“Uh, oh,” Benny said when he and Jessie and Henry came out of the drugstore a few minutes later.
“What’s the matter, Benny?” Jessie asked.
“Look!” Benny pointed to the sign in the parking lot. “More letters are missing.”
Benny was right. The sign that had read GRAND OPENING TODAY … THE GAME SPOT earlier this morning now read G_AND OP_NING … THE GAME SPOT.
“There’s an R and an E missing,” Henry said as he shifted his stack of flyers from one hand to the other.
“Did either of you notice whether the letters were all there when we went into the drugstore?” Jessie asked.
“I didn’t notice,” Benny said.
“Neither did I,” Henry said.
The children went back into the Game Spot. They handed Queenie the flyers and the spare keys, then told her about the sign. Violet heard what they were talking about and came over to see what was going on.
She and Queenie and Raina all stepped toward the window and peered outside.
“My goodness,” Queenie said. “There are more letters missing. Raina, you’ve been working in the front of the store all day. Did you see anyone over by that sign?”
“No,” Raina said. “But I wasn’t looking, either.”
“I wonder if Carter saw anything when he left?” Queenie asked. “It’s hard to believe someone would take letters off that sign in the middle of the day.”
“Why would someone take letters off that sign any time?” Violet asked.
“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “Someone probably thinks they’re being funny.”
“Well, I know George won’t be laughing when he hears about this,” Queenie said. “He was just out here replacing letters.”
“Why don’t we go outside and see if we can find any clues,” Henry suggested. “I’d like to find out who’s taking letters off that sign.”
“I would, too,” Jessie said. “Is that okay with you, Queenie?”
“Sure. You children go right ahead.”
So the Aldens went outside and walked across the parking lot. They searched the ground between the rosebushes and the sign, but they didn’t find anything.
“Maybe we could go in the other stores and see if anyone saw anything?” Violet suggested.
“That’s a good idea, Violet,” Henry said.
So they went into the jewelry store next to the Game Spot first. There was only one employee in there, a well-dressed woman who smiled at them.
“I didn’t see anything,” the woman said. Her gold hoop earrings glimmered in the light. “But I’ve been busy getting ready for our sale this weekend. I haven’t had time to be looking out the window.”
“I don’t know if anyone in the drugstore would have seen anything,” Jessie said after they left the jewelry store. “The only employee I saw in there was the man who helped us. And he was busy with us the whole time.”
“There might be other employees that we didn’t see,” Henry pointed out.
“And the letters could have been taken before we ever got to the drugstore,” Benny put in.
“You’re both right,” Jessie said. So they went back into the drugstore.
Bob, the guy who had helped them before, was stamping price tags onto bottles of shampoo. “Hello,” he smiled at the children. “You’re back.”
Jessie explained why they had returned.
“I didn’t even know there were letters missing from that sign,” Bob said. He waved toward his front door. “As you can see, I have so much stuff piled up around the windows, it’s hard to see out.”
“Thanks anyway,” Henry said.
That only left the Java Café. Chip Douglas was at the counter when the children walked in. They could see that there wasn’t a very good view of the sign from inside the coffee shop.
“I didn’t see anything,” Chip said. “But if something’s missing, I suggest you pay close attention to that girl your friend Queenie hired. I still say Raina Holt is trouble.”
“Raina’s not trouble,” Benny said. “She’s nice.”
Chip leaned closer to Benny. “Sometimes it’s the nice ones you have to watch out for,” he said.
Once the children were back outside, Jessie said, “Wow. Chip really doesn’t like Raina very much, does he?”
“No, he doesn’t,” Henry said. “But he’s pretty convinced she’s the one who broke into his safe. You wouldn’t like someone you thought had stolen from you, either.”
“That’s true,” Jessie agreed. “But Raina’s just so nice. It’s hard to believe she’s a thief.”
“I agree,” Henry said. “But then, if Raina didn’t break into Chip’s safe, who did?”
“That’s a good question,” Benny said.
On Thursday, the Aldens dressed in their old clothes. Violet had finished her sketch, so it was time to start painting.
After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and fruit, Grandfather drove the children over to the Crossroads Mall. Once again there were some letters missing on the sign out front.
“Not again,” Benny said, slumping back against his seat. The sign read:
20% OFF _ALE
AT_ _ _ _’S JEWEL_ _ STOR_
“The L, A, K, and E are missing,” Jessie said.
“Hey, lake is a word!” Benny said. “Do you think someone might be taking letters so they can spell different words than what is on the sign?”
“I don’t know, Benny,” Henry replied. “Why would someone do that?”
“It might not be a bad idea to keep track of the letters that are taken,” Jessie said. She leaned forward in her seat. “Do you have some paper and a pencil, Grandfather?”
Grandfather opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. He handed both to Jessie.
“Thanks,” Jessie said, opening the notebook. She wrote down L, A, K, E.
“The R and the Y are missing in JEWELRY,” Violet said.
“And the S is missing in SALE and the E is missing in STORE,” Henry added.
Jessie added an R, Y, S and E to her list. Then she asked, “Does anybody remember what other letters have gone missing?”
“It was R and an E last time,” Violet said.
Jessie nodded. “And I remember I replaced the M and N in MONDAY and the P and O in SPOT,” she said as she added those letters to her list.
“I added an E to THE and an A and E to GAME,” Henry said.
“And if I remember right, the P, E, and I were missing in OPENING,” Grandfather put in.
Jessie added those letters, too. The children stared at Jessie’s list of letters: L A K E R Y S E R E M N P O E A E P E I. But they didn’t see any pattern to them.
“We should get inside,” Violet said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do today.”
So the children said goodbye to Grandfather and went inside the store.
