Finders Keepers Mystery (8 page)

Regina nodded her head.

“He must have called you yesterday right after he saw us in the shop, getting the pattern from Coral. That’s why you were here when we got back,” Henry said.

“You were going to try to sneak into the house while we were away, weren’t you?” Jessie asked. “But Mr. Munsey stopped you.”

“No, it wasn’t like that,” said Regina.

Lina spoke up. “I think it was exactly like that. You wanted a story — and a treasure. What were you going to do with the quilts?”

There was a long silence. Then Regina said quietly, “I wanted to sell them. They’re worth so much money. I didn’t think. I just acted. I was wrong.”

“Yes, you were. So was Mr. Grey,” said Benny.

Regina’s shoulders slumped. “What are you going to do to me?” she asked.

Lina stared at the reporter. Then she shook her head. “Just go,” she said. “You’ve lost your story. My quilts are safe. But if I hear of you doing anything like this again, I’m going to tell my story — about what you did — to another reporter. I hope you’ve learned your lesson.”

Regina cast one more look at the trunk. “I’m not a very good reporter, to fall for a trick like that, am I?” she said in a dull voice. “There’s no hidden treasure and no special wedding quilt, is there?”

“Time to go,” said Lina, standing aside and motioning toward the attic door. “I’ll show you the way out. And I’ll be speaking to Mr. Grey.”

Regina nodded in defeat. She walked slowly out of the attic. The Aldens listened to her plodding footsteps as she went downstairs with Lina.

A few minutes later, Lina returned. She sighed and sank onto an old stool. “The trick worked,” she said. “I didn’t think it would. I wonder what she thought when she saw that old hops quilt in the trunk.”

Violet leaned over to lift out the old quilt. She smoothed its worn surface.

“It’s not just an old hops quilt,” said Violet. “Let us show you something, Lina.”

Henry helped violet spread the hops quilt across two chairs.

Then Jessie took a tiny pair of scissors out of a carrying case in her pocket. “Coral lent me these,” she explained.

She leaned over and began, very, very carefully to cut the threads that held the outside edges of the quilt together.

“What are you doing?” Lina exclaimed.

“Watch,” said Violet.

Jessie cut the seam down one side of the old quilt, then folded back the edges.

Tucked inside the hops quilt was another quilt — a beautiful, brilliantly colored quilt in a familiar pattern.

“It’s the Wedding Ring quilt!” said Benny.

Lina leaped up. “Let me get another pair of scissors!” she exclaimed.

Soon they had snipped all the knots that held the two sides of the old quilt together. Those knots had held the new quilt against the old quilt, inside of it.

At last the hidden quilt was revealed.

“Oh!” said Violet. “It’s even more beautiful than I thought it would be.”

“And look — here’s the date and your aunt’s initials,” Jessie pointed out.

“The same year as that last letter,” Henry said.

Lina gazed at the quilt in wonder. “I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it,” she said over and over. “Hope must have hidden it away because it was too sad for her to look at it,” Violet guessed.

“But it also gave her comfort to have it near her,” Henry added. “That’s why the hops quilt covering is so worn — Hope loved it to pieces.”

“How did you ever figure this out?” Lina asked.

“We realized that a quilt could hide another quilt when we saw Coral making a quilted cover for a pillow,” Henry explained.

“And then Benny wanted a cover for Watch’s dog bed, because it is old and faded. That made me think of this old quilt, all worn and faded. And suddenly I wondered if the worn, faded quilt could be on the outside and another quilt could be inside,” Violet said.

“Look,” said Benny. He pointed to the quilt. “There’s an extra ring on that part.”

They all looked. Sure enough, a small green ring of fabric had been patched on top of the design on one corner of the quilt.

“How strange,” said Lina. “Why would Great-great-aunt Hope do that?”

Jessie reached out to touch the tiny green ring. “It’s lumpy,” she said.

“And hard,” added Violet, squeezing the corner.

“The rest of the quilt isn’t lumpy,” said Benny.

Henry said, “It feels like there’s something inside of it.”

“The ring!” exclaimed Violet. “The green ring the color of Hope’s eyes! Robert wasn’t writing about the quilt after all. He meant…” She took the scissors and knelt down. Before anyone could say anything, she had worked three tiny stitches loose. She slid her finger under the patch. She looked up. “It’s here,” she said.

Now Lina knelt down, too. She carefully and delicately cut the remaining stitches that held the small green circle onto the quilt. As the last stitch came free, a gold ring with a glinting green stone fell out.

“An emerald ring!” gasped Jessie.

