Pumpkin Head Mystery (2 page)

“Wow! This is an awesome farm,” Benny said.

“Thank you,” said Mr. Beckett. “We do love it here. It is a special place. I don’t think we could ever sell it to Dave Bolger.”

“Has Dave Bolger made you an offer?” asked Grandfather.

“Yes,” Mrs. Beckett said. “He has offered us a lot of money for it. Sally wants us to sell the farm and buy a retirement home in Florida. That way, we could live close to her and our two grandchildren.” Mrs. Beckett looked around her cozy kitchen. “But we are not ready to give up our farm.”

“And Mr. Bolger will not leave us alone!” Mr. Beckett said. “He makes a new offer every week.”

Jessie poured more milk into Benny’s glass. “Is Mr. Bolger a farmer, too?” she asked. “He must understand how you feel about your farm.”

“No,” said Mr. Beckett. “He does not understand. Mr. Bolger is a builder. He bought the Wilson farm next to ours. He built a lot of houses there. Now he wants to buy our farm so he can build more houses.” Mr. Beckett looked out the window at his fields.

Mrs. Beckett wiped crumbs from the table. “Our daughter, Sally, might be right about one thing, though,” she said. “We have been having a lot of problems lately. And until George gets that cast off his leg, I don’t know how we will be able to keep up with things around here.”

“We could help,” Henry said.

“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “We would be happy to help out on your farm.”

Mr. Beckett looked surprised. “Farm work can be very hard,” he said.

Grandfather smiled. “My grandchildren don’t mind hard work. And they like to be helpful.”

“That would be wonderful,” Mr. Beckett said. “If you’re sure you don’t mind, we could really use the help.”

“We don’t mind at all,” Violet said.

Suddenly, everyone seemed to be staring at Benny. He was carefully plucking the last little crumbs from his plate. Then he began to lick a small bit of apple from his fork.

“Oh, Benny,” Jessie said. “I think you have gotten it all.”

Benny looked up. His face turned red.

Mrs. Beckett hid a small smile. “We do need help around here,” she said. “For example, there is one piece of apple pie left. It is too small to save, but I do not like to throw food away.”

Benny sat up straight in his chair. “I can help with that!” he said. He held his plate out to Mrs. Beckett.

Grandfather laughed. “When it comes to eating, Benny can always be counted on to help out.”

While Grandfather spoke with the Becketts, the children walked back to the farm stand to pick out their pumpkins. Jessie found a few to decorate the front porch. Benny discovered a bright orange one that would be a perfect pumpkin head for his scarecrow.

“I’ll carry these to the car,” Henry offered.

“I will go pay for them,” Violet said. She took the money that Grandfather had given her and walked to the small booth. She did not see Bessie. Violet walked to the side door of the booth and knocked. The door opened slightly when she touched it. Violet saw a roll of tickets, a plate of snacks for sale, and a box with money in it.

“Hello?” she called. But no one was inside. Violet decided to put the money in the cash box. As she left the small booth, she heard someone talking—someone with an angry voice. She could not make out the words. But she saw Bessie standing in the trees on the other side of the field. She seemed to be arguing with a man in a dark suit. Violet hurried back to the car.

Grandfather started the engine and the Aldens headed for home. Violet wondered about what she had seen.

There certainly did seem to be a lot of problems on the Beckett farm.

“I can’t wait until it is dark!” Benny cried.

“It won’t be long now,” Jessie said. “I will go find a candle.”

Henry lifted the pumpkin head onto the top of the scarecrow. Watch, the Alden’s wire-haired terrier, barked excitedly.

“You carved such a scary face into that pumpkin,” Violet said. “I don’t think Watch likes it very much.”

Benny rubbed Watch’s head. “Don’t worry, Watch. Sam is just pretend. He is for fun. Scarecrows can’t hurt anybody. They can’t even move!”

When Jessie came back, she placed a candle inside the pumpkin head. The eerie face glowed in the dark.

“Oh, my! That scarecrow gave me a fright!” Mrs. McGregor, the Aldens’ housekeeper, stood on the front lawn. She held a big platter filled with marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers. “You have been working so hard out here,” she said. “I thought you might like a snack.”

