The Ice Cream Mystery

  “I don’t think so, Benny. He seems to really care about Katy and Butterscotch and the Ice Cream Barn. I think Katy is right to trust him,” Henry told his little brother.

  “Okay. That leaves Marcos and Mr. Bush,” said Violet. “One of them is a horse thief.”

  “It’s Mr. Bush,” Benny said triumphantly. “I told you so. Let’s go arrest him and get Butterscotch back!”

  CHAPTER 8

  Who Did It?

  “Hold on, Benny. Just because you think Mr. Bush did it doesn’t mean we can go arrest him. We have to have proof,” Violet said.

  “If we got Butterscotch, wouldn’t that be proof?” asked Benny

  “It would. But I don’t think Mr. Bush is keeping Butterscotch in his backyard. It would be very hard to hide a horse in our neighborhood, at least for very long.”

  “So he has Butterscotch at a farm or a stable,” said Benny. “Maybe he owns a farm,” he added.

  “Maybe.” Jessie thought hard for a moment. “There is only one stable nearby just outside Silver City.”

  “But there are lots of farms,” said Violet, feeling discouraged.

  “If Butterscotch is at a farm—or the stables—she’d have to get there in a truck or van,” Jessie said. “It’s too far to ride her or lead her.”

  “Marcos has a van for deliveries,” Violet said.

  “Maybe Mr. Bush has a van or truck, too,” said Henry. “We need to check that out.”

  “And we need to check on the stables, to see if Butterscotch is there,” said Benny.

  “Let’s see when Katy expects Marcos again,” suggested Violet.

  Nodding, Jessie said, “And after that, let’s make a few phone calls.”

  Henry hung up the pay phone. “Nope, no new horses at the Silver City Stables,” he reported.

  “I didn’t think there would be,” Jessie said. “It would be one of the first places the police would look, just like we did.”

  “Let’s go get Mr. Bush,” Benny urged.

  “Let’s go talk to Mr. Bush, you mean,” said Violet.

  “Okay. Let’s go,” said Benny. He tugged on Violet’s sleeve.

  “Not right now,” Henry said. “We have to get home. It’s almost time for dinner.”

  “We’ll talk to Mr. Bush first thing tomorrow,” Jessie told Benny.

  The Aldens rode their bicycles slowly home. They were tired and sad. Benny kept remembering how awful he had felt once when Watch had disappeared.

  Watch came bounding up to greet them when they got home. That made them all feel a little better as they wheeled their bikes into the garage.

  Then, suddenly, Watch ran toward the street. He ran up to a bicyclist who was pedaling by on the sidewalk. He barked.

  “Watch, no!” said Benny, hurrying after him.

  The bicyclist stopped. Watch stopped.

  “Sit, Watch!” Jessie called. Watch sat.

  “You know you’re not supposed to chase bicycles,” Benny scolded. Then he looked up at the bicyclist. “Oh!” he said in surprise.

  The others had reached the sidewalk by then and had seen who the bicyclist was, too.

  “Hello, Mr. Bush,” said Violet politely.

  “Uh-oh,” Jessie said very softly to Henry. She was sure Mr. Bush was going to be very angry about Watch barking at him.

  But Mr. Bush surprised them all. “Well,” he said to Watch. “At least you’re a dog who knows how to mind his manners when he is told.”

  “Watch is very smart,” Benny said.

  Mr. Bush looked up. “Smart enough,” he said. He bent and gave Watch one quick pat on the head.

  “Do you like to ride bicycles?” Jessie asked.

  “I wouldn’t be riding one if I didn’t,” Mr. Bush said. “I think it makes more sense than driving. Besides, I don’t have a driver’s license. Don’t want one. If I can’t get someplace by bike, a bus is good enough for me.” He stopped, as if he was surprised at how much he’d said.

  “I like riding in the ice-cream wagon,” Jessie said boldly. “A horse is a good way to travel, too.”

  Mr. Bush gave Jessie a sharp look. Then he said, “Well, a horse might be better than a car. But I don’t like horses. Never have. One stepped on my foot when I was ten years old. Broke two toes.” He winced as if he could still feel the broken toes.

  “I’m sorry,” said Violet.

