Hockey Mystery (3 page)

“Oh, that,” Kevin said. “I bought some cones to use for that drill, but they disappeared. So Henry suggested using the stuff from the lost-and-found bin.”

“I thought maybe it was some crazy Scouts drill,” Scott teased his old friend, a big smile on his face. “I remember you were always a little unusual, but I didn’t think you wanted the whole town to know that!”

“I was sitting with a man from the town council,” said Mrs. Davidson. “He—both of us, really—wondered what you were doing with all that stuff on the ice.”

“Better watch what you do, Kev,” Scott warned in a joking voice. “The council may not approve the plan for your rink.”

“Where is the new rink going to be?” Mrs. Davidson asked.

“On Overlook Road,” Kevin said. “There’s a big empty piece of land near the elementary school.”

“That’s what I’d heard,” said Mrs. Davidson.

“We live right around the corner from there!” said Beth. “Cool! I’ll be able to walk to the rink!”

Her mother did not look as happy. “I’m worried it will bring a lot of traffic and noise to our quiet little neighborhood.”

“We’ve taken that into consideration,” said Kevin. “We’ll make sure it won’t be a problem.”

Mrs. Davidson did not look convinced. “Are the plans final?”

“Just about,” Kevin said. “As a matter of fact, the architect just dropped off a set of plans this morning. They’re in my office. Would you all like to come see them?”

“Sure,” said Scott, speaking for everyone.

The Aldens exchanged looks. Mrs. Davidson sure looked unhappy about this new rink!

After Benny, Violet, and Kevin got out of their skates, the group followed Kevin to his office, which was off the lobby. It was right next to Tracey’s office. As they walked by, Jessie saw her old teacher inside, sitting at her desk filling out papers.

Kevin’s office had a large desk in the center of the room and a Scouts poster on the wall. On his desk was a puck mounted in a glass box. Jessie picked it up and read the small plaque at the bottom: GAME-WINNING GOAL—STANLEY CUP FINALS. She also noticed a blue-and-red desk set with the Scouts logo on it and a bottle of ink and a fountain pen in it.

In the center of the desk was a large flat plastic envelope. Kevin picked it up and opened it. “These are the only set,” he said, pulling out some large sheets of paper, “so we’ll have to be careful with them. I couldn’t wait to see them, so I asked the architect to bring them over right away—before they’d even made a copy.”

“I’m sure they have this all stored on the computer, though,” Scott assured Kevin.

“Normally they would, but they told me their computers went down last night,” said Mr. Reynolds.

“Don’t worry, we’ll be careful,” said Jessie.

Scott, Beth, Mrs. Davidson, and the Aldens all crowded around Kevin as he held the drawings up one at a time. The first showed what the outside of the building would look like.

“What a beautiful building,” said Scott.

“Yes, I think it will be,” Kevin responded.

He held up the next drawing, which showed how the rink and seats around it would look. There were some other drawings showing how the whole building would be laid out, with the lobby, offices, and locker rooms.

“Where’s the snack bar going to be?” Benny asked.

Everyone laughed.

“Right here,” said Kevin, pointing to a far corner on one of the plans. “And I’ll make sure we serve hot chocolate.”

“What will happen to this rink when the new one opens?” Violet asked Scott.

“I don’t know,” he answered. “But it won’t be up to me. I’m retiring and moving out of Greenfield.”

“Really?” Kevin said.

“Yeah. I’ve been thinking about moving for a long time—going someplace warm,” Scott said. “I’ll stay for the mini-league, but then I’m leaving.”

Just then the phone rang. While Kevin spoke to the person on the other end, the others looked over the drawings.

“That was my wife,” he said, hanging up the phone. “I’m going to go meet her for breakfast.” He carefully replaced the plans in the large envelope and laid it on his desk.

“Now that you have the plans, what happens next?” Mrs. Davidson asked as she and the others made their way out of Kevin’s office.

“The town council has to approve them,” Kevin said. “I’m going to bring them to the meeting tonight. And assuming nothing unexpected happens, we’ll start building at the end of the month.”

