Game Store Mystery (3 page)

“Hello, Tony,” Queenie said, smiling at him. “How are you?”

“Just fine,” he replied as he set his box on the counter so he could pay for it. “I decided I needed a new copy of this game. My set is missing a few letters.”

Queenie walked back behind the counter. “It’s hard to play Word Master if you’re missing some letters,” she said.

“Yes, it is,” Tony agreed. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his billfold. “Say, I was wondering, Queenie. Have you thought about hosting a Word Master tournament in here?”

“Actually, I have,” Queenie said as she took Tony’s money. “Carter suggested it just a few days ago. He thought it would be a good way to get people into the store.”

“All you have to do is pick a date and put up some flyers,” Carter said.

Queenie thought for a minute. “How about two weeks from Saturday, starting at noon? We could have two divisions. One for adults and another for children.”

“That sounds good,” Carter said. The others nodded.

“We could help with the flyers,” Jessie said. “We could make them and distribute them.”

“That’s a wonderful idea,” Queenie said. She bent down and grabbed some paper and pencils from the shelf below the cash register. “Perhaps while Violet is sketching ideas for the mural, the rest of you can work on flyers?”

“We’d be happy to,” Henry replied.

“So, how’s that safe working out for you?” Tony asked. “Are you happy with it?”

“Oh, yes,” Queenie said. “It seems very secure. The only problem is I don’t like the combination. It’s hard to remember. Is it possible to change it?”

“Sure. I’d be happy to show you,” Tony said.

Tony and Queenie went to the back room. Violet took a pencil over to the wall. And Henry, Jessie, and Benny took their paper and pencils over to a table to work on the flyer.

Jessie started lettering the words WORD MASTER TOURNAMENT at the top.

“We should draw some people having fun playing Word Master, too,” Benny said.

“Good idea, Benny. Would you like to draw them?” Jessie slid the paper over to him so he could draw.

A few minutes later, Queenie and Tony came out of the back room. They stopped up by the cash register and Queenie lay a scrap of paper on the counter.

Carter was back behind the counter with Raina. He glanced at the paper Queenie had just set down.

“Is this the new combination to your safe?” Carter asked.

“Yes,” Queenie replied. “QUEEN. That should be easy to remember, don’t you think? At least it’s a word rather than just a series of letters.”

Carter grabbed the paper and tore it into little pieces. “Careful, Queenie. You don’t want to leave the combination to your safe lying around. And you certainly don’t say what the combination is out loud!”

“Oh, Carter. Don’t worry so much.” Queenie laughed. “There’s nobody in here.”

Carter glanced suspiciously at the Aldens. “There are kids in here,” he said in a low voice. But it wasn’t so low that the children couldn’t hear.

“We’re not going to break into any safes,” Benny said.

“Of course we’re not,” Jessie said to him. “But still, Carter has a point. If you have a safe, you shouldn’t say the combination out loud.”

“Well, I’d better be going,” Tony said. “I’d sure like to have a game of Word Master with you sometime before the tournament, Carter.”

Carter’s shoulders relaxed a little. “I’d like that, Tony,” he said. “Stop back anytime. I’ll be here almost every day.”

“Maybe on Saturday,” Tony said. Then he left.

“How are you kids coming on those flyers?” Queenie asked.

“Pretty good,” Benny said. “We’ve got a couple done. See?” He held them up to show Queenie, Carter and Raina.

“Those are beautiful!” Queenie exclaimed. “Aren’t they beautiful, Carter?”

“They’re okay,” Carter said, barely glancing at them.

“Why don’t you take them down to Bob’s drugstore and make copies,” Queenie suggested. “I’ll give you some money.” She opened the drawer, took out a couple of dollars, and handed them to Henry.

“In fact, while you’re there, perhaps you can have a key made for Raina,” Queenie added. “Would you mind?”

“Not at all,” Jessie said.

“Let me just go into the back room and get the spare key,” Queenie said.

