The Doughnut Whodunit

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “You must have an extra key,” said Benny. “That means you did the break-in. Doesn’t it?”

  Again, Nathan shook his head. “The truth is that I just walked in tonight.”

  “It’s all right,” said Henry. “Steve told me he’d leave the door open so we wouldn’t freeze before Grandfather came to pick us up.”

  “So…you’re sure you don’t know anything about any written recipes?” asked Jessie.

  “There are written recipes?” said Nathan. “I can’t believe it!” He shook his head again. “If I’d had those when I worked here, my job would have been a whole lot easier. I probably wouldn’t have left!”

  Nathan stood up. “I should clean up the kitchen and leave. Steve and Dawn won’t be happy knowing that I was here. They’re probably already mad at me for quitting the way I did.”

  “I don’t think they’re mad at you,” said Jessie. “But they’re super busy right now. We’re helping them out.”

  Nathan cleaned up. He was quiet while he worked.

  After he left, the Aldens did too. They made sure the door was locked behind them. Then they sat on the bench in front of Delilah’s to wait for Grandfather.

  Grandfather arrived soon after that. The children were extra happy to be out of the chilly weather. As they rode home, they talked.

  “I think Nathan’s telling the truth,” said Violet. “He was mad when he heard about the stolen recipes.”

  Henry nodded slowly. “I think you’re right, Violet. And Nathan was so surprised when he heard about the recipes being written down. He really doesn’t seem to know anything about that.”

  “But if Nathan’s no longer a suspect,” said Jessie, “there are only two more people on our list: Charlie and Hilda.”

  “That makes it easier, doesn’t it?” asked Benny.

  “I’m not so sure about that,” said Jessie, closing her notebook.

  The Missing Tin

  “We’ve been so busy this week,” said Violet. “I hope we have time to help Steve and Dawn with redecorating.”

  The Aldens were walking down Main Street the next morning. It was warm and sunny again, and not too windy.

  “I’m going to show them my photos of The Donut Dispensary,” Violet continued. “I’ve got some good ideas for paint colors. And maybe some new signs too.”

  “We’ve got to find out who’s causing all the problems,” said Henry. “Then we can talk about redecorating.”

  “Maybe it will cheer up Dawn and Steve if they have something else to think about,” said Violet. “Something that’s fun, like new colors.”

  “Maybe,” said Jessie. “I really want to tell them about Nathan. And about the sugar tin. Steve might remember the tin and know where it is. Or where it was.”

  “Hey!” shouted Benny. “Did those guys change their sign again?”

  Benny pointed to the sign in front of The Donut Dispensary. Someone had erased the name Mashup and written a new name: Smashed Potato Donut.

  “Wow,” said Henry. “Whoever copied that doughnut must have just figured out the name was too much like The Masher.”

  “That wasn’t very smart of the copycat,” said Violet. “They should have picked a different name before they advertised the doughnut, not after.”

  The children moved on, talking about the name change.

  When they arrived at Delilah’s, Steve was busy with customers. But Dawn greeted them.

  “We have so much to tell you!” said Jessie. She handed Dawn the articles they had copied in the library.

  Dawn sat down and read the articles. “A sugar tin!” she said. “I had no idea. I don’t think Steve did either. And all this time, Steve thought his parents both kept their recipes locked up in their own memories.”

  “Only Delilah had hers memorized. Not Fred,” said Henry.

  Dawn put down the articles. “You know…I think I do remember a fancy old metal tin on a shelf with other knickknacks out here in the front,” she said. “I never thought of looking inside it. I just dusted it now and then. I always kept those decorative things the way Fred and Delilah had them.”

  “Let’s see if it’s still there,” said Jessie.

  “I can climb up and get it!” said Benny. He darted off toward the shelf of knickknacks.

  “I don’t think it’s there anymore,” said Dawn, getting up. “Wait, Benny!”

  But Benny didn’t wait. By the time Dawn and the other children got to him, Benny had dragged a chair over and was hanging onto the shelf.

