The Black Widow Spider Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  Inside the case was a large web and the blackest spider Benny had ever seen.

  CHAPTER 5

  Following the Map

  Benny turned around and was startled to find Mrs. Blackwell standing right behind him. “What are you doing?” she demanded.

  “I, um, was just bringing the box back here,” Benny said.

  “Didn’t I tell you not to go in there?” Mrs. Blackwell asked.

  Benny gulped. Mrs. Blackwell looked very angry. “Yes,” said Benny. “I’m sorry. I thought you wanted me to bring Mr. Blackwell this box.”

  Mrs. Blackwell stared at Benny for a moment, then her face softened. “You’re right, Benny,” she said. “I did say that. But what I meant was for you to leave the box in the hallway. I should have been more clear.”

  Benny stood still for a minute, unsure of what to do. Then he handed the box to Mrs. Blackwell. “I’m sorry,” he repeated.

  “It’s okay, Benny,” she said. “Just don’t come near this room again.”

  Benny headed quickly back toward the kitchen. When he came to the end of the hallway he turned around and looked back. Mrs. Blackwell was standing motionless, watching him.

  Benny was relieved when he reached the kitchen where his sisters and brother were unpacking a large box of dishes. He had been walking so quickly he was breathing heavily.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Violet. “You look as if you’d seen a ghost!”

  “Not a ghost,” Benny replied. “A spider.”

  “What?” asked Violet, putting down the stack of plates she was holding.

  Benny told the others what had happened.

  “Wow,” said Henry when Benny had finished. “Cool.” Henry loved finding bugs in the backyard.

  “Yeah, but Mrs. Blackwell looked really mad to see me back there,” said Benny.

  “I wonder why it’s so important not to go in that room,” said Jessie.

  “That seems to be where Mr. Blackwell works,” Henry said. “You know how Grandfather doesn’t like us to disturb him when he’s working.”

  “Yes, but Grandfather doesn’t get so upset,” Jessie pointed out.

  “Everybody’s different,” said Violet.

  “What about that spider?” said Benny. “Who keeps a spider for a pet?”

  “That depends,” Henry said. “What kind of spider was it?”

  “I don’t know,” Benny said. “A black one. Very black.” He paused, remembering. “And it had a really messy web.”

  “As messy as your room?” Violet teased.

  “My room isn’t messy!” Benny said.

  “Hmmm …” said Henry thoughtfully.

  “What is it?” asked Jessie.

  “I was just thinking about that science book I took out of the library a few weeks ago,” Henry said. “It was all about spiders. I wish I still had it.”

  “The Blackwells have lots of books about spiders in their library,” said Violet. “Remember?”

  Henry smiled. “Why didn’t I think of that? We’ll check it out after we’ve unpacked these boxes.”

  An hour later the Aldens had finished organizing the kitchen. They looked with satisfaction at the cabinets filled with neatly stacked dishes and carefully placed cups.

  “We can go into the library now,” said Jessie. “We’ve earned a break anyway.”

  The Aldens walked quickly to the library. Most of the spider books were on a high shelf. Henry climbed up on the stepstool and searched for a book that would be useful. Jessie looked around the room. She spotted something on the desk.

  “Hey, you guys, take a look at this,” Jessie said.

  Henry climbed down from the stool. The Aldens huddled together around the desk.

  “What is it?” Henry asked, looking down at the paper Jessie had spotted. Someone had drawn a diagram on the paper, with several rectangles and lines.

  “Looks like a map,” said Jessie.

  “A map of what?” asked Violet.

  “A treasure map?” Benny asked hopefully.

  The Aldens stood silently looking at the map for several minutes. Suddenly, Violet said, “Wait a minute …” She took another look at the map, then ran to the window. The library was at the back of the house. From the window she could see a large, curved stone patio. Beyond the patio was a big yard ringed with tall grass and woods.

  “That’s it!” Violet cried.

  She ran back to the map. “This is a map of the backyard. The large rectangle is the house.” She pointed to the bottom of the diagram. “See, this curve matches the curve of the patio. So this smaller rectangle is the shed. These lines represent the tall grass out there.”

