The Boxcar Children Halloween Special

  “I do,” Lori said. She smiled at Violet and then picked up the rest of her papers.

  “What exhibits did you look at?” Violet asked.

  “Oh, er ... the dinosaurs,” Lori said.

  “Is there a dinosaur exhibit here, too?” asked Violet.

  “Oh—no,” Lori said. “I must have been thinking of the Greenfield Museum.”

  Violet said, “That dinosaur exhibit is great, isn’t it?”

  Then Lori sighed. “You know, actually I didn’t see it. I only went to the Greenfield Museum because, well, there was something I was looking for. Something I had to get.”

  Violet was confused. “Oh,” she said. She wondered what Lori was talking about. Why did her story keep changing?

  Violet reached under the table to get the last piece of paper. As she pulled it up, she saw it was a letter addressed to Lori with the words CARSON CITY MUSEUM at the top.

  Lori glanced down at the letter Violet was holding. “Thank you for your help.” She took the letter quickly, as if she was afraid Violet might try to read it. She stuffed it into her bag.

  Just then a woman in a dark blue suit came into the cafeteria. “Ms. Paulson?” she said as she came over. “I’ll be upstairs in my office in a minute if you want to talk.”

  “All right, Ms. Delaney. I’ll be there,” said Lori.

  “Thanks for the help!” Lori said to Violet as she picked up her coffee and her cookie. “I’ve got to run.”

  Violet walked back to where her sister and brothers were.

  “What was she doing here?” Henry asked, and then ate some of his ice cream.

  “I don’t know,” said Violet, picking up her spoon. “She seemed really nervous. She said she liked the dinosaur exhibit.”

  “Do they have one here, too?” Benny asked hopefully.

  “That’s what I asked,” said Violet. “And she said she must have been thinking of the Greenfield Museum. But when I asked her how she liked that exhibit, she admitted she was really just at the Greenfield Museum because she was looking for something. Something she had to get,” Violet said.

  “I wonder what she meant by that,” said Henry.

  “Do you think she meant she had to get a sculpture of a baboon? Or a blue hippo? Or a flute?” Benny asked.

  “Why would she steal those pieces?” Jessie asked.

  “Maybe for the same reason most thieves steal things—for the money,” said Henry. “Pete said they were very valuable. Or maybe she’s a collector and she likes Egyptian art.”

  “Listen, you guys,” said Violet. “It gets weirder. One of the things that fell out of her bag was a letter from the Carson City Museum.”

  “Why would someone here be writing to her?” Henry asked.

  “I don’t know,” Violet said. “All I saw was that it was addressed to her. I wasn’t going to read it. But before I could even give it back to her, she grabbed it, as if she didn’t want me to see it.”

  “How odd,” said Jessie.

  “And then that woman came in and said that Lori should come upstairs to her office to talk,” said Violet.

  “Who was she?” asked Henry.

  “I don’t know,” said Violet. “Her name was Ms. Delaney.”

  “We know she works for the museum if she has an office upstairs,” Jessie pointed out.

  “That name sounds familiar,” said Benny.

  “Let’s go ask at the front desk,” suggested Henry.

  The children finished their ice cream and threw their garbage in the trash can. Then they headed out to the front desk.

  “Excuse me?” Henry asked the man sitting there. “Is there a Ms. Delaney working here?”

  “Ms. Delaney?” the man repeated. “Yes. She’s the director of the museum.”

  “The director?” Henry said. “Oh, thank you.”

  As the Aldens walked away, Benny turned to the others, an excited look on his face. “That’s why that name is familiar! She’s the one Dr. Snood said had called him because she was angry about the Egypt exhibit!”

  “Why do you think Lori is talking to her?” Jessie wondered.

  “Do you think Lori’s working for the Carson City Museum?” Henry asked.

  “Doing what?” asked Violet.

  “I’m not sure. Maybe trying to get information about the Egypt exhibit,” Henry suggested.

  Benny’s eyes opened wide. “Like a spy?”

  “Or maybe even more than that,” Jessie said. “Maybe Ms. Delaney is so angry at the Greenfield Museum that she’s hired Lori to ruin the exhibit.”

