Mystery in the Mall (5 page)

Jessie put down the phone. Her heart was pounding, but she tried not to let Benny see how nervous she was. “The person hung up.”

The two children stood at the counter wondering what to do next. Suddenly a beam of light crisscrossed the store. Benny and Jessie ran to the front door.

“It’s Janet!” Benny cried.

Janet unlocked the door and stepped inside. When she saw the two Aldens standing there, she jumped back. “How did you get in here?”

“I think you locked us in by mistake,” Jessie explained. “We thought you were in the storeroom before, so we went back there. That must have been when you locked up. I’m sorry for all the confusion. Why did you come back?”

Janet didn’t answer.

“Well, again, I’m sorry,” Jessie went on. “I’m just glad you did return. I guess we’ll go now.”

Benny and Jessie slipped through the half-opened doors. The mall was deserted now. Hand in hand, Benny and Jessie walked quickly to the front exit door downstairs.

A security man waved them out. “Come on, now. The stores are closed. Out you go.”

Violet and Henry ran over, glad to see their brother and sister after the long wait.

“We almost gave up,” Henry said. “What happened, anyway? You two are the last ones out.”

But they were not the last ones out. Looking down on the Aldens from the top level of the glass balcony were two people who didn’t seem in any hurry to leave.

As soon as they arrived at Penny’s Emporium the next morning, the Aldens heard popcorn popping. Penny stood at the cash register, ringing up a sale. When Janet saw the Aldens, she disappeared into the storeroom.

“I must say, she spends more time back there than out in the store sometimes,” Penny told the Aldens. “Well, I’m glad you Aldens are here to lend a few hands again. I’m off to visit some of my suppliers today.”

“What would you like us to do?” Jessie asked.

“You and Violet can stock the pushcart with some souvenir snow globes of Hope Harbor. People love those. Hap offered to bring up some shipments from the warehouse, but I’d rather send Henry down instead. Every time I turn around, Hap Merchant is in my way! As for Benny, he’s my caramel corn man. I just made a batch that he can scoop into the boxes. If anybody comes in for pirate pictures, both boys can do that. See you in a few hours.”

After Penny left, Jessie and Violet knocked on the storeroom door. They found Janet shaking the plastic snow globes and staring into each one.

“Penny said for us to put some of those out on the pushcart,” Violet said, picking up one of the snow globes.

Janet looked cross. “Put that down. They’re not ready to be sold yet. I have to check them first. Take some of those carved wooden boxes for the pushcart instead.”

Jessie and Violet looked at each other.

Finally Jessie spoke up. “But ... but Penny said—”

“Never mind what Penny said,” Janet interrupted. “I’ll explain to her about these later. Take the wooden boxes.”

Jessie and Violet obeyed. Quietly they stocked the pushcart with wooden boxes, some souvenir pot holders, and some gift mugs. They pushed the cart into the mall area.

“I wonder why she was staring into all those snow globes,” Violet said to Jessie.

Jessie sighed. “It doesn’t matter. It’s not worth arguing with Janet.”

The girls were soon too busy to think about Janet. Inside the store, Benny filled up caramel corn boxes. When he was done, he went over to help Henry with the pirate photos.

“Go back and ask Janet to give you some film from the storeroom. There’s none left here,” Henry told Benny.

Janet didn’t like being interrupted. “What are you doing here?” she asked Benny when he entered the storeroom. “I thought Penny wanted you to fill up the popcorn boxes.”

Benny gulped. He never seemed to say the right thing around this young woman. “I finished that already. Henry said to ask you something.” He took a deep breath but no words came out.

Janet shoved some boxes onto a shelf. “Well, what do you want? I’m very busy.”

“Henry says he needs film,” Benny said quickly. “There’s no more in the camera.”

“Well, tell him he’ll have to go to Fast Photo to pick up some more film.”

At that moment, the back door to the storeroom opened. The young crewman from the docks stood there looking at Benny, then at Janet.

“I ... uh ... guess I came in the wrong way again,” the young man said. “I’ll go around and come in the front way.”

Janet stood up. “Never mind. You can go through here.”

The crewman stepped over the boxes in the storeroom. Janet and Benny trailed after him into the shop.

Janet went straight over to Henry. “I need the four of you to run errands for me. First, get some film from Fast Photo. Just charge it to the shop.”

Jessie decided to speak up. “Are you sure all four of us have to go, Janet? Penny asked us to help sell things from the pushcart. You’ll be the only one in the store.”

Janet put her hands on her hips. “I’ve done it before. In fact, covering the shop by myself is easier than supervising new people. If you really want to help out, then please pick up what I need.” With that, Janet turned away from the children.

“Those two seem to know each other,” Violet whispered to Jessie, “but they act like strangers when we’re around.”

“Know what?” Benny asked, whispering. “That man came in the storeroom again by mistake.”

“I noticed that,” Jessie said. “Customers aren’t supposed to use the back entrance. I wonder how he got in. You need a key to the back staircase.”

When Janet saw the children whispering, she came over to them again. “If all you’re doing is standing around talking, then do it during the errands I asked you to do.”

“First, I’m going down to the warehouse to pick up those boxes Penny told me about,” Henry said.

“What boxes?” Janet demanded.

“Hap told Penny there were deliveries for the shop that arrived,” Henry explained. “I was going to pick them up now, then go on your errands.”

Janet wasn’t having any of this. “I’m afraid my errands are more urgent. I’ll make other arrangements for someone to pick up those boxes. Now, all of you, please get going.”

