The Disappearing Friend Mystery Read online

  “I’ll fill the old pitcher with water,” said Benny. He took the white pitcher off the shelf. Violet had found it in the dump when they lived in the boxcar.

  “That’s a very good idea, Benny,” said Henry.

  So Benny went to get water for the watercolors with Watch following friskily at his heels.

  “It won’t matter that we didn’t get to make posters yesterday,” said Henry. “We can make twice as many today.”

  When Benny and Watch got back with the water, Henry, Jessie, and Violet had already settled down around the table.

  “Here’s a place for you, Benny,” said Violet. “I’ve put a poster board out for you and a pencil so you can draw your design first.”

  “Will you write the words for me?” Benny asked Violet as he slid into his seat.

  “Of course I will,” said Violet. “Just tell me what you want to say.”

  “I’ll have to think about that,” said Benny. He paused, then added, “It will probably make me hungry soon.”

  “Oh, Benny. We just had breakfast.” Jessie laughed.

  The Aldens got to work. They had made several posters when Beth appeared in the doorway of the boxcar. She was holding Mr. Alden’s old shirt, neatly washed and folded. She had on her own old clothes today—cutoff jeans and a faded blue work shirt.

  “Hi, Beth,” said all the Aldens.

  “Hi,” said Beth cheerfully.

  “I’ll take the shirt to Mrs. McGregor,” said Benny, jumping up.

  “I can do that, Benny,” Beth said.

  “That’s okay,” answered Benny. “Mrs. McGregor might have some biscuits left over from breakfast.”

  Everyone laughed as Benny hurried back to the house.

  “Oh, look!” Beth looked at all the posters the children had already made. They were lined up neatly around the room to dry. “These are wonderful.” She turned to the Aldens and smiled. “I’ll have to get started!”

  Rolling up her sleeves, and grabbing a paintbrush, Beth sat down at the table. Soon she had finished her first poster and had started on her second one.

  “You’re an excellent artist, Beth,” said Henry, admiring the neat drawing of a girl walking a dog. “That looks just like Jessie.”

  “It’s supposed to,” Beth said, looking pleased.

  “And that’s Watch!” exclaimed Jessie, happily.

  “Yes, it is!” Beth nodded. Her smile became a huge grin. “This is so much fun. I thought when we moved it would be hard to make new friends. But it hasn’t been hard at all. You’re all so nice and friendly.”

  Henry suddenly got up and went to the door. “Benny hasn’t come back yet. Do you think he found some biscuits?”

  “Probably!” said Jessie. “I could use a break, too.”

  “I know!” said Violet excitedly. “Let’s each take a poster in and show it to Grandfather.”

  “We can have a poster show!” said Jessie. “It will be hard to pick out the best ones, though.”

  “I know which poster I’m choosing,” said Jessie, and she carefully picked up the one Beth had made of Jessie walking Watch, to advertise dog walking.

  So Beth and Henry and Violet each chose a poster and went up to the house to show their work to Grandfather Alden.

  “Oh—maybe we should bring one of Benny’s, too,” Beth suggested. “I’ll run back and get one.”

  “Okay,” said Jessie as Beth headed back to the boxcar.

  Grandfather Alden was in his study with a tall dark-haired man. When Grandfather looked up and saw the children standing at the door, he motioned for them to come in. “I have some people here you’ll be glad to see,” Grandfather said to his guest.

  The man turned and smiled. “Your grandchildren!” he said.

  “Dr. Moore,” said Henry. He shook hands with Dr. Moore. Then Jessie and Violet did, too.

  Dr. Moore had given Henry work when the Aldens were living in their boxcar, before Grandfather found them. It was Dr. Moore who had figured out the mystery of Grandfather’s missing grandchildren. And it was Dr. Moore who had helped bring Grandfather Alden and the Alden children together at last.

  “What do you have here?” asked Dr. Moore, noticing the colorfully painted poster boards.

  “We’ve started a job service called The Boxcar Helpers. We want to help raise money for the new wing at the Greenfield Hospital,” explained Jessie.

  “A wonderful idea,” said Dr. Moore. He looked around. “But where is Benny?”

