Clue in the Corn Maze (6 page)

“That might work,” Henry said.

“You could paint the fence green so it blends in with the rest of the field,” Violet suggested.

“Maybe you could even attach some of these corncobs that are all over the ground to the fence,” Benny said. “Then it would still be sort of a corn maze.”

Mr. Sweeney scratched his chin. “It’ll be a lot of work,” he said. “If I’m going to do all that before the festival this weekend, I’m going to need some help.” He looked at the children.

“We’ll help you, Mr. Sweeney,” Benny said right away.

“That’s right,” Violet added. “Anything for Ken and the King Corn Days Festival.”

“Well, it looks like Ken and your grandfather are back from town. Why don’t you go see what Ken has to say about our plans,” Mr. Sweeney said. “I’ll go get my tools. And I’ll meet you back here in a bit.”

When the Aldens walked up to the house, they noticed Kurt’s rusty blue pickup parked next to Grandfather’s rented van. As soon as the children stepped inside the house, they could hear the two brothers bickering.

“Someone tried to chop down your field? I don’t like this, Ken,” Kurt said. “I don’t like it at all.”

“Well, what do you want me to do?” Ken responded.

“You know what I want you to do. I want you to sell the farm and move into town. I’ll give you a good price—”

“I will not be run off my own land!” Ken shouted. “Besides, what makes you so sure you wouldn’t have the same troubles I’m having?”

“I know I wouldn’t,” Kurt said. “All of your troubles are related to that maze. I’ll just tear the maze down.”

Ken grit his teeth. “That’s exactly why I won’t sell to you,” he replied.

Henry cleared his throat. “Hello, Ken. Hello, Kurt,” he said cautiously.

The older men glanced at the children, then turned away from each other.

“Hello, kids,” Ken said without a lot of enthusiasm.

Kurt yawned and stretched. Then he stood up. “Gosh, I could use another cup of coffee. I sure am tired today.”

“Why are you so tired?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” Kurt said as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “I didn’t sleep very well last night. What have you kids been up to this morning?”

“Talking to Mr. Sweeney,” Benny said. “He thinks we can repair the maze.” The children told Ken and Kurt what they and Mr. Sweeney had decided.

“You don’t mind if some of the paths are marked by a fence instead of by corn, do you, Ken?” Violet asked.

“Well, ideally a corn maze should be all corn,” Ken said. “But if the choice is a maze with a little fencing here and there or no maze, I’ll choose the fencing.”

Jessie smiled. “That’s what we thought you’d say.”

“We told Mr. Sweeney we’d help him build the fences,” Benny said.

“Thank you, kids. I sure do appreciate all the work you’re doing on the farm. This is supposed to be your vacation and it seems like all you’re doing is working.”

“But this kind of work is fun,” Violet said.

Just as they were turning to leave, Benny noticed a nasty jagged cut on Kurt’s arm.

“Kurt, what happened to your arm?” Benny asked.

“What? Oh, that,” Kurt pushed up the sleeve of his black hooded sweatshirt and looked at the cut. “I was uh … taking out an old barbed wire fence last night. I must have cut it then.”

“That rusty old fence down by the creek?” Ken cried.

“That’s the one,” Kurt replied.

“By yourself?” Ken asked.

“Sure. Why not?” Kurt said with a shrug.

Ken snorted. “You’re not that much younger than I am, Kurt. And apparently you’re not as smart as I am, either. What are you thinking taking on a big job like that by yourself?”

Kurt shrugged. “I can handle it,” he said.

“That looks like a bad cut,” Violet said with concern.

“When was your last tetanus shot?” Ken asked.

Kurt scowled. “Will you quit treating me like a child? I’m fine!”

“Why don’t you let Jack come over and help you finish with that fence,” Ken suggested.

“That won’t be necessary,” Kurt said. “The job’s done. Now if you don’t mind, I think I’ll head home. I’ve got things to do.”

Kurt plopped his hat on his head, then headed out the back door.

Ken just sat at the table and shook his head. “Stubborn old coot,” he muttered.

“You and Kurt sure argue a lot,” Benny said.

