The children stopped back at the police station on their way home.
“The detective brought back the metal panels from Duffy’s Garage,” the chief said. “Those will make great evidence once we dust them for fingerprints. No word yet from the other detective about the van. I promise I’ll call as soon as I hear.”
None of the children liked waiting. It was always more fun to be doing something than doing nothing. But as they walked outside, they couldn’t think of what to do next.
“Well,” said Violet, “we did solve two mysteries. We know it was Cesar who propped up our sunflowers and cleared the poison ivy out of the alley. And we also know that Mr. Dunkard dumped our compost cans searching for ‘black gold.’”
Henry laughed. “I wish I could have seen his face when all he found was garbage and a million worms. But someone else dug around our garden, and we don’t know why. We need to think harder.”
“I want to keep trying to find the bank robber,” said Jessie. She sat on the police department steps. “But I’m out of ideas.”
“Me, too,” said Violet, joining her.
“Me, three,” said Benny, plopping down between them.
But Henry was not ready to give up. “Look, we’ve learned important things. We know the thief hid his van in Duffy’s Garage while he made it into an armored car. Then we found the van. We just don’t know who the thief is.”
Jessie twirled a lock of her hair. She thought about the van in the scrap yard. She twirled and twirled her … hair! “Wigs!” she cried, jumping up. “The thief wore wigs!”
“So?” said Benny.
But Jessie was already running down the block. “And he wore a uniform,” she called to the others. “He wore wigs and a uniform. But we didn’t see wigs or a uniform in Duffy’s Garage or in the van.”
Suddenly, her feet flew out from under her. Her right leg went east and her left leg went west. She landed with a thud. “I’m okay I’m okay,” she called, getting up. She’d slipped on some tomatoes!
“They’re Cesar’s tomatoes,” said Benny. It was true. Ripe tomatoes littered the ground. They fell from the plants growing all down the block.
“Come on!” yelled Jessie, waving to the others as she disappeared inside Cora’s Costumes.
This time, Cora was dressed like a rock star in a sparkly sequin dress and a spiky wig.
Jessie told her what they were looking for. “We need to look up someone who rented two wigs,” she said.
“Two wigs,” Cora repeated. She typed wigs into her computer. A list came up. She clicked on Cheerleader. “That’s what I call our ponytail wig,” she explained. She printed out all the names of people who had rented a cheerleader wig in the past two months. Then she typed Elvis wig into the computer. “That’s our black wig with sideburns,” she said. She printed out another list of names. The children compared the two lists. One name appeared on both.
“Mr. Malfrat rented both wigs the same day,” said Jessie. “Did he rent anything else?”
Cora typed Malfrat into the computer. “Yes, here, Mr. Malfrat, size large, rented two wigs and a blue policeman’s uniform for four days.” The date of his order was two days before the robbery. “We were so busy with the circus costumes that I honestly can’t remember a thing about him. Wait, what’s this?” She scrolled down the screen. “Ah, here. I made a note that after he returned the costume I had to repair the police patch on the sleeve. It looked like it came off and someone tried to sew it back on. Hold on, I’ll get it for you.”
Cora returned carrying the uniform. It was the same blue as the AAA Armored Car driver’s uniform. Violet ran her hand over the police patch on the sleeve. “The thief could have clipped this off, robbed the bank, then sewed it back before returning the costume.”
Henry borrowed Cora’s computer to search the Greenfield phone directory.
“There’s no Mr. Malfrat listed,” he said. “And the address is fake.”
“Another dead end,” said Jessie.
The Aldens left the costume store and walked down the block, careful to step around the squished tomatoes that littered the sidewalk. Looking at the tomatoes made Benny hungry. But he didn’t want a tomato. He wanted something sweet. He was about to ask if they could stop for ice cream when Violet spoke up.
“Why would a bank robber return the rented uniform and wigs?” Violet asked. “Why not just steal those, too? He could have thrown them into the river or buried them or burned them. But he returned them.”
“I think this proves that the thief lives right here in town!” Henry said.
“It does?” asked Jessie.
“Sure,” said Henry. “If he’d left town after the robbery he wouldn’t care what happened to the uniform and wigs. But if he was here in Greenfield, he couldn’t risk making Cora suspicious. She might connect the missing rented uniform with the uniform worn at the robbery.”
Benny was tired of talking about costumes. “Could we get ice cream?” he asked.
“We’ll stop at the ice cream parlor,” said Jessie.
Benny pulled a crumpled dollar bill out of his pocket. “Wait, I don’t have enough money,” he said sadly.
“Well,” said Jessie, “it might not be enough for an ice cream. But it’s more than enough for a vending machine. Let’s go to that one we saw at the bank”
At the bank, Benny studied the goodies in the vending machine window. So many wonderful choices! Should he buy cookies, something salty, or something chewy? As he tried to decide, the vending machine man came and began refilling the machine.
“That’s the one!” cried Benny as the man refilled the last row with red-wrapped candy bars. “That’s the one I want to try.”
“You sure?” asked the man, closing the door.
“Yup,” said Benny. He fed his dollar into the machine and pressed C-5. Out came a Chili-Billy Bar. Benny tore off the wrapper and took a big bite. He chewed and chewed, waiting for the sweet candy to fill his mouth. He stopped chewing. His eyes grew wide. Wider. “Oh,” he said. “Ohhhhhh.” The candy was spicy hot!
He ran to the drinking fountain. For a long time he stood there, letting the water cool his tongue. “Yuck!” he said at last.
Violet picked up the red Chili-Billy bar Benny dropped. She recognized it at once. “This is the same red wrapper Fenster threw on the ground at the park,” she said.
“That candy is hard to find,” said the vending machine man. “Most places don’t carry it. Last week, some guy bought my entire supply. He was going on a trip and wanted to take some with him.”
Benny still had the yucky taste in his mouth when the children stopped at the police station. They told Chief Morgan about the wigs and uniform rented by a Mr. Malfrat. “Malfrat?” said the chief. His thick eyebrows came together. “That’s an interesting name. French, I think.”
“May I please have some water?” asked Benny.
Chief Morgan brought him a nice big cup. “Here you go, Benny.” He looked at the others. “Anyone else need some watering?”
“Watering?” gasped Jessie. “Oh my gosh! This is Tuesday. This is the day we water the garden.”
Watering was one of the most important garden chores. It was also the most fun. And the work would keep the children busy. Maybe, by the time they finished, they’d find out what the detectives had found in the robber’s van. |