“Well, we didn’t exactly catch him,” Violet pointed out. “But who else would want to make Richard’s name bigger?”

  Jessie and Henry both nodded.

  “What about the Tinman?” Benny asked as he came out of the costume room. “Don’t you think it’s strange he never takes his costume off?”

  “Well, yes,” Jessie agreed reluctantly. “Still, I can’t believe he’d be responsible for ruining costumes and sets. He’s so serious about his acting.”

  “You could say the same about Sarah,” Henry reminded them.

  “Yes.” Jessie said slowly. “I’ve been wondering about Sarah ever since the play started. She’s so secretive.”

  “Don’t forget about that folder she didn’t want us to see,” Benny reminded his sister as he joined his family.

  “Yes,” Jessie nodded.

  “But all these pranks were directed against Sarah,” Violet pointed out. “It’s Sarah’s costume someone ruined, Sarah’s name that was crossed off the audition sheet …”

  “And Sarah’s props and script that were taken,” Jessie finished.

  Henry stood and stretched. “The question is, why wouldn’t someone want Sarah in the show?” he asked.

  “Well, Melody wouldn’t want her,” Benny noted.

  “No,” Jessie agreed. “She wouldn’t.”

  “And Richard wouldn’t want her in the play, either, because she takes too much attention away from him,” Violet pointed out.

  “That’s true,” Henry said, nodding.

  “I guess if we’re naming suspects, we can’t forget the woman outside in the fur coat,” said Violet.

  “Or the man in the big white car,” Benny remarked.

  “Yes,” Henry agreed. “I wonder why he didn’t want to go backstage to find Sarah himself. No one else would have taken his parking place. No other cars were even parked near his.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Violet said slowly. She suddenly stood up and looked around the large backstage area. “By the way, where is Soo Lee?”

  “I don’t know,” Benny said. “Soo Lee! Soo Lee, where are you?” he called loudly.

  “I’m in here,” answered Soo Lee from the costume room. “I think I found something.”

  The Aldens rushed to her side. “There’s a big trunk in this closet,” Soo Lee told them. “Look what’s inside!”

  “Soo Lee! You found a spare bulb,” Henry almost shouted. “I won’t have to reset the lights.” Henry gave his cousin a big hug. “All we have to do now is replace this light and we’re set for tomorrow.”

  “The show will go on,” said Benny happily.

  On the night of the performance, Jessie, Mrs. McGregor, and Benny arrived early. They needed plenty of time to change and put on their stage makeup.

  Soo Lee came into the auditorium with Henry and Violet. She was all dressed up to be an usher in a red velvet dress and black patent leather shoes.

  “I can’t thank you enough for finding that light, Soo Lee,” Jim said when he saw her.

  Soo Lee smiled.

  “Goodness, some people are here already,” Violet said softly, looking toward the door.

  “Oh, I better go seat them,” Soo Lee said as she took a stack of programs in her arms.

  “We’ll be backstage,” Henry called to Soo Lee.

  From his post by the lighting board, Henry could peek behind the thick red curtain and watch the audience. He was the first to notice Grandfather seated near the front row.

  Benny soon came to join Henry. Benny was all dressed up in his Munchkin outfit — pale blue pants and a matching jacket.

  “Look, you can see Grandfather,” Henry said as he stood near the curtain. Benny peeked out into the auditorium. He looked back at Henry in surprise. “The woman in the fur coat is sitting next to him.”

  “What?” Henry left his post by the lighting board to look for himself. Sure enough, Grandfather was helping the woman off with her coat. “They’re talking like they know each other,” Henry said, surprised. “I wonder who that woman could be?”

  While Henry stood behind the curtain talking to Benny, he heard some rustling noises behind him. A man wearing a tweed coat was opening the fuse box near the lighting board. He couldn’t see Henry or Benny as they were hidden from him by the curtain.

  “Hey!” Henry shouted to the man. “What are you doing?”

  The man whirled around holding one of the fuses. Henry recognized him. He was the man he’d seen in the big white car. Suddenly, Sarah appeared in the wings with Jessie, Violet, and Jim. She was all dressed in her costume. “Oh, Dad!” she sounded heartbroken. “It was you all along, wasn’t it?”

