The Homerun Mystery (5 page)

They walked inside and joined a tour group already in progress. The guide told them the story of Rip Van Winkle, the man who fell asleep for twenty years.

“Boy!” Benny commented. “I bet he was really hungry when he woke up!”

Everyone in the group laughed.

But the listeners were spellbound as the guide recited the tale of the little men Rip Van Winkle found bowling in the mountains and how Rip fell asleep for twenty years. When Rip went back home, nobody knew him and the town had changed.

After the story, the Aldens walked along a wooded trail that led them to the Hudson.

“The river is at its widest here,” Grandfather remarked. “It's magnificent, isn't it?”

The children enjoyed the awesome view of gray-blue water tipped with whitecaps and dotted with boats.

Then they climbed back up the trail to the car. It was such a nice day, Grandfather drove around until he found a deli with outdoor tables. The turkey salad and watermelon at the inn had been good, but they decided they needed a little something “to fill up the corners,” as Grandfather quipped.

They ordered baskets of fried onion rings and nachos to share, and sodas.

Jessie turned slightly to see the other diners: Someone had caught her eye. Two tables over, she saw a man who looked familiar. It took her a second to recognize Mike Percy, the Half Moons coach, without his blue baseball jersey on. Today he wore slacks and a green-striped shirt.

A dark-haired woman sat with him. She wore a purple dress and shoes. Even her purse was purple. Jessie guessed she liked that color a lot.

Grandfather noticed the couple, too. “Why, there's Beverly Percy. That must be her husband, Mike.”

“It is,” said Jessie. “I mean, that's the coach. Who's the lady?”

“Mrs. Percy is the town council member who started the movement to tear down the ballpark,” Grandfather replied.

Violet took a second glance at the woman. Mrs. Percy was pretty, with shiny dark hair and blue eyes. But she didn't smile. She seemed angry about something her husband was telling her.

Just then the Aldens' food came. Grandfather passed around the onion rings and divided the cheesy nachos on small plates.

Henry dipped an onion ring in spicy sauce. He was sitting with his back to the Percys but was closest to their table. When the wind blew just right, he could hear parts of their conversation.

“… got the council members right where I want them …” said a harsh female voice.

That has to be Mrs. Percy
, Henry thought.

“They vote the day after tomorrow,” said Mike Percy. “I hope you're right —”

“I'm always right,” Beverly Percy snapped. “Just keep looking for that …” The wind snatched away the rest of her sentence.

Henry strained to hear more, but a noisy party of six claimed the table between the Aldens and the Percys.

“They're leaving,” Violet said. “I think they're coming this way!”

Grandfather's chair scraped as he stood. “Hello, Mrs. Percy. How nice to see you here.”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Percy coolly. Her tone said she wasn't pleased to see him at all. “Are these your grandchildren?” She looked sharply at the Alden children.

“They are indeed,” said James Alden. “This is Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny.”

“Would you like an onion ring?” Benny offered.

“No, thanks.” Beverly Percy smiled, but it seemed fake, Violet thought.

“We've already met,” Mike Percy said quickly. “At the ballpark. Violet and Jessie are pinch-hitting —”

“We must go,” interrupted Mrs. Percy. She gave the Aldens a last once-over before leaving in a cloud of strong-smelling perfume.

Jessie thought she recognized the perfume. A saleswoman had once given her a sample in a department store. It was called Purple Passion, Jessie recalled. Even the woman's fragrance was purple!

When Grandfather left to pay the check, Jessie remarked, “Not very friendly, was she?”

“Not at all,” Henry agreed.

The next day Benny leaped out of bed. “Come on, Henry!” he told his older brother. “We don't want to be late!”

“I'm up,” Henry said. “I'll be ready in two minutes. We still have to eat breakfast.”

“Okay, but hurry!”

The previous day the Aldens had taken a walk around the outside of the old factory. Carl Soper had been there, pruning some bushes. He told them he tried to take care of the old place, even though nobody paid him. And he offered to show the children the inside the next day. They had eagerly agreed to come back.

Now, eager to get back to the factory, the children quickly ate their breakfast of carrot muffins, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and sausage patties. Grandfather left for a meeting, and they walked quickly to the old building. Carl and Emily Soper were waiting for them at the entrance.

Carl jingled a ring of keys. “Good morning,” he said. “Ever been inside an abandoned hat factory?”

“No, sir,” Violet replied. “We're very excited.”

“Well, there isn't much to see.” Carl fitted a key into the lock. “I still have keys because I'm the last long-term employee. And I clean up the outside every now and then.”

The door swung outward on creaking hinges. Even though it was daytime, the factory was dim inside. Violet wasn't so sure she wanted to take this tour now.

“It's okay,” Emily reassured her. “I've been in here a zillion times. Nothing will bother you.”

What about that ghost?
Jessie wanted to ask. Of course, she didn't believe in ghosts. But Danny Jenkins had said the factory was haunted. The Aldens had seen a mysterious light in the windows with their own eyes.

Carl led them into a large dusty room. Long worktables stood in rows, covered with more dust. Rectangular and square outlines marked the floor and tables.

“That's where the equipment used to be,” Carl explained. “When the factory closed, they sold all the machinery. This is the room where I worked.”

Benny sneezed from the dust. “What was your job?”

“I was a blocker,” Carl replied. “I took the hats that were just made and steamed them into shape. Turned up the brims, rounded the crowns, that sort of thing.”

“Gramps was a great blocker,” Emily said. “He was the best.”

Carl smiled sadly at Emily. “That was all a long time ago.” He moved down the hall to another room.

