That night at dinner, Jessie lost no time telling her family about the missing strawberry ice cream.
“Why didn’t Mr. Brown notice it was missing?” Benny wondered aloud.
“There was still lots of ice cream in the container, just not as much as yesterday,” Jessie replied as she passed the meatloaf to Henry.
“Whoever is taking ice cream is being more careful now,” Violet observed as she poured herself some water. “They’re making sure to leave some so we won’t notice it’s missing.”
“You should all be very proud of yourselves. You put in a good day of detective work,” Grandfather said. He gazed affectionately at the tired faces of his grandchildren. Benny looked so sleepy, he could barely hold his fork up to eat the delicious meatloaf Mrs. McGregor had made.
“Oh, I forgot to tell you the good news,” Violet said as she poured some milk into Benny’s cracked pink cup. That cup was very special to Benny. He’d had it ever since they’d lived in the boxcar.
“What?” everyone but Jessie said at once.
“Mr. Brown had a new glass pane installed this afternoon. The Shoppe can now open for business tomorrow.”
“Oh, that is good news,” Grandfather remarked as he put some pepper on his mashed potatoes.
Jessie proceeded to tell her family about Simone and her mysterious friend. Everyone listened closely.
“That’s not the same customer who yelled at her the first day?” Benny wanted to make sure.
“No,” Jessie replied. “This is another one. He has red hair — and he’s very quiet. I’ve seen him with Simone before.”
“Maybe they are planning something,” Henry said thoughtfully as he poured himself some water. “But I still can’t believe Simone is really involved in all this. She seems so careful about her work.”
“Well, she did take the morning off after all that chocolate ice cream disappeared. And one day Violet saw her reading a note very secretively,” Jessie reminded Henry. “I don’t want to believe it of Simone either,” she added.
Henry and Benny took turns telling their family about the ice cream trail they’d followed.
“You know,” Jessie said, “I wonder if there’s a connection between the ice cream trail and that trail of broken glass we saw.”
“You mean the morning after I heard glass breaking,” Benny said after he swallowed a mouthful of peas. He tried not to make a face.
“Yes!” Jessie sounded excited.
“There may be,” Henry said. “I just don’t know what to make of all these clues yet.”
After dinner, the children gathered in Benny’s room again to come up with another plan.
“I think we’re going to have to keep an eye on the parlor one evening after Mr. Brown closes up,” Henry said.
Jessie nodded. “There’s a big closet in the kitchen we can hide in.”
“Oh, the one where Mr. Brown keeps the brooms and mops,” Violet said. “It would be big enough for all of us to fit in.”
“Good,” Henry said. “We should wait a couple of nights, I think.”
“Why?” Benny asked and then yawned.
“I think whoever broke that window will probably stay out of sight for a couple of days,” Henry remarked.
The others nodded. Then they all went to bed early and slept soundly.
The Shoppe was quiet for the next two days. Business seemed very slow. The Aldens watched Simone and Brian closely, but they never saw them do anything out of the ordinary.
The following Monday, the Aldens came to work early. Mr. Brown was already in the kitchen mixing a big batch of creamy chocolate ice cream. “I’m putting chocolate sprinkles and cherries in this batch,” he announced. Benny grinned.
Violet went to the table to get today’s menus, and right away she noticed something was wrong. Someone had scribbled on the menus with green crayons.
Mr. Brown looked at the menus in disbelief. “Simone, Brian, do you know anything about this?” he said calling the others to the kitchen.
Simone and Brian shook their heads. “I can make more menus,” Violet said. She tried to put Mr. Brown at ease.
“I know you can,” the owner answered sadly. “But that’s not the point.” He sighed. “I didn’t believe this at first, but someone is really trying to hurt the parlor,” he said, looking at everyone gathered around him.
“Surely, you don’t think we’re responsible.” Simone sounded a little indignant.
Mr. Brown sighed even more heavily. He sat down at his stool by the ice cream maker. “No, I would hate to think anyone in this room is responsible,” he said. “But I lock up at night. And most mornings when I come in something has been disturbed.”
Simone looked down at the floor.
“At first, I thought I was just forgetting or misplacing things,” Mr. Brown continued. “I am absentminded, but now I’m convinced someone wants to hurt our business.”
The Aldens looked at one another. “But who would want to hurt the parlor’s business?” Simone asked. She looked down at her hands and twisted her silver ring around her index finger.
“Have you thought about Mrs. Saunders?” Benny asked.
“Or what about that customer who is always so angry?” Simone asked Mr. Brown.
“That’s possible,” Mr. Brown said. The Aldens noticed how sad and tired he looked. “If any of you see anything suspicious, I hope you will let me know.”
“Of course,” Simone said. The others nodded and went back to work.
That afternoon, when no one else was around, the Aldens secretly made plans to spy on the parlor late that evening.
“We’ll have to be careful,” Jessie whispered as she added maple syrup to a banana shake. “Now that Mr. Brown is so suspicious, he’ll be very careful about locking up. He may even look in the closet.”
“I didn’t think of that,” Henry said. “Maybe we should tell him what we’re planning.”
Violet shook her head. She drew some soda water from the spigot at the counter. “I don’t think he’d let us do this, if he knew.”
“You’re probably right,” Henry said. “The fewer people who know of our plan, the better.”
That night Mr. Brown said he felt very tired. He began to lock up the Shoppe around five o’clock in the afternoon. The Aldens waited until Brian and Simone had left. Then, while Mr. Brown was in the kitchen putting on his coat, they pretended to leave by the front door.
“Good-bye, Mr. Brown,” they called.
“Good-bye, children. See you tomorrow,” Mr. Brown said.
Henry pretended to close the door with a loud bang. Then quickly, the Aldens all sneaked into the small coat closet at the far end of the counter.
Luckily for them, Mr. Brown only came into the parlor’s main area to lock the front door. Then he returned to the kitchen and left by the back door, locking it firmly behind him.
“Whew, it feels good to get out of there,” Benny said as he emerged from the cramped closet.
“I know what you mean,” Henry said. He stretched his arms out in front of him and rubbed his shoulders. “It was crowded inside with all of us. It’s a good thing the broom closet in the kitchen has more room.”
“I’m just glad we didn’t disturb anything,” Jessie said as she let Violet crawl out in front of her. Violet was careful not to pull down any of the aprons that hung crisply on their hangers.
“I’m afraid we may have a long wait ahead of us,” Henry whispered. “I’m going to call Grandfather from the pay phone to tell him where we are, and that we’ll be home by nine o’clock.”
“Be careful not to let anyone see you from the window,” Jessie warned him.
“Don’t worry, the shades are down,” Henry whispered back.
“Why are we all whispering?” Benny wondered. “We’re the only ones here.”
For the next three hours, the Aldens played word games and ate the sandwiches Henry had saved from lunch. At about eight o’clock, the parlor was dark.
“It’s spooky in here when the sun goes down,” Benny said softly.
“We should have brought a flashlight,” Henry observed.
“I know where we can find one,” Jessie said. No sooner had she pulled a flashlight from a big drawer, than they heard someone rattling the back door.
“Someone’s trying to get in!” Benny whispered loudly.
“Quick!” Henry said. “Into the storage closet.” The Aldens hurried inside amongst the mops and brooms as the rattling grew louder and louder. Benny’s heart was pounding so loudly he was sure everyone could hear it. But he kept still. Finally, when he thought he couldn’t stand the suspense any longer, the back door creaked open.
Someone turned on the kitchen light and a muffled voice said, “Okay, come in.” |