The Chocolate Spy

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The Chocolate Spy Page 4

by Shannon L. Brown


  Jessica said, “I don’t want to go camping, Sophie.”

  “It’s you and Jessica or not at all,” Mrs. Sandoval said to Sophie.

  Sophie groaned and turned to Jessica. “Please?”

  “Okay,” Jessie agreed, but Sophie could tell she still didn’t want to go. “I didn’t think I would ever go camping in my whole life.”

  “Thank you!”

  “Sophie, I do have that favor to ask of you,” Mrs. Sandoval said. “Remember how I mentioned the choir to you two or three weeks ago?”

  Not the choir! Sophie nodded very slowly.

  “If you would go and sing—”

  “No! Please, Mom, I’m a mystery solver, not a choir singer.”

  “All I’m asking is that you give it a try. Go once or twice and see if you like it. You have a very pretty voice when you sing at church.” Her mother held out her hand.

  Sophie stared at it. Then she reached for her mom’s hand and shook it. “Deal. I sing twice?”

  Her mother nodded.

  “And I get to go camping tonight?”

  “You aren’t far from home when you’re there. I think it should be okay. I’ll have to see if your father agrees, but I believe he will.”

  “And we can take the spyglass?” As much as Sophie wanted it, she didn’t think her mother would allow that.

  “You can take it.”

  Sophie blinked, not sure she’d heard correctly. Her mother was always very careful with antiques, so why wasn’t she worried about this one?

  Jessica solved the mystery. “Aunt April, I noticed that the spyglass has a dent in the side. It isn’t as perfect as most of the other things you have in your shop.”

  “Very observant. I bought it thinking that one day I might sell it, but since the spyglass isn’t perfect, it isn’t as valuable. I’ve decided to let Sophie use it for a while.”

  “Really? More than one night?” Sophie held it close to her chest. Then she said, “This has been a day of great things. Uncle Sal let each of us choose a piece of chocolate this morning. And he gave us each a box with four more pieces.”

  Mrs. Sandoval said, “Uncle Sal? Do you mean Salvatore Donadio?”

  Jessica said, “He said that we’re friends with Tony, and friends are like family to the Donadios, so we should call him Uncle Sal.”

  Mrs. Sandoval said, “That’s fine. But Sophie, you’ve always said you did not like chocolate. You do now?”

  Sophie tapped the counter as she thought about the answer. “The milk chocolate with the orange filling tasted good. At least, it wasn’t bad.”

  Her mother and Jessica laughed.

  Sophie said, “I’ve had enough chocolate for today. Jessica, let’s not take any chocolate tonight. Okay?”

  “That’s fine with me. I know I get to eat more at the next class.”

  “It’s time to pack for our night.” Sophie walked toward the door, her hand securely around the spyglass.

  It’s a Mystery!

  THE SHOP DOOR CLOSED behind Sophie before Jessica could even get there. The last words she heard from her were from her list of things to take that night: “. . . tent, sleeping bags, food for dinner and breakfast, flashlights . . .” Jessica caught up with Sophie about half a block away. She certainly didn’t want to waste any time in getting home to pack for this camping trip.

  Once they were back at Sophie’s house, her cousin packed swiftly. She asked her father to help haul some of their gear to the campsite, and faster than Jessica would have thought possible, they were alone in the woods beside a tent.

  “This summer has been full of firsts.” Jessica glanced around them. It was beautiful up here in a rustic, old-fashioned way. She and Sophie sat on some lightweight chairs, watching the sun set as they ate dinner. Jessica took a bite of her sandwich and chewed slowly, all the time playing the scene in her mind over and over again of Sheriff Valeska asking her to keep her eyes open at the chocolate factory.

  She didn’t need to worry here, though. They were a long way from Sweet Bites Chocolates. And the sheriff didn’t say anything scary was happening. She said for Jessica to keep her eyes open, so it was probably safe to be in the woods.

