“Maybe you’re the one who wrote the letter,” Jennifer said to Danielle.
“I did not,” Danielle said, flipping her pony tail over her shoulder.
A few parents from the bleachers went to join Mrs. Thompson and Coach Olson. The parents and Coach Olson talked for several moments. Then Coach Olson strode back to the podium and turned on his microphone.
“We will continue the fest next Saturday!” he announced. “We will have the games then, and the award ceremony. The older players will practice on Tuesday and Wednesday after school, as usual. The younger players—the Earthquakes and Galaxies—can practice tomorrow at one o’clock. We should have this all sorted out by next Saturday.”
Nobody in the stands moved. A slight breeze moved in the trees. From the distance came the barking of a dog. Otherwise, all was quiet.
Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny looked for each other, and huddled in a group.
“We need to figure out who wrote the letter,” Henry whispered to his sisters and brother.
“Yes,” Jessie said. “This isn’t fair at all.”
“I wonder if we can see the letter!” said Benny. “Do you think Mrs. Thompson has it?”
“She said she got a phone call from the mascot committee,” Jessie said. “So the committee probably has it.”
“That’s too bad,” said Henry. “If we could see the letter, we could examine the postmark and see how it was written.”
“I wonder who did it,” Jessie said. She was looking toward Danielle.
“Do you think it was Danielle?” Violet asked.
“Actually,” Jessie said, “it could have been any of the girls on the team, not just the ones who speak up and say they don’t like Kayla. The problem is, I don’t know anyone on the team who would make up lies.”
“Lying is bad,” Benny said.
“Lying in a letter to get someone in trouble is even worse,” Henry said.
Violet looked over the group of girls wearing red. There were at least a dozen of them. “We’ve never started out with this many suspects before,” she said.
All four of the Alden children stood still for a moment, thinking this over.
“Here comes Grandfather and Mrs. McGregor and Watch!” Benny said. Benny ran toward them. The others followed behind. Watch greeted each of the children with a sniff and wag of his tail. Benny petted Watch’s back while Henry scratched the top of Watch’s head.
Mr. Alden said, “Well, children, I suppose we should head home.”
“I was hoping to win a cone from Igloo Ice Cream,” Benny said.
“Maybe next week,” Henry said.
They headed down the sidewalk. Mr. Alden took a handkerchief from his pocket and patted his forehead. “It’s going to be a hot day today,” he said.
“The forecast is calling for high temperatures all week,” Mrs. McGregor said.
“What are we going to do today?” Benny asked. “We thought we’d be here all day!”
“Mr. Beck is working at the house,” Mrs. McGregor said. “So I suppose we can start by seeing how he’s doing.” Mr. Beck was the handyman Mr. Alden hired when they needed work done on the house.
“And,” Mrs. McGregor said, “it looks to me like you children have a mystery to solve.”
Violet sighed deeply. “Poor Kayla. I feel so sorry for her.”
“Me, too,” Henry said. “I don’t know which is worse, not getting to be an international child mascot, or knowing someone wrote a mean letter filled with lies.”
“At least it shouldn’t be too hard to prove that the letter was filled with the lies,” Jessie said. “Then Kayla can still be the mascot.”
The first thing Violet noticed as they walked up the front walk to their house was the smell of saw dust. She and the others walked around to the side of the house. Mr. Beck was up on a ladder scooping leaves out of the gutter.
“What are you doing?” Benny asked.
“Routine summer stuff,” Mr. Beck said. “I just replaced some rotted boards in the garage. Now I’m cleaning the gutters. Next I’ll check the windows. You have to watch out with these old windows in the summer.” He squinted up at the roof line. “And it looks like a few roof tiles are loose. I’d better fix those.”
“Can I help you?” Benny asked. “I can climb the ladder, too!”
“Better not, Benny,” said Mr. Alden. “I think Mr. Beck can manage just fine.”
“All right,” Benny said. “Let’s go have a snack! I can solve mysteries better with a full stomach!”
