The Niagara Falls Mystery

  “A little, since we didn’t see a sign,” Henry began. “And the other thing. Somebody took all the Lasalle’s brochures from the visitors’ center, then threw them out. But Jessie put them back.”

  Will Lasalle looked troubled. “I just dropped off piles of brochures all around Niagara Falls yesterday. Ever since my grandfather left, the brochures keep disappearing. We depend on those ads to get new customers in here.”

  Jessie had one of her good ideas. “We’ll be sightseeing all over Niagara Falls. If you give us some brochures, we’ll be sure to leave plenty of them wherever we go.”

  “I’ll take you up on that,” Will said. “I’ve been pretty busy with the shop. I also work part-time on the Maid of the Mist boats.”

  Benny was thrilled by this piece of news. “You work on those boats? Is it scary?” he asked.

  Will Lasalle chuckled. “It’s an exciting ride, Benny, but not too scary. The Maid of the Mist boats have been carrying tourists safely for a long time. We even give passengers rain slickers. The passengers get so close to the falls, they often get wet.”

  “I know,” Benny said, barely containing his enthusiasm. “We heard lots of stories about people going over the falls other ways. And know what?”

  “What?” Will Lasalle had no idea what would pop out of Benny’s mouth next.

  Benny reached into his pocket. He pulled out the scrap of wood he’d bought from the bearded man. “Guess what this is.”

  Will scratched his head. “I have to confess. It just looks like an old piece of wood.”

  Benny shook his head. “Not any old piece of wood. It’s part of a barrel that a lady rode inside of when she went over the falls a long, long time ago. I bought it from a man with a white beard.”

  Will walked over to the store window. He knocked on the glass. The Aldens saw the bearded man outside, but he didn’t turn around.

  “That’s Angus Drummond,” Will explained. “He sets up outside the different shops and tries to sell people bits and pieces of the old barrel one of his ancestors went down the falls in. He’s full of stories.”

  “He didn’t say much to us at all,” Jessie said.

  “Angus can sometimes be shy around strangers,” Will told the Aldens. “But he knows everything there is to know about Niagara Falls. My grandfather often invites Angus in for advice about his collection of antique souvenirs. We keep them in the display room that connects to the shop. It’s closed now. I haven’t had enough help to fix it up and keep it open to visitors.”

  Will Lasalle stopped talking to answer the phone. “Yes, they just got here, Granddad,” the Aldens overheard him say. “And I finally hired some people to cover for me when I’m working on the Maid of the Mist. A young couple passing through Niagara Falls on their honeymoon needed some money to continue their wedding trip. They’re going to help out for the next few weeks. Don’t worry about a thing.”

  Will listened to his grandfather at the other end before handing the phone to Mr. Alden.

  Will turned to the children. “My grandfather is in Toronto for a couple of weeks. I don’t know what you think of this, but Granddad wants me to ask you if you’d like to do a few chores around the shop — just part-time. You’d still have plenty of time for sightseeing.”

  Will could see by their eager faces that the Aldens were excited already. “The display room next to the shop needs a good cleanup. There are quite a few boxes full of things that need to be unpacked and put on display. I could sure use four more pairs of hands around here. Any chance you’d be interested?”

  The children looked at each other. Who wouldn’t be interested in working in Niagara Falls?

  “Can we work in the shop, Grandfather?” Benny asked when Mr. Alden got off the phone. “Will just asked us to.”

  “Wouldn’t you like to just take a plain old vacation for a change?” Mr. Alden asked, even though he knew what the answer would be.

  “Working in this neat shop would be better than any plain old vacation,” Henry said.

  Will Lasalle looked at Mr. Alden. “They’ll still have plenty of time for sightseeing. As I told my grandfather, I just hired a couple to work in the souvenir shop for the next few weeks. Granddad said your grandchildren could help out with our display room. And one other thing. The couple I hired will be staying in the apartment above the shop. If you’d like, the children can stay in the bungalow behind the shop. The couple can keep an eye on them when I’m not here.” Will noticed how puzzled Benny was. “The bungalow’s a small cottage my granddad built.”

