Mr. Pierce had just come down from the upstairs as the Aldens came up from the basement. “What’s happened?” he said to his wife as he ran into the living room.
“We—we—we’ve been robbed,” Mrs. Pierce repeated, and she started to cry.
“Calm down, dear,” Mr. Pierce said, putting his arm around his wife. “Come sit down.”
“I’ll go get a tissue,” Violet offered.
“That would be nice,” Mr. Pierce said.
Then he sat down on the couch beside his wife. She was taking slow, deep breaths to calm herself.
Mr. Pierce waited until his wife had stopped crying. “Now tell me what happened,” he said.
Mrs. Pierce sighed heavily and then began to speak. “I was just going to get some money to pay the Aldens.” She motioned to the corner of the living room. “I went to the bank this morning and got cash. I took out a large sum because we are having that new dining room set delivered Monday morning and the store specifically asked for cash. I put it in the safe until the party was over. But when I went to open the safe just now, it was already open, and there was nothing inside.”
Mr. Pierce got up and walked over to the corner of the room, where a small safe was built into a wooden cabinet. Just as his wife had said, the door of the safe hung open. It was empty.
“How much was in there?” Mr. Pierce asked.
“Several hundred dollars—some was for the Aldens and the rest was for the furniture,” Mrs. Pierce said. “And now it’s gone.”
“I can’t see how anyone could have stolen it—we’ve been home all day,” said Mr. Pierce.
“Yes,” said Henry. “But we were all down in the basement for the last few hours.”
“And the kids were pretty noisy,” Jessie added. “We never would have heard if someone had sneaked in.”
“Do you really think someone would do that?” asked Mrs. Pierce, turning to her husband.
“It’s possible,” said Mr. Pierce.
“I just remembered,” Mrs. Pierce added. “I unlocked the door when all the kids were arriving. I might have left it unlocked while we were downstairs.”
“I’ve never seen a safe in someone’s house before,” Benny said.
“All the houses in this neighborhood were built by the same builder, and he put a safe in each living room,” Mr. Pierce explained. “It’s been very useful … until now.”
“Would you like me to call the police for you?” asked Henry.
“Yes, thank you,” Mr. Pierce said, gently patting his wife’s back.
A few minutes later a police car arrived and an officer spoke to everyone about what they’d seen and heard that afternoon. Unfortunately, since they’d all been down in the basement enjoying the party, no one had much to tell her. When the officer was done with her questions, she promised to let the Pierces know as soon as she learned anything.
After the officer left, the Aldens finished cleaning up and headed home. Their joyful mood was gone.
“What a terrible thing to happen!” said Violet.
“I know,” Jessie agreed. “I feel so bad for the Pierces.”
“Well, at least the party went well,” Henry pointed out.
“Yes, Alex and his friends did seem to have a good time,” Jessie agreed.
“Maybe they’ll catch the thief and everything will be okay,” Violet said hopefully.
Jessie looked at her little brother and noticed that he was the only one who didn’t seem sad. Instead, he had a thoughtful look on his face.
“What are you thinking about, Benny?” she asked him.
“I think this is another mystery for us to solve!” he said excitedly.
“Oh, Benny,” Henry said, putting his arm around his brother. “I know you love mysteries. But let’s leave this one for the police.”
The next day, the phone rang just as the Aldens were sitting down to a big breakfast of pancakes and fresh fruit.
Henry answered. “Hello? Yes, this is Henry Alden,” he said to the person on the other end. He listened for a moment and then said, “We’re just about to have breakfast. We could come over right after that.”
Jessie and Violet looked at each other questioningly. “I wonder who it is,” said Jessie, carrying a big platter stacked with pancakes to the table.
Henry was looking at the calendar on the wall by the phone. “Two weeks from today sounds fine,” he said into the telephone. “Nineteen Old Cedar Road. We’ll be there in an hour.” He hung up the phone and turned to his brother and sisters. “That was Mrs. Woodruff. She wants us to do her daughter’s birthday party.”
“That’s great!” said Jessie, pleased that their business was taking off.
“Was she the one we met at Party Time?” Violet wanted to know.
“The one with the angry husband?” Benny added, his mouth full of pancakes.
“Yes, she’s the one,” Henry said.
“He must have changed his mind about us,” said Jessie with a happy smile.
“I guess so,” said Henry. But when he remembered how angry Mr. Woodruff had seemed at the grocery store, he thought that planning this party might turn out different from what they expected.
An hour later, the Aldens were sitting in the Woodruffs’ living room, talking to Mrs. Woodruff and six-year-old Sara. The house had been easy to find because it was just a block away from the Pierces’ house.
“So what do you want to be when you grow up?” Jessie was saying to Sara.
“An astronaut!” Sara said excitedly “We’re learning about outer space in school, and I love it!”
“Maybe we could do an astronaut party,” suggested Henry.
“What a wonderful idea,” said Mrs. Woodruff.
“Yeah!” Sara agreed, her eyes glowing.
“The kids can all make their own astronaut helmets out of paper bags, and then we’ll blast off to the moon,” said Jessie.
“We can plan some games about rockets and space,” Henry added.
