“How many words did you find, Benny?” Jessie asked on Sunday afternoon. A light rain was falling outside, so the Aldens were spending the day indoors. They were clustered around the kitchen table playing Word Master. The smell of baking cookies hung in the air.
“I found seven words,” Benny said. “How many points is that?”
“It depends on which letters you used.” Violet leaned over to count up Benny’s points. “It looks like 75 points. Did you find the message in the words?”
“I don’t think so,” Benny said.
“How many points did you get, Violet?” Jessie asked, her pencil ready.
“I got 134 points,” Violet replied. “I didn’t find the message, either.”
“I think I got the message,” Henry said. “Is it ‘good things come to those who wait?’”
“Yes,” Jessie said.
“Then I got 154 points,” Henry said.
“I got 128,” Grandfather said.
Jessie was still counting her points. “I’ve got 162,” she announced once she finished counting.
“Wow!” Violet said.
“Looks like you win again, Jessie,” Grandfather said as he sat back in his chair.
The housekeeper, Mrs. McGregor, brought them a plate a freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies. “You all look like you could use a snack,” she said as she set the plate in the middle of the table. “These just came out of the oven.”
“Mm! That’s the best time to have chocolate-chip cookies,” Henry said, helping himself to two cookies.
“I’ll go get the milk,” Benny said, hopping down from his chair.
Violet went to get glasses and napkins. Then the Aldens slid back into their chairs and enjoyed their snack.
“Can I have that cookie?” Benny asked as he eyed the last cookie on the plate.
“Haven’t you already had two cookies, Benny?” Jessie asked.
“Yes, but I’m still hungry.”
Violet laughed. “You’re always hungry.”
“So?” Benny said.
“Go ahead, Benny,” Grandfather said. “Then maybe we can divide up the letters for one more game.”
“Okay,” Benny said, snatching the last cookie.
Violet and Grandfather turned over all the letters and started handing them out.
“Can we play in the Word Master tournament, Grandfather?” Violet asked.
“I don’t know why not,” Grandfather replied. “I’m sure you’ll all do quite well.”
In the middle of the second round, the phone rang. Mrs. McGregor picked it up. “Alden residence,” she said. “What? Oh, no!”
The Aldens all turned when they heard the concern in Mrs. McGregor’s voice.
“I’ll let you talk to James, Queenie,” Mrs. McGregor said. She handed the phone to Grandfather.
“What’s happened, Mrs. McGregor?” Jessie asked.
“Are there more letters missing from that sign?” Benny asked.
“It’s worse than that,” Mrs. McGregor said, wringing her hands together. “I’d rather let your grandfather tell you about it.”
So the children waited for Grandfather to get off the phone.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can,” Grandfather said. Then he hung up.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news,” he said as he stood up and reached for his coat. “The Game Spot is closed on Sundays, but Queenie went in anyway this afternoon to catch up on some paperwork. It’s a good thing she did. Otherwise she wouldn’t have known until tomorrow that … her store has been robbed.”
The police were just leaving the Game Spot when the Aldens arrived.
“Did they find anything?” Grandfather asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Queenie replied. Carter was standing right behind her. They both stepped aside so the Aldens could enter.
“It’s just like what happened at the Java Café last week,” Queenie explained. “The store was locked when I came in. There’s nothing else out of place. The only thing missing is the money I had in the safe.”
Queenie led the group back to the back room. A small metal safe sat in the corner. The door stood open, and the safe was empty.
The Aldens wandered around the room looking for clues, but there seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary. There was no dirt or mud on the carpet. The papers piled on Queenie’s desk had been untouched. There was even a gold watch on Queenie’s desk that was still there. Piles of games and puzzles that hadn’t been put out for sale yet lined the shelves. Clearly, whoever had been back here had only been interested in one thing: the money inside Queenie’s safe.
“What about fingerprints?” Henry asked. “Did the police find any fingerprints?”
Carter shook his head. “The front door, the door to this back room and the safe had all been wiped down. Whoever came in here was wearing gloves.”
“Somebody had to have had a key to this store and the combination to this safe,” Queenie said as she paced back and forth. “They unlocked the front door, walked back here, opened the safe, then left again, locking the front door behind them.”
“Who could have done that?” Grandfather asked.
“I don’t know,” Queenie replied.
“What about that key you were missing the other day?” Violet asked. “Did you ever find it?”
