“Where do you think he might be?” asked Jill, biting her thumbnail. She quit chewing her nails a while ago, but sometimes when she’s nervous the habit comes back.
“He could be anywhere,” Maggie answered. She was lying across Sunny’s bed, hugging a stuffed crocodile (Sunny’s childhood companion — his name is Captain) to her chest.
“She’s right,” said Sunny. She sat on the floor, toying with her hair. “After all, once he took off that clown mask, he’d look like anybody else.”
“I — I think we should try to find him,” I said suddenly, surprising everybody, including myself.
“What?” asked Sunny.
“I said we should find him,” I repeated, more sure of myself this time. “I mean, I know what I’m doing when it comes to detective work. If we caught him, it wouldn’t be the first time I helped to solve a crime.”
“Aren’t you scared, though?” asked Jill, looking at me with big eyes.
“Sure,” I said, shrugging. “I’d be dumb not to be. The guy does have a gun. But I know how to be careful. And anyway, wouldn’t it be great if we really did catch him?” I leaned forward. “Just think! The kids could go trick-or-treating after all, and they wouldn’t have to spend the rest of their lives remembering the time some crook ruined their Halloween.”
Maggie was nodding fast. “You’re right, Dawn,” she said. “You’re absolutely right!”
“I agree,” said Sunny. Her eyes were sparkling. “After all, how hard can it be? You saw the guy. There are plenty of clues, right?”
“Whoa, whoa,” said Jill. “Hold on. I want to know one thing before we jump into this. What do we do if we catch him? Make a citizen’s arrest or something? I mean, he has a gun.”
I didn’t even have to stop to think. “Here’s what we do,” I said. “If we find out where the guy is, we immediately call the cops and let them take care of it. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Jill, after a second’s hesitation. “What do we do first?”
“Let me think about it,” I said. “I’ll figure out a plan.”
“Don’t take too long!” said Sunny. “We don’t have much time if we want to save Halloween for the kids.”
“I have another idea about that,” said Maggie. “I’ve been thinking. What if we don’t catch him? Shouldn’t we do something else to make sure the kids have some fun on Halloween?”
“Great idea,” I said. “What should we do?”
“Well, I was thinking we could throw a party for them,” said Maggie. “At the elementary school. That way they can still wear their costumes, and we can give out prizes for the best ones. Plus we can have treats, and games —”
“Bobbing for apples!” cried Sunny. “I love it. Let’s definitely plan it. My mom knows the woman who’s president of the PTO. I bet she’d be happy for us to put together a party. The PTO would probably even help us fund it.”
Jill grabbed a notebook from Sunny’s desk. “Okay, what kinds of things should we do at the party?”
We all started talking at once. Planning the party was much more fun than sitting around worrying about a robber with a gun. I was still determined to find a way to catch the guy who had robbed Speedy Jack’s, but until we could start working on that, the party was a great distraction.
“Maybe Ellie’s Variety will donate some decorations,” I said. “They have great stuff there.”
Jill made a note.
“And how about if we set up a haunted house in one corner of the gym?” Sunny asked. “You know, where you blindfold the kids and make them feel different things — like peeled grapes, for eyeballs?”
“And cooked spaghetti, for brains!” Jill added.
“We can make a tape of spooky noises,” I said. “Jeff would love to help with that. He does a great ghostly wail.”
“Ghosts!” said Sunny. “We can read ghost stories in another corner.” Her eyes were gleaming. Sunny loves ghost stories as much as I do.
“As long as they’re not those really, really scary ones you guys are always reading,” said Jill, who was scribbling fast, trying to take down all our ideas.
“I have a collection of tamer ones,” Sunny assured her. “The ones I used to read back in fourth and fifth grade. They’ll be perfect.”
“How about some other game?” asked Maggie. “Like maybe pin-the-broom-on-the-witch?” Everybody nodded, and Jill made some more notes.
“We have to have food, too,” said Sunny. “Let’s check our recipe files and figure out what to make.”
The party was already beginning to take shape. I could have talked about it with my friends all afternoon, but I had to leave if I was going to be on time for my sitting job with Erick and Ryan DeWitt. As I headed out of Sunny’s room, I head Jill say, “Toasted pumpkin seeds. Perfect!” I knew the party was going to be great.
