Mystery in New York Read online

  “He’s awfully cranky,” said Jessie in a low voice to the others.

  “Maybe he doesn’t like his job,” said Benny.

  “Maybe,” said Jessie. She glanced back through the heavy glass door. Mr. Leed was carefully spreading out a newspaper at his desk.

  “Come on. Let’s take Watch for a walk and explore a little,” said Henry.

  The Aldens walked to the corner and crossed the street at the crosswalk. They walked until they found an entrance in the low stone wall that bordered the park.

  When they got into the park, the noise of the traffic faded. But, reaching the circular drive that went around the inside of the park, they saw plenty of traffic — people traffic! People jogging, people biking, people roller-skating and blading with headphones on, people walking, and people riding in horse-drawn carriages. Vendors sold hot dogs, pretzels, ice cream, and sodas. On benches that lined the walks, more people read newspapers and books or ate lunch. Some people just sat back with their faces tipped up to the bright afternoon sun. One man was feeding bread to a flock of pigeons.

  “Woof!” Watch barked as they walked by. The flock of birds swirled quickly into the air and the man laughed and waved. The pigeons landed again almost immediately and went back to pecking at the bread the man scattered around his feet.

  “Where are the cars?” asked Benny.

  “According to the guidebook, cars aren’t allowed in the park during the middle of the day,” said Henry. “And not at all on weekends.”

  Benny nodded. “That’s a good idea,” he said. “That’s what I would do if I were mayor, except I’d make all the hot dogs and ice cream and pretzels free.”

  “You’d get my vote, then,” said Henry, and rumpled Benny’s hair.

  At a pond where ducks and swans swam, Watch stared intently, wagging his tail a little. But this time he didn’t bark.

  After they had been walking a little while, Benny pointed. “Look, Watch,” he said. “It’s a statue of a dog.”

  Ahead was a statue of a husky, his ears up, his tail curled over his back. “It must be a famous dog,” said Violet, “to have a statue.”

  They walked closer and read the inscription at the base.

  “What does it say?” asked Benny.

  “Balto,” said Henry. “That’s his name. It’s dedicated to the sled dog team that took medicine to a village in Alaska and saved everybody in a diphtheria epidemic in 1925.”

  “A hero,” said Violet. They looked up at the statue of the brave and noble dog.

  As they walked away, Benny leaned over to pet Watch. “Keep up the good work solving mysteries,” he whispered to the little dog. “Maybe one day you’ll have a statue of your very own back home in Greenfield.”

  “Oh, Benny,” said Henry. He grinned. “I don’t think we’re going to find any mysteries in New York City. Not on this visit.”

  But Henry was wrong, as they were all soon to find out.

  CHAPTER 3

  The Elizabeth Star

  Mr. Leed was at his desk turning the pages of a dictionary when the Aldens returned from their walk in the park with Watch. He didn’t get up to open the door and barely looked at them before picking up his pencil and going back to his crossword puzzle.

  “Hello, Mr. Leed,” said Jessie.

  “Mmm,” said Mr. Leed.

  The elevator door opened.

  “Look out!” cried Violet.

  The Aldens jumped left and right as five small black dogs with big black ears came charging out of the elevator, panting eagerly.

  “Whoa! Whoaaaa!” said the young woman holding on to their leashes. The dogs slowed down a little. Then one of them saw Watch and began to bark. The other four dogs began to bark, too.

  “Jim! Jack! Joe! Jill! Jinx! Be quiet!” the young woman scolded. She was a tall woman, with curly black hair, big blue eyes, and a faint scattering of freckles across her nose. She was wearing jeans, sneakers, and a gray sweatshirt that said CRITT’S CRITTERS. Crystal earrings sparkled, dangling from her ears, and another crystal hung on a silver chain around her neck.

  One of the dogs touched noses with Watch. He stopped barking. Soon all the other dogs had touched noses with Watch and had stopped barking, too. All six dogs began to wag their tails and make friends.

  “Cute dog,” said the young woman, leaning over to pet Watch.

  “Yours are cute, too,” said Violet. “What kind of dogs are they?”

  “Oh, they’re not my dogs,” said the young woman.

  “I know what kind of dogs they are,” said Jessie eagerly. “I remember from the Greenfield dog show: French bulldogs.”

