Bus Station Mystery (6 page)

Henry did not follow the road the bus took to Plainville Junction. He chose a back road that crossed the red bridge near the bus station.

“It is a lovely river,” Jessie said. “Grandfather called this country empty. But it isn’t really. Remember Jud and Troy’s wildlife exhibit at the fair? I never knew so many kinds of plants and animals could be found in such a little space.”

Suddenly they noticed a flight of wild ducks overhead. The ducks all dropped down into the river and dived to the bottom to find food. However, they came up right away, flapped their wet wings, and flew up the river, flying very low.

“Honk! Honk!” they cried.

Jessie said, “Look at that! The river is spoiled. The ducks can’t find food. I hope the chemicals won’t hurt them.”

“I don’t think they stayed long enough,” said Henry. “Just look at that triangle of ducks. They always follow the leader.”

All the ducks except the leader were honking. Then all at once they stopped and the leader honked all alone. “Honk! Honk! Honk!”

Benny laughed and said, “The leader keeps saying, ‘Well, if you all want to pass, go on!’ ”

Henry looked up the road toward the bus station. He slowed down suddenly. He saw a bright-colored pickup truck parked beside the road near the station. He could just make out the words “Pickett’s Perfect Paints” on the back of the truck.

Benny saw the truck, too. “Looks as if Frank has company,” he said. “Do you think that’s why he didn’t want us to come?”

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “Might be. I’ll drive past the station slowly. Let’s see if it looks closed.”

Violet could see the bus station better than the others.

“There’s a card in the window,” Violet reported. “It says ‘Buy tickets on bus.’ I think the station is closed.”

“That’s funny,” Benny said. “I’m sure I saw somebody going around the station.”

“I’ll park the car where it can’t be seen from the station,” Henry said. “Then we’ll walk back and take a look around.”

“Maybe someone’s up to some mischief,” Benny said. He thought about the weeds and the chemistry books. Did they have something to do with the paint factory? Or were they for something else? Perhaps someone from the paint factory wanted to find out.

The big trees along the road hid the Aldens as they walked toward the bus station. No one talked. They didn’t know what to expect. Perhaps nothing at all was going on.

“Look!” whispered Benny, and he pulled Jessie out of sight behind a tree.

A man who moved like a gray shadow came around the small building. When the Aldens could see him better, they found he was wearing gray coveralls. It was a work uniform of some sort. A big paint can was stitched on the back of the suit.

Yes, it had to be somebody from the paint factory, Benny decided. Then he had an idea. Could it be Mr. Pickett dressed up as a worker? What could he want?

The man stood on tiptoe and looked in the window at the side. He knocked gently against the glass. Was he planning to break it?

The stranger walked around to the front door. He tried to open it. The door was locked. He pushed. Then he used his shoulder, but the door did not open.

The Aldens watched from behind the trees. Suddenly the man seemed to give up. He turned around and sat down on the doorstep.

“What now?” Benny whispered.

The man felt in a pocket. He pulled out a piece of paper. Then he felt in other pockets until he found a pencil. He sat still for a moment, then he began to write.

CHAPTER 8

Tricked Twice

N
ot one of the Aldens moved. They watched the man on the bus station steps. What was he going to do?

Henry motioned to Jessie and Violet. He wanted them to stay where they were. He whispered to Benny, “Come with me.”

Benny nodded and tiptoed behind Henry. The girls stayed where they were, out of sight.

Henry led Benny back toward their station wagon. He said in a low voice, “Let’s see if we can find out what that man wants. If he’s up to some harm, maybe we can learn what it is and tell Frank.”

“If there’s a good reason for his actions, then we won’t have to worry,” Benny said.

“Here’s my idea,” Henry went on. “We’ll walk toward the bus station as if we want to catch a bus. When we get near the man, say something to me like, ‘I thought we’d never find this bus station.’ You know, stuff like that.”

“OK,” Benny said. “Let’s go. I hope he hasn’t gone.”

