Midnight Mystery (5 page)

In no time, they had set up their sandwich assembly line the way they did back home.

“What does
inspiration
mean?” Benny asked Jessie. “That’s what Brad said.
‘The inspiration struck at midnight.’
”

Jessie cut a sandwich and handed the plate to Benny so he could put pickles on it. “Inspiration means getting an idea,” Jessie said. “You know how sometimes you get good ideas about things when you wake up in the middle of the night? That could be what Brad meant.”

Henry stopped pouring himself a glass of milk. “Or maybe Brad’s midnight idea came from the grandfather clock.”

That night Jessie stopped the clocks in the bedroom so everyone would get a good night’s sleep. But it wasn’t so easy to stop Ruff and Tumble from snoring. Their snuffly, wheezy snores woke up Jessie. She lay there for a few minutes, listening. Finally, she rolled out of bed and tiptoed across the chilly floor.
As long as I’m awake,
she thought,
I might as well visit the grandfather clock.
“Stay!” she whispered when she heard the dogs stir.

Of course, with Jessie up, Ruff and Tumble wanted to be up as well.

“All right, all right,” Jessie whispered. “You can come downstairs, too. I hope it’s not midnight yet.” Was she too late to hear the grandfather clock go off? She went out to the hall with her flashlight.

The steady tick of the clocks sounded so cozy, Jessie almost returned to bed. She aimed her flashlight at one of them. “Two minutes to midnight.”

Like all dogs, Ruff and Tumble didn’t need a flashlight to find their way through the dim hallway. They scooted past Jessie, down the stairs, and out of sight. Jessie started after them, then froze. She was almost certain she had heard a woman’s voice coming from the first floor.

Before Jessie could decide what to do, the house filled with gongs and chimes and cuckoos. It was midnight again.

Jessie leaned cautiously against the banister and looked down. “It’s Martha!” she whispered to herself. She watched as Martha aimed her own flashlight up, down, and behind the chiming grandfather clock. Martha appeared to be mumbling something, but Jessie couldn’t hear what it was.

Jessie went down the last flight of stairs, not on tiptoes, but with firm steps. When she reached the last step, she aimed her flashlight straight at Martha.

All the clocks stopped at the same moment.

Martha whirled around so suddenly, she dropped her flashlight. It rolled along the floor. “Who’s there?” she asked, blinded by Jessie’s flashlight.

“It’s me, Jessie. I woke up and decided to come downstairs. How did you get in the house? I thought I locked it.”

“I ... uh ... it wasn’t locked tight, I guess.” Martha stood frozen in place next to the grandfather clock. “I left something behind this afternoon. I was just looking for it.”

Jessie found this strange. “What were you looking for? Couldn’t you wait until morning?”

Martha tried to get a better look at Jessie.

“I wanted to come get it before it got mixed in with all that stuff for the convention. Anyway, I’ve got it now, so I’ll just be going.” Martha bent down to pick up her flashlight, which had rolled into the corner. Something fell from her jacket. She picked it up quickly and stuffed it into her pocket.

“That’s Alice Putter’s riddle book,” Jessie said. “Why are you carrying it around? I thought you wanted to put it in a safe place.”

Martha patted her jacket. “This
is
a safe place. Now, it’s late. It’s time for both of us to go to bed.”

Martha walked quickly out the door and shut it firmly behind her.

Jessie stared at the grandfather clock. “I wish you could tell me what your secret is,” she said to the man-in-the-moon face.

The clock ticked steadily on.

Jessie went back upstairs. When her brothers and sister heard her come in, they woke up, too.

“What’s up, Jessie?” Henry said in a tired voice. “Did the dogs have to go out?”

Jessie crawled into her sleeping bag. “No, but they woke me up with their snoring. I got to thinking about the man-in-the-moon riddle. I went to check the clock at midnight to see if anything would happen.”

“I wish I’d gone, too,” Benny said. Unlike Henry, he didn’t sound a bit sleepy. “Did anything happen?”

