When she was gone, Clayton peeked under the bun. “Not even a pickle,” he said, pushing the burger away. “One little wrinkled vegetable, is that too much to ask?”
“A cucumber is a fruit.” Henry laughed.
“I’d accept that,” Clayton said. “Anything is better than deep fried onions and goopy cheese.”
“Sounds yummy to me,” Benny said, picking up his burger again.
“You can take Ms. Taylor off the suspect list,” Violet told Jessie.
While Jessie crossed off her name, Benny took a big bite of burger. He slowly chewed and swallowed. Then he set the rest of the burger down on the plate. “I’ve eaten a million hamburgers and I’ve never had one like this,” he said. Benny wrinkled his nose. “Clayton’s right. This hamburger tastes unhealthy! Clayton shouldn’t use Ms. Taylor’s snowboard or wear her hat. I wouldn’t advertise for her either.” He looked at his belly and said, “I’ll find you something yummy and good for you later. Sorry, tummy.”
The Aldens left the restaurant without finishing their meal.
“That only leaves Mercedes’s name on the suspect list,” Henry said. “I really hope she didn’t do it.”
“We still have another suspect—the yeti.” Benny was frustrated that he had to keep reminding everyone. “It’s still possible he’s the thief.”
“We’ll check him out next,” Jessie assured Benny.
The Aldens were on their way back to the hotel when the hotel manager came running up to them. “Have you seen Mercedes?” she asked, out of breath.
“We were heading to her room to talk to her now,” Henry said. “Why?”
“Because I just went to deliver a package that came for her.” She held up a big brown envelope. “Her coach was in the room with her mom and they were very upset.”
“What’s going on?” Jessie asked. “Do you know?”
“I heard them talking.” Martha lowered the envelope and said, “Mercedes ran away.”
CHAPTER 9
The Snowboard Thief
By morning, there was still no sign of Mercedes, but the officials for the snowboarding competition declared that the half-pipe was to go on as planned.
Hyun, Patricia, and Jasper looked frustrated and concerned as they climbed onto the chairlift up the mountain.
Clayton didn’t even get dressed for the race. “Strange,” Clayton said as he stood with the Aldens in the viewing area. “There are four slots for the training camp, and now only three competitors.” He looked over his shoulder at the scoreboard, where the ranks were posted. “Mercedes will still beat me, even if she doesn’t snowboard today. Her rank is higher.” He sighed then said, “Wherever she is, I hope she’s all right.”
Benny had convinced Jessie to get him a cup of hot chocolate before coming to watch the three competitors. He took a sip and said, “The half-pipe is the most exciting event. It’s when the riders get to show off their best tricks.” He took another long drink of cocoa. “I just don’t feel like watching today.”
Watch groaned and hung his head low as if to agree.
Violet took out a piece of paper and drew a quick sketch of the slope. Light snow was falling, so she etched in the flakes with light touches of her pencil. “The day is bright, but it feels so gray,” she said.
Everyone was feeling bad about Clayton’s board and wondering where Mercedes had gone.
Hyun was the first boarder down the mountain. The mood lifted just a little as he slid from side to side in the large half-pipe for the competition. He grabbed the front of his board and ended with a double flip.
Benny stood up to cheer. He forgot about his hot chocolate and spilled it over the edge of the viewing benches. “Oh no,” he groaned. “Not again!”
Jessie stared down as the brown liquid heated and melted the snow, just like the first time, leaving a tree root showing and a puddle of melted water.
Benny stumbled forward and dropped his hat into the puddle. The water made his ski cap wet.
“Melted snow,” she said out loud as she scooped up Benny’s dripping hat.
“A puddle of water.” Henry was standing next to her. He looked at the ground and repeated, “Melted water!”
“Of course!” Violet put down her art. “We have to go.”
“I think we all know who the thief is,” Henry said.
“And here is the final clue.” Benny shook his wet hat.
Up on the slope, Patricia’s name was announced as the next one to do tricks in the half-pipe.
“Hurry,” Benny told Clayton and pointed to the hotel. “Meet us at the chairlift when you’re ready. We’re going to find your snowboard.”