Ken looked surprised. “Yes, I guess we do,” he said. “We’ve always argued. Ever since we were little kids. We’re still at it.”

“Why?” Violet asked.

Ken shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re both stubborn. And I think deep down, we both like arguing.”

The Aldens frowned. It was hard to understand why brothers would
enjoy
arguing!

The Aldens worked on the maze for most of the day. Mr. Sweeney cut posts of wood, then Violet and Benny lined them up where they needed to go. Henry and Jessie stapled chicken wire fencing from post to post. And everyone attached cornstalks into the chicken wire. The maze wouldn’t be perfect, but at least it would be open in time for the festival on Saturday.

Jessie pounded in another post, then tucked her hair behind her ear. She glanced at the cornstalks beside her. “Did you notice how thick these stalks are?”

“They’re pretty thick,” Violet agreed as she dropped another cut post next to Henry.

“I wonder what the person last night used to chop them down?” Jessie asked.

Henry stapled chicken wire to Jessie’s post. “Probably a machete,” he said.

“A machete must be pretty sharp,” Jessie said, “to cut through a plant that’s so thick.”

“You’d get a pretty nasty cut from one if you weren’t careful,” Henry said.

“Kurt had a pretty nasty cut,” Benny pointed out.

“He said he got it from an old barbed wire fence,” Violet said. “Do you think he could be lying?”

“I don’t know,” Benny said.

Mr. Sweeney came up behind the children. “I need to go into town and get some more chicken wire,” he said. “We don’t have quite enough to finish the job.”

“Would you like us to go with you, Mr. Sweeney?” Violet asked.

“No. Why don’t you finish up what you’re doing. Then you can take a break until I get back,” he said.

The Aldens used up all the chicken wire they had left, then they decided to take a walk and talk some more about the mystery.

“Even though some of the clues point to Kurt and David, I just don’t think it’s either of them,” Violet said. “They’re Ken’s family. Family members don’t hurt each other.”

“I hope not, Violet,” Henry said. “But think about it. Either one of them could have come over and toilet-papered the maze during the night. We know the cap with the light belongs to David. This morning, David said he was talking to his wife, but he could have been talking to Kurt. Remember, he said, ‘One more scare like this and he’ll be ready to sell.’ And now this cut of Kurt’s seems awfully suspicious.”

The Aldens found themselves walking down the hill toward Peggy Rodman’s place. She was outside working in her vegetable garden. A wheelbarrow of zucchini stood beside her.

“Hello, Ms. Rodman,” Violet said politely.

Peggy looked up at the Aldens, squinting in the sun. She frowned. “You’re the kids who are staying with Ken Johnson, aren’t you?” she asked.

“Yes,” Jessie replied.

“Too bad about the festival on Saturday,” Peggy said as she tossed another zucchini into the wheelbarrow.

“What do you mean?” Henry asked.

“Well, the festival is cancelled, isn’t it?” Peggy asked. She held her hand to her forehead to shade her eyes. “I heard about the trouble up at Ken’s place last night. I heard part of the maze was completely destroyed.”

“We’re helping to fix it,” Benny said.

“Ken said the festival will go on as scheduled on Saturday,” Jessie added.

“Really?” Peggy looked surprised. “Boy, Ken just doesn’t give up, does he?”

“Nope,” Benny said.

“Well, have a nice day,” Henry said.

The Aldens were about to continue walking when Peggy said something that stopped them in their tracks. “Did you all hear that noisy truck that came roaring down the road during the night?”

“You heard a truck during the night?” Jessie asked.

“Anybody within ten miles of here had to have heard it,” Peggy declared. “Whoever it was, the cops ought to take away his driver’s license. The guy was probably driving about eighty miles an hour.”

“What time was that?” Henry asked.

“About three-thirty in the morning,” Peggy replied.

That was just after the Aldens and Ken had woken up and gone outside.

“Did you get a good look at the truck or was it too dark?” Benny asked.

“Well, I could tell when it went under that street light over there that it was blue,” Peggy said, pointing at a street light over by the road. “And I noticed one of the headlights was out. But that’s all I saw.”