  “Good guess,” said the young woman.

  Jessie beamed with pride.

  “And I know who you are,” said Henry. “Lydia Critt.”

  “Good guess again,” the young woman said, her eyes crinkling in a smile. “But who are you? Detectives?”

  “Yes, we are,” said Benny.

  Henry laughed and introduced everyone. “We’re staying with Mrs. Teague. She said we might meet you,” he told Lydia.

  “And you’re wearing a shirt that says “‘Critt’s Critters,’” Jessie pointed out.

  “That’s me,” Lydia said. “Dogwalker by day and actor by night. Only these days, the dog-walking business is better than the acting business.” Her hand went up to her neck and she touched the crystal hanging there. “But my luck is about to change. I know it is.”

  “How do you know?” asked Benny.

  “This crystal. It’s supposed to bring good luck,” she said, still touching it.

  The dogs began to pull on their leashes and bark. “Oops. I’ve got to go. See you later,” said Lydia, and she walked briskly out of the lobby.

  “Lunch is soup and salad on the terrace,” Mrs. Teague announced. “Mr. Evans is still working in the dining room.”

  The Aldens helped Mrs. Teague and Grandfather Alden set the small round table on the terrace, taking plates and silverware and food from the kitchen through the dining room.

  As they did, Benny said, “Hi, Mr. Evans! You’ve filled up some of the holes in the wall.”

  “Yes,” said Mr. Evans.

  “I could help you make more holes in the walls,” Benny offered hopefully.

  “No,” said Mr. Evans. “I don’t think so.” He looked as if he were trying not to smile.

  Behind Benny, Mrs. Teague laughed. “Why don’t you give Watch some fresh water and a dog biscuit from the jar on the kitchen counter, Benny.” To Mr. Evans she said, “But I will be able to use the dining room tonight, won’t I? We’re having a dinner guest.”

  Before Mrs. Teague could answer, Jessie said, “Is it Mr. Pound?”

  “Right. He called and told me about his invitation to you to see his famous diamond,” said Mrs. Teague. “He’s going to have dinner here and then take you up to see the Elizabeth Star.”

  “The dining room will be finished,” said Mr. Evans. “No problem.”

  “Great,” said Mrs. Teague.

  While they ate lunch, the Aldens told Grandfather and Mrs. Teague about their morning. Then Mrs. Teague told them about Mr. Pound’s plans. “He wants you to come up and get him before dinner,” she told the Aldens. “He’s going to be working at his office at home and he says he sometimes loses track of time. Truth is, he loves to see children. He never had any of his own. He’s been lonely since his wife died a few years ago.”

  “I’ll go up and get him,” Benny volunteered.

  “I’ll go with you,” Jessie said.

  “This evening’s plans sound very exciting,” Grandfather Alden said.

  “Yes,” agreed Benny. “Even if we don’t have a mystery to solve.”

  “Instead of a mystery, how about a museum?” suggested Grandfather. “The American Museum of Natural History isn’t far from here and it has everything from dinosaurs to whales.”

  “Let’s go!” said Benny.

  The Aldens spent the whole afternoon at the museum. Benny
liked the dinosaurs. Henry liked the Hall of Ocean Life, where a life-size copy of a blue whale was suspended from the ceiling. Jessie liked the four-billion-year-old meteorite on display in the Hall of Meteorites. “It says this is the largest meteorite to ever be found on the earth’s surface,” she said, reading from a small plaque nearby.

  Violet couldn’t decide which exhibit was her favorite. “I want to see everything before I make up my mind,” she declared.

  “You’d have to stay here a long, long time,” Grandfather told her. “The American Museum of Natural History is the largest museum of its kind in the world.”

  “Then I guess I like the gemstones best,” Violet said. “They twinkle so, like stars of all different colors.”

  When the Aldens got back to the apartment building, a new doorman was on duty. This one was almost as unfriendly as Leed. He had sandy hair and bushy eyebrows. He narrowed his brown eyes and watched them as they came in.

  Once again, Grandfather patiently introduced himself and the children. “And you must be the evening doorman,” he said. He looked at the name tag the doorman wore. “Mr. Saunders?”

