“Oh, no!” Henry said. He sounded so upset that the rest of the family looked over to see what was the matter. “We’ll be right over.” He hung up the phone.
“What happened?” Jessie asked.
“You’ll never believe it,” Henry said. “The Graysons were robbed, too!”
For a moment everyone was silent. Then Violet said, “Just like the Pierces, during their party.”
“Yes,” said Henry.
“What’s going on?” Benny asked.
“I don’t know,” said Henry, “but I told Mr. Grayson we’d be right over.”
A few minutes later the Aldens arrived at the Graysons’ house. The police car that had been parked in front of the house was gone now.
Mr. Grayson answered the door, looking grim. “Ah, the Aldens,” he said. “Come in.”
The Aldens followed Mr. Grayson into the living room, where Hallie was sitting looking very sad. Mr. Grayson motioned to the Aldens to sit down.
For a moment he didn’t say anything. He just sat rubbing his forehead wearily.
“Mr. Grayson?” Grandfather said at last. “What happened?”
Mr. Grayson looked up at the Aldens, as if he’d forgotten they were there. Then he sighed and began speaking. “Hallie and I got back from the party at about four. As soon as we came in, something felt wrong. When I came in here, I immediately saw that the door to my safe was open. Someone had broken into it and stolen all the valuables inside. They also took a few small—but expensive—works of art. It seems they took whatever they could carry with them.”
“How terrible!” said Jessie.
“Do you have an alarm?” Henry asked.
“Yes, I do,” said Mr. Grayson. “But I guess they knew how to cut the wires.”
“They must have realized you were out and wouldn’t be back for a while,” Grandfather pointed out.
“I guess so …” Mr. Grayson agreed. And once again, he slumped over, holding his head in his hands.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Grayson,” Benny said. “We’ll figure out who did this. We’re good at solving mysteries.”
Mr. Grayson looked up at Benny, and for the first time since the party, he smiled a small smile. “Thank you, Benny. That’s good to know.”
“But I don’t think I can solve any mysteries right now,” Benny said. “I’m too hungry to think!”
Everyone laughed.
Jessie looked at her watch. It was nearly seven o’clock. “Have you had any dinner yet?” she asked the Graysons.
“No,” said Mr. Grayson. “I didn’t realize it was that late.”
“I am getting kind of hungry, Dad,” Hallie said.
“You’ve had a terrible shock,” Jessie said. “How about if we whip up a quick dinner for you.”
“Yeah, eating always makes me feel better,” said Benny.
“Oh, that’s not necessary,” Mr. Grayson said.
“Are you sure?” asked Henry. “We’re good cooks.”
“They are good cooks,” said Grandfather, “and they would like to help.”
“Party planners, mystery solvers, and cooks—is there anything you kids can’t do?” Mr. Grayson said with a grin. “Come on in the kitchen and we’ll see what we’ve got. But you must stay and have dinner with us.”
The Aldens were glad to see that Mr. Grayson was feeling a little better. Together they found a large box of spaghetti and a jar of tomato sauce in the pantry.
“We’ll have a good dinner ready in no time,” said Jessie. “Why don’t you and Hallie and Grandfather just relax for a little while.”
“If I were you, I’d want to play with my birthday presents,” Benny said to Hallie.
A big smile appeared on Hallie’s face. “Good idea, Benny,” she said. “I’d almost forgotten it was my birthday.”
While Mr. Grayson and Grandfather sat in the living room talking and Hallie played with all the wonderful gifts her friends had brought her, the Aldens got to work in the kitchen.
Violet found a loaf of Italian bread in the bread box and spread it with butter and sprinkled it with garlic. Then she wrapped it in tinfoil and put it in the oven.
While she was waiting for the water to boil for the spaghetti, Jessie put a pot of sauce on the stove. Then she and Benny set the table.
When Benny called the Graysons to come in for dinner, Mr. Grayson and Hallie were quite impressed with what they saw. Henry had piled each plate with a large serving of spaghetti and heaped steaming-hot sauce on top. He’d sprinkled each mound with freshly grated Parmesan cheese he’d found in the refrigerator. In the center of the table were a bowl of fresh crisp salad and a basket of warm, buttery garlic bread.
“This is a feast!” said Mr. Grayson.
“Everything looks delicious,” Hallie agreed.
The Aldens and the Graysons sat down and enjoyed the meal. As they ate, they talked about lots of different things, but made sure not to talk about the burglary.
After dinner, Mr. Grayson and Hallie helped the Aldens clean up and wash the dishes.
“I guess we’d better get home now,” Grandfather said when everything was put away.
“Let us know if you hear anything from the police,” said Jessie.
“We certainly will,” Mr. Grayson said. “And thank you again, for everything.”
