Cereal Box Mystery (6 page)

Inside Antique Treasures, Violet walked up to the counter. She held out her hand. “Mr. Bellows,” she said. “I think we found something that belongs to you.”

For a moment, Mr. Bellows stared down at Violet’s hand. Then he leaped to his feet. He looked as if he were about to start dancing. His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out. “The ring,” he managed to say at last. “The cabochon ring! Where did you find it?”

“In
my
cereal box,” Benny answered.

“But how did it get there? When? I don’t understand,” Mr. Bellows said. He took a handkerchief out of his pocket and mopped his forehead. “Where is the necklace? And the bracelet?”

Henry said, “We’re not sure. But can you tell us one thing? When the thief ran out of the shop, was Ms. Smitts by the door?”

After thinking for a moment, Mr. Bellows shook his head. “No. She was standing near the counter.”

“That means she ran all the way across the shop and out the door after him,” Jessie said. “He had a pretty big head start, but she caught up with him right outside the door.”

“That’s right,” Mr. Bellows said. “It was a brave thing for her to do. She could have been hurt when the thief pushed her. As it was, her shirt got torn.”

But Henry was shaking his head. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said. “Ms. Smitts should never have been able to catch up with the thief. When she did, though, she should have been able to stop him.”

“I don’t understand,” Mr. Bellows said. He looked more puzzled than ever.

Jessie burst out, “Ms. Smitts teaches karate. In fact, she has a black belt in karate. That means she’s really, really good.”

“With a black belt in karate, she should have been able to at least stop the thief for a minute. Instead, he pushed her away and kept running,” Violet said.

Benny was looking from one to the other, his eyes round. He said, “Why did Ms. Smitts let the thief go, then?”

“Because they were partners, Benny. They were working together,” Henry said.

Now Mr. Bellows was nodding. “It makes sense. She stood in front of me by the counter, blocking my view of the glass case where the necklace set was. She got in front of me when I shouted for the thief to stop —”

“And she pretended to go after the thief so you wouldn’t be suspicious,” Violet said.

“Oh, it was more than that, Violet,” Jessie said. She glanced at Henry and smiled. “Much more than that.”

“But how do we prove any of this?” Mr. Bellows said. “I’m glad you found the ring, but it is much more valuable when it is part of the set.”

“I know how we can find the necklace and the bracelet — and catch the thief,” Henry said. He looked at Violet’s hand, which was still resting on the top of the glass case. “We’ll set a trap. But we’ll have to use the cabochon ring as bait.”

Mr. Bellows stared down at the ring. Then he looked back up at the Aldens. Slowly he nodded. “Let’s do it,” he said. “Let’s set a trap and catch the thief.”

“W
hat a great day for a picnic,” Henry said. ”Look, there’s a good place, right there near the trees.” He parked his bike and took a blanket out of the basket. He and Violet spread the blanket out on the ground.

Jessie unstrapped a picnic basket from the back of her bicycle and put it on the blanket. She opened it and took out knives, forks, spoons, plates, cups, and napkins.

“I’m hungry,” Benny said. “I hope we brought lots and lots of food.”

“Don’t worry, Benny, we have plenty,” Violet assured him. She unloaded sandwiches and fruit and some of Mrs. McGregor’s homemade cookies from the picnic basket.

“Just in case, I brought another box of cereal,” Benny said. “It’s a good thing we got all those boxes of cereal when we went to the grocery store the other day.”

“Oh, Benny.” Jessie laughed. “Won’t you ever get tired of eating Silver Frosted Stars?”

“No,” said Benny. “It’s the best cereal in the whole world. And in this box, maybe there’ll be another silver star. I only need one more to send away for the special detective’s badge.”

He put the cereal next to him on the grass.

Watch sat down next to Henry, keeping a close eye on the sandwiches. Watch liked peanut butter.

Soo Lee said, “When is the tree being delivered for Grandfather’s party?”

“This afternoon,” Henry said. “Grandfather is going to be in Silver City, so he won’t see it arrive.”

“We can get up early tomorrow morning and make a few more decorations for the tree,” Violet said. “Before we start getting ready for the party.”

