Swindle

It turns out that Griffin’s father called the cops when he saw that his invention was missing. He reprimands Griffin when he brings it back but tells the officers there is nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, Swindle has received a message from his security system on his phone. He rushes back to find there has been a break-in. The officer tells Swindle that the safe has been destroyed, but Swindle is more worried about the turkey. He enters the kitchen to see two full dogs, a turkey carcass, and an empty plastic bag lying on the counter.

The heist makes big headlines: “Thieves Nab $1M Card on Eve of Auction” (216). Reporters and news trucks crowd into Cedarville, and the story even appears on CNN. The team members meet at school, wondering how much longer they will have to wait to be in the clear. Unfortunately, their anonymity does not last long. The ladder left at the scene leads the police to Darren, who identifies the rest of the team.

Griffin plans to stonewall the police when he is questioned. He tells the police he did not steal anything, which he believes to be true. He tells that that he does not have the card, which is also technically true because he mailed it. Finally, he tells them that he does not know where it is. After the police leave, Griffin decides to tell his parents the whole story, starting from his sleepover at the Rockford house. He admits that he wanted to sell the card to solve their financial problems. When Griffin sees the affect his story has on his parents, he has a moment of regret. From his room he can hear them arguing downstairs about how to make him give up the card’s location. Griffin realizes that, in that moment, he has more power than any of the adults involved in the case, but the realization does not make him feel better.

During the next week in school, Griffin is surprised that none of the team members have been arrested. He is especially surprised that the police have left him alone. Ben tells Griffin that a newspaper article appeared accusing Swindle of conning someone out of the card. Swindle has returned to his store, but his reputation has been damaged. Griffin takes some consolation in that. Still planning to sell the card, Griffin decides that he must retrieve it before something happens to it. 

Griffin does not realize the police have been following him, and when he goes to the Rockford house in the middle of the night, they put him under arrest. At the police station, the gravity of Griffin’s act begins to dawn on him. He realizes that he can no longer defend himself with semantic arguments about what constitutes stealing. Griffin’s father arrives, disheveled, at the police station. Griffin is surprised when his father tells him that all he needs to do is sign a statement saying he found the baseball card in the Rockford house so that it can be delivered to a surviving relative of the Rockford family. As they leave the police station, Griffin’s father says their money problems have been solved because the SmartPick gained media attention and attracted investors. Griffin is excited because it means they will not have to move. 

Logan returns to visit Mr. Mulroney and asks if they can continue playing backgammon. In a final surprise twist, the old woman who inherited the baseball card gave it to her young relative, Darren. Darren’s parents make him sell the card and donate the proceeds—which are close to $1 million—to the construction of the Cedarville museum. The town construct skatepark as well, based on the plans Griffin submitted to the town council. Swindle closes the Emporium and moves to California, leaving behind Luthor, who Savannah quickly adopts. Though the town never discusses the robbery, the museum features a photograph commemorating the sixth graders who made the museum possible and congratulating them “for a job well done” (252).