Windy City Mystery Read online

  Mr. Alden had been gone a long time. Jessie wondered if something had happened to him. She did not want to alarm the others. “Let’s look at the brochures while we wait,” she said. “We haven’t decided what we want to see tomorrow.”

  They had just sat down at the table when Grandfather came in.

  “Where were you so long?” Benny asked.

  Mr. Alden smiled. “I stopped to talk with Willard,” he explained.

  “We’re ready to go,” Violet told him.

  “We’ll need something to sit on.” Grandfather looked around the apartment. In the hall closet, he found a blanket with a note taped to it. It said: FOR PICNICS.

  “The Pipers thought of everything,” Henry commented.

  “Enjoy the concert,” Willard said as they went out the door.

  “We’re going to a concert?” Violet asked. She loved music and played the violin.

  “That we are,” Mr. Alden answered.

  “With a picnic supper?” Benny said. He couldn’t imagine eating in a concert hall.

  “This is a very special concert,” Grandfather told him.

  They walked along Michigan Avenue. Most of the shops and offices were closed now, but still the sidewalks were bustling with people.

  Mr. Alden and Henry, who carried Jessie’s backpack, were in the lead. Jessie, Violet, and Benny followed close behind. They approached a building fronted by a broad stairway.

  “Look!” Benny said. “Lions!” He stopped abruptly.

  Jessie and Violet stopped, too. They stared at the two large bronze lions on either side of the staircase. Each of the children was thinking the same thing: Could this building be the destination hinted at in Clue #2?

  “We found it!” Benny said.

  “But these lions don’t roar,” Jessie said.

  “They look like they could,” Benny answered.

  Violet agreed. “They seem so real,” she said. “I can almost hear them roar, too.”

  Thinking of the clue, Jessie said, “The place has doors.”

  “And an inside,” Violet said.

  “But what about the tiny rooms?” Benny asked.

  Henry called to them.

  “Coming!” Jessie responded. To Violet and Benny, she said, “We’ll have to ask Chad about this building.”

  They followed Grandfather and Henry into Grant Park. Ahead were several rows of seats. Beyond those was a covered stage.

  “A band shell,” Violet said. “It’s an outdoor concert!”

  “It won’t start for a while,” Grandfather said. “We’ll have our picnic while we wait.”

  They found a spot on the lawn and spread out the blanket. Jessie began unpacking her backpack.

  Grandfather pointed to a concession stand. “We can buy drinks here,” he said. “Come on, Violet.”

  When they had gone, Jessie asked Henry, “Did you see those lions in front of that building?”

  Henry nodded. “What about them?”

  “The clue!” Benny said.

  Henry’s eyes opened wide. “Oh,” he said. “I didn’t think about that.” He added, “But those lions — they aren’t real.”

  Benny laughed. He imagined those two big greenish lions roaming the streets of Chicago. “I’m glad they’re not,” he said. He ran over to help carry the drinks.

  Jessie handed the sandwiches around, and everyone took an apple or a banana.

  It was a beautiful evening. They ate their supper and talked and joked. No thought of the mystery entered their minds.

  The concert started just before dark. Benny lay back on the blanket. Before long, he was asleep.

  The other Aldens listened to the music. “The blues,” Grandfather called it.

  Overhead, the sky was clear and star-filled. Surrounded by the music and the twinkling lights, the Aldens felt as though they were in a magical city.

  But eventually the concert ended, and they joined the streams of people reluctantly leaving the park.

  Rubbing his eyes, Benny asked, “Are we going home now?”

  “There’s just one more stop,” Grandfather said, and he led them to a large fountain.

  “This is Buckingham Fountain,” Grandfather said. “It’s a real treasure.”

  The word treasure reminded them of the mystery. Each of the Alden children thought about the same words in the first note: “And when you’ve seen/ All the rest,/ You’ll find the treasure/ That is best.” Everything they had seen that day was interesting. Each was a treasure in its own way. How would they ever know when they had discovered the best?