  “And what is that X?” asked Henry.

  Violet slowly shook her head. “I have no idea. I don’t see anything out the window.”

  “It’s obvious,” said Benny. “An X on a map always means treasure. Doesn’t it?”

  “I’m curious,” said Jessie.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” said Henry. “Let’s go.”

  “We can’t just go poking around in the backyard!” said Violet. “What will we tell Mrs. Blackwell?”

  “The truth,” said Henry. “That we’d like to take a look at her backyard. I’m sure she won’t mind.”

  The children considered this plan. “All right,” said Jessie. “I don’t see any harm in it.”

  Leaving the map on the desk in the library, the Aldens went back to the main hallway. “Mrs. Blackwell?” Jessie called up the stairs.

  “Yes?” came a voice from above.

  “We’ve finished unpacking the kitchen,” Jessie said.

  “Very good,” said Mrs. Blackwell, appearing at the top of the stairs. “You do work quickly.”

  “We were wondering if we could take a little break and get some fresh air in your backyard,” said Henry.

  “That would be fine,” Mrs. Blackwell said.

  The Aldens went out the back door into the spacious yard. “Wow,” said Benny. “This would be a great place to play baseball.”

  “It would be,” Jessie agreed. “But that’s not what we’re here for. Now, what did that map say?”

  “The X was just beyond the tall grass,” said Henry.

  “That’s the grass over there,” Violet said, pointing.

  The Aldens walked across the yard to where the grass grew tall and wild. They looked around but could see nothing unusual. “Maybe it’s on the other side of the grass,” Violet said, pushing her way through.

  “I don’t know what we’re looking for, but I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” said Jessie, crawling into the grass.

  “Maybe something is buried out here,” suggested Benny. “That’s how they always do it in books.”

  “But if something was buried here recently, we’d see an area that looked freshly dug up,” said Henry. “I don’t see anything like that.”

  “Neither do I,” said Jessie. “And if it was buried a long time ago, it could be anywhere.” She was disappointed. “Maybe we read the map wrong. Let’s go back and look again.”

  The Aldens walked across the wide yard and through the back door. They had just stepped inside when they heard Mrs. Blackwell’s voice. “Stop right there! Don’t move!”

  CHAPTER 6

  Beware the Spider’s Bite

  Mrs. Blackwell was rushing down the stairs, a look of horror on her face. She headed straight for Jessie.

  “What is it?” asked Henry.

  “On Jessie’s back!” said Mrs. Blackwell.

  Jessie froze and the other Aldens turned to look. In the middle of Jessie’s back was the largest spider the children had ever seen.

  Before the Aldens could react, Mrs. Blackwell plucked the spider off of Jessie. Cupping it delicately in her hands, she spoke in a gentle voice. “My poor girl!”

  Jessie rubbed her back with her hand to brush off the feeling of the spider. She smiled and was about to speak when she realized Mrs. Blackwell hadn’t been talking to her a
t all. She was talking to the spider!

  Mrs. Blackwell looked down into her cupped hands. “Were you hitching a ride on Jessie’s back?” she cooed in the same gentle tone. “Good thing I spotted you out the window!”

  The Aldens clustered around to see the spider. It was three inches long, with thin legs and a black and yellow egg-shaped body. Mrs. Blackwell walked quickly out the back door and across the yard. She placed the spider in the high grass where the children had been.

  When Mrs. Blackwell stepped back into the house, she seemed surprised to see all the children staring at her in amazement. “What’s the matter?” she asked. “It was just a yellow garden spider. They can’t hurt you.”

  “B-b-but —” Jessie stuttered.

  “It was huge!” said Benny.

  “Why are people always so concerned with size?” muttered Mrs. Blackwell. “That has nothing to do with how dangerous a spider is. That poor spider was just looking for a place to make a web and accidentally ended up on Jessie’s back.”

  “Really?” said Violet.

  “Yes. Yellow garden spiders like to build their nests in places like that tall grass,” Mrs. Blackwell said. “What were you doing back there anyway?”

