“Deal. We’ll have to see if we can talk Mom and Dad into that.”
They continued the short distance to Sophie’s house. There they each took showers to wash off their camping grime and were soon ready, but not as soon as Sophie would have liked because Jessica did have to do all of her morning routines.
“Today I can wear perfume since we don’t have class. Please remind me not to again tomorrow!”
“Sure.” Sophie shrugged. “At least I’ll try. I don’t wear scented things, so I don’t think of it.”
They went into the living room. The sound of a door opening behind them caused them to both turn around. Mr. Sandoval came down the hall from his home office.
“Sophie,” he said, “I want to make sure you remember that your mother’s birthday is tomorrow. I thought we could all go out to dinner.”
“Sounds great, Dad.”
“In case you’ve spent your allowance”—he gave her a look that said he assumed she had—“I set some money on your nightstand so you can buy your mom a small gift. Jessica’s mom already sent something.”
“You’ve been extra busy with work lately, Dad, haven’t you?”
“I have. A large company asked me to review their records. I’ll complete the project next week. For now, I’m back to work.” He turned toward his office. “I’ll see you ladies at dinnertime.”
“That’s so nice of him,” Jessica said after he’d gone into his office and closed the door.
“It’s probably because he knows we’ve had to spend money this summer while we’ve been solving mysteries.” Sophie raced into the bedroom. When she returned, she said, “I may need to check my nightstand every day if Dad’s going to set money there.”
Jessica laughed. “I doubt that’s going to happen very often.”
Sophie picked up her backpack and tucked the money into a zipper pocket. “Ready?”
“I am. Let’s go tell Sheriff Valeska what happened last night. And let’s see if she gives us her usual answer: ‘Acting suspicious isn’t a crime.’”
Telling the Sheriff
WHEN THE COUSINS ARRIVED in town, Sophie slowed down.
“Is something wrong?” Jessica asked her.
“Remember what’s happened when we’ve tried to talk to someone else at the sheriff’s office? I think we should only tell the sheriff and come back if she isn’t here.”
“I agree.” Jessica had to tell the sheriff that she’d given away the secret to Sophie, and she hoped she wouldn’t be upset.
They made their way to the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Valeska was sitting in her chair at her desk. Her secretary, Clare, asked them what they needed. They’d had a little problem with her when she’d first started working here earlier this summer because she hadn’t believed kids could solve mysteries. She’d learned from the sheriff that these kids could.
Sophie said, “We have something we need to discuss with the sheriff.” Sophie sounded quite professional. Her words reminded Jessica of the way people spoke in some of the old black-and-white detective movies Sophie loved to watch.
The sheriff looked up from her computer, leaned back in her chair, and motioned the two of them over to her desk. “Sit, ladies,” she said, pointing at one chair, then another. “What can I help you with today?”
They sat down, and Sophie leaned forward in her chair. “Sheriff, we saw something strange last night.”
A puzzled expression crossed the sheriff’s face. “Last night? At your house?”
Jessica said, “No, we were camping.”
Sophie added, “We went up Cutoff Trail. It was almost the same spot where we found the first clue in our first mystery.”
“Okay. Go on. That has a good view over the lake, so I’m curious.”
Sophie described what they’d seen with Jessica throwing in a few things now and then that she’d noticed. When they finished, the sheriff was quiet for a few moments. Then she said, “That’s very interesting, ladies. You think the second boat went toward the area of the chocolate factory?”
The girls nodded.
“But I remember Sal Donadio mentioning that he didn’t have access to the boat storage area, that the area had been closed off years ago, and now it was only accessible through a trapdoor in the floor. He said there wasn’t even a ladder there. They had to lower a ladder down through the hole when some plumbing needed to be repaired right after he bought the building.”
“But where else would the boat have gone to, Sheriff? It didn’t appear to be going in the marina’s direction.”
“I don’t know, Sophie. I would say that maybe they went along the edge of the lake for a while, but I don’t know a whole lot of people who would want to make a trip in a rowboat longer than it had to be. That’s a lot of work.”
