The Mystery of the Black Raven (9 page)

Gil carefully continued to scrape. “Probably to keep it a secret. Maybe one of them found the nugget. Rather than split it four ways, they decided to leave it in one piece, like a trophy. So they had it carved and then covered so no one would know it was gold.”

Grandfather shook his head unbelievingly. “All these years, we’ve been passing a solid gold bird back and forth!”

“Yes,” said Earl Pittman in a greedy tone. “And now it’s your turn to have it, James Alden. What are you going to do with it?”

Miss Parker’s eyes flashed. “Are you implying that James is going to sell the raven now that he knows it’s gold? I think you should apologize, Mr. Pittman.”

“Well, I—” Mr. Pittman turned a deep shade of red.

Henry noticed Mark and Monique edging away.

“Come back, you two!” he called.

“We’re tired,” Monique whined. “We want to go upstairs to our rooms.”

“I think you’d better stay,” Henry told them. “We have some questions for you guys. Like who put the scrapbook on Grandfather’s seat on the train yesterday.”

“Do we have to listen to these kids?” Mark complained to his mother.

His mother crossed her arms. “This whole trip has been fishy. I’d like some answers myself.”

“Where is Howie?” Benny asked suddenly. He had figured out part of the mystery within a mystery.

The bellhop had been hanging around when they discovered the raven statue hidden in the totem pole. But now the young man had disappeared.

“I’ll find him,” said Steve. He went over to the hotel manager and told him the story.

Soon Steve came back with Howie, who had a guilty look on his face.

“He was hiding in the housekeepers’ closet,” Steve said with disgust. “Okay, kids. You’re the detectives here.”

But Gil stared at Howie and said, “Didn’t you apply for a job as a trail guide?”

“I didn’t get it,” Howie replied. “I didn’t want it, anyway. Too much work, hiking up and down that dumb old trail day after day, picking up trash, telling people they can’t touch the precious relics the old-timers dropped during the Gold Rush.”

Grandfather looked at Benny. “You think Howie stole the scrapbook and raven and hid them?”

“I think Howie did
some
of that stuff,” Benny answered. “But not all of it.”

James Alden turned to Howie. “I think my grandson is right. Why don’t you tell us your part in this matter.”

Howie heaved a sigh. “I’m from Skagway,” he began. “All my life I’ve heard about the Four Rock Miners and their annual reunion. I mean, everybody in town knows about it—”

Gil nodded. “He’s right. The reunion has been written up in the newspaper several times. Go on.”

Howie continued, “I’m not crazy about Alaska. I want to go someplace warmer, like California.”

“What’s stopping you?” asked Violet.

“Money,” Howie said simply. “I don’t make enough to go to California.”

The hotel manager, who’d been listening, remarked, “And you never will, with your attitude. Howie, you don’t
want
to work. You’re the laziest bellhop I’ve ever had work for me.” He added to the others, “The manager before me hired Howie. I’ve gone over his references, and none of those people even exist!”

“So I faked my references.” Howie shrugged. “Would you hire me if you found out I was fired from my last jobs?”

“You’re a bright young man,” said Grandfather. “Why cheat and lie and ruin your chances?”

Howie’s shoulders drooped. “People like me don’t get chances. I needed a break and I found one when you people came.”

When the reunion party arrived, he explained, he eavesdropped and learned they were going to the Golden North for dinner. From an old newspaper article, he knew the famous old hotel was where the reunion members passed on the scrapbook and raven statue. Howie knew those items were special, but he didn’t know
why.
When he saw James Alden come back with the bundles under his arm, he decided to steal them.

“I took a hotel passkey,” Howie said, “and used it to get into Mr. Alden’s room.”

“But Grandfather was
in
there,” Henry stated. “He would have seen you!”

Howie grinned. “I’m good at listening. I could hear water running and figured Mr. Alden was in the bathroom. I hoped he’d have the door closed. He did. I slipped into the room and took the scrapbook and raven off the dresser where he left them and was out in five seconds.”

“Was this after you took Steve and Jennifer to their room?” Benny asked.

Howie looked surprised. “Yes, it was. How did you know that?”

“I heard you talking,” said Benny. “
I’m
good at listening, too. What did you do next?”

“I had to move fast,” said Howie. “The night clerk was away from his desk, but I didn’t know for how long. I couldn’t chance leaving my post and going outside to put the raven and scrapbook in my car.”

“So you hid them in the lobby?” guessed Miss Parker. “Wasn’t that risky?”

“I already knew about the totem pole hiding place,” Howie said. “The guy who had this job before me told me about it. I hid the raven in there. But the night guy came back before I could put the scrapbook in, too. So I shut the totem pole panel and stuffed the book in a potted plant.”

Grandfather looked disappointed. “You broke into my room and stole things without knowing their value? What did you think you’d get out of that?”

“I want to
be
somebody,” Howie said. “I can’t do it in this nowhere town.”

“You can be somebody anywhere,” Miss Parker told him. “But not by lying and stealing. Tell us the rest of your story.”

