Monsters and Mischief (9 page)

“If nothing fell apart,” said Sylvester, “then they
were
friends that night. And they’re probably still friends now.”

Woodrow nodded.

“That’s not possible,” said Rosie. “Eli
stole
the drawing. If I were Derrick, I’d be furious.”

“But Derrick doesn’t think like you,” said Woodrow. “In fact, Derrick decided not to press charges against Eli.”

“No way!” said Rosie.

Woodrow continued,
“Why do you think Derrick would make that decision?”

“He obviously didn’t want to get his friend in trouble,” said Viola.

“You’re still missing something else,” said Woodrow.
“
Why wouldn’t Derrick have wanted to get Eli in trouble for stealing a drawing from his gallery opening — a crime that got Derrick and his artwork recognized in all of the New York City newspapers
?”

“Oh my gosh,” said Viola. “Of course! It was a publicity stunt!”

“A stunt?” said Sylvester. “No way.” “It had to have been,” said Viola. “It all makes sense. They were seen together earlier that night. They have a history going all the way back to high school. They’re still friends!”

Woodrow nodded. “Best friends who’d do anything to help get the other’s work noticed. Yesterday, after all the questions from the press, Eli finally had to admit that he and Derrick had set up the heist to draw attention to the gallery show. What they didn’t expect was for my father to be so close. Or to run so fast. Eli wasn’t supposed to have been caught. My dad foiled their plan! At least technically … Derrick and Eli
are
getting all sorts of attention now. But for all the wrong reasons.”

19
THE UNSAFE SAFE
(A ??? MYSTERY)

 

“My mom told me a story last night before bed,” said Viola. “And no, it’s not a fairy tale, if you were wondering.” The boys laughed — obviously she’d nailed exactly what they’d been thinking. “Another strange report came in to the paper, and she wondered if I could help her figure it out. I promised to ask you guys about it, but I never got a chance today with all the Drama drama.

“Mrs. Geldman lives by herself in a great old house out on River Lane. Her husband passed away awhile ago. But she kept all of his old belongings. Her house is overstuffed with it. She recently decided to donate most of it to the Maple Avenue Church Charity Thrift Store.

“Her kids wanted to go through it first, but she said the only things she had that were valuable were in a strange old safe her husband had kept in the bedroom closet. She wasn’t even sure what was locked away in there, because Mr. Geldman had neglected to give her the key. She assumed the stash was cash, or stocks, or
bonds … bank stuff. Her kids promised to help her open the safe when they visited.

“Before her children came, Mrs. Geldman loaded up her car with a bunch of her husband’s old clothes and brought them to the thrift store. The workers at the store were happy to receive such a large donation. She promised that more was on its way. She told them that she had a lot of treasures up in her old house.

“A couple days later, when Mrs. Geldman’s kids came to Moon Hollow to visit, they were impressed that she’d already made some progress organizing the house. One of her sons, Melvin, went upstairs to check out the safe in the bedroom closet and to see how difficult it might be to open without the key. But when he came downstairs, he asked his mom how she’d gotten the safe open.

“Mrs. Geldman was confused. The last she’d checked, she said, the safe had been locked up tight. Everyone went upstairs to see for themselves. To their disappointment, Melvin was right. The door was open. And the safe was empty.

“An argument broke out almost immediately. Melvin’s siblings believed that he had somehow broken into the safe. They thought he’d removed whatever was inside and hidden it. Melvin, of course, was insulted that his brothers and sisters
would think he’d do such a thing. He wanted to prove his innocence, so he allowed them all to search his luggage and his car. No one found anything that looked like it should have been part of their inheritance.

“The family placed a police report, but so far, they haven’t made any progress,” said Viola. “But after thinking about the story, I told my mom that I had an idea of how someone got into the safe.
Do you guys know
?”

“Melvin didn’t mention that the safe looked like it had been tampered with,” said Woodrow. “So someone had to have used the key to open it.” He jingled the key chain he always kept attached to his belt loop.

“You’re saying the thief used the same key that Mr. Geldman had kept from his wife?” said Rosie.
“
But who had gotten ahold of it
?”

“If it wasn’t Melvin,” said Viola, “or any of Mrs. Geldman’s adult children, it had to have been someone who knew she had something valuable up in that house.”

“ ‘Treasure’ was what she called it,” said Sylvester.

“Oh my gosh,” said Rosie. “Mrs. Geldman mentioned ‘treasure’ to the people at the thrift store when she dropped off her husband’s old clothes.”

“Exactly,” said Viola. “So one of them must have gotten Mr. Geldman’s key.
How
?”

“That’s easy,” said Woodrow. “Where do people keep keys?”

Sylvester pointed at Woodrow’s waistband. “Clipped to your pants.”

“True,” said Woodrow. “Or they stick them into their pockets.”

“Someone at the thrift store must have found a key ring in the pocket of one of Mrs. Geldman’s donations,” said Rosie.