  “So you think Lori stole those pieces for the Carson City Museum?” Violet asked.

  “It could be,” said Jessie.

  Sam was working in the prep room when the Aldens arrived the next morning. When they asked her about the missing pieces, she said only that she didn’t want to talk about them.

  “She seems upset,” Violet whispered to Jessie. The children spent the morning helping Sam arrange the artifacts in the glass cases. Only Henry and Jessie were allowed to carry the pieces. Benny and Violet brought the description cards to place beside them. Sam carried the most delicate pieces herself.

  The children also worked on their guide. They studied the books Pete had lent them. Sam let them use her computer and printer. Jessie wrote an introduction to the exhibit. Henry typed up a brief description of ancient Egypt. Violet, who was an excellent artist, traced a map. She also copied some hieroglyphs out of a book and made a chart showing what each word meant. And she drew a beautiful picture of a mummy’s death mask for the cover. Benny finished his maze and added a comic strip about mummy making.

  When all the pieces of the guide were complete, they gave them to Sam. “Would you take a look at these, please?” Henry asked. “We want to make sure we didn’t make any mistakes.”

  “I’d be happy to,” Sam said, sitting down at her desk to read the children’s work.

  As Jessie stood next to Sam, she noticed a framed photograph on her desk. It showed four small cats lying on a bed. “Are those all your cats?” Jessie asked.

  “Yes, those are my beauties,” Sam said. “I have a weakness for cats.”

  A few minutes later, Sam had read through everything. “This looks great! You can make copies on the machine outside Pete’s office,” she suggested as she headed out to get some lunch. “Don’t forget to lock the door when you go.”

  The children took all the pages and locked the door to the prep room behind them. As Sam had told them, they went downstairs to the copy machine by Pete’s office. They made a stack of copies and stapled the pages together into little booklets. On top of each stack they put a copy of Violet’s death mask cover.

  The children were quite pleased with their work. They each picked up a pile of guides and headed toward the stairs.

  But they stopped abruptly when they saw who was sitting a little way down the hall, outside Dr. Snood’s office.

  It was Lori Paulson.

  “Not again!” Henry said.

  Lori didn’t notice them because she was studying a small, blue notebook she held in her lap.

  “Hey!” Jessie cried. “That’s my notebook!”

  Lori looked up then. She stood up and started walking toward the Aldens. “Is this yours?” she asked, holding the notebook out in front of her.

  “Yes,” said Jessie. “It is.”

  “I saw your name on the inside cover,” Lori said. “How convenient that you guys happened to be right here.”

  “Yes, how convenient,” said Jessie suspiciously as Lori placed the notebook on top of the pile of guides she was holding. “Where did you find it?”

  “It was right there on that bench,” Lori said.

  Jessie nodded slowly. She didn’t remember carrying the notebook down here. How had it ended up there?

  Benny groaned. His arms were getting tired from holding the stack of guides. “Can we get going before I drop these?”

  “Sure,” Jessie said. “See you later, Lori.
”

  The Aldens walked back up to the exhibit hall and put the guides down on one of the glass cases. Sam was still gone.

  “How did your notebook end up down on that bench?” Violet asked.

  “That’s just what I was wondering,” said Jessie. “I don’t remember bringing it down there.”

  “Maybe Lori didn’t really find it there,” Henry said.

  “What do you mean?” Benny asked.

  “Maybe she took the notebook,” said Henry.

  “I don’t understand,” said Benny. “Why would she take it?”

  “She wanted to know all about the exhibit, right?” said Henry. “What better way to find out than by looking in Jessie’s notebook, which listed everything?”

  While he was talking, Jessie was slowly turning the pages of her notebook. The look on her face was growing more and more concerned.

  “What is it, Jessie?” Violet asked.

  “I think somebody’s changed what I wrote!” said Jessie. She laid the book down on the display case where they could all see. She pointed to one of the items on the list. It had been crossed off so heavily it was hard to see what was written beneath. “See here? I don’t remember crossing anything off.” She flipped to another page. “And here, where it says ‘gold cat statue’? I had written ‘two gold cat statues.’ Someone crossed out the two and the s at the end.”