  “Come on, Benny,” said Henry. “You might topple that whole shelf. With you under it!” Henry wrapped his arms around his little brother and lifted him away from the shelf.

  “Is it up there?” asked Benny when he was down on the ground. “Is it?”

  “No,” said Dawn, sighing. “I remember now. It was one of the few things we couldn’t find after the break-in. I suppose we could look around, though.”

  Dawn and the Aldens began searching everywhere in the back room and the storeroom. But there was no old sugar tin anywhere.

  “What’s this about a tin?” asked Steve from the doorway.

  Jessie told Steve about the article.

  “I am completely dumbfounded!” said Steve. “How could I have missed seeing my dad write down his recipes?”

  “Your dad probably knew how good you were at memorizing,” said Dawn. “I’ll bet he didn’t think you’d ever need the written recipes. So, he didn’t think he had to show them to you.”

  “He kept them for himself,” said Henry. “And maybe for anyone else in your family who might need them.”

  Steve just nodded his head silently. He looked amazed.

  “But the tin isn’t here anymore,” said Violet. “What can we do?”

  “We can help our customers,” said Dawn. “I think they’re waiting for us.” Dawn and Steve left to take care of business.

  But Violet went back to the hallway to look at an old photo on the wall.

  “What’s going on?” Henry asked her.

  “I’ve been thinking and thinking,” said Violet. She walked out slowly with the photo in her hands. “Fred wrote down the recipes for himself and his family. You know, to pass on to a family member who might keep the doughnut shop.”

  “And here’s a picture of his family,” said Henry. “But we already know everyone in that picture.”

  “No, we don’t,” said Jessie. “Not really. What about Steve’s little brother, that boy in the picture? He’d be grown up now.”

  “What if this grown-up brother knew about the written recipes?” said Violet. “What if he came here looking for them?”

  “That would explain the break-in,” said Henry. “The brother could have been looking for papers, even behind the photos on the walls.”

  “I think we’re onto something,” said Jessie, sitting down at an empty table. “I wonder if it’s important that Steve seemed so uncomfortable when we asked him about his brother.”

  “It might be,” said Henry. He sat down next to Jessie and took the family photo from Violet.

  “Fred’s brother is Dave C. Berg,” he said. “We don’t know anyone named Dave Berg.”

  “And we have only two people left on our list of suspects,” said Jessie. “Charlie, the delivery man, and Hilda.”

  Benny came over and looked at the photo too. “Charlie starts with a C,” he said. “I see a big C there.” Benny pointed at the caption under the picture.

  Henry’s eyes got big. “Could the C stand for Charlie?”

  “What if it is Charlie?” said Jessie. “What if Charlie is Fred’s brother?”

  “Charlie the delivery man looks like Fred a little,” said Benny, jumping up and down. “They’re both really tall and skinny.”

  “But how come Fred never told us?” asked Violet. “Why would something like that be a secret?”

  “Let’s see if we can find out right now,” said Henry. The Aldens went to the front of the shop.

  Steve cou
ldn’t stop to talk to the Aldens until the morning rush was over. But then he sat down with them.

  “We’ve been wondering if Charlie is your brother,” Jessie told him. “We think he might be.”

  “Wow,” said Steve. “How on Earth did you figure that out?”

  Violet held up the old photo. “We put the pieces together. We weren’t sure about it, which is why we’re asking you,” she said.

  “You kids aren’t just hard workers,” said Steve. “You’re smart!” He sighed. “Yes, Charlie’s my brother. He’s the boy in that photo.”

  “But why were you keeping that a secret?” asked Violet.

  Steve looked serious. “That’s another story, I’m afraid. It’s not as happy as the first one I told you.” Steve continued: “My brother left Greenfield a long time ago, when he was quite young. He didn’t want to be part of my parents’ business. He went to New York to make a name for himself. He wanted to become a success all on his own, without any help from his family.”

  “Did he become a success?” asked Jessie.

