by Dan Poblocki
“Mrs. Geldman was confused. The last she’d checked, she said, the safe had been locked up tight. Everyone went upstairs to see for themselves. To their disappointment, Melvin was right. The door was open. And the safe was empty.
“An argument broke out almost immediately. Melvin’s siblings believed that he had somehow broken into the safe. They thought he’d removed whatever was inside and hidden it. Melvin, of course, was insulted that his brothers and sisters would think he’d do such a thing. He wanted to prove his innocence, so he allowed them all to search his luggage and his car. No one found anything that looked like it should have been part of their inheritance.
“The family placed a police report, but so far, they haven’t made any progress,” said Viola. “But after thinking about the story, I told my mom that I had an idea of how someone got into the safe. Do you guys know?”
“Melvin didn’t mention that the safe looked like it had been tampered with,” said Woodrow. “So someone had to have used the key to open it.” He jingled the key chain he always kept attached to his belt loop.
“You’re saying the thief used the same key that Mr. Geldman had kept from his wife?” said Rosie. “But who had gotten ahold of it?”
“If it wasn’t Melvin,” said Viola, “or any of Mrs. Geldman’s adult children, it had to have been someone who knew she had something valuable up in that house.”
“ ‘Treasure’ was what she called it,” said Sylvester.
“Oh my gosh,” said Rosie. “Mrs. Geldman mentioned ‘treasure’ to the people at the thrift store when she dropped off her husband’s old clothes.”
“Exactly,” said Viola. “So one of them must have gotten Mr. Geldman’s key. How?”
“That’s easy,” said Woodrow. “Where do people keep keys?”
Sylvester pointed at Woodrow’s waistband. “Clipped to your pants.”
“True,” said Woodrow. “Or they stick them into their pockets.”
“Someone at the thrift store must have found a key ring in the pocket of one of Mrs. Geldman’s donations,” said Rosie.
“One of the employees must have used the keys to get into her house,” said Viola. “They located the safe in the closet and emptied out whatever was inside.”
“Is that what you told your mom?” asked Woodrow. Viola nodded. “What’s she going to do about it?”
“She already talked to the police,” said Viola. “They’ve narrowed the suspects down to a pair of thrift store employees. Hopefully Mrs. Geldman will get her stuff back.”
Rosie pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I just can’t believe that someone would take advantage of a little old lady like that, especially someone who works for a charity.”
“If we’ve learned anything this week,” Viola said, “it’s that monsters wear all kinds of masks. Right?”
“Yeah,” said Rosie, “but how are we supposed to see through them?”
20
THE GLORY OF DETECTION
Over the course of the next week, the students of Moon Hollow Middle School were occupied with two recurring disturbances: more Tall Ted sightings and a thief who was targeting student belongings. Some people claimed that the two were one. Stories raced from class to class about strange growling noises coming from custodial closets, a large shadowy figure watching an outdoor soccer scrimmage from behind school windows, deep dents that had been smashed into the lockers of students who had taken stones from Purgatory Chasm. Gossip flew that Tall Ted was exacting his revenge by stealing back from those who had stolen from him. The scariest part of the whole experience was the rumor that the monster was only biding his time until he snatched a student instead of a wallet or a piece of jewelry. Everyone was frightened to walk home from school alone. Even some of the faculty were beginning to look nervous.
The Question Marks Mystery Club, however, was in detective paradise. They listened to the stories their friends told and gathered as many details as possible. Unfortunately, since the opening night of The Villain’s Web was edging ever closer, Rosie and Viola didn’t have as much time to devote to the mysteries as they would have liked. Rehearsal was eating up their freedom.
Thankfully, the play was eating Clea Keene’s free time too. The Troop — as Clea and her friends had come to be known — were also trying to figure out who or what was behind the Tall Ted stories and all the stealing, without any obvious progress.
Viola, Rosie, Sylvester, and Woodrow promised one another that the Question Marks would answer the questions first. They would show these novices which of them loved mysteries more.