  “Right,” said Mr. Saunders. “Two P.M. to ten P.M. shift, weekdays.”

  He walked briskly back to his desk and sat down.

  “’Bye, Mr. Saunders,” said Benny as they got onto the elevator.

  “Good evening,” said Mr. Saunders.

  When they reached Mrs. Teague’s apartment, they discovered that Mr. Evans had just finished plastering the last hole in the wall. The chandelier sparkled above the table. Mr. Evans folded up his ladder and propped it in a corner, while Mrs. Teague hurried around the dining room, pulling sheets off chairs.

  “Thank you, Mr. Evans,” said Mrs. Teague.

  “I’m not finished in here,” he cautioned. “I still have to paint over the patches.”

  “I know,” she answered. “But it’s finished enough for us to have dinner.”

  Mr. Evans shrugged. “See you tomorrow,” he said, and left.

  The Aldens went to work helping Mrs. Teague. They dusted tables and chairs, swept the floor, vacuumed the rug, and even wiped the mirror over the sideboard.

  Then, while Violet and Henry helped Mrs. Teague set the table, Benny and Jessie went up to Mr. Pound’s penthouse.

  He opened the door almost as soon as they knocked. “Hello,” he said.

  “It’s time for dinner,” Benny said.

  Mr. Pound looked at his watch and smiled. “It’s six-thirty. You sound as if you are hungry.”

  “I am,” said Benny.

  “Too hungry to want to see the Elizabeth Star?” asked Mr. Pound.

  “Right now?” Jessie said.

  “Why not?” said Mr. Pound. “Come in and I’ll show it to you before we go down to dinner.”

  So Jessie and Benny followed Mr. Pound into his penthouse — the biggest apartment in the building, on the very top floor. He led them across a large living room. One whole wall was windows, bright with the lights of the city far below.

  Mr. Pound led them down a long hall hung with paintings. He paused in front of one painting and stared at it. Jessie and Benny stopped next to him. The painting was of a beautiful woman with a kindly expression and a touch of gray in her hair. She wore a velvety blue dress that matched the color of her eyes. Mr. Pound shook his head gently as though to clear his thoughts and then walked on. Jessie and Benny exchanged glances and followed Mr. Pound down the hall.

  At the end of the hall, Mr. Pound opened a door to reveal a deep closet. He pushed the coats aside and then, to the astonishment of Jessie and Benny, stepped inside!

  “Come on,” said Mr. Pound, and he switched on an overhead closet light.

  They followed Mr. Pound and saw a keypad glowing on the wall behind the coats. It was numbered and looked like the front of a touch-tone telephone. The numbers glowed in the darkness and a small red light blinked on one side of the rows of numbers.

  “What’s that?” Jessie asked.

  “An alarm system,” Mr. Pound explained. “If anybody opens the door without punching the secret code number in, an alarm goes off here and at the alarm company. They call and if I don’t answer the phone to tell them it is a false alarm, they send the police.”

  “A burglar alarm,” said Jessie.

  “What door?” asked Benny.

  “You’ll see,” said Mr. Pound. He punched some buttons and a green light came on. “Now the alarm is off,” he said. He reached up and pressed one corner of the seemingly solid wood wall.

  With a quiet click, a door slid open. Mr. Pound stepped inside, turned on another light, and motioned for Benny and Jessie to follow.

  The room was small, not much bigger than the closet. The walls were bare and there were no windows. In the center of the room in a glass case, a large pear-shaped diamond on a gold chain rested on a mound of blue velvet. A single overhead spotlight shone on the diamond.

  “How beautiful,” breathed Jessie. “It’s as beautiful as any of the gems we saw in the museum today.”

  “It’s so big,” said Benny.

  Mr. Pound nodded. “Yes,” he said thoughtfully. They stared at it for a moment longer. Then Mr. Pound said, “We’d better hurry or we’ll be late for dinner.”

  When they left, he closed the door behind them. He punched the code into the burglar alarm and the red light began to blink. Then Mr. Pound, Benny, and Jessie went down to Mrs. Teague’s.

  In the dining room, on the big table under the beautiful chandelier, there was a chicken dinner waiting for them. Everyone sat down. Mr. Pound was in a good mood. He laughed often and complimented Mrs. Teague on the delicious food. He asked lots of questions about the Aldens, and soon they were telling him about living in the boxcar.

