Mystery at the Alamo (5 page)

The girls ducked behind the edge of the trailer. Janice knocked on Amy’s door.

“Who is it?” Amy called.

“It’s me, Janice. I’m here to go over my lines.”

Amy opened the door and smiled. “Great! I hope Claire will be able to film her part this afternoon, but if she can’t, at least you’ll be ready. Come on in. I ordered some salads for lunch.”

Janice went inside and closed the door.

“Well,” Violet said. “We know what Janice will be doing this afternoon. Now let’s go and check on Claire.”

As the girls came near Claire’s trailer, her door opened and she came down the steps. Jessie grabbed Violet and dragged her behind the trailer.

“Do you think she saw us?” Violet whispered.

“I don’t think so,” Jessie answered. “She didn’t even look around.”

“Let’s follow her,” Violet said.

Claire headed down the street to a small cafe a few blocks from Alamo Square. Jessie and Violet watched through a window as she went in and sat down at a booth. After a few minutes, a tall man with red hair and glasses came in. He sat at the same table.

Jessie and Violet went into the cafe and snuck into the booth behind Claire and the man. Claire’s back was toward the girls, and several large flowering plants shielded them from view. The girls could not see Claire or the man, but they could hear them.

“Nolan,” Claire said. “You’re my agent. We’ve worked together for years. You know that I’d love to take the starring role in that important movie being filmed in California, but I can’t start right away. I can’t break my contract. Once I take a job, I do the best work I can until the job is completed.”

“Are you sure there’s no way you can get out of this contract?” Nolan asked. “What happens if you get fired?”

Before Violet and Jessie could hear Claire’s response, a waitress loudly asked what the girls wanted to order.

“Two chicken sandwiches and two glasses of milk, please,” Violet said softly The waitress wrote down their order and hurried away.

“No — I don’t even want to talk about it,” Claire said loudly. Then Jessie and Violet could see her heading out of the cafe. The man followed.

Jessie looked out the window. “They’ve gone their separate ways. And we still don’t know what Claire said about getting fired, but we do know she wants to leave and go to California.”

“Do you think she arranged all those accidents so that Amy would fire her?” Violet asked.

“I don’t think so,” Jessie said. “She said she does her best once she takes a job. Maybe the boys found out something that will solve this mystery.”

“Are we going to stay and eat?” Violet asked as the waitress put their plates down in front of them.

“Yes,” Jessie answered. “These sandwiches look delicious!”

When the girls got back to the set, the boys were waiting for them.

“You won’t believe what we saw,” Henry said.

“You won’t believe what we heard,” Jessie said.

“You go first,” Henry said.

After Jessie and Violet told Henry, Benny, and Antonio about Claire’s meeting with a man named Nolan, it was the boys’ turn to talk.

“We followed Roger Martin back to his trailer,” Antonio said. “He met a man there. You won’t believe what the man had with him!”

“What?” asked Jessie, anxious to know what the boys had seen.

“He had a cage with him,” Benny said. “I saw it!”

“A cage?” Jessie said. “A cage for what?”

“It looked like a
mouse
cage. There was a treadmill inside it,” Henry said.

“Are you sure?” Jessie asked.

“Yes. We’re sure,” Henry said. “Roger must have borrowed the mouse from a pet store. We heard him thank the man for letting him use the mouse in the movie.”

“It looks like he’s the one who has been making all the mischief,” Antonio said.

“But why would he want to do that?” asked Violet.

“Well,” Jessie said, “he doesn’t like it when Claire gets most of the speaking parts, or most of the attention.”

“We heard him say that. Remember?” Henry said. “He also said that he’d get even.”

“You’re both right,” said Antonio. “But there’s nothing we can do about all this today.”

“Why not?” Henry asked.

“Because your grandfather is coming down the street,” Antonio said with a smile. “And I need to go help my mother. I’ll keep an eye on the pay phone across from our lemonade stand. Don’t forget that you’re coming over tonight to make cascarones. I’ll meet you at your hotel after the tour.”

“We haven’t forgotten,” Jessie said.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Violet said.

“Are my movie stars ready to tour San Antonio?” Grandfather said when he saw his grandchildren.

“Yes, we are!” Jessie said.

“Then let’s go,” Grandfather said. “We have a lot to see and do before we go over to the Rivas’s house tonight.”

T
he Aldens made their way onto the tour bus. The tour guide greeted everyone on board. “Good afternoon! Today we’re going to visit some really great places, folks.”

After a few minutes, the tour guide’s voice crackled over the loudspeaker again. “That’s HemisFair Plaza and the Tower of the Americas. These buildings were originally the site of San Antonio’s 1968 World’s Fair. We’re going to stop and go inside because now it houses the Institute of Texan Cultures. The institute traces the nationalities and history of Texas.”

Grandfather Alden and the Boxcar Children followed the crowd inside the Institute of Texan Cultures.

Afterward, the tour bus stopped at the zoo and several old missions. Then it went on to the wax museum.

“I love the wax museum,” Violet said. “This is my favorite display.” She pointed to the wax figures of the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man, and Dorothy with her dog, Toto.

“
The Wizard of Oz
,” Henry said. “You’ve always loved that movie.” Then Henry looked around. “Where’s Benny?” he asked.

“He’s over there,” Violet said.

Benny was staring at an exhibit a short distance away. Henry, Violet, Jessie, and Grandfather walked over to see what he was looking at.

