Midnight Mystery (6 page)

Jessie listened carefully to everyone’s opinions before she said anything. “Well, Mr. Percy’s not the only one visiting the grandfather clock at twelve. Martha’s the one who has been spending time there lately. You know what? I think she figured out that the riddle we found has something to do with the clock. She even had the riddle book in her pocket the other night.”

When the Aldens got close to the diner, Benny skipped ahead. He couldn’t wait to eat in a restaurant with a big red rooster on the roof.

The diner was busy with the lunch crowd. Fortunately with four pairs of sharp eyes, the Aldens were champions at finding empty tables. They made their way toward an empty booth in back. A waitress stopped by to hand them four huge menus. The Aldens were silent for a moment as they began to study the menu.

“It’s hard to decide what to get in a diner,” Violet said. “There’s so much to choose from.”

“You can have breakfast all day,” Henry added, “even at lunchtime. That’s what I like about diners.”

“I like that diners always have big, squishy eggsalad sandwiches,” Benny said. “I’ve already decided.” Benny switched off the light on his flashlight hat and closed his menu. He adjusted the hat’s side mirror to get a better view. It was fun watching people walk into the diner through the door behind him.

“Hey,” Benny said suddenly His brother and sisters didn’t pay him any mind. They were still reading their menus. “Guess who just came in. Martha, with a man in a suit. She doesn’t even see me! Let’s hide behind our menus.” Benny was thrilled to be an invisible spy in the busy diner. “Guess what,” he whispered. “She just sat down in the booth behind us.”

“Who?” Henry didn’t look up. He was still trying to decide between a turkey club and a grilled cheese sandwich. Maybe he’d have one of each.

Benny tapped Henry’s arm across the table. He mouthed the name
Martha.

Finally, the other Aldens realized what Benny was whispering about.

“Maybe we should say hello,” said Violet.

Benny looked disappointed. Then something in the mirror caught his eye. “Hey!” he whispered. “She’s taking out the riddle book!”

“Here’s the clue I told you about on the phone,” the Aldens could hear Martha saying to the man sitting across from her. “If you compare it to these samples I showed you before, I think it proves Isabel has something to hide.”

“What going on?” Henry asked Benny.

Benny adjusted the little mirror on his hat. “She’s showing that man two of those black books Isabel got out of the cabinet. Remember? Uh-oh. What if one of them is the missing plan book we tried to find? Gosh, Martha looks upset. I wonder who the man is.”

Martha’s voice grew louder. “I just know this isn’t Alice Putter’s design.”

Benny couldn’t see the man’s face in the little mirror, but he heard his words. “At first glance, it
is
convincing,” the man said. “I may not be able to get back to you until after the invention convention. I have a lot of work to do before then. I’m one of the judges.”

“Well, let’s skip lunch so you can return to your office right away,” Martha suggested. Benny saw Martha put the notebooks and the riddle book into an envelope. She pushed it across the table to the man.

The man took the envelope, then got up from his seat.

“Hey,” Benny whispered. “They’re leaving, and they didn’t even order anything.”

Henry laughed. “Don’t worry, we’re not leaving and we’re probably ordering everything. Here comes our waitress.”

The waitress passed the empty booth and came over to the Aldens. “Sorry I took so long,” she said. “We sure are busy today. I guess the couple behind you got tired of waiting. They just left without ordering anything!”

“We know them — I mean, the lady,” Benny said. “She wasn’t hungry, but we are. I’m having an egg salad sandwich.” Then he remembered his manners. “Please.”

The waitress wrote down everyone’s order and then left for the kitchen.

Henry frowned thoughtfully. “Doesn’t it seem as if Martha’s trying to prove somebody else thought up some of Alice Putter’s inventions?”

Violet couldn’t bear this thought. “Ms. Putter would be so upset! Martha must be wrong,” she protested. “All those bird clocks in our room, even the spinning scarecrow, all seem to come from the same artist. And so does Grandfather’s nightingale clock at home.”

Always sensible, Jessie tried to smooth out everyone’s worries. “Whoever that man is knows about inventions — and about Alice Putter. After all, he’s a judge at the invention convention. Everything will be okay.”

“But what kind of clue is the riddle book?” Violet asked. “I wish we had it back.”

Soon a tray of huge sandwiches appeared. The waitress’s head was hidden behind all the food. She set down the tray and handed each of the Aldens a plate with a tall sandwich on it. Each sandwich was held together with a ruffled toothpick so it wouldn’t topple.

Benny removed his toothpick and tried to take a bite of the eggsalad sandwich. It was too big. “I can’t figure out how to eat this,” he said. The food looked so good, his mouth had already started watering.

Jessie handed Benny a knife. “Here, scrape half the eggsalad onto your plate. Then I think you can manage the sandwich. We’ll have the restaurant wrap up the extra. You can save it for lunch tomorrow.”

“I’m eating my turkey and bacon club sandwich in one sitting,” Henry said. “No leftovers for me!”

But Henry was wrong. When lunch was over, the waitress handed the Aldens a large brown bag to bring home. “Here are your leftover sandwich halves,” the waitress said. “The cook put in some extra pickles. Oh, one other thing. Your friend left a business card in the booth. Do you want to give it to her?”

“Sure,” Benny said, taking the card. He handed Henry the leftovers bag to carry.

“Well, I guess my eyes
were
bigger than my stomach. I couldn’t eat another thing!” Henry said after he paid the bill. He pushed the door open to let the others out.

Benny walked out first, clutching the business card that Martha had left behind. “This was a good diner,” he said. “We got sandwiches
and
a clue.”