  Sarah’s father stared at the fuse in his hand and then at the shocked faces of Sarah, Henry, Benny, Jessie, Violet, and Jim.

  “Yes,” he muttered looking down at the floor. “I couldn’t let you be in this play,” he continued in a shaky voice. “I just couldn’t.”

  “Why not?” Benny blurted out.

  When the man looked up, he had tears in his eyes. “Sarah’s my only child,” he explained looking at his daughter. “Her mother was an actress. She died in the theater in a freak accident when Sarah was only a baby.”

  “I knew that, but I still wanted to act!” Sarah exclaimed. She had tears in her eyes, too.

  “Ten minutes to curtain time,” Nancy called to Henry from behind the backstage curtain. “I’ll be ready,” Henry called back.

  “You almost ruined our production so your daughter couldn’t be in the theater!” Jim exclaimed. He couldn’t believe it.

  Mr. Bellamy sighed. “Yes, I was very upset when I heard Sarah was even trying out for a part. I made that phone call during the auditions and wrote those notes. I used to go backstage after everyone had left for the evening. I stole Sarah’s script and tore Dorothy’s costume, too.”

  “How did you get in?”

  “I would usually be somewhere in the building before the janitors locked the auditorium.”

  Jim nodded grimly. “Someone could have been badly hurt when that light toppled over,” he said, scowling.

  “I know.” Mr. Bellamy looked ashamed. “I was so upset, I couldn’t think clearly. I can’t tell you how sorry I am for all the problems I caused you.”

  Jim nodded. “Well, I must confess, I am relieved to know the reason for all these disturbances,” he said slowly. “At first, I thought this play was jinxed, and no one would ever hire me as a director again.”

  “Oh, that’s why you always looked so worried, even at the very beginning, before the auditions began,” Violet said.

  Jim smiled and looked a little embarrassed.

  Sarah blinked her eyes furiously to keep the tears from running down her cheeks. She went over to her father and put an arm around him. “I really love being with you Dad, but I love acting, too. Please stay for the show. Just watch me. I love the theater so much,” Sarah said.

  Mr. Bellamy looked at his daughter. “I know you do. I must say I’ve been impressed with your determination to go on despite all I did to stop you.”

  “Five minutes to curtain time,” Nancy called from behind the curtain.

  Mr. Bellamy sighed. “Will you let me stay?” he asked Jim. “I wouldn’t blame you for saying no.”

  “You can stay,” Jim said gruffly. He motioned to one of the ushers to lead Mr. Bellamy to a good seat.

  “Time to raise the curtain,” Jim announced.

  “Let’s break our legs,” Benny said as he took his place in the wings beside the other Munchkins.

  CHAPTER 10

  Curtain Call

  “It’s going so much better than the dress rehearsal,” Jessie said to Henry as she raced by him between scenes.

  “I can tell,” Henry said as he brought one of the switches down to the off position.

  Nancy caught Jessie’s eye and put her finger to her lips. Although she tried to look stern, she couldn’t resist giving the Aldens a big smile. Jim had told her about catching M
r. Bellamy before the show, but she had had no time to thank the Aldens. Now she stood in the wings and quickly turned the pages of her script. As stage manager, she had to make sure everyone was on stage at the right time.

  When the curtain fell on the final scene, the audience clapped and cheered. Sarah and Harold each received a standing ovation. Indeed, the audience applauded so hard, Sarah and Harold came on stage three times to take their bows. The third time, Sarah received a huge bouquet of red and white roses.

  Sarah, Jessie, and Melody hugged one another in the dressing room. Soon the stage doors opened. Friends and relatives streamed backstage to congratulate the performers.

  Grandfather stopped into the dressing room with Joe, Alice, Mr. Bellamy, and the woman in the big coat.

  “You girls were wonderful,” Grandfather told Jessie, Sarah, and Melody. They all beamed at him.

  “Sarah, I’m so proud of you,” Mr. Bellamy said. He choked a little over his next words. “I was wrong to try to stop you. You’re really gifted, just like your mother.”