CHAPTER 3
A Not-Quite-So-Horrible Letter
Henry was the first one at the breakfast table the next morning. While waiting for the others, he’d opened the newspaper. Ordinarily Henry read the news on his tablet, but the local Greenfield newspaper had not gone digital yet. Grandfather was happy about that. He said he liked a real newspaper over breakfast and before bed.
“Would you all come look at this?” Henry called. “Amazing!”
Jessie and Violet came running from the kitchen. “What?” Jessie asked.
“Here’s a copy of the letter to the Mascot Committee! It says here that the letter was written in the library computer lab. A reporter found a copy in the automatic save file and printed it here!”
“What does the letter say?” Violet asked.
Henry, Violet, and Jessie leaned over the table and read:
Dear Members of the Mascot Committee,
This letter is to tell you all the reasons Kayla Thompson should not be an international mascot. The mascot should be someone who is a team player and who gives soccer a good name. Kayla is not a team player. She hogs the ball. She laughs when other people make mistakes. She shows off. She is not friendly and people don’t like her. For all these reasons, she should not be a child mascot.
Yours sincerely,
Concerned citizens of Greenfield, Connecticut.
All three children finished reading at the same time. They lifted their heads and looked at each other.
“But,” Henry said, “some of those things aren’t lies.”
“Most of these things aren’t lies,” Jessie said, “Everything here is sort of true.”
“But wait,” Violet said, “isn’t some of that a matter of opinion? Different people can have different opinions about whether she’s friendly.”
“The fact is,” Jessie said, “she’s not a team player. She does hog the ball.”
“Does she laugh when people make mistakes?” Henry asked.
“I’ve never seen her laugh,” Jessie said. “She’s usually concentrating on what she’s doing, not paying much attention to anyone else.”
Just then, Benny came bounding down the stairs. “What were you hollering about, Henry?”
Before Henry could answer, Grandfather came in from his study and Mrs. McGregor brought a pitcher of fresh milk and a plate of French toast.
“My favorite!” Benny said. “French toast! With syrup!”
“I was just coming to help with breakfast,” Jessie told Mrs. McGregor, “but I got so distracted by the news about Kayla!”
“What news about Kayla?” Mrs. McGregor asked.
“How about if we all sit down and talk about the news over breakfast,” Mr. Alden said.
The children, Mr. Alden, and Mrs. McGregor sat at the table. Mrs. McGregor passed around a plate of French toast. When it was Benny’s turn, he carefully selected the largest piece. Then he looked up and said, “Does anyone mind?”
“Go ahead, Benny,” Grandfather said with an indulgent smile.
Henry poured himself a glass of orange juice, then said, “The newspaper ran a copy of the letter someone wrote to the International Mascot Committee about Kayla.”
“What did the letter say?” Benny asked.
“Here,” Henry said, handing him the newspaper. “You can read it yourself.”
Benny squinted at the newspaper. “But I’m eating! Read it aloud. Please!”
“Yes, please do,” Gra
ndfather said. “Then we can all hear it.”
Henry read the letter aloud. When he finished, Grandfather said, “Well, that’s very interesting. What do you children think?”
“I think it sounds just like what girls like Danielle are always saying about Kayla,” Jessie said. “And none of those things are really lies.”
“That’s why we have so many suspects,” Violet told Mr. Alden. “So many girls don’t like Kayla. It could have been any of them.”
“You know,” Henry said. “I don’t think writing a letter with things that are true is something a person can get in trouble for.”
“But it wasn’t very nice,” Violet said.
“Oh I agree with that,” Henry said. “It wasn’t nice. But it isn’t what we thought at first. And it isn’t what Mrs. Thompson said. Nobody wrote a letter with lies. They wrote a letter with the truth. That’s different.”
“I don’t think it’s fair for an anonymous letter to ruin a person’s chance to do something as exciting as being an international mascot,” Jessie said.
“If someone didn’t like Kayla,” Benny said, “she should have talked to Kayla or gotten a grown-up to help.”
