Spy Game (2 page)

“Sixteen?”
Henry was shocked.

“It’s not as surprising as you might think, Henry,” said Amanda. “People got married much younger in the old days.”

Jessie noticed something written in white ink at the bottom of the photograph. She read the words aloud: “Pandora on her wedding day, February 29, 1904.”

Benny looked confused. “Pandora?”

“That was her full name,” Amanda explained. “But everybody called her Dora for short. That photograph is very special,” she added. “It’s the only place where Dora’s name appears in full.”

“I like Dora better,” said Benny. “Don’t you, Jessie?”

Jessie didn’t answer. She was still staring at the writing on the photo. Something about it seemed odd to her. But there was no time to think about it. Amanda was heading along the hall again.

Outside, Benny was the first to spot the stone path winding through the flower garden. “Is that the walkway?” he asked.

“Yes, it is, Benny,” Amanda said. “And you’ll find everything you need in that shed.” She nodded towards the far end of the lawn. “Can you see it over there?”

Shading their eyes from the sun, the children looked over to where an old shed peeked out from behind the lilac bushes. “Where should we put the stones?” Henry asked.

“Maybe you could pile them behind the shed for now,” Amanda said. “By the way, we always keep a pitcher of cold lemonade in the refrigerator. Feel free to help yourselves when you need a break.”

“Sounds good,” said Jessie.

“And I’m expecting you to join me for lunch,” Amanda added, as she walked away. “I won’t take no for an answer!”

“Don’t worry,” Henry called out. “Benny never says no to food.” Everyone laughed.

For the next few hours, the Aldens worked hard. Jessie pried the stones free from the dirt with a spade, while Henry loaded them into the wheelbarrow. Then Violet and Benny pushed the wheelbarrow back and forth between the flower garden and the weedy jungle behind the shed. When they were almost finished, Benny saw something strange.

“What is it?” Violet asked when she found Benny staring at one of the stones.

“Something’s carved into this stone,” Benny said.

Henry and Jessie hurried over, too. Sure enough, the letters
G
and
S
had been carved into the bottom.

“That’s odd,” said Violet.

Jessie turned over another stone. “There’s part of a letter carved into this one, too,” she told them. “Looks like the letter
N
.”

The Aldens began checking the stones they’d piled up against the shed.

“Somebody carved letters into all of them,” Henry said. “There are parts of words on some of them.”

“Maybe it’s a secret message,” said Henry. He was half-joking.

“Of course!” Violet cried. “I bet if we put the stones together, like a puzzle, they’ll spell something out.” She turned to her older brother. “That is what you’re thinking, isn’t it, Henry?”

Henry held up a hand. “I was just trying to be funny.”

But Violet was excited. “Let’s spread the stones on the grass,” she suggested. “Maybe we can make sense of it.”

“I bet it
is
a secret message!” Benny said.

So the Aldens lined the stones up on the grass—in neat little rows. For the next hour, they moved the stones from one place to another until they all fit together.

Finally, Henry let out a low whistle. “Look!” he said. “Violet was right!”

The children stared down at the strange message carved into the stones.

“What does it say, Jessie?” Benny wanted to know. The youngest Alden was just learning to read. Jessie read the words aloud:

The rings of time

go round and round;

a hollow hides

what must be found.

“I wonder what it means,” Violet said in a hushed voice.

“And who put it there,” added Jessie. She tugged a small notebook and pencil from her back pocket and wrote down the riddle.

Finally, Benny spoke up. “One thing’s for sure,” he said. “It’s a mystery.”

Henry nodded. “You can say that again!”

“Violet had a feeling the letters spelled something out,” Jessie was telling Amanda over lunch. “And she was right.”

“Don’t forget,” Benny piped up, “I spotted the letters first.”

“You sure did, Benny,” said Jessie. “You have a way of seeing things other people don’t.”

The Aldens were sitting around the picnic table in the backyard with Amanda, eating sandwiches for lunch.

“Do you know how the riddle got there, Amanda?” Violet asked.

“I think you stumbled upon the spy game,” Amanda said.

The Aldens turned to Amanda in surprise.

“Did you say”—Henry paused—“the
spy
game?”

Amanda nodded. “That’s exactly what I said.”

The Aldens began to speak at once.

“What kind of game is that?”

“Is there really a spy?”

“How do you play it?”

“Is the stone riddle part of the game?”

“Let me explain,” Amanda said, laughing. “The spy game was my grandfather’s invention. You see, he always had a special gift waiting for me every summer—only I had to find it first.”

“You mean your grandfather hid it somewhere?” Benny asked.

“Yes, he did,” Amanda replied. “And believe me, my grandfather was a real pro at making up codes and clues. Sometimes it took me all summer to track it down.”

“That sounds like fun!” said Jessie.

“It sure was,” said Amanda. “Of course, Grandfather always gave me a hint about the gift.” She paused for a moment and smiled. “One summer, I tracked down a dollhouse,” she went on. “The hint my grandfather gave me was:
I spy with my little eye, something made of wood,”

“Oh!” cried Violet, who suddenly understood. “So that’s why you called it the spy game.”

Henry had a question. “But how can you be sure your grandfather carved the stone riddle?”

“Because of the note, Henry.” Amanda reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper. “After you showed me the riddle, I went into the house and found the message my grandfather left me in his will.”

“What does it say?” Benny was so interested, he’d only eaten one bite of his sandwich.

Amanda unfolded the note. “Why don’t I read it to you?”

The Aldens were all ears. They leaned closer to catch every word.

Amanda read the message aloud:

I spy with my little eye

something made of gold:

So follow the clues

both night and day;

leave no stone unturned,

the game’s in play.

“‘Leave no stone unturned?’” Henry repeated.

“He must have meant the stone walkway!” Jessie added.