  CHAPTER 5

  Two Lions and Tiny Rooms

  Chad arrived the next morning just as they were finishing breakfast. After the children told him what they had done the day before, Chad asked, “And what do you want to do today?”

  Jessie held up the brochures. “These should help us decide,” she said.

  Grandfather came into the living room. He said, “Good morning, Chad.” Adding, “See you later. I have a meeting with Cob Piper,” he went out the door.

  Chad thumbed through the pamphlets. “Museums, historic places, theaters — you name it.”

  “Is there a zoo?” Henry asked.

  “The Lincoln Park Zoo isn’t too far,” Chad answered. “We could take a bus.”

  “Do they have lions?” Benny asked.

  Chad nodded. “Last time I was there, there were two,” he answered.

  The Aldens exchanged glances. Two lions! The zoo could be the answer to the second clue.

  “How about tiny rooms?” Benny asked.

  Chad looked puzzled. “Tiny rooms?”

  Violet put a finger to her lips. Benny understood. He had almost told Chad about the clue. Jessie changed the subject. “We passed a building last night on the way to the concert,” she said. “There were lions in front of it.”

  Chad beamed. “The Art Institute. I go to school there.”

  “We’d like to go there,” Henry said.

  “Great!” Chad responded. “I was going to suggest it. I thought Violet might be interested.”

  “We’re all interested,” Jessie said.

  Henry stood up. “Let’s go,” he urged.

  Downstairs, Willard held the doors for them. “So the Aldens are off on another adventure,” he said. As they walked away, he called, “I hope you find what you’re looking for.”

  Jessie whispered, “Did you hear that?”

  All of the Aldens had heard it. Willard must know they were looking for the answer to the clue. If not, why would he say anything about finding what they were looking for?

  Chad, who was a few steps ahead, stopped and turned. “Hear what?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Benny said. This time he remembered not to say anything that would give them away.

  Then Henry surprised him by saying, “Willard said he hopes we find what we’re looking for. We wonder what he means.” He watched Chad closely. If he and Willard were in this together, he might give himself away.

  Chad shrugged. “He means what he says. You are looking for something, aren’t you?”

  Amazed, the Aldens stared at him.

  “People come to a new place for a reason,” Chad said. “They’re looking for something — to learn or to have fun or to find … something. When I go to a new place, I try to find an object or a person that would make a good painting. Whenever my father goes someplace, he looks for something about his hobby.”

  Again Jessie wondered what Mr. Piper’s hobby might be, but suddenly Benny exclaimed, “Look at the bridge!”

  Ahead, traffic was stopped. The Michigan Avenue Bridge was angling up into the air.

  “How will we get around it?” Henry asked.

  “We’ll just wait,” Chad said. “It’ll go down soon.”

  He led them to the side of the bridge. Below them, boats with tall masts moved along.

  Jessie saw something else. “What’s down there?”

  “Lots,” Chad said. “You’re look
ing at a tour boat landing. But there’s a lower level, under the main streets.”

  “You mean with roads and everything?” Benny asked.

  Chad nodded. “In some places there are train tracks and stores and restaurants.”

  “Like a double-decker city,” Henry said.

  The bridge moved back into place. The gates lifted. Traffic once again streamed over the bridge.

  Before long, they came to the bronze lions. Violet was the first up the long stairway and through the revolving doors. The others were close behind her.

  Behind the polished wood information center, a marble stairway went up to the sunlit floor above.

  “This place is big,” Benny said. “Where do we go first?” He was wondering where they might find tiny rooms.

  Chad led them downstairs. “I thought you might like to start on the lower level,” he said. “We’ll pick up a brochure. But I’ll have to meet you later. I have work to do.”

  They agreed to meet later in the lobby. “Or, if I finish quickly, I’ll look for you,” Chad said as he hurried off.

  Henry studied the brochure. The Aldens wandered around the museum, stopping along the way to admire displays of armor, an Egyptian mummy case, and ancient jewelry. But there were no tiny rooms.

