Game Store Mystery (8 page)

“Carter hasn’t arrived yet?” Grandfather asked when he returned to the van.

“Not yet,” Jessie said, checking her watch. It was five minutes past nine.

The lights went out in the Java Café, then Chip stepped outside. He double-checked that the door was locked, then walked across the parking lot to a small red sports car. He got in and drove away.

A few minutes later, Carter drove up in a silver sedan. He parked right beside the Aldens.

“Sorry I’m late,” he said when he got out of his vehicle. “I was with Queenie and couldn’t get away.”

“That’s okay,” Violet said. “The Java Café just closed. We probably wouldn’t have wanted to put the message up until everyone had left the mall, anyway.”

“That’s true,” Carter said.

“Do you have all the letters?” Benny asked.

Carter patted the inside pocket of his jacket. “Right here,” he said.

So they all went over to the sign.

“First we’ll have to pull all these letters off,” Carter said. “I’ll keep them and give them to George later. But right now I don’t want any other letters interfering with my message.”

The children helped Carter pull the message about the Java Café off the sign. Then they helped him put up the new message. When they finished, they stepped back to admire their work.

PLEASE MARRY ME QUEENIE POLK.

“That looks nice,” Jessie said.

“It should be the first thing she sees when she pulls into the parking lot,” Carter said.

They all went back to the two vehicles.

“So, what is the plan for the rest of the night?” Grandfather asked. “Would you like me to stay parked where I am?”

“Yes,” Carter said. “I brought some walkie-talkies so we can stay in contact.” He opened the front door to his car, reached in and pulled out a walkie-talkie, then handed it to Grandfather.

“I’m going to drive around to the back,” Carter went on. “Perhaps Henry and Benny can come with me. Jessie and Violet can stay with you, James. If you see anything suspicious, call me on the walkie-talkie. I’ll do the same.”

Jessie nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

Henry and Benny got into the back seat of Carter’s car and Carter drove off. Jessie and Violet got comfortable in the back of the van. Then they waited.

About an hour after they’d arrived, Jessie saw a dark figure approach the drugstore.

“Wake up, Violet,” Jessie nudged her sister. “Grandfather, look!”

Someone was inserting a key into the front door of the drugstore. And the person was too short to be Bob, the store owner.

Grandfather picked up the walkie-talkie and said, “We’ve got someone entering the drugstore through the front door. Could be an employee, but given the late hour, I think we better go check it out.”

The walkie-talkie crackled, then Carter’s voice came over it. “Copy that. We’ll wait here in case the person tries to make a getaway through the back door.”

Violet, Jessie, and Grandfather slipped quietly out of the van and tiptoed across the parking lot. The drugstore was still dark.

Jessie tried the door. It was unlocked. “Let’s go in,” she whispered to Violet.

Violet nodded as Jessie pushed the door all the way open.

“Hello?” Grandfather called. There was a panel of light switches beside the door. Grandfather flipped them all and light flooded the store.

Jessie and Violet squinted in the sudden brightness.

There was a rustle in the back of the store. Then footsteps. Someone was running out the back.

Jessie, Violet, and Grandfather followed the sound of the footsteps through the store, through the back room, and out the back door.

Tony Silver stood with his hands above his head. Carter’s headlights lit up the whole alley.

“The police are on their way,” Carter said as he held up his cell phone. Henry and Benny stood on either side of him.

“How can you be the robber?” Benny asked, shielding his eyes from the bright headlights. “You sell safes. You’re supposed to keep people’s money safe.”

“I know.” Tony hung his head in shame. “But I’ve got a lot of credit card bills. I can’t seem to get ahead. And breaking into these stores is just so easy. I know all the combinations to the safes because I help the store owners set them. And getting keys is easy, too. Everyone seems to leave spare keys lying around. I know it was wrong, but I just couldn’t help myself.”

“So you’re the one who put CARTER ROBBER on the sign out front?” Carter asked angrily.

Tony nodded. “I saw you taking letters off that sign one night. And so did Bob. I thought people might believe you were the robber since a couple of people already knew you were sneaking around the mall late at night.”

“I would never rob anyone,” Carter said.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t,” Tony said.

They all heard sirens in the distance. The sirens grew louder and louder as two police cars zoomed around the corner and pulled into the alley.

“This is Tony Silver,” Grandfather told the officers when they got out of their vehicles. “We just caught him breaking into the drugstore.”

A white-haired officer stepped forward and took out his handcuffs. “Tony Silver,” he said, “you’re under arrest.”

