“Do you mind if we come with you when you talk to Mrs. Thorton?” Henry asked the police officers.
“Not at all,” Officer Maguire said. “Come on.”
So the children followed Officer Sloan and Officer Maguire across the street.
Officer Maguire knocked on Mrs. Thorton’s door.
She opened it almost immediately. She looked surprised to see the police officers. “What’s this all about?” she asked.
Officer Sloan told Mrs. Thorton that someone had broken into Jeff’s shop and poured oil all over it. “Would you know anything about that?” he asked.
Mrs. Thorton drew in her breath. “No, I certainly wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“It happened early this morning,” Office Maguire said, holding her pen to her notebook. “Did you see anyone suspicious hanging around?”
“No,” Mrs. Thorton replied. “But then again, I hardly have time to just stare out the window all day.” She let out a short laugh.
“Are you here alone, Mrs. Thorton?” Officer Sloan asked.
“Yes. My son Erik is visiting from New York, but he left a little while ago to look at a house for sale. His company is transferring him back to the Connecticut office, so as soon as he finds a place to live, he’s moving back here.” Mrs. Thorton smiled.
“Well, I’m sure that makes you happy,” Officer Sloan smiled back. “What time did he leave this morning?”
Mrs. Thorton checked her watch. “Oh, about twenty minutes ago. He was running late.”
“Can you tell us what kind of car he drives?” Officer Maguire asked.
“He drives a white sedan. Why?” Mrs. Thorton frowned. “Y-you don’t think he had anything to do with the trouble across the street, do you?” She looked from one officer to the other with concern.
“We’re just gathering facts, Ma’am,” Officer Sloan said.
“Then you probably already know that Erik tried to build an over-sized yo-yo, too,” Mrs. Thorton said. “And you also know what happened when he tried to launch it.”
The officers didn’t say anything in response. They just let Mrs. Thorton talk.
“Erik and I are very concerned about this yo-yo that Mr. Naylor is building, and I can assure you that if there’s been some trouble over there, neither one of us had anything to do with it!”
The officers thanked Mrs. Thorton for her time, then headed back across the street to Jeff’s shop.
Jeff and Emily were mopping up the oil as best they could, but it looked like a lot of the boards on the yo-yo would have to be replaced.
Officer Sloan turned to the children. “Are you kids sure you locked the door when you left the shop last night?”
“Positive,” Jessie replied.
“Well, there were no signs of a forced entry,” Officer Sloan said. “I think whoever broke in here must have had a key.”
“Who all has a key to this place, Mr. Naylor?” Officer Maquire asked.
“Just me and Emily,” Jeff said. Then he scowled. “Actually, my former partner, Gary Richmond may still have one, too. We had a falling out … I don’t think he’d do something like this, but you never know.”
Officer Maguire shrugged. “Doesn’t hurt to check him out.”
Emily glared at the children. “I still think these kids had something to do with it,” she said. “Maybe you should check them out a little more, too.”
“Now Emily.” Jeff held up his hand. “We’ve talked about this already. I’m sure the Aldens are not to blame.”
“Don’t be too sure about that,” Emily said.
On Monday, Jeff called the Aldens on the phone and invited them to go out for lunch. “I know you kids aren’t responsible for the damage to the yo-yo,” he explained. “And I’d like to prove it by taking you and your grandfather out for a nice lunch at the Leaning Tower of Pizza. Do you like pizza?”
“Yes, but you don’t have to take us out for lunch,” Jessie said.
“I know I don’t have to,” Jeff said. “But I want to. Are you available?”
Grandfather already had lunch plans, but the children were free. So Grandfather dropped them off at the Leaning Tower of Pizza at 11:30.
When the children arrived, Jeff was already there. He waved to them from a back booth.
“Hi, Jeff.” Jessie slid into the bench next to Jeff while Henry, Violet, and Benny sat down on the other side of the table that was covered with a red and white checked table cloth.
“Hi, kids. I’m glad you could make it.”
Jeff passed the menus around and for the next couple of minutes everyone read them over. They finally settled on two pizzas: a large pepperoni with extra cheese and a medium sausage and mushroom.
A waitress whose name tag said Adele came over with a tray full of glasses and a pitcher of soda. Then she took their order. “I’ll get those pizzas out to you as soon as I can,” she said.