  “Where are the tiny rooms?” Jessie asked.

  “We’re in the wrong place,” Benny said. “We have to go to the zoo.”

  It was nearly time to meet Chad. The Aldens headed toward the lobby.

  Henry hung back. He looked at the map again. “Wait a minute!” he said.

  At the same moment, Jessie stopped short. “Look!” She pointed to a sign over a doorway.

  Together, she and Henry said, “The Thorne Miniature Rooms.”

  Inside this gallery they found tiny room after tiny room. Each represented a different time and a different place. Each held furniture and articles of the period.

  The children were fascinated. They lingered at one room after another.

  Finally Violet said, “Two lions and tiny rooms! We’ve found it!”

  “But the clue says ‘tiny rooms/ On the ground,’” Jessie reminded them. “These rooms aren’t on the ground.”

  “The cases they’re in are on the floor,” Benny said. “Maybe the clue writer meant to say floor.”

  Violet agreed. “Floor didn’t rhyme, so he used ground.”

  Henry was deep in thought. Finally he said, “He meant ground, all right. This is the ground floor.”

  “We’ve found it!” they all said at once.

  “So these are the tiny rooms you were asking about,” Chad said as he came up beside them. “How did you know about them?” Before they could say a word, he answered his own question. “You read about them in the brochure.”

  “Right,” Henry said, “we read about them.” He didn’t go on to say, in the second clue.

  “I’m hungry,” Benny said.

  Chad laughed. “Me, too. This place always makes me hungry. Probably because there are so many beautiful paintings of food.”

  He took them to an outdoor courtyard. They found a table near the center fountain.

  They were no sooner seated than Chad said, “Oh, I forgot. I was supposed to leave a message for a friend of mine.” He took a square white envelope from his back pocket. “I told him it’d be on the student bulletin board.” He stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

  As he hurried away, Jessie said, “Do you suppose that’s the next clue?”

  “In Chad’s envelope?” Violet asked.

  Jessie nodded.

  “Why would he tell us that story about leaving a note for his friend?” Henry said. “He could have just given us the envelope and said he found it somewhere.”

  “Maybe he knows we suspect him,” Benny said. “He’s trying to throw us off his trail.”

  Jessie spotted a man across the room. Although his back was to them, he looked familiar. His dark hair circled a bald spot. Below his suit coat, he wore overalls. “There’s that man again.”

  They all looked at him.

  Remembering the man’s mustache had been crooked when they saw him at the ball game, Benny giggled.

  Just then the man turned around. He had no mustache! And very bushy eyebrows!

  “No mustache,” Violet observed. “He’s not the same man.”

  “He could have shaved it,” Henry suggested.

  “And put it over his eyes,” Benny joked.

  The man turned on his heel and hurried away.

  “He certainly looks like that other man,” Jessie said. “Maybe they’re brothers.”

  They talked about that possibility until Chad returned.

  He looked strange — pale and dazed. “You’re not going to believe this,” he said. “I think someone’s following us.” He held up a white envelope. “I found this on the student bulletin board. It’s addressed to you!”

  CHAPTER 6

  Picture, Picture

  After a moment’s stunned silence, Henry reached out for the envelope.

  Chad handed it over. “Who would leave a message for you here?”

  “That’s what we’d like to know,” Benny said.

  Even though she knew this must be the third clue, Jessie said, “Maybe it’s from Grandfather.” She watched Chad closely.

  Henry went along with the pretense. “That could be.” He, too, watched Chad closely. The young man seemed genuinely surprised to find the note here. Was he faking? There was no way to tell. “Maybe Grandfather wants us to meet him later.”

  “But Grandfather didn’t know we would be here,” Benny said.

  Chad sank into a chair. “He might know,” he said. “I called my father’s office when we got here.”

  “Did you talk to Grandfather?” Henry asked.

  Chad shook his head. “He and my father had gone. I left a message.”