  “Here I am,” said Benny. “I was in the kitchen with Mrs. McGregor.”

  “We’ve brought some of our posters to show off to Grandfather,” Jessie told Dr. Moore.

  “I brought one of yours, too, Benny. Here,” Beth said, coming into the study with another poster.

  The Aldens introduced Beth to Dr. Moore. Then Benny took his poster and held it up proudly.

  “It’s excellent, Benny,” said Grandfather. “All of them are.” He paused and looked more closely at the one that Jessie was holding. “Jessie, that looks like you and Watch.”

  “It is. Beth drew it,” Jessie said.

  “Very good, Beth.” Grandfather nodded approvingly, his eyes twinkling. “I think with posters like these, you will have plenty of people calling with jobs.”

  “Do you want a new wing built at the Greenfield Hospital, Dr. Moore?” asked Violet.

  Dr. Moore looked surprised. “Of course I do, Violet. Why?”

  Violet and the others told Dr. Moore about the conversation they’d overheard at the hospital between Mr. Alvarez and the angry doctor.

  Dr. Moore looked thoughtful. “Yes, it is true,” he said. “Being from Silver City myself, I know some of my neighbors were very upset when the board decided not to build a new hospital there. But I thought everyone had accepted the idea by now. I didn’t realize there were still problems.”

  He looked at the Aldens and Beth. “But don’t let that stop you. I will certainly recommend you for any jobs I hear about. I know you’re good workers.”

  “And we’ll make lots of money,” crowed Benny. “Let’s go make lots more posters. Soon we will have enough.”

  As the Aldens walked back to the boxcar with Beth, they explained who Dr. Moore was. Jessie told Beth how Violet had gotten sick while they were all living in the boxcar, and how Dr. Moore had taken her to his house and made her well again.

  Suddenly Benny shouted “Look!” An odd sight met their eyes. On the stump outside the boxcar were footprints—brightly colored paint footprints.

  The children looked into the boxcar, where they saw more footprints. “Oh, no!” Jessie cried. The posters were no longer lined up neatly against the wall to dry. They were scattered all over the floor. Water had been poured on some of them, so the paint had run. Some of the posters had paint smeared across them in big, angry slashes. Not a single poster had been left untouched.

  “Our posters!” gasped Violet.

  “They’re ruined,” said Henry.

  “Who would do something like this?” Jessie looked angrily around the boxcar, as if she could catch whoever had done it.

  “Maybe it was the wind?” whispered Beth.

  “No.” Henry shook his head.

  “Maybe it was Watch?” Beth offered.

  “Watch would never do something like this.” Imitating his brother, Benny shook his head vigorously.

  Jessie said, “This wasn’t an accident. Look at these footprints smeared all around. Someone had to take the paint over to the posters to mess them all up like that.”

  Beth cleared her throat. “At least we had the best posters inside with us, so they weren’t ruined.”

  The angry look began to leave Jessie’s face. “That’s true, Beth. Let’s clean this up and get back to work.”

  “Yes. We can always make more posters,” agreed Henry. “You know, it’s almost as if someone doesn’t want us to get started raising money for the new hospital wing.”

  “But why?” asked Violet. “I don’t understa
nd.”

  “I don’t understand it either,” said Henry, sounding puzzled.

  Luckily, there was plenty of poster board and paint. Everyone got back to work. At last the posters were finished and dry. The children decided to take them into town and put them up before anything else happened.

  Every storekeeper quickly agreed to let the children put up their posters. But when they got to the flower shop, the children had a problem.

  As the children walked in the door, a tall woman was turning away from the counter, holding an armful of roses.

  “It’s her,” whispered Jessie. “It’s that doctor from the hospital.”

  The doctor was smiling and smelling her roses. Then she saw the posters.

  She stopped. “The Boxcar Helpers. Let us help you—and help the hospital,” she read aloud. “What is this?”

  “We want to help raise money for the new wing of the Greenfield Hospital,” said Henry carefully. “So we’ve started a helper service.”

