Hockey Mystery (7 page)

“We’ll have to tell him tomorrow at the rink,” Violet suggested.

“That’s right, tomorrow’s our last practice before the championship game,” said Jessie. “I’d better get some sleep!”

The next day the Aldens headed to the rink, as usual, before the sun was even up. Cathy was already in the locker room when Jessie came in.

“How are you feeling?” Jessie asked.

“Fine,” said Cathy. “Why do you ask?”

“I was just wondering whether your head felt better,” Jessie said.

“My head?” said Cathy.

“Remember, you had a really bad headache last night?” Jessie said.

“Oh, that ... that’s right ... yes, it’s all better,” Cathy said, gathering up her gear and leaving the locker room. She moved so quickly, it seemed she didn’t want to talk to Jessie anymore.

Meanwhile, out on the ice, Henry was trying to tell Coach about the missing jersey and stick. “Kevin, I have something important to tell you,” Henry said, skating out onto the ice.

Kevin was studying a clipboard of information about his players.

“What is it?” Kevin asked, looking up, a serious expression on his face.

“It’s about that box of stuff last night,” Henry said.

Kevin broke into a smile. “Pretty neat, huh? For me it’s like walking down memory lane, looking at all that stuff. Do you think you can set up the display?” he asked.

“Sure,” Henry said. “Violet’s going to make signs. She’s a great artist and has really nice handwriting.”

“Great. And thanks for dinner,” Kevin said. “It was really delicious.”

“No problem,” Henry said. “But what I wanted to tell you was—”

“Listen, we’ve got to get the girls ready for the big championship game, so I think we’ll need to talk about this later,” Kevin said, going back to his clipboard.

“Okay, no problem,” Henry said.

For the next hour, Kevin worked the Polar Bears like they’d never worked before. He had them skate laps and laps around the rink to strengthen their legs and made them do several intricate skating and passing drills. They ended with a shooting drill and a short scrimmage.

“Okay, girls, let’s break now,” Kevin said at last. “Come on over to the bench. I’d like to talk to you.

“Now, I realize some of you had never played hockey before when you started.” He looked around at all the girls, making eye contact with each one of them. “And you’ve done a great job. You’ve played hard, you’ve practiced hard, and now you’re seeing the result of all that hard work—tomorrow you’ll be in the mini-league championship game. And I bet you’re going to win that game, too. But whether or not you do, you should all be very proud of yourselves and of how well you’ve played.

“The game tomorrow is at ten o’clock. So I want you all to get a good night’s sleep, eat a good breakfast, and come here ready to play. Ready to win. Let’s go, Polar Bears!”

The girls cheered along with Kevin and Henry. They were excited about their game tomorrow. Jessie was especially excited. She was going to try her best. She hoped it would be good enough to help the team win.

After Coach’s pep talk, Henry tried to get a chance to speak to Kevin alone, to tell him about the jersey and stick. But several players and parents were always around him. Finally the two were alone, and Henry spoke up. “Coach, I started to tell you something before practice,” he began.

“Oh, yes, what was it you were trying to say?” Kevin asked.

“When we were going through the box, we noticed—” Henry began.

“Dad,” said a voice behind him.

Henry turned around, and there was Cathy, her face quite serious.

“Yes, hon? What is it?” Kevin asked, his face concerned.

“I need to talk to you,” said Cathy. “It’s really important.”

“Sure,” Kevin said. “Henry, I’ve got to talk to my daughter. Can whatever you were going to tell me wait a little?”

“Okay,” Henry said. He was disappointed that he still hadn’t had a chance to tell Coach about the missing items. But he couldn’t help wondering what was so important that Cathy had to talk to her dad about. She looked so worried. Henry hoped everything was all right.

Back in the locker room, Jessie was getting dressed in her usual spot next to Beth.

“Are you excited about tomorrow?” Jessie asked, pulling on her sweater.

