Mystery in the Mall (3 page)

The young woman sighed deeply. “I guess I’ll go out and load up the souvenir cart, then. Wait! Where is it? I pushed it just inside the door last night before we closed.”

Penny smiled. “Take a look out there. Jessie Alden already stocked it. I posted her out there to wait on customers who are passing by. You can cover the shop. I’m heading to the gift show at the convention center. I feel much better about leaving now that the Aldens are here to do all the little jobs.”

After Penny left, Janet shadowed the children around the shop. She expected them to do things one way: her way. She rewrapped a package Violet had already wrapped perfectly. She stood over Benny to make sure he didn’t drop one kernel of corn. She checked up on Jessie, who had already sold several souvenirs without anyone’s help at all.

Soon Henry returned from the warehouse with a stack of boxes. “I’ll get a box cutter and open these if you want,” he told Janet.

When the young woman saw the boxes, she grabbed the hand truck from Henry. “I’ll take those, thank you. I’m going to lock them up until I have time to match everything against the order slips.”

Henry smiled. “I could do that if you—”

Janet shook her head. “No, it isn’t as easy as it looks.” With that, she rolled the hand truck over to a storage closet and locked the boxes inside.

The day passed quickly. At five o’clock, Benny tapped Henry’s elbow. “Is it time to go, Henry?” he asked. “Penny said we could leave around dinnertime. I like it here, but now I’m hungry.”

“Sure thing, Benny,” Henry answered. “I’ll go find Janet. She’s in the storeroom again.”

Henry found the young woman scrambling through the boxes he had delivered that morning. Janet wasn’t alone. Standing next to her was the dark-haired crewman the Aldens had met on the dock that morning.

“Hey, aren’t you—” Henry began. Janet and the young man turned around suddenly, startled to see Henry standing there.

“What are you doing here?” Janet asked, quickly shoving the boxes inside the closet again. “I was ... uh ... telling this man where the blue jeans store is. He wandered in here by mistake.”

“Sorry.” Henry wondered why the crewman had come into the storeroom to get directions. “I just wanted to let you know my brother, sisters, and I are leaving as soon as Penny gets back.”

Janet’s eyes were dark with annoyance. “You don’t have to wait until Penny gets back. I’ve covered the shop by myself before.”

Henry backed away. Why was this young woman so grouchy all the time? “Okay,” Henry said. “Oh, well, there’s Penny now. I guess we’ll go.” He looked at the crewman again. “I just figured out where I saw you—on the freighter this morning, right?”

The man turned away from Henry without answering. He opened the back door of the storeroom and left.

Penny suddenly appeared in the doorway. “I’m back, and you won’t believe what I found out at the gift show, Henry. My supplier says there’s a whole shipment of novelty items on one of the ships in the harbor right now, including—guess what—coconut monkeys, coconut pirates, and coconut clowns! Once they’re unloaded in a few days, I’ll set aside one for Benny just as soon as I open the boxes.”

Everyone was smiling at this good news, except for Janet.

“What’s the matter?” Penny asked the young woman. “Don’t you think we could sell a lot of those? You look as if I told you we’d be selling dead bugs.”

“Oh, it’s ... uh ... nothing,” Janet said. “I’ll unpack the boxes as soon as they get here.”

The Aldens joined other strolling tourists on their way to the mall’s many outdoor restaurants. At sunset, people liked to come outdoors, look at the view, and eat outside.

Jessie checked the directory of all the shops and restaurants in the mall. “Mr. Bolt said the Dockside Cafe is a good place. It has tables inside and outside.”

“Look, Benny!” Henry said suddenly. “Those seagulls like to eat outside, too.”

The Aldens watched screeching seagulls swoop down for french fries that people held out for them.

“There’s a couple leaving soon,” the restaurant hostess told the Aldens when they arrived at the jam-packed restaurant. “You can have their table as soon as they leave and the busboy clears it.”

The children studied the menu posted nearby.

“I’m having french fries just like the seagulls, only I want mine on a plate,” Benny decided. “And chicken fingers and carrot sticks to go with the french fries.”

While the other children decided what to have, Benny watched the couple. He hoped they weren’t going to order any more food. Luckily for Benny, they got up to leave.

“Hey, it’s Janet,” Benny whispered to Jessie.

The older children turned to look.

“Right! And that crewman is with her again,” Violet noticed.

Henry tried not to stare. “Put your heads down. I don’t want them to know we saw them. I forgot to tell you that the crewman was in the storeroom. Janet told me he was lost. Doesn’t it seem funny he’s having dinner with her now?”

Jessie peeked, then looked away from the couple. “Did he say anything about seeing us on the dock this morning?”

Henry shook his head. “That’s the thing. As soon as I mentioned it, he walked out the back way. Also, I was wondering why he went out the back of the store if he was lost.”

“Your table is ready,” the restaurant hostess said, interrupting Henry. She led the children over to their table.

“Goody,” Benny said, settling into his chair. “We’re right by the railing so we can watch the seagulls.”

Violet laughed and pointed to the sky. “And the seagulls can watch you, Benny! Look how they fly over all these outdoor restaurants. Better watch your food when it comes.”

Benny took one last look at the menu. “When my food comes, it won’t be on my plate long enough for the seagulls to get it.”

Benny was right about that. He ate every bite of food and still had room for dessert. While he waited for his brownie sundae, he found a piece of paper under the saltshaker. “Hey, look.” He showed the note to the other children. “I wonder who left this. The handwriting says: ‘
Checklist: Appt. SS Shop; Check all boxes. R.T.
’”

“If it said ‘J.T.,’ then I’d say that was Janet Trainor,” Jessie said, reading the note. “Well, a lot of people eat at this restaurant. I guess we’ll never know who R.T. is.”