  Henry folded the envelope and put it in his pocket.

  Chad frowned. “Aren’t you going to open it?”

  “We’ll read it later,” Henry said.

  Benny was curious about the note. “But Henry,” he protested, “if it’s from Grandfather —”

  Just then a waiter came to take their order.

  After lunch, Chad said, “I thought we might go down to the lake. Violet and I could get in some sketching.”

  Violet’s shoulders drooped. “Oh, I didn’t bring my sketchbook,” she said sadly.

  Chad tapped his knapsack. “I have an extra.”

  He led them out of the building and around the corner. At the lake, boats bobbed beside narrow piers. Out beyond the harbor, sails moved along the horizon.

  “This looks like a good place,” Chad said. “Does anyone else want to give it a try? I have plenty of sketch paper.”

  “Jessie and I will take a walk,” Henry said.

  Benny sighed. “I’d like to do that, too.”

  Chad laughed. “I’ll get Violet set up.” He gave her a sketchbook and several pencils.

  Violet studied the scene. “I’ll never get the shadows right,” she said.

  “You will,” Chad assured her. “I’ll show you how.”

  Henry, Jessie, and Benny walked along the lake, checking every now and then to be sure Chad wasn’t watching them.

  Finally Henry opened the envelope.

  “Is that the same envelope Chad had?” Benny asked. “The one he was going to put on the bulletin board for his friend?”

  Henry shook his head. “That one was square. This one is a rectangle.” Henry carefully unfolded it. “It says ‘CLUE #3.’”

  Benny hopped up and down impatiently. “Read the rhyme!”

  This time it wasn’t a rhyme. It was a picture made up of cut-out sections from other pictures.

  “A collage,” Jessie said.

  It showed a cow, a lantern, and burned-out buildings. In the foreground was a picture of a modern fire engine.

  “Oh, this one’s easy.” Benny pointed at the picture. “That’s Mrs. O’Leary’s cow an
d this is her lantern — the one the cow kicked over —”

  “Supposedly kicked over,” Jessie corrected him. “Remember, Benny, that’s just one possible story.”

  Benny waved that away. “And all these buildings — that’s how the city looked after the Great Chicago Fire.”

  Jessie studied the picture. “I think you’re right, Benny.”

  “But what about the fire engine?” Henry said.

  “That’s supposed to be one of the trucks that tried to put the fire out.”

  “I don’t think so, Benny,” Henry said. “This is a modern fire engine.”

  “But why would he put a picture of a new fire truck with all that old stuff?” Benny asked.

  Although it looked easy, this clue could prove to be the most difficult of all.

  They headed back to join Violet and Chad. On the way, they saw Willard sitting on the cement wall. His shirtsleeves were rolled up and his eyes were closed. His jacket and hat lay beside him.

  “What’s he doing here?” Jessie whispered.

  “Following us,” Benny answered.

  Henry approached the man. “Let’s ask him.”

  Jessie hung back. “Maybe we shouldn’t disturb him.”

  But Willard’s eyes snapped open and he looked right at them. He smiled. “Well, well,” he said. “If it isn’t the Aldens. Still looking? Or have you found it?”

  Benny glanced at his sister and brother. His look said, I told you so. He had been right: Willard had something to do with the treasure hunt.

  “Have we found what?” Henry asked.

  Willard lifted his hands, palms up. “Whatever it is you’re looking for.”

  Benny started to say, I think you know what we’re looking for. Before he could get it out, Jessie interrupted.

  “Do you come down to the lake often?” she asked.

  “Every chance I get. Especially in weather like this.”

  Violet called to them.

  “See you later, Willard,” Henry said, and the three Aldens went off.

  “He’s the one,” Benny said.

  Jessie and Henry said nothing. Each was wondering if Benny could be right after all.

  Violet came running toward them. “Look at this! Chad taught me how to hold my pencil to do the shading.” She showed them a sketch of a boat moored to a pier.

  “This is really good,” Henry said.