Katya’s blue eyes were like saucers. “I followed you!” she declared unbelievingly. “You have been following me!”
Jessie let out the breath she had been holding.
“You looked scared when you first saw Katya,” she said to him. “Why?”
“She reminded me of somebody,” Al replied. “In that dress and all.”
Henry said, “A girl in a painting, maybe?”
Al’s eyes narrowed. “You snoopy kids act like you know something.”
“We are not snoops,” Benny corrected. “We solve mysteries.”
“We’ll start with the day you got off the plane,” Henry said. “We were waiting for Katya, who was on the same flight.”
Violet took over the story. “You grabbed her bag.”
“That was a mistake!” Al insisted.
“Yes, it was,” Violet agreed. “Especially since there was something in your bag you had stolen.”
Now Al stiffened. “What are you talking about?”
At that moment, Lucas Tripp came up. This time he was wearing his glasses. “Mr. Stockton,” he said. “I see you’re still here.”
“Of course I’m here,” Al said defensively. “I’m covering this competition for my newspaper.”
“Is that so?” Lucas countered. “The Alden kids found out you don’t work at the Register. In fact, the receptionist at the paper had never even heard of you.”
Al’s face changed. His expression became less angry and more worried as he realized he was in trouble. “What else do you kids know?”
“We know you lost this.” Benny dangled the silver locker key. “I found it on the floor in the airport.”
“A key doesn’t prove anything,” Al said. “That locker could be empty.”
“Aha! You know it’s a locker key,” Henry said. “You dropped the key before you could put anything in it. And then you found you had the wrong duffel.”
Al shook his fist at Katya. “You found the gold box, didn’t you? You stole it from my bag!”
“What gold box?” asked Katya. She looked confused.
Jessie turned to the black-haired man. “Katya doesn’t know anything about the gold box. She just happened to pick up your bag by mistake. Just like you picked up hers by mistake. When she saw men’s clothes were in it, she closed it. She didn’t go snooping. She never even saw the gold box.”
“All right,” said Al with resignation. “I went to Russia on a phony magazine assignment. It’s my scam. The way I operate. The owners of fancy mansions let me photograph their homes. While I was in Russia, I worked this mansion and swiped that little gold box off a table.”
“You smuggled it into this country,” Henry guessed. “In your suitcase.”
“Yes,” Al admitted. “I have a partner who helps me find wealthy buyers who don’t ask embarrassing questions.”
Benny spoke up. “But you lost the box.”
Al frowned. “When I realized I had this girl’s bag, I hurried to your house the next morning, hoping she had mine.”
“But something frightened you,” Violet interrupted.
“Her!” Al pointed at Katya. “There was a painting in the mansion in Russia of a little girl. She looks just like the girl in the painting! It was like she was haunting me!”
“I think it was your guilty conscience, Mr. Stockton, that was haunting you,” Lucas said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Tell us about the box. What happened to it? Why did you rent a locker?”
“To put the box in,” said Al. “I live with my aunt and uncle in Rockwell. My aunt goes through my room sometimes. I didn’t want her to find the box, so I planned to hide it in the locker until I could meet my partner. We’d pick it up together. But first I called him to tell him I was home.”
“That’s when you saw Katya,” stated Benny. “In the airport.”
“She startled me,” Al confessed. “And some guy wanted the phone. So I decided to go home and bring the box back later, when I wasn’t so rattled. But then I found out I had the wrong bag! So when I got my bag back the next day, I stopped at a pay phone to call my partner again. I wanted to let him know I had the bag back. When I returned to my car, I checked my bag for the box and it was gone! You took it!” he accused Katya.
“None of us believe that Katya stole the box,” said Henry. “It must have been someone else. The same someone who took it to the Nearly New pawnshop.”
“I’ve been doing a little investigating myself,” said Lucas. “I called the owner of the pawnshop where you said you saw the gold box—” Lucas looked sheepishly at the Aldens. “I can’t resist a mystery either.”
“The box was pawned?” Al said incredulously.
Lucas continued, “The young man who stole it from Al’s car needed rent money. He told the pawnshop owner he was between jobs. His landlady was threatening to kick out him and his dog.”
“The dog!” Jessie exclaimed. “He was the guy we saw in the park playing Frisbee with Ralph, the dog. I knew I’d seen him somewhere before! He was the man waiting to use the phone in the airport!”
“That’s right.” Lucas nodded. “The man’s name is Chuck. After you kids were in Nearly New, the owner became suspicious and took the gold box out of the window. He was afraid it was stolen property.”
“It was stolen twice,” Violet said. “First by Al, then by Chuck. But how does this Chuck fit into the mystery?”
“That’s what I’ve been busy finding out,” said Lucas. “Chuck overheard Al talking about the box on the phone in the airport. It was just a coincidence that Chuck was hanging out there, hoping to find some loose change. Then he followed Al to his house in Rockwell. But Al took his bag in the house that night. The next morning Chuck followed Al again when he went to the Aldens’. When Al stopped at the pay phone, Chuck took the box from Al’s duffel in his car and pawned it.”
“What happened to Chuck?” Jessie asked.