While Henry, Jessie and Benny waited, they wandered back to check on the progress Violet had made. Her pencil marks were very light, so they had to get close to the wall to see.

“This is nice, Violet,” Henry said.

“Thanks.” Violet grinned.

Queenie came back with a frown on her face.

“What’s the matter?” Carter asked her.

“You know that spare key I had hanging on a nail in the back room? It’s gone!”

“Gone?” Carter repeated.

“You didn’t take it, did you, Carter?” Queenie asked.

“No.”

“How about you, Raina?” Queenie turned to the girl at the cash register.

“No.” Raina shook her head. “But I remember seeing it there when I hung up my coat this morning.”

“Hmm.” Queenie’s forehead wrinkled. “I wonder what happened to it? Well …,” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her own key. “Why don’t you take this one and make two copies of it,” she said, handing the key to Jessie.

“Okay,” Jessie replied. Then she and Henry and Benny headed out the door.

“See? Now there’s been more trouble at this mall,” Benny said as the trio walked down to the drugstore. “Somebody took Queenie’s key. Maybe this mall is bad luck!”

“There’s no such thing as bad luck, Benny,” Jessie said.

“And we don’t know for sure that someone took it,” Henry pointed out. “It may have just been misplaced.”

“Maybe,” Benny said. But he didn’t think so. He opened the door to the drugstore. Bells jangled, announcing their arrival.

“Can I help you?” a man in a blue smock asked as he came toward them. He was tall and thin and the name tag on his smock said “Bob.”

“We need to make copies of these papers,” Jessie said, holding up the flyers they’d made. “And then we need two copies of this key, too.” She held up the key.

“The copy machine is over there.” Bob pointed. “And I can help you with the keys.”

Jessie handed Henry the flyers so he could make the copies while she and Benny watched Bob grind the new keys.

When Bob finished with the keys, Jessie asked, “Could we also put up a flyer in here? Queenie is hosting a Word Master tournament at the Game Spot in a couple of weeks and she’d really like to get the word out.”

“Sure,” Bob replied. “You can leave one with me and I’ll put it up on the board in the entryway. But I have to warn you, if Carter Malone is playing, there may not be much response. Everyone knows Carter is an expert at word games.”

“Yes, but it’s fun just to play, even if you don’t win,” Jessie said.

“I guess you’re right,” Bob gave in. He handed Jessie the two keys. “Be careful with these now. You know there’s been a robbery in this mall. You wouldn’t want these keys to fall into the wrong hands.”

“We’ll be careful,” Jessie promised. “Thanks.”

“Uh, oh,” Benny said when he and Jessie and Henry came out of the drugstore a few minutes later.

“What’s the matter, Benny?” Jessie asked.

“Look!” Benny pointed to the sign in the parking lot. “More letters are missing.”

Benny was right. The sign that had read GRAND OPENING TODAY … THE GAME SPOT earlier this morning now read G_AND OP_NING … THE GAME SPOT.

“There’s an R and an E missing,” Henry said as he shifted his stack of flyers from one hand to the other.

“Did either of you notice whether the letters were all there when we went into the drugstore?” Jessie asked.

“I didn’t notice,” Benny said.

“Neither did I,” Henry said.

The children went back into the Game Spot. They handed Queenie the flyers and the spare keys, then told her about the sign. Violet heard what they were talking about and came over to see what was going on.

She and Queenie and Raina all stepped toward the window and peered outside.

“My goodness,” Queenie said. “There are more letters missing. Raina, you’ve been working in the front of the store all day. Did you see anyone over by that sign?”

“No,” Raina said. “But I wasn’t looking, either.”

“I wonder if Carter saw anything when he left?” Queenie asked. “It’s hard to believe someone would take letters off that sign in the middle of the day.”

“Why would someone take letters off that sign any time?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “Someone probably thinks they’re being funny.”

“Well, I know George won’t be laughing when he hears about this,” Queenie said. “He was just out here replacing letters.”

“Why don’t we go outside and see if we can find any clues,” Henry suggested. “I’d like to find out who’s taking letters off that sign.”