“I’m sure he hasn’t. We’d hear the truck start,” Henry said.

The boys walked along quickly. They tried to act as if they were not doing anything unusual.

As they came near the bus station they saw the man on the steps, stooping down near the door. They couldn’t tell what he was doing.

Benny said loudly, “Am I glad to see the bus station! My feet hurt.”

Jessie, hidden behind a tree, nearly laughed aloud.

“I hope we haven’t missed the bus,” Henry said.

“You haven’t,” said the man on the steps, and Benny jumped.

“You’re—you’re sure?” he asked.

“Naw, you haven’t missed it,” the man said. “The fellow who keeps this station has it all closed up. Nobody at all around.”

Henry said, “But we have to buy tickets.”

“Read the sign,” the man said. “You buy your tickets on the bus. Where you want to go?”

“Greenfield,” Benny said quickly.

“You got a long wait. No bus until this afternoon. You been visiting around here?”

Benny swallowed. He was supposed to be asking the questions, not answering them. He looked over at Henry.

“We were visiting Jud and Troy,” Henry said. Those were the only names he knew of anyone nearby.

“Down on the river? What did their dad do to them after they passed out those papers last night?”

Henry had to think fast. He didn’t know what had happened to the boys. So he just said, “They got in trouble, all right. Did you come to the bus station for something?”

The man shrugged. “I told the foreman at the plant it wouldn’t do any good. But he wanted me to come to see if Frank was around. One of the machines broke and we need a new part to fix it. The part was supposed to come on the bus yesterday. You can send packages on the bus, you know. Faster than the mail.”

“Did Frank have the package?” Henry asked.

“How do I know? Frank isn’t here. I just pushed a note under the door. I’ll come back later for it. Got to get back to work now. Tell Frank hello for me— if you see him.”

“For you?” Henry asked.

“Yeah, tell him Bill was here. Have a good wait.”

The workman walked down the steps and headed for the truck.

When the truck was out of sight Henry and Benny began to laugh.

“You never had a chance to find out a thing,” Henry told Benny. “Bill was asking all the questions.”

Jessie and Violet came running up. “What was going on?” asked Jessie. “Do you think the man was snooping around?”

“He wanted a package that came on the bus,” Benny said. “That was all. I guess he thought he’d take it if he could get in. It’s something to fix some machinery at the paint factory.”

“What shall we do now?” Violet asked. “Wait for Frank here?”

“We know he isn’t in the station, that’s one thing sure,” Benny said.

“Why not look for Frank?” Violet asked. “I don’t feel like waiting here.”

“Not enough excitement?” Henry asked, teasing Violet a little. “All right, let me get the car.”

Jessie said, “Oh, Henry, put the car behind the bus station. Let’s walk. His house is about a mile away, right on the river. We can’t miss it.”

The Aldens left their car at the bus station. They locked it and set off for the river.

“We have to go single file,” Henry said. “I’ll go first, and Benny, you bring up the rear.”

There was a narrow, well-worn path along the river. Benny said, “We should see some fishermen along here. It’s just the kind of day for fishermen. Where are they?”

Violet stopped and pointed to a dark streak in the middle of the stream. “Do you see where the water is so dirty?” she asked. “I wonder what makes that.”

“Ugh,” Benny said. “I wouldn’t want to swim here.”

Henry said, “I think the paint factory waste makes the whole river look different.”

They walked along until they thought they must be near Frank’s house.

“Maybe we should look around and not just walk up and bang on Frank’s door,” Benny suggested.

The others agreed. So when they saw a boat pulled up on the shore and the roof of a small house behind some trees, they stopped.

“That has to be Frank’s house. I see a birdhouse in one of the trees,” said Jessie.

There was a little breeze. Jessie sniffed, then she held her nose. “I forgot about that queer smell at the bus station yesterday. Now I smell it again.”