“You solved the mystery?” Clayton didn’t move. He wrinkled his eyebrows. “Just now?”
“No guarantee,” Henry told him. “But we think we know who took it. There might not be enough time to get the board and come back before your turn, but we’re going to try.”
Jessie took Watch’s leash and the two of them jumped from the benches.
“You should get ready,” Violet told Clayton. “We’ll see you soon.”
The Aldens rushed to the hotel and went directly to Mercedes’s room. Henry knocked.
Her mother, Mrs. Moon, opened the door. Her long brown hair was a tangled mess and her eyes were red from staying up all night worrying. “Have you seen Mercedes?” she asked.
“No,” Jessie said. “We’re looking for Coach McNaught.”
“I heard you were young detectives,” Mercedes’s mother said. “Can you help find her? Tell her she never has to snowboard again if she doesn’t want to. I just want her to come home.”
Hearing that, Coach McNaught came out of the adjoining hotel room. “What? Never snowboard again?” He stomped into the room toward Mrs. Moon with an angry expression on his face. “What are you talking about? Of course she must snowboard. She has no choice. She will be an international champion!”
“Hi.” Benny waved at the coach and calmly asked, “Can we please have Clayton’s snowboard? We’re in a hurry.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The coach stared at Benny.
“You see,” Benny explained, “if Clayton can do his new trick in the half-pipe, he’ll name it after me. So we need Yellow Bessie back now.”
“I don’t have Clayton Hollow’s snowboard,” the coach said, putting his hands on his hips and standing tall. Benny moved away. Coach McNaught was a really big man.
“The clues brought us here,” Jessie said, opening her notebook. “You weren’t at the scoreboard after the first race, so you could have easily taken it.”
“We saw a large figure that looked like a yeti on the mountain near where Patricia crashed,” Henry continued. “The snow had been melted around a root that made her fall.”
Jessie picked up the story. “You gave Mercedes the wet Burger Bonanza hat, which she threw at you. She doesn’t want to wear their clothes or sponsor that restaurant.”
“The hat was wet because you dropped it when you melted the snow.” Benny held up his own soggy ski cap. “You used hot water you got at the Coffee Hut in a brand-new thermos.”
“After you made the dangerous tree root pop out of the snow, you rushed to Mr. Fellows’s cabin and accidentally dropped the thermos when you snowboarded away from there.” Henry explained how they’d seen the snowboard tracks, and how Mr. Fellows said he didn’t know how to snowboard. “You are a snowboarding champion. That’s how you got down the mountain so fast.”
“There was only one set of footprints,” Benny said with a pout, “because you are the yeti.” He leaned toward Henry and said, “It was a disguise. I bet he even has a furry coat. He wanted to trick us so we wouldn’t think he was a suspect.” He stared at the coach’s giant yeti-like feet. “No yeti.” Benny huffed, “I knew it all along.”
“One more thing,” Jessie added. “You started a fight in the hotel lobby with Mr. Fellows so that everyone would think he was a bad guy and blame him for everything. No on
e would even think you might be the thief.”
“Is it true?” Mrs. Moon turned to the coach. “Did you do all this?”
Coach McNaught snarled at the Aldens. “My reputation is at stake. I’ve been training Mercedes for years. If she doesn’t make the elite snowboard training camp, I will be laughed at. I will never get another job! She must win a spot.”
Mercedes’s mother put her hands over her face. “I have such a headache. I’ve been terrible to my daughter.” She began to cry. “She asked to quit. I wouldn’t let her. She wanted a break. I said no. I told her she had to win.” The woman looked up at the coach and pushed her hair off her face. “I’ve made a big mistake.” She glared at the coach. “If you have the snowboard, you better give it to them right away.”
Coach McNaught sighed and went to his own room. Jessie heard a closet open and when he returned, he was carrying Bessie. Henry took it from the coach.
“You’re fired,” Mercedes’s mother said.
“We need to run,” Jessie told them both. “We’ll talk to the sheriff after the race. Clayton deserves a chance to compete today.”