  “What for? It was a long time ago,” said Mr. Bush. With that, he got on his bicycle and pedaled away.

  The Aldens stood for a moment in amazed silence.

  “Mr. Bush didn’t do it,” Benny said at last.

  “I guess not,” said Violet. “It doesn’t sound like he’d get close enough to Butterscotch to steal her. And if he did, he wouldn’t be able to drive her away.”

  “That leaves Marcos, then.” Henry looked at his wristwatch. “We should go back to the Ice Cream Barn tomorrow at lunchtime. Katy said he’d be by then for next week’s orders.”

  “I can’t believe it’s Marcos,” said Violet. “I hope it isn’t.”

  “If it’s not,” said Benny, “then who is it?”

  The next day, Marcos was just getting out of his familiar white truck with the blue stripe when the Aldens pedaled up to the front of the Ice Cream Barn.

  “Let’s help him unload,” whispered Jessie. “Then we can check out the back of the truck and look for clues. Maybe there will be pieces of hay or a few horse hairs inside.”

  They hurried over to meet Marcos just as he swung open the double back doors of the truck. They stopped and stared.

  The truck was lined with shelves. There was no room for a horse the size of Butterscotch. Not only that, but it was refrigerated and very cold.

  “Hey, there,” said Marcos. “Cold enough for you?” He laughed heartily at his bad joke. Then he said, “It’s a traveling freezer, you see? No melted ice cream for me.”

  Jessie couldn’t give up. “Have you talked to Katy yet?” she asked. “Or Brianna?”

  “No. What’s wrong?” Marcos suddenly looked worried. “Is Brianna okay?”

  “They’re both fine,” said Violet. “It’s Butterscotch.”

  Marcos looked puzzled.

  “The horse who pulls the ice-cream wagon,” Benny said. “She’s been stolen!”

  “Stolen! When? What happened?” Marcos said.

  “Someone took her out of the barn last night,” Violet told him. “We don’t know who.”

  “That’s terrible,” said Marcos. “Just terrible!” Shaking his head he took a small box out of the back of the truck and closed the doors. “Samples of new ice-cream products,” he explained. “I thought Katy and Brianna might like to try them before they place their next order. Maybe it will cheer them up a little, too. I know how they liked that horse.”

  The Aldens walked with him into the store. Brianna was at the ice-cream counter serving customers.

  She smiled when she saw them, but it wasn’t much of a smile. “I’ll get Katy,” she told Marcos.

  A moment later, Katy came into the store.

  “I heard about your horse,” said Marcos. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you will find her.”

  “I’m sure we will, too,” said Katy, but she didn’t sound sure.

  Marcos handed her the small box of frozen treats. “New treats from my company for you to try,” he said.

  “Thank you,” said Katy. She looked down at the box as if she didn’t know what to do with it.

  “Thanks, Marcos,” Brianna said. “Give it to me, Granna. I’ll put it in the freezer behind the counter for now.”

  Katy handed the box over, then sat down at one of the tables.

  “How is business?” Marcos asked.

  “Business is good,” Brianna said, then turned to wait on a family that had come in for ice cream.

  “I’m glad to hear it,” said Marcos. “Because I have an idea for the Ice Cream Barn. I was describing your ice cream to a friend who is the chef of a small restaurant and he is very interested in
it.”

  “Interested?” repeated Katy.

  “Yes. He’d like to order some of your special flavors for his dessert menu. I told him you were a small company and I didn’t know how much extra you could make, but I think you could handle this.”

  “Sure we could,” said Brianna, who somehow could serve the customers and listen to Marcos and Katy at the same time. “If I’m not going to be driving the ice-cream wagon...” She paused, then went on, “I could make the extra batches of ice cream.”

  “Or when you get your horse back, you could hire extra help,” Marcos said.

  “Yes,” said Brianna. But she sounded no more convinced than Katy about Butterscotch’s return.

  Benny had wandered over to stare at the ice cream in the freezer, but Violet, Henry, and Jessie had settled at a table near Katy and Marcos. Now they looked at one another. Marcos didn’t sound like a man who had stolen a horse—or one who wanted the Ice Cream Barn to go out of business.