“One of the employees must have used the keys to get into her house,” said Viola. “They located the safe in the closet and emptied out whatever was inside.”

“Is that what you told your mom?” asked Woodrow. Viola nodded. “What’s she going to do about it?”

“She already talked to the police,” said Viola. “They’ve narrowed the suspects down to a pair of thrift store employees. Hopefully Mrs. Geldman will get her stuff back.”

Rosie pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I just can’t believe that someone would take advantage of a little old lady like that, especially someone who works for a charity.”

“If we’ve learned anything this week,” Viola said, “it’s that monsters wear all kinds of masks. Right?”

“Yeah,” said Rosie, “but how are we supposed to see through them?”

20
THE GLORY OF DETECTION

 

Over the course of the next week, the students of Moon Hollow Middle School were occupied with two recurring disturbances: more Tall Ted sightings and a thief who was targeting student belongings. Some people claimed that the two were one. Stories raced from class to class about strange growling noises coming from custodial closets, a large shadowy figure watching an outdoor soccer scrimmage from behind school windows, deep dents that had been smashed into the lockers of students who had taken stones from Purgatory Chasm. Gossip flew that Tall Ted was exacting his revenge by stealing back from those who had stolen from him. The scariest part of the whole experience was the rumor that the monster was only biding his time until he snatched a student instead of a wallet or a piece of jewelry. Everyone was frightened to walk home from school alone. Even some of the faculty were beginning to look nervous.

The Question Marks Mystery Club, however, was in detective paradise. They listened to the stories their friends told and gathered as many
details as possible. Unfortunately, since the opening night of
The Villain’s Web
was edging ever closer, Rosie and Viola didn’t have as much time to devote to the mysteries as they would have liked. Rehearsal was eating up their freedom.

Thankfully, the play was eating Clea Keene’s free time too. The Troop — as Clea and her friends had come to be known — were also trying to figure out who or what was behind the Tall Ted stories and all the stealing, without any obvious progress.

Viola, Rosie, Sylvester, and Woodrow promised one another that the Question Marks would answer the questions first. They would show these novices which of them loved mysteries more.

Viola made the mistake during one rehearsal of saying just that to Rosie while in earshot of Clea Keene and Paul Gomez.

“This isn’t about a
love of mysteries,
” said Clea, coming quickly to where Viola and Rosie stood offstage. “It’s about stopping terror.”

“Terror?” Rosie said, trying to hide her amusement.

“I’d say,” Clea answered. “People are really scared. This has got to stop. Obviously, you guys are more interested in proving a point than helping your fellow students. Am I right, Paul?”

Paul Gomez came running. “Yes. Of course.”

Viola sighed. “I’m sorry that you think we don’t care about our ‘fellow students,’ “ she said.
“Yes, solving mysteries together is like a game for us, but there’s a purpose too. Our curiosity ends up helping people. We just don’t go around bragging about how wonderful we are.”

This seemed to sting Clea. She huffed. “That being the case … maybe you wouldn’t mind sharing the love.”

“What do you mean?” said Viola.

Clea nudged Paul, as if they had planned this little argument. He jumped, surprised, then realized it was his turn to speak. “We, uh, challenge you to solve the mystery of Tall Ted.”

Rosie and Viola both blinked, speechless.

“If we solve it first,” Clea added, “you have to admit that the Troop knows just as much about mysteries as you guys. In fact, you’ll have to write a letter to the school paper proclaiming our …” She thought for a long moment. “Our glory.”

“Your
glory
?” said Rosie.

“That’s a little bit ridiculous,” said Viola.

“And you’ll have to drop out of the school play,” Clea added quickly, almost under her breath.

“So that’s what this is about,” said Viola. “I should have known.”

“What do we get if we win?” Rosie asked.

Clea sighed. “We promise to disband the Troop and stick to what we supposedly do best: acting.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Viola.

“Then we have a deal?” asked Clea.

Viola and Rosie glanced at each other. They were certain Sylvester and Woodrow would go for it. Besides, the girls were the ones who had everything to lose, the boys, not so much. But was it worth giving up their roles in the school play? They had already worked so hard. And despite all of Clea’s pestering, they were having fun.

Suddenly Rosie wasn’t sure what to do. But then Clea Keene raised an eyebrow, as if daring them to say no. Viola grabbed Rosie’s hand.

“Deal,” the girls answered at the same time.

21
THE TRUTH ABOUT TALL TED
(A ?????? MYSTERY)

 

“So where do we start?” asked Woodrow when Rosie and Viola arrived at his house later that evening. They’d picked up Sylvester on their way over and were now sitting on the Knoxes’ front steps.

Stars lit the sky over the Hudson River. In the distance, a train blew its lonely horn. The air was cool and sweet and still. “I think we need to talk to the Tall Ted witnesses,” said Viola, bundling her jacket up tight. “Get a sense of what we’re dealing with.”

“Okay,” said Sylvester. “I’ll gather a list of everyone who’s had a Tall Ted encounter. We can work from there.”

