Mystery of the Stolen Snowboard Read online

  “I’m really happy,” Clayton said with a grin. “It was a fantastic morning!

  “I feel bad about Hyun,” he added. “But he’s younger than me. If he doesn’t make it this year, he can go to the training camp next year. They aren’t taking anyone older than fifteen, so this is my only chance.” He held up crossed fingers. “Let’s hope I do well in the next race!”

  “I drew a picture of you coming down the mountain.” Violet showed him her art. Clayton looked like a blur in the center of the white page. “It’s kind of messy,” she said, pointing to the lines she drew to show the wind off his orange helmet.

  “I love it,” Clayton said, taking the artwork. “Thanks.”

  Benny noticed Mercedes walking away from the chairlift with her pink snowboard. It was the first time he’d seen her since the race. He rushed over and stopped her.

  “You were very speedy today,” he said. “Good job.” He held out his bag of beef jerky. “I bet all that exercise made you hungry. Want a snack?”

  “No thanks. I’m a vegetarian.” Mercedes smiled at him, but her smile faded when a man approached. “My coach is coming,” she said with a groan.

  Her coach was tall. He towered over Benny, who barely reached the man’s waist. “Your start was slow,” the coach told Mercedes, stepping between her and Benny. “You could have shaved another second off your time at the third pole,” he said. “And what did I tell you about hanging around after a race?”

  He glared at Mercedes. “Do not speak to the competition,” the coach said before she could answer. “You shouldn’t talk to the friends of other athletes either,” he added. He pulled her away from Benny. “We need to prepare for the Snowboard Cross event. That race starts in two hours. You must have a bigger gap between you and Clayton. One second is too close.”

  As she followed her coach toward the hotel, Mercedes dropped her glove near Jessie. Jessie reached down to get it, but Mercedes got there first. As their heads were near each other, Mercedes whispered, “I have plans that my coach doesn’t know about.” She winked. “Big plans. You’ll see.”

  Jessie didn’t understand. “I—” she started, but Mercedes was already gone.

  “Forget about Mercedes,” Hyun told Jessie. “We rarely see her after a race and she never hangs out.” He took off his helmet. His brown hair was cut short. There was sweat from the early race on his forehead. “We’ll grab our boards and we can get a snack at the Coffee Hut.”

  While Hyun, Jasper, Patricia, and Clayton went to get their snowboards, Jessie, Henry, Violet, and Benny waited for them near the scoreboard.

  Suddenly they heard a boy shout, “No! No! No!” from near the chairlift. It sounded like Clayton.

  The Aldens ran over to see what was happening.

  “It’s gone!” Clayton said, pointing at three snowboards leaning on the wooden fence. “My snowboard is missing!”

  CHAPTER 3

  It’s a Mystery

  A small crowd gathered around the empty spot where Clayton’s board had been. Clayton was surrounded by the other snowboarders, the organizers of the snowboard competition, and the sheriff.

  Jessie, Henry, Benny, and Violet stood to the side, out of the way, discussing how they could help. The Aldens were good at solving mysteries. The minute Clayton discovered his snowboard was missing, Jessie had taken a journal and pen from her purse to record notes. Henry was looking for clues while Violet checked for footprints.

  Benny took Watch by the leash and told the dog, “Come on, boy. Sniff out the thief.”

  Watch looked up at Benny then sat down.

  “No scent to follow, huh?” Benny patted Watch on the head. “First you didn’t see the yeti. Now you can’t find the thief.” He bent down and stared directly into Watch’s eyes. “You feeling okay?”

  Watch popped up and licked Benny’s nose.

  “Ewww.” Benny wiped dog slobber off his face and said, “All right. You can rest now, but when you find something, you better start barking like crazy.”

  “Coming through…” A woman carrying a black snowboard pushed her way through the crowd to the fence. “Out of my way.” She reached Clayton and shoved the board toward him. “Here. Take this.”

  Clayton stared at the board for a long moment. “No, thank you.”

  “You don’t have any other options,” the lady said. “If you aren’t on the mountain when the race starts, they’ll run it without you.” She tapped her wristwatch. “You have less than two hours to get ready.”