“Exactly,” Violet said. “Writing that letter was mean. Whoever wrote it should work things out with Kayla and leave the Mascot Committee out of it.”
Tap, tap, tap. Everyone looked up, startled.
“What was that?” Benny asked.
“Sounds like someone is hammering outside!” Jessie said.
“Let’s go see!” Benny leapt to his feet and ran to the back door. The others followed.
Outside they found Mr. Beck on the ladder again, tapping at the wood trim around the window with his hammer.
“It’s Sunday!” Mrs. McGregor exclaimed. “What on earth are you doing up there?”
“Just finishing up,” he said. “It’s going to be so hot this week, I wanted to get the last of the work finished up this morning.”
“It’s hard to believe it can get hotter than this,” Henry said, wiping his brow.
“It can,” Mr. Beck said, “and according to the weather report, it will.”
Later that day, Henry told Benny, “Get ready! It almost time for your practice!”
Benny had been playing with toy cars on the living room floor. He jumped up and ran to his room to change clothes. Henry, who helped coach the youngest children, was already ready.
“I’d come with you to watch for clues,” Jessie said, “but it’s so hot out there!”
Jessie and Violet were at a table in the living room. Jessie was reading a book, Violet was drawing in her sketchpad.
“No need!” Henry said. “Benny and I will watch for clues.”
Nothing unusual happened during Benny’s practice—until the very end, when the players were practicing dribbling down the field. Coach Olson was watching them, shouting out reminders to watch where they were going and touch the ball with the insides of their shoes instead of the tips of their toes. Henry looked over and saw Mrs. Thompson approaching.
The coach saw her too. He said, “Henry, take over. It looks like I need to speak to Mrs. Thompson.”
Henry wished he could move closer to Mrs. Thompson and the coach to hear what they were saying, but he had no choice. He had to keep reminding the players to watch were they were going. If they were not constantly reminded to keep their eyes up, they watched their feet instead of where they were doing, sometimes crashing into each other.
Whenever Henry had the chance to look over at Coach Olson and Mrs. Thompson, he could see she seemed angry at the coach. Coach Olson seemed to cower away from her.
After they spoke a few minutes and Mrs. Thompson left, the coach blew his whistle. “Everyone take a water break!” he shouted.
Some children ran for their water bottles. Others ran for the fountain.
“She seemed angry,” Henry said to the coach.
“She is,” Coach Olson said. “She thinks I didn’t react quickly enough and that I am not protecting Kayla. She thinks the investigation should have taken an hour and not a week.”
“I don’t see how an investigation can take just one hour,” Henry said.
“I don’t either,” Coach Olson replied.
“She’s a very forceful person,” Henry said.
“You can say that again,” said the coach. “There is something fishy about this whole thing. I don’t know what, but something doesn’t seem right.”
CHAPTER 4
Captain of the Team
When Jessie arrived for practice Tuesday, several of the girls, including Kayla, were already there. Kayla was dribbling down field. The other girls, as usual, were trying to get the ball away from her. The first thing Jessie noticed was that Kayla was smiling. It wasn’t a big, happy smile. Kayla just wasn’t the type to wear big happy smiles. But she was smiling. Her face was bright.
Then Kayla turned and passed the ball to Samantha. That was different! Kayla rarely passed the ball to anyone. Jessie understood why Kayla rarely passed the ball. The other girls often fumbled and lost the ball. Kayla knew she could do better if she kept the ball to herself.
“Nice work, Kayla and Samantha!” shouted Mia.
Mia was the fifteen-year-old girl who was helping coach Jessie’s team.
Jessie felt eager and hopeful. Perhaps everything was resolved. Why else would Kayla suddenly be behaving differently? Perhaps the letter writer stepped forward, apologized and took everything back, and the investigation was over. Perhaps, too, Kayla learned her lesson and would be nicer now when she played. Jessie hoped so.