“Great-great-aunt Hope’s engagement ring,” whispered Lina. “Green like her eyes. There was a hidden treasure, after all!”

“
Two
hidden treasures!” said Benny. “The ring
and
the quilt.”

“The quilt inside a quilt,” said Henry. “And the ring inside a ring,” said Violet. “A mystery inside a mystery,” agreed Jessie.

“And we solved them both,” said Benny.

The shop bell tinkled and Coral looked up. She beamed at the Aldens and at Lina, who stood in the doorway. “Come in, come in,” she said.

“We brought a copy of the newspaper for you to see,” said Benny.

“I’ve seen it! I’ve put it up on the wall!” said Coral, motioning.

On a bulletin board on one side of the shop was the article from the local newspaper.
MYSTERY QUILT HOLDS HIDDEN TREASURE
, the headline said, and in smaller letters,
AND IS ONE, TOO, SAYS EXPERT
.

“My name and my shop’s name are in the article,” Coral said, “for helping to solve the mystery. It’s been great for business.”

“How’s Mr. Grey’s business?” asked Lina.

“Ha! He’s put a
FOR SALE
sign in the window,” said Coral. She shook her head. “Who could believe a nice man like that could be so sneaky? And I heard Regina Lott has taken a job in another town.”

“I hope she’s learned that there are better ways to get a story than trying to steal one,” Henry said.

“Yes, because when she did that, she missed the biggest story of all,” said Violet.

“There’s going to be another story when they put the quilts on display at the museum,” said Jessie. “It was nice of you to let Mr. Munsey borrow them, Lina. But I’m glad you’ll be getting them back.”

Lina looked down at the emerald on her hand. “It’s what Great-great-aunt Hope would have wanted,” she said.

“We solved the mystery,” Benny said. “We’ve sewed this case up.”

Everyone laughed. “We sure have, Benny,” said Henry. “We sure have.”

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

The Boxcar Children

Surprise Island

The Yellow House Mystery

Mystery Ranch

Mike’s Mystery

Blue Bay Mystery

The Woodshed Mystery

The Lighthouse Mystery

Mountain Top Mystery

Schoolhouse Mystery

Caboose Mystery

Houseboat Mystery

Snowbound Mystery

Tree House Mystery

Bicycle Mystery

Mystery in the Sand

Mystery Behind the Wall

Bus Station Mystery

Benny Uncovers a Mystery

The Haunted Cabin Mystery

The Deserted Library Mystery

The Animal Shelter Mystery

The Old Motel Mystery

The Mystery of the Hidden Painting

The Amusement Park Mystery

The Mystery of the Mixed-Up Zoo

The Camp-Out Mystery

The Mystery Girl

The Mystery Cruise

The Disappearing Friend Mystery

The Mystery of the Singing Ghost

Mystery in the Snow

The Pizza Mystery

The Mystery Horse

The Mystery at the Dog Show

The Castle Mystery

The Mystery of the Lost Village

The Mystery on the Ice

The Mystery of the Purple Pool

The Ghost Ship Mystery

The Mystery in Washington, DC

The Canoe Trip Mystery

The Mystery of the Hidden Beach

The Mystery of the Missing Cat

The Mystery at Snowflake Inn

The Mystery on Stage

The Dinosaur Mystery

The Mystery of the Stolen Music

The Mystery at the Ball Park

The Chocolate Sundae Mystery

The Mystery of the Hot Air Balloon

The Mystery Bookstore

The Pilgrim Village Mystery

The Mystery of the Stolen Boxcar

Mystery in the Cave

The Mystery on the Train

The Mystery at the Fair

The Mystery of the Lost Mine

The Guide Dog Mystery

The Hurricane Mystery

The Pet Shop Mystery

The Mystery of the Secret Message

The Firehouse Mystery

The Mystery in San Francisco

The Niagara Falls Mystery

The Mystery at the Alamo

The Outer Space Mystery

The Soccer Mystery

The Mystery in the Old Attic

The Growling Bear Mystery

The Mystery of the Lake Monster

The Mystery at Peacock Hall

The Windy City Mystery

The Black Pearl Mystery

The Cereal Box Mystery

The Panther Mystery

The Mystery of the Queen’s Jewels

The Stolen Sword Mystery

The Basketball Mystery

The Movie Star Mystery

The Mystery of the Black Raven

The Mystery of the Pirate’s Map

The Mystery in the Mall

The Mystery in New York

The Gymnastics Mystery

The Poison Frog Mystery

The Mystery of the Empty Safe

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

copyright © 2001 by Albert Whitman & Company

978-1-4532-2889-0

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