  The children looked at each other, unsure what to say. “We were just exploring,” Henry said at last.

  “How do you know so much about spiders?” asked Benny.

  “I’ve always been fascinated by spiders, ever since I was young,” Mrs. Blackwell said. She looked off into the distance, a soft smile on her face as she remembered. “I used to go out in the yard to look for them.”

  “Neat!” said Violet, trying to picture Mrs. Blackwell as a young girl. “And so you still like spiders?”

  “I do,” Mrs. Blackwell said.

  Violet was about to ask something else when Benny interrupted her. “Does Mr. Blackwell like spiders, too? Is that why he keeps that spider in the room at the back of the house?”

  Suddenly the smile disappeared from Mrs. Blackwell’s face. “Please don’t go back there again,” she said, then turned and walked toward the study.

  “Mrs. Blackwell,” Henry called after her. “Would you mind if we stopped working now and came back tomorrow? We’d like to visit the public library this afternoon.”

  “That’s fine,” said Mrs. Blackwell, barely turning around.

  Violet looked disappointed. “She was just starting to talk to us, to be friendly,” she whispered. “I wish you hadn’t asked her about that spider, Benny.”

  “I didn’t know it would make her stop talking to us,” Benny said.

  “I wonder why it did,” Jessie said.

  The Aldens checked to make sure that everything had been put away neatly in the kitchen. Then they left the Blackwells’ house and headed home for a quick lunch. While Jessie boiled some hot dogs, Henry got out buns, ketchup, and mustard. Benny took out four plates and napkins and Violet poured four large cups of milk.

  “Let’s eat our lunch in the boxcar,” suggested Benny.

  “Great idea,” said Violet. She placed the cups of milk on a tray and led the way to the backyard. Watch scampered around the children’s feet as they walked.

  Soon they were sitting inside the boxcar, munching their hot dogs. Watch sat quietly in a corner, chewing a bone.

  “So we never did find out what that map was for,” Henry said in between bites.

  “All it led us to was a spider,” said Benny.

  “Maybe that’s what the map was for!” said Violet excitedly.

  “I thought it was a treasure map,” said Benny. “Spiders aren’t treasure.”

  “But don’t you see?” Violet said. “That’s exactly what spiders are to Mrs. Blackwell.”

  “I still think there’s more she’s not telling us,” said Jessie.

  After they’d finished eating, the children set off for the library on their bikes. Henry led them straight to the section with books about spiders and insects. “Here’s the book I took out last month,” he said, pulling the book from a shelf. The cover showed a large photograph of a brown spider.

  Henry flipped it open. He turned each page slowly, studying the photographs. His brother and sisters peered over his shoulder.

  “Hey look!” cried Benny, pointing to a picture in the book. “That looks like the spider that was on Jessie’s back.”

  Jessie shivered. Benny was right. The black and yellow spider in the photograph looked just like the one Mrs. Blackwell had taken off her back.

  Violet leaned closer and studied the text under the photograph. “It says this spider goes by lots of different names. Yellow Garden Spider — that’s what Mrs. Blackwell called it. I like this name: Golden Orb Weaver.”

  “What does that say?” asked Benny, pointing to some italicized words written in smaller print.

  “Argiope aurantia,” Henry read, slowly sounding out the difficult words. “It says that’s the spider’s scientific name.”

  Henry continued flipping the pages until he came to a full-page photograph of a very black spider. “Wait!” he said. “This might be it.” He read quietly to himself while the others waited. Then he said, “I found it!”

  “What?” asked Jessie.

  “Listen to this.” Henry began reading from the book. “‘One of the most well-known spiders is the black widow spider. This spider can be identified by its inky black coloring and the red hourglass marking on the female’s underside.’”

  “Red hourglass marking!” cried Violet. “Just like on the boxes!”

  “Yes,” said Henry. “I knew that red symbol reminded me of something.”

  “What does widow mean?” asked Benny.

  “A widow is a woman whose husband has died,” Henry explained. “It says here the black widow spider has that name because the female is much larger and sometimes eats the male.”