  “I know the rules,” Clayton said with a sigh. He looked again at the snowboard the lady was offering. It was brand new. The dark paint glistened against the white snow and made the words painted on the front stand out like a billboard.

  Burger Bonanza.

  “Who is that?” Violet whispered to Jessie, nodding toward the lady. Jessie shrugged.

  Hyun was standing nearby and overheard Violet’s question.

  “That’s Laura Taylor. She owns the Burger Bonanza. Ms. Taylor is president of the Hidden Hills Elite Training Camp Committee. It was her idea to have the competition here. The deal she made with the developers was that they could put in as many hotels and ski slopes as they wanted, but she would own any new restaurants that opened in town. They’ll all have Bonanza in their names. Breakfast Bonanza. Bakery Bonanza…like that.”

  “Banana Bonanza, Brownie Bonanza, Broccoli Bonanza…” Benny’s eyes grew wide. “Bacon Bonanza!” He rubbed his belly.

  “Since she would own the only restaurants in town, she’d be rich,” Hyun said. “Richer, I mean. She’s already really rich.”

  When Hyun finished, Henry asked, “Why does she have a Burger Bonanza snowboard?”

  “She wants to sponsor the group at the training camp,” he replied. “We’d all wear the restaurant logo on our hats and jackets and boards.”

  “You’d be big, walking commercials,” Benny remarked.

  “Most athletes have sponsors,” Hyun explained. “Watch any sport and you’ll see the names of the companies that give the athletes shoes and equipment. Companies even buy the playing fields.”

  “Hmmm. Watching a commercial on TV or reading an advertisement in a magazine is okay.” Benny considered the idea of having a sponsor. “Even if I was really good at sports, I don’t think I’d want to be a commercial for a company.”

  “If we wear her clothing and use her snowboards, Ms. Taylor and Burger Bonanza will give us all free food,” Hyun said. “As much as we want.”

  “Well, then that settles it!” Benny said. “Free burgers and fries until my tummy is stuffed? Give me a Bonanza hat. I’ll wear it.”

  “You’re never stuffed.” Jessie laughed. “You can’t eat there all the time, Benny. It’s not very healthy.”

  “I could if it was yummy,” Benny said.

  “That’s the problem,” Hyun said. “Clayton doesn’t like Burger Bonanza.”

  Just then, the Aldens heard Clayton tell Ms. Taylor, “Your food is bad for people. Why would I let the kids who watch me snowboard think I enjoy eating there? There isn’t even a salad on your menu and the burgers have fried stuff all over them.” He shook his head. “I’d rather never snowboard again than ride your Burger Bonanza board.”

  “Have it your way,” Ms. Taylor huffed. “You are the only one here who refuses to have Burger Bonanza sponsor the group. The only one!” She glared at him. Anger made her cheeks red and puffy. “I hope you never find your snowboard.”

  Before Ms. Taylor even turned the corner, Jessie whipped out her notebook and wrote down Ms. Taylor’s name on a blank page. “We have our first suspect,” she said.

  “We actually have two suspects,” Violet said. She reminded Jessie about what had happened when they first came into town. “Mr. Fellows seems like the type of guy who will do anything to stop the training camp and town development. Maybe he took Clayton’s snowboard in order to end the competition.”

  “If he’s the thief, then he didn’t know the rule that they w
ill race without Clayton,” Henry said, rubbing his chin as he thought about Mr. Fellows.

  “Maybe he plans to take other boards too?” Violet said. “He seems really determined to stop the place from becoming Majestic Mountain.”

  Jessie wrote Mr. Fellows’s name in her notebook. “Two suspects.” She turned to a blank page. “Now we need some clues.”

  “Wait!” Benny said. “There’s another suspect.”

  “Who?” Jessie asked.

  “The yeti, of course,” Benny said.

  “Why would a yeti take Clayton’s snowboard?” Henry asked.

  Benny pointed to one of his small feet. “It’s obvious,” he said. “Walking with those big feet takes too long to get anywhere.”

  “I see your point…” Henry nodded, and Benny was very glad his brother understood.

  “Write down the yeti, please,” Benny told Jessie.