“I sure am!” said Beth with a big grin. “We are going to win that championship trophy!”

Jessie laughed at her friend’s enthusiasm.

“I think I’m cut out for hockey more than figure skating,” Beth said. “Hockey is much more fan!”

“Do you think so?” Jessie asked. “I enjoy playing hockey, but I still like figure skating. I love the spins and jumps, the music, the costumes.”

Beth was almost finished getting dressed. As usual, she asked Jessie to fasten the clasp on her silver skate necklace.

Jessie was turning around to help Beth when she spotted something. Something that made her eyes open wide.

Beth’s skating bag was on the floor beside the bench, overflowing with hockey gear. But what was on top of the gear made Jessie stop and stare.

“Is that what I think it is?” Jessie asked.

Beth saw Jessie’s expression and said, “Please don’t tell anyone you saw it.”

And Jessie knew that she was right.

Sitting on top of Beth’s hockey gear was an autographed Kevin Reynolds jersey. Just like the one that was missing from Kevin’s box.

“Beth, where did you get that?” Jessie asked, looking at the large blue-and-red shirt lying on top of Beth’s bag. It had a Scouts logo on the front, and across one shoulder was a signature, written in pen, which clearly said,
Kevin Reynolds.

Beth bent over and quickly stuffed the jersey into her bag and zipped it up.
“Please
don’t tell anyone,” Beth said again. Then she picked up her bag and left the locker room before Jessie could say anything else.

Jessie was left staring after Beth. She finished getting dressed and hurried outside as quickly as she could. But Beth was nowhere to be seen.

“What is it?” Benny asked. He had been waiting outside for Jessie. “You look upset.”

A moment later, Henry and Violet joined them.

“You’ll never believe what just happened,” Jessie said.

The Aldens went over to the bleacher seats and sat down.

“I was talking to Beth in the locker room,” Jessie said. “And her bag was on the floor next to us. And guess what was in her bag.”

“What?” Benny asked.

“Kevin’s jersey—the one that’s missing!” Jessie told them.

“Are you sure?” Violet asked.

“Yes—I saw his signature on the shoulder,” said Jessie. She shook her head. “When she saw me looking at it, she grabbed it and told me not to tell anyone! Then she ran out of the locker room!”

“That doesn’t sound good,” said Violet.

“I wonder if she has the stick, too,” Benny said.

“We’d better tell Coach,” Henry pointed out.

The Aldens went to Kevin’s office, but the door was shut and locked.

“Maybe Coach is in his office right now with Cathy,” he said. “After practice, she said she had something important to tell him and they went somewhere to talk.”

“What do you think she had to talk to him about?” Violet asked.

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “She didn’t say. It looked like it was something pretty important, though.”

“I’ll try to call Coach later about the jersey,” Jessie said.

“In the meantime, let’s go home and organize Kevin’s hockey stuff the way he wanted us to,” said Henry.

Back at home, the Aldens arranged the hockey items. The things from Kevin’s childhood would be first. The display would begin with a picture of Kevin at age three, standing on the ice in tiny little skates, holding a hockey stick. Next would come his first trophy won at age seven. Later in the display would be other trophies and things he’d won as a professional hockey player.

Using the information on the list Kevin had given them, Violet made signs explaining each piece. She used colored markers and wrote neatly on note cards. KEVIN REYNOLDS SCORED HIS FIRST GOAL IN THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE WITH THIS PUCK, read one card. TICKER TAPE PARADE FOR THE SCOUTS AFTER THEY WON THEIR FIRST STANLEY CUP, read another card. THE COVER OF
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
FEATURING KEVIN REYNOLDS, read another.

That night Jessie tried calling Coach Reynolds, but his wife told her he was out. “He’s at the town council meeting,” she explained. “Tonight’s the night they’re looking at the plans for the rink.”

“I hope everything goes well,” Jessie said before she hung up. She told the others what Mrs. Reynolds had said.