“And we’ll decorate the room with pictures of planets and stars,” Violet said.
“Can I help you make the decorations? I’m really good at art,” Sara said. “If I don’t become an astronaut when I grow up, I’m going to be an artist.”
“Sure, we’d love your help,” Violet said.
The happy mood was interrupted when Mr. Woodruff came in, a tired, grim look on his face.
“Bob,” Mrs. Woodruff said, her voice tense. “You remember the Aldens, don’t you?”
Mr. Woodruff barely glanced at the children.
“They’ll be doing Sara’s birthday party,” Mrs. Woodruff explained nervously.
“You know I’d rather just have that magician,” said Mr. Woodruff.
“I think the Aldens will do a great job,” said Mrs. Woodruff.
Sara mumbled something that no one could quite hear. She was looking at the floor and poking at the rug with her foot.
“What was that, dear?” Mrs. Woodruff asked.
Sara spoke a tiny bit louder. “I said, I wish Uncle John could be at my party.”
Mrs. Woodruff said nothing. She just looked at her husband with concern.
Mr. Woodruff sighed deeply. “Well, he won’t be here. You know that’s not possible.” And with that, he shuffled out.
For a moment, everyone just watched Mr. Woodruff go. Mrs. Woodruff tried to break the tension in the room. “Well, I guess you kids will want to go get started on the party planning,” she said, trying to make her voice cheerful.
“Yes, first we’d better go buy supplies,” Henry agreed. The Aldens stood up and began walking toward the door.
Violet couldn’t help noticing how sad Sara looked. “Sara, would you like to come help us?” she asked.
Sara looked up eagerly. “Really? Could I?”
“Sure,” Jessie said, smiling broadly. Then she turned to Mrs. Woodruff. “If that’s okay with you, of course.”
Sara looked hopefully at her mother.
“Sure, that sounds wonderful,” said Mrs. Woodruff, glad the Aldens had thought of a way to cheer up her daughter.
As the Aldens walked toward the stores at the center of Greenfield, Violet and Sara walked a little bit behind the others.
“Was your uncle John very special to you?” Violet asked gently.
“Yes,” Sara said quietly.
“It’s hard when you lose someone you love,” Violet said. The Aldens had lost their parents, and so they knew this better than most people.
“I don’t think I want to talk about it,” said Sara.
“I understand,” Violet said. “But if you change your mind, I’m a good listener.”
Sara smiled. “Thank you,” she said.
Jessie and Benny had been walking ahead of the others. Just then Jessie stopped in her tracks. “Hey, what’s going on?” she said angrily. Jessie was standing and staring at the GREENFIELD NEWS bulletin board.
“Remember we put a poster up here? It’s gone!” Jessie said.
“Here’s what’s left of it.” Henry pulled a shred of paper off the board. “Here’s the picture of balloons that was up in the corner.”
“Now there’s just a big ad for Cassandra the Great,” said Benny.
“What are you guys talking about?” asked Sara.
“Last week we put up posters advertising our birthday party service, and it looks like someone tore this one down,” Jessie explained.
“That’s too bad,” said Sara. “I wonder why someone would tear down your poster.”
No one could think why someone would do such a mean thing. As they continued on their way, Benny stopped to tie his shoe. The others went on ahead of him, knowing he’d quickly catch up.
When Benny stood up, he noticed a man in a long dark coat standing at the end of the street. He seemed to be watching Benny. But the sun was in Benny’s eyes, and before Benny could figure out who the man was, he quickly stepped behind a tree.
There was something strange about how the man had stood so still, just staring. And there was something familiar about him. Benny began walking again.
After a few moments Benny looked back over his shoulder and was surprised to see that the man was following him.
Benny noticed that he was limping, as if he’d injured his right leg. When the man saw Benny look in his direction, he stopped walking and began to study the house he had been passing. But Benny didn’t think the man was interested in the house at all.
Suddenly Benny began to feel a little nervous. Who was that man? And why was he following them?
Benny looked for his sisters and brother, but they were all far ahead of him by now.
Suddenly Benny felt very alone. “Wait for me!” he called, and he ran to catch up.
Meanwhile, the other Aldens were half a block ahead of Benny, looking for the other posters they’d put up around the town.
“Remember we had one there?” Jessie said, pointing to the hardware store window. “It’s gone.”
“And the one we put up in the deli is gone, too!” Violet said, pointing.
“Now both those windows have ads for Cassandra the Great,” said Henry.
“Do you think she tore down your posters and put up her own?” asked Sara.
“I’m beginning to wonder,” said Jessie. “Cassandra entertains at birthday parties, too—maybe this is her way of getting rid of the competition.”
“It isn’t very nice,” said Violet.
“Or maybe her manager did it,” suggested Jessie. “Remember your mother said he was an unpleasant character.”
“Well, we don’t know for sure it was Cassandra,” said Henry. “Maybe someone else took our posters down—maybe the store owners. She might just have put hers up afterward.”
“Maybe,” said Jessie.
Just then, Benny came running up, breathless and red-faced.
“Is something wrong?” Violet asked, when she saw how upset Benny looked.
“We’re being followed!” Benny said. |