“When we get back,” Henry said, “we can help find Mercedes.” Then suddenly, he had an idea. The envelope the hotel manager had delivered for Mercedes was sitting on the table. “Maybe there’s a clue inside,” Henry said. “Can we open it?”
Mrs. Moon agreed and Jessie carefully slid a letter out of the envelope. “It’s an invitation to a prestigious writing program in Montana,” Jessie said. “Did you know Mercedes wants to be a writer?” she asked Mrs. Moon.
“I did,” she said. “But Coach McNaught told me that she was being ridiculous. Once she got a spot at the training camp, she’d realize that writing wasn’t her real dream, going to the International Games would be her dream.” She shook her head. “I agreed that she should continue to snowboard.”
Violet opened her sketch pad. She’d stuck Mr. Fellows’s protest flyer inside the cover. “I think this might be the answer,” she said, tapping the page with her finger. Henry turned the page over.
“She threw this flyer at you, Coach,” Henry said. “And shouted that she’d win, no matter what.”
“We thought she meant she’d win at the snowboarding competition,” Benny said. “But it wasn’t that at all.”
“She wanted to win the writing contest!” Violet declared.
Jessie put everything together. “We know where Mercedes is,” she said. “She’s with Mr. Fellows at the Coffee Hut.”
“I’ll go right away,” Mrs. Moon told them. “I have to apologize to her.”
“We better get Yellow Bessie to the slope,” Henry said. “Clayton is going to be very happy.”
“This mystery is solved,” Violet said. “Case of the missing snowboard—closed.”
“And missing Mercedes,” Benny added. “We closed that case too.”
“Good work,” Henry told his siblings.
Then, tucking Bessie under his arm, Henry led the way out the hotel to the bottom of the chairlift where Clayton was waiting.
CHAPTER 10
The Amazing Aldens
Clayton’s eyes lit up when he saw the Aldens headed his way. “Bessie!” he shouted.
“Tighten your helmet,” Henry said. “We want to see some tricks.”
“The Benny!” Benny said. “You promised.”
“I think,” Clayton said with a huge smile, “I’ll call my new move the Amazing Aldens.”
“That’s even better!” Benny gave Clayton a high-five.
“I want to hear how you solved the mystery,” Clayton said as he moved toward the chairlift.
“We’ll tell you everything later,” Jessie called out. “Good luck.”
As the chairlift moved toward the top of the mountain, a cheer erupted from the viewing area. Jasper had just finished his turn in the half-pipe.
The announcer said he would be the last snowboarder for the day.
“No!” Benny shouted. “There’s one more.” He jumped up and down, pointing at the chairlift.
“Oh no. We’re too late—” Violet began when suddenly a new announcement came over the loudspeakers.
“Clayton Hollow appears to be on his way up the slope.” The speakers went quiet for a moment. “We’ve checked the rules and because he wasn’t here at the start of the event, he’s not allowed to compete.”
A roar came from the viewing stands. The audience began to chant, “Let him board!”
“Let him board!” Benny recited with them.
The speakers went silent again before the announcer came back on once more. “It seems there is a new development. Mercedes Moon, even without doing today’s half-pipe, would have still taken a spot at the training camp. But—”
It sounded like there was a scuffle in the announcing booth, then Mercedes’s voice came over the speakers. “I am no longer a snowboarder. I’m giving up my board and going to a writing program in Montana. Clayton can have my spot at camp.” At first the shocked crowd was quiet. Then when they realized Mercedes was very happy with her choice, they cheered.
A man shouted, “We want to see his new trick!”
“Yes!” Jessie and Violet cheered louder than anyone in all of Hidden Hills. Henry clapped until his hands hurt. Watch barked. And Benny punched the air, shouting “Yay!”
In an excited voice, Mercedes Moon announced, “So here he is, my close friend, Clayton Hollow, riding on Yellow Bessie. Watch out for the Awesome Aldens!”
Clayton appeared on the edge of the half-pipe. He pushed himself over the edge and did some slow moves to start. He sprang off the tail of the board then rotated backward and grabbed the board with both hands. He performed a fantastic spin.