  “Really?” said Benny. “That’s not very nice.”

  “No,” Henry said. “It isn’t. But it says the males sometimes escape after throwing strands of silk at the females. Look, here’s a picture.” He held the book so the others could see.

  “Hey!” said Benny. “That looks like the spider I saw in the glass case!”

  “It does?” Violet asked.

  “Yes,” said Benny. “I didn’t see an hourglass, but the spider was really black, with long legs. And its web was all tangled like that one in the picture. Remember, I told you it was messy.”

  “What else does the book say about black widows?” Jessie asked.

  “Let’s see,” said Henry. He began to read aloud again. “‘The black widow spider bites if it feels threatened. Its poison is extremely strong — fifteen times stronger than that of a rattlesnake.’” Henry paused and looked around at the others. “Wow.”

  “The poison is fifteen times stronger than a rattlesnake’s?” Jessie repeated.

  Henry nodded.

  “No wonder Mrs. Blackwell doesn’t want us in that back room!” said Violet.

  “Now I really wonder why someone would keep that spider as a pet!” said Benny.

  Henry was just about to close up the book when Jessie spotted something. “Let me see that book for a minute,” she said.

  Henry handed the book to her. Jessie pointed to the word she had spotted. She said it aloud slowly, “Lactrodectus.”

  “What’s that?” asked Violet.

  “I guess it’s the scientific name for black widow spiders,” Jessie said. “But it’s also one of the words …”

  “Written on a tag in the Blackwell’s atlas!” cried Violet.

  Jessie was unzipping her backpack. She pulled out the piece of paper she’d tucked in there earlier. “Lactrodectus hesperus, Lactrodectus mactans.” Jessie looked back at the spider book. She read aloud, “‘The species Lactrodectus hesperus is found in the Western United States, while Lactrodectus mactans is common to the Eastern and Central United States.’”

  “So that’s why they had those tags stuck on the maps — different kinds of spiders
live in different places,” said Violet.

  “Why would the Blackwells label where spiders live in their atlas?” asked Henry. “That’s a pretty weird hobby.”

  “Unless they use spider code names for their spy missions!” said Benny.

  The others shrugged, still unsure.

  “I’m just glad we figured out what those strange words are,” Violet said.

  “And now I see why they weren’t in the dictionary — they’re scientific terms,” said Jessie.

  Henry brought the spider book to the checkout counter. He wanted to take it home to read more. When the librarian saw the book she said, “If you’re interested in spiders, you should visit the new exhibit at the Greenfield Museum.” She pointed to a flyer tacked onto the bulletin board. SPIDERS AND OTHER ARACHNIDS, the flyer read. STARTS TUESDAY AT THE GREENFIELD MUSEUM. PET A TARANTULA. HOLD A SCORPION. LEARN HOW SPIDERS WEAVE THEIR WEBS.

  “Look, you guys,” said Henry, pointing to the flyer. “A spider exhibit at the Greenfield Museum.”

  Benny smiled. “Let’s check it out!”

  “It starts tomorrow,” Jessie said.

  “Then that’s when we’ll go!” said Henry. The Aldens headed out the door of the library toward the bike rack where they had left their bikes.

  The Aldens were peddling down their street when they saw two men coming out of the Blackwells’ house. Henry, who was leading the way, slowed his bike to a stop. His brother and sisters braked behind him. “Look,” Henry said softly. “Isn’t that Joe Toll, the guy with the map that wasn’t a map?”

  Violet nodded. “I think so,” she whispered. “And look who he’s with!”

  Benny’s eyes widened in amazement. “That’s the guy from the SPIDER2 car!”

  The Aldens watched silently as the two men walked down the driveway. Both men looked unhappy, as if something bad had just happened.

  “I can’t believe they weren’t interested,” the man from the car was saying. “Not for any amount of money.”

  “That’s not true,” said Joe. “They said they’d think about our offer. I think we can convince them.”

  The men had reached the Blackwells’ spider gate. They hadn’t noticed the Aldens across the street. As the men walked away from the children, toward their car, Henry caught a glimpse of the back of Joe’s jacket.