“I would, too,” Jessie said. “Is that okay with you, Queenie?”

“Sure. You children go right ahead.”

So the Aldens went outside and walked across the parking lot. They searched the ground between the rosebushes and the sign, but they didn’t find anything.

“Maybe we could go in the other stores and see if anyone saw anything?” Violet suggested.

“That’s a good idea, Violet,” Henry said.

So they went into the jewelry store next to the Game Spot first. There was only one employee in there, a well-dressed woman who smiled at them.

“I didn’t see anything,” the woman said. Her gold hoop earrings glimmered in the light. “But I’ve been busy getting ready for our sale this weekend. I haven’t had time to be looking out the window.”

“I don’t know if anyone in the drugstore would have seen anything,” Jessie said after they left the jewelry store. “The only employee I saw in there was the man who helped us. And he was busy with us the whole time.”

“There might be other employees that we didn’t see,” Henry pointed out.

“And the letters could have been taken before we ever got to the drugstore,” Benny put in.

“You’re both right,” Jessie said. So they went back into the drugstore.

Bob, the guy who had helped them before, was stamping price tags onto bottles of shampoo. “Hello,” he smiled at the children. “You’re back.”

Jessie explained why they had returned.

“I didn’t even know there were letters missing from that sign,” Bob said. He waved toward his front door. “As you can see, I have so much stuff piled up around the windows, it’s hard to see out.”

“Thanks anyway,” Henry said.

That only left the Java Café. Chip Douglas was at the counter when the children walked in. They could see that there wasn’t a very good view of the sign from inside the coffee shop.

“I didn’t see anything,” Chip said. “But if something’s missing, I suggest you pay close attention to that girl your friend Queenie hired. I still say Raina Holt is trouble.”

“Raina’s not trouble,” Benny said. “She’s nice.”

Chip leaned closer to Benny. “Sometimes it’s the nice ones you have to watch out for,” he said.

Once the children were back outside, Jessie said, “Wow. Chip really doesn’t like Raina very much, does he?”

“No, he doesn’t,” Henry said. “But he’s pretty convinced she’s the one who broke into his safe. You wouldn’t like someone you thought had stolen from you, either.”

“That’s true,” Jessie agreed. “But Raina’s just so nice. It’s hard to believe she’s a thief.”

“I agree,” Henry said. “But then, if Raina didn’t break into Chip’s safe, who did?”

“That’s a good question,” Benny said.

On Thursday, the Aldens dressed in their old clothes. Violet had finished her sketch, so it was time to start painting.

After a hearty breakfast of pancakes and fruit, Grandfather drove the children over to the Crossroads Mall. Once again there were some letters missing on the sign out front.

“Not again,” Benny said, slumping back against his seat. The sign read:

20% OFF _ALE

AT_ _ _ _’S JEWEL_ _ STOR_

“The L, A, K, and E are missing,” Jessie said.

“Hey,
lake
is a word!” Benny said. “Do you think someone might be taking letters so they can spell different words than what is on the sign?”

“I don’t know, Benny,” Henry replied. “Why would someone do that?”

“It might not be a bad idea to keep track of the letters that are taken,” Jessie said. She leaned forward in her seat. “Do you have some paper and a pencil, Grandfather?”

Grandfather opened the glove compartment and pulled out a small pad of paper and a pen. He handed both to Jessie.

“Thanks,” Jessie said, opening the notebook. She wrote down L, A, K, E.

“The R and the Y are missing in JEWELRY,” Violet said.

“And the S is missing in SALE and the E is missing in STORE,” Henry added.

Jessie added an R, Y, S and E to her list. Then she asked, “Does anybody remember what other letters have gone missing?”

“It was R and an E last time,” Violet said.

Jessie nodded. “And I remember I replaced the M and N in MONDAY and the P and O in SPOT,” she said as she added those letters to her list.

“I added an E to THE and an A and E to GAME,” Henry said.

“And if I remember right, the P, E, and I were missing in OPENING,” Grandfather put in.