  “But why?” Henry wondered.

  “I have a feeling I know,” Jessie said. But before she explained, she started walking around the room, looking at the display cases. At last, she stopped in front of one of the cases. “There’s one of the gold cat statues,” she said. “But where’s the other one?”

  The children looked all around, but the other cat wasn’t there.

  “So you think Lori changed what was in here so you wouldn’t remember there had been two cats?” Violet asked.

  “Yes,” said Jessie.

  “Or maybe it wasn’t Lori,” said Henry. “Remember, Dr. Snood was holding that gold cat and he had that strange smile on his face? Maybe Lori wasn’t lying about finding the notebook. Maybe it really was outside Dr. Snood’s office. Maybe he’s the one who stole the pieces and changed what was written in here.”

  “Why would he steal things from his own museum?” Benny asked.

  “I don’t know,” said Henry. “But he’s always acting so strange—holding the pieces as if they belonged to him, and yelling at us to make sure we don’t touch them.”

  “He does collect Egyptian artifacts. Remember, they’re all over his office,” Jessie said. “Maybe he has even more at home—ones he’s stolen.”

  “Or maybe he’s the one trying to ruin the exhibit!” Henry said all of a sudden. “He’s been against this exhibit from the start. Maybe he wants to prove he’s right by making sure the exhibit fails.”

  “You know there’s one person we haven’t talked about,” said Violet.

  “Who’s that?” Jessie asked.

  “Sam,” Violet said. “It would be really easy for her to steal these things.”

  “But why would she want to ruin her own exhibit?” asked Henry. “That would only make her look bad.”

  “That’s true,” said Violet.

  A few minutes later, Pete came upstairs. “The exhibit looks great,” he said, strolling from one display case to the next. “I can’t believe we got it ready in time for tomorrow’s opening!” He grinned at the Aldens. “Thanks to you guys.”

  “We enjoyed helping,” Jessie said.

  “Yes. We’re having a little party tomorrow night,” Pete explained. “We’ve invited the museum members and also the press. And of course you all must come.”

  “We’ll be there!” Henry said.

  “I have one more job for you to do,” Pete said. “Would you call the local newspapers and remind them to come to the opening?”

  “Why do you invite them?” Benny asked.

  “They’ll write articles about the exhibit in their newspapers,” Pete explained. “When people read them, they’ll want to come see for themselves. That’s how we’ll make sure we get lots of visitors for the exhibit.”

  “We’d be happy to call,” said Henry.

  “Great,” Pete said. “The list of names and numbers is in my office. You can sit there and use my phone while I get some lunch.”

  “Okay,” said Benny. “As long as you bring some back for us!”

  CHAPTER 9

  A Scary Surprise

  The Aldens used Pete’s office to make their phone calls.

  Henry had already spoken to a man at the local television news station. Now he was calling the local radio station. “Hello, I’m calling from the Greenfield Museum,” Henry said, just as Pete had told him to. “I wanted to remind you about the opening tomorrow night of our latest exhibit, ‘Enter the Mummy’s Tomb.’”

  “We’ll have someone there to cover it,” said the man on the other end.

  “Great,” said Henry, hanging up the phone. Jessie checked the radio station off her list.

  “Next is the Greenfield Daily News,the local paper,” said Jessie. “The number is 555-6444.”

  Henry dialed and listened to the phone ring a few times. Then a woman answered.

  “Hello, Greenfield Daily News” she said. “Can I help you?”

  “Hello,” Henry said. “I’m calling from the Greenfield Museum to remind you of our opening tomorrow night.”

  “‘Enter the Mummy’s Tomb,’” said the woman. “Don’t worry, we’ll definitely send a reporter and a photographer.”

  “Yes, thank you,” he said, sounding puzzled. He hung up the phone.

  “What’s the matter, Henry?” Benny asked.

  “That was strange,” he said.

  “Why? What did they say at the newspaper office?” Violet asked.

  “It wasn’t what the woman said,” Henry said slowly. “It was her voice. It sounded so familiar.”

