Mystery of the Hidden Painting

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  She led them into a small living room and beckoned to them to sit down. Jessie, in as few words as possible, told the story again of the Alden necklace and their visits to Mrs. Harkins and Mrs. Newton.

  Susan Barstow didn’t meet the children’s eyes. She looked out of the window and carefully said, “I can’t help you at all. I’ve never heard of the necklace you’re talking about.”

  Suddenly a whistling sound came from the kitchen. “My teakettle is boiling,” Mrs. Barstow said. “I’ll be right back.”

  When Mrs. Barstow was out of the room, Jessie looked around. Suddenly she jumped up and walked over to the mantelpiece. “Look,” she cried.

  The other children ran over to her. Jessie pointed to a large framed picture on the mantel. It was of Mrs. Newton and two small boys. It was an old picture, but Mrs. Newton was easily recognizable.

  “It’s that Mrs. Newton,” Benny said.

  “Yes,” Jessie replied. “See.”

  The teakettle stopped whistling and Henry whispered, “Jessie, what does that picture prove?”

  “Well,” Jessie answered, “they do know each other.”

  “We guessed that before,” Violet whispered.

  Mrs. Barstow came back into the room. It seemed to the Alden children that she paled a little when she saw them looking at the picture. “I don’t have much time,” she said.

  Jessie pointed to the photograph. “Isn’t that Mrs. Newton?”

  Susan Barstow nodded. “Yes, it is. She’s a very good friend of mine, and has been for years. That’s a picture of her with my children, taken a number of years ago.”

  “Oh,” Jessie said. She didn’t know anything else to say or ask.

  Mrs. Barstow’s face softened a little. “You children should just go home and forget about the necklace nonsense. If someone stole your grandfather’s necklace, I can’t give you any help. I don’t know anything about it.”

  Jessie said softly, “That was Laura Garrison who was here. We saw her before we came in.”

  The softness left Mrs. Barstow’s face. “Laura is a friend of mine also. Now I have to ask you all to leave, and I also must ask you not to bother me or Mrs. Newton anymore.”

  “We’re sorry if we bothered you,” Violet said apologetically. “We won’t do it again.”

  The children left and started biking home. “I think she’s hiding something,” Jessie said.

  “Jessie,” Henry replied, “everything she said could be true: Mrs. Newton is her friend. If Mrs. Newton is her friend, she would certainly know Laura Garrison. Maybe we are imagining things.”

  “I believe Jessie,” Benny said loyally.

  “I don’t know,” Violet said. “I think maybe Jessie is right. But there’s nothing else we can do anyway.”

  After dinner that night, Mr. Alden took his grandchildren to town to a big ice cream parlor. They all ordered double cones and, as they were leaving, Laura Garrison came in with a man. When she saw the Aldens she smiled slightly. “This is my husband. We had dinner in Greenfield tonight,” she said. She turned to her husband. “These are the Alden children I told you about.”

  Mr. Garrison looked at his wife. “Maybe we should all sit down and talk.”

  Mrs. Garrison stared at him for a moment and her cheeks got paler. “I don’t think so. Mother wouldn’t … ”

  She stopped talking, took her husband’s arm, and walked away with him.

  “Who was that?” Mr. Alden asked.

  “We met her in Elmford,” Jessie explained.

  “She seems like a very nervous lady,” Mr. Alden said. But then his mind strayed from Laura Garrison to Benny, who had just dropped his ice cream cone on the street and was looking very surprised.

  “Grandfather,” Benny shouted. “My cone! And I hardly had more than four licks.”

  Grandfather laughed and took Benny’s hand. “Don’t worry Benny. I’ll buy you another one.”

  For the next few days Jessie tried to forget about the necklace. The children agreed that since they had no more clues to follow, they might as well not think about it. Instead, they continued their planning for Mr. Alden’s birthday party.

  “I think,” Benny said, “we should have a chocolate cake with chocolate icing and chocolate ice cream.”

  The other children laughed.

  “I haven’t decided yet what I’m going to play on my violin. I know Grandfather loves waltzes, but I don’t know one to play,” Violet said.