“You don’t think Mrs. McGregor will forget to make the birthday cake, do you?” Benny asked anxiously.

Henry laughed. “No, Benny, Mrs. McGregor won’t forget the cake. Don’t worry. Have a sandwich.”

But Benny shook his head. “I’m going to open my new box of cereal,” he announced. He opened the box, got a cup, and poured out some cereal.

He stopped and stared into the cup.

“What is it, Benny? What’s wrong?” asked Soo Lee.

“Look!” Benny said. “Look at the prize that came in my cereal.”

He reached into his cup and pulled out the pink cabochon ruby ring.

“Oh, Benny, it’s a ring. A pink ring!” Violet cried.

“It’s beautiful,” Jessie said loudly. “What a great prize to find in a box of cereal!”

At that moment Watch growled. Henry grabbed Watch’s leash and held on tightly.

“Let me see the ring, Benny,” Jessie said. Benny handed his oldest sister the ring. She held it up high, so high that anyone in the park who was looking could see it.

Suddenly a voice said, “Well, well, well, if it isn’t the Aldens.”

Startled, Jessie looked up, almost dropping the ring. “Ms. Smitts!” she gasped.

“What are you doing in the park?” Ms. Smitts asked. She smiled.

“We’re having a picnic,” Benny said. “I’m having cereal. Look at the prize I found in the cereal box.”

Ms. Smitts focused on the ring. Her eyes narrowed. Then she smiled again. “What a cute toy ring,” she said.

“It’s a ruby ring,” Benny said.

Henry gave Benny a warning look. Ms. Smitts laughed. “What a good imagination you have, Benny, to be able to pretend that a pink plastic ring is a real ruby.”

Now Ms. Smitts was speaking in a loud voice, too.

Then everything seemed to happen at once. Watch leaped forward to the end of his leash and began to bark. Someone burst out of the woods and pushed Jessie over, snatching the ring from her hand.

“Stop, thief!” Henry cried.

The thief ran right across the picnic blanket, kicking aside the picnic basket. The Aldens had a glimpse of someone in a tan raincoat, with a hat pulled low on his forehead.

“Stop!” cried Ms. Smitts. She grabbed the thief by the arm. He pushed her and the two struggled for just a moment. Then Ms. Smitts let go and fell down. The thief began to run.

As he did, police officers surrounded the picnic. Two of them grabbed the thief by each arm. Two more officers grabbed Ms. Smitts and helped her to her feet. And Mr. Bellows ran out to stand by the picnic blanket.

“Thank you,” said Ms. Smitts.

She tried to pull her arms free, but the officers held on.

“Let go,” she said. “Let me go!” She began to struggle.

The Boxcar Children and Soo Lee and Watch got up and walked over to Ms. Smitts. She stopped struggling and glared at everyone. “Why are you treating me this way?” she demanded. “Is this the thanks I get for trying to prevent a robbery?”

“No,” Jessie said. “That’s not it. You won’t get away with it this time, Ms. Smitts. We know you have the ruby ring. Give it back.”

“T
hat’s crazy!” Tori Smitts cried, pulling against the police officers who were holding her.

One of the police officers shook her head. “I’m afraid it isn’t, Ms. Smitts. We expected your partner, Mr. Map, to slip the ring to you when you grabbed him this time. We saw it happen.”

“It worked the first time,” Mr. Bellows said. “But it won’t work now.”

Seeing Mr. Bellows, Ms. Smitts’s eyes widened.

The other officers led the thief over to the others. His hat was gone and the handkerchief covering his face had been pulled around his neck. He was a pale man with piercing gray eyes and a thin, pointed chin.

“Meet Marvin Map,” the police officer said.

“I told you it wouldn’t work a second time, Marvin,” Ms. Smitts gasped.

“Be quiet,” Mr. Map ordered.

“We know you have the ring,” Benny said to Ms. Smitts. “You should give it back. And the necklace and the bracelet.”

“It wasn’t my idea,” said Ms. Smitts.

Mr. Map gave Ms. Smitts a disgusted look. “I don’t have the ring,” he said. “She does. She has the necklace and the bracelet, too.”

