“I don’t have to work at the park this morning, so I’m going to walk to town to do a little shopping,” Lainey said the next morning after breakfast. “Who wants to come with me?”
“I do,” said Benny.
“Me, too,” echoed Jessie and Violet.
“Count me in,” Henry said.
“And I’ve got to get to work,” said Kate Frances. “See you later.”
Benny put Watch’s leash on and the Aldens and Lainey began to walk to town.
As always, everyone they passed said hello. And as usual, it was very hot. They walked slowly, and Watch panted a lot.
When they got to Main Street, Lainey said, “If you want to look around while I shop, why don’t we meet again in an hour? We can meet in the bookstore.”
“Okay,” said Henry.
After Lainey had left, Violet said, “Let’s just walk around and look in all the shop windows.”
The Aldens soon discovered that the town of Elbow Bend wasn’t so different from their hometown of Greenfield. Like Greenfield, it had a hardware store, an antiques store, a bike shop, a shoe-repair shop, a pet-supply store, an ice-cream parlor, and a gift shop.
“Wow,” said Benny, “look at all those cameras!”
They watched as the tourists wandered in and out of the souvenir and T-shirt shops and took photographs of one another.
The Aldens decided to walk into the pet store.
“What a cute dog,” said the girl in the store.
“He’s hot and thirsty,” said Benny.
“Could you let us have a bowl of water for him, please?” asked Violet.
“Sure,” said the girl. “I’ll go get one right now.”
She soon returned with a red bowl filled with water and set it down for Watch. He drank noisily. The Aldens looked around the store.
“You have a nice store,” Jessie said.
“Thank you,” the girl said. She grinned. “It’s not my store, it’s my brother’s. I just work here so I can get free supplies for Squeeze.”
“Squeeze? Who is Squeeze?” asked Henry.
The girl grinned even more broadly and pointed.
The Aldens turned. A large snake was coiled around the branch of a small tree growing out of an enormous pot in the window.
Benny took a step back. “Uh-oh,” he said.
The girl said, “Don’t worry. Squeeze won’t hurt you. He’s a boa constrictor and not poisonous. Isn’t he beautiful?”
Looking at the snake made Violet nervous, so she looked somewhere else. “Oh,” she said. “Look, Watch. Sweaters for dogs!”
“Not that dogs need sweaters very often in this part of the country,” the girl commented. “Too hot. They don’t usually need those little booties, either. Those are for dogs that live in places with snow, where they put salt on the sidewalk. The salt hurts the dogs’ feet. I did sell a set of those booties a few days ago. A whole crowd of people came in the store at once, buying all kinds of things. Some tourists will buy anything!”
Glad to be out of the heat, the Aldens began to look around the store. Benny and Watch took a closer look at Squeeze, being careful not to get too close. Henry and Violet bent to study the tropical fish in the big aquarium next to the counter.
Jessie let her eyes wander across the peg-board hung with dog supplies: booties and sweaters, raincoats and fancy collars, in every imaginable color; bones and treats; whistles and toys. ...
She reached out and picked up a small, thin, silver whistle. She held it up. “About this whistle—” she began.
“Look, there’s Lainey!” Benny said. He waved, then dashed to the door and opened it. “Hey, Lainey. We’re in here!”
Lainey followed Benny inside the store—and began to scream.
“Nooo!” she shrieked, jumping back and dancing from one foot to the other as if her shoes were on fire. “Eeeek. Oooh! A snaaaaaaake!”
Henry raced over and grabbed Lainey’s arm. “This way,” he said, and led her outside.
“We’ll be right back,” Jessie promised. The Aldens all went outside to join Henry and Lainey.
Lainey was pale, with splotches of red on her cheeks. “Sorry,” she said. “The snake caught me by surprise. If I’d known it was there, I would never have gone in.”
“You are afraid of snakes, aren’t you?” asked Jessie.
“Terrified,” Lainey admitted. “I try not to be, but I can’t help it. ...” Her voice trailed off and she shook her head.
“That’s very brave of you to work at the park, then,” Violet said, trying to make Lainey feel better.
Lainey managed to smile. “Not so brave. I stick close to the trails and places where I know the snakes aren’t likely to be. And I wear big hiking boots that come up almost to my knees. When I had to help out during Stories Under the Stars, I worked in the parking lot directing cars. I didn’t even come down to the storytelling until Brad came along to walk with me. That’s how afraid I was.”
The Aldens exchanged glances. Lainey’s confession had just eliminated two of their suspects. There was no way Lainey could have had anything to do with the ghostly dog flitting through the woods around the edges of the storytelling crowd.
“Well, you’re safe now,” said Henry.
“But if you don’t mind,” Jessie said, “we’d like to go back into the pet-supply store for a minute.”
“Why?” asked Benny.
“You’ll see,” Jessie said.
Lainey said, “Go on. I’ll be at the bookstore. See you in a little while.”
“Let’s go,” said Jessie. The Aldens went back into the store and Jessie went straight to the whistle she’d been holding. “I’d like to buy this,” she said.
“The silent whistle? Sure,” said the girl. She took Jessie’s money and counted out the change.
As Jessie slipped the whistle into her pocket, she said casually, “Have you sold any of these lately?”
“Sure,” said the girl.
“To the same person who bought the booties?” Jessie asked.
The girl frowned. “I don’t know about that. The store was jammed. I just remember selling the booties because it was so unusual, you know? I think it was a lady. But what she looked like, I couldn’t tell you. I remember the booties were white, though. Silly color. Shows dirt.”
“Hmmm,” said Jessie.
“Thanks for all your help,” Violet said. “We really appreciate it.”
Jessie nodded. “I think you just helped us solve a mystery.”
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