  “I’ve decided to decorate the dining room with balloons and streamers and especially a big sign that says ‘Happy Birthday,’ ” Jessie said.

  “And here is my poem,” Henry announced. “It’s not very good but at least it’s all mine.

  “Poems are very hard to write,

  And I have tried both day and night.

  But this is what I want to say,

  Grandfather, have the best birthday.”

  “I think it’s very good,” Benny said.

  “Me, too,” the girls agreed.

  They talked more about the party, enjoying all the plans. After dinner, they went up to Henry’s room and talked about what they would wear from the attic. Finally, they agreed they were all tired and they wanted to go to bed.

  Jessie woke up in the middle of the night and sat up in bed. Was that a noise from downstairs? It was. She just knew it. She got out of bed, quietly opened her door, and looked out.

  Henry opened his door at the same time. He knew he had heard sounds from the living room. He looked over toward Jessie’s room and saw her standing in the doorway in her white nightgown and bare feet. He tiptoed over to her.

  “I heard something,” she whispered.

  “I did, too,” Henry said. “I’m going downstairs.”

  “Maybe we should get Grandfather,” Jessie said.

  Henry disagreed. “It could be Watch. How can we wake Grandfather because our dog is walking around?”

  Henry started down the stairs. “I’m coming, too,” Jessie whispered.

  Together they walked down, very slowly, holding hands. They tried to make sure the steps didn’t creak. When they got to the bottom, they looked toward the living room. Jessie gasped. A light was moving in the room. Jessie put her arm around Henry’s shoulders and they stood still, watching the light glide around the room.

  Then, before he knew what he was doing, Henry cried out, “Who’s there?” The light went out and there was silence. “I think we should get Grandfather,” Jessie said, sounding frightened.

  Henry tiptoed into the room and turned on the light. The room was empty. Suddenly Mr. Alden was coming down the stairs with Violet and Benny behind him.

  “What’s going on?” he asked when he saw Jessie and Henry.

  “We heard some noises, and we saw a light, too,” Jessie said. “I think you should call the police.”

  Grandfather looked around the room. “Nothing has been touched,” he said. He went to the desk and took an envelope out of a drawer. He counted the money in it. “There’s no money missing either.”

  “What could it have been, Grandfather?” Jessie asked.

  “Well, the noise could have been Watch. And the lights could have come from cars on the road.”

  Henry said, “Someone could have come in the patio door.”

  Grandfather looked around again. “Henry, I left my camera on that table. It’s still there. Wouldn’t a thief have taken it?”

  “I guess you’re right,” Henry said.

  Violet eyes opened wide. “Look,” she said, pointing to the mantelpiece. “The picture is crooked.”

  Mr. Alden laughed. “Well, that proves Mrs. McGregor doesn’t miss a thing when she dusts.”

  But the children weren’t so sure that’s what it meant.

  Upstairs, in bed, Jessie pulled her blankets up high, snuggled under them, and hoped that whoever had been in the house wouldn’t come back.

  CHAPTER 8

  Surprise Visits

  The next afternoon Aunt Jane appeared
. “I just thought I’d drive over to see you. I miss you.”

  They all sat out on the lawn and the Aldens told their aunt everything that had happened since they had visited her. She listened carefully and then said, “It’s very possible none of the things you’ve told me have anything to do with the necklace. Laura Garrison and Susan may have been talking about something else. And what happened last night could be just what your grandfather said. Lights from the road.”

  “But the picture was crooked,” Jessie protested.

  Aunt Jane laughed. “You can’t think that every crooked picture in the house means something, dear.”

  “I just want the necklace back for Grandfather,” Jessie said.

  “I understand that, but it—” Aunt Jane was interrupted by Mrs. McGregor.

  She came out of the house and said to Jessie, “There’s a Laura Garrison on the telephone. She said she would like to speak to you.”The children all ran toward the house with Aunt Jane following them. “What do you suppose she wants?” Benny shouted as he ran.

  “We’ll soon find out,” Henry shouted back to him.

  When Jessie picked up the phone, she was breathing quickly. “Hello.”

  “Is this Jessie Alden?” a voice asked.

  “Yes,” Jessie replied.

