Great Detective Race (4 page)

“Greenfield
is
a small town,” Violet pointed out.

“That’s true,” Jessie agreed. Still, she couldn’t help wondering if it wasn’t more than just a coincidence. Was Amber following them?

The next morning, Jessie made a list of all the playgrounds in Greenfield. Then they set off to check every slide in town. When they finally stopped at a concession stand for lunch, Jessie pulled her notebook from her back pocket.

“Three more playgrounds to go,” she said, glancing at their list, “and that’s all.”

“Don’t worry,” Benny said, as they made their way to an empty park bench. “We’ll find the next clue.”

“How can you be so sure, Benny?” asked Violet, sitting down beside Jessie.

“Because when you’re looking for something,” Benny explained, “it’s always in the last place you look.” He swallowed a bite of his hot dog.

Henry laughed. “That makes sense,” he said. “When you find something, you don’t bother looking anymore.”

“What I can’t figure out,” Violet said, “is what the letters of the alphabet mean.”

Jessie nodded. “I’ve been wondering about that, too.”

“What were the letters again?” asked Benny, licking mustard from the corner of his mouth.

Violet answered, “H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.”

Jessie sipped her soda thoughtfully. “But why only H to O? That’s the part I don’t get.”

“You got me,” said Henry

“Maybe there’s another way of looking at it,” Violet said.

The others looked at her. “Such as?”

“What if we switch the letters around?” Violet reasoned. “Maybe they’ll spell out a message of some kind.”

Henry thought about this. “Anything’s possible.”

The four Aldens put their heads together and came up with a list of words using the letters in the clue. After Jessie jotted them down in her notebook, she read them aloud:
MILK   OINK   KILN   OIL   HIM   LIMO

“It doesn’t amount to much,” Henry remarked.

Violet agreed. “I guess it was a bit of a leap.”

Jessie looked at her watch. “Time’s ticking away,” she said, “and we still have three more playgrounds to check out.”

After tossing their napkins and empty cups into a trashcan, the children wheeled their bikes back onto the road and set off again.

They hadn’t gone very far before Jessie slowed her bike to a stop.

Henry came up beside her. “What is it, Jessie?”

“I left my notebook on the park bench,” Jessie said with a frown.

Circling back, the Aldens found the notebook right where Jessie had left it. Only, something wasn’t quite right.

“A page is missing,” Jessie pointed out. “See? Somebody tore out our list of playgrounds!”

They all looked at Jessie’s notebook in astonishment. “I can’t believe it!” said Henry.

“Who would do such a thing?” Violet wondered.

Benny had an answer. “Somebody looking for a clue,” he said. “That’s who.”

The youngest Alden had a point. It had to be somebody who was tracking down the code word. And now that person knew as much as they did.

Henry gave Jessie a quick glance. Had she been right the other day? Was somebody really following them?

“Never mind,” said Jessie. “I remember what was on the list. The next playground’s in the Morningside neighborhood.”

“Let’s go,” said Henry. “The race is on!”

When the Aldens arrived at the Morningside playground, they found children playing on the swings, on the monkey bars, and in the sandbox. But nobody was around the slide. They quickly checked it out, top to bottom. But they couldn’t find anything unusual.

“Well, let’s head for the next playground,” Henry suggested, not wanting to waste any time.

But Benny saw something the others didn’t. “What’s that?”

The others looked in the direction he was pointing. A hopscotch game had been outlined in chalk on the pavement close by. A message was scrawled in one of the squares.

Taking a closer look, the children read what it said:
You will find something weerd at Potter’s Creek.

“Hooray!” Benny cheered. “We found the clue!”

“That’s odd,” Jessie said, as she jotted the message in her notebook. “The word ‘weerd’ is spelled wrong.”

Benny frowned. “It is?”

“It should be w-e-i-r-d. Not w-e-e-r-d,” Henry pointed out. “You’re right, Jessie. That is kind of strange.”

But Violet didn’t think it was strange at all. “Debra said she wasn’t a very good speller, remember?”