Jasper came to stand next to Henry and identified a few other moves: Swiss Cheese Air, Chicken Salad, and Roast Beef.
“I love snowboarding!” Benny shouted, rubbing his tummy. “It’s delicious.”
The crowd went silent as Clayton stood for a moment at the edge of the long drop into the pipe.
As he picked up speed, he raised one foot off the board. Tucking his free leg under himself, Clayton bent low into a cannonball, then flipped the board over twice. He grabbed the edge of the board with both hands, got his foot back into the binding, and triple flipped before making a perfect landing.
He slid down the mountain and stopped right in front of the Aldens.
“Did you like it?” He was breathing heavily and his face was flushed.
“It was great!” Henry said.
“Perfect,” Violet agreed.
“Fantastic,” Jessie put in.
“How’d you do that?” Benny asked while the crowd went crazy, shouting and stomping.
Clayton laughed. He gave Benny a big hug and winked. “It’s a mystery.”
* * *
Grandfather met the children at the hotel. The car was packed and ready for the return trip to Greenfield.
The hotel manager came out to thank Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. “Coach McNaught was arrested for stealing the board. You were right about Mercedes too. She was in the Coffee Hut showing Mr. Fellows her essay.”
Mercedes, her mom, and Mr. Fellows came out of the hotel just then.
“I didn’t want to come back to the hotel,” Mercedes explained. “I was afraid you’d make me snowboard. I told Mr. Fellows you said it was okay if I worked on the essay all night.”
“We’re sorry everyone was worried,” Mr. Fellows said. “I didn’t know everyone thought she was missing.”
“I’m so grateful to have my daughter back safely,” said Mrs. Moon. “I’ll never make Mercedes follow someone else’s dream. I’ve learned an important lesson this weekend.” She put a hand on Mercedes’s shoulder. “When we get home, you’ll be in trouble for staying out all night.”
Mercedes frowned.
“But,” her mom continued, “from now on, we are going to be honest with each other about everything. That way, we can make important decisions together.”
>
“Yes,” Mercedes agreed. “It’s best to be honest.”
They all moved aside as Clayton came through the group. “Come back any time,” he told the Aldens. “The training camp is going to be held here after all.”
“It is?” Jessie looked at Mr. Fellows.
“I made a deal with Ms. Taylor,” Mr. Fellows explained. “One sports program will come at a time, so there aren’t too many people at once. There will be an orientation class on protecting the environment and how to use recycling bins.” He put an arm around Clayton. “And she promised a new menu for her snowboarders. The Burger Bonanza will now be the Healthy Habit, serving organic meat and using locally grown fruits and vegetables.” Mr. Fellows shrugged. “I know it won’t be perfect at first. It takes time for people to adjust to clean living, but Hidden Hills is going to be a model community.”
“I’m writing my first article for Mr. Fellows’s magazine on ways the town can reuse the old mining cabins,” Mercedes said. “He’s paying me. I’ll be a real reporter!”
“Everything worked out, then.” Henry was very glad. “We’ll make a plan to come back as soon as we can,” he told Clayton.
“It didn’t all work out,” Benny grumped. “There was no yeti.”
“I made this for you.” Violet gave Benny a drawing she’d created of a yeti standing on the mountain.
“It’s good,” he said. “Thanks, Violet. I just wish we’d found a real yeti.”
“There might not be a yeti, Benny,” Mr. Fellows said, “but there is an old silver miner’s ghost in one of the cabins on the mountain. Come back to visit and I’ll introduce you.”
Benny got very excited. “Let’s stay!” He looked at Grandfather. “Can we? Just one night?”
Grandfather put his hand on Benny’s head. “We’ve all had enough excitement in Hidden Hills,” he said. “It’s time to go home.”
Benny climbed into the backseat of Grandfather’s car and rolled down the window. His warm breath was visible in the frozen air. “We’ll be back,” he shouted to everyone at the hotel as the car pulled away. “Tell the ghost that I can’t wait to meet him!”