The children had the inn’s game room all to themselves. They sat at one of the tables and Jessie pulled out her notebook.
“Do we all agree that Simon Brock isn’t a suspect any more?” she asked.
Henry, Violet, and Benny nodded their heads. “He’s just enjoying the baseball games,” said Henry. “And thinking about movies.”
“So,” said Jessie, “let’s begin with Carlos Garcia.” She wrote his name in her notebook.
Then they discussed all the things that made it seem as if Carlos might be stealing signs. Jessie listed them.
Carlos Garcia
? Carlos dislikes Reese Dawkins, the Cogs catcher, and wants to replace him.
? Carlos hands Winn envelopes during the ballgame—maybe he and Winn are working together to steal signs.
? Carlos put an envelope into Emma’s straw bag.
? Carlos and Emma talk about Reese Dawkins. They both want to see Reese Dawkins fail. Maybe Carlos and Emma are working together to steal signs.
? Carlos wears a pennant on his cap: he can be seen all the way across the ballpark.
? Every time Cody Howard comes to bat, Carlos bangs the lid of his vendor’s box up and down. Could this be a signal to Cody?
“This looks bad,” said Henry. “Carlos does a lot of suspicious things.”
“We can’t prove that Carlos is stealing signs,” said Jessie. “And we can’t prove that he’s not stealing them.”
“What about Emma Larke?” asked Benny.
Jessie made a new list.
Emma Larke
? She dislikes Reese Dawkins, the Cogs catcher, and wants to see him fail.
? She wears things that make it easy for the batter to see her.
? Whenever Cody Howard comes to bat, Emma stands up and shouts and waves her hat. This could be a signal to Cody.
? She was talking to Carlos Garcia about Reese Dawkins, the catcher.
? She received an envelope from Carlos Garcia.
“Emma is doing a lot of suspicious-looking things,” said Violet.
“Maybe the things she’s doing are too suspicious,” said Henry.
“What do you mean?” asked Benny.
“Well,” said Henry to his younger brother, “if you were stealing signs, wouldn’t you try to hide it?”
Benny thought about this. “I would never steal,” he said. “But a person who steals tries to hide it.”
“Emma doesn’t seem to hide what she’s doing,” said Violet.
“Let’s go to our last suspect,” said Henry.
“Winn Winchell,” said Jessie as she wrote the name. “The team mascot.”
“Also known as Wheelie,” Benny said.
The others laughed.
The children spent a long time discussing Wheelie. Jessie wrote the list.
Wheelie
? Wheelie receives envelopes from Carlos during the game. Maybe Wheelie and Carlos are working together to steal signs.
? Wheelie has a very clear view of the catcher’s signals.
? Wheelie makes motions each time Cody Howard is at bat. Sometimes he holds his nose, sometimes he holds both hands out to the side.
? Wheelie seems to want money. He seems to want fans to pay for autographs.
? Benny and Henry saw an envelope with money in it fall out of Wheelie’s pocket.
“This is a tough mystery to solve,” Violet said. “All three people look guilty.”
Henry stood up and paced around. “I wish we had been able to figure out who the spy was today.”
“Me, too,” said Benny. “But all three of them did the same things they always do.”
“I am very sad,” said Violet. “We don’t have a name to give Mr. Tanaka tomorrow morning. That means the spy will continue spying. And that means the Cogs will lose tomorrow’s game.”
“But,” said Henry, still walking back and forth, “I think we can tell who’s not guilty.”
Jessie nodded. “Yes. Who do you think is innocent, Benny?”
“Emma.” said Benny. “Because she doesn’t hide what she’s doing.”
“Very good,” said Jessie with a smile.
“I think Emma is innocent, too” said Violet. “And I think I know why she wears different clothes. We can ask her tomorrow.”
“Then we will have two suspects,” said Jessie. “Carlos and Wheelie.”
“We will i-so-late one of them,” said Benny. “Like when I had the measles.”
Henry sat back down. “This will be the most important decision we make,” he said. “If we isolate the right person, nobody will be there to give stolen signs to Cody Howard.”
“That means the Cogs will have a fair chance to win the game,” said Jessie.
“We can think about this while we sleep,” said Violet. “In the morning we can decide who to isolate.”
The others agreed.
“There’s one more thing we can do,” said Jessie.
“What’s that?” asked Henry.
“We can get two autographs. I’ll get one, and Benny can get the other one.”
“Good thinking,” said Henry. “The autographs will help us.” |