The Black Widow Spider Mystery (7 page)

“I guess it's the scientific name for black widow spiders,” Jessie said. “But it's also one of the words …”

“Written on a tag in the Blackwell's atlas!” cried Violet.

Jessie was unzipping her backpack. She pulled out the piece of paper she'd tucked in there earlier.
“Lactrodectus hesperus, Lactrodectus mactans.
” Jessie looked back at the spider book. She read aloud, “‘The species
Lactrodectus hesperus
is found in the Western United States, while
Lactrodectus mactans
is common to the Eastern and Central United States.'”

“So that's why they had those tags stuck on the maps — different kinds of spiders live in different places,” said Violet.

“Why would the Blackwells label where spiders live in their atlas?” asked Henry. “That's a pretty weird hobby.”

“Unless they use spider code names for their spy missions!” said Benny.

The others shrugged, still unsure.

“I'm just glad we figured out what those strange words are,” Violet said.

“And now I see why they weren't in the dictionary — they're scientific terms,” said Jessie.

Henry brought the spider book to the checkout counter. He wanted to take it home to read more. When the librarian saw the book she said, “If you're interested in spiders, you should visit the new exhibit at the Greenfield Museum.” She pointed to a flyer tacked onto the bulletin board.
SPIDERS AND OTHER ARACHNIDS
, the flyer read.
STARTS TUESDAY AT THE GREENFIELD MUSEUM
.
PET A TARANTULA
.
HOLD A SCORPION
.
LEARN HOW SPIDERS WEAVE THEIR WEBS
.

“Look, you guys,” said Henry, pointing to the flyer. “A spider exhibit at the Greenfield Museum.”

Benny smiled. “Let's check it out!”

“It starts tomorrow,” Jessie said.

“Then that's when we'll go!” said Henry. The Aldens headed out the door of the library toward the bike rack where they had left their bikes.

The Aldens were peddling down their street when they saw two men coming out of the Blackwells' house. Henry, who was leading the way, slowed his bike to a stop. His brother and sisters braked behind him. “Look,” Henry said softly. “Isn't that Joe Toll, the guy with the map that wasn't a map?”

Violet nodded. “I think so,” she whispered. “And look who he's with!”

Benny's eyes widened in amazement. “That's the guy from the SPIDER2 car!”

The Aldens watched silently as the two men walked down the driveway. Both men looked unhappy, as if something bad had just happened.

“I can't believe they weren't interested,” the man from the car was saying. “Not for any amount of money.”

“That's not true,” said Joe. “They said they'd think about our offer. I think we can convince them.”

The men had reached the Blackwells' spider gate. They hadn't noticed the Aldens across the street. As the men walked away from the children, toward their car, Henry caught a glimpse of the back of Joe's jacket.

His jaw dropped open.

“What is it?” Violet asked.

“Joe's jacket,” Henry said softly.

The others looked to see what had shocked Henry. Sewn into the back of the man's jacket was a picture of a scary-looking spider. Above it were the words,
BEWARE THE SPIDER'S BITE
.

CHAPTER 7

The Bracelet

“W
eird,” said Violet. “That can't be just a coincidence.”

“We
have
been seeing a lot of spiders lately,” said Benny.

“How could I forget,” Jessie said, rubbing her back.

“Besides the ones on your back and Joe's back, there's the design on the Blackwells' gate,” Violet said.

“And the one I saw in the glass case,” Benny added.

“And the red hourglass symbol on the boxes,” Violet said.

Henry had been silent while the others were talking.

“Henry, what are you thinking about?” Violet asked him.

Henry was startled out of his thoughts. “What?”

Violet smiled. “I asked what you were thinking about.”

“Oh — I don't know. The words on Joe's jacket, ‘Beware the Spider's Bite.' That sounds so familiar,” Henry explained.

“Really? Why?” asked Jessie.

Henry shook his head. “That's what I've been thinking about. I can't remember.”

“What do you think those guys were doing at the Blackwells' house?” asked Benny.

“I don't know, but they didn't look happy,” said Violet.

“They said they made the Blackwells some sort of ‘offer,' which the Blackwells refused,” Jessie recalled. “Joe said he thought he could convince them.”

“That must be why Joe had the Blackwells' name on that piece of paper we found,” Violet said. “He was planning to go talk to them about something.”

“Maybe Joe and his friend are trying to get the Blackwells to do some sort of spy mission,” suggested Benny.

“Or a private investigation,” said Violet.

“Joe told us before that he's interested in the Blackwells' spider gate,” Henry reminded them. “But there must be more to it than that, since we've seen both Joe and his friend watching the house.”

“So what
is
going on?” Benny demanded.

“I don't know yet,” said Jessie, “but I think we're close to figuring it out.”

That night before bed, Henry peeked out his bedroom window. He was curious to see if Mr. Blackwell's light would be on again. The windows of the Blackwell house were dark, but Henry spotted something even stranger. Bright flashes of light were coming from the Blackwells' yard.

“What is that?” Henry said quietly to himself. The flashes were too bright to come from lightning bugs and too small to be real lightning. Henry thought they could have come from a strong flashlight, but why would someone be turning the flashlight on and off like that? Henry looked for flashes in the other neighbors' yards, but they only came from near the Blackwells' house.

Henry sat up, watching. Eventually the flashes stopped and Henry went back to bed.

The next morning over breakfast, Henry told the others what he'd seen. “Flashes?” asked Violet. “Like lightning?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “But it wasn't lightning.”

“If there had been a thunderstorm last night, I'd have known,” said Benny. “I love thunder and lightning!”

“Come on, you guys,” said Jessie. “I want to get to the museum to see what we can learn about spiders. Maybe we'll see something there that will help us figure out all these weird things that are going on.”