  Of course, there was the time when she and Sophie had first met, and Sophie had said there were wild animals up here, but Jessica still hadn’t seen one. She hoped they were safe from those too. She glanced around as she ate the last bite of her sandwich. Their first mystery had begun with a clue they’d found up here.

  The idea of clues sent her thoughts right back to Sweet Bites. There might not be anything strange happening inside that chocolate factory. Sure, there’d been that shadow that went around the corner this morning, but that could have a simple explanation, like one of the people who worked there stopped for a moment.

  Jessica swallowed hard. “We’re safe. We’re safe,” she said very low so Sophie wouldn’t hear her.

  “Are you okay, Jessica?”

  “Sure. I’m fine. Absolutely wonderful.” She laughed in a way that she hoped sounded real but didn’t to her own ears.

  A flashlight came on and shined in her direction. “You don’t sound okay. Are you nervous about camping?”

  Jessica held up her thumb and forefinger a short distance apart. “Maybe a little.” She moved her hands so they were about a foot apart. “Maybe more than a little.”

  “Don’t worry. I’ve camped up here lots of times. We’re fine.” Sophie took another bite of her sandwich. A minute later, she added, “Turkey sandwiches and watching the sun set over Pine Lake. This is awesome. I brought apples for dessert.”

  Jessica pointed at her braces, then realized Sophie couldn’t see her. “Is mine cut up?”

  “Of course. I know it’s hard for you to eat apples otherwise.” Sophie handed her a plastic bag with the apple in it.

  Munching on an apple slice, Jessica realized this place was safe. She only had to worry about possible spies at the chocolate factory. No problem. No problem at all.

  Heavy clouds early in the day had moved on, leaving a mostly clear sky. The stars shone overhead, and a full moon cast a bright light onto the lake in front of them, making it seem almost like daytime.

  Sophie held up her spyglass and scanned the horizon.

  “Is there anything out there?”

  “Only water surrounded by pine trees. This is the first time I’ve used this away from town, and I wanted it to be interesting, maybe even exciting.”

  “That’s a lot to ask for with a lake.”

  “Especially when we aren’t working on a mystery.”

  Jessica wasn’t working on a mystery, at least she hoped not. “I think Pine Lake’s going to be quiet at night. Can I try the spyglass?”

  Sophie handed it to her. “Let me know if you see anything. I’m going to relax and enjoy being out here in nature.”

  Right, nature. Where was a mall when you needed one? Jessica held up the spyglass and saw the lake through the circle at the end. Motion at the edge of the circle caught her attention, so she shifted it that direction. A little sailboat slowly moved toward the center of the lake.

  “Hey Sophie, there’s a boat.”

  “Really? Where?” Sophie reached for the spyglass and held it up, peering through it in the direction Jessica pointed. “There is. It’s coming from the far side of the lake. Why would anybody be in a boat at night? That seems kind of risky. What if there was a log or something like that in the water? You wouldn’t see it at all.”

  Jessica could barely make out the boat without the spyglass, and might not have noticed it otherwise. When it slid into the moon’s reflection on the water, she could see its sails a little more clearly. “Can I look again?”

  “Sure.” Sophie handed it back. “A sailboat is so quiet that we wouldn’t have known it was there if we weren’t camping tonight.”

  Jessica found the boat again. Then everything went dark. She lowered the spyglass and discovered that a cloud had covered the moon. “I think we’re done using
this tonight. The clouds made it dark enough that this is hard to see through.” And it’s a lot creepier.

  As Jessica listened for anything in the trees and brush around them, the cloud moved off, and the moon reappeared. She returned the spyglass to Sophie who immediately raised it to the view.

  “The boat stopped in the middle of the lake. That doesn’t make sense.”

  “Maybe they think the moon is pretty, like we do, and wanted to sit in the moonlight.”

  Sophie laughed. “That’s probably true. You know how I almost always want to be solving a mystery.”

  Stillness came over their campsite. There was only the sound of crickets in the woods and a light breeze that ruffled her hair. This was actually kind of pleasant, and her spying job at the chocolate factory more like a bad dream.