  “You lived in a boxcar?” Mr. Pound said. He looked amazed.

  “Until Grandfather found us,” Jessie said. Taking turns, the four Alden children told Mr. Pound how, when they had first become orphans, they didn’t know they had a grandfather who wanted them. So they went to live in an old abandoned boxcar in the woods. They’d had to take care of themselves.

  “And then we took care of Watch, too,” said Violet. “We found him, with a thorn in his paw.”

  “And then Grandfather found us,” Henry said. “And we went to live with him in Greenfield.”

  “And Grandfather put the boxcar behind our house and we can visit it whenever we want,” concluded Benny.

  “That’s some story,” said Mr. Pound. He put his coffee cup in his saucer and said to Mrs. Teague, “And that was a fine meal.”

  “Thank you,” said Mrs. Teague.

  “Now, before we have dessert,” said Mr. Pound, “why don’t we take a break and go up to see the Elizabeth Star. Violet and Henry haven’t seen it yet.”

  “May we bring Watch this time?” asked Benny. “He’d like to see the diamond. Wouldn’t you, Watch?”

  Watch, who’d been sitting politely on his dog pillow just inside the entrance to the kitchen, stood up and barked once as if to say, Yes.

  “Of course Watch can come,” said Mr. Pound.

  “Wait till you see it,” Benny said in a hushed voice as they stepped off the elevator. He and Jessie had naturally told the others about getting to see the diamond before dinner.

  As they crossed the penthouse living room, a clock began to chime. “Eight o’clock,” said Mr. Pound. He led the way to the closet. He glanced at the painting of the lady in blue, but he didn’t stop. Once again, he punched numbers into the burglar alarm as Benny and Jessie explained how the alarm worked.

  “A secret door,” Henry said in surprise.

  “It’s warm in here,” said Mr. Pound, wiping his forehead. “Now, the Elizabeth Star is priceless,” he continued as he slid the door to the windowless room open. “You can’t be too careful when …”

  He stepped into the tiny room, but he never finished the sentence. The alarm began to clang so loudly that Violet clapped her hands over her ears.

  W
atch barked and tugged so hard on his leash, he almost pulled Benny over.

  Mr. Pound turned, his handkerchief raised to his pale forehead. “It’s gone!” he shouted. “The Elizabeth Star has been stolen!”

  CHAPTER 4

  Broken Glass

  At that moment, the phone began to ring. Mr. Pound spun around and pushed his way out of the closet. He stumbled over Watch’s leash somehow. Watch broke loose.

  “Watch!” cried Benny.

  Mr. Pound raced to the phone and snatched up the receiver. “Call the police,” he shouted into the phone. “I’ve been robbed.”

  “That must be the alarm company calling,” said Jessie.

  Benny ran after Watch. Grandfather and Mrs. Teague tried to help him catch the excited barking dog. Violet kept her hands over her ears and backed away from the awful shrieking noise of the alarm.

  Someone began pounding on the front door.

  “Get the door!” Mr. Pound called.

  Jessie and Henry raced to the front door and Jessie threw it open. Mr. Saunders stood there.

  “What happened? What’s wrong?” he demanded. “The alarm went off!”

  “Mr. Pound has been robbed,” Henry said.

  Now Mr. Saunders’s bushy red eyebrows shot upward. Then he said, “Robbed? Not the … not the Elizabeth Star?”

  “Yes,” said Jessie, loudly enough to be heard over all the noise.

  “But—that’s impossible. No one has been in or out of this building all evening except the people who live here and their guests,” said Mr. Saunders.

  Just then, the alarm stopped. Jessie and Henry turned and saw Mr. Pound emerge from the closet. He took out his handkerchief and wiped his face again, then wadded it back into his jacket pocket. “The police are on their way,” he said. “I just turned off the alarm.”

  Mr. Saunders crossed the room. “It was in the closet?” he asked.

  “In a hidden room behind a secret door at the back of the closet,” said Violet, who had just stopped holding her hands over her ears.

  Mr. Saunders went closer to the closet and leaned to peer inside, where Benny was kneeling by Watch, patting his head. “There is a hidden room!” he exclaimed.