Viola made the mistake during one rehearsal of saying just that to Rosie while in earshot of Clea Keene and Paul Gomez.
“This isn’t about a love of mysteries,” said Clea, coming quickly to where Viola and Rosie stood offstage. “It’s about stopping terror.”
“Terror?” Rosie said, trying to hide her amusement.
“I’d say,” Clea answered. “People are really scared. This has got to stop. Obviously, you guys are more interested in proving a point than helping your fellow students. Am I right, Paul?”
Paul Gomez came running. “Yes. Of course.”
Viola sighed. “I’m sorry that you think we don’t care about our ‘fellow students,’ “ she said. “Yes, solving mysteries together is like a game for us, but there’s a purpose too. Our curiosity ends up helping people. We just don’t go around bragging about how wonderful we are.”
This seemed to sting Clea. She huffed. “That being the case … maybe you wouldn’t mind sharing the love.”
“What do you mean?” said Viola.
Clea nudged Paul, as if they had planned this little argument. He jumped, surprised, then realized it was his turn to speak. “We, uh, challenge you to solve the mystery of Tall Ted.”
Rosie and Viola both blinked, speechless.
“If we solve it first,” Clea added, “you have to admit that the Troop knows just as much about mysteries as you guys. In fact, you’ll have to write a letter to the school paper proclaiming our …” She thought for a long moment. “Our glory.”
“Your glory?” said Rosie.
“That’s a little bit ridiculous,” said Viola.
“And you’ll have to drop out of the school play,” Clea added quickly, almost under her breath.
“So that’s what this is about,” said Viola. “I should have known.”
“What do we get if we win?” Rosie asked.
Clea sighed. “We promise to disband the Troop and stick to what we supposedly do best: acting.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Viola.
“Then we have a deal?” asked Clea.
Viola and Rosie glanced at each other. They were certain Sylvester and Woodrow would go for it. Besides, the girls were the ones who had everything to lose, the boys, not so much. But was it worth giving up their roles in the school play? They had already worked so hard. And despite all of Clea’s pestering, they were having fun.
Suddenly Rosie wasn’t sure what to do. But then Clea Keene raised an eyebrow, as if daring them to say no. Viola grabbed Rosie’s hand.
“Deal,” the girls answered at the same time.
21
THE TRUTH ABOUT TALL TED
(A ?????? MYSTERY)
“So where do we start?” asked Woodrow when Rosie and Viola arrived at his house later that evening. They’d picked up Sylvester on their way over and were now sitting on the Knoxes’ front steps.
Stars lit the sky over the Hudson River. In the distance, a train blew its lonely horn. The air was cool and sweet and still. “I think we need to talk to the Tall Ted witnesses,” said Viola, bundling her jacket up tight. “Get a sense of what we’re dealing with.”
“Okay,” said Sylvester. “I’ll gather a list of everyone who’s had a Tall Ted encounter. We can work from there.”
At lunch the next day, the four found one another at their favorite table. Sylvester pulled out the notebook Viola had given him for Christm
as and opened it up. He showed everyone the five names he’d written. “This is who I came up with. Does anybody have class with any of them?”
They all shook their heads no.
“But Gina Denucci volunteers in the main office during her study hall period,” said Rosie, pointing at one of the names. “I could talk to her there.”
“It’s a start,” said Viola. “The rest of us can figure out how to track down the others. Do you all want to catch up before play rehearsal? Meet outside the auditorium?”
Everyone agreed.
Rosie made her way to the main office. She noticed a skinny girl with long black hair sitting behind a desk just inside the office entrance.
“Gina?”
“Hi, Rosie,” said the girl, wearing a big smile. “You need another hall pass?”
“Oh, ha, no, thanks. I was just wondering if I could ask you a couple of questions.”
“About what?”
“Well … I heard that you might have had a Tall Ted sighting.”
Gina blushed. “Oh you did, did you?” She suddenly didn’t sound as outgoing as usual.
“Can you tell me a little bit about what you saw?”