On their way home, the Aldens talked about the burglary. “Isn’t it strange that we’ve done two parties, and each time the house was robbed?” said Henry.
“I’m sure it’s just a coincidence,” Grandfather said. “I read in the local paper that there have been several burglaries in Greenfield recently. I’m sure they have nothing to do with your parties.”
“I guess not,” said Henry. But he didn’t sound convinced.
The next day the Aldens went to the Woodruffs’ house to work on the outer space decorations for Sara’s party. They headed straight down to the basement, where they’d left the pictures of planets they’d painted several days before. Since the paint was dry, Henry got to work cutting the planets out, as Violet traced stars and rocket ships for the others to paint.
“Oh, no,” Violet muttered to herself.
“What’s the matter?” Jessie asked.
“I just thought of something we forgot to buy,” Violet said. “Glitter for the stars. I was going to mix it into the paint to make the stars sparkle.”
“Don’t we have some left from the snow globes?” Henry asked.
“No, we used it all up,” Violet said.
“Why don’t you all start painting the moons and rockets, and I’ll walk into town and get some more glitter,” Jessie suggested.
“I’ll come with you,” Benny offered.
Jessie and Benny put on their coats and walked to the store. At Party Time they walked straight to the arts and crafts aisle. Jessie picked out a large container of silvery glitter. She was just about to bring it up to the front of the store to pay for it when she overheard a man and a woman talking in the next aisle.
“Cassandra, you can’t do that!” the man was saying.
“Oh, can’t I?” a woman replied in a strong, confident voice. “If I don’t do something soon, my whole birthday party business will be ruined. And you know as well as I do that it’s a big part of my income.”
“Benny!” Jessie whispered. “That might be Cassandra the Great in the next aisle.”
Benny’s eyes opened wide. “Do you really think so?”
“Shhh!” Jessie hushed him, so she could hear what the two were saying.
“I know lately things haven’t been working out the way you’d like—” the man had been saying, but the woman named Cassandra cut him off.
“No, they haven’t—and it’s all because of them,” she said angrily. “You do agree that they’re the whole problem, don’t you?”
“Yes, it does seem that way,” the man agreed.
“If I can’t get them to do what I want, then I’ll just get rid of them,” said Cassandra.
“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” the man asked.
“Just watch me,” said Cassandra.
Jessie and Benny heard quick, strong footsteps walking up the aisle. Then they heard the bell on the store’s front door ring, and the store grew quiet. They knew that Cassandra and the man had left.
“Wow, what do you think they were talking about?” Benny asked Jessie.
“I don’t know,” Jessie replied. “But before we start trying to figure that out, let’s find out if that really was Cassandra the Great.”
“How many Cassandras could there be in Greenfield?” Benny asked.
“Probably only one, but I want to be sure,” said Jessie.
The children brought the container of glitter up to the front of the store. Ms. Fox was behind the counter as usual. “More glitter?” she asked. “Didn’t you just buy some of this a few days ago?”
“You have a good memory,” Jessie said, getting the money out of her pocket to pay. “We were wondering, did you see that woman who just left?”
“Yes,” said Patti Fox. “That’s Cassandra the Great.” She pointed to the poster on the wall. “You know, the magician. She and her manager come in every once in a while to buy supplies for her shows. Did you know she’s doing a show right here at the community theater tomorrow night?” Other customers entered the store, and Ms. Fox turned to help them. “See you kids later!” she called.
The Aldens walked out of Party Time. “So that was Cassandra the Great and her manager,” Jessie said. “Too bad we didn’t get to see what they looked like.”
“Ms. Fox said she’s doing a show tomorrow night!” Benny said. “Can we go see it? I love magic.”
Jessie was silent for a moment before she spoke. “You know, Benny, that’s not such a bad idea. It will be fun. And I think it’s about time we found out just who this Cassandra person is, and if she’s trying to put us out of business. I’ll call Grandfather from that pay phone on the corner. If he says it’s okay, we can stop at the theater and buy tickets.”
As the children walked to the phone, they talked about the conversation they’d overheard in Party Time.
“What do you think she was talking about?” Benny asked his sister. “She sounded pretty angry.”
“Yes, she did,” Jessie agreed. “She said that if she didn’t do something soon, her birthday party business would be ruined. I wonder what that meant.”
“Do you think she could have been talking about our taking some of her business?” Benny asked.
“Maybe. She also said, ‘They’re the whole problem,’ ” Jessie reminded him.
“You mean, ‘they’ might be us?” Benny asked.
“Maybe,” Jessie said.
“But Jessie, don’t you remember what else she said?” Benny asked, his voice becoming anxious. “She said, ‘If I can’t get them to do what I want, then I’ll just get rid of them’!”
Jessie and Benny both stopped walking and stared at each other. |