The Aldens were on their way to the library the next morning when a green van pulled up next to them. It was Lina, and she didn’t have her usual smile on her face.
“Good morning!” Henry called. Then he noticed the worried look on Lina’s face. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Someone tried to break into my house last night,” said Lina.
Violet gasped. “Oh, no!”
“Oh, yes,” said Lina.
“Who was it?” asked Benny.
“Did they steal the quilts?” asked Violet at the same time.
“I don’t know who it was, and no, nothing got stolen,” Lina answered. “The thief never made it inside. Whoever it was tried to force open the back door. But the lock is strong and the noise woke me up. I turned on the lights and went down to investigate, but whoever it was had run off.”
“The lights must have scared him — or her — away,” said Jessie.
“I think you’re right,” said Lina.
“Do you think the burglar knew about the hidden treasure?” asked Benny.
“Or the quilts?” said Violet.
“Maybe. Maybe not,” said Lina. “But it is strange that suddenly, on the very day that Mr. Munsey told me how valuable those quilts are, someone tried to break into the house.”
“Yes,” agreed Henry. “Very strange.”
Benny frowned. “Do you think it could have been Mr. Munsey?”
Lina shook her head. “I just don’t know,” she said. “I reported it to the police, and they’re going to keep an eye on things. I asked the neighbors to keep their eyes peeled, too. Meanwhile, I’m going to get an extra lock for each door, just in case.”
“Good idea,” said Henry.
After Lina had driven away, Jessie said, “Maybe we should talk to Mr. Munsey.”
“Yes! We’ll ask him if he tried to steal the quilts,” said Benny.
“Well, I don’t think we’ll ask him that,” Henry said. “It’s possible whoever tried to break in doesn’t even know about the quilts. But we will try to find out if he told anyone about them.”
Jessie nodded. “If anyone besides us knows about the quilts, Mr. Munsey must have told them.”
Violet’s eyes widened. “Maybe Mr. Munsey told someone so they could steal the quilts for him.”
Benny hopped excitedly from one foot to the other. “We’re going to solve a mystery!”
Jessie smiled at her little brother. “First, let’s do our research — that will help Lina, too.”
When the Aldens reached Greenfield library, Jessie and Benny went to find books on quilts while Henry and Violet looked up quilts on the computer.
Soon Jessie and Benny had made a small pile of books on a table in a quiet corner of the library.
“We have lots of books,” said Benny.
“Yes, but most of them are about how to make quilts,” said Jessie. “We need to know about the quilts’ history and how much they’re worth.” She handed Benny some of the books. “Why don’t you look through these?”
“Okay,” said Benny. He opened the first book and looked at the pictures. Benny could read a little, but not much yet.
A few minutes later, Benny said, “I found something! Here’s a picture of a quilt like one of the ones in the attic.” He pointed at the page.
“ ‘Flying Geese, a traditional pattern,’ ”
Jessie read over Benny’s shoulder. “It says the quilt in the picture is over a hundred years old and it’s hanging in a museum in New York. It says the quilt is valuable because of its age and condition, the skill of its maker, and the fact that it’s signed and dated.”
Benny nodded as if he already knew all that. “That’s what makes Hope’s quilts worth a lot, too,” he said.
They found several more photographs of quilts much like the ones in the attic. Then they joined Violet and Henry, who were printing pages and pages of quilt facts they’d found on the computer.
“Mr. Munsey was telling the truth,” Violet announced, “at least about how valuable the quilts are. People buy and sell old quilts for lots of money — and most aren’t nearly as pretty as the ones we found.”
“Who buys them?” Benny asked.
“Museums and private collectors,” said Henry. “We read about auctions where people paid thousands of dollars for quilts.”
“That’s lots of money,” said Benny, his eyes growing round.
“Yes,” agreed Jessie. “If Lina wanted to sell the quilts, she could be rich.”
“And look what else we found,” said Violet. “This is called a Wedding Ring quilt. See? The pattern is of all these connected circles that look like rings.”
“I wonder if that’s the kind of quilt Lina’s Great-great-aunt Hope made for her own wedding,” said Jessie.
“And I wonder what happened to it,” Henry said.
“Maybe she gave it away because it was too sad for her when she looked at it,” Violet said.
“Maybe,” said Jessie. “Or maybe her wedding quilt is the treasure that people say she hid.”
Henry jumped up and began to gather books and papers. “Let’s check out a few of these books,” he said. “Then let’s go home and — ”
“Have a snack?” asked Benny.
Henry smiled. “A snack,” he agreed. “And we’ll call Mr. Munsey, too.”
As they headed home, Benny said, “Someone should make a snack quilt.”
“Or cake,” said Violet.
“But real snacks are better,” said Benny. Working at the library had made him hungry.
While the others prepared the snack, Henry called Mr. Munsey.
He hung up the phone, looking discouraged. “He’s not there,” he reported. “I told his assistant that we met him at Lina’s house and said I had some questions about quilts. The assistant said she’d tell Mr. Munsey we called, but I don’t think she knew who Lina was — I had to repeat her name three times.”
“It doesn’t sound as if Mr. Munsey told anyone about the quilts we found,” said Violet.
“At least not his assistant,” said Jessie.
The children ate their snack and headed to Lina’s house to show her what they had discovered at the library. They had just rounded the corner onto Lina’s block when Henry stopped short.
“What’s wrong?” Violet asked.
Henry stepped behind a bush and motioned for his brother and sisters to follow. “Look,” he said in a hushed voice.
The others turned and saw a small, beat-up old car parked directly across the street from Lina’s house.
“Who’s that inside?” asked Benny.
“I don’t know,” said Henry. “But whoever it is, he’s wearing dark glasses — and he seems to be watching the house.” |