  “Oh, Dad, I’m so happy!” Sarah threw her arms around her father and hugged him for a very long time.

  “You’re going to be even happier.” Sarah’s father smiled at her as he stepped back to put his hand behind the woman in the big coat. “I’d like to introduce you to Marilyn Morris. She’s a theatrical agent from New York. She’d like you to be her client.”

  “I wrote to you,” Sarah said as she shook her agent’s hand. She looked dumbfounded. “I sent you my resume and a picture.”

  “So that’s what you had in that mysterious manila folder you wouldn’t let us see,” Jessie teased. Sarah nodded sheepishly.

  “I wrote to Ms. Morris also,” Harold said as he came by to offer his congratulations. “I told her she needed to come and discover you.” As he finished speaking, Harold lifted off his helmet.

  “You’re Andrew Tompkins, the Broadway actor! Harold’s not your name at all.” Sarah could not contain her excitement. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’re the man we saw in the pizzeria!” Benny blurted out. “Everyone recognized you except me.”

  “I had to take a vacation from Broadway for health reasons, but I wanted to do some acting,” Andrew explained. “I wanted to go somewhere I wouldn’t be recognized. Only Jim knew my secret, but some of you came close to guessing,” he added, smiling at the Aldens.

  “I think we should all go out to celebrate,” Grandfather suggested.

  “I agree,” Benny said.

  “I’ll never forget this evening as long as I live,” Sarah said, looking pleased and proud.

  “None of us will,” Jessie said.

  “Let’s eat,” Benny added, smiling happily.

  About the Author

  GERTRUDE CHANDLER WARNER discovered when she was teaching that many readers who like an exciting story could find no books that were both easy and fun to read. She decided to try to meet this need, and her first book, The Boxcar Children, quickly proved she had succeeded.

  Miss Warner drew on her own experiences to write the mystery. As a child she spent hours watching trains go by on the tracks opposite her family home. She often dreamed about what it would be like to set up housekeeping in a caboose or freight car — the situation the Alden children find themselves in.

  When Miss Warner received requests for more adventures involving Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden, she began additional stories. In each, she chose a special setting and introduced unusual or eccentric characters who liked the unpredictable.

  While the mystery element is central to each of Miss Warner’s books, she never thought of them as strictly juvenile mysteries. She liked to stress the Aldens’ independence and resourcefulness and their solid New England devotion to using up and making do. The Aldens go about most of their adventures with as little adult supervision as possible — something else that delights young readers.

  Miss Warner lived in Putnam, Connecticut, until her death in 1979. During her lifetime, she received hundreds of letters from boys and girls telling her how much they liked her books.

  The Boxcar Children Mysteries

  THE BOXCAR CHILDREN

  SURPRISE ISLAND

  THE YELLOW HOUSE MYSTERY

  MYSTERY RANCH

  MIKE’S MYSTERY

  BLUE BAY MYSTERY

  THE WOODSHED MYSTERY

  THE LIGHTHOUSE MYSTERY

  MOUNTAIN TOP MYSTERY

  SCHOOLHOUSE MYSTERY

  CABOOSE MYSTERY

  HOUSEBOAT MYSTERY

  SNOWBOUND MYSTERY

  TREE HOUSE MYSTERY

  BICYCLE MYSTERY

  MYSTERY IN THE SAND

  MYSTERY BEHIND THE WALL

  BUS STATION MYSTERY

  BENNY UNCOVERS A MYSTERY

  THE HAUNTED CABIN MYSTERY

  THE DESERTED LIBRARY MYSTERY

  THE ANIMAL SHELTER MYSTERY

  THE OLD MOTEL MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN PAINTING

  THE AMUSEMENT PARK MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MIXED-UP ZOO

  THE CAMP-OUT MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY GIRL

  THE MYSTERY CRUISE

  THE DISAPPEARING FRIEND MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SINGING GHOST

  MYSTERY IN THE SNOW

  THE PIZZA MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY HORSE

  THE MYSTERY AT THE DOG SHOW

  THE CASTLE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST VILLAGE

  THE MYSTERY ON THE ICE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE PURPLE POOL