Ms. Smitts and Mr. Map glared at one another for a moment. Then Ms. Smitts reached into her pocket and pulled out the ruby ring. She put it into Mr. Bellows’s outstretched hand.

“The necklace and the bracelet are at my house,” she said. “In the back of a drawer in the basement.”

“Mr. Map gave you the necklace and the bracelet when he ran out of the antique shop, didn’t he?” Jessie asked.

Ms. Smitts nodded. “I managed to keep the lock on the glass case from snapping shut after Mr. Bellows showed the necklace set to Mr. Darden. That’s how Marvin got it out of the glass case so fast. But he didn’t have time to give me the ring. Mr. Bellows ran up behind me and I saw a police officer coming. Marvin had to run. When he did, he crashed into the bicycle. I saw him slip the ring into a box of cereal.”

“It should have been safe there,” Mr. Map growled.

“I tried to get it back right away,” Ms. Smitts went on. “But you wouldn’t throw the open box of cereal away.”

“Who broke into our house and stole a box of cereal?” Benny asked, looking from Mr. Map to Ms. Smitts.

“That was me,” Mr. Map admitted. “But the dog started barking, so I just grabbed a box of cereal and ran.”

Watch growled softly, as if remembering what had happened.

“You left footprints when you knocked over a flowerpot,” Jessie said.

“You dumped the cereal out by the boxcar,” Henry said.

Mr. Map nodded. “It was useless. The ring wasn’t in there. I remembered seeing other boxes of cereal when I ran into the bike. I figured I must have gotten the wrong box of cereal.”

“So you came back and saw us with the cereal when we were in the boxcar,” Violet said. “I
felt
someone watching us.” She shuddered at the memory.

“No, that was me,” said Ms. Smitts.

“
That’s
why the footprint we found by the stream was so much smaller,” Jessie said. “You made it.”

Nodding, Ms. Smitts said, “I doubled back to the boxcar and grabbed the cereal. But the ring wasn’t in that box, either.”

“We figured you hadn’t found it yet, or you would have realized what it was and gone to the police,” Mr. Map put in. “So I went back that night to check your garbage.” He made a disgusted face. “Nothing!”

“We didn’t know what else to do,” Ms. Smitts added, “so we started following you. And today you found the ring in the cereal box.”

“But we didn’t,” Henry said. “We found the ring the very first day.”

“You did?” Ms. Smitts said.

“Yes. We didn’t know it was a ruby ring. Benny gave it to Violet. She was wearing it when we went to visit you at the Karate Center,” Jessie explained.

“Oh, no! You mean this was all a trick?” cried Ms. Smitts.

“Yes,” Henry said. “When we realized that we had the ring and how it got into the cereal box, we set a trap using a new box of cereal — and the police.”

“See?” Benny said. “We did solve the mystery after all.”

“It was a dirty trick!” Mr. Map shouted. “Sneaky.”

“No, it wasn’t. What was sneaky was stealing the jewelry from Mr. Bellows,” Henry said.

“That’s right,” Benny added. “You were wrong. Stealing is wrong.”

“Mr. Map, Ms. Smitts, my advice to you is that you listen to what Benny Alden just said. It might keep you out of trouble in the future. Let’s go,” one of the officers said.

The police led the two thieves away.

“I have to go with the police,” Mr. Bellows said. “To identify the necklace and the bracelet.” He took a small box out of his pocket and carefully put the ring inside. “How can I ever thank you?”

“We’re glad we could help,” Henry said.

Mr. Bellows shook hands with Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Soo Lee. But when he got to Benny, Benny dropped to his knees. “Look!” he said. He picked something up from the cereal that had spilled across the picnic blanket.

It was a small silver cardboard star.

“It’s the last star,” Benny said happily. “Now I can send away for my detective’s badge!”

The next day was Grandfather’s birthday. But Violet and Benny had one thing to do before helping with the preparations.

“Hurry,” Violet said. “We haven’t got much time.”

“Here’s the mailbox,” Benny said. He opened it and dropped the envelope inside. He peered through the opening to make sure the letter had gone in. It was addressed to the cereal company. Inside were all the silver stars that Benny needed to get his detective’s badge.