“I’m afraid not,” Queenie said.
Carter frowned. “We probably don’t want to leave a spare key hanging on a nail in the back room anymore, Queenie. It was convenient for us, but anybody who went back there could have grabbed it.”
“But nobody goes back there besides us,” Queenie said.
“We’ve had all kinds of people back there this past week,” Carter said. “Workers and delivery people. Any of them could have taken it.”
“But they would have had to know the combination to the safe to get into it,” Queenie said. “Remember, I changed it this week. The only people who knew the new combination are the people who are here right now.”
“And that young woman you hired,” Carter said. “Raina Holt.”
The Aldens exchanged a look. Raina again.
Queenie pressed her lips together. “Raina did not do this, Carter. She wasn’t even working yesterday. She was visiting a friend out of town.”
“I hope you’re not making a mistake trusting her so completely, Queenie,” Carter replied.
“Hey!” Benny said all of a sudden. He walked over to the window. “Look at that sign now!”
In their rush to get to the store, the Aldens hadn’t noticed the sign on their way in. But they could see now that it had been altered again. This time there weren’t any letters missing. Instead there were two words in the middle of the sign. All the other letters had been crammed together around the edges as though they weren’t needed.
The two words were CARTER and ROBBER.
Carter’s face turned bright red. “Is this some kind of joke?” he roared. He turned to the Aldens. “Did you kids rearrange those letters?”
“No,” they all responded in unison.
“I didn’t notice that sign earlier today,” Queenie spoke up. “But I know that yesterday it said CALL GEORGE BERBER TO RENT AT THE CROSSROADS MALL.”
Carter banged the door open and strode across the parking lot. The Aldens stood in the doorway to the Game Spot with Queenie and watched as he yanked down all the letters that spelled CARTER and ROBBER. When he came back into the store, he threw the letters down onto the counter.
“I know you didn’t have anything to do with these robberies, Carter,” Queenie said, trying to calm him down.
“Well, somebody thinks I did,” Carter said.
“That or someone’s trying to make it look like you did,” Henry pointed out.
“Who would do such a thing?” Queenie asked.
“I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “Perhaps the real robber?”
“I wish we knew who that was,” Queenie said.
Later, when the children were back home, they went out to the boxcar in the backyard to talk more about the case.
“Do you think Carter really is innocent? Or do you think someone is trying to tell us something by writing CARTER and ROBBER on that sign?” Henry asked.
“I don’t know,” Jessie said as she stretched her legs out and leaned back against the wall of the boxcar. “That’s a good question. Is the person who is taking letters off the sign is the same person who is breaking into the safes?”
“That’s another good question,” Henry said.
“Well, what do we know about Carter?” Jessie asked.
“We know he works at the Game Spot with Queenie,” Violet said. “And the two of them seem to be pretty close friends.”
“We know he has a key to the Game Spot and that he knew the combination to the safe,” Benny added.
“But he wouldn’t have had a key to the Java Café,” Jessie said. “And he wouldn’t have known the combination to their safe.”
“Probably not,” Henry agreed. “But he knows something about safes. Remember, he said his father was a safe manufacturer?”
“That’s right,” Jessie said.
“Maybe the Java Café and the Game Spot were robbed by different people,” Violet said.
“Maybe,” Jessie said. “But you know, there is somebody who had a key to both stores and who knew the combination to both safes.”
“Raina,” Henry and Violet said at the same time.
“We also know that Raina needed money,” Jessie said.
“But Queenie said Raina was out of town yesterday,” Benny said.
“And if Raina is the robber, then why didn’t the sign out front say RAINA and ROBBER instead of CARTER and ROBBER?” Violet asked.
“Maybe Raina’s the one who wrote the message,” Jessie said. “Maybe she’s trying to frame Carter.”
“Maybe,” Henry said. “But Queenie is sure that both Carter and Raina are innocent.”
“And maybe they are,” Violet said. “Maybe the robber is someone else entirely.”
“Maybe,” Henry said. “We don’t have enough evidence to accuse anybody yet. But I think we should keep an eye on both Carter and Raina and see if either of them do anything suspicious.”
Jessie nodded. “Good idea, Henry. And let’s not forget George Berber, either. Remember, he has a key to both stores.”
“But did he know the combinations to the safes?” Violet asked.
“I don’t know,” Henry said. “But that would be a good thing to find out.” |