This is good ice cream,” said Benny. “The best ice cream in the whole world.”
“You always say that when we come to the ice-cream parlor,” Violet said, smiling at Benny.
The Aldens were sitting at one of the little tables inside the shop eating ice-cream cones.
Just then, a tall boy walked into the ice-cream parlor. He was wearing a baseball cap pulled low on his forehead and he had on dark glasses.
“Lots of people are wearing dark glasses today,” observed Henry. “And it’s not even very sunny.”
“The bank robbers had them on for disguises,” said Jessie. She stopped eating her ice-cream cone. She stared at the boy in the baseball cap as he walked up to the counter.
A man stopped in the doorway of the shop. “Ta . . . Jonathan,” he said. “We should be going.”
“In a minute,” said the boy. “Do you want some ice cream?”
“It’s the man with the silver hair. The one we saw earlier,” Violet said in a low voice.
The man patted his trim stomach. “No, thanks. Have to watch my weight.”
“Okay,” said the boy called Jonathan. “I’ll be right out.”
The man nodded. “Courtney’s gone to get the Jeep,” he said, and disappeared.
Jessie kept staring at the boy. Her ice cream began to melt and drip down on her hand, but she didn’t even seem to notice.
“Jessie,” Henry said. “What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” Jessie answered, without taking her gaze off the boy. He turned to look around the shop as he waited for his ice-cream cone. He gave them a little half smile, ducking his head and turning away again at the same time.
“He acts like he doesn’t want us to look at him,” Benny said. “And Jessie is staring. Grandfather says it is rude to stare.”
Reluctantly Jessie turned her gaze away from the boy. “You’re right, Benny,” she said. “It’s just that—”
But Jessie didn’t get to finish her sentence.
A shattering alarm went off right over their heads.
“Fire!” the girl behind the ice-cream counter shouted. “Fire!” She turned and ran toward the back of the shop. At the same moment, a billow of black smoke poured into the front door of the ice-cream shop.
“The exit is in the back.” Henry jumped to his feet and caught Benny by the hand. “This way!” he shouted. “Jessie, grab Benny’s hand. Violet, hold on to Jessie.”
Henry quickly led the way to the back of the shop. A bright red EXIT sign could be seen through the smoke.
The boy stood frozen by the counter. As they went by, Violet reached out with her free hand and grabbed his arm. “Come on!” she said.
A moment later, they had followed the counter girl out of the back of the shop into the alley.
“Is everyone okay?” Henry asked.
“We’re fine,” said Jessie. “And we were the only ones in the shop.”
“It’s a good thing,” said the counter girl. “If it had been busier, it could have been a disaster.”
They were standing in the alley. “Fire trucks are coming,” said Benny. “Listen.”
They ran along the alley toward the street. As they reached the sidewalk, a woman with bright red hair ran forward. “Where is he?” she demanded.
“Who?” asked Jessie.
But the woman didn’t answer. She pushed past the Aldens, muttering under her breath.
“Jessie,” said Violet. “That was the same woman who was behind the police officer before.” Then Violet remembered the boy in the baseball cap. She looked around, too. But he was nowhere in sight.
Nearby, a firefighter was squirting foam on a trash can while a small crowd stood and watched.
“What happened?” asked Benny.
“A fire in the trash can,” the firefighter said. She shook her head. “We’re not sure how it happened, but it looks like someone tried to create a lot of smoke deliberately.”
Another firefighter emerged from the ice-cream parlor. “Everything’s okay inside,” he said. “No fire there. But the trash can shouldn’t have been so near the door. Someone must have moved it. The smoke is what set off the alarm.”
“If I didn’t know better,” the first firefighter said, “I’d say someone was trying to smoke out the people in the ice-cream parlor.”
The counter girl said, “I told everybody to leave the moment the alarm went off. We left by the rear exit.”
“She didn’t tell us to leave,” Benny said indignantly. “She just ran out!”
But the firefighter didn’t hear Benny’s protest. She was nodding at the girl approvingly. “That’s what you should do,” said the firefighter. “When there is a fire alarm, don’t wait. Leave as quickly and calmly as possible.”
Henry saw a photographer from the local newspaper begin to take pictures of the firefighters and the front of the ice-cream shop. As he did, the reporter who was with him stepped up to speak to the girl who worked there. “Yes,” the Aldens heard her say. “The moment I heard the alarm, I showed everybody the way to the exit and told them to leave. That’s what you’re supposed to do. I guess that makes me a hero.”
“You’re the hero, Henry,” said Jessie. “You helped us all get out of the ice-cream parlor.”
“Well, I guess it’s time for us to go home, anyway,” Henry said.
They got their bicycles and began to walk down Main Street toward home.
Violet stopped and pointed. “There he is. The boy who was in the ice-cream shop.”
They stood and watched as a red Jeep turned the corner ahead. A young woman with her hair in a long dark braid was driving. The man with the silver hair sat in the backseat. And the boy in the baseball cap was slumped down in the front seat.
He looked unhappy.
“That woman,” said Henry. “Don’t you recognize her?”
“Yes!” cried Jessie. “She’s the woman who was so rude to us at the old Radley place yesterday!” |