Mrs. Davidson looked as if she were thinking about something. “Come on, Beth,” she said, heading off. “Sounds great, Mr. Reynolds.” She flashed a quick smile. “Assuming nothing
unexpected
happens.”

Jessie and Henry watched as the Davidsons walked away. “What do you think she meant by that?” Jessie asked Henry.

“I don’t know,” Henry said. “It almost sounds as if she expects something to go wrong.”

“I’ve got to run,” said Kevin. He walked quickly to the main exit. “See you later!”

Saying a quick good-bye to the Aldens, Scott also left to go back to his office.

“I’m hungry!” Benny said.

“Didn’t you eat breakfast?” Violet wanted to know.

“Yes, but it was so early I need another breakfast,” Benny said.

“Let’s get a snack after we skate some more,” Jessie said.

“I noticed on the schedule that there’s a special hockey practice session. We could work on your stickhandling, Jessie,” Henry said.

“That’s a great idea! Violet and I can skate more, too!” Benny called out.

Henry went to call home to let their grandfather know about the change in plans. They were happily surprised when, soon after, Mrs. McGregor arrived at the rink with a basket of warm muffins for them!

They skated for nearly an hour. Benny and Violet skated around the outside of the rink, working on crossovers, which Kevin had taught them that morning. Henry and Jessie stayed in the middle, working on her stickhandling.

After a little while, Benny and Violet skated to the center. “Can we take a break?” Benny asked.

“Sure,” said Jessie. “I’m ready for a break, too. How about a hot pretzel with mustard?”

“And some hot chocolate?” Benny asked.

“And some hot chocolate,” Jessie assured him.

The Aldens walked out to the lobby. Suddenly they heard a shout from Kevin’s office. The children looked at one another and then ran across the lobby. Tracey came out of her door at the same moment, and all of them went into Kevin’s office.

“Coach Reynolds, what’s wrong?” Henry asked.

Kevin was standing at his desk with his coat on, his back to them. He was looking down at his desk. He seemed to be frozen there.

“The plans for the new rink!” Kevin said. “They’re ruined!”

Tracey and the children came closer and looked down at his desk. The plans they had looked at just a few hours earlier were spread all over the desktop. And something black was spilled across them.

“Quick, maybe we can save them,” Jessie said. “Are there paper towels anywhere?”

“The snack bar will have some paper napkins,” Tracey said. She ran out the door, with Jessie right behind her.

“What is that—ink?” Henry asked. He dipped a finger in the black liquid and looked at it more closely. Then he noticed the ink bottle lying on its side across the plans. There was only a little bit of ink left inside. “This must have spilled.” He handed the nearly empty bottle to Kevin.

Jessie and Tracey returned with a stack of paper napkins. Everyone grabbed a few and tried to blot up the ink. But it was no use.

The ink had already soaked through the papers, destroying most of the drawings.

“How could this have happened?” Coach Reynolds asked. “I put the plans back in the envelope before I left. What were they doing spread all over my desk?”

“Do you think someone came in to look at them?” Jessie asked.

“And then they accidentally knocked over the ink?” Henry added.

“I guess it’s possible, but wouldn’t they have done something, instead of just leaving it here like this?” Coach Reynolds asked.

“Maybe they knocked it over as they were leaving and didn’t realize,” Jessie suggested.

“How could they not realize?” Kevin asked.

“Or maybe they were afraid to admit it—afraid they’d get in trouble,” Benny offered. He remembered when he’d broken a glass bowl in the living room at home. He had been afraid to tell his grandfather. At last he had gotten up his courage and admitted what he had done. Grandfather had been proud of Benny for being honest.

“The plans are ruined now.” Kevin sighed heavily. “I’d better call the architect.” He gathered up the inky papers and shook his head. He looked very sad. “Now I won’t be able to present these plans tonight. This will really set back the building of the rink.”