“It’s too late to go all the way out to Potter’s Creek today,” Henry noted, glancing at his watch.

Jessie nodded. “It’ll take at least an hour to get there. Let’s wait until the morning.”

“Hey!” Something caught Henry’s eye.

“Isn’t that the boy from the mall?”

The others looked over. A boy wearing baggy pants and a red T-shirt was zooming away on a skateboard.

“Yes, I’m sure of it,” said Jessie. “He was signing up for the Great Detective Race.”

Benny nodded. “He’s even wearing a WGFD baseball cap.”

Jessie and Henry exchanged puzzled glances. How odd that the boy was at the park the same time they were. Was he following the list of playgrounds torn from Jessie’s notebook?

“Let’s pack a lunch and take it to Potter’s Creek with us,” Violet suggested the next morning.

“That’s an awesome idea!” cried Benny. He got out the peanut butter and jelly.

Jessie reached the thermos down from the cupboard. “It’s a beautiful day for a picnic in the country.”

“Let’s pack lots of sandwiches,” Benny suggested. “Detective work always makes me hungry.”

This made Henry laugh. “Everything makes you hungry, Benny!” He put a loaf of bread, some cold cuts, lettuce, and mustard on the counter.

“We’re supposed to find something weird at Potter’s Creek,” Violet said, as she washed the lettuce. “I wonder what we’ll find.”

Henry shrugged. “Could be anything.”

“It’s strange how we figured out the last clue,” Violet added.

“What do you mean, Violet?” Jessie wondered.

“Well, we never did make sense of those alphabet letters.”

“Now that you mention it, Violet,” said Henry, “I guess we didn’t.” He took some apples from the refrigerator.

“We found the hopscotch clue without them,” Benny said proudly. “And that means we’re very good detectives.”

Violet frowned. She wasn’t so sure that’s what it meant. She didn’t like leaving any loose ends.

After cleaning up the kitchen, the children loaded their picnic lunch into Jessie’s backpack and set off for Potter’s Creek on their bicycles.

“I’m glad I brought my camera,” Violet said as she rode along. “It’s so beautiful out here in the country.” Photography was one of Violet’s hobbies. She often took her camera along when the Aldens went on trips.

Jessie nodded. “I love the smell of the wildflowers.”

Benny, who was riding in front with Henry, suddenly called back, “There’s Potter’s Creek!”

Sure enough, they soon came to a creek winding its way across a clover meadow and under a narrow bridge. Henry propped his bike against a tree. So did the others.

Benny glanced all around. “I think Amber was right,” he said with a grin.

“About what?” Jessie asked him.

“About us leading the pack,” said Benny. “I don’t see anybody else looking for clues.”

“That’s true.” Jessie looked off into the distance. “We seem to be the only ones here.”

“So where do we start?” Violet asked, as they scrambled down to the creek.

“Let’s split up,” Jessie suggested in her practical way. “We can cover more ground that way.”

“Good idea,” said Henry. “If anybody sees anything, shout.”

Jessie and Benny checked along one side of the creek. Henry and Violet searched along the other. When they reached the woods, Jessie noticed Benny eyeing her backpack. She guessed what was coming next.

“You want something to eat,” she said. “Right, Benny?”

“Well, I am kind of hungry,” Benny said with a nod. Then he called out, “Anybody else ready to eat?”

“Count me in,” Henry shouted, giving his little brother the thumbs-up sign.

Violet snapped a few photos as they made themselves comfortable on the grassy bank. Jessie handed out the sandwiches while Henry opened the thermos.

“Uh-oh,” said Benny. “I think somebody’s watching us.” He was holding out his special cup as Henry poured the lemonade. It was the cracked pink cup he had found when they were living in the boxcar.

Benny was right. Somebody was standing on the bridge in the distance—watching them through binoculars! Then, as if realizing the Aldens were looking that way, the figure suddenly hurried away.

“I wonder who that was,” said Violet.