  “This is Laura Garrison. I’d like to come to see your grandfather and you children tonight. I want to talk to you.”

  Jessie couldn’t believe it. “Sure,” she answered immediately.

  “Is eight o’clock all right?” Mrs. Garrison asked.

  “I guess that’s fine,” Jessie said. She hung up the phone. “Mrs. Garrison wants to come over to talk to Grandfather and all of us tonight.”

  “Wow!” Benny shouted.

  “I think I have to stay to meet her,” Aunt Jane said. “I’ll call Uncle Andy and tell him I’ll be here for dinner.”

  “I wonder what she wants,” Henry said.

  “Me too,” Violet added.

  When Mr. Alden came home, Jessie asked him, “Remember that woman we met in the ice cream parlor?”

  Mr. Alden nodded.

  “Well,” Henry said. “She called and said she wants to come to talk to us tonight at eight o’clock.”

  “What does she want?” Grandfather asked, looking puzzled.

  “We’re not sure,” Violet said.

  Mr. Alden turned to Aunt Jane. “Do you know this Mrs. Garrison?”

  “No,” Aunt Jane said. “But I certainly want to. John, the children will tell you everything soon.”

  “You are all very mysterious,” Mr. Alden said. “But knowing my grandchildren, I guess I’m just going to have to wait until they’re good and ready to explain matters to me.”

  After dinner, the Aldens and Aunt Jane sat in the living room, waiting for Laura Garrison. At 8:15, Mr. Alden said, “Well now, your Mrs. Garrison is late.”

  At 8:30, Henry said, “Where do you suppose she is?”

  And at 9:00, Aunt Jane stood up. “I really don’t think she’s coming. I’d better get home.”

  Henry and Jessie walked Aunt Jane to the door. “What do you think happened? Why do you think she didn’t come?” Henry asked.

  Aunt Jane shook her head. “I don’t know, Henry. This a real mystery to me.”

  “Maybe something happened to her,” said Benny, wide-eyed.

  Violet laughed. “Oh, Benny, you have such an imagination!”

  After Aunt Jane drove off, Jessie said, “Mrs. Garrison wanted to talk about something. What?” She didn’t try to hide her disappointment.

  Henry frowned. “Do you think it was about the necklace?”

  “Maybe she’ll come tomorrow,” Jessie said, hopefully.

  “Probably not,” Henry said. “We don’t seem to be having that much luck with this mystery.”

  The next morning after breakfast, the Alden children ran down to their boxcar. They sat on the pillows on the floor and Jessie said, “I know Mrs. Garrison isn’t going to come today, but I think we could call her and find out why she didn’t come here last night.”

  “How can we call her?” Violet asked. “We don’t know her number, or even where she lives.”

  “Maybe she lives in Elmford,” Henry said. “That’s where we met her.”

  “She could just have been visiting there,” Benny said. “Like we were visiting Aunt Jane.”

  “Benny is right,” Jessie said. “But Grandfather has a lot of phone books for towns near here in his den. We could try to find her number in one of the books.”

  The children ran back to Mr. Alden’s den and took some telephone books out of the closet. Henry said suddenly, “Often phone numbers are listed under the man’s name and we don’t even know her husband’s first name.”

  Violet sighed. “I think this whole thing is hopeless.”

  “Let’s just try,” Jessie said. She took the Elmford phone book and opened it to the G’s. “There are two Garrisons. One is William and one is just listed as L. Maybe the L is her.”

  Jessie picked up the phone and dialed the number for the L listing. When the ringing was answered, she said, “Is Laura Garrison there?”

  A voice on the other end answered, “I’m sorry, you have the wrong number. There is no Laura Garrison here.”

  “Sorry to bother you,” Jessie said, hanging up. She sighed. “Well, that isn’t the right number.”

  “Dial the number for William,” Henry said.

  Jessie dialed and waited while the phone rang. A young girl answered and Jessie said again. “Is Laura Garrison there?”

  “Wrong number,” the girl answered and hung up.

  Benny said, “Well, she doesn’t live in Elmford. This is fun. Where should we try next?”

  “What about Kenniston?” Henry said.