Tracey and the Aldens left Kevin’s office so that he could make his phone call. Tracey went back into her office. The Aldens looked at one another glumly. They all felt bad for Kevin.

“We might as well go get our snack,” said Jessie. “There’s nothing more we can do for Coach Reynolds.”

When they were sitting at a table sipping hot chocolate, Benny said, “Do you really think someone spilled that ink by accident?”

“I don’t know,” said Henry. “It does seem pretty strange that someone would go in when Kevin wasn’t there, take out the plans, leave them all over the desk, accidentally knock over the ink, and then just leave.”

“What are you saying?” Jessie asked. “That someone did it ... on purpose?”

Henry nodded slowly.

“But why? Why would someone do something so terrible?” Jessie asked.

The children sat quietly for a moment, picking at their pretzels. No one really felt much like eating.

At last Henry spoke. “Maybe not everyone is happy that Kevin is building another rink.”

“You think someone wrecked the plans because they were angry about the new rink?” Jessie asked.

“Maybe,” said Henry.

“Like who?” Jessie asked.

“Well, like Scott,” said Henry. “If Kevin builds that nice new rink, maybe no one will come here anymore.”

“But he’s Kevin’s old friend,” said Violet. “I can’t believe he’d ruin the plans.”

“And Scott’s moving away anyway,” said Jessie. “So it doesn’t matter to him.”

“That’s right,” said Henry. He took a bite of pretzel and chewed it slowly. “Well, what about Mrs. Davidson? Remember how upset she was when she learned that the rink was going to be right in her neighborhood?”

“I thought she was happy it would be so close,” said Benny.

“No, that was Beth,” Henry said. “Her mother was worried it would cause a lot of noise and traffic.”

“But she’s such a big fan of Coach Reynolds,” Violet pointed out. “I don’t think she’d do that.”

“Can you think of anyone else?” Henry asked.

Jessie took a sip of her hot chocolate. Then she spoke. “I’ve noticed that Tracey seems really angry that people are switching from figure skating to hockey.”

“Maybe she’s worried that she’ll lose her job if no one wants to take figure skating lessons anymore,” Henry suggested.

“But do you think one of these people spilled ink all over the drawings?” Benny asked.

“They might have,” said Henry. “Let’s think about this for a minute. Which of these people knew that the plans were there?”

“Scott and Mrs. Davidson did,” said Benny. “They were both looking at them with us.”

“And Tracey’s office is right next door, so she might have overheard us talking about them,” Jessie said.

“Coach Reynolds said those were the only set of plans, remember?” Henry added. “So whoever did it knew that if they were ruined, it would cause a big problem.”

“I just thought of someone else,” said Jessie, eating the last bite of her pretzel.

“Who?” asked Henry.

“Cathy Reynolds,” she said.

“Coach’s own daughter?” Violet said.

“At first she seemed nice and asked me to show her around Greenfield,” said Jessie. “Then all of a sudden she became really unfriendly—even a little bit mean during the practice. After practice, she said she had to take care of something and left in a big hurry.”

Benny’s eyes grew wide. “What did she have to take care of?”

“She didn’t say,” Jessie said. “But she would certainly know that her father had just gotten the plans. And she probably knew that he was going out to breakfast with her mom.”

“That means she could have sneaked in and wrecked the plans,” Benny said.

“What would her reason be?” asked Henry crumpling up his empty hot chocolate cup.

“I’m not sure,” Jessie said. “But it’s hard to move to a new town and make new friends. Maybe she’s angry at her dad for taking her away from her old school and her old friends.”

Suddenly Benny sat up very straight in his chair. “I just thought of something else!”

“What?” said Henry and Jessie at the same time.

“Do you think that the person who ruined the plans also stole the orange cones?” Benny asked.

“Maybe,” said Jessie.

Henry seemed doubtful. “I can see why ruining the plans would delay the rink’s being built. But what would stealing the cones do?”

“Remember what Scott said?” Jessie asked. “The town council has to approve the rink. If they don’t trust Coach, they might not let him go ahead with his plans.”