The Aldens strolled through town looking for places to put up the invention convention fliers. They soon found the town bulletin board and decided to post one of the fliers there.
Violet studied the business card that Benny had handed her. “What’s a patent lawyer, Henry?” she asked. “That’s what this business card says — ‘Robert Marshall, Patent Lawyer.’”
“A patent lawyer is an invention expert,” Henry answered. “They check if something was invented already so nobody can copy someone else’s invention.”
“That business card must have come from the man Martha was at the diner with,” Jessie said. “He sure sounded like an invention expert.”
Benny frowned. “I hope nobody else invented my flashlight hat. Maybe I should show it to Mr. Marshall so nobody copies it from me.”
Henry looked over Violet’s shoulder to read the card. “You know, we just passed the street where this lawyer’s office is. Maybe we could go ask him if he knows if there are any other flashlight hats out there.”
When the Aldens reached the building on the business card, they were surprised.
“Hmm,” Henry said as he pushed hard on the heavy oak office door. “I thought it would be a small, pokey office. This is pretty fancy.”
The woman at the front desk looked surprised to see four children standing there. She smiled at Benny’s hat, which was beaming right at her face. “May I help you?” she asked. “And might I ask you to turn off your hat, young man? Otherwise, I’ll have to put on my sunglasses.”
Benny whipped off his hat and kept it off. “Oops, sorry.”
“We’re here to see Robert Marshall,” Jessie said to the woman. “My brother has a question about an invention.”
The woman studied the Aldens’ hopeful faces. “Oh, dear. I’m afraid Mr. Marshall isn’t available today. He just returned from a lunch appointment. Now he has meetings with inventors all afternoon. This is a very busy week. The invention convention begins tomorrow.”
In her nicest voice, Jessie tried again. “Would we be able to come back later when Mr. Marshall doesn’t have an appointment? We have a special invention to show him.”
Behind his back, Benny crossed his fingers.
Now the woman looked disappointed as well. “I’m very sorry. Wait. Here’s a thought. Mr. Marshall will be a judge at the invention convention. Perhaps you can catch him there and show him your creation. He probably wouldn’t charge his usual fee if you just chatted with him.”
“Thank you,” Jessie said quietly. “We’ll look for him.” She hoped she didn’t look as let down as she felt. When she noticed some brochures on a table, she took one. “Maybe if we use our birthday money, we can afford a real appointment to show Mr. Marshall what we have.” A buzzer on a small intercom interrupted her.
“Excuse me,” the woman said. “I have to answer this. It’s Mr. Marshall.”
A man’s voice boomed out of the intercom. “Give Martha Carver a call, will you, Mrs. Page? She’s called me twice since I left her just a half hour ago. Tell her I’m busy all afternoon and I’ll get back to her. I can’t just drop everything to figure out riddles.”
Mrs. Page pressed the button and coughed several times. “I have several people out here, Mr. Marshall. I hope you don’t want me to say all that to Martha when I call her.”
“Not that last part, of course,” the voice boomed back.
“Anything else?” Mrs. Page asked.
Mr. Marshall boomed back. “Yes. Tell her I’ll need more evidence. Alice Putter’s actual plan book would help me a lot more than a book of riddles.”
“I’ll mention that when she calls again,” Mrs. Page said. “Oh, Brad Smithy left another message for you. He said be sure to pay special attention to his entry in the invention convention.”
“Brad Smithy!” Mr. Marshall yelled. “Every year he pesters me about his latest invention. He’s not even a client. Some days I think I should retire and raise chickens instead of dealing with these inventors.”
Mrs. Page laughed after she turned off the intercom. “Please excuse the interruption. Mr. Marshall gets a bit frazzled at invention convention time. I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”
“We’re sorry, too,” Violet said. “But thank you.”
“So long,” Mrs. Page said.
“Mr. Marshall is pretty popular,” Henry said when the Aldens had left the lawyer’s office. “What do you suppose Brad’s special entry is?”
“The crate!” Benny said before the other children could gather their thoughts. “I bet he’s keeping his invention in there. That’s what he was nailing shut in the kitchen. He sure didn’t want us to see what was sticking out of the crate, either.”
“I wonder if his invention is the surprise we heard him mention on the phone,” Jessie said.
“Maybe,” Henry said. “Brad wouldn’t let me get near that crate. It could have been anything.”
Violet stopped in front of a barbershop to put up a flier. “Mr. Percy and Brad both tried to hide things from us that were in boxes. What I can’t figure out is if it has anything to do with the missing plan book.”
Henry frowned. “Martha’s the one I wonder about — more than the other two. She gave Mr. Marshall the riddle book. She clearly doesn’t trust Ms. Putter. Plus, we’ve seen her wandering near the grandfather clock a couple times now at noon and at midnight. The question is, why?” |