Boardwalk Mystery (2 page)

The children could hear Wendy walking back and forth in a room upstairs. The old floorboards creaked. She was talking to someone on her phone. Soon she began to shout angrily.

“We should probably leave now,” Jessie said. “It is not right for us to eavesdrop.”

Henry agreed. The children quietly left the house and began walking on the boardwalk toward the amusement pier. The sun was warm, but a fresh ocean breeze blew through their hair.

“Why was Wendy shouting?” Benny asked. “Who was she was talking to?”

“I don’t know, Benny,” Jessie said. “Something must have upset her.”

“I hope she is all right,” Violet said.

Benny began running ahead. “Wow! Look at all these shops!” he cried, pointing to the long rows of stores along the boardwalk. There was an ice cream shop with thirty different flavors. Next to it was a candy store. In the window a machine moved back and forth, pulling saltwater taffy. A souvenir store displayed colorful shells, beach balls, postcards, and paddleball games.

“Can I buy a souvenir?” Benny cried. He darted toward the store.

“Benny, watch out!” Jessie cried. Violet dashed toward her brother.

“Watch the tramcar, please! Watch the tramcar, please!”

Violet grabbed Benny’s shoulders and pulled him back just in time. Benny turned, wide-eyed. A long yellow vehicle, like a train on rubber wheels, came to a slow stop right where Benny had just been standing!

Henry and Jessie rushed to their brother. “Are you all right, Benny?” Jessie asked.

Benny was shaken. He looked like he might cry.

A girl with dark hair jumped from behind the wheel. “Is everyone all right?” she asked. “Yes. We’re sorry for holding you up,” Henry said.

“Oh, that’s okay,” said the girl. “It happens all the time. People are looking at the ocean or the shops and they do not see me coming. But I drive very slowly. I have never hit anyone!”

“But why are you driving a train on the boardwalk?” Benny asked.

The girl laughed. “It does look like a train. But this is the tramcar. The boardwalk is very long. Sometimes people get tired of walking. The tramcar takes them on a nice ride so they can rest. Why don’t you hop aboard?”

“Really?” Benny turned toward Jessie. “Can we?” he asked.

Jessie smiled. “I don’t see why not,” she said.

The tramcar driver introduced herself. Her name was Leslie. She showed Benny a button next to the steering wheel. Every time she pushed the button, a tape played over a loudspeaker. “Watch the tramcar, please! Watch the tramcar, please!”

“So, you see, it wasn’t just you, Benny,” Leslie explained. “Plenty of people do not notice the tramcar coming. They are too busy having fun on the boardwalk! That is why I have this recording. It saves my voice!”

Suddenly, the children heard a loud banging. An older lady seated in the last car of the tram was banging her cane against the side. “Let’s get a move on!” she shouted. “What is going on up there, Leslie?”

“We’ll be starting in a minute, Mrs. Reddy,” Leslie called. “Just picking up a few passengers.”

“Tell them to stop standing around and get into a seat!” Mrs. Reddy called.

“We’re very sorry,” Jessie said.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny quickly climbed aboard. Benny leaned from his seat so that he would not miss a thing. Suddenly, he felt a tap on his shoulder. The old woman was poking him with her cane.

“Better not lean too far out, boy,” she said. “Do you want to fall out?”

Jessie had her arm around Benny’s shoulder. She knew Benny would not fall out. “He is safe, thank you,” she said.

Benny turned to face the old woman. “We’re going to Hanson’s Amusement Pier!” he said. “They have rides there!”

The old woman folded her hands over her cane. “Well, maybe it is called Hanson’s now. But it used to be called Reddy’s. It was called Reddy’s for fifty years. Stupid to change the name, if you ask me.”

“Watch the tramcar, please! Watch the tramcar, please!” Leslie turned on the recording to warn a lady who was walking too close to the tramcar. The lady had a large camera and she was taking pictures of the boardwalk.

“Who built the amusement pier? The Reddy family, that’s who! Who made it a big success? The Reddy family! Carl Hanson will ruin the place. He doesn’t know what he is doing.” The old woman scowled.

