Mystery at the Ballpark (8 page)

“But who would do such a thing?” Susan blurted out. She looked at her aunt, who was fumbling with her pocketbook.

“I think it’s you, Mrs. Sealy,” Henry said quietly. “I saw you poking around the van earlier today. You had no reason to be there.”

“This is ridiculous!” Mrs. Sealy blurted out. She clutched her pocketbook more firmly, and suddenly Violet realized that she had something to hide.

“How dare you accuse my sister!” Mrs. Miller said. “What would she want with a baseball card? Look, I’ll prove it to you.” Before anyone could stop her, she grabbed Mrs. Sealy’s pocketbook and emptied the contents on a picnic table. “See, what did I tell you?” she said angrily. “Here’s a hairbrush, some tissues, a change purse, and …” She paused, shaken. A plastic-wrapped baseball card lay squarely on the table. “Oh, no!” she gasped.

“And a baseball card,” Henry said. He picked up the card and showed it to the group. “Joe DiMaggio. Except this one’s not autographed.”

Mrs. Miller looked astonished. “What’s going on?” she asked, turning to her sister. Mrs. Sealy didn’t answer, and stood with her arms folded across her chest. “Well, say something, Edna,” Mrs. Miller persisted. “How did this end up in your purse?”

Mrs. Sealy hesitated for a moment, and then realized the game was up. “All right,” she said. Her voice was low and angry. “I took the card.”

“And that’s not all you took, is it?” Jessie asked.

Mrs. Sealy shook her head. “I took some other things as well.”

“But
why?”
Susan looked as if she was near tears. “Why would you do such a thing?” Violet felt sorry for her. It must he terrible to think that your own aunt would try to destroy your team.

“You know I wanted you to drop out of baseball,” Mrs. Sealy began. “I thought if enough bad things happened, maybe you’d get disgusted and stop playing. Or maybe Coach would disband the Bears, I don’t know …” Her voice trailed off. “I don’t suppose this makes sense to you.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Susan said. Her voice was shaky. “I love being on the team. And I never understood why you hate the game so much.”

“Don’t you see?” Mrs. Sealy took a step toward Susan. “It takes time away from more important things. You could be a wonderful artist if you just spent more time painting. You’re wasting your time on this … baseball field.”

“Why didn’t you just tell her how you felt?” Mrs. Miller asked.

Mrs. Sealy looked vaguely at her sister. “I tried to … I guess I never believed it would sink in. I thought this way would be better.”

“You made a big mistake,” Coach Warren said. “You’ve caused a lot of problems for us.”

“I know. I see now that I was wrong.” She paused. “I’m really sorry, Susan. You probably don’t believe this, but I did it for you.”

“But I wasn’t giving up my painting,” Susan said. Her voice was stronger now. “I’m still going to take lessons and paint every day in the off-season. I thought you knew that.”

Mrs. Sealy shook her head and for a moment no one said anything.

“It’s a big relief to know who did it,” Chuck said.

“Did you take Jessie’s mitt?” Benny demanded. “And then try to trick her with a fake one?”

“Yes, I took her mitt.” Mrs. Sealy looked embarrassed. “But I don’t know anything about a fake one.”

“You don’t?” Henry looked suspicious.

“She’s telling the truth,” Chuck said. “I felt so sorry for you, Jessie, that I tried to make you a new one. I guess I didn’t fool anyone.”

“You
did?” asked Jessie. Chuck nodded, embarrassed.

“The new one still looked new,” Jessie explained,

Benny turned to Mr. Jackson. “We were afraid maybe you were the one who switched gloves.”

“Me?” Mr. Jackson looked surprised. “What made you think that?”

“You always keep a saltshaker in the dugout …”

“And salt can be used to make new leather look old,” Violet finished for him.

Mr. Jackson laughed. “Well, I can explain the saltshaker to you. Hard-boiled eggs. I love ’em. Eat ’em all the time.” He grinned. “But what’s a hard-boiled
egg
without salt? Anyway, why would I want to hurt the team?”

“You said you didn’t think girls should be on the team,” said Benny.

“Well,” Mr. Jackson said, “I’m beginning to realize I was wrong about that. Very wrong.” He looked at Jessie and she smiled.

“But I saw you snooping around the lockers one day,” Benny said. “You said they needed painting, but I knew they didn’t.”

“Oh, that.” Mr. Jackson was embarrassed. “I have a little confession to make, Benny. I was trying to sneak Stockings back into your locker, but you caught me.”

“Stockings! You found Stockings?” Benny was thrilled. He had his teddy bear back.

Mr. Jackson nodded. “My little granddaughter picked him up, Benny. But I was afraid everyone would think I’d stolen the other missing things.”

“What about the bat?” Susan said suddenly. “How come I ended up with Ann’s bat?”

“I’m responsible for that,” Mrs. Sealy said. “I thought that if they suspected you of taking it, they’d throw you off the team.”

“Edna! That was a
terrible
thing to do,” Susan’s mother said.

“I know.” Mrs. Sealy stared at the ground. She looked very sad.

“Where’s my glove?” Jessie spoke up. “I hope you didn’t sell it!”

