The Mandie Collection (12 page)

“No, they stay in secret places, watch, wait,” he explained.

“I wish there was something I could do to help,” Mandie said, laying down her fork and sipping her coffee.

“Now, Amanda, there is nothing you can do, so please don't get any ideas of becoming involved in this. It could be very dangerous,” Mrs. Taft quickly interjected, her voice firm.

“Yes, thieves dangerous people,” Uncle Ned added.

“I understand,” Mandie reluctantly agreed.

However, she was formulating her own plans. Tomorrow would be Sunday, and Tommy Patton would be there with his school class. Somehow she would get a chance to speak to him about the situation. She was sure she could interest him in helping investigate. He had always seemed very agreeable to her every wish.

After supper was over, the group went to the dining room and returned all the inventoried items back to their proper places. Uncle Ned helped with the ones belonging on high shelves. After that was finished, they all went back to sit by the fire in the parlor.

“Where are Hilda and Mollie, Grandmother?” Mandie asked after a break in the conversation between the adults.

“Annie is taking care of them,” Mrs. Taft replied. “I told her to keep them within her sight every minute, so they are staying upstairs. I just can't have Mollie running all over town.”

Mandie told Uncle Ned about Mollie climbing the tree and coming in through her window at school.

“Dangerous,” he commented, shaking his head.

“Yes,” Mrs. Taft agreed. “I will be sending Mollie back with Celia's aunt Rebecca on Friday. I can't have any peace wondering what she might be up to next.”

“Are they going to church with us tomorrow?” Mandie asked.

“I really haven't decided about that yet,” Mrs. Taft said. “I'd hate to keep them out of church, but I don't know if I can manage them.”

“Mollie does not behave in church at home,” Celia said. “Aunt Rebecca takes her to Sunday school and then leaves her in the playroom with some of the other children while she goes into the chapel for the preaching.”

“I appreciate your telling me that, Celia. That's what I will do. I'll turn her and Hilda over to Miss Frompton for Sunday school and leave them with her,” Mrs. Taft announced.

Mandie secretly wondered what would happen if Miss Frompton could not control Mollie.

At that moment there was a loud knock on the front door. Everyone paused to listen. Ella could be heard opening the door and greeting someone. “Yes, sir, come right in. I'll take your coat and hat. Miz Taft, she be in de parlor.”

“Thank you, Ella,” a male voice replied.

“Uncle John!” Mandie exclaimed. “Uncle John is here!”

Uncle John appeared at the door of the parlor as she stood up. He met her halfway across the room for a hug.

“Uncle John, I'm so glad you are here,” Mandie said.

“Good evening, Mrs. Taft, Uncle Ned,” John Shaw said. “Heard about the burglaries and came to see if I can help out in any way.”

“Welcome, John. Come on over and sit by the fire,” Mrs. Taft told him. “Have you had supper?”

“Yes, ma'am, I have,” John Shaw told her as he took a seat nearby. Looking at Mandie, who had returned to her seat, he added, “In fact, I had the honor of dining with Miss Hope and the girls.”

“You came by the school?” Mandie asked.

“Yes. I didn't know you were here, and I also wanted to be sure everything was all right at the school,” he explained. “Everyone is safe and everything is locked up over there.”

“Perhaps you'd like some coffee,” Mrs. Taft suggested. “Amanda, would you please go ask Ella to bring us a coffee tray in here?”

“Yes, ma'am,” Mandie said, getting up to leave the room.

“I'll go with you,” Celia said, following her into the hallway.

Before they got to the kitchen, Celia put out a hand to stop Mandie.
“I can tell you are planning something, Mandie,” she whispered nervously.

“Planning something? I haven't said a word about planning anything,” Mandie said with a frown.

“No, but I've been around you so long in so many escapades, I can practically read your mind,” Celia told her. “And if you are thinking of going back to that alley,
please
don't do that. This is a very dangerous situation.”

“Oh, Celia, you always dream up things,” Mandie said, pushing past her toward the kitchen. “I haven't said anything like that tonight.”