  “Then that settles it,” Mr. Alden said. “Working seems to be my grandchildren’s idea of a vacation.”

  “When do we start?” Henry and Jessie asked at the same time.

  “How about tomorrow morning after breakfast?” Will suggested. “I’ll have the bungalow ready. You can work in the morning, then go sightseeing in the afternoon.”

  Mr. Alden headed for the door. “I’d better get these children some dinner and a good night’s sleep if they’re going to be working. We’re staying at the Rainbow Inn tonight.”

  “I’ll meet you here at eight tomorrow morning,” Will said. “Now it’s time to close up. I’ve got to head over to the Maid of the Mist. I’ll follow you out.”

  Everyone looked for Angus Drummond outside, but there was no sign of him anywhere.

  “Do you think we’ll see Mr. Drummond again?” Violet asked. “I’d like to hear some of the old stories he tells about Niagara Falls. Maybe he knows the Maid of the Mist tale.”

  “He knows every story ever told about Niagara Falls,” Will said as he unlocked his car door. “Angus’ll be around, all right. He likes to drop in the shop just to look around. I guess I’ll see you folks tomorrow morning. If I’m going to make the last ride of the day I have to get going,” he said before he drove off.

  After Will left, Grandfather unlocked his car. Then he noticed a piece of paper under the windshield. “Goodness. I got a parking ticket. I completely forgot to put money in the parking meter.”

  Henry lifted the wiper blade and picked up the piece of paper. “Well, Grandfather, it looks as if we have another Canadian souvenir. Hey, wait! It’s not a parking ticket at all. It’s some kind of flier. Look, most of the other cars have these fliers on them, too.”

  “What does it say?”

  Henry held the paper under the street lamp. “It says: ‘Going Out of Business. Lasalle’s Curiosity Shop. Closing for good April twenty-ninth.’”

  “Impossible,” Mr. Alden said. “That’s tomorrow. Let’s follow Will and show him this.”

  Everyone hurried into the car. Mr. Alden drove straight to the Maid of the Mist docks. The Aldens searched all over for Will Lasalle, but they were too late. The last boat had already gone out, and Will Lasalle was on it.

  “We missed him,” Jessie said. “Let’s take the fliers off all the cars ourselves. It can’t be true that the shop is closing tomorrow. Will just hired us and that couple to work there. It’s not possible.”

  Grandfather Alden drove back to Waterfall Street. Now that it was getting dark, the street was quiet. One by one, the Aldens removed the fliers from the cars. Whoever played this practical joke wasn’t going to get away with it — not if the Aldens could help it.

  “Who would do such a mean thing?” Violet asked.

  “Whoever did this doesn’t seem to be around,” Henry said after they removed the last flier.

  But Henry was wrong. The person who had placed the fliers on the cars was watching the Aldens from the shadows.

  CHAPTER 3

  Someone Plays a Trick

  Except for the Aldens, all the tables in the breakfast room of the Rainbow Inn were filled with happy couples.

  “This is such a romantic place,” Jessie said. “I saw a couple holding hands by the fireplace last night.”

  “We’re the only big family,” Benny announced after he finished his orange juice. “I like the Rainbow Inn, but I’m glad we’re going to a real hou
se today — where we won’t have to watch that romance stuff. Yuck!”

  Mr. Alden put down his coffee cup. “Are you sure that’s what you children want to do? Mr. Lumberton, the innkeeper invited you to stay at the Rainbow Inn for as long as you’d like. You can have their famous peach pie every day.”

  For a second, Benny almost changed his mind. “Every day?”

  Henry put an end to that. “We can buy pies at the bakery on Waterfall Street, Benny. Don’t you want to work at Lasalle’s Curiosity Shop?”

  Benny took another sip of juice before answering. “As long as I get more pie.”

  “We’ll make sure of that, Benny,” Jessie said. “Let’s finish up these pancakes. This maple syrup tastes as if it just came from the trees.”

  The Aldens had just finished breakfast when they heard loud voices outside the dining room.