“I wonder if the person who destroyed part of Ken’s maze got away in that truck,” Violet said.

“Well, if you find a blue truck that’s got a headlight out, you might want to talk to the owner,” Peggy said.

As the Aldens walked away, Benny said, “We know somebody who has a blue truck. I don’t know if they’ve got a headlight burned out. But they definitely have a blue truck.”

“Kurt,” the others said at the same time.

“I think we’d better pay a visit to Kurt,” Jessie said.

Mr. Sweeney was still gone when the children returned to Ken’s. Grandfather and Ken were in the middle of a game of chess.

“Does Kurt live very far away?” Henry asked.

“His is the next farm up the road,” Ken replied. “It’s about a mile away. Why?”

“We were thinking we’d like to visit him,” Jessie said. “Would that be all right?” She didn’t want to tell Ken why they wanted to visit Kurt. Not until they were sure about their suspicions.

“That would be fine,” Ken said as he moved a pawn forward. “You might enjoy looking around his farm. Just don’t tell him I said so.” Ken winked.

“Be back in time for supper,” Grandfather said.

“We will,” Violet promised.

The children set off. They trudged up one hill, then down the other side. When they came to the top of the next hill, they saw a tall white farmhouse in the valley below. It looked a lot like Ken’s house, only smaller.

“That must be Kurt’s house,” Benny said, pointing.

A familiar rusty blue pickup truck sat under the shade of a large maple tree. As the Aldens drew closer, they noticed the right headlight was smashed in.

“Oh, no,” Violet moaned when she saw the broken headlight.

“Let’s go talk to Kurt,” Henry said.

As the Aldens approached the house, they heard a strange noise. It lasted a few seconds, then stopped. Then it started again.

“What’s that noise?” Jessie asked.

“It sounds like a machine gun,” Benny said. The noise was coming from the front porch.

The children approached the porch very cautiously.

“It’s Kurt!” Henry said with a short laugh. “He’s snoring.”

Kurt was lying on his back on a padded wicker sofa. He was sound asleep.

“Should we wake him?” Violet whispered.

But before anyone could answer, Kurt’s eyes flew open. “What?” he said, startled. “What’s the matter?”

“Oh, it’s you,” Kurt said when his eyes focused on the Aldens. He rubbed his eyes and smiled. “I’m afraid you caught me.”

“Caught you?” Violet asked.

“Caught me sleeping in the middle of the day,” Kurt said. He sat up. “But I’m awake now. What brings you kids up here on such a nice day?”

The children climbed the porch steps and stood around in an awkward semicircle.

“We heard a car or truck out by the road last night right after we chased the person who was trying to destroy the maze,” Henry began.

“You heard a vehicle in the middle of the night? On our quiet little road?” Kurt looked surprised.

“Yes,” Jessie said. “We also talked to your neighbor, Peggy Rodman.”

Kurt scowled when Jessie mentioned Peggy’s name.

“She heard it, too,” Jessie went on. “In fact, she said she even saw the vehicle.”

Jessie watched Kurt carefully. “She said she saw a blue pickup truck that was missing a headlight.”

“Hmm,” Kurt said, glancing over at his truck. “I have a blue pickup that’s missing a headlight.”

The Aldens waited for him to say more.

“I suppose you’re wondering whether it was my truck that Ms. Rodman saw?” Kurt asked.

“Yes,” Jessie said.

Kurt took a deep breath, then let it out. “Okay, I admit I was out late last night. But it’s not what you think.”

He shifted on the sofa. “I didn’t destroy Ken’s maze. I would never do anything to hurt my brother. I was trying to help him.”

“Help him how?” Violet asked. “What were you doing?”

“I’m worried about Ken,” Kurt said. “Somebody really wants him to cancel the festival. Whoever it is, I’m afraid that person could be dangerous. So last night I took my truck and parked on the road next to Ken’s. Then I waited. I wanted to see if anyone came onto the property.”

“And did you see the intruder?” Henry wanted to know.

“Unfortunately, I fell asleep,” Kurt said. “I didn’t wake up until you folks started chasing him.”