“We should stop by and let Mrs. Blackwell know we won't be coming today,” Violet said. “At least not until later.”

The Aldens finished their cereal and put the bowls and spoons in the dishwasher. Then they got on their bikes. After they stopped at the Blackwells' house they were going to ride to the museum.

As they pedaled down the street, Benny said, “Not again!”

“What is it?” asked Violet

“That man is there again, Joe's friend. He's in front of the Blackwells' house,” Benny said.

The others looked. Sure enough, the man was standing on the sidewalk facing the house, holding his hands up in front of his face. “What's he doing?” Henry wondered.

Jessie figured it out. “He's taking pictures! He's got a camera.”

“You're right, Jessie!” said Violet. “Let's go talk to him to find out why.”

Before they could reach him, the man tucked the camera into his jacket. He got into his car, which was parked at the curb. Then he sped off.

“You know, maybe that's what I saw last night,” Henry said. “Maybe those flashes were from a camera!”

“You think that man was taking pictures in the Blackwells' yard at night?” Violet asked.

“I don't know,” said Henry. “I don't know why he's taking pictures at all.”

“I think we should tell the Blackwells,” said Jessie. “I wouldn't want someone taking pictures of our house without our knowing. Who knows what he's up to.”

“I agree,” said Henry.

The children were turning into the Blackwells' driveway when Benny called, “Watch out!” A long, black limousine was coming down the driveway. The Aldens stopped just in time.

As the limo drove past, the children tried to see who was inside. There was a driver in front wearing a cap. But the back windows were tinted, making it impossible to see who, if anyone, was in the back.

The limo pulled out into the street, and the Aldens stood watching it for a moment.

“It's weird that the people inside can see us, but we can't see them,” Violet said.

“I can't believe someone here in Greenfield drives around in a limo,” said Jessie, “like a movie star.”

“Or a top-secret spy,” said Benny.

As usual, Mrs. Blackwell opened the door as soon as the children reached the front step.

“Hi,” said Jessie. “Is it okay if we take the morning off today? We want to check out this spider exhibit we read about.”

A strange look passed across Mrs. Blackwell's face.

“Would you like to go to the exhibit with us?” Henry asked.

“No,” said Mrs. Blackwell, a little too quickly. Then she smiled. “That's fine — you've been working hard the last couple of days.”

Henry looked thoughtful but said nothing.

“Mrs. Blackwell,” said Jessie, “as we were walking here, we saw a man taking pictures of your house.”

“You did?” Mrs. Blackwell said. She looked surprised.

“Yes, and we think he was here yesterday, with another man,” Violet said.

“Oh, him,” Mrs. Blackwell said. “He was taking pictures?”

“Yes,” said Henry. “I think he might have been taking pictures last night, too. I saw some flashes of light in your backyard.”

Mrs. Blackwell raised her eyebrows. “You don't miss anything, do you?”

Benny looked proud. “No, we don't. We like mysteries and we're good at finding clues. We haven't found a mystery yet we couldn't solve.”

Mrs. Blackwell smiled, as if she had a secret. “I see,” she said.

“So are you going to do something about the man taking pictures?” Jessie asked.

“Don't worry about him,” said Mrs. Blackwell. “Have fun at the museum!”

“We'll come by tomorrow to see what you need done,” Henry offered, turning to go.

“Great,” said Mrs. Blackwell. As the children stepped back outside, Mrs. Blackwell put her hand on the door to shut it behind them. As she lifted her arm, a thin gold bracelet slipped down her wrist and glinted in the sunlight. The bracelet held a single charm. Before she shut the door, the children caught a quick glimpse of the charm. It was a red hourglass.

CHAPTER 8

The Black Limousine

W
hen the Aldens arrived at the museum, they were greeted by a large yellow banner hanging in front. Tall red letters on the banner spelled
SPIDERS AND OTHER ARACHNIDS
. Below the words was a picture of a giant spider.

“Here we are,” said Henry. The Aldens parked their bikes and walked up the front steps.

Inside, the children asked the woman at the information desk where the spider exhibit was. “In there,” she said, pointing to the main exhibit hall. The hall looked more crowded than the Aldens had ever seen it.

“This is the biggest exhibit we've had in a long time,” the woman said.

“Really?” said Jessie.

“I had no idea it would be so popular,” said the woman. “It just opened this morning and we've already had more people than some other exhibits draw in a whole week.”

“I guess people are really interested in spiders,” said Henry.

The Aldens entered the exhibit hall. Right in front of them was a model of a giant spider in a very realistic web.

“Wow!” said Benny.

“It's like something from a horror movie!” said Jessie.

“Of course!” said Henry, hitting his forehead with his palm. “A movie!
Beware the Spider's Bite
!”

The others looked at him strangely.

“Joe's jacket,” Henry explained. “I knew it sounded familiar. Now I remember —
Beware the Spider's Bite
is a movie title. I saw posters for it last summer.”

“I wonder why Joe has that jacket,” said Violet.

“He must have really liked the movie,” said Benny.

“I don't know,” Henry said. “That jacket looked pretty special. I wonder if he actually worked on the movie — you know, helped to make it.”

But Benny was no longer listening. He had just spotted something at the back of the exhibit hall. “Cool! There's a web back there you can climb on!” cried Benny, heading that way.

The others went off in different directions to see whatever interested them. Violet wanted to see the photographs of spiders that lined the walls. Jessie headed toward a diagram of a spider with labels identifying its different body parts. Next to the diagram there were models of spiderwebs and other kinds of spider traps. Henry studied some large maps showing which spiders came from which parts of the world.