There were two police cars parked in front of the coffee shop at the end of the mall. A small crowd had gathered in front of the shop. The Aldens pressed closer to see what was going on.
“Do you know why the police are here?” Jessie asked a woman in a red jacket who stood at the edge of the crowd.
The woman turned. “Didn’t you hear? The Java Café was robbed last night!”
“Robbed!” Henry exclaimed.
“Oh, no,” Queenie said, pressing her hand to her mouth.
Carter Malone stepped closer to Queenie. “What happened?” he asked the woman in red.
“I don’t know the specifics,” she replied. “All I know is that woman over there,” she pointed to a very distraught-looking young woman with straight blond hair, “came in to work this morning and found the safe standing wide open. Everything inside it was gone.”
“Oh, my goodness,” Queenie said. “That’s Raina Holt. I know her! I play bridge with her mother.”
“Are you the owner of this establishment?” a female police officer asked the brown-haired man who was standing next to Raina.
Benny had to stand on his tiptoes in order to see.
“Yes. I’m Chip Douglas. I just opened up about three weeks ago.” Chip wore a long, white apron over jeans and a blue shirt. His hair hung almost to his shoulders.
“Do you have any idea what happened?” a male officer asked.
Chip’s eyes narrowed. “I have a pretty good idea. Let me introduce you to my assistant manager … or should I say former assistant manager, Raina Holt.”
Raina gasped. “No! You can’t fire me, Chip. Please! I need this job!”
“You should have thought of that before you stole from me,” Chip countered.
“How does he know that she’s stolen from him?” Violet whispered to Queenie, who was standing beside her.
“I don’t know,” Queenie whispered back. “But I have a hard time believing she did.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” Raina insisted.
“Excuse me,” a round man with a balding head said as he made his way through the crowd. “Let me through, please. I’m George Berber. I own this mall. Would somebody please tell me what happened?” George asked as he glanced from one police officer to the other.
The female officer introduced herself to George. “I’m Detective Owen. And this is my partner, Detective Bryant.” She gestured toward the other detective, who nodded at George.
“Ms. Holt here is an employee at the Java Café,” Detective Owen went on. “She came in this morning and discovered someone had broken into the safe in the back room. Is that right, Ms. Holt?”
“Yes.” Raina nodded.
“Listen, she’s the one who locked up last night, and she’s the one who opened up this morning,” Chip told the officers. “There’s no sign of forced entry. Nothing out of place. And she’s the only one besides me who knows the combination to the safe—”
“Please, Mr. Douglas,” Detective Owen rested a hand on his shoulder. “I’d like to hear from Raina first. She’s the one who was here. I promise we’ll hear from you, too.”
Everyone turned to Raina. She looked like a frightened animal.
“I—I don’t know what to say,” Raina said, stepping back.
“Just tell us what happened, ma’am,” Detective Bryant said. He held a pencil and small pad of paper in his hands.
“Well, I closed up last night—” Raina began.
“Was there anybody else in the shop when you closed up?” Detective Bryant interrupted.
“No.” Raina shook her head. “It was just me. The last customer left about ten minutes before closing. I locked the front door first, then the back door. Then I counted out the money in the drawer and put it in the safe for Chip like I always do. After that, I went out the back door and drove home. That’s it.”
“Are you sure the door was locked when you left?” Detective Bryant asked.
“Yes,” Raina replied. “I always double-check once I’m outside. The door was locked. I’m sure of it. And it was still locked when I came in this morning.”
Chip let out a heavy sigh. It was clear he didn’t believe a word Raina was saying.
“So what happened when you arrived this morning?” Detective Owen asked.
“Well, I came in around nine o’clock,” Raina explained. “I went in through the back door and found the empty safe standing wide open. I called 911 first. Then I called Chip.”
Chip couldn’t hold back any longer. “I’m telling you, she’s the thief!” He pointed at Raina.
Queenie pushed her way through the crowd until she was standing next to Raina. “I’ve known Raina Holt since she was a little girl. She isn’t a thief!”
Raina sniffed. “Thank you, Queenie,” she said gratefully.
Chip snorted. “If that’s what you think, then you’ve got your head in the sand,” he said.
“I’m sorry, sir.” Detective Bryant closed up his notebook. “We don’t have enough evidence to arrest this young lady. But if you don’t mind, we’d like to look around a little inside the store and see what else we might find.”
Chip nodded. “Go ahead,” he told the two officers as he held the door open.
“I better come, too,” George Berber said as he followed the officers into the shop. “I’m not very happy to hear there’s been a robbery in my mall.”
Raina moved toward the shop, too, but Chip blocked her path. “I just want you to get your stuff out of the back room and leave,” he told her. “You’re fired!”
Raina’s eyes filled with tears.
Chip turned his back to Raina. He stood in the doorway watching the officers work inside the shop.
Raina buried her face in her hands and started to cry.