  The doctor frowned. “A helper service,” she repeated, as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

  “Yes,” said Violet bravely. “All the money we earn doing odd jobs and errands will go to the hospital for the new wing that will be built.”

  “Well I don’t approve,” said the doctor. “We don’t need a new wing—Silver City needs a new hospital. This is ridiculous.”

  The doctor’s eyes narrowed angrily. She pushed past the children and out the door.

  The florist, who had been listening, shook his head.

  “Oh, dear,” said Jessie. “Does this mean you won’t let us put up a poster?”

  “Well-ll,” said the florist. “She’s a good customer. I’d hate to lose her.” He paused.

  “Please?” said Benny.

  “Well,” said the florist again, “I guess that new wing is going to be good for business. People often send flowers to patients in the hospital. Okay, you can put your poster up in the front window in the corner.”

  “Thank you!” said Henry.

  Soon they had posters all over town, from the supermarket to the bicycle shop.

  Just as they were putting their last poster in the window of the ice cream shop, an older woman passed by and stopped to read it.

  “How lovely,” she said. She looked at Beth. “That is a very good project, Heather. Your family must be proud. Well, I’ll have to remember to call you if I need help with anything.”

  As the woman left, Henry frowned. “Heather?” he said.

  Beth shrugged. “When you’re new in town, people get your name mixed up sometimes. It happens to me every time we move.” She didn’t seem too interested. She put the last piece of tape on the poster and stepped back. “There.”

  “Now all we have to do is wait for people to call,” said Henry.

  “I think people will,” said Benny. “Lots of people. We’ll be very busy!”

  “I guess,” said Henry. “We should probably have just a little ice cream—while we still have some free time!”

  “Hooray!” said Benny, leading the way to the ice cream counter.

  CHAPTER 7

  Beth’s Disappearing Trick

  The phone rang as Jessie, Violet, Benny, Henry, and Grandfather Alden were finishing breakfast the next morning. A minute later, Mrs. McGregor came into the dining room. She was smiling. “I have a call for The Boxcar Helpers,” she said.

  “It’s our first job,” said Jessie excitedly. “Oh, Grandfather, may one of us be excused to see who it is?”

  Grandfather laughed. “The early bird gets the worm,” he said. “Go on, Jessie.”

  Jessie slipped quickly away from the table. Everyone else began to help Mrs. McGregor clear away the dishes. They had just finished when Jessie came back.

  “What is it, Jessie?” cried Benny.

  “That was a lawyer, Ms. Singh, who is going away on a business trip for two days,” Jessie told them. “She wants us to come feed her cats this week while she’s gone. She lives over on Garden Street, and she’s going to leave the key under the mat by the back door.”

  “That’ll be fun,” said Violet. “Only we had better not take Watch!”

  The phone rang again. “I’ll get it,” said Henry.

  “Sounds like you’re off to a good start,” said Grandfather. “I’ll leave you to conduct business.”

  “Let’s go see what job this is,” said Benny. He and Violet and Jessie joined Henry. Henry hung up the phone and wrote something down carefully.

  “Well?” asked Jessie.

  “Mr. Hudson, on Hickory Lane, wants his grass cut. I told him I was an expert grass cutter!” Henry laughed. “So while you’re feeding cats, I will cut the grass.”

  The phone rang again, and then again. Soon they had more than enough jobs for the day, and they began to schedule them for the next day and the next.

  “We have to tell Beth,” said Violet when the phone finally stopped ringing. Quickly she dialed Beth’s number. “Hello, Beth?” she said eagerly. Then she frowned. “Oh. Thank you.”

  A moment later she said again, “Hello, Beth? Is that you? This is Violet Alden speaking.”

  The others listened as Violet told Beth all about the jobs. “So we’ll be busy all day,” Violet said. “Are you going to come with us? . . . Oh. That’s too bad. Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow. Good luck!”

  Violet hung up the phone. “Poor Beth. She has to go to the dentist in Silver City today and can’t help us.”

  “Too bad,” said Jessie sympathetically. “But we’d better get started.”