The Aldens didn’t get much sleep that night. They wanted to be at the mall first thing the next morning so they could see Queenie’s reaction to the sign.

Queenie smiled when she saw them. “What’s all this?” she asked as she stepped out of her car. She hadn’t noticed the sign yet.

“We just wanted to say good morning,” Carter said cheerfully.

“And it is a good morning indeed,” Queenie replied as they all walked across the parking lot. “I understand our robber was caught last night and I have all of you to thank for that.”

“You were right about Raina all along, Queenie,” Benny said. “She wasn’t the robber.”

“Of course she wasn’t,” Queenie said. “Raina can be a little bit scatter-brained, and she doesn’t always make the best decisions when it comes to money. But she would never steal.”

All of a sudden, Queenie stopped walking. Her bottom jaw dropped open and she looked at Carter.

“D-did you do this?” she asked, her eyes darting back and forth between Carter and the sign.

Carter took Queenie’s hand, then got down on one knee right in the middle of the parking lot. With his other hand, he reached into his inside pocket and pulled out a small black velvet box.

“Oh, my goodness!” Queenie put her hand to her chest when Carter raised the lid of the box. A diamond ring gleamed in the sunlight.

“You’ll make me the happiest man in the world if you say you’ll be my wife, Queenie,” Carter said.

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Queenie said shyly. Her cheeks were glowing. A smile played at the corners of her mouth.

“Say yes!” Benny blurted.

“Benny!” Jessie hissed. She put her finger to her lips.

But Queenie just laughed. “It’s okay, Jessie. Benny’s right. That’s exactly what I should say.” She turned to Carter, who was still down on one knee, and smiled. “Yes, dear. I’ll marry you.”

Carter took the ring out of the box and slipped it on Queenie’s third finger. Then he stood up, and the two of them hugged.

The Aldens clapped and cheered.

A car that was trying to get past them honked.

“We better get out of the way,” Carter said as the group moved quickly toward the sidewalk.

“We’ve got a lot of planning to do,” Queenie said.

“I’m looking forward to it,” Carter replied, smiling.

On Saturday, the big Word Master tournament was held at the Game Spot. There was a children’s tournament and an adult tournament. More than fifty people had signed up for both tournaments, which made the store unusually crowded.

Jessie had won all three of her games so far. So now she was seated at the yellow table in the Kids’ Korner playing for the championship. A crowd of children had gathered around Jessie and her opponent, a serious-looking boy named Andy.

Andy was a little younger than Jessie, but he was good at finding words. He was fast, too. Jessie knew she’d have to concentrate if she wanted to beat him.

While Jessie and Andy puzzled over the letters in round three, there was a sudden eruption of cheers from the front of the store.

Carter and a woman with straight blond hair stood up and shook hands.

“Congratulations, Carter,” Queenie said as she presented Carter with a small trophy.

“Thank you,” Carter said with a small smile.

Jessie turned back to the letters in front of her. She wondered how Andy was doing? Did he have more words than she did?

But she knew it was a mistake to worry so much about her opponent. It was better to simply look at the letters in front of her and do the best she could.

Finally, the game was over and they counted up their points.

“I have 212 points,” Jessie announced. “How many do you have?”

“I have 204,” Andy replied. He reached across the table to shake Jessie’s hand. “Good game.”

“Good game,” Jessie echoed. “Maybe we can play again sometime.”

Andy nodded. “I’d like that.”

Jessie and Andy started picking up the game. Queenie came over and handed Jessie a small trophy. Carter and Raina stood right behind Queenie and clapped. So did Grandfather, Henry, Violet, and Benny.

“Thank you,” Jessie said with a grin. She turned the trophy around and looked at it. It had a gold cup on top of a wooden pedestal. The lettering on the front of the pedestal read WORD MASTER CHAMPION. It was identical to Carter’s trophy.

“Perhaps the two Word Master champions should play a game next,” Carter suggested, once everyone except the Aldens had left.

“Really?” Jessie asked eagerly. “You’d play a game with me, Carter?” He had said no when Jessie had asked him before.

“I’d be honored. In fact,” Carter gestured for everyone else to come and sit down, “why don’t we all play a game? Just for fun?”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Grandfather said as he pulled out a chair and sat down. The children, Queenie and Raina sat down, too.

Then Carter divided up the letters and they all got ready for another game.

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

T
HE
B
OXCAR
C
HILDREN

S
URPRISE
I
SLAND

T
HE
Y
ELLOW
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY
R
ANCH

M
IKE’S
M
YSTERY

B
LUE
B
AY
M
YSTERY