“The pawnshop owner had his address,” said Lucas. “The police have picked him up for questioning. The gold box is very valuable. The Russian owner is frantic to get it back.”
“And the wealthy Russian owner is not related to Katya?” Jessie asked.
Everyone turned to look at Katya.
“I am not related to anyone wealthy,” said Katya and she looked at the floor.
Benny put his hand on her shoulder.
Al groaned. “I’ve been double-crossed by a bunch of kids and a broke guy with a Frisbee-playing dog!”
“You followed us,” Henry realized. “That was you in the town square the other night. You were wearing sweatpants and a trench coat.”
“And you followed Katya during practice,” Violet put in. “You kept taking her picture.”
“I couldn’t believe she was the same girl who lived in the fancy house in Russia,” Al said. “You saw the picture of the painting in that house. Katya looks just like that girl. I kept comparing the photos I took of Katya to that picture, but I still wasn’t sure.”
“What were you going to do?” Lucas demanded.
“Take the gold box back from her,” Al said matter-of-factly. “If Katya was the daughter of the Russian guy, I figured she followed me to America. She was also on the gymnastics team. But when the competition was over, she’d blow the whistle on me. I had to get the box back and disappear.”
“You’ve done this before, haven’t you?” Benny guessed.
The corners of Al’s mouth turned down. “At least it was a good scam.”
“Well, it’s over now,” Lucas said, stepping closer. “I’ve called the police. They’re on their way.”
Suddenly Al bolted. He shot between Henry and Lucas.
Benny knew Al would blend into the crowd in seconds. He couldn’t run as fast as the older man. But maybe he could do something to slow him down.
Remembering what Katya had taught him, he planted his hands on the floor and did a lopsided cartwheel.
Al tripped over Benny. His escape route was blocked long enough for Lucas and Henry to clutch the man’s arms.
“Well done!” Katya cried, hugging Benny.
“I still fell,” Benny said. He wished he could learn that trick.
At that moment, Grandfather, Mrs. McGregor, and the police arrived on the scene.
Grandfather looked at his grandchildren. “I don’t even have to ask,” he said, smiling. “You’ve just solved another mystery!”
“We’ll tell you all about it, Grandfather,” said Benny. “If you’ll take us to Joe’s Pizza.” Now that he had helped save the day, Benny realized he was starving.
Everyone laughed.
“Joe’s Pizza it is,” said Grandfather.
“We didn’t like keeping the mystery from you,” said Jessie to Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor. “But we needed to find out more about Katya. We thought she might be trying to hide something. Sorry, Katya,” she added to the gymnast.
Katya pushed her plate away. She had eaten more pizza than Benny, to his astonishment.
“It is all right,” she said. “I have not been a very good houseguest.”
“Of course you have,” Mrs. McGregor protested.
Katya ducked her head. “I have not told you the truth about myself.”
Jessie held her breath. Had they been wrong about Katya after all?
“If you feel comfortable, why don’t you tell us about it now,” Grandfather said gently.
“I did not like talking about my life back home,” Katya said. “When you and Mr. Lucas asked me those questions, I felt nervous.”
“Why?” asked Violet. “We were just curious about how you live in Russia.”
“I was afraid you would not understand,” Katya confided. “You see, I live in a small apartment with my large family. It is very cramped. I share a bed with my sister. My mother works to help pay for my training. My grandmother baby-sits the little ones so we can take the train every day to my gym.”
“What’s wrong with that?” Henry asked.
“When I arrived in America, I thought everyone was rich,” said Katya. “When I saw your boxcar, I knew everyone is not rich—but I was still embarrassed.” Her cheeks turned pink. “I even tried to hide a letter my grandmother sent because part of it was written on a page of our local newspaper. We cannot afford good writing paper.”
Jessie patted Katya’s arm. “The newspaper your grandmother sent showed pictures of the house Al visited and the gold box he stole. That was a good clue!”
“I am glad I could help,” Katya said. She smiled warmly at the Aldens. “I won more than a medal today. This trip taught me that I am lucky, maybe luckier than the little rich girl you all think I resemble in that photograph. I am lucky because I have the love of my family. Just like you do.”
“Nothing is more important than family,” said Grandfather.
“That’s right!” declared Benny. “Family and food.”
Outside, they strolled around the square.
“You know what I still don’t understand,” Jessie muttered to herself. “Why is it everyone was wearing blue sweatpants?”
At the teddy bear shop, Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor went inside.
While the Alden children and Katya waited outside, Henry looked into the window of a sporting goods and clothing store and started to laugh,
“Look, Jessie,” he said.
There in the window stood a mannequin dressed in a blue sweatshirt and sweatpants. SALE ITEM OF THE WEEK, a sign proclaimed, and in smaller letters, AVAILABLE IN BLUE ONLY. As the children broke out laughing, Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor came out of the teddy bear store with the bear Katya had admired.
“A going-away present,” Grandfather said. “To remember us by.”
“I will never forget any of you,” Katya exclaimed. “I am going to name him—Benny!”
“Yippee!” Happily, Benny performed a perfect cartwheel.
Everyone clapped.
Jessie was glad this mystery had been solved. But another could be arriving by train or plane ... or they could find one in their own neighborhood. |