Mystery of the Empty Safe (6 page)

Cassandra asked the boy to write his name and favorite ice cream flavor on a piece of paper. She took the paper from him.

Everyone was very surprised by what she did next. She tore up the paper into little pieces and dropped them into her hat. Then she waved her hand over the hat and pulled out—a whole sheet of paper. The paper wasn’t even crumpled. When Cassandra turned the hat upside down, there was nothing else inside—no torn scraps. Next Cassandra held up the paper and read from it. “Mint chocolate chip,” she said. “Is that your favorite kind of ice cream?”

The boy nodded.

“And your name is Kevin?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes,” said Kevin, obviously amazed. “But you just tore up what I wrote. How did you …?”

“That’s my secret,” Cassandra said, sending Kevin back down to his seat. “And now we’re going to take a short break. But make sure you’re back in your seats for the second half of the show!” The audience began clapping, and Cassandra smiled and curtsied before the curtain fell.

“That was great!” Benny said as the lights came back on.

“It sure was,” Henry agreed.

“She seems so nice,” said Violet. “It’s hard to believe she said all those mean things and might be trying to run us out of business.”

“You’re right,” said Jessie. “She doesn’t sound anything like she did yesterday at Party Time.”

“How about some Cokes?” Grandfather suggested. They all walked out to the lobby and enjoyed drinks and popcorn before returning to their seats.

The second half was even more exciting than the first. Cassandra was now wearing a sparkly red outfit with a matching red top hat. She took a live dove from her top hat and placed both dove and hat on the little round table, where the dove settled comfortably on the brim of the top hat among the silk scarves and flowers. Then she blew up some long thin balloons and twisted them into animal shapes—a dog, a bird, a monkey in a tree. She threw the first two balloon animals to eager children in the audience. But the monkey she put under her cape—and when she lifted her cape, it was gone. She did several more tricks and then paused and spoke dramatically. “I need three volunteers for my last and most amazing trick,” Cassandra said.

“Pick me, pick me!” Benny whispered under his breath as he reached his arm up as high as he could.

“You in the blue jacket,” Cassandra said, pointing right at Benny, “and the girls on either side of you.”

Benny, Jessie, and Violet turned around to make sure she was really pointing at them. “Us?” Benny asked.

“Yes,” Cassandra said with a smile, “you three.”

“Go on!” Henry said, patting each of them on the back as they slid down the row of seats and walked up the aisle to the stage.

“What are your names?” Cassandra asked Benny.

They each said their names in turn.

Cassandra seemed surprised. She paused for a minute. “Did you say
Alden?”
she asked.

“Yes,” Benny said.

Then Cassandra recovered from her surprise. “Well, do you see this big box behind us that’s covered by a cloth?”

“Yes,” they answered.

“Benny, Violet, go pull the cloth off,” Cassandra said.

They did as they were told. Underneath the cloth was no ordinary box. It was a safe.

“This trick is called the Mystery of the Empty Safe,” Cassandra said. “Jessie, will you hand me what’s inside the safe?” Jessie opened the door to the safe, which was not locked. Inside was a large bag with a dollar sign on the front. She lifted out the bag and gave it to Cassandra. It was quite heavy.

“What’s inside?” Cassandra asked, holding out the bag so Jessie could put her hand in.

Jessie reached in and pulled out some gold coins. “Looks like gold,” she said.

“Ah, money,” Cassandra said, her eyes lighting up. “Now, Violet and Benny, look inside the safe and tell me if you see anything else.”

“No,” Benny said after he’d looked.

“Just an empty safe,” said Violet.

“Now, all of you, feel the safe—try to move it. Is it heavy? Does it feel solid, like a real safe?” Cassandra asked.

Benny, Jessie, and Violet banged on the safe with their hands, tried to push it, and walked all around it, inspecting it closely.

“It feels very solid,” said Jessie.

“Put the money bag back inside, please, Jessie,” Cassandra instructed.

Again Jessie did as she asked. Then Cassandra shut the door of the safe and turned the lock on the front. “Now, each of you see if you can open the safe.”

Benny Jessie, and Violet each tried pulling the door open, but it was locked shut. Benny even tried turning the lock, but the door still wouldn’t open.

“I bet I can open it,” Cassandra said. She stepped in front of Benny and waved her hand over the safe. Then she knocked two times on the top of the safe, stepped back, and the door swung open by itself. Inside, the safe was empty.

The audience gasped and then began applauding. Jessie, Violet, and Benny smiled in surprise. Cassandra bowed deeply, and then showed the Alden children off the stage. Cassandra bowed one more time, the curtain fell, and the show was over.

Grandfather was standing up, putting on his coat and wrapping his scarf around his throat, when he noticed that none of his grandchildren were ready to go. They were all staring at the curtained stage, looking amazed and confused.

“Can you believe that last trick she did?” Jessie said at last.

“Wasn’t that wonderful?” said James Alden. “I’ll never guess how she did it.”

“That’s not what Jessie means,” Henry said. “That trick was … well, it’s exactly what’s happened to the two families we’ve given parties for. At the end of the parties their safes are empty.”

“Well, isn’t that a funny coincidence,” Grandfather said.

“If it
is
just a coincidence,” Henry said.

“What do you mean?” their grandfather asked.