  The Aldens made a list of all the jobs they had to do that day, then went and got their bicycles and pedaled into town to get started. They had just come out of the post office, where they had taken a package to be mailed for someone, when they saw a familiar figure riding her bicycle down the street ahead of them.

  “Look!” Violet was startled. “Isn’t that Beth?”

  Henry raised his hand to shade his eyes. “It sure looks like her. Beth! Hey, Beth!”

  The figure didn’t turn around.

  “Beth!” shouted Benny at the top of his lungs.

  This time, Beth turned around. So did several other people on the street.

  But Beth didn’t stop. She didn’t even wave. Instead, she turned around again and pedaled her bicycle even faster.

  Surprised, the Alden children watched the figure until she disappeared around a corner.

  Henry looked puzzled. “That’s strange. Wasn’t Beth going to the dentist?”

  “That’s what she told me,” Violet answered.

  “Do you think she was lying?” asked Jessie.

  “I can’t believe she would,” said Violet.

  “Maybe Beth doesn’t like us anymore,” suggested Benny.

  “No, Benny,” said Henry. “That couldn’t be it.”

  “Why didn’t she at least stop and say hello?” Jessie wondered.

  But they forgot all about Beth as they came around the next corner. One of the posters they had put up on the bulletin board outside the deli had been torn down. It had been ripped apart and trampled.

  “I don’t believe this,” said Henry, stopping his bike.

  Jessie looked mad. “Here,” she said shortly. “Watch my bike. I’m going in to ask the people in the deli if they saw anything.”

  But when she came back out a few minutes later, she didn’t have any clue to give them.

  “I think Henry’s right. Somebody really doesn’t want us to raise money,” said Violet.

  “Yes. It’s a good thing most of our posters are inside the windows of the stores. At least they probably won’t get ripped down,” said Jessie.

  “Maybe it’s that doctor,” said Benny.

  Henry frowned. “Maybe,” he agreed slowly. “But it’s a funny way for a doctor to act.”

  Just then Jessie noticed a truck parked on the side of the street. It was the truck that belonged to Charlie the Fix-it Man. As they turned the corner, they saw a smal
l man with a white cap on his head cutting the grass in the backyard of the house. The cap said CHARLIE on the bill.

  “So we do work on some of the same jobs,” said Henry.

  “Could Charlie be the one who tore down our sign?” asked Violet. “Maybe he doesn’t want us taking his business.”

  “Maybe,” said Jessie. She looked at her watch. “We’d better get going. The day’s nearly half over and we have a lot of work to do.”

  The next day, they got two new jobs in addition to the ones scheduled from the day before. One of the jobs was in Beth’s neighborhood.

  This time, Jessie called her. “Guess what, Beth?” she asked. “The Millers have asked us to come dig their vegetable garden. They live in your neighborhood. So we can come pick you up at your house.”

  “No!” said Beth so forcefully that Jessie had to hold the phone a little away from her ear. “No,” Beth repeated, more quietly, but just as firmly. “It’s . . . well, the house is such a mess . . . we haven’t finished unpacking. My parents would kill me if I invited anyone over.”

  “Oh. Well,” said Jessie slowly, a bit taken aback by Beth’s strong response. “We’ll just have to meet you there then.” She gave Beth directions to the Millers’ house and they agreed to meet in half an hour.

  “Did Beth say anything about seeing us yesterday?” asked Henry as the Aldens headed for the Millers’ house.

  “No,” answered Jessie thoughtfully. “Something very strange is going on.”

  Beth was waiting out front when they got to the Millers’. She waved cheerfully as they pedaled up. “What a great day for gardening,” she said.

  “I’m glad you could come today,” said Violet softly, falling into step by Beth as they walked up to the front door of the house. “How was the dentist?”

  Beth made a face. “Oh—the dentist. I don’t like going. But at least I didn’t have any cavities.”

  “That’s good,” said Violet.

  “Did you have a lot of jobs yesterday?” Beth asked Violet.

  “Lots!” said Violet. “We had to go all over town, too.” She paused, wondering if Beth would mention seeing them.

  But Beth just flung out her arms and said, “Great. Soon we’ll have enough money to pay for the whole new hospital wing!”