Mystery on the Train (6 page)

“Are you sure?” Henry asked.

Annie looked at him with a steady gaze. “I’ve never seen him before in my life,” she repeated quietly. “Why do you ask?”

Henry answered, “Annie, we want to be your friends but we aren’t certain you’ve told us everything.”

“Of course I have,” Annie answered quickly. But this time she flushed and looked away.

A
unt Jane suggested that Annie join them for dinner that night. “That way we can split up without having one person sit alone,” she said. “We’d love to have you.”

“Oh, do,” Violet urged. “We can sit together.”

Annie smiled at Violet and said, “I’d love to. I’ll meet you at six but I think I should go back to my room now.”

The Aldens were waiting when Annie limped into the dining room at quarter past six. She was still wearing the same jeans and sweater and her face looked flushed. She said, “I fell asleep. I’m sorry.”

“That’s all right,” Aunt Jane said. “I’m sure you’re in a lot of pain.”

They found three tables with two people and so they split into three groups. Benny and Henry joined one table, and Jessie and Aunt Jane joined the second. Violet and Annie sat together at the third table.

Violet was pleased to have a chance to talk with her new friend. They talked most of the time about sketching but Violet learned quite a bit more about her. By the time dinner was finished, Violet learned that Annie was eighteen years old and an only child. She also learned that seven was her lucky number. Annie said, “I was really happy when I saw my room number—seven hundred seventy-seven. I thought maybe it would bring me some luck—I guess it didn’t.”

“Five is my lucky number,” Violet said. “I’m glad you can remember your room number now.”

Annie looked away and quickly changed the subject. “Purple is my favorite color.”

“That’s my favorite color, too,” Violet said.

“I noticed,” Annie said. “Do you wear only purple clothes?”

“I have some others,” Violet said, “but I thought it would be easier for this trip if they were all one color. That left more room for my art supplies.”

The waiter brought the bill and Annie said, “Oh, dear, I left my purse in my room. Will you wait here for me? I’ll go get it and be right back.”

“Did you lock yourself out? Are your keys in your purse?” Violet asked.

Annie frowned. “I must have left my door unlocked. I was so sleepy and my ankle hurts so much that I’m not thinking very well.”

Violet stood up. “I’ll go get your purse. I can tell your ankle still hurts a lot.”

“No, don’t!” Annie called.

But Violet was already on her way.

Violet found Room 777 easily. It was on the second floor of the sleeping car behind the dining car. She peeked in the room and saw Annie’s purse on the sofa. And there on the chair was Annie’s large, black portfolio.

Violet picked up the purse and closed the door carefully. She was back in the dining room in just a few seconds. Annie was waiting for her.

“Annie, when I was in your room, I saw . . . ”

“I know,” Annie said. “You saw the portfolio.”

“Why did you lie?” Violet asked quietly.

Annie leaned over and touched Violet’s arm. “Oh, please let me explain.” She looked over at Jessie, Henry, and Benny and said, “I’d like them to hear, too.”

The other Aldens joined their table and Annie began to talk.

“In a way,” Annie said, “I was angry because my aunt wanted me to give her half the money for the poster sale. She doesn’t need the money and I do, so I thought I’d say they were stolen. Then, when it was safe, I’d sell the poster collection and keep all the money. I thought if I asked you to help me I would have witnesses to prove they were stolen.”

“So no one was after the posters at all?” Jessie said.

“No. I made it all up.” As she talked, tears streamed down her face.

“What?” said Henry. “But you woke us up in the night and told us it was stolen!”

Then Annie said, “I know, I’m very sorry. I’m glad you know the truth. Now I can’t go through with my plan and I won’t have to feel so guilty. You have all been so nice to me and I haven’t been honest with you. I’m so sorry.”

“We knew you weren’t telling the whole truth,” Violet said. “You’re not very good at making up stories.”

“I know.” Annie choked back her tears and smiled. “I blush and I get mixed up. You see, I don’t usually lie about things. I really am an honest person. Or at least, I used to be . . . ” She began to cry again.

Jessie handed her a Kleenex and Annie blew her nose. Then she said, “I’m really glad you found out. Now I’m glad, too, that I can’t go through with the scheme. My aunt always loved me and took care of me as best she could.”

Annie began to cry again. “When we quarreled she fell down. I don’t even know if she’s hurt. I just ran away.”

“She’s all right,” Henry said. “I helped her up. How did you hurt your ankle?”

“I sprained it trying to hide the portfolio on the top bunk. I thought I could do it but I couldn’t. And then I fell down.” Then Annie said, “I’m so sorry.”

Then Violet said to her brother, “We should help Annie to her room. Her ankle hurts a lot and she’s very tired.”

Henry nodded and helped Annie up. He said, “Lean on me.”

“Her room is number seven hundred seventy-seven,” Violet said.

Annie looked at Violet and smiled. “Thank you, Violet. You’re a good friend.”

The Aldens helped Annie down the hallway and up the stairs to her compartment. When they got to her room, Annie said, “You might as well come in and see the posters.”

“I’d like to,” Benny said. “I want to see a Pickford.”

Annie smiled. “How did you know? I have two signed posters of Mary Pickford’s first movie. They are worth a great deal of money. And I have four signed posters of Charlie Chaplin.”

Henry and Jessie looked at each other. They were both wondering why Annie just happened to have the kinds of posters that Mr. Reeves hoped to add to his collection.