* * *
At the DeWitts’ house, I found Erick and Ryan playing kickball in the yard with a little boy I’d never met. Just as I walked up the driveway, Erick tackled Ryan, wrestled the ball away from him, and ran past me toward the house. “Touchdown!” Erick cried, as he leaped over the front walk.
“Hey!” said Ryan, picking himself up and brushing himself off. “Since when are we playing football?”
“Since about ten seconds ago,” said Erick, grinning. “That makes the score eighteen to two. You and Timmy get the ball now.”
Erick’s eight, and Ryan is six. Timmy seemed to be about Erick’s age, although he was smaller. “Hey, guys!” I said. “How about taking a break and introducing me to your friend?”
“Hi, Dawn,” said Ryan. “This is Timmy. He lives across the street.”
“He just moved in,” added Erick. “He’s in my class at school, too.”
I nodded. “Well, it’s nice to meet you, Timmy,” I said. “I’m Erick and Ryan’s baby-sitter. My name’s Dawn.”
Timmy smiled shyly. He had nice brown eyes, with a shock of straight dark hair hanging into them. Despite the smile, I noticed a certain sadness in his face.
“What are you going to be for Halloween, Timmy?” I asked.
“Don’t know,” he mumbled.
“There isn’t going to be any Halloween,” Erick said, frowning. “Didn’t you hear?”
“Oh, I heard,” I said. “But maybe things will work out so you can still have fun that night.” I wasn’t ready to spill the beans about the party, but I couldn’t resist hinting. Erick gave me a curious look, and opened his mouth to ask a question.
Just then, Mrs. DeWitt — I mean, Cynthia — appeared at the door. “Dawn, would you come inside for a sec?” she asked. “I want to ask you a favor.”
“Be right back,” I told the boys. Inside, Cynthia was standing in front of the hall mirror, putting on a pair of gold, shell-shaped earrings that matched a bracelet on her right wrist. Cynthia always looks great. She’s an actress who appears mainly in commercials, and usually when we sit for her it’s because she’s headed for an audition or a taping.
“I see you met Timmy,” she said to me. We both glanced out of the window at the boys playing outside.
“He seems nice,” I said. “Shy, though.”
Cynthia nodded. “He’s going through a tough time right now. His parents are separated, and he’s living with his dad across the street. They don’t have much money. In fact, they can only afford to rent that house because the owner lowered the price when he had to go away suddenly.” She finished putting on her earrings and stood back from the mirror to check the full effect of her outfit.
“Anyway,” she continued, “he’s living with his dad right now because his mom’s job doesn’t pay much and she can’t afford to keep him. But, unfortunately, Mr. Ford — Timmy’s dad — just lost his job. He’s been busy trying to find another, so I’ve been watching Timmy a lot for him.”
I nodded, wondering where this was heading.
“What I wanted to ask you was whether you’d be willing to sit for Timmy along with the boys, whenever you come here,”
she said. “I’ll pay you extra,” she added, in a rush.
“Sure!” I said. “No problem.” The extra money would be nice, but it didn’t really matter to me. I could already tell I was going to like Timmy, and it would be no trouble to watch him along with the others. Erick and Ryan can be a real handful, but I had a feeling that Timmy’s presence would calm them down. In this case, three might be easier than two. I saw Cynthia off, headed back out to join Erick’s team for kickball, and spent the rest of the day enjoying myself. In fact, I had so much fun that I didn’t think about the robber once.
I’d gotten Jessi’s letter on Saturday, but I didn’t have a chance to read it until I came home from sitting for Erick, Ryan, and Timmy. Since Jessi had only given me the barest details, and since I knew she was talking about some favorite Stoneybrook clients of mine, I called her right up to hear the rest of the story.
I also told her the bad news about Halloween in my town. She couldn’t believe it. “I wish we could be out there to help you try to catch that guy,” she said. Everybody in the BSC loves mysteries, and we’ve solved plenty of them.
Anyway, the story Jessi told me was about the Barretts and the DeWitts. That’s the Stoneybrook DeWitts — no relation to the West Coast DeWitts, as far as I know. Maybe they’re second cousins twice removed or something, but if they are I doubt even they know it.