“It does make you wonder, doesn’t it?” said Amanda. “I mean, the riddle seems to be pointing right to it.”

“Hidden gold!” cried Benny. “I can’t believe it.”

“But … hidden where?” Violet wondered aloud.

“That’s a good question,” said Amanda. She looked at her crutches propped up against the picnic table and sighed. “If only I could track down the clues.”

“Maybe we could help,” Jessie offered. “We’ve solved lots of mysteries.”

Benny added, “We’re good detectives.”

Amanda seemed delighted by their offer. “You’ve got your work cut out for you,” she warned them. “My grandfather was a real mystery buff. I think he read every mystery book in the library.”

“We like mysteries, too,” Benny piped up. “We’ve read every one of the Detective Club books.”

Amanda’s smile faded. “What?” She gave the children a sharp look.

“It’s a mystery series,” Jessie explained to Amanda. “Have you heard of Mila Jones and Jake Winston?”

“Doesn’t ring a bell,” Amanda said with a shrug. Then she quickly changed the subject. “Before I forget, let me pay you for today.” She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a handful of dollar bills.

Henry shook his head. “We couldn’t take your money.”

Amanda frowned. “Now, none of that. You deserve a reward for your hard work.”

“We already got a reward,” Benny told her. “We found a mystery!”

Amanda hesitated, then tucked the bills back into her pocket. “Well, I’ll just have to find another way of thanking you.”

Benny was glancing around while everybody finished lunch. “Hey! There’s a man in the yard,” he said, pointing.

Sure enough, a dark-haired man in sunglasses was standing by the stone jigsaw puzzle. He was wearing a T-shirt, cut-offs, and rubber flip-flops.

“What’s he doing?” Benny asked in a hushed voice.

“Oh, that’s just Steve Kooner,” Amanda said. “He’s renting the room above the garage for the summer. We weren’t expecting him for a few weeks, but he showed up last night. It was a nice surprise.”

Steve Kooner suddenly looked up. He gave them a friendly wave, then hurried over.

“Steve’s a friend of mine from Chicago,” Amanda said, after introducing everyone. “He’s taking a break from city life for a while.”

“And I’ll enjoy every minute of it, too,” said Steve. “There are some things you can’t get in the city.” He looked around the table and smiled. “Like a picnic lunch under the Yawning Tree.”

“The
what
tree?” Benny asked.

“The Yawning Tree,” Amanda repeated with a grin. “That’s what my grandfather called this big elm.” She tilted her head back and looked up. “See that hollow in the trunk? Grandfather used to say the hollow was the tree’s mouth.”

Violet giggled. “It
does
look like the tree’s yawning.”

“By the way,” Steve said, “what’s that all about?” He pointed towards the stone riddle.

“It’s the spy game!” Benny blurted out. “And guess what? We’re going to find hidden gold for Amanda.”

Steve’s eyebrows shot up above his sunglasses. “Hidden gold?”

“It’s a game of codes and clues,” Amanda quickly explained. “My grandfather invented it.”

“I hope you don’t have your heart set on these kids finding gold, Amanda,” Steve said. He shook his head. “Mark my words … it’ll never happen.”

Jessie and Henry exchanged glances. What did Steve mean?

“No, they’ll
never
figure out that riddle,” Steve told Amanda. Then he turned and walked away.

“Steve sure will be surprised when we find the hiding place,” Benny said later that evening. The children were playing a board game in the kitchen with Grandfather. They’d told him everything that had happened at the Penner place.

James Alden spoke up. “Amanda’s lucky that she just happened to hire top-notch detectives to remove the stones from her walkway.”

“She really lucked out,” said Benny.

Grandfather chuckled. “Yes, I guess she did.”

Mrs. McGregor joined them at the table. “I’m surprised that Amanda hasn’t put the Penner place up for sale.”

“Why would she do that, Mrs. McGregor?” asked Violet, passing the popcorn to Benny. “The house has been in the Penner family since 1904.”

“Brandon Penner built it for his bride.” Henry pointed out. “What was her name again?”

“Dora,” Jessie reminded her brother.

Grandfather had a puzzled look. “Did you say … Dora?”

Benny swallowed a mouthful of popcorn. “Well, her real name was Pandora,” he said. “But everybody called her Dora for short.”

“Are you sure?” Grandfather looked uncertain.

“Amanda showed us her picture, Grandfather,” Jessie told him. “It was taken on her wedding day.”

Grandfather seemed surprised to hear this. “Well, what do you know?” he said. “I always thought her name was Abigail. I can’t recall where I heard that, though. The Penner family was rich. They paid for the Greenfield library to be built! They were very well known.”

Jessie and Henry exchanged glances. James Alden knew all there was to know about the history of Greenfield. It wasn’t like him to get names wrong.

“Time to call it a night,” Mrs. McGregor said in the middle of a yawn.

Grandfather glanced up at the clock. “I didn’t realize it was so late.”

After saying good-night to Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor, the children gathered in Henry and Benny’s room to talk about the spy game.

“How does the riddle go again?” Benny asked.

Jessie flipped her notebook open and read it aloud:
“The rings of time/ go round and round/ a hollow hides/ what must be found.”

“The rings of time,” Henry repeated thoughtfully. “That’s the tricky part.”

But Violet was fairly sure she had it figured out. “A clock tells time.”

“You think we should be looking for a clock?” Jessie asked in surprise.

“I’m only guessing,” said Violet. “But the clues seem to fit.”

Benny was quick to agree. “The hands of a clock go round and round.”

This got Jessie thinking. “Isn’t there a grandfather clock in Amanda’s front hall?”

“That’s right!” said Henry. “And what better place for a
grandfather
to hide a clue?”

“Or the gold!” Benny said excitedly.