Annie led them into her compartment. She unzipped the portfolio and opened it. She stared down at the portfolio and then looked at the Aldens in amazement. Finally, she said, “It’s empty!”

“Yes,” Jessie agreed. “It’s empty.”

“But what can that mean?” Annie asked. “How can that be?”

“Is there something else you want to tell us?” Violet asked Annie gently.

“No! Honestly, I know it must be hard to believe me because I’ve told so many stories. But I don’t know what happened to the posters. It’s like a bad dream coming true. Where could they have gone?”

“Someone must have known you had the posters,” Henry said. “That person waited until you left your room and then took the posters out.”

“Without the portfolio,” Jessie noted. “That means they’ll be easier to hide.”

“If the posters are folded and damaged, they’ll lose most of their value,” Annie said. “I can’t believe this is happening. Maybe someone wanted to see them and borrowed them for a while.”

“I’m afraid the posters were really stolen this time,” Jessie said.

“Really stolen!” Annie began to laugh and then she began to cry again. She slumped into one of the chairs and asked, “What will I do? I don’t have anything without the posters. I won’t be able to pay for my room and board. I won’t be able to go to art school.”

“I thought you said you had insurance?” Violet asked.

Annie shook her head. “I made that up, too. There is no insurance.” She sobbed until Violet thought Annie’s heart would break.

It was Benny who patted Annie on the arm and said, “Don’t worry, Annie. We will find your posters for you.”

T
he Aldens called a porter and got him to make up Annie’s room early so she could rest. “Stay here,” Violet said. “Your ankle hurts you and you’re very upset. Rest will do you good.”

“But what if the person who has my posters gets off the train while I’m sleeping?” Annie asked.

“You really can’t move fast enough to be much help,” Jessie pointed out. “We can, though. We’ll watch for you.”

“Leave it to us,” Benny said. “We’ll catch the thief very soon.”

Annie smiled at him and Violet realized her friend was feeling better.

“We’ll watch very carefully. If anyone gets off with a large package, we’ll call for help,” Henry said.

“What time does the train stop again?” Annie asked. Her voice already sounded sleepy.

“I have my timetable,” Henry said. “It stops in Salt Lake City at eleven-thirty-six p.m.”

“You won’t be able to stay awake that late,” Annie protested.

“We’ll wake up and then go back to sleep. Just like we did when you called us to help you last night,” Violet said.

Annie made a face. “I used an alarm clock. Anyway, that was very wrong of me.”

“We’d like to borrow your alarm clock,” Henry said. “You can sleep through till morning.”

Annie nodded and smiled. “You are very grown-up children. I feel like the youngest one here tonight.”

“We learned to take care of ourselves when we lived in our boxcar,” Violet explained. “Before our Grandfather found us and took us to live in Greenfield, we did everything for ourselves.”

The children went to bed early and Jessie set the alarm clock for eleven o’clock. “That will give us time to get up and dressed so we can watch the platform when we stop in Salt Lake City at eleven-thirty-six,” Jessie said.

The alarm went off at exactly eleven o’clock. Jessie and Violet woke up easily and knocked on the door of the boys’ room. They all pulled their clothes over their pajamas and got ready to station themselves by the doors of the train for the second night in a row.

“At least tonight we know a little bit more than we did,” Henry said. “I knew Annie wasn’t being quite truthful but I didn’t know she’d staged the whole thing.”

“You believe her now, don’t you?” Violet asked.

“Yes, I do,” Henry said. “Someone really stole the posters this time. I’m just not sure who that someone could be.”

“It could be Mr. Reeves,” Jessie said. “He is certainly interested in posters.”

“It could be Vincent,” Violet said. “He took money from Annie’s aunt and he . . . ”

“It could be that guy with the sunglasses and the beard,” Benny said. “He was talking to Vincent . . . ”

“It could be someone we don’t know at all,” Henry said. “But whoever it is would have a big package. Annie says folding the posters would lower their worth.”

“So we’ll keep a sharp eye out for large packages,” Jessie said.

The children nodded and stood waiting until the train pulled to a full halt.

They leaned out the door and looked up and down the platform. There were too many people moving around to be sure of seeing everything. “We’ll have to get out,” Henry said.

They jumped off the train and began moving up and down the platform, looking from one group of people to another. Suddenly, Jessie called, “I see the bearded man!”

“And he’s holding a big rolled package,” Violet said.

“Vincent is helping him,” Benny shouted. He began to run. At that moment, Vincent turned and went back into the train. The bearded man walked quickly away.

“Hurry, let’s catch him.” Jessie darted forward and caught hold of the man’s coat sleeve. She said, “Wait a minute, please. We want to talk to you.”

“Go away,” the man said.

Benny grabbed the back of his coat and Henry and Jessie tried to get hold of the rolled package.

The bearded man looked around at the crowd that was beginning to gather. He jerked the package away from the Alden children and threw it on the platform. Henry, Jessie, and Violet all ran for the package. Only Benny held onto the coattail and as the man pulled away from him, Benny was left holding a piece of the coat.

When the others came back with the package, Benny said, “He got away.”

“Never mind,” Jessie said. She bent down and untied the string around the rolled package. Unwrapping the paper carefully, she let the posters fall flat. “The important thing is we’ve got Annie’s posters back.”

“But the bearded man got away and we don’t know who he was or how he even knew the posters were on the train,” Benny said regretfully.