  Suddenly Sophie jumped to her feet. “Jessica! They dropped something over the side of the boat. Then they turned in a circle and started back to shore.”

  Jessica noticed a second tiny speck on the water coming from near town. “Sophie, over there!” Jessica tugged the spyglass in that direction so Sophie could see it better.

  “What is going on? People in two boats want to go out and see the moonlight in the same place?”

  Another cloud moved over the moon.

  “No!” Sophie cried out. “Move, cloud, move!” She swept her hand to the side as if she could move the cloud that direction. The light began increasing as the cloud moved on. “The first boat is gone. Wait! I see a trail of water behind a boat going back to where I first saw it.”

  Sophie gave Jessica time with the spyglass. A minute later, Jessica said, “The second boat doesn’t have sails. It went right to the spot or very close to where the other boat stopped, and they pulled something onboard. They must have picked up whatever the other boat threw overboard.”

  “This is very strange.”

  Knowing Sophie would want to see what was happening, she handed the spyglass back to her.

  “Jessica, the first boat went to a part of the lake I don’t know very well. It’s way on the other side of Pine Hill—beyond that, even.” Sophie swung the spyglass to the right. “The second boat isn’t going toward the marina either, and that’s where all but a few of Pine Lake’s boats are kept. Hold it . . . that boat might be going in the direction of the chocolate factory.”

  “Oh no! There is a mystery. If the boat is from there—”

  Sophie lowered the spyglass and turned toward Jessica. “What are you saying?”

  Jessica needed a quick answer. “That old building feels like a mysterious place with all its wandering hallways.”

  “Now you’re talking. We might have found another mystery.” Sophie looked through the spyglass again.

  Jessica watched the second boat as it trailed away in the direction of the last place she would want it to go, Sweet Bites Chocolates. Now, instead of having fun making candy, she might have ended up in the middle of a mystery again.

  The Secret’s Out

  SOPHIE LAY IN HER SLEEPING bag, zipped all the way up, and stared at the ceiling of their tent. She kept thinking about the boats they had seen, and she couldn’t figure out a reasonable explanation for them to be there. It reminded her of watching a foot race when the baton was passed from one person to another, but then it made sense. What would someone drop in a lake at night?

  Jessica tossed and turned beside her, so she didn’t think she was sleeping either. Sophie rolled onto her side.

  “Jessica?” Sophie said in a very low voice so she wouldn’t wake her if she had nodded off. “Are you asleep?”

  “We have a new mystery. How can I sleep when there’s a new mystery? Plus, I’m out here in the woods, practically in the middle of nowhere, in a tent that can’t protect me from anything. And I just realized that there isn’t any way for me to take a shower when I wake up in the morning, so I don’t know if you’re going to get cranky Jessica or what.”

  “Whoa. I know mornings are definitely not your best time of day. Let’s fix that problem by my being very quiet and not talking to you until you talk to me in the morning. I’ll wait for you to let me know if you’re cranky or not.”

  “That makes sense. Now, about the mystery—”

  “The two boats were acting weird. I’ll admit that. It seems like a mystery, but I’m not sure what it would be.”

  Jessica was silent for about a minute, so long that Sophie wondered if she’d fallen asleep after all. Then she spoke. “Sophie, didn’t you say you thought the second boat went back toward the chocolate factory?”

  “Well, it didn’t go toward the marina. You’ve been there, so you know where that is.”

  “That’s what I thought too,” Jessica said in a voice that Sophie would have to call sad. But why would she care?

  “There isn’t much built on the shore in that area. I guess it’s because the space used to be filled with the building Mom talked about.”

  Jessica was quiet again. Then she said, “Sophie, I need to tell you something now, but I don’t want you to be mad at me. Please remember that I couldn’t tell you before, and I shouldn’t be telling you now, but I’m worried that all of this might be very important.”

  She paused so long that Sophie wondered if she’d fallen asleep. Then she finally added, “Maybe I should talk to the sheriff first.”

  “What? After you said the first part, I really want to know what it is that you’re talking about.”

