After dinner that night Jessie took Watch for a walk. They were walking towards the park when Watch began to bark. “What’s going on, boy?” she asked the dog, trying to calm him down.
A woman was coming through the park carrying a pink cake box. She walked quickly. She looked odd because her skin, clothes, and hair were completely white.
That woman looks like a ghost! Jessie thought, even though she did not believe in ghosts. She believed that there was an explanation for everything.
Watch barked again, then pulled his leash free from Jessie’s hand.
“Oh no!” Jessie called, rushing after the dog. “Stop! Watch! Stop!”
But it was too late. Watch ran over to the woman, and in his excitement he knocked her to the ground.
“Oh dear,” the woman said, scrambling to get up and gather her pink box, which had fallen.
The “ghost” woman turned out to be Mrs. Waldman from Sweets. She was covered head to toe in baking flour!
“I’m so sorry about Watch,” Jessie told her. “Here, let me help you up.”
“My cupcakes?” Mrs. Waldman asked, anxiously pointing at the box. “Are they all right?”
Jessie snatched the box up before Watch could get to it. She peeked inside. There were four cupcakes, each one uniquely decorated. They looked just like Mama Tova’s cupcakes!
“They’re fine,” Jessie said, handing the box back to Mrs. Waldman. “The frosting smeared a little bit, but they are still very pretty.”
“Oh, thank goodness!” Mrs. Waldman said, brushing some of the flour off her dress. It puffed around her in a white cloud.
Jessie coughed. “Wow! That’s a lot of flour!” she exclaimed.
Mrs. Waldman looked down at herself. “Yes, it was a very long, messy day at work. I’m headed home now to clean up.” She shook off a bit more of the flour. And then, very quickly, she hurried away.
The next morning the Aldens’ home telephone rang and Grandfather answered it. Who could be calling so early? Jessie wondered. She heard Grandfather say, “Oh, no!”
“Who was that?” Jessie asked when Grandfather had hung up the phone.
“That was Mama Tova. Something terrible happened at the shop last night,” he said.
Jessie gasped. Violet hurried over to hear more.
“Someone broke into Sweets and made a mess last night,” Grandfather said. “Mama Tova said the shop is a mess! There’s baking flour everywhere.”
“That is strange,” Henry said.
“We should go to Sweets,” Violet suggested. “Maybe we can help clean up.”
“Good idea,” Grandfather said. “We can bring some brooms and dustpans. And a mop and a bucket.”
The Aldens loaded the cleaning supplies into Grandfather’s car. Watch jumped in the back seat with them.
At Sweets, Jessie tied Watch outside near Mama Tova’s brightly colored flower boxes. Then the children went inside to see the damage.
Henry shook his head. “This is awful,” he said to Jessie.
It looked like someone had turned the entire shop upside down. The tables were knocked on their sides, and the flower vases had spilled. Some of the paintings were on the floor. A light dusting of white flour covered everything.
“Thank you so much for coming,” Mama Tova said to the Alden children and Grandfather. “I don’t know who possibly could have done this, but the police are investigating.”
She pointed to a police officer standing in the corner, talking to Mrs. Waldman. “That’s Officer Montag,” Mama Tova explained. “She’s interviewing everyone who might have seen something suspicious.”
“I wonder if Mrs. Waldman told her about the flour,” Jessie said, glancing over at the police officer.
“Mrs. Waldman?” Mama Tova said. “Flour? What do you mean?”
“I saw Mrs. Waldman last night,” Jessie said. “She was covered with flour.”
“Does Mrs. Waldman ever do any of the baking?” Henry asked Mama Tova.
“No,” Mama Tova said. “Because of the secret ingredient, I do it all.”
“Hmm,” Jessie said as she pulled a black spiral notebook out of her patchwork purse. Jessie liked to write things down so she could think about them later. “Do you have any idea who might want to mess up Sweets?” she asked Mama Tova.
“I really don’t know.” Mama Tova shook her head and sighed. “Officer Montag thinks that the person who did this must have been looking for something in particular. That’s why everything is torn apart.”
“Were they looking for money?” Benny asked.
“I don’t think so, because none of it is gone,” Mama Tova said. “I’ve checked all around the shop and as far as I can tell, nothing is missing.”
“Are you sure?” Henry asked.
“All that happened here was that someone made a mess,” Mama Tova said. “I wish I knew who would do this and why.”
“Maybe we can help,” Henry suggested. “We are good at solving mysteries.”
“I’d be grateful,” Mama Tova said. Then she went to speak to the police officer.
The Aldens walked over to a quiet corner of the shop. Jessie opened a clean page in her notebook and wrote SUSPECTS at the top. Tapping her pencil, Jessie asked the others, “Any ideas?”
Violet spoke up. “I don’t know who would mess up the shop but I think I know why.”
“Go on,” Henry said. “Explain.”
Violet pointed all around the shop. “Remember when Mama Tova told us yesterday that she hid the secret ingredient for her cupcakes under the flower?”
“Someone must have overheard,” Henry said. “And they messed up all the shop’s flowers looking for the recipe.”
“I bet you’re both right!” Jessie said. “Maybe Mr. Kandinsky should be our first suspect.” She wrote down the BakeMart owner’s name in her notebook.
“Is it because Mr. Kandinsky wants the cupcake recipe and Mama Tova won’t sell it to him? So maybe he tried to steal it?” Benny asked.
“That’s right, Benny,” Henry said.
“And then there is Mrs. Waldman and the mysterious flour,” Violet said. She remembered Jessie’s story. “I think she should be the next suspect.”
“Mrs. Waldman also had four of Mama Tova’s cupcakes in a box, but nobody is ever allowed to buy more than one cupcake at a time at Sweets. Or take them home. That makes Mrs. Waldman even more suspicious!” Jessie said. She wrote down Mrs. Waldman’s name.
“Should we tell Officer Montag what we know?” Benny asked.
“Not yet,” Henry said. “So far we aren’t really sure about anything.”
“We could talk to Mrs. Waldman right now,” Benny said. “We just saw her talking to the police.”
But when the children looked around, Mrs. Waldman was gone. She had left the shop.
“We’ll have to talk to her tomorrow, I guess,” Violet said.
Jessie agreed, shutting her notebook. “We shouldn’t tell the police anything until we have more clues about who is trying to steal the recipe.”
“We need to solve this mystery before the thief steals the recipe for real,” Benny declared. |