“Sheriff . . .” Jessica leaned closer to the sheriff and said in a low voice, “I had to tell Sophie.”
Sheriff Valeska glanced around the room. Clare was the only other one there. The sheriff must have decided she needed to tell them something that no one else should know because she said, “Girls, I want to show you something in our storeroom.” She pushed back her chair, stood, and walked over to a door that led into a small room to the side of the larger office the sheriff and her deputies shared.
They followed her inside.
The sheriff kept the door open and spoke in a low voice. “Jessica, how much does Sophie know?”
“All of it, Sheriff. It was hard to keep it from her, and I thought that when we saw the boats, it might all connect. I hope you’re not upset with me.”
A silence stretched so long that Jessica thought the sheriff was angry. Then Sheriff Valeska said, “I’m not upset with you. Disappointed, maybe. But I might have done the same thing. I never should have kept Sophie out of the loop.”
Sophie smiled. “Thank you, Sheriff. I thought maybe I’d done something wrong.”
“No, Sophie. You tend to leap into things, and I didn’t want you to get into danger. I knew Jessica wouldn’t do that.”
“Now that we’ve both been told, is there something we can help with, something I can help with?” Sophie asked with more than a little bit of excitement in her voice.
The sheriff gave Sophie a firm look. “Sophie, I don’t want you in trouble. Do you understand?”
Sophie nodded. “I do, Sheriff.”
The sheriff stood there and continued to give her that look.
“I promise, Sheriff,” she added. “I will do my best to stay out of danger.”
The sheriff sighed. “That’s probably the best I can ask. Be safe, Sophie. And you too, Jessica. Don’t let her drag you into anything she shouldn’t. Call me first.”
Sophie asked. “Did you ever find the stolen car?”
“No. We did not. It’s one of the only cars ever stolen in this town, so that’s strange too. Please be careful.”
Jessica leaned toward the sheriff. “Do you have any more information to give me? You said to keep my eyes open, but I don’t know for what.”
The sheriff took off her hat and rubbed the top of her head. “There’s the possibility that something odd is going on at the chocolate factory. At least, that’s what Sal Donadio thinks. He came up with what he believed was an idea for a new flavor of chocolate, and about a month later another company came out with the exact same thing. He brought me samples of both, and I couldn’t tell the difference.”
“So, someone is stealing secrets from the chocolate factory? There’s a spy?” Jessica asked. She’d been right.
The sheriff laughed. “I wouldn’t call it a spy, Jessica. I will say there is the possibility that someone has stolen a single recipe, but it might be a coincidence. Two companies might have thought pineapple with the same secret ingredient would work.”
Jessica asked, “Secret ingredient?”
“That’s right. Sal isn’t saying what it is.”
Sophie nodded. “That does make it odd that they taste the same.”
Sophie and Jessica
left the sheriff’s office with her promising to send a patrol car out in the area of the houses at the far end of the lake. She would have them go there a couple of times every night to make sure nothing strange was going on.
Sophie stopped on the sidewalk in front of the building. “I’m frustrated, Jessica.”
“The sheriff was nice about everything.”
“You’re right. But I still think that second boat went to the area around Sweet Bites. The land dips down to the lake there. Then it goes up the hill to the big mansion. There isn’t anything else around.”
“I think we’ve done everything we can, Sophie.”
“I have an idea.”
“Am I going to like this idea?”
“Only one part of it. Let’s go sit and talk about it.”
Jessica knew where Sophie would go. They were soon sitting on the wooden bench on the sidewalk that her cousin liked to go to when she had to figure something out.
“I’m ready for your plan, Sophie.”
Sophie wasted no time. “We need to see if there’s a boat under the chocolate factory where boats used to be kept. And if there is one, whether or not it’s a rowboat.”
“That sounds impossible to me, Sophie.”
“Sweet Bites is Tony’s uncle’s business. We can trust Uncle Sal—at least I hope so—but I don’t want to tell him too much.”