Queenie went to her and pulled the girl into her arms. “Shh,” Queenie said, stroking the girl’s hair. “It’s okay.”
“But I didn’t steal anything,” Raina cried.
“I know you didn’t, honey,” Queenie said.
“And I needed that job,” Raina sobbed. “I’ve got an apartment to pay for. And college tuition. What am I going to do without a job?”
“I tell you what,” Queenie said as the crowd started to disperse. “I still need to hire another cashier for the Game Spot. Are you interested?”
Raina blinked a few times. “Y-you’d hire me?” she said, wiping the back of her hand across her eyes. “Even after you heard what Chip said about me?”
“Of course I would,” Queenie said. “This is crazy. You don’t want to work for somebody who doesn’t trust you, do you, Raina?”
“No,” Raina sniffled.
“I pay two dollars above minimum wage, and I pay the first and third Fridays of the month. Will that work for you?”
Raina nodded. She dried her eyes again.
“Then why don’t you go and get your things from the Java Café. These are my friends Jessie and Henry Alden. They’ll go with you. Then come on back to the Game Spot, and we’ll get started.”
“Okay. Thank you, Queenie,” Raina said appreciatively.
So Jessie and Henry walked Raina back to the Java Café while Grandfather, Violet and Benny went back to the Game Spot with Queenie and Carter.
Chip stopped Jessie and Henry at the door. “You kids can wait here,” he said. “I don’t want you getting in the officers’ way.”
Neither Jessie nor Henry had any intention of getting in anyone’s way, but they didn’t want to upset Chip any further, either, so they stayed outside. But through the window they could see Chip following Raina all the way to the back room.
“I feel bad for Raina,” Jessie said. “She doesn’t seem like the type of person who would steal from her boss.”
“We don’t know her very well,” Henry said. “But I agree with you, Jessie. She’s clearly very upset about everything that’s happened.”
While Jessie and Henry waited in front of the Java Café, an older man with a binder full of plastic letters in his hand walked up to them.
“Hello, there,” he said to Jessie and Henry. “I’m George Berber, the mall owner. I understand you’re friends of Queenie’s.”
“That’s right,” Henry said.
“How would you like to help me put these letters up on that sign over there?” George asked.
“Sure,” Jessie said. She and Henry followed George across the parking lot.
“Be careful of the roses,” George said. “You wouldn’t want to get scratched.”
“Are the police finding any clues?” Henry asked as he and Jessie carefully picked their way over to the sign.
“I’m afraid not.” George shook his head. “It’s like Chip said. Nothing’s out of place. Nothing else has been touched. It looks like whoever broke in had a key.”
“How many people had a key to the Java Café?” Jessie wanted to know.
“Not many,” George replied. “Just Chip and Raina. And of course, me. I have a key to all the stores here. I hope your friend Queenie knows what she’s doing hiring that girl. I’m not sure I’d hire her.”
George opened his binder and took out some letters. He handed some to Henry and some to Jessie. “All you have to do is slide them into place like this,” he explained as he replaced the missing P, E, and I in the word OPENING.
Jessie added the M and N to the word MONDAY and the P and O to the word SPOT. And Henry added the E to the word THE and the A and E to the word GAME.
“There,” Henry said, stepping back to admire their work. “It’s all fixed.”
Raina came out of the Java Café with her jacket and purse slung over one arm. Her cheeks were streaked with tears. Before the door closed behind her, Chip ran out. “Hey! How about my key?” he called after her.
Raina stopped. She opened her purse, pulled out a single key on a chain, and slammed it into Chip’s hand.
“It’s too bad about the robbery at the Java Café,” Henry said that night when the Aldens all sat down to dinner.
“I hope the police catch the person who did it,” Violet said as she helped herself to a piece of fried chicken, then passed the platter to Jessie.
“I’m sure they will, Violet,” said Grandfather.
“And I hope Raina really is innocent,” Benny said.
“Queenie thinks she is,” Jessie said. “That was nice of her to hire Raina on the spot like that.”
“It was also nice of her to ask us to help her set up a Kids’ Korner in the store,” Violet said. “That’s going to be fun.”
“Yes, it is,” said Jessie and Henry.
Benny remained silent as he rolled his peas around on his plate.
“Don’t you think that’ll be fun, Benny?” Jessie asked.
Benny shrugged. “It sounds fun. I just wish that Queenie’s store was in a different mall.”
“Why?” Violet asked. “The Crossroads Mall is brand new. It’s a great place for a game store.”
“Yeah, but there’s already been a lot of trouble there,” Benny explained. “First the letters on the sign out front were all mixed up. Then somebody broke into the safe at the coffee shop. What’s going to happen next?”
“I don’t think anything else will happen,” Grandfather said. “The mall owner already replaced the missing letters. And the police are looking into the robbery. Everything is going to be fine there now.”
“But if it isn’t,” said Benny, “then maybe we’ll have another mystery to solve.”
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