“I think we’d better tell you about this in the car,” Jessie said. She and the others quickly put on their coats, hats, and mittens. Once they were in the car, Jessie told Grandfather about their torn posters, which had been replaced by Cassandra’s posters, and about the angry phone call Cassandra had made to Mr. Grayson. They also told him about the conversation they’d overheard in Party Time. “We’ve been wondering if we’re the ones she was talking about—if she’s mad at us for taking away some of her birthday party business. We’re afraid she’s trying to get rid of us—or at least our party business. And now that empty safe trick really makes me wonder …”

“You don’t think she robbed those two families, do you?” Grandfather asked.

“I can’t believe she’d really do that,” said Henry. “And yet …”

“She’s such a successful magician,” Mr. Alden said. “Why would she risk committing crimes to make money, when she does so well with her magic shows?”

“Yes, but not with her birthday party business, and she said that was a big part of her income. Anyway, maybe she didn’t rob the safes for the money,” Jessie offered. “Maybe she just did it as a prank, because she was mad at the families that used us for their parties.”

“That’s a pretty dangerous prank,” Henry said.

“Yes, it is,” Jessie agreed.

“I noticed something else,” said Violet, who’d been quiet since the show ended. “Remember when we went up on stage and Cassandra asked our names? Did anyone notice something strange about her reaction?”

“Yes, I’d forgotten, but I did notice that,” said Benny. “When we told her, she looked surprised. She said, ‘Did you say
Alden?’
as if she’d heard our name before.”

“That would make sense if she knows about our birthday party service,” said Jessie.

“Maybe Cassandra isn’t to blame at all,” said Henry. “Maybe it’s her manager using her party service as a cover for his own burglaries.”

“You kids and your mysteries,” said Grandfather. “I agree that there have been some strange coincidences happening lately, but I hope you’re not going to jump to any conclusions about Cassandra.”

“Don’t worry, Grandfather, we won’t,” Henry assured him. “But we’re not going to rest until we’ve solved this.”

That weekend was Sara’s birthday party. The day before, the Aldens went to her house to bake the cake and put together the last of the games. Sara had wanted to help and her mother offered their big kitchen.

“So what kind of cake do you want?” Jessie asked Sara.

“Chocolate!” Sara said without pausing for a moment. “A chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.”

“That’s a lot of chocolate!” said Benny.

But he was excited because he loved chocolate, too.

Henry came up with the idea of making the cake in the shape of a rocket ship. “We’ll decorate it with candy and marshmallows to look like a real rocket.”

“And remember those little plastic astronauts we bought at Party Time?” Violet recalled. “We can attach some of those to the cake with long strings of licorice, so it looks like they’re floating outside the spaceship.”

Jessie had borrowed a cookbook from Mrs. McGregor, and Benny searched the dessert section for a good recipe.

“Use this one. Mrs. McGregor has made it a lot of times,” Benny commented.

“How can you tell?” Sara wondered.

“Look at all the grease spots and chocolate stains on this page,” he said, pointing.

Everyone laughed. “You’re right, Benny. This is probably the chocolate cake she always makes for Grandfather’s birthday,” said Henry. “It’s great!”

Jessie wrote the ingredients down on a small sheet of paper and stuffed it into her pocket. Then the children all set off for the grocery store.

After they bought everything they needed, Sara and the Aldens returned to Sara’s house and got to work. They went straight to the kitchen, where they unloaded all the groceries and put on aprons.

While the cake was baking, the children made the chocolate icing by beating together butter, powdered sugar, and melted chocolate. Then they cleaned up, putting away all the unused supplies, washing the bowls and measuring spoons and cups, and wiping the counters with a sponge.

Ding!
At last the timer went off, telling them the cake was ready.

After the cake had cooled, Henry carefully cut it in the shape of a rocket. Benny and Sara eagerly gobbled up the extra bits. “Yum! This is almost as good as when Mrs. McGregor makes it!” said Benny.

While Benny and Sara were licking their chocolaty fingers, the older children frosted the cake and decorated it.

“Wow!” said Sara when she saw what they’d done. “I love it!”

“Now we’d better finish making the games,” said Jessie.

“What’s left to do?” asked Sara.

“Remember that big box we brought over here the other day?” Jessie asked. “We’ve got to turn that into a rocket for you and your friends to ride in.”

“How are we going to do that?” Sara asked.

“You’ll see,” said Violet.

Sara led the way out to the garage, where they’d stored the large box.

“It’s such a beautiful day, we can work on it outside in your driveway,” Jessie suggested.

“That way we won’t have to worry about dripping paint and making my father mad!” Sara said.

The box had held a large television set, so it was big enough for two children to sit inside. Jessie and Henry cut large windows on the sides of the box and covered them with black paper. Then they decorated the outside of the box with an American flag and made panels of buttons and knobs and dials and switches on the inside.

They’d been working for a while when Jessie noticed that Violet wasn’t helping. She was just looking off into the woods beyond Sara’s house.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked her sister.

Violet didn’t answer.

“Violet?” Jessie said again.

“Oh!” Violet seemed startled. She looked around at the other children, who were all hard at work on the rocket ship. She motioned to Jessie, and the two girls moved a little bit away from the rest of the group. Then Violet began speaking quietly. “I saw someone in the woods out there watching us. A man. I saw him a few times—but it seemed as if every time I’d get a good look at him he’d see me and hide. Then he’d show up in a different spot.”

“Was it Mr. Woodruff?” Jessie asked.

Violet thought for a moment. “It might have been. It’s so dark in those trees that it was hard to tell for sure.”

“Or maybe it was Cassandra’s manager,”

Jessie suggested. “I don’t know what he looks like—I only know his voice, from the party store.”