Jessica thought about it for a few seconds. “We believe he’s trustworthy, but he might tell someone who isn’t. I think too many people could find out if we asked Uncle Sal about checking under the boathouse.”
“We need to bring Tony into this mystery now. If his nephew wanted to explore under there—”
“It would just seem like a kid who’s curious. And people don’t pay attention to kids all the time, do they? Genius!” Jessica laughed.
As they walked away, Sophie said, “I’ve been thinking about yesterday. We tailed Emily Foster because you were spying on everyone. Is that right?”
“I was.” Jessica held up her hand to stop Sophie from saying more. And hopefully to stop her from getting angry. “But I could have gone by myself. I took you with me because I thought it would be good to have you there.”
“So even though I didn’t know I was in the middle of a mystery, I was in the middle of one. You found the mystery this time.”
“Yes. Does that mean you aren’t mad at me?”
“I’m working on it. I really am.”
Bringing in Tony
SOPHIE AND JESSICA found Tony at Donadio’s Deli, as expected. He stood behind the counter making sandwiches for a family.
They got in line behind one other person, then placed their orders for sandwiches. Jessica got a turkey on white, and Sophie a pastrami on rye bread. Sophie caught Tony’s eye and gestured with her head toward the table where they would sit. His eyebrows shot up, and he gave a nod. Tony had been in on their last two mysteries, and she knew he would be up for another one.
She and Jessica seated themselves at one of the small tables.
“I’m glad we’re here early,” Jessica said.
“You’re always glad when we’re here,” her cousin answered.
Jessica felt her face flush. “This time it’s because I’m very hungry. That snack bar didn’t last very long. Also, since we’re here ahead of the lunch crowd, there isn’t anyone behind us in line, and Tony can take a few minutes to sit with us.”
A few minutes later he brought them their sandwiches, set them down in front of them, and pulled out a chair for himself. He leaned close and spoke in a low voice. “New mystery?”
Sophie laughed. “Maybe we just wanted to say hello to you.”
Leaning back in his chair, he watched the two of them “You have your working-on-a-mystery look, Sophie.”
Sophie shrugged. “You’re right, Tony. Well, maybe there’s a mystery. At least I think there’s a mystery.”
Tony gestured forward with his hand. “Give. What’s going on?”
She explained about the boats, and Jessica jumped in to repeat what the sheriff had told her about the chocolate factory. Sophie added the story of their tailing Emily Foster.
Tony gave a low whistle. When he did that, his mother glanced his way. “I’d better hurry. The lunch crowd will arrive soon. You want me to talk to my Uncle Sal?”
“If you can.”
“As long as I’m part of the mystery-solving team. My uncle comes in here for lunch every day at about one o’clock.” Tony stood. “I never know what he’ll order, and sometimes he combines things that are strange together.”
Jessica laughed. “We’ve noticed that at the chocolate factory. He has some crazy ideas.”
He leaned forward. “Like?”
“Chocolate-covered bubblegum,“ Jessica said every word slowly.
Tony grimaced.
“That’s what everybody in the class thought. He isn’t going to make it now, so he has a big stack of bubblegum in his storage room.”
Tony laughed. “That probably means we’ll get bubblegum in our stockings this Christmas. And I’m okay with that. I’ll ask him when he comes in if we can explore under his factory. Does that sound good?”
“Yes. We’ll be over at Great Finds, doing whatever it is Mom needs us to do this afternoon. That was our deal. She pays for the class, and we work.” Sophie popped the last bite of her sandwich in her mouth.
Tony straightened. “You don’t sound happy about that, Sophie.”
She took a sip of her drink, then stood. “I don’t mind working there. But right now, I don’t think I want to take over the antique store when I’m grown up. You like being here in the deli. Maybe I’ll change my mind when I’m older and be glad for all of the time I spent in Mom’s shop. But maybe not.” Sophie grinned.
“I’ll call you at Great Finds this afternoon and let you know what I set up. When do you want to go?”
