After a night of dreams about John Finney’s treasure, the Alden children awoke to breakfast on Tom’s front porch. Jessie and Violet both chose fresh fruit and toasted bagels. Benny chose his favorite, cereal and milk. Henry had scrambled eggs and crisp bacon. But the food went down slowly because the children were too busy talking about what they were going to do after they found the treasure.
“I’m going to buy my own pizza parlor!” Benny told his siblings. “Then I can have all the pizza I want!”
“I’m going to get more art supplies,” Violet said. “And then I’ll take some classes so I can draw better pictures.”
“What’s wrong with the ones you make now?” Benny asked.
Violet smiled.
“What would you do, Jessie?” asked Henry.
“I don’t know. I’d probably just give the money to Grandfather. He’s done so much for us.”
The other children nodded. That did sound like a perfect idea.
Grandfather came onto the porch at that moment, followed by Tom. They both had their plates with them.
“So what’s the plan for today?” Tom asked as he took his seat and jabbed a fork into his eggs.
“We’re going to start at the local library,” Henry told him. The others nodded. This was what they had decided last night, just before they went to bed. “Maybe we can find information about the other pieces of the map. Once we know what the other three pieces look like, we can start hunting for the treasure.”
“Sounds good,” Tom said. “This should be fun for you kids.”
“We love mysteries!” Benny said enthusiastically.
“So I’ve heard. You’ve solved quite a few, haven’t you?” asked Tom.
“Yes, sir. Lots of them,” Benny replied.
“Well, don’t forget about the beach. I heard on the radio this morning that the water’s supposed to be warm all week,” said Tom.
Grandfather took a sip of his orange juice, then said, “You know, I was thinking about something last night. Something about this treasure.”
“What’s that, Grandfather?” Jessie asked.
“It might be best if you didn’t mention it to anyone. I know it’s exciting and everything, but you should keep it to yourselves.”
The children looked at one another in confusion. “Why?” Jessie asked.
“Because I’m sure a lot of other people would love to get their hands on the last piece of the map. Remember, John Finney’s treasure is probably worth a fortune, and there are plenty of people who would love to find it. With the help of that piece, a person could become very, very rich.”
“But we’re not trying to get rich, Grandfather,” Violet explained. “We just want to have fun looking for the treasure.”
“Solving the mystery!” Benny reminded them.
“I know that, children,” Grandfather replied. “But there are other people who want the treasure only so they can get rich.”
“And some of them will do almost anything to get it,” Tom added.
“Are we in any kind of danger?” Benny asked.
“No, not as long as no one else knows,” Grandfather assured them. “You haven’t told anyone else, right?”
Henry answered for all of them. “No, we haven’t said anything to anybody.”
They all went back to their meals, and Henry went back inside to get more juice.
Then Jessie suddenly cried out, “The photographer!”
Tom was so surprised by this that he dropped his fork in his lap. “What?”
“The photographer!” Jessie said again. “Remember, Violet? The lady at the beach as we were leaving?”
“Oh, yes,” Violet said. “I do remember.”
“What are you talking about?” Tom asked.
“A lady with a camera took a picture of the bottle,” Jessie said.
“Really?” Grandfather asked.
“I think she was just walking around, taking pictures,” Violet offered. “It was a pretty day.”
Tom nodded. “Oh, sure, a lot of people do that when they come here.”
“Is it something we should worry about?” Jessie asked.
“I don’t think so,” Tom told her. Then he asked, “But aside from this lady photographer, no one else knows?”
“No,” Jessie said. “No one. I’m sure of it.”
“If we’re lucky, maybe we’ll find pictures of the other three pieces today,” Violet said. “Then we can go looking for the treasure before we head back to Greenfield.”
Out on the sidewalk, a young girl came along on a bicycle. A canvas pouch was tied to the handlebars. She reached into it and pulled out a newspaper with a rubber band wrapped around it, which she then threw onto the front step.
Violet opened the door and picked up the paper. The color picture on the front page caught her attention right away.
“Oh, no . . .” she whispered.
Everyone turned. “What, Violet? What’s the matter?”
She pulled the rubber band off the paper and unfolded it so everyone could see. “Look at this!”
Right on page one was a photograph of Benny proudly holding up his bottle. And the headline underneath, in huge letters, screamed, COULD THIS BE THE MISSING PIECE TO JOHN FINNEY’S PUZZLE?
Tom jumped out of his seat. He looked at the picture closely, then turned the newspaper sideways to read the name of the photographer. It was written in very small print up the left side.
“Oh, no wonder . . .” he muttered.
“No wonder what, Tom?” Grandfather asked.
“Meredith Baker,” Tom said.
“Who’s that?” Violet asked.
“She’s a local lady. Everyone knows her. Of all the people who had to be there when Benny found the bottle . . .” Tom said.
“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.
“She’s very nosy, very chatty, and she’s always looking for something to do. As soon as she got the picture developed, she probably went right to the newspaper. A lot of people around here know that this is one of the places John Finney’s treasure might be buried. I’m sure the newspaper reporters figured it out right away.” Tom sighed and looked at Benny. “Well, so much for keeping it a secret.”
The secret of Benny’s discovery was out now, and nothing could be done about it, so the children went to the town library as planned. They walked in and went straight to the information desk. The woman who was working there, a younger lady with dark hair and glasses, smiled at them. “Is there anything I can help you with today?”
“We’re looking for a book on buried treasures,” Jessie said carefully. She didn’t want to say too much.
“Well, our computer catalog is right over there,” the woman said, pointing to a long table in the middle of the room with a row of computers on it. “Just follow the directions on the screen. It’s easy; you’ll see.”
“Thank you,” Jessie replied.