  Jessie turned back to the suspect’s page. She wrote yeti in thick letters so Benny could read them.

  “Thanks, Jessie,” Benny said with a small smile.

  “Three suspects,” Henry said. “Now we need some clues.”

  They all went to talk to Clayton.

  “We’re going to find your snowboard,” Benny told him.

  “I hope so.” Clayton was grateful for the help. “If I don’t race today, I’d have to come in first place tomorrow to make up for the lost points when they add all the scores together. If I can beat Mercedes at the half-pipe, I think I could still make the top four.”

  “I understand why you won’t use the Burger Bonanza board,” Jessie told him. “But why won’t you borrow someone else’s? Someone must have a snowboard they can lend you.”

  “Without Yellow Bessie, I can’t possibly win. She’s my good luck charm.” Clayton looked very sad. “Whoever stole her knew how important she is to me. I’ve used that same snowboard since my first lesson on the bunny slope.”

  “Don’t worry. We’ll find Bessie.” Henry put his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “The Aldens are on the case.”

  CHAPTER 4

  Plenty of Suspects

  “Can I borrow a piece of paper and a pen?” Violet asked Jessie. “I’ve already used all the pages in my sketch pad. I’ll need to get a new notebook when we get home.”

  “Here.” Jessie tore out a page from her notebook and gave Violet an extra pen.

  “Thanks.” Violet quickly drew the fence at the bottom of the big mountain where they’d last seen Clayton’s snowboard. Careful not to interrupt Violet’s work, Henry waited until she was finished then he took a close look at the fence.

  “There are no paint chips or scratch marks,” he reported before checking the snow. “And with so many people stomping their boots around here, if there were any unusual footprints, they are gone now.” He bent low to look at a smooth, broad marking. “There are also a lot of these snowboard tracks, but that’s not strange either. The competitors rode their boards all around this area.”

  Keeping his eyes on the ground, Henry walked slowly to the scoreboard. “We came this way to check the snowboarding scores.” He scanned the ground and the area all around. “Then we went back to the fence.” Henry shrugged. “No snowboard. No clues.”

  Violet added the mountain and the chairlift to her drawing of the area. “Maybe,” she suggested, “whoever took the snowboard jumped on the chairlift to get away.”

  Henry considered the idea. “That would explain how they disappeared so fast.”

  He rushed over to the chairlift operator. She was a young girl about Henry’s age.

  “Hi,” he said. “We’re trying to help Clayton Hollow find his missing snowboard. Were you working the chairlift when the snowboard was stolen?”

  “No,” the girl said, tucking her two long brown braids behind her ears. “I was taking a break at the Coffee Hut. The chairlift closed right after the race.”

  “No one went up or down?” Jessie asked, tapping her pen on her notebook. “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” she replied. “Tell Clayton I’m rooting for him to win a spot at camp. I hope he finds his snowboard.” In a low voice she added, “And I agree about Burger Bonanza. He’s right not to let Ms. Taylor bully him into representing them.” She stuck out her tongue. “The food there will clog your arteries and give you a heart attack.”

  “We’ll pass the message,” Henry said before they walked away. “He’ll be glad you’re a fan.”

  “Can we stop for a minute?” Benny asked when they’d taken only a few steps. “My toes are cold and I’m hungry.”

  Jessie checked her watch. “We don’t have much time before the next race begins.”

  “Maybe we can just get a new hot chocolate?” Benny asked, raising both eyebrows. “That wouldn’t take long. And it would be warm and delicious.”

  “Okay,” Jessie said. “A quick drink, then we’ll eat lunch after the race.”

  “Linner,” Benny corrected. “We’re already missing lunch, and it’ll be too early for dinner. So we can have linner.”

  “I think Grandfather would like to have linner with us,” Violet said. “We’re supposed to call him after the race.”

  “I love breakfast, brunch, lunch, and dinner. But linner is my favorite,” Benny said. “Oh and be-tack.”

  “Be-tack?” Henry asked.

  “Bedtime snack, of course,” Benny explained.

  Everyone laughed.