“I don’t want too much time to pass from when we saw the boats to when we get in there.”
“Makes sense. I’ll ask about this afternoon.”
Sophie and Jessica left and went to her mom’s shop. When they got there, Mrs. Sandoval put them to work doing Jessica’s favorite chore, unpacking boxes. After taking everything out of two boxes and carefully unwrapping each item, Jessica said, “I love this. It’s like Christmas! I get to open packages with beautiful things inside, things that are from the past.”
“I don’t mind in the beginning, but we still have one more box to do. I’m ready to be finished with this. And what I really want is for Tony to call.”
At that moment the phone rang. The two of them looked at each other. Mrs. Sandoval answered it, but instead of passing the phone to one of them, she picked up a pen and made some notes on a piece of paper.
Jessica’s shoulders dropped. “That can’t be him,” she said in a low voice to Sophie.
They got back to work unwrapping and started on the last box. When they were almost done, the phone rang again. This time after Mrs. Sandoval answered it, she handed the phone to Sophie. “It’s Tony for you.”
Sophie took the phone and glanced at her mother, standing nearby. “Hey, Tony. What’s up?”
She didn’t want her mother to worry about their finding a possible mystery, so that meant she couldn’t say much. She listened as Tony told her the same thing that Sheriff Valeska had, that there was no easy access to the underside of his uncle’s building. “Okay.”
Mrs. Sandoval picked up one of the pieces they had unwrapped and walked into the back room with it. Sophie whispered, “There must be a way to get into there.”
Tony answered. “That’s what I said. Uncle Sal told me that the only way he knew was from the lake. All we have to do is swim around the side of the building and underneath the big door that’s there. He gave me permission to do that anytime I wanted and said my friends can come with me.”
Jessica had gone in a boat with Sophie, and she loved being at the beach, but Sophie didn’t know if she could swim. She motio
ned Jessica closer. “Can you swim?”
Jessica’s eyes widened. “Sure.”
“Tony, we can do it.” She suggested a time and a place to meet in a couple of hours.
Tony agreed, and they hung up.
Swimming for Clues
A HALF HOUR LATER, the girls left the shop. After a fast trip to Sophie’s house, they returned to town with their swimsuits on under their clothes and small towels stuffed into her backpack.
They took the road to the chocolate factory, then right before the factory, the turn to the lake that once led to the long-gone building her mother had told them about.
Tony waited for them on the shore with a ball and an inflated ring. “Uncle Sal doesn’t think there is anything under his factory that’s worth making an effort to see. He went in there in a boat before he bought the building, and he said it was an old, abandoned place where they used to keep boats. It isn’t even connected to the rest of the building anymore, even though it must have been in the past.”
All three of them took off their outer clothes and stood in their swim clothes. Sophie’s bathing suit was a simple blue one-piece, the style that someone on a swim team would wear. Jessica’s was also a one-piece but pink and had a ruffle across one shoulder. Tony wore black swim trunks.
Jessica looked up at the chocolate factory. “I hope no one sees what we’re doing. The factory part only has high windows, but the offices have larger windows, and someone could watch us from them.”
Tony followed her gaze. “Even if someone saw us go into the water, the windows aren’t in a place where they can see us if we stay near the building. “
Sophie said, “Let’s play in the water for a while so they’ll think that’s what we’re here to do. Then we’ll inch over closer to the building, and they’ll assume we’re still horsing around.”
Sophie tossed the inflated ring toward Jessica, who caught it, and they all went into the water. Jessica leaned on the ring and floated. Sophie and Tony threw the ball.
Just as it started to seem like fun, Sophie realized they were about to go somewhere that was completely unknown and could possibly lead to danger. She threw the ball over Tony’s shoulder, and he swam over there. He tossed it a few feet closer to the building, and Sophie swam to get it. Jessica paddled around in a circle that grew ever wider but more toward the direction they needed to go. Foot by foot they grew nearer to the side of the building.
The Chocolate Spy Page 5