  “But couldn’t we stay the rest of the week?” a teary-eyed young woman with long dark hair asked Mr. Lumberton. “We have jobs now. We could pay you on Friday. We’re on our honeymoon.”

  Mr. Lumberton shook his head, sad to turn down the young woman. “I’m sorry, but that’s our policy. As it is, you still owe us for two nights.”

  The tall blond young man standing next to the woman looked upset. “We left our name and where we’ll be. We’ll have all the money by next week. We expected a check at our wedding, but it didn’t arrive. Now that we have jobs, we can pay for the last two nights and the rest of this week as soon as we get paid.”

  Mr. Lumberton’s mind was made up. “I’m sorry, Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie, but you’ll have to leave. You’re welcome back once you pay for the two nights and give us a deposit for a longer stay.” Mr. Lumberton rang the desk bell. “Please bring Mr. and Mrs. McKenzie’s luggage out to their car,” Mr. Lumberton said to a clerk.

  “Too bad they have to leave,” Violet whispered. “They looked so happy at dinner last night. I saw them holding hands at the table by the fireplace.”

  The Aldens finished breakfast. Then they checked out of the Rainbow Inn, too.

  “Look, they’re taking down the JUST MARRIED sign from the back of their car,” Jessie said when she saw the couple outside. “How sad.”

  The Aldens got in their car and followed the couple’s old brown car from the parking lot of the inn. Only one banged-up can trailing from the couple’s car bumper gave any sign that the young man and woman were on their honeymoon. The brown car took a turn toward the falls. The Aldens went up Waterfall Street.

  “Look! Those fliers are on all the cars again!” Violet said. “Somebody must have come back after we left.”

  Sure enough, nearly every car parked on Waterfall Street had a “Going-Out-of-Business” flier under its windshield again. The children wasted no time removing the fliers.

  When the children returned, Grandfather Alden knocked on the shop door. There was no answer. “It’s quarter to eight. We’re early. I’ll wait until Will gets here to get to the bottom of this.”

  The children wouldn’t hear of it.

  “You don’t have to stay, Grandfather,” Jessie said. “We’ll figure out how these fliers got on the cars.”

  Mr. Alden checked his watch. “Then I will get going. It’s a long way to Ottawa. Let’s unload your suitcases and the cooler.”

  “Okay, I’ll help you,” Henry said, grabbing two pieces of luggage.

  “Good-bye, Grandfather,” the children called out when Mr. Alden’s car pulled away.

  The parking spot wasn’t empty for long, though. Will Lasalle pulled into it almost as soon as Grandfather left. “Hey, what’s the matter?” he asked when he noticed the children looked upset about something.

  Jessie handed Will one of the fliers. “These ‘Going-Out-of Business’ notices were on the cars this morning again.”

  “What do you mean, ‘again’?” Will asked.

  “Last night there was one on our windshield and on most of the other cars on the street,” Henry explained. “So we took them off. We tried to find you, but you were already on the boat. Somebody put more fliers on these cars after we left.”

  Will’s brown eyes filled with worry. “Who can be doing this? First I lost my store sign. Next I found out that somebody’s throwing away all our ads. Now these fliers. What’s going on?”

  “Maybe we can find out,” Benny said.

  For the first time that morning, Will Lasalle smiled a little. “If anyone can figure this out, I know it’s you Aldens. Let me get you settled in the bungalow. Then I’ll come back and show you around our display room,” Will said, leading the children down a short passageway on the side of the shop. “I’ll be back in a while.”

  “It’s like a miniature cabin,” Violet said when Will let everyone into a snug cottage in back of the shop.

  “Granddad built this bungalow by hand,” Will explained. “The walls are made of Canadian logs. The stones for the fireplace came from the farm where he grew up. And those snowshoes on the wall belonged to my great uncle.”

  “It’s cozy — just what we like,” Jessie said as she carried the cooler into the kitchen. “This is just as nice as the Rainbow Inn.”

  “Except for the peach pie,” Benny reminded his sister.

  Will went to the door. “Why don’t you unpack while I open up the shop. Then I’ll show you around. I’ll leave the back door to the display room unlocked. See you in a while.”

