“I’m glad Raymond isn’t the thief,” said Violet. “Or Danny Duellman.”
Jessie agreed. “And it’s nice that they’re both helping out the Greenfield Four.”
The girls were at the rehearsal studio unpacking bags of sandwiches. Henry was opening up the soda, and Benny was counting napkins. The children didn’t have any new clues, but they still wanted to be helpful, so they decided to bring lunch to the band.
“Still, we’re right back where we started with this mystery,” Henry said.
“Don’t feel bad,” Karen said. She was sitting nearby, with a guitar on her lap. She’d borrowed it from a friend and was trying to tune it. “You tried your best. The police aren’t having any luck, either.”
Dave, the drummer, was also there. “We’ll have to do the best we can with all this borrowed stuff,” Dave grumbled. “I’m glad I could find another set of cymbals, but I think I could get a better sound out of a bunch of garbage-can lids.” He tapped them a few times with a drumstick and frowned.
Karen said, “He’s right—we’ll just have to work with what we’ve got and hope everything sounds okay.” She strummed the borrowed guitar again and sighed. “This doesn’t sound right. I need to go to Lessenger’s to buy some new strings.”
When Karen mentioned the music store, Jessie sat up straight in her chair.
“I just remembered! This morning, after Benny and I helped Mr. Lessenger set up the Instrument Petting Zoo, I noticed something,” she said. “I’m not sure if it’s a clue or not, but it was certainly odd. You know that boy Tim who works there?”
“He has dark messy hair, right?” Henry asked. “Sort of quiet?”
“That’s him!” said Benny.
“Well, after we finished setting up the tent, Tim told Mr. Lessenger he was going right back to the store,” Jessie went on. “But he didn’t do that.” She told the others how she had spotted him talking to a girl with a long ponytail at the festival grounds.
“Maybe that was his girlfriend,” Violet suggested.
“I don’t think so,” said Jessie. “They shook hands, as if they didn’t know each other. And then he kept looking around, as if he wanted to make sure no one was watching.”
“They could have been talking about anything,” Henry pointed out.
“I suppose,” Jessie said. “But … I don’t know. I just have a feeling that he could be involved somehow. Just a hunch.”
“Why don’t we go to Lessenger’s Music Store and pick up Karen’s guitar strings?” said Henry. “Maybe Tim will be there.”
“Good idea,” said Violet.
“I second that,” said Karen, fishing money out of her purse to pay for the guitar strings. She handed the bills to Jessie. “Good luck,” she said.
Lessenger’s was an exciting place if you loved music. One room had nothing but drums and cymbals, another had brass horns like trumpets and trombones. There was a room only for guitars, and another for recording equipment. And there was always music playing in the store—not just from the speakers in the ceiling, but from shoppers trying out instruments.
The children didn’t see Tim or Mr. Lessenger when they first walked in, but it didn’t take long to find them. They heard Mr. Lessenger’s voice coming from the guitar room—and they were surprised at how angry he sounded.
“If I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a hundred times: do not buy a used instrument unless I see it first!”
The Aldens went over to the doorway Behind the counter, Mr. Lessenger stood and scolded Tim.
“I know,” Tim said sheepishly, “and I’m sorry. It just seemed like such a good deal.”
“That’s exactly why you should have been suspicious!” Mr. Lessenger replied. “A deal that seems too good to be true usually is! Now the store is out three hundred dollars!” he went on. “If this happens again, Tim …” He sighed. “Well, let’s just hope it doesn’t, okay?”
“Yes, sir,” Tim answered.
Mr. Lessenger disappeared into his office, closing the door with a slam.
Tim stood there for a moment, looking upset. Then he spotted the Aldens and tried his best to put on a smile.
“Hi, can I help you with something?”
The Aldens weren’t sure what to do or say, either. That had been such a nasty scene!
Jessie finally said, “Uh, you’re Tim, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, Tim the fool. That’s my full name. Do I know you?”
“Don’t you remember us from the festival this morning?” Jessie asked. “You helped us set up the Instrument Petting Zoo.”
“Oh, sure, I remember. What’s up? Did I do something wrong over there, too?”
“Oh,” Jessie said quickly. “We were just wondering—we noticed you were talking to a girl. She had a ponytail, very long.”
Tim gave out a little laugh. “Yeah, I bought a used keyboard from her. That’s why I just got yelled at.”
“Why would you get in trouble for that?” Henry asked. “You sell used instruments here, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Tim replied, “but this one was a little different—it was stolen.”
“Stolen!” Jessie said. “How do you know?”
“Here, I’ll show you,” Tim said. He disappeared into a back room and returned a moment later with the keyboard in his arms.
It was long, black, and very heavy with knobs and buttons above the keys.
“See this?” Tim said. He pointed to a spot at the back. Henry carefully turned the keyboard around. And there, right by the button that turned it on and off, was a name scratched into the metal—“Amy Keller.”
“Oh my goodness!” Violet said. “This belongs to the Greenfield Four! It’s one of the missing instruments!”
“Yeah,” Tim said, nodding and looking very unhappy. “I didn’t know their stuff had been stolen until Mr. Lessenger told me.”
“And you bought it from that girl?” Jessie asked. “The one with the long ponytail?”
“That’s right,” Tim said. “She wanted to know if I was interested in buying a great keyboard really cheap.”
“If it seemed like such a good deal, then why didn’t you tell Mr. Lessenger about it first?” Henry asked.
Tim paused before speaking. He suddenly seemed uneasy.
“Because,” he said, “I had my own reasons for buying it from her, too. She was wearing a Glenwood Studios shirt, and she said she worked there. My buddies and I have a band, but we can’t afford to go there and record our music. So she and I made a little deal—I would buy the keyboard from her, and she would let us use the studio for free for a few weeks when no one else was in there.” He shook his head. “Like I said, it seemed like such a great deal. We could’ve sold this for seven or eight hundred dollars. I thought Mr. Lessenger would be thrilled.”
“I wonder if this girl has any of the other stolen instruments,” Henry said.
“Do you think she’s the one who stole the instruments in the first place?” Jessie wondered.
Tim spoke up. “I doubt it. I don’t know her very well, but she’s come into the store before. Her name is Zoey.”
“If the thief sold the instruments to a total stranger, then no one would know they were stolen to begin with,” Henry pointed out. “It doesn’t sound like Zoey is the thief.”
Tim agreed. “I bet she’d be just as surprised as I was to find out the keyboard was stolen.” He added, “My boss is calling the police right now to tell them one of the stolen instruments turned up. I’m sure they’ll want to talk to her soon.”
So do we, thought Jessie. |