Jessie zipped her sleeping bag to warm herself up. “I’ll say — Martha was there! She was mumbling something and peering all around the clock. She tried to tell me the front door was unlocked, but I’m pretty sure I locked it so it wouldn’t blow open.”

Violet’s bed was right next to Jessie’s. She rolled over to face her. “Did anything happen with the clock? I was sound asleep, so I didn’t even hear any of them go off.”

“Nothing happened,” Jessie said. “But Martha had the riddle book with her.”

“That’s very strange,” Henry said. “I guess we should keep an eye on her.”

“Guess so,” Benny agreed. “Good night.”

“Night,” three soft voices echoed.

The next morning, the children finished all the work Isabel had asked them to do. Then they had time to work on their own inventions. Since they didn’t see Brad around, they decided to use the long kitchen table as a workbench.

Henry tried on his rainy-day backpack, which he had invented for the convention. He had outfitted it with a special umbrella holder so the wearer could walk in the rain without having to hold anything. Benny warned him that it was unlucky to open an umbrella indoors, but Henry opened it anyway. “How else will I know if it works?” he asked in his sensible way. First it tilted a little too far to the right. Then it leaned a little too far to the left. Henry needed to make some adjustments.

“I’m not sure which of my two inventions to enter in the contest,” Violet said. “My crayon saver is very useful, but it doesn’t seem very exciting.” She held up the lipstick tube that Mrs. McGregor had given her. Violet had put a screw inside to hold a small crayon stub that was too short to hold by hand. “I wish I had some of those little tools and screws Mr. Percy had in his toolbox to get it to work better. I think I’m going to enter my jewelry arm instead, but I’m not sure yet.” Violet held up the wooden hand and arm she had carved in art class to display rings and bracelets.

Except for needing fresh batteries, Benny’s flashlight hat was finished. But he needed Jessie’s help, anyway. He held out a wrinkled sheet of paper with his careful printing on it. “Can you read my directions so I don’t have any mistakes?”

Jessie put down the screwdriver. Her invention was a convenient recycling wagon. She had built a small cart with two bins — one for newspapers and one for cans and bottles — that could be rolled out to the curb on recycling day. Jessie studied Benny’s directions. “They look fine to me. Your printing is as good as your reading now.”

The children heard the kitchen door creak open.

Brad and Martha stepped inside.

Brad set his heavy toolbox on the table.

“I have to work in here, and I need the table to work on. You kids will have to move your stuff to the counters. Don’t worry, I won’t bother any of it.”

The Aldens looked at one another. Why couldn’t Brad work someplace else? They weren’t sure what to do.

Martha handed Jessie a box of fliers. “I need these posted around town, please. Since Brad will be working in here anyway, you can leave right now. Off you go.”

The Aldens hesitated.

“Now,” Martha and Brad said together.

Jessie and Violet carried their inventions to the counter on the other side of the kitchen. Benny kept on his flashlight hat, and Henry wore his rainy-day backpack.

As the Aldens left, they heard Brad and Martha arguing about another errand that needed to be done right away. The children passed the grandfather clock in the entryway. It was ticking along in its nice, steady way.

“Just ten more minutes,” Henry complained. “That’s all we need to get another look at that clock when it goes off at noon. We may not know the whole riddle, but I have a hunch it’s a message about this clock.”

Jessie stepped forward. “I wonder if the glass over the face opens or if there’s a panel in back or something.” She pulled gently on a carved wood decoration that ran from the top of the clock to the bottom. “It doesn’t budge, so I don’t — ”

“What are you doing?” Martha asked when she stepped into the entryway. “It’s lunchtime. I think you should leave for town now so you’ll have plenty of time after lunch to put up my fliers.” She looked at her watch again.

Jessie’s mouth opened, but her words didn’t come out. She opened the front door and motioned the other children to follow.

As the children walked down the driveway, they saw a delivery truck on its way out.

“I bet the deliveryman just dropped off more inventions,” Henry said. “Let’s take a quick look in the garage to see what came.”