  “Yes, as a matter of fact, he did,” said Steve. “He became well known as a businessman. But it didn’t last forever. Last year, Dave—or Charlie, as you know him—his business failed. Everyone knew about it. It was on the news for weeks.”

  “Poor Dave,” said Benny. “I wouldn’t want to be known for something that didn’t work.”

  Steve nodded. “I think Dave was really ashamed about how things turned out. About six months ago, he called me. He told me he wanted to come back to Greenfield to live, but he needed some favors from me.”

  “Did he want to make doughnuts after all?” asked Benny.

  “The favors he asked me for didn’t have anything to do with doughnuts,” said Steve. “Dave asked me to help him find a job in Greenfield. I have friends who own the local delivery service, so I made a phone call and recommended Dave. And that’s how he got the job he has.”

  “But Dave asked for other favors, right?” said Henry.

  Steve nodded. “He asked Dawn and me to promise not to tell anyone that he was the famous Dave Berg who had failed at his business. No one was supposed to know he was my brother. When he came back to Greenfield, he started using his middle name. He became Charlie Berg, not Dave Berg.”

  The Aldens sat, thinking about this. “Wouldn’t people recognize him from before he left town?” asked Jessie.

  “Probably not,” said Steve. “After Dave left for college, he almost never came back to visit. People change a lot in thirty years.”

  “Do you think Charlie—er…Dave could have known about the sugar tin and the recipes?” asked Henry.

  “I suppose he might have,” said Steve. “He was my dad’s favorite son, after all. And I was my mom’s favorite. I spent more time cooking with my mom, and Dave cooked mostly with my dad.”

  “It sounds like Dave enjoyed making doughnuts as much as you do,” said Violet. “I wonder why he didn’t want to join you in the doughnut business.”

  Steve stared out the window. “Dave and I didn’t always get along,” he said. “Before he left for college, he was always trying to compete with me. But we were so far apart in age that he really couldn’t ever be the winner. That might be why he felt he had to leave Greenfield. I missed my brother after he left.”

  “You told us you and Dawn really trust your brother,” said Jessie. “But he might have taken those recipes.”

  “I still trust him,” said Steve. “I don’t believe he would have stolen anything from me. And I don’t believe he would have lied either.”

  “But someone took the recipes,” said Henry. “And someone is using them to make copies of your doughnuts.”

  The Written Proof

  After the morning rush, the Aldens met again on the bench.

  “Now we know there were written recipes,” said Jessie. “But we still don’t know who has the tin. Somehow, we’ll have to find it.”

  “We all looked so carefully in Delilah’s,” Violet pointed out. “I don’t think it’s there.”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” said Henry. “Because the copycat doughnuts came from The Donut Dispensary, that should be where we look next.”

  Violet nodded. “It seems like the right idea,” she said.

  The Aldens passed the Greenfield Police Station on their way to The Donut Dispensary. Officer Washington was just coming down the stone steps on her way out.

  “Hello there!” she said. “How are things going?”

  Jessie showed the officer the article that mentioned the sugar tin.

  “You children did some good hunting,” said Officer Washington. “I’d consider this proof that there were written recipes. On the other hand, you don’t know for sure that they still exist—or where they might be.”

  “Will you come with us to The Donut Dispensary?” asked Henry. “We were just going to check on an idea we had.”

  “I can do that,” she said. “I’m on my lunch break and can head over with you right now.”

  When the children and Officer Washington got inside the crowded shop, they walked toward the back.

  “Excuse me,” said Officer Washington to someone in the kitchen. The Aldens came to the doorway. What they saw surprised them all.

  Hilda and Charlie stood at a counter in the small kitchen. In front of them was a simple metal box. It was about as big as a loaf of bread. Pieces of paper with handwriting on them were spread out on the counter. The paper was yellowed and curled.

  Charlie took a step away from the counter when he saw the Aldens and Officer Washington. “What’s going on?” he said. “Why are you all here?”

  “Is something the matter, Officer?” asked Hilda. “Why are these children here?”