“Whew, I wish people would make up their minds,” Henry said after the children left the store. “Penny tells us one thing, then when she’s gone, Janet wants something else.”

Jessie frowned. “You know what I’ve noticed? Janet never wants Henry to pick up shipments when she’s around.”

Henry shrugged. “Well, she’s in charge whenever Penny’s gone, so I guess we should do what she says.”

Before he left with Henry and his sisters, Benny remembered something. “Well, I’m bringing my monkey with me. I don’t want to leave it here anymore.”

Benny went to fetch his monkey from under the counter.

“I thought you left,” Janet said.

Benny scooted past the young woman. “I forgot something.”

Jessie followed Benny behind the counter. Bending down, Jessie slid her hand back and forth over the shelf where she and Benny had hidden the bag. “Benny, you didn’t move the bag this morning, did you?”

Now Benny scooted behind the counter. “Don’t worry, Jessie. It’s behind a box. I know it’s there. I’ll get it.”

But when Benny moved the box, he discovered the space behind it was totally empty.

“Well, don’t look at me. I don’t know why you leave things lying around if they’re so important.” Janet thumbed through some sales slips as if nothing had happened. “Anyway I need you to do those errands if you’re going to be working tonight,” Janet said as she walked into the storeroom.

“Why don’t you and Benny stay here,” Henry suggested to Jessie, “while Violet and I do the errands. We’ll get back lickety-split to help you look for your monkey.”

After Violet and Henry left, Jessie and Benny searched Penny’s shop high and low. The only monkey they found was a little one hanging from a plastic tree.

“I know I put it under the counter,” Benny said. “It couldn’t just walk away.” Benny crinkled his forehead. “Penny told Mrs. Frye she likes it when I make people laugh with my monkey faces while Henry takes pirate pictures.”

“Which we can’t do until your brother and sister get back with the film, by the way,” Janet said as she approached Jessie. “Well, as long as you’re here, cover the shop for a while. You’ll have to hunt for Benny’s toy later. Right now, I have to pick up those shipments Penny mentioned.”

Several customers came into the store. There was no more time to be upset or to hunt for a lost coconut monkey.

About twenty minutes later, Janet returned.

Benny tiptoed over to the storeroom to see what she was up to. “Janet locked some boxes in the closet,” he whispered to Jessie when he returned. “What if it’s those coconuts Penny ordered?”

Jessie hated to see the disappointment on Benny’s face. “Maybe Penny can set aside one of them for you if yours doesn’t turn up. We’ll ask Penny about it when she gets back. I don’t want to bother Janet anymore.”

An hour later Violet and Henry returned.

“Did you find Benny’s lost monkey?” Violet asked.

Benny shook his head. “It’s missing, not lost. We put it under the counter. Now it’s not there.”

Then Benny had an idea. “You know how Henry threw out my monkey at the picnic area? Maybe this one got thrown out by mistake, too. Don’t some of the cleaning people come by after the store closes?”

The older children weren’t too sure about this. Still, it couldn’t hurt to look through the trash.

“I told Penny I’d take some empty cardboard boxes down to the recycling bins,” Henry said. “Right before closing time, why don’t we all go to the recycling area and search down there for Benny’s monkey.”

Penny called half an hour before closing time. “Penny says you can leave,” Janet told the children after she hung up the phone. “She was delayed and asked me to close up the shop.”

“Sure thing,” Henry said. “We’re going to the recycling room to dump all these empty cardboard boxes. Is that okay?”

Janet didn’t answer right away. “I guess so. I’ll help you out.”

“That’s okay. They’re easy to carry,” Henry said.

Janet followed the Aldens out anyway. She didn’t go back to the shop until the elevator doors closed.

When the elevator doors opened again, the Aldens stepped into the large, empty recycling room.

“Hello!” Henry yelled.

“Hello!” Henry’s voice echoed right back.

“It’s kind of creepy down here,” Benny said. “Can we look real fast, then go?”

“Let’s stick together,” Henry said. “We’ll dump these boxes into this cardboard recycling bin, then do a quick look around for your monkey.”

After the children dumped their boxes, Jessie pointed to another bin ahead. “Look, that one says ‘
P.E.
’ That must be where the paper trash from Penny’s Emporium goes.”

Henry and Jessie got to work. Both of them carefully lifted out sales slips, wrappings, and other kinds of paper. Jessie and Henry reached the bottom of the bin.

“There are lots of papers and empty bags, but no shopping bag with a coconut monkey inside,” Henry told Benny.

Jessie slowly put the wastepaper from Penny’s shop back into the bin again. The last bunch of papers she picked up was a thick stack of forms that looked clean and smooth.

“Hey, wait!” she said. “I don’t think these shipping orders belong here. Penny saves all of them to match up with the bills that come in with her shipments.”

Shipping orders in hand, the Aldens walked over to the elevator. They watched the floor numbers above the doors. None of them lit up.

“What’s wrong, Henry?” Benny asked. “How come it’s taking so long to come down here?”

“Maybe the freight elevator doesn’t run after the mall closes,” Henry said. “I didn’t realize it was so late. We’d better try the stairs.”

But when the children climbed the stairs, they found that all the doors leading to the mall were locked.

The stairwell was dark. Only the glow of the exit signs gave off any light at all.

“Hello! Hello!” Jessie called out.

“Hello! Hello!” her voice echoed back.