  THE GHOST SHIP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN WASHINGTON, DC

  THE CANOE TRIP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HIDDEN BEACH

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING CAT

  THE MYSTERY AT SNOWFLAKE INN

  THE MYSTERY ON STAGE

  THE DINOSAUR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN MUSIC

  THE MYSTERY AT THE BALL PARK

  THE CHOCOLATE SUNDAE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HOT AIR BALLOON

  THE MYSTERY BOOKSTORE

  THE PILGRIM VILLAGE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STOLEN BOXCAR

  THE MYSTERY IN THE CAVE

  THE MYSTERY ON THE TRAIN

  THE MYSTERY AT THE FAIR

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST MINE

  THE GUIDE DOG MYSTERY

  THE HURRICANE MYSTERY

  THE PET SHOP MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SECRET MESSAGE

  THE FIREHOUSE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN SAN FRANCISCO

  THE NIAGARA FALLS MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY AT THE ALAMO

  THE OUTER SPACE MYSTERY

  THE SOCCER MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN THE OLD ATTIC

  THE GROWLING BEAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE LAKE MONSTER

  THE MYSTERY AT PEACOCK HALL

  THE WINDY CITY MYSTERY

  THE BLACK PEARL MYSTERY

  THE CEREAL BOX MYSTERY

  THE PANTHER MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE QUEEN’S JEWELS

  THE STOLEN SWORD MYSTERY

  THE BASKETBALL MYSTERY

  THE MOVIE STAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE PIRATE’S MAP

  THE GHOST TOWN MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE BLACK RAVEN

  THE MYSTERY IN THE MALL

  THE MYSTERY IN NEW YORK

  THE GYMNASTICS MYSTERY

  THE POISON FROG MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE EMPTY SAFE

  THE HOME RUN MYSTERY

  THE GREAT BICYCLE RACE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE WILD PONIES

  THE MYSTERY IN THE COMPUTER GAME

  THE MYSTERY AT THE CROOKED HOUSE

  THE HOCKEY MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MIDNIGHT DOG

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SCREECH OWL

  THE SUMMER CAMP MYSTERY

  THE COPYCAT MYSTERY

  THE HAUNTED CL
OCK TOWER MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE TIGER’S EYE

  THE DISAPPEARING STAIRCASE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY ON BLIZZARD MOUNTAIN

  THE MYSTERY OF THE SPIDER’S CLUE

  THE CANDY FACTORY MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE MUMMY’S CURSE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE STAR RUBY

  THE STUFFED BEAR MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF ALLIGATOR SWAMP

  THE MYSTERY AT SKELETON POINT

  THE TATTLETALE MYSTERY

  THE COMIC BOOK MYSTERY

  THE GREAT SHARK MYSTERY

  THE ICE CREAM MYSTERY

  THE MIDNIGHT MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY IN THE FORTUNE COOKIE

  THE BLACK WIDOW SPIDER MYSTERY

  THE RADIO MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE RUNAWAY GHOST

  THE FINDERS KEEPERS MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE HAUNTED BOXCAR

  THE CLUE IN THE CORN MAZE

  THE GHOST OF THE CHATTERING BONES

  THE SWORD OF THE SILVER KNIGHT

  THE GAME STORE MYSTERY

  THE MYSTERY OF THE ORPHAN TRAIN

  THE VANISHING PASSENGER

  THE GIANT YO-YO MYSTERY

  THE CREATURE IN OGOPOGO LAKE

  THE ROCK ’N’ ROLL MYSTERY

  THE SECRET OF THE MASK

  THE SEATTLE PUZZLE

  THE GHOST IN THE FIRST ROW

  THE BOX THAT WATCH FOUND

  A HORSE NAMED DRAGON

  THE GREAT DETECTIVE RACE

  THE GHOST AT THE DRIVE-IN MOVIE

  THE MYSTERY OF THE TRAVELING TOMATOES

  THE SPY GAME

  THE DOG-GONE MYSTERY

  THE VAMPIRE MYSTERY

  SUPERSTAR WATCH

  THE SPY IN THE BLEACHERS

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, 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.