  They all hurried to the Coffee Hut. While Benny and Henry went inside to get the hot chocolate, Jessie and Violet stood outside.

  Violet shivered and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She had brought gloves but it was hard taking them off every time she wanted to draw something.

  Jessie had her hands in her pockets too. She blew out air and could see her breath.

  “Are you two cold?” Ms. Taylor asked as she came down the street. She was taking large footsteps and looked like she was in a hurry.

  “A little,” Violet answered.

  “If you lived here, you’d get used to it,” Ms. Taylor said. “I grew up in Hidden Hills. My great-grandfather was mayor of this town when the miners were here. He loved having all those extra people around town. He wanted the town to grow and become a little city in the mountains. I’m going to make his dream come true.” She looked up at the sign for the Coffee Hut. The shop was open all night. Twenty-four hours was written in big black letters on the window. “When I get all the different winter sports camps to come here, I’m going to buy this shop. It’ll be called Coffee Bean Bonanza.”

  Just as she said that, the door to the coffee shop flung open and Ralph Fellows rushed into the street. “Get off my sidewalk!” he shouted at Ms. Taylor. “You’re going to ruin this town.”

  “You’re the one ruining everything!” She leaned in, very close to his face. “And it’s not your sidewalk!”

  “It’s the sidewalk right in front of my coffee shop,” he said. “That makes it mine.” Mr. Fellows clamped his fingers into a tight fist.

  “Should we call the sheriff?” Violet asked Jessie in a whisper. “I think they’re about to get in a fight.”

  Jessie was preparing to run to the police station when Ms. Taylor straightened up and stepped away. “I know that you didn’t get arrested for the mess you made when you threw paint on the development plans,” she told Mr. Fellows. “I heard that you promised not to destroy anything else at the hotel so the sheriff let you go.” She continued, “When I own this shop, you’ll be banned from the store and the sidewalk. I’ll make sure if you step foot on this cement, you’ll get arrested and never be set free!”

  Ms. Taylor turned to Jessie and Violet. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I need to go to work. Lunchtime at Burger Bonanza is the busiest time of the day.”

  When Ms. Taylor was gone, Mr. Fellows spun around and went back into the Coffee Hut. The door slammed behind him.

  “That was intense,” Jessie said to Violet. “They really don’t like each other.”

&
nbsp; “They have very different ideas of how life should be in Hidden Hills,” Violet agreed. “I can see both sides. It would be good to have more restaurants and shops and the elite training camp, but the town is also nice just the way it is.”

  “Unfortunately, Clayton and his snowboard might have been caught in the middle of their feud,” Jessie said.

  The door to the coffee shop opened and Benny and Henry hurried out. Benny had his hot chocolate and Henry brought a few granola bars to share.

  “Treats!” Benny cheered as he gave the girls each one of the nature bars.

  “The second snowboarding race is going to begin,” Henry said, tossing out his wrapper. “I’m disappointed that Clayton can’t compete, but I think we should watch anyway. Maybe we’ll find a clue. We have to solve this mystery by tomorrow morning.”

  The viewing area was packed with people. Benny squeezed his way through the crowd to the front where he could see everything.

  Coach McNaught stood near Benny for a few minutes. He was a big and strong-looking man, and Henry could easily see how he’d won so many competitions when he was younger. Clayton had said he was one of the best coaches in the world. Henry could tell the coach really wanted Mercedes to win not only today’s race but the whole competition. His face was determined and his eyes focused on her at the mountaintop as she waited at the starting gate.

  Clayton was standing a little ways off by the finish line. He looked very sad.

  Over a loudspeaker, an announcer said the racers were ready for the snowboard cross.

  In anticipation, the crowd stood up from their seats. Coach McNaught left the stands. Henry went to stand in his spot. The buzzer went off and the four competitors began to board downhill together.

  For the snowboard cross, the boarders had to come down the steepest part of the mountain, leaping over several small jumps and navigating narrow turns and deep dips while trying to stay balanced and avoid crashing into each other. It was a tough race.

  Henry thought that Coach McNaught had no reason to worry. From the very beginning, it was clear that in this race, Mercedes would be first. Her form was amazing. She was fast and beautiful to watch.