The Aldens strolled through town looking for places to put up the invention convention fliers. They soon found the town bulletin board and decided to post one of the fliers there.

Violet studied the business card that Benny had handed her. “What’s a patent lawyer, Henry?” she asked. “That’s what this business card says — ‘Robert Marshall, Patent Lawyer.’”

“A patent lawyer is an invention expert,” Henry answered. “They check if something was invented already so nobody can copy someone else’s invention.”

“That business card must have come from the man Martha was at the diner with,” Jessie said. “He sure sounded like an invention expert.”

Benny frowned. “I hope nobody else invented my flashlight hat. Maybe I should show it to Mr. Marshall so nobody copies it from me.”

Henry looked over Violet’s shoulder to read the card. “You know, we just passed the street where this lawyer’s office is. Maybe we could go ask him if he knows if there are any other flashlight hats out there.”

When the Aldens reached the building on the business card, they were surprised.

“Hmm,” Henry said as he pushed hard on the heavy oak office door. “I thought it would be a small, pokey office. This is pretty fancy.”

The woman at the front desk looked surprised to see four children standing there. She smiled at Benny’s hat, which was beaming right at her face. “May I help you?” she asked. “And might I ask you to turn off your hat, young man? Otherwise, I’ll have to put on my sunglasses.”

Benny whipped off his hat and kept it off. “Oops, sorry.”

“We’re here to see Robert Marshall,” Jessie said to the woman. “My brother has a question about an invention.”

The woman studied the Aldens’ hopeful faces. “Oh, dear. I’m afraid Mr. Marshall isn’t available today. He just returned from a lunch appointment. Now he has meetings with inventors all afternoon. This is a very busy week. The invention convention begins tomorrow.”

In her nicest voice, Jessie tried again. “Would we be able to come back later when Mr. Marshall doesn’t have an appointment? We have a special invention to show him.”

Behind his back, Benny crossed his fingers.

Now the woman looked disappointed as well. “I’m very sorry. Wait. Here’s a thought. Mr. Marshall will be a judge at the invention convention. Perhaps you can catch him there and show him your creation. He probably wouldn’t charge his usual fee if you just chatted with him.”

“Thank you,” Jessie said quietly. “We’ll look for him.” She hoped she didn’t look as let down as she felt. When she noticed some brochures on a table, she took one. “Maybe if we use our birthday money, we can afford a real appointment to show Mr. Marshall what we have.” A buzzer on a small intercom interrupted her.

“Excuse me,” the woman said. “I have to answer this. It’s Mr. Marshall.”

A man’s voice boomed out of the intercom. “Give Martha Carver a call, will you, Mrs. Page? She’s called me twice since I left her just a half hour ago. Tell her I’m busy all afternoon and I’ll get back to her. I can’t just drop everything to figure out riddles.”

Mrs. Page pressed the button and coughed several times. “I have several people out here, Mr. Marshall. I hope you don’t want me to say
all
that to Martha when I call her.”

“Not that last part, of course,” the voice boomed back.

“Anything else?” Mrs. Page asked.

Mr. Marshall boomed back. “Yes. Tell her I’ll need more evidence. Alice Putter’s actual plan book would help me a lot more than a book of riddles.”

“I’ll mention that when she calls again,” Mrs. Page said. “Oh, Brad Smithy left another message for you. He said be sure to pay special attention to his entry in the invention convention.”

“Brad Smithy!” Mr. Marshall yelled. “Every year he pesters me about his latest invention. He’s not even a client. Some days I think I should retire and raise chickens instead of dealing with these inventors.”

Mrs. Page laughed after she turned off the intercom. “Please excuse the interruption. Mr. Marshall gets a bit frazzled at invention convention time. I’m sorry we couldn’t help you.”

“We’re sorry, too,” Violet said. “But thank you.”

“So long,” Mrs. Page said.

“Mr. Marshall is pretty popular,” Henry said when the Aldens had left the lawyer’s office. “What do you suppose Brad’s special entry is?”

“The crate!” Benny said before the other children could gather their thoughts. “I bet he’s keeping his invention in there. That’s what he was nailing shut in the kitchen. He sure didn’t want us to see what was sticking out of the crate, either.”

“I wonder if his invention is the surprise we heard him mention on the phone,” Jessie said.

“Maybe,” Henry said. “Brad wouldn’t let me get near that crate. It could have been anything.”

Violet stopped in front of a barbershop to put up a flier. “Mr. Percy and Brad both tried to hide things from us that were in boxes. What I can’t figure out is if it has anything to do with the missing plan book.”

Henry frowned. “Martha’s the one I wonder about — more than the other two. She gave Mr. Marshall the riddle book. She clearly doesn’t trust Ms. Putter. Plus, we’ve seen her wandering near the grandfather clock a couple times now at noon and at midnight. The question is, why?”

When the Aldens returned to the Putter house, they saw three parked cars in the driveway. They checked the garage, but no one was there. From a porch window, they saw Martha in the library room pulling books from the bottom shelves.

“Hi, Martha,” Jessie called through the open window. “Need some help in there?”

Martha quickly stood up. “Wait, I’ll be out in a second.”

“Guess what.” Benny said when Martha came out to the   porch. “Your friend dropped his card at the Red Rooster. The waitress asked us to give it to you.”

Martha looked down at Benny, then at the other children. “The Red Rooster?” She looked a bit alarmed. “Were you there?”

Jessie stepped forward and handed Martha the business card. “We were sitting behind you. You left before we could say hello.”