I don’t know the DeWitt kids very well, but the Barretts happen to be favorites of mine, which is why Jessi thought I’d be interested in the story of her sitting job with them. I sit for them fairly often when I’m in Stoneybrook. When I first met Buddy, Suzi, and Marnie, it was pretty soon after their parents had divorced. The kids were kind of traumatized, I guess, and they were really acting out. In fact, we used to refer to them as the “Impossible Three.” Back then, Mrs. Barrett was also going through a hard time. She couldn’t seem to keep her life organized, and things were pretty chaotic for a while.
Then, not that long ago, she met a really nice guy named — you guessed it — Mr. DeWitt. (His first name is Franklin.) He and Mrs. Barrett hit it off; in fact, they’re going to get married! But they can’t start planning the wedding until they find a bigger house to move into. Why? Because Mr. DeWitt has four kids of his own already.
See why Jessi mentioned the Brady Bunch?
Anyway, Jessi told me that when she arrived that day the Barrett household seemed almost as chaotic as when we first sat there. Mrs. Barrett met her at the door, holding Marnie, who’s two, on her hip. “Oh, Jessi, I’m so glad you’re here early, before Franklin,” she said. “Can you take Marnie upstairs with Buddy and Suzi while I finish getting ready?”
Now, one thing you should know about Mrs. Barrett is that she’s gorgeous. Really gorgeous. She could almost be a model, with her long, shiny chestnut hair and her perfect complexion. But that morning, Jessi said, she looked as if she’d been hit by a tornado. Her hair was uncombed, and she was still wearing her robe and slippers. “Marnie woke up with a tummy ache this morning,” she explained. “She’s fine now, but between caring for her and trying to get Buddy and Suzi ready for our trip I haven’t even had a chance to dress myself. And Franklin will be here any minute.”
Mrs. Barrett passed Marnie over to Jessi, who noticed immediately that Marnie’s diaper was soaked. “Um, where are we going, anyway?” Jessi asked. All she knew was that she’d been hired to help out for the day, with some outing, since all seven kids would be along for the ride.
“It’s a surprise,” said Mrs. Barrett, grinning. “Franklin and I are taking the kids on a Mystery Tour.”
“Well, great,” said Jessi. “Sounds like fun.” She knew the Barretts and DeWitts had been putting in a lot of time house-hunting lately, and she figured this trip was a reward for the kids for being so patient. So far, the families had been unable to agree on a house that suited everybody, even though they’d been looking for weeks.
Jessi headed upstairs with Marnie, changed her, and then went looking for Buddy and Suzi. She found them in Buddy’s room. He’s eight, and his room is decorated in what Jessi calls “Early American Ninja Turtle.” There was an open backpack on Buddy’s bed, and the two of them were throwing things into it as they argued about where they might be going that day.
“I’m definitely bringing my Knicks cap,” said Buddy. “I just bet they got tickets for a game.”
“Game?” echoed Marnie.
“A basketball game,” said Buddy. He picked up a dirty T-shirt from the floor, wadded it into a ball, and threw it into a hoop mounted on his door. “Score!” he yelled. “Two points!”
“I hate basketball,” said Suzi, who’s five. “I bet we’re going to the toy store to buy furniture for my dollhouse.” She added a pair of dolls to the knapsack. “I’m bringing the mommy and daddy just in case, so they can try out their new couch.”
Jessi was about to tell the kids that no matter where they went she was sure they would have fun when suddenly she heard a honking sound from outside. Buddy raced to the window. “It’s them!” he yelled. “And they rented a red van this time. Cool.” He grabbed his backpack and raced downstairs, with Suzi on his heels. Jessi followed, carrying Marnie and thinking how grateful she was that Mrs. Barrett and Franklin had rented a van. The first time the two families had gone out — with Mallory along as a sitter — they’d had to take two cars, and the day had been a disaster. A van would make the trip much easier.
Easier, maybe, but not exactly easy. After the hellos had been said, Jessi noticing that Franklin complimented Mrs. Barrett on her hastily pulled-together outfit, the families piled into the van. Or tried to, anyway. The loading procedure, Jessi said, did not go smoothly.