“Wow! S’mores!” Benny cried. He jumped up and took the platter from Mrs. McGregor. “Thank you!”

Mrs. McGregor lit a small fire in the fire pit. Soon all four children were toasting marshmallows. Benny made a double-decker sandwich. He piled lots of chocolate and gooey marshmallows between his graham crackers. Just as he opened his mouth to take a big bite, there was a loud screech and a honking horn.

Violet jumped. “What was that?” she asked.

Henry pointed toward the road that ran in front of Grandfather’s house. “There was almost a bad accident out there. One car stopped and another one came close to hitting it.”

“I wonder why a car would stop in that spot?” Jessie asked. “That’s odd.”

The drivers shouted at each other, but the children could not hear what they said.

Violet stood up. “I hope everyone is all right.”

Finally, both cars drove off. The Aldens watched the two sets of red taillights disappear down the road into the darkness.

“Everything seems to be fine now,” Henry said.

After the children finished their s’mores, Henry put out the fire.

Jessie blew out the candle in the pumpkin head. “We should get some rest,” she said. “We promised we would be at the Beckett farm early tomorrow morning.”

After a big breakfast of blueberry pancakes made by Mrs. McGregor, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny hopped on their bicycles and rode to the farm. They stopped to rest by the sign at the farm’s entrance.

Henry jumped off his bike. “I think this sign is even more crooked than ever,” he said. “I’m sure I can fix it. I’ll ask Mr. Beckett for some tools.”

“Look at that!” Violet exclaimed. She pointed at a smashed pumpkin underneath the sign. “That wasn’t there yesterday.”

Just then, a speeding blue car turned sharply into the lane.

“Watch out!” cried Jessie. She pulled Benny out of the way just in time.

The car did not stop. The man behind the wheel blew his horn at the Aldens and raced toward the farmhouse. It looked like Jason. A cloud of dust followed him.

“That was dangerous!” Henry cried.

“Maybe he didn’t see us,” Violet said. “But he was driving much too fast.”

The Aldens jumped back on their bikes and pedaled toward the farm. They were surprised when they reached the farm stand. Many pumpkins lay smashed on the ground. The beautiful flowerpots had all been knocked off the display stand.

Mr. and Mrs. Beckett, Sally, Jason, and Bessie all stood by the booth talking. The blue car was parked in the gravel lot.

“There they are!” Bessie shouted. “Those are the kids I was telling you about. They were fooling around with the pumpkins yesterday.”

“Oh, Bessie, stop,” said Mr. Beckett. “This is Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden. I’m sure they didn’t do this. They are our friends.”

Bessie pointed a finger at Violet. “Well, that one there was snooping around in the booth yesterday. That’s not very friendly!”

Violet’s face turned bright red. “I was not snooping in the booth! I was only paying for the pumpkins we bought.”

“Bessie,” Mr. Beckett said, “please go in the booth and check that everything is in order.”

“That’s a good idea.” Bessie paused to stare at Violet. “And if anything is missing in there, I’ll know who to blame.” Bessie pulled a large key ring from her pocket. She unlocked the door and disappeared into the booth.

Violet was so stunned she did not know what to say. She crossed her arms tightly and stared at the booth.

Mrs. Beckett put her arm around Violet. “Don’t worry about Bessie, Violet,” she said. “She is just upset by the mess she found this morning. We know you did nothing wrong.”

Violet was angry at first, but she noticed that Bessie had seemed quite upset. Her eyes were red and puffy and her short hair looked messy and uncombed.

“What did happen here?” Henry asked.

“We’re not sure, Henry,” Mr. Beckett said. “Bessie found things this way when she arrived this morning.”

Jason kicked at a fallen flower pot. “Maybe it was that pumpkin head ghost.”

Mr. Beckett glanced at the Aldens and shook his head. “Jason, you know that there is no such thing.”

“That’s what you always say,” Jason said, “but I know what I saw. Anyway, we’d better cancel the Girl Scout hayride.”