“Look over there,” said Benny, pointing. “See that big chimney? I think we’ve found Frank’s house and the paint factory, too.”

As he spoke, a truck passed the Aldens on the road above the riverbank. It was going to the factory.

“What do we do now?” Jessie asked. She was standing on the path. Bushes and tall grass nearly hid the trail.

There was a rustling sound. A twig snapped.

“Shhh!” Henry whispered. “Get down.” He was sure he had seen someone or something move in the tall grass nearby.

The Aldens dropped down behind Henry. No one said a word. They waited.

“Caught you!” a voice said softly.

“Yeah, caught you!” a second voice said. “What do you want here?”

Slowly the Aldens stood up. The voices belonged to Jud and Troy. The boys scowled at the Aldens.

“We were looking for Frank,” Benny said, no longer surprised. “Anything wrong with that?”

“Sneaking around is a funny way to look for someone,” Jud declared. “Are you spying on Frank or something?”

“That’s stupid,” Henry said. He felt angry at the boys for suspecting anything like that. “We never met Frank until yesterday. We forgot our raincoats and came back to save Frank the trouble of mailing a package.”

“Yeah?” Troy asked. “Do you believe that, Jud?” He turned to his brother.

Jud looked at the Aldens. “I kind of believe it,” he said slowly. “Four people are too many to take along if you’re up to something wrong.”

Jessie said, “We left our raincoats at the bus station yesterday. We came to get them. The station was locked, so we started to look for Frank.”

“I guess you’re OK,” Jud said. “You’ll find Frank down by the river.” And he and Troy climbed up to the road and disappeared.

“Those boys scared me for a minute,” Violet said. “Do you think they were spying on Frank?”

“Or spying
for
him?” asked Benny. “I’m all mixed up.”

“Let’s find Frank anyway,” Henry decided.

They had not gone far down the path when Violet called, “I see him!”

Frank was lying on the riverbank, pulling something out of the water. He looked around and saw the Aldens.

Jessie said quickly, “We got here early. We just thought we’d come and find you.” She held her breath. Would he be angry?

“I’m glad you did,” answered Frank. “You are just in time to see what I found.” He lifted a large dead fish as he spoke. “It was right here floating upside down in the river. Too bad.”

The Aldens looked at the fish. “That would have made a big dinner for someone,” said Jessie.

“Me,” said Frank. “I used to sit here and fish and have a good time by myself. Sometimes I caught a fish in ten minutes. Now every fish is dead and it’s not fun even being on the river in a boat. Pollution has ruined the river.”

“What are you going to do with that dead fish?” Benny asked.

Frank gave a queer laugh. “I think I have a special use for it. It will make a real surprise for someone.” He wrapped the fish in paper as he spoke. “I’ll drive you back to the bus station. Then you can get your raincoats.”

CHAPTER 9

Frank’s Problem

F
rank put the dead fish in the trunk of his car. He locked the door of his house, then he got in the driver’s seat. The Aldens slid in, with Benny and Henry sitting in front with Frank.

“I’m glad we don’t have the fish with us,” Violet whispered to Jessie.

They were soon at the bus station and Frank was unlocking the door. He found Bill’s note and put it with the package that had come on the bus.

“If I close up like this in the morning, I don’t miss much business,” he said. “Too late for breakfast and too early for lunch.”

The Aldens had followed Frank into the station. They saw the sun shining in the clean windows. The flowers in the pots on the sills were bright and gay. Frank opened a window and the room was filled with a bird song.

Frank looked around as if the station was his own little kingdom. He said, “Sit down, kids, and let me tell you something. I think you’ll understand, and I need to talk to someone.”

The Aldens sat down quietly and waited. Frank was a puzzling person. He was angry one minute and gentle the next.

Frank reached down and pulled out the envelope Benny had handed him yesterday. He unfolded the letter.

He began, “You saw the chimney of the paint factory when you came to find me. The factory is right there on the river around a little bend from me. You might say it’s my neighbor.”