Just then, Leslie stopped the tramcar. “This is Hanson’s Amusement Pier, kids. Do you need to get off?”

“Yes, thank you,” Jessie said.

The children jumped down from the tramcar and thanked Leslie for the ride.

“Any time,” Leslie said. Then she lowered her voice. “Don’t mind old Mrs. Reddy,” she whispered. “She is still upset about why she had to sell her amusement pier.” Leslie waved good-bye, and the tramcar began to roll off down the boardwalk.

Jessie held Benny’s hand. She wondered what had happened that made Mrs. Reddy sell her pier. The old woman seemed very unhappy about her decision.

Benny waited for the tramcar to safely pass, then let go of Jessie’s hand and ran across the boardwalk to the pier. “Look!” he cried. “This is it!”

The name “Hanson’s Amusement Pier” flashed in red letters high over Benny’s head. There was a log flume that splashed water on the passengers. A tall roller coaster with lots of twists and turns made the boards under Benny’s feet rumble. A scary monster with green eyes looked out from the top floor of the haunted house. There was even a giant slide and swings that flew round and round out over the beach below.

“I’ll go ask where we can find Mr. Hanson,” Henry said. He walked toward the ticket booth. For a moment, he was confused. He thought he saw Wendy’s face in the booth window. But she could not have been there. Then he realized that it was a boy in the booth. The boy had the same blond hair and blue eyes as Wendy. He also had the same unhappy look on his face.

“Excuse me,” Henry said to the boy. “But would you please tell me where I can find Mr. Hanson?”

The boy opened a door and walked out of the booth. He was a little taller than Henry and he looked a few years older. “Are you those Alden kids?” he asked.

“Yes,” Henry replied. He introduced his sisters and brother.

“I’m Will Hanson,” the boy said.

“You look just like Wendy!” Benny said. “We do look alike,” Will said. “Wendy and

I are twins. My father is in the shed at the back of the pier.”

“Thanks,” Henry said. “We promised we would stop by.”

Will shrugged. “Suit yourself. If I were you kids, I wouldn’t hang around this pier. I would go relax on the beach. I’m sure it is much more fun.” Will went back into the booth and closed the door behind him.

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny walked back toward the shed at the end of the pier. There, Mr. Hanson was painting something on a white cloth. He smiled when he saw the Aldens.

“Hello! Welcome to my workshop.” Mr. Hanson had a big smile on his face. He held up the white cloth. “What do think?” he asked.

Benny cocked his head. “What is it?” he asked.

Mr. Hanson’s shoulders slumped. “It is supposed to be a ghost. Someone stole the family of ghosts from my haunted house. I need to replace them. But I guess I am not doing a very good job.”

“Violet is a terrific artist!” Benny said. “She can draw anything!”

Violet blushed. “I do like to draw, Mr. Hanson,” she said. “If you would like, I could make a family of ghosts for you.”

Mr. Hanson jumped up. “That would be great!” he said. He showed Violet all the materials that he had bought for the job. “Now I can go fix the motorcycles.”

“You fix motorcycles?” Benny asked.

“Not real ones,” Mr. Hanson said. “I have a motorcycle ride for children. They can sit on small motorcycles and pretend that they are riding them. But two nights ago, someone took all the handles off the motorcycles. I had to order new handles. Now I have to screw all the new handles back on to the motorcycles.”

“I can do that for you,” Henry offered. “Thank you so much,” Mr. Hanson said.

“Now I just have to fix up the house of mirrors and the boat ride.”

“What’s a house of mirrors?” Benny asked. Mr. Hanson smiled. “Have you never been in one? It is a lot of fun. It is a maze where all of the walls are made of glass. It is fun to try to find your way out. But first I need to clean it up. Someone has written all over the walls.” “That’s terrible!” Jessie said. “Who would do such a thing?”

Mr. Hanson shrugged. “Probably one of my customers. It is a big amusement pier. I cannot watch every ride at the same time. Some customers are not very respectful. They break things when I am not looking. I don’t know why they do that.”

“You should fix the boat ride, Mr. Hanson,” Jessie said. “Benny and I will clean the house of mirrors.”