The pizza place was busy, so the Aldens knew there would be a bit of a wait.
“Do the police have any idea who broke into your shop the other night?” Henry asked as he took a sip of his soda.
“I’m afraid not,” Jeff replied. “They talked to Gary, but he didn’t know anything about it.”
“Have you worked on the yo-yo at all since we were last in your shop?” Violet asked.
“I’ve cleaned it up some. But at this point, I’m not sure how much of it is really salvageable.”
“Still, you’re not really going to quit building it, are you?” Benny asked.
“No, I guess not,” Jeff admitted. “I started this project, so I’d really like to see it through. I don’t know whether I’ll get credit for the record. Not unless I find that missing flash card with all the footage from when we first started building.”
“You still haven’t found that?” Henry asked, surprised.
“No,” Jeff said as he stirred his soda. “I’ve looked everywhere. But I’m not going to worry about it. At this point, I just want to finish the yo-yo. I don’t care about the record.”
“We’ll help you any way we can,” Violet promised.
“I appreciate that,” Jeff said. “With Emily quitting, I’m going to need all the help I can get.”
“You can count on us,” Jessie said.
“I’m glad,” Jeff said. “I had no idea Emily and her boyfriend were planning on starting a woodworking business. I certainly thought she’d stick around until after the yo-yo was finished. She seemed really interested in that project. I even gave her a copy of the plans.”
“You did?” Henry asked.
“Sure. She asked if she could have a copy as a souvenir,” Jeff said.
“Do you have anybody else in mind for Emily’s job?” Violet asked.
“No. I called the newspaper this morning and told them I wanted to place an ad. The ad will run this weekend. We’ll see if I get any calls,” Jeff said.
“More soda, please,” Benny said, sliding his glass toward the pitcher.
Jessie reached for the pitcher, but something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. “Not again,” she said, staring out the window. Her hand still gripped the pitcher.
“What?” asked Henry. He, Benny, and Violet all turned to see what she was looking at.
“That gray station wagon,” Jessie said. “I just saw it drive by.”
“I sure wish I knew whose car that was,” Henry said.
A few minutes later, a tall, skinny man walked into the pizza shop. He was alone. He was wearing a red baseball cap that was turned backwards and chewing on a toothpick.
“Be with you in a minute, sir,” Adele said as she rushed past him with two pizzas. She set the piping hot pizzas down in the middle of the Aldens’ table.
“Can I get you anything else?” the waitress asked.
“I don’t think so,” Henry said. He turned to Jeff, but Jeff’s eyes were glued to the man standing in the doorway.
The man in the doorway stared back at Jeff. The toothpick in his mouth fell to the floor, but he didn’t even notice. He slowly backed up—right into the door. Then he spun around, whipped the door open, and left.
“Sir?” The waitress peered nervously at Jeff. “Are you all right?”
“What?” Jeff turned to the waitress in confusion. “Oh yes. Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
The waitress left and Jeff slid the pizza closer to Henry. “You kids help yourselves,” he said as craned his neck to see out the door.
Henry dished up slices of steaming pizza and put them on all the plates.
“Who was that man, Jeff?” Violet asked.
Jeff was still staring at the door. He turned to Violet. “That was my former partner, Gary Richmond.”
A couple minutes later, Jessie noticed the gray station wagon go by again.
“Jeff, does Gary drive a gray station wagon?” Jessie asked.
“Did you see that car again, Jessie?” Henry asked.
“Yes. It just went by again,” Jessie replied. “But this time it was going in the opposite direction it was going in before.”
Jeff thought for a minute. “Gary used to drive a red pick-up. But it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other that I honestly don’t know what he drives now. I have to say, I haven’t seen his pick-up around town in quite a while, though. I used to see it all the time. So it’s certainly possible he’s gotten something else by now.”
“Do you think he’s the one who’s been following us?” Benny asked as he took a bite of his pizza.
“I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “He didn’t act like someone who’d been following us when he came in here. He seemed surprised to see us.”
“Or surprised to see me,” Jeff said.
He and the Aldens finished their food, then Jeff strolled over to the cash register to pay. When he came back, he told the Aldens, “I’m expecting another load of lumber tomorrow, so maybe you can come back late tomorrow afternoon and we’ll see what we can salvage of that yo-yo.”
“Sure,” Henry said. “We’ll be there.”
|