  Violet said suddenly, “Supposing Mrs. Garrison has an unlisted number.”

  “What’s that?” Benny asked.

  Violet turned to Benny. “Well, some people don’t want their number listed in the phone book. They want it to be very private. That’s an unlisted number.”

  Jessie shrugged. “Well if it’s unlisted, then we’ll never find it.”

  “Okay,” Henry said, “let’s look in Kenniston.”

  Violet turned the pages of the Kenniston phone book. “One Garrison. Paul J.”

  Violet took the phone and dialed the number. It just rang and rang. “No answer,” she said.

  “Well, that could be Laura’s number,” Jessie said.

  “But you don’t know for sure,” Henry answered.

  “Right,” Jessie agreed.

  “Maybe she is right here in Greenfield,” Benny said.

  “We’d know if she lived here,” Henry said.

  “We know just about everybody in Greenfield.”

  “I think you should look in the phone book,” Benny insisted.

  Jessie turned the pages of the book. “You’re right. There’s one Marvin Garrison way out on Cadman Road.”

  Violet took the phone and dialed the number. “Hello,” she said. “Is Laura Garrison there?”

  An angry voice replied, “This is the third wrong number I’ve gotten today. I think I’m just going to disconnect this phone. I’ve had enough. The last call I had was for the Fairfield Meat Market.”

  “I’m real sorry,” Violet said and she hurriedly hung up.

  “I think we should just give up,” Henry said.

  “Wait a minute,” Jessie answered. “We saw her visiting Susan Barstow. Maybe Mrs. Garrison lives in Silver City.”

  “For all we know she could live in New York City,” Henry said, smiling.

  Jessie turned to the Silver City listings. “There’s one. Kenneth Garrison.”

  Jessie dialed the number and soon a woman answered. “Is Laura Garrison there?” Jessie asked.

  “This is Laura Garrison,” the woman replied.

  Jessie’s face broke into a big smile. She put her hand over the receiver and whispered, “It’s her! ”

  T
hen she took her hand away and said to Mrs. Garrison, “This is Jessie Alden. I just wanted to ask you what happened last night. I mean, you didn’t come to our house and you’d said you would.”

  Jessie could hear Laura Garrison sigh. “I’m sorry, Jessie. I should have called you, but I just changed my mind. I really had nothing to say to you after all.”

  “Please, Mrs. Garrison,” Jessie said. “Won’t you come and talk to us? I know you wanted to.”

  “I can’t, Jessie. I can’t help you. You misunderstood,” Mrs. Garrison said.

  “You don’t have to come to the house,” Jessie said quickly. “Just let us talk to you for a few minutes.”

  Mrs. Garrison hesitated. “All right. I’ll meet you at that ice cream parlor in Greenfield in an hour.”

  Jessie hung up and said in disbelief, “She said to meet her at the ice cream parlor in an hour.”

  “Now what are you going to do?” Henry asked.

  “I don’t know.” Jessie answered.

  “At least we’ll get some ice cream, I hope,” Benny said.

  In an hour the children were at the ice cream shop. Laura Garrison was already there, sitting at a big table, drinking a cup of coffee. The Aldens joined her and she said, “Why don’t you all order something.”

  “I’m not very hungry,” Jessie said.

  “I am,” Benny said quickly.

  Laura smiled. “What would you like, Benny?”

  “Vanilla ice cream with chocolate fudge sauce,” Benny answered.

  Henry had a malted, Violet a scoop of chocolate ice cream, and Jessie decided on a soda. As soon as the waitress had taken their order Jessie said, “Mrs. Garrison, we don’t mean to be pests, but I just think you wanted to say something to us last night. What was it?”

  Laura Garrison looked down at her hands. “I made a mistake, Jessie. I thought I had something to tell you that might help you, but I was wrong. That’s all, Jessie. I have nothing to say.”

  The waitress returned with their orders soon and they all started to eat. “If I could help you, I would,” Mrs. Garrison said. “But I can’t. I think you children just have to forget about the necklace.”

  “Everybody keeps telling us that,” Benny said.

  “Well,” Laura Garrison answered, “maybe everybody is right.”