Raina was bustling around at the counter, picking things up and looking under them, then frowning as she set them down.
“Hi, Raina,” the children greeted her.
“Oh. Hi, kids,” Raina replied as she bent down, then stood back up. She tapped her fingers nervously against the counter.
“I-is something wrong, Raina?” Jessie asked.
Raina bit her lip. “Well, I wrote down a special order a little while ago, but I don’t know what I did with the paper,” she replied.
“I’m sure it’ll turn up,” Violet said.
As the children headed toward the Kids’ Korner, they noticed Carter and Tony Silver sitting together at a table. A game of Word Master was spread out between them.
“Hey, Carter is supposed to be an expert at word games,” Henry said. “I wonder if he would see any pattern to the letters that have been taken from the sign? That’s kind of how you play Word Master.”
Jessie shrugged. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to ask him.”
She pulled out her pad of paper and the children walked over to Carter and Tony.
The two men were in the middle of a conversation about the security of different kinds of safes.
“It’s got to be solid steel construction,” Carter said. “It’s got to have three-quarter-inch diameter steel chromed locking bolts and reinforced internal jambs. Anything less shouldn’t even be on the market.”
“I agree,” Tony said. “How do you know so much about safes, Carter?”
“Oh, my father was a safe manufacturer,” Carter said. “You could say it’s in my blood.” He smiled, but when he noticed the Aldens standing beside him, his smile fell.
“Sorry to bother you, Carter,” Jessie said. “But you know someone has been taking letters from that sign out front, right?”
“Yes,” Carter said impatiently. “What about it?”
“Well, we wrote down the letters that have gone missing. We know how good you are at word games, and we were wondering whether you might notice any pattern to these letters?”
Jessie held out the notebook for Carter to see, but he hardly looked at it. “I’m sure there’s no pattern to those letters,” he said gruffly. “The missing letters will probably turn up eventually.” He brushed the notebook aside and turned back to the game in front of him.
“Would you please just take a quick look?” Benny begged.
Carter scowled. “Fine.” He picked up Jessie’s notebook and glanced at it. “Sorry. I don’t see anything. Now would you please let me get back to my game?”
“Sure,” Jessie said. “We’re sorry we bothered you.”
The Aldens left Carter and Tony and went to look for Queenie. They found her in the back room mixing paint.
“Oh good. You’re here,” Queenie said when she noticed them standing there. “I put some old sheets down where you’re going to be painting. And I got a bunch of brushes and all the paint colors you asked for. So I think we’re set.”
“Good,” Violet said. “I can’t wait to get started.”
The older children each carried some paint. Benny carried the brushes. And Queenie followed behind with a six-pack of sodas. “In case you get thirsty,” she said.
Once Queenie was sure the Aldens had everything they needed, she went up to the cash register to check on Raina.
“Did you ever find that special order, Raina?” Queenie asked.
Raina held up a scrap of paper. “Right here,” she said with a smile. “I’ve already taken care of it.”
“Good.” Queenie nodded. “Then if you don’t need me out here, I’ve got some paperwork to do in the back.”
“That’s fine,” Raina said.
“We’ll let you know if we need anything,” Jessie said as she dipped her brush into a can of blue paint.
The Aldens spent the next hour painting. Benny painted triangle-shaped skirts on the girls and square-shaped pants and shirts on the boys. Jessie painted faces. Henry painted hair. And Violet outlined everything in black. Her picture was really coming to life.
“That’s looking really nice, kids,” Tony said when he and Carter finished their game.
“Yes, you’re doing a nice job,” Carter agreed.
“Thanks,” Violet said, pleased to receive praise from Carter. He never seemed very friendly around them.
“Thanks for a good game, Carter,” Tony said.
“My pleasure,” Carter replied. Then he went to join Queenie in the back room.
Tony stopped at the front of the store and bought a pack of gum.
Raina was on the phone when she rang up Tony’s gum. She had a very serious expression on her face. “Uh huh, I understand,” she said into the phone. “That’ll be sixty-five cents,” she told Tony.
Tony handed Raina a dollar, and she put it in the cash register. “Yes, I’m still here,” she said into the receiver.
Tony cleared his throat. “Uh, Raina? You forgot to give me my change.”
Raina covered the phone again. “Oh, I’m sorry,” she said, her face turning red. “Hang on a second,” she told the person she was talking to on the phone. She punched in some buttons on the cash register and the drawer opened.
“What do I owe you?” Raina asked.
“Thirty five-cents,” Tony replied.
Raina scooped up some coins and handed them to Tony. “Here you go.”
“Thanks,” Tony said.
Once he was gone, Raina turned back to her phone conversation. She listened for a while, then said, “Yes, I know. I know! Look, I don’t have the money now, but I can get it to you on Monday. Yes, Monday! I promise.” Then she slammed the phone down.
“Is everything okay, Raina?” Jessie asked for the second time that day.
Raina jumped. “What? Oh yes. Everything’s fine. I’m just a little behind on my rent. But I’ll have money on Monday. Everything will be fine.” She forced a smile, then hurried toward the back of the store.
“It seems like Raina’s got some money problems,” Violet said once Raina was gone.
“Yes, it does,” Jessie agreed. “But it sounds like everything will be okay next week.”
“I thought Queenie said she paid on the first and third Fridays of the month,” Benny said.
“Yes, I think she said that when she hired Raina,” Henry said.
“Today is only the second Friday of the month,” Benny said, pointing to the calendar behind the cash register. “Queenie isn’t paying today. And this is Raina’s only job. So where is she going to get money on Monday?”
“I don’t know,” Jessie said. “But Raina’s money problems really aren’t any of our business.”
“You’re right, Jessie,” Violet said. And the children got back to work. |