At lunch the next day, the four found one another at their favorite table. Sylvester pulled out the notebook Viola had given him for Christmas and opened it up. He showed everyone the five names he’d written. “This is who I came up with. Does anybody have class with any of them?”

They all shook their heads no.

“But Gina Denucci volunteers in the main office during her study hall period,” said Rosie, pointing at one of the names. “I could talk to her there.”

“It’s a start,” said Viola. “The rest of us can figure out how to track down the others. Do you all want to catch up before play rehearsal? Meet outside the auditorium?”

Everyone agreed.

Rosie made her way to the main office. She noticed a skinny girl with long black hair sitting behind a desk just inside the office entrance.

“Gina?”

“Hi, Rosie,” said the girl, wearing a big smile. “You need another hall pass?”

“Oh, ha, no, thanks. I was just wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions.”

“About what?”

“Well … I heard that you might have had a Tall Ted sighting.”

Gina blushed. “Oh you did, did you?” She suddenly didn’t sound as outgoing as usual.

“Can you tell me a little bit about what you saw?”

Gina exhaled slowly and glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t know if I should.”

“Why not?”

“Some people around here don’t want us talking about … monsters.”

Rosie thought she understood. The faculty seemed to be trying to quash the spooky rumors before they got out of hand. But Rosie figured it was too late for that. “I can be quiet if you can,” Rosie whispered, impressed with herself for not giving up so easily.

Gina gave another nervous glance over her shoulder, then appeared to relax slightly. “Okay,” she said softly. “It was really freaky. I was here in the office after school, doing some filing for Ms. Benson, the guidance counselor, when out in the hallway I heard this weird noise.”

“What did it sound like?” Rosie asked.

“Kinda gross. Like a growl mixed with … well, a huge burp.”

Rosie crinkled her nose. “I experienced something similar near the boiler room under the stage.”

Gina nodded. “When I heard it, I immediately thought of all those Tall Ted rumors. The boy I was working with that afternoon heard the noise too. We both went to the door to listen for it again. I was totally freaking out. But Thomas insisted we head toward the math wing. He thought that’s where the noise had come from.

“We were halfway there when, before I knew what was happening, Thomas shouted, grabbed my hand, and pulled me back here to the office. Once I caught my breath, he asked me if I’d seen
what he’d seen. I wasn’t sure, but as soon as he described it, I couldn’t get the image out of my head. A tall figure. Pale. Bald. With long arms and sharp claws.”

“That seems to be what everyone says,” said Rosie.

“Well, Thomas and I told Ms. Benson what happened. She was concerned. She went out and searched the hallway for us, but came back reporting nothing unusual. She looked at me like I’d gone crazy for seeing Tall Ted.”

“But … according to what you just said,” Rosie replied, “
you
didn’t see anything. Your friend Thomas did.”

Gina pursed her lips. She looked almost disappointed. “But I
almost
saw him. If I’d been looking in the right direction —” Suddenly, Gina sat up straight and glanced over Rosie’s shoulder. “Oh, hi, Thomas. I was just chatting with Rosie about … the weather. Right, Rosie? It’s been so nice out lately.”

Rosie turned around to find a tall boy standing behind her. Suddenly, she felt foolish. Gina’s coworker in the office was Thomas Kenyon, a member of Clea’s Troop. Rosie had thought that she and Gina had been whispering so that the faculty wouldn’t hear them, but she now realized she’d been wrong. Gina didn’t want
Thomas
listening in. He must have asked Gina not to discuss the sighting with members of the Question Marks,
since the two groups were in the midst of a mystery competition.

Thomas simply folded his arms and glared at her. Rosie took it as a sign that her business there was done.

After the last bell rang that day, Rosie found Viola, Sylvester, and Woodrow in the hallway outside of the auditorium. The girls had only a few minutes before Mrs. Glick would be expecting them inside, so Rosie lost no time relaying her experience with Gina.

“So Gina never actually saw Tall Ted?” said Sylvester.

“But Thomas did,” said Woodrow. “Too bad we can’t ask him about it. Being in Clea’s Troop, he won’t tell us a thing. Certainly nothing we could consider real evidence.”

“Did you guys track down the other people on the list of witnesses?” asked Rosie.

Viola nodded. “Yeah, but their stories were similar to Gina’s. They all seemed to be nearby when someone else saw something. But no one remembers who did the actual witnessing.”

“What about that kid in your play?” asked Woodrow. “The one who claimed Tall Ted went into the boiler room.”

“Evan Gleeson?” said Viola. “I talked to him today too. He said he
thought
he’d seen a tall shape moving in the darkness, but he couldn’t be
sure. Especially with the flickering lights in that hallway. Everyone’s been saying that Evan saw a tall, bald figure with claws, but he was never that specific with his description.”

“Weird,” said Sylvester. “So we can’t verify
any
eyewitness accounts?”

The other three shook their heads.

“So there’s our first hint about what’s really going on here,” said Woodrow.

“And what would that be?” asked Sylvester.