  “I like that idea, Marcos,” said Katy. “It’s nice of you to think of us.”

  Marcos grinned. “You’d need to order more supplies from me to make the extra ice cream,” he added. “So it would be good for my business, too. And, of course, I’d want to be the one who delivers the ice cream to the restaurant.”

  Brianna grinned.

  “It would take some planning,” said Katy. She paused. “Let me give you our order for next week, then we’ll talk this over more.”

  The shop bell jingled as a customer walked in.

  Katy looked up for a second and frowned slightly.

  “May I help you?” Brianna asked.

  “It’s her,” Violet said in her quiet voice.

  “Who?” asked Benny. He looked, then said, “Oh! She’s the customer who never eats her ice cream.”

  “I’d like to try your Haystack Sundae,” the woman said, reading from the menu board behind the counter.

  “Coming right up,” said Brianna.

  “Mmm,” said Benny as the customer walked out of the shop a few minutes later with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream drizzled with caramel and smothered with slivered almonds.

  Benny kept watching as the woman stopped at the curb to taste the sundae. She slid into her car and took another bite and then another. Then she rolled down her window and dumped the rest of the sundae into the trash can.

  Benny gasped. “Look,” he said to Violet. “She threw away her Haystack!”

  Jessie and Henry looked, too. As the woman’s white car pulled away from the curb, Jessie leaned forward to get an even better look.

  Then she ran toward the door.

  “Jessie, where are you going?” Henry asked.

  Jessie didn’t slow down. “Come on, grab your bikes,” she said. “We have to follow that car!”

  CHAPTER 9

  A Clue and a Trap

  The four Aldens followed the white car through Greenfield. They stayed as far behind it as they could while still keeping it in sight. The driver didn’t seem to notice that her car was being followed.

  At last the car turned into a driveway on Walnut Street in a neighborhood on the other side of Greenfield.

  “Oh, good,” Benny panted. “I was getting tired.”

  Jessie braked to a stop on the sidewalk a short distance from the house.

  “What are we doing? Why are we following that customer?” Henry asked.

  Jessie nodded toward the house. “That white car looked familiar,” she explained. “Remember that time when we got to the Ice Cream Barn early and a white car was outside? The one that drove away so fast?”

  “That’s the same car?” Benny asked.

  “I think so,” said Jessie.

  “What is the name on the mailbox?” Benny asked. “I can’t read it.”

  Violet read the name aloud softly.

  They all stared at the mailbox. Henry let out his breath. “We’ve heard that name before,” he said.

  “Johnston...Isn’t that the name of the person who keeps calling the Ice Cream Barn?”

  Jessie nodded. “The one who wants Katy to hire her to make the Ice Cream Barn a big business.”

  “Is Butterscotch here?” Benny asked.

  “There’s no place to hide a horse here,” Henry said. “She must be keeping Butterscotch someplace else.”

  “Then how will we find her?” demanded Benny.

  Jessie’s eyes had begun to dance. “I think I know how,” she said. “I think what we need to do is deliver a fake order.”

  “A fake order? Of ice cream?” asked Benny.

  “No, not ice cream, Benny. Oats,” said Jessie.

  The Aldens biked home as fast as they could go. They ran into the house and went straight to the phone in the kitchen.

  Violet took out the phone book and found the number they needed. “Ready?” she asked.

  “Ready,” said the others.

  Violet crossed her fingers, then dialed the number. She handed the phone to Henry.

  “Hello, I’m calling to confirm a delivery for Jean Johnston,” Henry said, speaking into the receiver.

  “What?” the woman who had answered replied.

  “Forty pounds of oats,” Henry said. “To be delivered to 53 Walnut Street.”

  “No. Not for me! Bring it to the Three-Mile Farm. That’s where all these deliveries are supposed to go,” the woman said.

  “That’s not the address I was given,” Henry said.

  “I’m the one who pays the bills, not the one who eats the oats,” she said impatiently. “You’ve got it all mixed up. Take it to Three-Mile Farm. Honestly! What am I going to do with forty pounds of oats? I’ll be there tomorrow to meet the delivery.”

  And with that, Jean Johnston slammed down the phone.

