Jessie stood very still for a moment and listened. She could hear footsteps from somewhere inside the maze. She tried calling to Benny again, but he did not answer. She put her hands in front of her face and felt her way around the glass walls. Then, suddenly, it became easier. Someone had splashed a red liquid on the glass. Now Jessie could see where she was going. Soon, she saw black scribbles on the glass walls, too. And she saw words. “This way out” was written on one wall. Arrows pointed the way. “This is a stupid ride,” read another wall. Finally, Jessie saw “Go to Cooke’s Amusement Pier. It is much more fu—” The sentence was not finished.
Jessie looked down. A black marker was laying on the ground. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. She felt a tap on her back and she jumped!
“Benny!” Jessie cried. “Where were you?” Benny rubbed his forehead. “I was just trying out the maze, Jessie. It is hard. I ran right into the glass walls two times. But then I saw the red paint. I was going to come back to you.”
“Didn’t you hear me calling to you?” Jessie asked.
“No,” Benny said. “I got too far away. There was someone else in the maze with us. I thought it was you. But it wasn’t. The person was writing on the walls. The person saw me coming and ran away.”
Jessie pulled the marker out of her pocket. “I found this,” she said. “Did you see who was writing on the walls?”
“No,” Benny said. “I could not see the person. There were too many glass walls in the way. But the person was wearing blue pants. I could see that.”
Jessie and Benny carefully retraced their steps. They found the bucket with the soapy water. They worked hard and rubbed off all the red splashes and all the black words from the maze walls. When they finished, they walked back toward the shed.
They passed Henry. He was just screwing on the last handle on a motorcycle. “That should do it,” he said. Then he joined Jessie and Benny.
“Wow! Look at what Violet has done!” Benny cried as they arrived at the shed.
A family of scary-looking ghosts stood on the table.
“Listen to this,” Violet said. She pushed the button on a recorder. Benny jumped and grabbed Jessie’s hand. The frightening wail of ghosts filled the shed.
“It’s just pretend, Benny,” Violet said. “Mr. Hanson recorded it. The ghost sounds will play when customers ride through the haunted house. We are going to set up the ghosts soon.”
“You kids have been working very hard,” Mr. Hanson said. “Why don’t you go get some dinner on the boardwalk? We can set up the ghosts in the haunted house when you get back. There is a wonderful pizza place called Mack’s. I will write down the directions for you.”
Mr. Hanson walked toward the ticket booth. Will was there. He looked bored. There were no customers buying tickets yet.
“Will, where is the black marker? I need to write something down for the Aldens,” Mr. Hanson said.
Will stood up. He patted the counter. “I don’t know. It was here earlier. I guess someone took it.”
Jessie suddenly remembered something. She pulled the marker from her pocket that she had found in the house of mirrors. “I have a marker,” she said. “You may have this one if you like.”
Will narrowed his eyes at Jessie. “That looks just like our marker.” He turned toward his father. “You better watch these kids, Dad. You don’t know very much about them.”
Jessie’s face flushed. “I found that marker in the house of mirrors,” she said.
Mr. Hanson held up his hands. “Will, please don’t say such things. I trust the Aldens.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t.” Will walked out of the ticket booth. He pointed to Jessie and Benny. “I saw those two talking to Bob Cooke and Mrs. Reddy earlier today. Who knows what they were plotting?” Then Will stomped off down the boardwalk. Benny noticed something odd about Will’s sneakers as Will walked away. They had the same red splatters on them as Wendy’s shoes.
“Don’t mind Will,” Mr. Hanson said. “He and Wendy have had a hard time moving here to Oceanside. They miss their friends in Colorado. They haven’t been themselves lately.”
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny headed down the boardwalk toward Mack’s. Jessie was still upset at Will’s accusation. The children found Mack’s without any problem. The smell of baking pizza wafted over the boardwalk.
“Hello!” called a friendly man in a white apron. “Are you the Aldens? Carl Hanson just called to tell me how hard you have worked today. I saved the best booth for you.”
“Thank you so much,” Jessie said.
The children slid into a booth. On the side of the restaurant that faced the ocean, there was no wall. A fresh ocean breeze blew through the restaurant.
“I’m sorry that Will accused you,” Henry said to Jessie and Benny. “That was wrong of him.”
Jessie explained how she and Benny had run into Mr. Cooke. She told Henry and Violet about the argument between Mr. Cooke and Mrs. Reddy.