“I call the front!” yelled Franklin’s oldest child, eight-year-old Lindsey.
“No way, Lindsey-pinsey!” said Buddy. “You had it last time. I get it today!”
“Neither of you gets it,” Franklin said firmly, from his seat behind the wheel. “I will be accompanied up here by my lovely fiancée.” He smiled at Mrs. Barrett, who was standing beside the van with Marnie in her arms.
“Okay, then, I call the window!” said Lindsey.
“Fine,” said Buddy. “There’s plenty of windows. Just so I get the one in the way back.”
“No, I —” began Lindsey, but her father gave her a Look. “Oh, okay,” she said. “I want to sit next to Taylor anyway.” She plopped down into the middle seat, next to her six-year-old brother, and folded her arms. Buddy climbed in back and squeezed past Suzi, and then Madeleine, who’s four. The two of them were already giggling as they shared loudly whispered secrets.
Meanwhile, Jessi helped Mrs. Barrett settle Marnie, whose diaper already seemed a little damp again, and Ryan, Franklin’s two-year-old, into the two baby seats. Then she belted herself in and, without realizing it, heaved a big sigh. Franklin gave her a laughing glance in the rearview mirror. “The day’s just starting, Jessi,” he said. “Hang in there!”
“It’s going to be fun,” said Mrs. Barrett. She turned in her seat. “Everybody ready for the Mystery Tour?” she asked.
“Yay!” the kids shouted.
“Then let’s go,” she said. Franklin started the engine and then eased the van out of the driveway. He drove down the street, took a left, and headed out of Stoneybrook.
They drove for about half an hour, but Jessi told me it felt like days. The kids were very excited about the Mystery Tour. In fact, as Jessi put it, they were “totally hyper.” Every two minutes one of them would ask “Where are we going?” and then another would ask “Are we almost there?” In answer to every question, the adults just smiled mysteriously and said, “You’ll see,” which drove the kids nuts.
Finally, they entered the town of Greenvale. “Oh, I’ve been here before,” said Jessi. “Don’t they have a Main Street that’s all fixed up to look like it did two hundred years ago?”
“That’s right,” said Mrs. Barrett. “It’s a lovely town.”
Franklin pulled the van into a parking sp
ot. “Everybody out!” he said. “I hope you’re all hungry.”
They trooped into a restaurant that was decorated in “colonial” style. “The King’s Arms,” Buddy said, reading the name on the menu after they’d sat down at a table.
“The King’s Legs,” said Taylor, giggling.
“The King’s Big Toe,” Lindsey said, which made all the kids shriek with laughter.
“All right, all right,” said Franklin, trying to sound firm. Jessi said she saw a twinkle in his eyes. “Let’s settle down and order.”
About an hour — and three spilled glasses of milk — later, Buddy took the last bite of his “Knight-burger” and turned to his mom. “That was great,” he said. “This Mystery Tour was a neat idea.”
“Oh, but it’s not over yet,” said Mrs. Barrett. “We still haven’t reached our final destination.” She looked at Franklin and winked.
After lunch, the adults herded the kids next door to “Ye Olde Country Store,” which had counters covered with row upon row of candy-filled glass jars. “Wow!” said Suzi, her eyes round.
“I thought we’d pick out our Halloween candy here,” said Mrs. Barrett. “Also, you can each choose something for dessert.”
The kids went wild sorting through the penny candy. There were licorice sticks, root-beer barrels, Mary Janes, candied fruit slices, and every other sweet thing imaginable. Finally, they brought their loot up to the cash register. Suzi turned to Franklin, who was pulling out his wallet. “This is the best surprise!” she said. “I love our Mystery Tour.”
Franklin just smiled. “And it’s not over yet,” he said. “Everybody ready? Let’s get back in the van and head for the real surprise.”
Ten minutes later, Franklin pulled the van into the driveway of a big white house with green shutters and a wide, inviting porch that wrapped around three sides. The house sat in a huge yard full of trees that looked as if they were begging to be climbed, Jessi said, and through a gap in a fence she could see a built-in pool in the backyard.
The kids, following their parents’ lead, piled out of the van and stared at the house. “Well?” asked Franklin.