  “Okay. I’m trying to remember exactly what Sheriff Valeska told me, what she asked me to do, and I think I’ve got it.”

  “Sheriff Valeska asked you to do something? Tell me.”

  “I’m trying. Wait a second.” Jessica took a deep breath then continued, “I think this is close to what she said. ‘Jessica, I’d like you to keep your eyes open when you’re in the chocolate factory. Let me know if you see anything suspicious. Don’t tell anyone else.’”

  Sophie wasn’t sure what to say. She felt hurt and angry—all of those emotions raced through her in a jumbled mess. “Why didn’t she ask me too?”

  “Oh, I forgot that part. She said she was worried that you would get too involved and might get into trouble. And you know that’s happened before, Sophie, so it made sense to me. You’re a good detective. You would have wanted to dig deeper, and I think she just wanted someone to watch out for anything strange.”

  “Okay. I guess I can understand. You wouldn’t get into the middle of anything.”

  “Right.”

  “Did you see anything suspicious at Sweet Bites?”

  “Well, I saw a shadow going by at the end of the hall, like someone had been standing there listening. But that didn’t have to mean anything.”

  “I need to keep my eyes open now.” Sophie rolled over onto her back. “I think we’d better try to sleep, Jessica. Tomorrow might be a very busy day.”

  “I had a feeling you would say that.”

  “The first thing in the morning, we need to get out of here and go see the sheriff.”

  “Sophie, you know she’ll say we don’t have any evidence. We don’t have any clues for her to follow.”

  “But I still think she needs to know. What those boats did was strange.”

  Jessica said, “You’re right, Sophie. We do need to tell her. I can’t think of a single logical reason for two boats to do what we saw.”

  THE NEXT MORNING, SOPHIE watched her cousin open her eyes but didn’t speak to her.

  “I think waking up in a tent is a good thing. I feel fine,” Jessica said.

  Sophie raised one eyebrow but still didn’t say a word.

  Jessica unzipped the bag and sat up. “Let’s start our day.”

  Sophie also sat up. “Are you sure?”

  “I’m sure. I’m ready to start this mystery. What do we do first, Sophie?”

  “First . . .” Sophie let the thought trail off in a mysterious way.

  “Yes?”

  “First, we eat breakfast.”

  Jessica
pushed Sophie’s arm. “I could figure that one out. I remember that you put snack bars in the bag for breakfast, and we have bottles of water. Right?”

  As they finished their snack bars, Sophie stood. “Let’s get everything packed up here, carry what we can, and get to my house.”

  ON THE HIKE BACK DOWN Cutoff Trail, Sophie said, “Jessica, how would you describe where the second boat came from?”

  Jessica took a step to the left so that a bush wouldn’t swipe across her leg. “I’m not sure. I remember from the day we were out on the lake fishing earlier this summer that the lake stretches a long way in that direction.”

  “I’ve given it a lot of thought, and I think it came from the farthest part of the lake. I suppose it could’ve gone along the edge of the lake for a while and then cut across, but at that moment it seemed to be coming from over there.”

  Sophie paused, then added, “I’ve lived here all my life, but other than going with my parents once when I was a little kid to visit a man who lived in a house over there, I’ve never been to that part of the lake. I sure wouldn’t want to walk that far from town.”

  “Does the highway even go that way?”

  “Sort of. There is no road on the opposite side of the lake from Pine Hill, but the road does go around to the area where we think the boat came from.”

  They stepped out of the woods and into an open area with a stream. Sophie took off running and jumped across it. Jessica had always walked across it on the large stones dotting the stream.

  Sophie clapped her hands. “You can do it! Getting wet is the worst that can happen.”

  Jessica took a few steps backward so she could get a running start, took a deep breath, and ran as fast as she could at that stream. When she reached the edge, she pushed off with her feet and sprang across, landing neatly on the other side. “I did it! I did it!”

  Grinning, Sophie patted her on the back. “You’re getting there. For a city girl, you’re doing pretty good.”

  “You’re going to have to visit me in London, England, so I can give you some of my city training.”

 

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