“Do you think Mr. Cooke or Mrs. Reddy could be causing the problems at Hanson’s Amusement Pier?” Violet asked.
“It is possible,” Jessie said. “Mr. Cooke wants Mr. Hanson to fail. Mr. Cooke wants to buy Hanson’s Amusement Pier so that he can own the most amusements on the boardwalk.”
Jessie pulled out a notepad. When the Aldens were faced with a mystery, Jessie liked to keep notes. Many times her notes helped solve the mystery. Jessie wrote Mr. Cooke’s name in her notepad. She wrote down the things he had said.
“What about Mrs. Reddy?” asked Benny. “She seems angry at Mr. Hanson.”
“That’s true, Benny,” Jessie said. She added Mrs. Reddy’s name to her list. “Mrs. Reddy thinks that Mr. Hanson is ruining the amusement pier. The amusement pier was owned by her family for a long time. She seems to want it back.”
“I don’t understand why she sold it,” Violet said.
“She told Mr. Hanson that she wanted to retire,” Henry said.
Jessie continued to write. She looked thoughtful. “But Leslie, the lady from the tramcar, said that Mrs. Reddy was upset about why she had to sell the amusement pier.” “That’s true,” Henry agreed. “I wonder what she meant by that.”
Just then Mack delivered a large, hot pizza with bubbling cheese to their table. A boy followed him with four glasses of ice-cold lemonade.
“Wow!” Benny cried. “This pizza looks great! I think I could eat the whole thing by myself.”
Mack introduced the boy with the lemonade as his son, Hunter. Hunter had soft brown hair and a dark tan. He looked like he was a few years older than Henry.
“Pleased to meet you,” Hunter said. “Are you kids here on vacation?”
“Yes,” Henry answered. “And we’re helping out at Hanson’s Amusement Pier, as well.”
“That’s very nice of you,” Hunter said. “Mr. Hanson can use all the help he can get. His kids, Will and Wendy, don’t seem to like to work. And they’re not very friendly.”
Mack shook his head. “They’re just having hard time. They moved here from far away and left all their friends behind.”
“Then they should make new friends here,” Hunter said. “There are lots of great kids in Oceanside.”
“Maybe you should invite them surfing with you,” Mack suggested.
“Surfing? Are you a surfer?” Benny asked. “I would like to surf too!”
Hunter smiled. “I do like to surf. You might be a little small to surf, Benny. But I could teach you how to boogie board.”
Benny hopped out of his seat. He turned to Jessie. “Can I boogie board? Please? Can I go now?”
Hunter laughed. “I’m sorry, Benny, but I have to work right now. But maybe I can take you another day.”
“Thanks!” Benny said.
The children began eating the delicious pizza. Benny was so excited about boogie boarding that he almost dropped his slice of pizza. Some of the red sauce squirted onto his T-shirt. Violet tried to clean it off with her napkin.
“It won’t come off, Benny,” Violet said. “We’ll have to wash it when we get home.”
Benny looked down at the red stains on his shirt. It reminded him of something. “Now my shirt looks like Will’s and Wendy’s shoes,” he said.
Jessie thought for a minute. Benny was right. She did remember seeing red stains on the twins’ shoes. She pulled out her notepad. She added Will’s and Wendy’s names to her list. She told Henry and Violet about the red liquid that was spilled on the walls of the house of mirrors. Benny explained about the words written in black marker. He also told how he had seen someone in blue pants running away through the maze.
“Jessie,” Henry said. “Is that the marker you found in the house of mirrors?”
Jessie looked down at the marker in her hand. “Yes, it is. I suppose that I was so upset at Will’s accusation, I forgot to put it back on the counter.”
“Look at what is printed on the side of the marker,” Henry said.
Jessie turned the marker on its side. She read out loud, “Captain Cooke’s Amazing Amusement Pier.”
The children were surprised.
“I have another clue for your notepad, Jessie,” Benny said. “Mr. Cooke was wearing blue pants.”
“You are a good detective, Benny,” Violet said. “But I think that Will was also wearing blue pants today.”
Jessie wrote all the information down in the notepad.
“It’s getting late,” Henry said. “We promised Mr. Hanson that we would come back to help set up Violet’s ghosts in the haunted house.”
“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “But perhaps we should take a look around Captain Cooke’s pier first.” |