“Not tonight, but you are thinking about it. I can tell,” Celia insisted, following Mandie into the kitchen.

Ella was busy putting dishes away in cupboards. She looked at the girls and asked, “Coffee, right? In de parlor?” She smiled.

“Right, Ella,” Mandie said with an answering smile. “Everyone is getting to be a mind reader tonight, looks like.”

“I'll have dat coffee in de parlor in two shakes of a sheep's tail,” Ella said, taking a tray down from a shelf.

“Thank you, Ella,” Mandie said, turning to leave the room. “Come on, Celia, let's go back.”

As soon as the girls stepped back out into the hallway, Celia began again. “Evidently these thieves are from out of town,” she said. “And they could be really dangerous. It's not worth getting mixed up in it, Mandie. You might end up in trouble—with the crooks, and with your grandmother.”

Without a word, Mandie hurried back toward the parlor door. She knew Celia would hush as soon as they came within hearing of the adults.

“Ella will bring the coffee right in,” Mandie told her grandmother as she sat back down. Celia joined her.

Mandie wondered how she would get around Celia. Her friend didn't want to be involved in the search for the silver set, so she would keep her plans secret. But how would she get away from Celia? She seemed to follow Mandie every minute, as good friends always do.

Also, how would she get a chance to speak to Tommy Patton at church tomorrow without someone overhearing the conversation? She had not decided exactly what she would say to Tommy, but she wanted to go back and search the alley. Maybe she would find the hiding place for all the loot the thieves were collecting. And she was a little afraid to go by herself. Now, if Tommy would agree to accompany her, she would feel secure.

Ella brought the coffee in, and Mrs. Taft served it. There were also sweet cakes on the tray, so Mandie helped herself to these.

“So you have not had any burglaries over in Franklin?” Mrs. Taft was asking John Shaw.

“No, not that we know of, but everyone in town has secured their houses because we are not that far away from here,” John Shaw said, accepting a cup of coffee from Mrs. Taft.

Mandie remembered the inventory and told him, “Uncle John, you should see what all Grandmother has in this house. It took her and Celia and me all day to check it all out on her inventory list.”

“And nothing is missing but the silver set,” Mrs. Taft added. “I've come to the conclusion that it was stolen because it was sitting right out in plain view on the buffet and would have been quickly snatched. However, we haven't figured out how they got into the house in the first place.”

“Some people in town say locks forced,” Uncle Ned told her.

“We inspected all the locks, and nothing has been damaged,” Mrs. Taft replied.

“There are so many ways a thief can enter a house,” John Shaw said. “They've been known to even climb up on porch roofs and go in through windows, and come up through cellars.”

Mrs. Taft shook her head. “We've checked it all out. No sign of entry anywhere.”

As Mandie listened to the conversation, she was busily planning for her attendance at church tomorrow. Somehow she would get an opportunity to speak to Tommy Patton. Maybe she could bump into him on purpose when the service was over. But his class marched into church together and marched out together. It would be difficult to say anything to him without someone else overhearing it. She
would figure it out before time to go to church tomorrow. She just had to ask him if he would go to the alley with her to search for her grandmother's silver set. And she really believed he would agree to this, if she could only have the chance to ask.

CHAPTER TEN

FOULED-UP PLANS

By the next morning, the weather had turned much colder, and heavy rain drenched the town of Asheville. Mrs. Taft decided to leave Hilda and Mollie at home under the supervision of Annie while everyone else attended church.

Uncle John left with Uncle Ned after breakfast to continue the urgent search for the thieves and the stolen merchandise. Ben drove Mrs. Taft and the girls to church and stayed for the services himself.

They arrived early, and Mandie glanced around the churchyard to discover there was only one other buggy at the hitching post. “Grandmother, nobody is here yet,” she commented as they stepped down from the rig. “We're awfully early.”

“I know,” Mrs. Taft said over her shoulder as she hurried for the door under the protection of her umbrella. “Let's get inside out of this rain.”