“I bet it was somebody else looking for a clue,” Henry said, as he unwrapped a ham sandwich.

“I’m sure you’re right, Henry,” said Jessie. She wasn’t really sure, but she didn’t want to alarm the younger children. She still couldn’t shake the feeling they were being followed.

“I guess we’re not ahead after all,” said Benny. He didn’t sound very happy.

“We still have the other side of the bridge to check out,” Violet said, trying to sound positive. “I have a feeling we’ll find a clue before too long.”

“Maybe,” Henry said. “But we might be on a wild-goose chase.”

Jessie agreed. “I’m been thinking the same thing, Henry.”

Violet had to admit it was possible. “This is a funny place to hide a clue,” she said. “In the middle of nowhere.”

“It’s not just that,” said Henry. “Potter’s Creek is outside of town.” He paused for a moment to let them think about it. “Debra Belmont said all the clues were hidden around Greenfield.”

“But the riddle said we’d find something weird at Potter’s Creek,” Benny reminded them.

Jessie frowned. “I have a hunch somebody planted a fake clue.”

“And we fell for it,” added Henry. “That’s the kicker.”

“You mean, somebody played a trick on us?” A frown crossed Benny’s round face as the idea began to sink in. “But … why?”

Jessie had an opinion about this. “To throw us off the track.”

“I guess somebody was afraid we’d beat them to the code word,” Henry concluded.

“Who would do something like that?” Benny wondered.

“You know,” said Violet, “I keep thinking about that boy on the skateboard.”

Jessie nodded. “It does seem like an awfully strange coincidence that he was at the Morningside playground.”

“Maybe he was tracking down clues,” Benny suggested. “Just like us.”

“I wish I could believe that,” Violet said. “But I don’t.”

“Neither do I,” said Henry. “I have a hunch he was the one who tore the page from Jessie’s notebook.”

“If he did,” Violet reasoned, “then he knew we were headed for the Morningside playground.”

Jessie bit her lip. “And when we went back to get my notebook—” she began.

“He had time to get to the playground and plant the fake clue,” finished Henry.

Jessie nodded as she poured lemonade into her cup. “Remember what he said when he was signing up for the race?”

“‘Does spelling count?’” Henry replied. “Those were his exact words.”

“That would explain the spelling mistake in the message,” said Jessie.

“That’s true,” said Henry. “But we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions until we have more evidence.”

Jessie had another thought. “The boy on the skateboard isn’t the only suspect.”

The others turned to her, puzzled.

“I think we should include Amber Madison on our list.”

Benny looked confused. “But Jessie, Amber isn’t even in the race.”

“That’s right,” Violet said with a nod. “She’s only in town to promote her book.”

“But she wants an radio interview so she can promote it,” Jessie pointed out. “She wasn’t very happy to be stuck on the Late Night show—but Mike Devlin will be interviewing the winner of the race on his daytime show.”

“So, if Amber wins,” said Violet, “she’ll get an interview with Mike. Is that what you’re saying, Jessie?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”

“You might be on to something, Jessie,” Henry said thoughtfully. “She could’ve heard us telling Debra about all the mysteries we’ve solved.”

“That would explain why she keeps pumping us for information,” Violet realized.

Benny crunched into an apple. “You think Amber planted the fake clue?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Jessie tossed the sandwich wrappers into her backpack. “I bet she was afraid we were close to finding the code word.”

Henry had something to add. “There’s one other person we should add to our list of suspects—Debra Belmont.”

“Debra Belmont?” said Jessie.

“You think Debra sent us on a wild-goose chase, Henry?” asked Violet.

“I don’t want to think she’d do something like that, Violet,” he told her. “But we have to consider everyone. And Mike Devlin told her to make sure a kid doesn’t win the race.”

Benny frowned. “But Debra was so nice to us.”

“I hear you, Benny,” said Henry. “But I don’t think we can rule her out as a suspect.”

“What are we going to do now?” Benny asked.

“I know what we’re not going to do,” said Henry. “We’re not going to give up.”