back, relaxing his eyes and looked around his room. There were airplane pictures on every wall, clothes strewn across the floor, and a bed that looked exactly how it had when he first climbed out in the morning. A stack of computer magazines towered along one wall and Nathan wondered how high the piles would go before they fell over.

He heard the doorbell ring and voices at the door. Then his sister, Natalie, with as annoying a voice as any seven year old had ever produced yelled, Nathan, you’re girlfriend is here! Nathan winced. Stephanie was about the prettiest girl in school, but they were just great friends, that’s all. He was interested in girls, sort of, but Stephanie was different. It would be weird for her to be his girlfriend. Actually, as clumsy as he felt around most girls, it’d be weird to have a girlfriend at all, he thought.

Ignore the rat, yelled Nathan, referring to his sister, and come on up.

Stephanie had brownish blond hair and was a full two inches taller than Nathan. He knew he would probably be taller than her someday but he was still a little embarrassed that she seemed to tower over him. He consoled himself with the fact that she was almost six months older than him and of course was taller. Stephanie bounded into his room and plopped on his unmade bed.

How’d you do on the Science test? she asked.

Nathan knew she got a perfect score, she was a whiz at math and science. I got a 92, I’ll bet you got another 100, he said.

Not this time, said Stephanie, I forgot to do the second part of problem 3, so I got a 97.

Whoa! Did Stephanie Miles actually make a mistake? teased Nathan.

Hey, I have to give the rest of you slackers a chance, she laughed.

Duh-uh, you talking to me? joked Nathan.

Find anything yet that’s going to make us all rich? she asked, referring to his search for an Internet business.

No, said Nathan. There’s so much stuff out there. I did see something about Dustin’s dad though on one of the local news services.

What’d it say?

His dad is under investigation for some sort of fraud. His family is so up tight, I can’t imagine his dad doing anything illegal.

What does his dad do anyway? asked Stephanie. I know he works for the city somewhere.

I’m not sure. Something about contracts, said Nathan. Sounds sort of lame to me.

Really, said Stephanie. Clairville is so boring, he probably let someone dump the wrong size rocks on a playground. That would be front page news around here.

The doorbell rang again and Nathan heard someone walking up the stairs. He wondered who had managed to get in without his sister making some annoying announcement. He looked toward the door and was surprised to see Dustin Reid standing there. It was Dustin’s dad who was being investigated and Dustin’s face definitely showed something bad was going on. Maybe that explained why Natalie hadn’t said anything rude. Could she really be a human after all? Nathan wondered and then quickly dismissed the thought.

How are you doing Dustin? asked Nathan sincerely. I was shocked to see on the internet that your Dad is under investigation.

Yea, and my dad seems really worried, sighed Dustin. My parents won’t say much when I’m around. I enter the room and they change the subject to school or the weather or something. I asked mom what was going on and she started to cry and asked if I could go hang with some friends.

Wow, sympathized Stephanie, that must be really tough. Do you think he did anything wrong?

As soon as the words came out of Stephanie’s mouth she regretted saying them. The look on Dustin’s face was a mixture of hurt and anger.

I’m sorry, apologized Stephanie. I know your dad is not guilty of anything. What are you going to do?

I don’t know! said Dustin with despair in his voice. That’s the reason I came over here. You two and Nicholas always seem to know the answers to everything. What would you do in the same situation?

The doorbell rang again, this time Natalie was back in form. Nathan, the third stooge is here! He heard scuffling and figured Nicholas, the final part of the Trio of Stephanie, Nicholas, and himself, was probably messing up Natalie’s hair.

The Trio had been best friends since Nicholas and Stephanie had moved onto the same street as Nathan three years ago. Nicholas had moved from a different part of town, Stephanie from California. They were different, but enough alike that they did everything together and had a lot of fun doing it. Stephanie was a brain. She was great at math and science and loved to work with electronics. Her room was a worse disaster than Nathan’s and Nathan was sure he was going to be electrocuted sometime with all the wires and gadgets in her room. Nicholas was the athlete. He was good at every sport and spent every spare moment outdoors pushing himself in one sport or another. He was very smart, especially in math, but just didn’t have the interest in school that Nathan and Stephanie did. Nicholas had the distinct misfortune of sharing his room with a younger brother who was almost as bratty as Natalie. Thus by default, Nathan’s room became the official hang out place for the Trio (or three