Gina exhaled slowly and glanced over her shoulder. “I don’t know if I should.”
“Why not?”
“Some people around here don’t want us talking about … monsters.”
Rosie thought she understood. The faculty seemed to be trying to quash the spooky rumors before they got out of hand. But Rosie figured it was too late for that. “I can be quiet if you can,” Rosie whispered, impressed with herself for not giving up so easily.
Gina gave another nervous glance over her shoulder, then appeared to relax slightly. “Okay,” she said softly. “It was really freaky. I was here in the office after school, doing some filing for Ms. Benson, the guidance counselor, when out in the hallway I heard this weird noise.”
“What did it sound like?” Rosie asked.
“Kinda gross. Like a growl mixed with … well, a huge burp.”
Rosie crinkled her nose. “I experienced something similar near the boiler room under the stage.”
Gina nodded. “When I heard it, I immediately thought of all those Tall Ted rumors. The boy I was working with that afternoon heard the noise too. We both went to the door to listen for it again. I was totally freaking out. But Thomas insisted we head toward the math wing. He thought that’s where the noise had come from.
“We were halfway there when, before I knew what was happening, Thomas shouted, grabbed my hand, and pulled me back here to the office. Once I caught my breath, he asked me if I’d seen what he’d seen. I wasn’t sure, but as soon as he described it, I couldn’t get the image out of my head. A tall figure. Pale. Bald. With long arms and sharp claws.”
“That seems to be what everyone says,” said Rosie.
“Well, Thomas and I told Ms. Benson what happened. She was concerned. She went out and searched the hallway for us, but came back reporting nothing unusual. She looked at me like I’d gone crazy for seeing Tall Ted.”
“But … according to what you just said,” Rosie replied, “you didn’t see anything. Your friend Thomas did.”
Gina pursed her lips. She looked almost disappointed. “But I almost saw him. If I’d been looking in the right direction —” Suddenly, Gina sat up straight and glanced over Rosie’s shoulder. “Oh, hi, Thomas. I was just chatting with Rosie about … the weather. Right, Rosie? It’s been so nice out lately.”
Rosie turned around to find a tall boy standing behind her. Suddenly, she felt foolish. Gina’s coworker in the office was Thomas Kenyon, a member of Clea’s Troop. Rosie had thought that she and Gina had been whispering so that the faculty wouldn’t hear them, but she now realized she’d been wrong. Gina didn’t want Thomas listening in. He must have asked Gina not to discuss the sighting with members of the Question Marks, since the two groups were in the midst of a mystery competition.
Thomas simply folded his arms and glared at her. Rosie took it as a sign that her business there was done.
After the last bell rang that day, Rosie found Viola, Sylvester, and Woodrow in the hallway outside of the auditorium. The girls had only a few minutes before Mrs. Glick would be expecting them inside, so Rosie lost no time relaying her experience with Gina.
“So Gina never actually saw Tall Ted?” said Sylvester.
“But Thomas did,” said Woodrow. “Too bad we can’t ask him about it. Being in Clea’s Troop, he won’t tell us a thing. Certainly nothing we could consider real evidence.”
“Did you guys track down the other people on the list of witnesses?” asked Rosie.
Viola nodded. “Yeah, but their stories were similar to Gina’s. They all seemed to be nearby when someone else saw something. But no one remembers who did the actual witnessing.”
“What about that kid in your play?” asked Woodrow. “The one who claimed Tall Ted went into the boiler room.”
“Evan Gleeson?” said Viola. “I talked to him today too. He said he thought he’d seen a tall shape moving in the darkness, but he couldn’t be sure. Especially with the flickering lights in that hallway. Everyone’s been saying that Evan saw a tall, bald figure with claws, but he was never that specific with his description.”
“Weird,” said Sylvester. “So we can’t verify any eyewitness accounts?”
The other three shook their heads.
“So there’s our first hint about what’s really going on here,” said Woodrow.
“And what would that be?” asked Sylvester.