  After Will left, the Aldens opened the windows to let in some fresh air. Henry and Benny put away the food from their cooler. Mrs. McGregor, Mr. Aldens’ housekeeper, knew how hungry four children could get. She always packed a cooler with some of her delicious home-cooked food for their car trips.

  “Listen,” Henry said when he heard voices out back. “I think our neighbors are here.”

  The children overheard Will talking to some people as they climbed the stairs behind the shop.

  “That must be the couple he hired,” Jessie said. “I hope they’re nice. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m ready to start work.”

  “Me, too,” Violet said.

  “Me, three,” Benny said, laughing.

  The children walked outside, and Henry locked the door to the bungalow. Will had left the back door to the display room open. The second the children got inside, they heard something.

  “Somebody’s in here!” Henry whispered. “I thought Will was upstairs showing the couple the apartment.”

  Jessie followed the sound of footsteps into the shop area that connected to the display room. “Who’s there?” she called.

  The only answer was the shop door slamming. The children caught a glimpse of someone on the sidewalk.

  “Let’s follow whoever it is,” Henry suggested.

  By the time the children got outside, all they saw was a dark brown car driving down the street. Across the way, Angus Drummond sat quietly with his suitcase in front of him.

  Violet waved, but Angus didn’t look up.

  “Do you think Angus was in here?” Jessie asked Henry when everyone returned to the shop.

  Henry shook his head. “I’m not sure. He looks like he’s been sitting there for a while. Maybe it was a delivery person.”

  While the Aldens were still discussing the intruder, Will walked in.

  “Guess what?” Benny asked, bursting with news. “We just chased somebody out of the display room.”

  Will looked puzzled. “Somebody was in there? You don’t mean the couple I hired, do you? I brought them upstairs so they could settle in before they start work later today. The husband just left to pick up my new store sign. Maybe he took a shortcut through the shop.”

  “I think you were all still upstairs,” Henry explained. “The person who was in the display room went through the shop and out the front door. Were you expecting a delivery?”

  Will shook his head. “Not this early. Hmmm. It’s possible one of my suppliers came by and dropped something off. But I don’t see any packages.”

  “Whoever it was got out
of here fast,” Jessie said. “Anyway, we’re in a hurry, too — to get to work.”

  Will looked around. “Well, everything seems to be in place, so I’m not going to worry. I’m just glad you’re all here to give me a hand. Follow me.”

  Will led the Aldens into the display room. He turned on the light. “This room is Granddad’s pride and joy,” Will explained. “He’s been collecting antiques and oddities from around Niagara Falls his whole life. We usually get a lot of tourists in here — people who want to know about the history of Niagara Falls. Most of the things in this room are one of a kind.”

  The room was a jumble of dusty treasures. Old photographs hung on the walls. Postcard albums lay open on the counters. A tag on a section of metal cable explained that it was part of the first cable bridge built across the Niagara River. Two barrels stood in the corner with signs describing the people who had gone over the falls in them.

  Benny pointed up to the ceiling where a long curved wooden pole hung from corner to corner. “What’s that?”

  “That’s a balancing pole a famous tightrope walker used in 1859 to cross over the river down by Whirlpool Rapids. The rapids are pretty dangerous. This pole is the most famous item in my grandfather’s collection, except for one.”

  Will walked over to a glass display case in the center of the room. He turned on the overhead light. “Hey! Why is this case unlocked?” he asked. “Maybe Granddad was in a rush and forgot to close it. I wouldn’t want anybody to get his hands on this guest book. It’s pretty valuable.”

  The children came over to see what Will was talking about.

  “It’s just a plain old book,” Benny said, a little disappointed. The balancing pole on the ceiling was a lot more exciting.

  “It’s not just a plain old book, Benny,” Will began. “It’s a priceless guest book from a hotel my great-great-grandparents owned. When the Prince of Wales visited Niagara Falls in 1860, he stayed at their hotel and signed this book. It’s been in our family for over a hundred and thirty years.”

  “Is it usually locked up?” Jessie asked.