This room was much smaller and just as dusty. Benches were pulled up to a plain table. The walls were lined with small wooden doors.

“Our break room,” explained Carl. “This was where we stored our lunches and coats. We ate in here when it was too cold to go outside.”

He walked over to a long row of narrow wooden lockers against the wall and opened one. Each locker was labeled with heavy printed initials, faded to gray on stiff paper, slotted into a small frame near the top of its wooden door. Carl slowly ran his finger over the initials
C.S.
“My old locker,” he said.

Henry wandered around the room, trying to imagine what it was like working in this factory many years ago. Sunlight streamed in through the dirty, broken window. The men would have been sitting around the table with their bologna sandwiches and laughing at one another's jokes. It was a shame the place had been closed down.

“Tomorrow is our last game,” Emily told Jessie and Violet. Emily looked worried.

“I know,” said Violet. “We'll catch the Eagles cheating while they're playing.” At least, she hoped they would.

Benny was opening and closing locker doors, looking inside each one. Inside one locker was a pair of old, worn-out boots, in another a ragged work shirt hung on a hook. It seemed every locker had some scrap of paper or small reminder of the worker who had left it years ago.

“Hey, look at this,” Benny called.

Everyone ran over and crowded around Benny.

“What is it?” asked Emily.

“See?” Benny pointed to the pair of faint initials framed in brass at the top of a locker door.

H.S.

Carl drew in his breath. “This must have been the locker of Herman Soper, my uncle. Good work! I never really knew where it was.” He was delighted with Benny's find.

“Wow! But … your uncle worked here long before you did,” said Jessie. “And plenty of other workers passed through this factory after he left. You think his locker was never used again?”

“Maybe nobody wanted to use the locker of the ‘cheater,'” Carl said. He shook his head sadly.

“Maybe nobody used it but somebody sure cleaned it out, though,” said Benny.

Benny stood on tiptoe to peer into the shelf at the top of the locker. “No old magazines, no book of matches … and look.…”

“I see what you mean,” said Henry, peering into the locker. The locker's shelf was crooked and it had been knocked that way recently. The wood where the shelf had been attached to the locker was fresh and clean, unlike the dark wood of the rest of the locker.

“Are you suggesting Home Run Herman's locker has been searched?” Emily murmured. “You guys really
are
detectives. I bet you will find out the truth about Herman and about the Eagles' home run streak, too.”

Jessie glanced at Violet, Henry, and Benny. They couldn't let Emily and her grandfather down.

But this doubleheader mystery was far from being solved. And they only had two more days.

CHAPTER 6

The Ghost Returns

W
hen they finished touring the abandoned factory, the Alden children, Carl, and Emily walked back to the ballpark.

Right away, Violet noticed a white truck pulled up alongside the curb. Carl Soper saw the truck at the same time.

“Who are those guys?” asked Violet.

A man squinted through an instrument mounted on a tripod that looked something like a camera. Way across the field another man stood holding a pole.

“Surveyors,” said Carl. “The first man is looking through something called a level transit. The man with the pole is called a rodman. His rod has marks on it that the surveyor uses to measure the boundaries of a piece of property.”

“Why are they here?” Jessie wanted to know.

“Good question,” said Carl, his face grim. “The town council doesn't vote until tomorrow afternoon about tearing down the ballpark. Somebody hired this crew a little ahead of schedule, if you ask me.”

“Maybe
she
did.” Benny pointed toward the grandstand.

Sitting on the bottom bleacher was Beverly Percy. Today she wore a purple flowered top over purple slacks. She was smiling as she watched the men working.

“The nerve of that woman!” Carl stalked over to the grandstand. Emily and the Aldens followed.

Mrs. Percy watched their approach. “Hello, Carl,” she said. “How are you?”

“I was fine until I saw these surveyors,” Carl replied. “Did you hire them?”

She nodded. “I thought it was in the town's best interest to get the ball rolling. The sooner we get rid of this reminder of Pikesville's bad times, the sooner we can rebuild the town into a place people will want to visit and make their home.”

“Very pretty speech,” Carl said evenly. “I'm sure you've got all the council members convinced, but it doesn't wash with me. You have no right to have the ballpark surveyed until the council has voted.”

Mrs. Percy stood, as if dismissing Carl. “I understand why you are bitter, Carl. It was your relative who brought bad luck on Pikesville. Too bad you share his name. But Pikesville can wipe out those old memories. And it will.”

“But the council doesn't vote until tomorrow,” Henry said. “Why are you so sure everyone will vote to tear down the ballpark?”

Beverly Percy gave him and the other Aldens a sharp glance. “You children don't even live here. Why don't you mind your own business?”

“Their grandfather was asked to advise the council,” Carl reminded her. “As I recall, you're an outsider yourself. You and your husband only moved here six months ago.”

Mrs. Percy made a big show of checking her watch. “I really have better things to do than chitchat with you.” She left the grandstand in a huff.

“Pssst!
” came a voice.

Out of the corner of her eye, Violet caught a motion underneath the bleacher to the side. She looked down between the weathered boards.

It was Eric, the player who had quit the Eagles! But when he saw Mrs. Percy striding in front of the grandstand, he scrambled away before Violet could call out to him.

“That boy was here,” she told the others. “Under the seats.”

“What boy?” asked Jessie.

“Eric, the one I replaced on the team,” replied Violet. “See, there he goes. He's running away.”

Sure enough, the sandy-haired boy was sprinting out of the park.

“What was he doing under the bleachers?” asked Emily. “Why didn't he come sit with us?”