“After we’re done, can we go to the Red Rooster Diner for lunch? I’m getting hungry.”

Jessie smiled at Benny. “Me, too. That’s a good idea. We’ll check the deliveries, go to lunch, then put up Martha’s fliers.”

When the children entered the garage, they didn’t see any unopened packages. What they did see was Mr. Percy. He was up to his elbows in packing materials — crumpled newspapers, bubble wrap, straw, and boxes with their lids wide-open. He was so busy unwrapping things, he didn’t see the Aldens standing there.

“Hi, Mr. Percy,” Violet said in her soft voice.

Mr. Percy still didn’t look up.

Benny went over and stood in front of him. “What are you working on?”

At last, Mr. Percy noticed the Aldens standing there. He quickly put away a notebook he had opened next to him. “What are you kids doing here?” he asked. “I was just checking on these deliveries.”

Jessie came over and looked around. “Ms. Putter asked us to do all the unpacking with Martha.”

Mr. Percy closed his notebook and put a cap on his pen. “Martha rushed off into the house before noon — who knows why — and left all these packages just sitting here. Mechanical objects are my specialty. I like to look at ‘em and fix ‘em.”

Henry went over to get a closer look at the inventions. “So what are these doodads, anyway?”

Mr. Percy didn’t seem impressed. “A bendable spoon for a baby. Already invented! A combination snow shovel and broom. Nothing new there. A corkscrew-style garden hose that doesn’t tangle. Invented already.”

“You seem disappointed, Mr. Percy,” Violet said. “Were you looking for something else?”

Mr. Percy stared at Violet through his magnification glasses. “Of course I was looking for something else! Ever since Alice Putter died, nobody’s come along with anything that could touch her inventions. Why, just look around this place — her clocks, her sculptures that don’t just stand there. They move and do things. Things of beauty.”

Benny took off his hat. “This moves and does things. Is my flashlight hat a thing of beauty, too?”

For once, Mr. Percy seemed about to smile, but not quite. “Almost, young fellow. Almost.”

After Mr. Percy left, the children put the new inventions that had arrived on display in the house. They could hear Brad working in the kitchen, but Martha seemed to have disappeared.

“I wish Mr. Percy had tried on my flashlight hat,” Benny said. “People who fix things could use it, too. Or the deliveryman could use one when he’s looking for packages in his truck. Do you think I’ll win a prize at the invention convention?”

Henry was still thinking about getting trounced in checkers. “Oh, I don’t know, Benny. Suppose somebody comes along with a hat that has a fan in it or something? Or a hat you could put an ice pack in to stay cool on a hot day?”

Benny could tell Henry was just kidding. “But no hats came in those invention boxes.”

“You’re right,” Henry agreed. “When you get rich and famous from your flashlight hat, just remember to send me one.”

By this time, the Aldens were walking to the diner. Up ahead, they could see the wooden rooster perched on the roof.

“That rooster makes me think of chickens, and chickens make me think of eggsalad,” Benny announced.

Violet wasn’t thinking about eggsalad. She was still wondering about Mr. Percy. “Mr. Percy was so nice about Benny’s hat today. But yesterday he shooed us away. I wonder if he was just having a bad day.”

Henry didn’t wonder about that at all. “Violet, you’re too nice. If you ask me, Mr. Percy’s hiding something. Didn’t Ms. Putter say he shows up at all hours? And he was really weird about that box Benny’s penny fell into. As soon as we weren’t around, he started snooping inside the invention boxes. Looking at those boxes is our job, not his.”

“I think Mr. Percy just likes seeing how inventions work so he can do a good job fixing them, especially Alice Putter’s,” Violet said. “He just seems absentminded about everything else except inventions and loses track of the time. That’s what Ms. Putter seemed to think.”

“I think he’s nice, too,” Benny said, taking Violet’s side.

“Aw, that’s just because he liked your hat,” Henry said. “He’s up to something. Remember how Ms. Putter told us he once came to the house at midnight to check the grandfather clock? That’s pretty strange.”