“Look,” Benny said. “It’s an exhibit about the Mexican men who fought at the Alamo. That’s General Santa Anna, leader of the Mexican army.”

“You’re right, Benny,” Jessie said.

“I know what we can do,” Violet said. “We can all stand together in front of this exhibit and find someone to take our photo. Then we can develop this roll of film before we leave and give our picture to Antonio.”

“That way he will never forget us,” Benny said.

Grandfather Alden found a friendly-looking woman who was willing to take their photo. They all lined up in front of the exhibit and smiled.

Soon it was time to get back on the bus. The next stop was a very nice restaurant with flower baskets hanging from the ceiling.

“I think that this has been the best part of the tour so far,” Benny said.

Everyone laughed.

While they ate, the Boxcar Children and their grandfather talked about all the fun they’d been having while in San Antonio.

After their meal, everyone piled onto the tour bus. It stopped right in front of the Aldens’ hotel. Antonio and his mother were waiting for them in the lobby.

“Grandfather,” Henry said, “this is Antonio Rivas and his mother.”

“I’m pleased to meet you both,” Grandfather said as he shook hands with Antonio.

“We’re glad to meet you, too,” Mrs. Rivas said.

“I wish you could have come sightseeing with us,” Henry said to Antonio. “We had fun.”

“I would have loved to, but we were very busy at the stand,” Antonio said.

Everyone got into the Rivases’ van and rode to their beautiful, Spanish-style house. Dr. Rivas stood in the doorway, waiting to greet them. Antonio looked just like his father. They both had big brown eyes and warm smiles.

“Dad,” Antonio said, “this is Mr. Alden.”

“Pleased to meet you,” Dr. Rivas said as he shook hands with Grandfather Alden.

“And these are his grandchildren, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny.”

“Well, well,” Dr. Rivas said. “The movie-star detectives.”

The children all laughed.

“Come inside and make yourselves at home,” Mrs. Rivas said. She led them into a beautifully decorated room. “Please have a seat, Mr. Alden. I believe the children are going into the family room to make cascarones.”

“We need to get started,” Antonio said. “Cascarones are fun to make, but they take time.”

Mrs. Rivas brought out four rolls of brightly colored gift wrap. “Here you are. You can use this to make the confetti.”

“Making the confetti for the cascarones is more fun than buying it,” Antonio explained.

He passed around pairs of scissors.

The Boxcar Children and Antonio cut the paper into little thin strips. Then they put the strips in a big cardboard box.

“You said before that you don’t hide cascarones. What
do
you do with them?” Benny asked.

“I’ll show you in a little while,” Antonio said. “You’ll just have to wait until then to find out what cascarones are good for.”

“How mysterious,” Henry said, smiling.

“And speaking of mysteries,” Antonio said, “I almost forgot to tell you something. You’ll never guess who I saw using the phone across the street from the lemonade stand.”

“Who was it?” Jessie asked.

“Bob Branson,” Antonio said. “Then a few minutes after he made the phone call, a man drove up. Bob got into the car with him. After they talked awhile, Bob got out and the man drove off. Then Bob headed back toward the movie set.”

“Was Bob talking to a man with red hair and glasses?” Violet asked.

“Yes!” Antonio said. “He was.”

“That sounds like the same man Claire had lunch with,” Jessie said. “Violet and I saw them today, remember? She called him Nolan and said he was her agent.”

“What’s an agent?” Benny asked.

“An agent is a person who helps an actor get work,” Henry explained.

“Claire has plenty of work to do,” Benny said.

“You’re right,” Jessie said. “It seems that Claire has a choice between doing this film or a really important one in California. She can’t take the job in California because she has to finish this film.”

“But if she got fired from this film,” Violet added, “she could take the job in California.”

“I wonder why Bob was meeting with Claire’s agent,” Henry said.

“Maybe he’s Bob’s agent, too,” Antonio suggested.

“I don’t know,” Jessie said. “But I think we need to keep an eye on Bob from now on.”

“Now it’s time to bring out the eggshells,” Antonio said.

“What are we going to do with a bunch of eggshells?” asked Violet.

“We’re going to fill them with the confetti,” said Antonio. “For several weeks, every time we use an egg, we carefully break it near the top portion only. We rinse out the shell and put it right back into the eggcarton. When spring comes, we fill the empty eggshells with confetti. Then we cover the hole in the shell with crepe paper and decorate it.”

“So that’s how you get the confetti into the shells!” Benny said. “I knew the chicken couldn’t do it!”

Antonio and his mother brought in cartons of eggshells. The children stuffed the shells with confetti. Then they covered the holes with thin pieces of crepe paper and pasted them down.

“We haven’t gotten to the fun part yet,” Antonio said with a grin.

He brought in a big tray filled with colorful paints, glitter, ribbons, buttons, beads, seashells, glue, and paintbrushes.

Violet painted her first egg purple. Then she added a bright yellow sun. She sprinkled some glitter all over the egg and glued on a few red beads.

Jessie glued red, green, gold, and blue beads all over her gold-painted egg. Then she took a ribbon and wrapped it in a wavy pattern around the middle of the egg.

“Yours is wonderful,” said Violet.

“I like your design, too,” Jessie replied.

“Look at Henry’s,” Antonio said as he painted small birds on his egg.

Henry had painted his eggroyal blue. Then he had glued different-colored buttons on it. He had also made a small hat to fit over the top of his egg.

“I think Benny gets the prize for creativity,” Henry said.