The children pressed the doorbell of the large gray building. Whirrrrrr. Whirrrrrr. The security camera over the door searched left, then right, then down until it found the children. The door buzzer sounded, and the children walked in.
A tall smiling lady with twinkling blue eyes and blond curly hair greeted them in the lobby. “Your grandfather told me you might stop by,” she said. “I’m Edie Hope, the owner of the company. I’m on the phone just now. I’ll be back in a minute.”
While they waited, the children looked at a large display called A Half-Century of Service. It showed photos of the different armored cars and uniforms used by the AAA Armored Car Company over the past fifty years. The children recognized the newest cars, which they often saw driving around town. These were silver with green lettering the color of money. The newest uniforms were dark blue with brass buttons.
The office door opened. “Sorry to keep you waiting,” said Edie Hope. “Now, how can I help you?”
“We are interested in the robbery,” Henry said.
Ms. Hope’s smile faded. “This was our only robbery in fifty years. I can’t believe the police still have no clues. “
“Where did the thief find an armored car?” asked Jessie. “Did he steal one from you?”
“No, we keep all our cars under lock and key.”
Henry explained the children’s idea. “If you show us the route your armored car usually takes, maybe we can find where the thief hid the fake armored car.”
Ms. Hope led them into her office. A giant street map of Greenfield covered one wall. She pointed to the top of the map. “The Greenfield Bank is all the way up here at the north end of Greenfield, and we are all the way down here at the south.” Ms. Hope ran a finger straight down to the bottom. “Noah always drives straight up to the bank and back.”
The children studied the map. A wide line ran across the middle. “It looks like Greenfield is wearing a belt,” said Benny.
“That’s Main Street.” Henry pointed to the left side of the map. “Here, on the west, is the railroad station. The circus parade began here. “Then,” he ran his finger to the right along Main Street, “the March of the Elephants led the parade east, all the way across town, to the park over here. Main Street was closed for an hour. No traffic was allowed to cross.”
“Which means the robber was up here when the parade began—on the same side as the bank. He hid his armored car above Main Street until he was ready to rob the bank,” said Jessie.
The children thanked Ms. Hope and headed out. “We’ll start at the bank,” said Henry, “and bike along Noah’s route looking for a place big enough to hide an armored car.”
“An invisible armored car,” said Benny, who secretly wondered if they could find such a thing.
Next, the children went to the Greenfield Bank. Arlo Jeffries, the manager, knew the Aldens, who visited the bank every month to put part of their allowances into their savings accounts.
“We’ve come to ask about the robbery,” said Henry. “What do you remember about that day?”
Mr. Jeffries sighed. “It was exactly like every other pick-up day. The armored car driver walked into the bank. We thought it was Noah. He was dressed in Noah’s blue uniform. He had sunglasses. He had Noah’s big moustache and long sideburns. Then Noah—I mean, the thief—walked to the teller’s window, opened his duffle bag, loaded up the bags of cash, and left. Just like always. Except it wasn’t Noah.” He shook his head.
“Can you remember anything different that day?” asked Violet. “Even the smallest thing might be a clue.”
Mr. Jeffries closed his eyes, thinking hard. “The circus, of course,” he said. “The bank was nearly empty because our customers were watching the parade. Even my employees went there on their lunch break. The only ones here were the bank guard, the teller, and, of course, me.”
Clink, clank, clank, clink! The children whirled around at the sound of clanking coins. The man with the metal detector had plunked down a green bag full of coins. “I want to trade these coins for paper money,” the man told the teller. “Paper money is lighter to cart around.” He spilled the coins onto the counter. A few fell to the floor and rolled away. The children helped pick them up. The man barely looked at the children as they returned the coins to the pile.
When Benny saw the coins, he remembered that the bank had a vending machine near the door. “Can we get candy?” he asked.
“We just ate breakfast,” said Jessie.
“That was hours ago,” Benny said.
“It was one hour,” said Violet.
Mr. Jeffries snapped his fingers. “That reminds me! I must call the vending company right now. We’ve run out of Chili-Billy Bars.” He bent down, whispering, “One of our customers gets angry if we run out. Though why someone wants to eat candy made with hot peppers is beyond me. I tried one once.” He made a face and fanned his tongue with his hand. “Hot!” he said. “Hot and awful. Awful.”
The children biked south, from the bank toward Main Street, looking for a place where someone could hide a big silver truck. They passed shops and parks, small houses without garages, a school, and a department store. A block from The Applewood Café, they passed a row of offices. A big red, white, and blue sign said: “Sales by Sally Realty.”
“Look,” said Henry, “that’s the sign in the photo at the café. This is the lady who sold the café to the Sheas.”
“There sure are a lot of places for sale,” Jessie noticed. There were photos of houses, apartments, and shops taped up all over the big picture window of the office.
Benny pointed to a faded photo of Duffy’s Garage. “Look, that’s where we got those old tires,” he said.
Below the photo were the words “GARAGE FOR SALE, MAKE AN OFFER.” The children looked closely at the photo. Big sheets of metal covered the windows. Weeds grew in the gravel lot in back. A pile of old tires leaned against the back wall.
“I’ll bet Sally knows every building in Greenfield,” said Jessie. “She might know where someone could hide a van. We should talk to her. But look—she’s not here right now.” A sign on Sally’s door said “Back at 1:00.”
Henry checked his watch. “That’s three hours from now. Let’s finish riding toward Main Street. We’ll come back here after lunch.”
The children followed the armored car route but, as hard as they tried, they couldn’t find one single place where someone could hide a big armored car. |