When Benny’s brownie sundae arrived, he stuck the note in his pocket and forgot about it. It was time for dessert.

“That was a good dinner,” Henry said later after they paid their bill. “I have a couple of things to do. I’ll meet you all at Penny’s shop at nine o’clock. She’ll tell us whether she needs us tomorrow or the next few days.”

Jessie pulled Henry away from Benny and Violet. “Where are you going? Are you going to snoop around down on the dock?”

Henry shook his head. “No, even though I want to,” he whispered. “I’m going to see if I can find another coconut monkey for Benny. I feel rotten that I threw his out by mistake. There are so many shops around here with stuff from all over. Maybe there’s a chance I’ll find one. It could take a long time for Penny’s shipment to arrive.”

Jessie smiled. “That would make Benny so happy. He hasn’t complained once. Well, good luck. We’ll meet you back at the shop around closing time.”

“What are you and Violet whispering about?” a tired Benny asked when he caught his sisters giggling secretively. “And why won’t you tell me where Henry went?”

“We can’t tell,” Violet said. “Now let’s do some more window-shopping.”

An hour later, the children strolled back to Penny’s Emporium. Henry was already there and wearing a huge smile.

“You beat us,” Benny said when he saw his brother.

Henry held out a brown shopping bag. “I did more than that. Look inside.”

When Benny looked down, he saw something round and brown and covered with hair. “My car bag with my monkey! Yippee! Did that garbage truck come to Hope Harbor, too?”

Henry laughed. “Nope. Take a look inside. It’s not the car bag or exactly the same monkey as the one you lost, but it’s from Hawaii, or at least that’s what the store owner said.”

Benny reached into the shopping bag. He felt for the rope handle and pulled up the coconut. “Ta-da!” He held the coconut next to his face and copied the same grinning face.

“It’s close enough to the one you lost,” Jessie said. “Shake it.”

“That’s exactly what I did,” Henry said. “It was the last one in the store. As soon as I saw it, I decided to buy it. I made sure it rattled just like Benny’s lost one. Go ahead, Benny, shake away.”

Benny shook the coconut. “Now I can make a racket with this one, too.”

By this time, Penny had locked up the cash register. “Well, I’m awfully glad you found one. Who knows when the coconut monkeys I ordered will get unloaded?”

Penny and the Aldens heard the storeroom door bang.

Janet came into the shop area. She noticed Benny’s coconut right away. “Where did that come from?” She looked at Penny. “I thought you wanted me to open all your shipments, Penny, so that things wouldn’t get mixed up. If everybody does it, we won’t be able to keep track of our stock.”

“Relax, Janet,” Penny told the young woman. “Henry found that one in another shop. He didn’t want to wait for our shipment. How was dinner at your mother’s?”

Janet looked confused and didn’t answer right away. “Oh, it was fine. I just got back.”

The Aldens looked at one another. They didn’t know whether to say anything. What if Janet had changed her plans and didn’t want to bother telling Penny? It wasn’t their business to keep track of where Janet ate dinner.

Penny checked her watch. “Gee, look at the time. The security people will be coming by to scold me. All the shops must be locked up by nine-thirty.”

Everyone heard a
putt-putt
sound getting closer. Hap Merchant drove a motorized cart right up to Penny’s shop. He flashed a spotlight into the store. “Closing time, Penny.”

“We’re just shutting down, Hap,” Penny said. “We were having a little gathering for Benny. His brother found a present to replace something he lost.”

When Benny heard this, he picked up his coconut monkey and shook it by the rope handle.

“What a racket!” Hap said. “Rules are rules. It’s closing time. You kids need to go home. I’ll come back and take you to the parking garage, Penny.”

Quietly now, Penny switched off all the lights to her shop. “No, thanks, Hap. I’m going to walk the children out and give them a ride home.” She pulled down the security gate. The last thing the Aldens heard was the click of the lock and Hap’s motor cart heading down the dark hallways of the mall.

Benny and his new coconut monkey were a big hit the next day. Several of Penny’s customers asked whether it was for sale. “No way,” he answered with a cheerful smile.

Benny’s monkey even came to the rescue when a little girl came in to have her picture taken for a pirate picture. Henry did everything he could to make the girl smile, but she wouldn’t put her face behind the pirate cutout.

“Come on, Katie, stay still and smile for the camera,” the little girl’s mother said.

But the little girl wouldn’t smile. In fact, every time she looked up at her mother, her lip trembled as if she were about to cry, not smile.

“Oh, dear,” the mother said. “We were going to get a pirate photo for her dad’s birthday.”

Henry made funny faces. He held up a teddy bear. But the little girl kept getting up and running to her mother.

Benny figured out just what to do. “Wait a minute, Henry. I’ve got an idea.” Benny placed a stool next to his brother. “I’ll stand next to you and hold up my monkey. I’ll make faces. That will make the little girl laugh.”

Sure enough, as soon as the little girl saw the monkey’s silly face and Benny’s identical silly face, she sat still and gave the two boys a big, dimpled smile. Click! A perfect picture.

Pretty soon, there was a line of customers who wanted pirate pictures, too. “With the monkey, okay?” some of them asked.

So Benny lent out his monkey. But he was very careful to keep an eye on it. One little boy’s dad offered Benny ten dollars for the monkey.