“I guess we’ll just have to tell him about the missing things tomorrow,” said Benny.

“But tomorrow is the big game,” Violet pointed out.

“We’ll tell him after the game,” Jessie decided. “Now I’m going to bed so I’ll be well rested for tomorrow!”

The next morning, the Aldens arrived at the rink excited and ready. Henry went right over to help Coach Reynolds prepare, while Jessie went to the locker room to get dressed. Violet, Benny, and Grandfather went to find seats. Even though they had gotten there early, the stands were already filling up with fans for both the Polar Bears and their opponents, the Sharks.

When Henry saw Coach, he asked him right away about the town council meeting the night before.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “Some of the council members liked the idea of a new rink. But others were worried about the rink causing a lot of traffic on that side of town and other problems. They’re going to let me know later today. But you know what was really funny,” he added. “Beth’s mom was there. I saw her going in to talk to them after I left.”

“That’s interesting,” said Henry. He remembered Jessie had overheard Mrs. Davidson talking about the rink and her “secret plan.” He hoped her plan wasn’t to convince the council not to build it.

“Anyway, I’m not going to worry about that now,” said Kevin. “We’ve got a game to play!”

A short while later, the Polar Bears and the Sharks were on the ice, warming up for the game.

“Beth!” Coach called out.

“Yes, Coach?” Beth answered.

“I just realized we don’t have any extra sticks in case someone breaks one,” Kevin said. “Can you go to Scott’s office and get some?”

“Sure, no problem,” said Beth, skating off the ice.

The other girls continued their warm-ups.

“Uh-oh,” Rebecca said as she skated beside Jessie, eyeing the other team.

“What’s wrong?” Jessie asked.

“They look pretty good,” said Rebecca. Like the Polar Bears, the Sharks were taking turns shooting the puck into the goal. Nearly every shot was a good one.

“They’re undefeated this year,” added Kaitlin as she skated past.

“Until today,” said Cathy, joining the group. “We’re going to beat them.” She had a big smile on her face and looked excited to play.

Cathy seemed happier than she had in a long time, Jessie noticed. She wondered if her good mood had something to do with her important talk with her father the day before.

“That’s right,” agreed Jessie, smiling at Cathy. “We are going to be the champs.”

Jessie saw Beth hand a couple of sticks to Kevin before she returned to the ice. Then the whistle blew and warm-ups were over. The starting players got into their positions.

Beth was facing a girl nearly a head taller than she was, and in just a moment the Sharks were racing up the ice in control of the puck.

Wham!

One of the Sharks took a slap shot into the goal and scored.

“All right!” cheered one of the Sharks. Their fans roared.

“I told you,” Rebecca whispered to Jessie, who was sitting beside her on the bench. “This is going to be a long game.”

The next few minutes were indeed some of the longest Jessie could remember in any hockey game. The Sharks kept control of the puck almost the whole time. They were soon winning four to nothing. The Polar Bears had never been so far behind.

When Jessie was out on the ice, she tried her hardest, but wasn’t able to get a shot on goal.

Near the end of the period, Jessie was skating quickly up the ice with the puck.
This time I’m going to score,
she thought. But when she passed one of the Sharks, she suddenly felt her feet come out from under her.

Bam!
The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the ice.

A whistle blew. The player she’d just passed had tripped her!

With the Shark player sitting in the penalty box, the Polar Bears now had one more player on the ice than their opponent. And they were not going to waste this power play.

But again, the Sharks quickly hit the puck all the way to the other end of the rink. Cathy knew what to do. Using her strong, powerful legs, she zoomed right up the ice and around a couple of Sharks. As soon as she’d crossed the blue line into the Sharks’ end of the rink, Cathy pulled her stick back and—
smash!—
fired the puck at the Sharks’ goal.

The puck went in—Cathy had scored!

All of the Polar Bears who were on the ice crowded around Cathy, and the others cheered from the bench. The fans in the stands cheered, too.