“It’s in the trunk of my car,” Mrs. Sealy said. “We can get it right now.”

They walked silently to the parking lot, and Mrs. Sealy opened the trunk of her car and handed Jessie her glove.

Jessie thrust her hand inside it. She felt the little rough spot inside. This was the real glove from Aunt Jane!

“I think I better leave now,” Mrs. Sealy said quietly. Everyone was watching her except Mrs. Miller, who had her arm around Susan.

“Wait, there’s still something I don’t understand,” Jessie said. “What did you mean when you said that Coach Warren was in for the surprise of his life? I thought you and Mr. Jackson were plotting something.”

“No, for once I wasn’t plotting anything,” Mrs. Sealy said. “Just a surprise birthday party.”

“Something else is bothering me.” Nicole stepped out of the crowd. “Did you cut the cables in the van that day?”

“Yes, I did.” Mrs. Sealy’s voice was so low Nicole could hardly hear her. “I wanted you to miss the first game of the season. I’ll pay for the repairs.”

“I suppose you took the keys to my van, too,” Coach Warren said angrily.

Mrs. Sealy nodded.

“We thought
you
took them,” Jessie said quietly to Chuck.

“And we thought you got lost on purpose, too,” Michael added.

Chuck took off his baseball cap and ran his fingers through his hair. “No, I’m afraid I’m just lousy at directions.”

“Who was that boy we saw you with in the store?” Benny asked. “He plays for the Pirates.”

“Oh, that’s my little brother, Danny,” Chuck said.

“You have a brother who plays baseball!” Jessie exclaimed. “Why didn’t you tell us about him?”

“I was going to tell you about him when the season was over. I thought you might think it was kind of strange that he was playing for the other team.” He paused for a moment. “You see, Danny joined the Pirates way before I started working for Coach Warren.”

“We’ve certainly cleared up a lot of things,” Henry said.

“I’m really sorry,” Mrs. Sealy said in a small voice. “I just wanted Susan to quit the team.” She looked so miserable, everyone felt sorry for her.

“Well, we all make mistakes,” Coach Warren said gruffly. “Maybe we should just forget this one.” Everyone was quiet while Mrs. Sealy started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“I’m glad that’s over!” Chuck said, letting out a long breath.

“I’m glad that you figured out what was going on,” Coach Warren said to the Aldens.

“I think we should try to put this behind us,” Chuck said.

An hour later, the Aldens were celebrating with Michael and Nicole on the front porch of Grandfather’s house. Benny was hugging Stockings tightly. Violet looked at her little brother and smiled.

“Things have a way of turning out all right, don’t they?” she said. They had solved the mystery, and she had even hit a home run!

Jessie nodded. “Benny got Stockings back, and I got my autographed glove back.”

“And we won the game!” Michael added. He remembered how exciting it had been.

“Do you think Susan will be okay?” Nicole asked. “I really feel sorry for her.”

“I think she’ll be fine,” Henry said. “She knows her aunt made a big mistake, but it’s all over with now.” It was a warm evening, and Mrs. McGregor’s garden was starting to bloom. “You know, we really did a good job today. We won the game and we solved another mystery.”

“Another
mystery?” Nicole asked curiously.

“Do you mean you’ve done this before?” Michael piped up.

Jessie laughed. “Many times.”

“Wow,” Nicole said softly. “Can you tell us about them?”

“Sure,” Benny told her. “But it’ll take a long time!”

G
ERTRUDE
C
HANDLER
W
ARNER
discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book,
The Boxcar Children,
quickly proved she had succeeded.

Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from girls and boys telling her how much they liked her books.

The Boxcar Children Mysteries

T
HE
B
OXCAR
C
HILDREN

S
URPRISE
I
SLAND

T
HE
Y
ELLOW
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY
R
ANCH

M
IKE’S
M
YSTERY

B
LUE
B
AY
M
YSTERY

T
HE
W
OODSHED
M
YSTERY

T
HE
L
IGHTHOUSE
M
YSTERY

M
OUNTAIN
T
OP
M
YSTERY

S
CHOOLHOUSE
M
YSTERY

C
ABOOSE
M
YSTERY

H
OUSEBOAT
M
YSTERY

S
NOWBOUND
M
YSTERY

T
REE
H
OUSE
M
YSTERY

B
ICYCLE
M
YSTERY

M
YSTERY IN THE
S
AND

M
YSTERY
B
EHIND
THE
W
ALL

B
US
S
TATION
M
YSTERY

B
ENNY
U
NCOVERS
A
M
YSTERY

T
HE
H
AUNTED
C
ABIN
M
YSTERY

T
HE
D
ESERTED
L
IBRARY
M
YSTERY

T
HE
A
NIMAL
S
HELTER
M
YSTERY

T
HE
O
LD
M
OTEL
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
H
IDDEN
P
AINTING

T
HE
A
MUSEMENT
P
ARK
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY OF THE
M
IXED
-U
P
Z
OO

T
HE
C
AMP
-O
UT
M
YSTERY

T
HE
M
YSTERY
G
IRL