Mr. Beckett sighed. “I suppose you’re right. We can’t have them come with the farm looking like this. It’s a shame. We sure could have used the money.”

“I will call them now,” Jason said. “You go rest your leg.”

“Wait,” Jessie said. “When are the Girl Scouts coming?”

Mrs. Beckett looked at her watch. “In about two hours.”

“We could clean everything up by then,” Jessie said. “If we all work together, it shouldn’t take too long.”

“Yes,” agreed Violet. “I can put all the flowers back on the stands and sweep up the spilled dirt.”

“And Benny and I can pick up all these smashed pumpkin pieces,” Jessie said.

Benny was already holding half of a pumpkin in his hand. “I’ve got the first piece!” he cried.

“I could fix your sign out by the road, too,” Henry offered. “I noticed that it is crooked.”

Mr. Beckett looked at his wife. “James was right,” he said. “His grandchildren are helpful!”

Everyone got right to work. Henry borrowed the tools he needed. He carried them up the lane to fix the sign. Jessie found a wheelbarrow in the barn. She gave Benny a ride in it out to the farm stand.

Then they began collecting all the broken pieces of pumpkin. Violet was already busy placing all the flower pots back onto the display stand. Some of the flowers were ruined and she had to throw them away in the wheelbarrow.

“Hey, look at this!” Benny called. He held up a shiny necklace. “I found it in the grass.”

“It’s very pretty,” Jessie said. “Maybe a customer lost it.”

“You should give it to Bessie,” Violet said. “She can keep it in the booth. Maybe the customer will come back and ask for it.”

“I’ll go show it to her,” Benny called. He ran back toward the booth.

Benny was too small to see in the window. He went around to the side door. “Bessie?” he called. When there was no answer, he slowly opened the door. “I found a necklace!” he called.

But Bessie didn’t answer. She was lying flat on the floor!

Denny called for help. Soon Bessie was resting under a tree in the soft grass. Violet placed a wet cloth on her forehead. Benny ran to get her a glass of water.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “I guess I fainted.”

“It gets hot in that booth,” Sally said. She and Jason had helped Bessie get up and walk outside. “It’s one more old thing around here that needs fixing up.”

Bessie tried to sit up.

“You rest,” Mrs. Beckett said. “George will call the doctor.”

“No!” Bessie sat up against the trunk of the tree. “I can’t afford any more doctor bills. I am fine.”

A big, black car drove up the lane and parked in the lot. A man in a dark suit got out.

“Looks like there’s been some trouble here,” the man said.

Jessie noticed that the man did not look concerned about the trouble. He seemed happy as he looked at the wheelbarrow full of broken pumpkins.

Benny handed Bessie the glass of water. Her hand began to shake when the man looked down at her.

“There’s no trouble here we can’t take care of on our own!” Jason said angrily. “You should mind your own business.”

“Jason is right, Mr. Bolger,” Mr. Beckett said. “You are wasting your time here. I will never sell my farm to you.”

Mr. Bolger smiled. “The Wilsons said the same thing. But they did sell to me. And one day soon, you will, too.” He took a check out of his pocket. “See this?” he asked. “I will give you thousands of dollars right now just for agreeing to sell.”

Jason’s face was red. He walked back and forth in the grass. “Your money can’t buy you everything you want!” he shouted.

Mr. Bolger handed the check to Sally. Her eyes grew wide. “Dad! Mom!” she said. “This is a lot of money! Won’t you please think about it? You could buy a beautiful new home in Florida.”

Mr. Beckett leaned tiredly on his crutches. “We’ve already thought about it, Sally. We are not selling to Mr. Bolger.”

Mrs. Beckett put her arm around her husband. They turned away and walked slowly back toward the house.

Jason’s hands were clenched into fists. “I think you should leave now,” he said to Mr. Bolger. “You are not welcome here.” He stalked off toward the barn.

Jessie looked at the concerned faces of her sister and brothers. “Let’s get back to work,” she suggested.

Henry and Benny cleaned up the pumpkin pieces. Jessie helped Violet arrange the flowers on the stand.