  “We think something wrong is going on in this shop,” said Henry. “That’s why we brought Officer Washington with us. Jessie, show Hilda the newspaper clippings.”

  Jessie handed the articles to Hilda.

  “Is that the sugar tin Steve’s dad kept?” asked Benny, pointing to the metal box.

  “How do you know about this tin?” asked Charlie. He sounded angry.

  “You can read the article too,” said Jessie. “It tells about all the recipes your father wrote down. We’ve been looking for that tin.”

  “And now we found it,” said Violet.

  “I’m the owner here,” said Hilda. She shook hands with Officer Washington and introduced herself. “I’m confused. What’s this about the recipes? Why are they so important? And why do the police need to be involved?”

  Officer Washington explained, “I’m just here to help everyone sort this out. The Aldens have been investigating quite the mystery.”

  “Steve always kept the family recipes secret,” said Henry. “He didn’t want anyone else knowing how to make his dad’s doughnuts.”

  Jessie continued. “Steve never knew that his dad wrote down the recipes. Then doughnuts that looked and tasted like his dad’s appeared at The Donut Dispensary. No one could figure out how it happened.”

  “Until we found the article,” said Violet. “Then we knew that someone had probably stolen the tin and was copying the doughnuts—in this very shop.”

  “They even stole the names of the doughnuts—almost!” said Benny.

  Officer Washington shifted from one foot to the other. “Ms. Ramirez, can you tell us anything about people making copied doughnuts in your shop?”

  Hilda held out her hands and shrugged. “Charlie shared these recipes with me,” she said. “I assumed they were his old recipes. We’ve made quite a few test batches. We’re working together on them. We were planning to add a lot of new doughnuts to the menu.”

  “What do you have to say about this?” Officer Washington asked Charlie.

  Charlie carefully picked up the paper recipes and put them in the metal tin. He placed the cover on the tin and held it out to Officer Washington.

  “It was me,” he said. He looked down at his feet. “I knew the recip
es were somewhere at Delilah’s, so I went and found them.”

  “But why?” asked Violet. “You could have made those doughnuts with Steve.”

  “I didn’t want people to know I am Steve’s brother,” said Charlie sadly. “I didn’t want them to know my business had failed and I had come back to town. I thought if I worked with him, people would start to wonder. Plus, Steve and Dawn like to make classic doughnuts. I don’t think they’d want to work with me.”

  Charlie sighed and went on. “When I first came back to town, I was glad about the new doughnut shop. Later on, I discovered that Hilda wanted to experiment with new ideas too. And I wanted to work with someone who’d be willing to do that. For the first time, I could see a fresh start for myself. I would carry on my father’s doughnut tradition.”

  “We decided to start with the recipes from the tin and then see what we might want to do next,” said Hilda. “I’m sorry.”

  “Hilda hired me to help her,” said Charlie. “She didn’t know the recipes were family secrets. I never thought anyone would realize we were using those old recipes. That’s why I didn’t try to hide their names. Then later, I saw all of you comparing The Twisters and The Twisties. I knew you were suspicious. I asked Hilda to change the name of The Mashups.”

  Charlie looked up at Hilda. Then he looked at Officer Washington. “Maybe I won’t be working for anyone now. Maybe I’m in trouble.”

  “Why did you take that empty potato sack from Delilah’s?” said Henry. “Was that part of trying to copy old recipes too?”

  Charlie nodded. “I remembered the potato doughnut recipe for the most part, but I couldn’t think of what kind of potato my dad used. I also needed to see The Mashers and taste them to make sure I’d made them correctly. It’s a pretty tricky recipe to get right.”

  “That’s why you broke into the shop, isn’t it?” asked Violet. “You had to get some Mashers.”

  “Not exactly,” said Charlie. He looked very unhappy. “I came looking for the recipes. I thought they might even be hidden behind those photos that have been on the wall for so long. I looked everywhere. Then I saw the old tin. And when I saw The Mashers, I had to take them. I knew they would help me recreate my dad’s recipe.”