Benny and Jessie grabbed some sponges and a bucket of soapy water and headed to the house of mirrors. Just before they got there, a man rudely bumped into Jessie and she almost spilled the bucket of soapy water.

“Watch where you are going!” the man shouted.

“Excuse me,” Jessie said. “But I believe you bumped into me.”

The man was tall with dark, curly hair. He looked down at Jessie. “Maybe I did. I don’t know. Do you kids work here?”

“We are helping out,” Jessie said. “Is there something that you need?”

Just then, Mrs. Reddy walked toward them, shaking her cane. “Get off this pier, Bob Cooke!” she shouted.

The man rolled his eyes, but he did not move. “You don’t own the pier anymore, Mrs. Reddy. You can’t order me off.”

Mrs. Reddy banged her cane into the boardwalk. “You don’t belong here!”

“You don’t, either,” he said. Mr. Cooke pointed to Jessie and Benny. “Do you see that Carl is making little children work for him now? He is desperate.”

Jessie’s face flushed with anger. Before she could answer, Mrs. Reddy did. “These are just kids helping out. But Carl Hanson is ruining this amusement pier.”

Mr. Cooke smiled. “I know,” he answered. “He will be out of business by the end of the summer. And then I will buy the amusement pier. I will own more amusements than anyone on this boardwalk.”

“You will never own this pier!” Mrs. Reddy said.

“Come on, Benny,” Jessie said. She felt uncomfortable listening to the two adults arguing. Jessie and Benny walked into the house of mirrors.

“Wow!” Benny cried. “Look at it!”

There were walls of glass as far as Jessie and Benny could see. Every time they turned one corner, another wall of glass was in front of them. It was hard to know which way to go. Jessie set her bucket down. She was about to ask Benny for a sponge when she noticed that he was gone!

“Benny!” Jessie cried. “Where are you?” But there was no answer. Jessie began to run through the maze of mirrors. Several times she banged hard into a glass wall that she did not see. She could not find her way out!

J
essie stood very still for a moment and listened. She could hear footsteps from somewhere inside the maze. She tried calling to Benny again, but he did not answer. She put her hands in front of her face and felt her way around the glass walls. Then, suddenly, it became easier. Someone had splashed a red liquid on the glass. Now Jessie could see where she was going. Soon, she saw black scribbles on the glass walls, too. And she saw words. “This way out” was written on one wall. Arrows pointed the way. “This is a stupid ride,” read another wall. Finally, Jessie saw “Go to Cooke’s Amusement Pier. It is much more fu—” The sentence was not finished.

Jessie looked down. A black marker was laying on the ground. She picked it up and put it in her pocket. She felt a tap on her back and she jumped!

“Benny!” Jessie cried. “Where were you?” Benny rubbed his forehead. “I was just trying out the maze, Jessie. It is hard. I ran right into the glass walls two times. But then I saw the red paint. I was going to come back to you.”

“Didn’t you hear me calling to you?” Jessie asked.

“No,” Benny said. “I got too far away. There was someone else in the maze with us. I thought it was you. But it wasn’t. The person was writing on the walls. The person saw me coming and ran away.”

Jessie pulled the marker out of her pocket. “I found this,” she said. “Did you see who was writing on the walls?”

“No,” Benny said. “I could not see the person. There were too many glass walls in the way. But the person was wearing blue pants. I could see that.”

Jessie and Benny carefully retraced their steps. They found the bucket with the soapy water. They worked hard and rubbed off all the red splashes and all the black words from the maze walls. When they finished, they walked back toward the shed.

They passed Henry. He was just screwing on the last handle on a motorcycle. “That should do it,” he said. Then he joined Jessie and Benny.

“Wow! Look at what Violet has done!” Benny cried as they arrived at the shed.

A family of scary-looking ghosts stood on the table.

“Listen to this,” Violet said. She pushed the button on a recorder. Benny jumped and grabbed Jessie’s hand. The frightening wail of ghosts filled the shed.

“It’s just pretend, Benny,” Violet said. “Mr. Hanson recorded it. The ghost sounds will play when customers ride through the haunted house. We are going to set up the ghosts soon.”