“Well, the night clerk came back and I couldn’t get the scrapbook out of the plant, so I left it there overnight.” Howie shook his head. “When I came on duty the next morning, it was gone! Somebody had taken it!”

At this point, Monique giggled. Mark wore a silly grin on his face.

“Gotcha!” Mark said to Howie.

“You
took the scrapbook?” Howie said.

Jessie said, “I knew you two were involved somehow.” She whirled on Monique. “You had the scrapbook in your pack the day of the train ride. You got off the train last so no one would see you put the scrapbook on Grandfather’s seat.”

“Monique, is this true?” Edie Pittman demanded.

“It was just a joke,” Monique said. But she looked ashamed. “Maybe it wasn’t that funny,” she said to Mark.

“Mark also wrote a note telling us to go home,” Violet accused. “I recognized his handwriting.”

Now Mr. Pittman spoke to his son. “You wrote the Alden kids a nasty note? What is the matter with you?”

“Like we said, it was just a joke,” Mark said defensively. “Monique and I were bored. We wanted to have some fun.”

“What else did you do?” their mother asked.

Benny knew the answer to that one. “They wrapped up a rock and put it in Miss Parker’s pack so she would think she found the raven statue.”

Mrs. Pittman looked at her husband. “I think we need to speak to our children.”

For once Mr. Pittman wasn’t talking loud or complaining. “I don’t suppose I’ve set a very good example for them.”

Miss Parker put her hand on Mrs. Pittman’s arm. “Don’t worry. It’s never too late. You have a lovely family. Don’t forget it.”

Jessie remembered how Monique had given Benny the gold she had panned. Maybe the Pittman kids weren’t totally hopeless after all.

She was glad Mark and Monique’s part in the “mystery within a mystery” had come to light. But other pieces of the mystery were still in the dark.

“You were listening at our door the night Miss Parker came to us with her letter,” Jessie said to Howie.

Howie didn’t deny it. “I saw Miss Parker go into Jessie and Violet’s room. Then the Wilsons rang for extra ice. The night clerk came upstairs to tell me. I fetched the ice, then went back to the Aldens’ door. I heard Miss Parker say something about a letter and ‘change his luck.’ When she left, I hid behind the drapes.”

Violet nodded. “I saw the Wilsons’ door close. But I was sure I heard someone outside our door, too.”

“You stole the letter as well?” Grandfather asked the bellhop.

“From Miss Parker’s bag,” Howie said. Now he really sounded regretful. “When you were all in the lobby. Now I knew the Four Rock Miners’ things would change my luck. But I didn’t have the scrapbook!”

“It turned out the scrapbook wasn’t the thing that would change your luck,” said Henry. “But it
did
have a clue.”

“The photo that fell out,” Jessie put in. “You picked it up for me and read what was on the back, didn’t you?”

Howie nodded. “The raven was probably the luckiest of the two things, but I still didn’t know
how
lucky. It was just an old soapstone carving. I planned to leave it in the totem pole till you guys went home.”

By now Gil had cleaned off a large section. The feet and lower body were a beautiful golden yellow. “Looks like the Four Rock Miners had the last laugh on everyone.”

The hotel manager took Howie away while he called the police. The glance Howie threw over his shoulder at them showed he was sorry.

“Howie’s going to be somebody, all right,” said Steve.

Mr. Pittman held the raven. “Looks like we have a decision to make. Do we sell the statue?”

Jennifer and Steve glanced at each other. “We could sure use the money, just starting out,” Jennifer said. “But it’s such a romantic, fascinating story. If we sell it, we wouldn’t be doing what the Four Rock Miners would have wanted.”

“Those people are long dead,” dismissed Earl Pittman. “This is quite a chunk of gold. Imagine the money it’ll bring!”

“I’m far from rich, but I have everything I need,” Miss Parker admitted. “What has changed, except we now have a gold statue?”

Grandfather cleared his throat. “Very well put, Miss Parker. I suggest we leave the items to one of the museums here. As Jennifer said, it’s a romantic and fascinating story. Let’s share it with the world.”

Mr. Pittman sighed. “Okay.”

The next day, a newspaper reporter came over and took their pictures. The Alden children were interviewed about the mystery and the grown-ups talked about the reunions.

A man from a museum came to claim the gold raven and scrapbook. He assured them the raven would be cleaned and the Four Rock Miners display would be a popular attraction.

“There’ll be a plaque by the display,” he said. “With all your names on it.”

“Even mine?” asked Benny.

The museum director smiled. “Even yours.”

Benny twirled around the totem pole. “Yippee! Now we’re
all
somebody!”

“We always have been,” said Grandfather. “Sometimes we just don’t realize it.”

“It’s been a great trip,” said Jessie. “But we’d better go pack.”

They had a long journey home, but she was sure another mystery would be waiting for them!

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Illustrations by Charles Tang

Copyright © 1996 by Albert Whitman & Company

Published by Albert Whitman & Company

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Distributed by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

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FROM ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY
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