  Henry placed the receiver back in its cradle, then turned to his siblings and smiled.

  “Three-Mile Farm,” said Henry. “I think we’ve found Butterscotch.”

  “Let’s go get her,” Benny urged.

  “Not tonight, Benny. We’ll go get her tomorrow—and we’ll also get the thief,” Henry promised. “Now let’s call Brianna.”

  The big old barn at Three-Mile Farm was very quiet in the middle of the day. But in the field nearby, Mack, the owner, drove his tractor next to the rows of potato plants. Chickens scratched in the barnyard. A sleek cat sunned on a bale of hay, purring loudly.

  “It’s a good thing we didn’t bring Watch,” Benny whispered. “He might have wanted to chase the cat.”

  Benny was crouched next to Violet behind a bale of hay. Across the barn, Henry was hiding behind a stall door. Jessie and Brianna stood near the front of the barn behind some sacks of feed.

  “Here comes the car,” Jessie called softly. They all crouched down a little lower and listened as a car pulled up to the front of the barn.

  Benny wrinkled his nose. “I need to sneeze,” he whispered.

  “Don’t sneeze,” Violet told him.

  Benny pinched his nose to keep from sneezing.

  A car door slammed.

  Footsteps pounded through the front of the barn, then halted.

  “Hello?” Jean Johnston called.

  Everyone held their breath—everyone except Butterscotch, who was standing in her stall, chewing on a wisp of hay.

  Jean Johnston walked down the short row of stalls until she reached Butterscotch. “Well,” she said crossly. “Why am I here? I’m paying good money for someone to take care of you, and it’s his job to meet the feed truck, not mine. You are turning out to be more trouble than it’s worth.”

  Jessie stepped out into the barn behind Jean Johnston, followed by Violet, Henry, Benny, and Brianna. “The only trouble with Butterscotch,” Jessie said in a loud voice, “is that you stole her.”

  Jean Johnston spun around. Her blond hair seemed to almost stand on end. Her black eyebrows shot up.

  “No!” she said. Then she saw Brianna and her face grew pale. “Oh, no!” she moaned. “What are you doing here?”

/>   Brianna folded her arms. “Catching a thief who tried very hard to help put the Ice Cream Barn out of business.”

  “You don’t understand,” said Jean Johnston. “I just wanted to help you!”

  CHAPTER 10

  The Mystery Ice Cream

  Brianna’s eyes widened in amazement. “Help us? You call fake deliveries and ‘Out of Business’ signs helping us, Jean?”

  “Don’t forget the suggestion box and the stolen posters,” said Jessie.

  “And the stolen horse,” said Violet. She had gone over to Butterscotch. The big horse had heard voices and put her head over the stall door. Now she lowered it to let Violet scratch her silky ears.

  Jean Johnston looked around as if she wanted to escape. But there was no way out. She took a step back, then sank down onto a bale of hay.

  “Why don’t you tell us about it,” said Brianna in a more gentle tone of voice.

  Jean looked up. “I wanted to be the manager of the Ice Cream Barn. I knew I could make it great. With a few changes and the right approach, you could have become a big chain.”

  “Like the Sugar Shop?” asked Jessie.

  “Yes. But Katy kept saying no. I had to do something to make her change her mind,” Jean went on. She looked at Brianna. “I thought if Katy started losing money, she would see that she needs me to help run things.”

  “Is that when you started playing tricks on the Ice Cream Barn?” asked Violet.

  “Yes,” admitted Jean. “But it wasn’t working. Then I heard the National Sugar Shop Corporation was interested in getting into the ice-cream business in Greenfield. I thought if I took Butterscotch, I could upset business enough so that Katy would want to sell the Ice Cream Barn. Then maybe the National Sugar Shop Corporation would hire me,” Jean said.

  “You kept coming to the shop and eating ice cream,” said Benny.

  “Sampling the new flavors, taking notes,” said Jean.

  “Spying,” said Henry.

  “Companies do that all the time. It’s how business works,” said Jean.

  “Not at the Ice Cream Barn,” said Brianna.

  “We saw you meeting with Mr. Smithers at the new Sugar Shop in Silver City,” said Jessie.