The librarian had been right—the computer catalog system was very easy to use. The children decided to do a subject search for any books about treasures and treasure hunting. There turned out to be eight titles available. As Jessie called out the Dewey decimal numbers, Henry wrote them down on a piece of scrap paper. The library helpfully supplied a small pile of scrap paper and a cupful of pencils next to each computer.
The children went to find the books, and it took them only a few minutes. Henry and Jessie immediately began searching through the index of each one to see if John Finney’s treasure was mentioned.
Violet said, “I’m going to browse through one of the computers for anything else that might help,” then went back to the long table in the main room.
As she began working her way through the computer’s menus, a man walked into the library. He looked vaguely familiar to Violet. He went to the front desk and said, “Good mornin’, Miriam.”
The lady who had helped the children find the treasure books looked up from her desk, saw the man, and frowned.
“Hello,” she said simply. Then she went back to what she was doing.
“Nice day, isn’t it?” the man asked.
“Yes, very nice,” Miriam answered.
“Are you gonna go outside and enjoy it?” the man continued.
By the look on Miriam’s face, she wasn’t the type of person who enjoyed small talk. “No, I’m very busy.”
The man laughed. The room was empty except for Violet, and she was trying to pretend she wasn’t paying attention. “Doesn’t look too busy, miss.”
“I’m paid to be here all day,” the librarian said firmly, “so it’s only fair that I stay here all day.”
The man kept quiet for the next few moments, and Violet breathed a sigh of relief. She went back to tapping away on the computer keyboard to continue her search. But a moment later she heard something that made her heart sink—
She looked over and saw the man pick up a copy of that day’s newspaper, which had been sitting on the front desk. “Hmmm, what’s this?” he said to no one in particular. He studied Benny’s picture and read the story underneath with great interest. “John Finney’s treasure?” he said with a grin. “That’s gotta be worth millions.” The man paused for just a moment, then his eyes widened. “Hey!” he said. “I know this kid!” He held the picture up to the librarian. “I saw him just the other day!”
At that moment Violet remembered who the man was, and her stomach rolled over—he was the man they’d talked to on the beach—the one with the metal detector!
The librarian looked up at the picture, and at first she seemed very annoyed that this stranger had once again pulled her attention away from her work. Then she realized who the child in the picture was. “Oh, my goodness,” she gasped, “that’s—” She pointed in the general direction of the Aldens, then pulled her hand back down, realizing the mistake she had just made.
The man stared at her for a moment, looked in the direction in which she had pointed, then looked back at her. “He’s here?” he asked.
“No, I think I made a mistake. Yes, that’s it. I made a mistake,” she said. But her excuses didn’t fool the man, who was already heading around the counter.
Violet hurried back to where the others were. “We’ve got a problem,” she said nervously.
Henry, with a book in his hands, said, “What? What’s wrong?”
Violet quickly explained what had happened, turning back every few seconds to make sure the man hadn’t found them yet.
“Oh, boy, we’ve got to get out of here,” Henry said. He quickly pieced together a plan. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ve got a book here with some information on the treasure. I don’t know how useful it’ll be, but it’s the only book that has something. It’s also got a picture of one of the other map pieces.”
“Too bad we can’t just read it here,” Jessie said. “We could use the copying machine and we wouldn’t even need the book.”
“Well, maybe we can still get lucky.”
Henry said, then proceeded to explain the rest of the plan.
Benny and Henry were heading toward the door when the man spotted them. “Hey, you!” he barked.
The two boys stopped and turned. “Yes?” Henry asked.
The man hurried over to them. “I’d like to talk to you for a moment.”
“Yes, sir?” Benny said.
“I understand you found something on the beach the other day. A piece of an old map?” the man asked.
“Yes, I did,” Benny replied. “Hey, I remember you!”
The man smiled. “You do? Good.”
While he was asking questions, Jessie and Violet tiptoed over to the front desk.
“I’m really sorry about all of this,” the librarian said. “I didn’t mean to—”
“It’s okay,” Jessie whispered. “But we need your help.”
“Sure, what?”
Jessie brought the book out from behind her back and set it on the desk.
“Could you copy pages thirty-four through thirty-seven for us?”
The woman smiled. “Of course. Just give me a second.”
“. . . I didn’t know what it was,” Benny continued, “so I gave it to the man for five dollars.”
“Five dollars? Do you have any idea how much that treasure is worth?” the man asked.
“Treasure? What treasure?” asked Benny. He and Henry looked at each other.
“John Fin—er, nothing. What I meant to say was, an old bottle like that must be worth more than five dollars. I meant it was a real treasure. And you gave it away for almost nothing,” the man said.
“Not nothing,” Benny corrected him, rubbing his stomach and smiling. “I bought five slices of pizza with the money!”
The man slapped himself on the forehead. “Pizza!” he said to the ceiling.
Back at the desk, the librarian reappeared from the back room with a few sheets of paper. She gave them to Jessie, who quickly folded them and put them into her pocket. Then Jessie took out a dollar bill and offered it to the woman.
“No, don’t worry about it. It was the least I could do after causing you all this trouble. Do you still want the book?” she asked.
“No, ma’am,” Jessie said, “but we’ll put it back on the shelf if you—”
“No need, I’ll take care of it.” She smiled warmly. “Good luck with your search. I hope you find the treasure.”
Jessie and Violet smiled back. “Thanks.” They left the library through the back door.
Fifteen minutes later, Henry and Benny met up with Jessie and Violet at an ice-cream parlor around the corner, just as they had planned. Everyone congratulated Benny on fooling the man from the beach into thinking he didn’t know anything about the treasure. They all agreed Benny should go into acting when he grew up. He just smiled and slipped another spoonful of chocolate ice cream into his mouth. |