Jessie put on her shin guards, and changed from her sneakers to her cleats. She took the extra balls from her bag and brought them to the field.
Betsy, one of Jessie’s friends, ran up and said, “Hi there, Jess!” Betsy also seemed to be smiling. Nobody would have known, from how all the girls were behaving, that a scandal recently rocked the town.
“Hi,” Jessie said. “Everyone looks so happy. Is anything new?”
“Nothing is new. Kayla got here early. She’s acting different. Much nicer. C’mon. Let’s play!”
Betsy ran to join the girls, who were then down field taking turns kicking the ball into the goal. Jessie followed. Just then, Kayla passed the ball to another teammate so the other girl could practice scoring.
“See,” Betsy said quietly to Jessie. “She’s acting different. She’s being more of a team player.”
“She probably wants to show that the things in the letter aren’t true,” Jessie said.
“But everyone knows they are true!” Betsy said, and darted away.
Jessie followed. She was thinking people can change. Wouldn’t it be nice if the letter ended up helping Kayla see her bad behavior? Jessie smiled at her own thoughts. Usually Violet was the optimistic one.
“Whew, it’s hot!” Danielle called out. “I need more water!” She ran to the side of the field for her water bottle.
“Just pour the water right on your head!” advised Lara. “I did that and I feel great!’
Lara, indeed, was dripping with water. Danielle laughed and poured water on her own head. She also poured water on her long pony tail. Then several other girls, including Jessie, did the same. Jessie laughed. She felt much cooler.
After they’d been practicing a half hour, Mia said, “It’s so hot, I think we should stop early.”
The girls standing nearby agreed.
Jessie went to drink some more water. Some of the girls gathered to the side of the field, not far from her. That was when Jessie heard Danielle talking quietly to Ashley. “What’s happening with the investigation? Did anyone find out who wrote that letter?”
“The coach is investigating. Didn’t he talk to you yet?”
“No,” Danielle said.
“He talked to me,” Ashley said. “I think he’s talking to everyone. You’ll get a turn. Then you can tell him what you think of Kayla.”
Jessie turned away, disappointed. She had ho
ped the problems had been resolved. She sighed. She supposed the coach would talk to her, too. When it was her turn, she would tell him she didn’t think it fair for Kayla to get punished because of an anonymous letter.
“Gather around!” Mia called. “The coach says all the teams need to select a captain. He says we should have done that in the first place. So does anyone want to nominate someone?”
Jessie raised her hand. “I nominate Kayla. She is the best player. I like how she played today, during practice.”
“All right,” Mia said. “Kayla is nominated. Any other nominations?”
“I nominate Jessie,” Betsy said. “Jessie is a good player, too.”
Other girls nodded in agreement. Jessie was the second best player on the team.
“Any other nominations?” Mia asked.
“I nominate Danielle,” Ashley said.
“Anyone else?” Mia asked.
Nobody said anything.
“Okay,” Mia said. “We have three nominations. That should be good enough.” She handed everyone a piece of paper and passed around pencils. “The votes will be secret. Everyone can write one name.”
After everyone finished writing, Mia collected the pieces of paper. She went to sit by herself to count the votes. She came back and said, “Jessie wins. Jessie is the team captain.”
The girls nearby turned to congratulate Jessie.
“Being team captain is a big responsibility,” Mia said. “The team captain looks out for everyone. If you aren’t sure what to do in the middle of the game, look at Jessie. She’ll make the decisions.”
Betsy leaned close to Jessie and whispered, “You’ll be great!”
“Thanks,” Jessie whispered back. She felt flattered—and sorry for Kayla. She believed Kayla should have been team captain. After all, Kayla was the best player.
“Let’s meet back here at the same time tomorrow,” Mia called out. “Don’t forget to bring a water bottle! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter.” Then Mia turned to Jessie and said, “Coach Olson wants to know if Henry can help me coach your team tomorrow. Coach Olson said he’s a really good coach.”
“I’ll ask him,” Jessie said, “but I’m sure he can.”