  “Maybe it was some friend of Grandfather’s,” Benny suggested.

  “Maybe,” said Henry, puzzled.

  “Anyway, we have a few more names to call,” Jessie reminded him.

  The children were finishing the phone calls when Dr. Snood came in.

  “Where’s Pete?” he asked.

  “He’s getting lunch,” Jessie said. “He asked us to make some phone calls about the opening.”

  Dr. Snood turned and started to leave. He called over his shoulder, “Does Dr. Dickerson have everything ready?”

  “Yes, she does,” Henry said.

  Dr. Snood stopped abruptly and turned around. He looked at Henry strangely. “She?” he repeated. “Sam Dickerson is a woman?”

  “Haven’t you met her?” Jessie asked.

  Dr. Snood shook his head. “I’ve been so busy the past two weeks. Whenever I’ve gone up there, Dr. Dickerson hasn’t been in. Pete scheduled a meeting for the three of us and ...” He paused and then said awkwardly, “she couldn’t come. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I saw the exhibit and it looks excellent.” He walked slowly out of Pete’s office.

  “That’s weird he never even met her,” said Violet.

  “Well, Sam did keep some pretty strange hours,” Jessie pointed out as she placed the list on Pete’s desk. “She’d come in late, leave all of a sudden, you know.”

  The Aldens left the office and went back upstairs. As they entered the prep room, Sam was there, talking on the phone. “Oh, you’ll love this little cat,” she was saying to the person on the other end. When she saw the children, she quickly stopped talking. “I’ll speak to you later.”

  She hung up the phone.

  “I was telling my friend about the new kitten I just got,” Sam explained.

  “Another one?” Jessie said.

  “I couldn’t resist,” said Sam. She picked up her bag and put it over her shoulder. “Everything’s ready for tomorrow. I’m heading home now.”

  “Hey, wait a minute,” Benny said, noticing the coffin at the back of the room. “What about the m
ummy? Isn’t that going to be part of the exhibit?”

  “Of course,” Sam said. “Well move the coffin in tomorrow and open the lid. See you tomorrow at seven. Lock up when you go.” She headed off down the hall.

  The Aldens picked up their backpacks. “Well, tomorrow’s the day,” Jessie said, “and the exhibit’s all ready.”

  “Looks like we beat the mummy’s curse!” Henry said, giving Benny a playful punch on the shoulder.

  Before he left, Benny took one last look around the prep room. At the back of the room was the brightly painted coffin. Benny walked over and gently placed his fingers on the edge of the lid, which was shut tight.

  “Good night, mummy,” Benny whispered. “Tomorrow’s your big day.”

  The next day, the Aldens were at home eating lunch when Benny said, “I can’t wait until tonight to see the opening of the exhibit.”

  “I just hope nothing else goes wrong,” said Violet.

  “Maybe we could just stop in and see if they need any last-minute help,” Jessie said.

  The Aldens hiked over to the museum. When they arrived, they found Pete and Dr. Snood in the lobby. Pete was standing beside a pair of signs that read:

  Enter the Mummy’s Tomb

  Upstairs Exhibit Hall

  Opening at 7:00 This Evening

  By Invitation Only

  The signs were mounted on sturdy metal stands. With them was a pair of metal poles linked by a red velvet rope.

  “Hello!” Pete said when he saw the children. Dr. Snood said nothing.

  “Any last-minute jobs you need done?” Henry asked.

  “None that I can think of,” said Pete. He looked at Dr. Snood, who shook his head. “Sam isn’t coming in until later, and we haven’t even gone upstairs yet.” Pete placed one of the signs in the center of the lobby, next to the main desk. He stood back to see how it looked.

  Then he turned to the Aldens. “Actually, there is something. Can you put these up in front of the entrance upstairs so no one will go in until tonight?” He motioned to the sign and velvet rope.

  “We’d be happy to,” Henry said, picking up the sign.

  Jessie and Violet each took one of the metal poles. They walked slowly upstairs.

  As they came down the hall, they could see that both the prep room and the exhibit hall were dark and deserted.