The two girls, sharing an umbrella, rushed in the door behind her. Mandie had hoped Mr. Chadwick's pupils would have already arrived. She could then have walked right by them on the way to Mrs. Taft's pew. She had intended catching Tommy Patton's eye and mouthing a message to him. Now the boys would sit down near
the back, and she, with her grandmother and Celia, would be sitting in their front pew as usual. She wouldn't have a chance to attract his attention.

“Come along, girls,” Mrs. Taft said, looking back at them as they stood inside the door.

Celia immediately started up the aisle, and Mandie walked faster to catch up with her. She kept glancing over her shoulder, hoping the boys had arrived behind them. Several families came in, but there was no sign of the group of Chadwick students. She wished she were with her schoolmates because the girls sat together across the aisle from the boys, and she might have had a chance to attract Tommy's attention.

“Oh well,” she murmured to herself as she followed her grandmother and Celia into the pew. She kept sneaking peeks back up the aisle when her grandmother wasn't looking. She knew Mrs. Taft would say that was very unladylike if she caught her.

Finally, Mandie heard the muffled commotion as the boys entered the sanctuary and tried to be quiet as they marched up the aisle to their seats. She glanced back in time to catch Tommy Patton's eye. She pretended to be touching her hat to straighten it when in fact she was trying to signal to him. He noticed and slowed down, causing Mr. Chadwick to motion for him to stay in step.

“Let's talk,” Mandie mouthed at Tommy.

Tommy paused again, but his classmates pushed him along into their customary pew. He sat down out of Mandie's view.

Maybe I can catch him on the way out
, Mandie silently told herself. She couldn't see him now unless she turned completely around in her seat, and she knew better than to do that with Mrs. Taft present. She focused her attention on the song leader when he stepped forward and said, “Let's all stand and sing now, hymn number 193.”

Hoping the people standing around her would not notice, Mandie again tried to signal with her fingers as she pretended to adjust her hat. However, this time she did attract the attention of her grandmother, who frowned at her and motioned for her to stop.

Joining in the singing, Mandie's clear voice could be heard above
the others around her as the congregation sang, “How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord.” The song leader looked directly at her and smiled.

When everyone was again seated and the minister had begun his sermon, Mandie's mind wandered. She knew the boys from Mr. Chadwick's School always stood and waited until all the other people had gone from the sanctuary before they left. Also, her grandmother always walked ahead of her toward the door. Maybe she could get Tommy's attention as she passed the boys' pew.

And this time she was lucky. As she walked out when the service was over, she was delighted to see that Tommy Patton was at the front of the line waiting to leave. Barely turning her head as she passed him, she casually moved closer and whispered, “Let's go to the alley,” without daring to look straight at him.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him look at her in surprise, frown, then smile and whisper back, “All right.”

There was no time for anything else as the people behind Mandie pushed forward and she had to quicken her steps.

Mrs. Taft looked up at the sky as they stepped outside and said, “I do believe it has stopped raining.” Ben pulled the rig up near the front steps and helped Mrs. Taft up into it. The girls followed her, Celia first, and just as Mandie put her foot on the step to enter the vehicle, Tommy Patton appeared at her side.

“I believe you lost this,” he said with a smile and held out her lacy handkerchief.

“Oh, I didn't realize I had,” Mandie replied, glancing at her bag where the handkerchief usually hung from the strap. “Thank you.”

“When?” Tommy whispered quickly.

“Tomorrow night, ten-thirty,” Mandie whispered back. And then loudly added, “Thank you so much, Tommy, for finding my handkerchief,” as she stepped into the rig.

“You're welcome,” Tommy replied with a little wave as he turned away to join his classmates.

Mandie sighed in relief as she sat down. That was quite a coincidence. She had not lost her handkerchief on purpose. How convenient things had turned out. Celia had been close to her side, but Mandie
didn't believe Celia would divulge her secret if she understood what had been going on.

The day passed without any further news from Uncle John or Uncle Ned. Mrs. Taft concluded they had not accomplished anything significant yet. And while Mrs. Taft was discussing this, Mandie kept thinking,
Will they look in the dark alley?
And if they did, what would they have found? More bums? Stolen merchandise? Or just plain nothing? She was awfully eager to go look for herself.