“Without solid proof that Tall Ted exists,” said Woodrow, “we have to assume that he doesn’t.”
“Well that’s a relief,” said Rosie.
“I think our next step should be to find proof that he’s a fake,” said Viola. “Not just a lack of proof that he’s real.”
“How do we do that?” asked Sylvester. “Where do we look?”
“We all know what else has been going on at the school lately,” said Viola.
“The thefts?” said Woodrow. “But people are blaming those on Tall Ted too.”
“So let’s forget the rumors, and talk to the victims to get the facts,” said Viola. “Because if Tall Ted isn’t stealing people’s stuff, someone else is.”
A few members of the Villain cast headed through the auditorium doors. Rosie glanced at the clock on the wall nearby. “Viola and I have to go. But we’ll catch up with you guys later this evening.”
“Sylvester and I will see who we can chat with about the thefts,” said Woodrow. “Have fun at rehearsal!”
That night, it was Rosie’s turn to host the Question Marks. After the Smithers family dinner, the group of four gathered at the big table in the dining room.
Woodrow took a scrap of paper from his coat pocket and spread it on the table. “Sylvester and I made some progress this afternoon,” he said. “The list of names I have here are all the people who claim that Tall Ted has stolen something from them. As I understand it, only the four members of the ‘Question Troop’ had their homes burglarized, giving them a reason to form their group. Plus, Paul Gomez’s wallet was taken from his bag in the dressing rooms under the stage, right after Evan Gleeson claimed to have seen the monster. The rest of the listed victims had their things stolen out of their lockers at school. Some of those targets had the big dents in the doors that everyone is talking about, but most of the lockers seemed to have been opened by someone with the locker combinations.”
“That’s bizarre,” said Rosie. “How exactly would the thief get access to everyone’s locker combinations?”
“Suppose Tall Ted isn’t fake after all,” said Sylvester, excitedly. “What if he has some sort of secret-psychic-locker-combo power?”
Woodrow nodded and smiled. “How about we keep that theory in your pocket and come back to it later?”
Sylvester scowled.
“Viola and I heard something during rehearsal this afternoon that might provide some insi
ght into the thefts,” said Rosie. “Actually, I think this story is scarier than anything I’ve heard about Tall Ted. Everyone was talking about a man who supposedly escaped from a prison upstate and has recently been seen lurking about in the Moon Hollow Hills.”
“No way,” said Woodrow. “My mom would have said something to me about that. She works up in those woods every day!”
“Maybe she didn’t want to scare you,” said Sylvester.
“It’s possible that this convict is the one who’s been burglarizing people’s homes,” said Rosie. “Could he have come into the school too?”
“That’s a creepy thought,” said Viola. “I’ll ask my mom to look into other crime reports in the area to see if they have anything in common. Maybe we’ve got our culprit.”
“Gosh,” said Woodrow. “Now, not only do we have to deal with monsters, but we might have a dangerous criminal on our hands as well? Maybe we should just give up now. Let Clea’s Troop claim the crown.”
“Clea isn’t any closer to an answer than we are,” said Viola. “I gathered that much at rehearsal today. Anyway, the point of our contest isn’t to catch a criminal … it’s to solve the mystery. We’ll leave the bounty-hunting to the proper authorities, thank you very much.”
“Besides,” said Rosie, “if we let Clea win, that means Viola and I have to drop out of the play. Mrs. Glick would never let us audition again.”
“Then I guess it’s settled,” said Sylvester. “This shall be a battle to the finish.”
On Friday afternoon, after Mrs. Glick assigned the Villain cast to their official dressing rooms, Viola and Rosie took some time to clean up and organize their spaces. The two girls even taped magazine cutouts of their favorite actresses onto their mirrors. They were happy that Clea had been placed a couple doors down from them.
They were practicing their lines, waiting for Mrs. Glick to call “places,” when from down the hallway, they heard a familiar sound — one that still sent chills through their bones. It was the same growl that they’d heard a couple weeks earlier, and it was once again coming from the boiler room.