The Cafe Mystery

by Martin Widmark

  Maya and Jerry wondered whether it was the threat of the robber or the thought of not being able to buy cinnamon buns and cookies that worried Vivian most. They said good-bye and continued their walk home.

  Back at their detective agency, Maya immediately sat down in one of the comfy armchairs. With paper and pen in hand, she began summing up what they knew about the raid on Café Marzipan. Jerry turned on the computer and connected the camera.

  “There have been three robberies at the café,” began Maya. “Each time, the robber has chosen exactly the right moment to strike. Each time, there has been plenty of money in the cash register. This is the main reason to believe that the robber knows when to strike.”

  “Mmm,” mumbled Jerry in reply.

  He wasn’t really listening to Maya as he downloaded the pictures of her and the police chief outside Café Marzipan. Jerry zoomed in on the photos and leaned closer to the screen to see all the details better.

  Maya continued, “That would mean that someone who worked in the café was giving information to the robber. Someone was telling him when he should go for it. But why would someone in the café help a thief? . . . Hello, Jerry!” insisted Maya. “Why?”

  “He or she needs money, of course,” replied Jerry. “They must share everything from the cash register. But don’t interrupt me now, Maya. There’s something strange about these pictures here . . . ,” said Jerry.

  Maya continued, not worrying about disturbing Jerry:

  “Ella Bernard bakes everything in the café and takes care of the display window. She and her daughter seem to argue a lot with each other, maybe because Ella isn’t happy with her job anymore. She wants to move away from Pleasant Valley and open her own café in a big city. And she needs money for that. So it could be Ella who’s connected to the robber.”

  “Well, look at that!” Jerry said in surprise, zooming in on the picture he had taken just before he and Maya went into the café.

  “Ella’s daughter, Sara,” continued Maya, “knows exactly how much money there is in the café. She’s in charge of the cash register and is fed up with her mother’s bossiness. Sara wants to move out, and she needs money to do that. Sara has a good reason for telling the robber when to strike.”

  “The display window!” said Jerry. “I think I get it now!”

  “Then there’s Dino Panini, the coffee expert. He needs money for his sick mother in Italy. And it looked like the robber winked at him. Is it Dino who’s working with the robber? Why else would the robber wink at him? Of course, maybe it was hot inside the mask and the sweat was running down into his eyes. But how on earth could the robber know just the right times when the café would be full of money?”

  “Maya!” said Jerry suddenly. “Come here and look at this! I think I found the robber’s signal! It’s like a riddle!”

  Jerry pointed to a picture of the display window on his computer screen.

  CHAPTER 5

  Riddles in the Window

  Maya jumped up from her armchair and ran over to Jerry. He was looking at the first picture, which he had taken right before they went into the café.

  “Ha-ha!” Maya laughed. “I look like a real model, don’t I?”

  “But look at the window display!”

  “Cakes, muffins, and pastries,” said Maya. She wasn’t sure why Jerry was so interested in the photo, other than her awesome pose!

  “Which types of cakes, muffins, and pastries?” asked Jerry, zooming in on the picture. Maya read the labels in front of the cakes:

  “Apple pie, carrot cake, and tea cakes . . .”

  She sighed heavily, still not understanding what Jerry was so excited about.

  “They’re just ordinary pies, cakes, and pastries,” she said.

  “Look at the first letter of each: apple pie, carrot cake, and tea cakes,” said Jerry.

  “That makes A, C, and T,” said Maya.

  “What does that mean? I’m sure it’s a riddle.”

  “What do you mean, a riddle?” asked Maya.

  “A word puzzle. You take the first letter of each word and put them together, and then it becomes a message—a message to the robber! What do those letters spell, Maya?”

  “A plus C plus T, that makes ACT,” said Maya.

  “So these aren’t just any old cakes,” said Jerry eagerly. “Remember Vivian Leander?”

  “Vivian Leander! Are you crazy? You don’t think she’s the robber . . .”

  “Don’t be silly,” replied Jerry. “Remember what Vivian said about the display?”

  “Yes,” said Maya slowly. “She said they change it frequently.” Then, suddenly, she got it.

  “Jerry! You’re a genius!”

  “The message in the window is act,” said Jerry proudly. “Someone in the café is telling the robber that it is a good time to act . . . to steal from the café! Now look here,” he said, switching to the next picture. “Do you remember what they were doing in the café when we were talking to the police chief?”

  “Dino was serving coffee, Sara was crying by the cash register, and Ella was arranging the display in the window . . . ,” said Maya.

  “That’s right!” said Jerry, pointing to the computer screen again. “Look at what was in the window when we left Café Marzipan.”

  Maya leaned closer to the screen and read the labels: “Doughnuts, orange muffins, nutcake, and a tart,” Maya said. “D plus O plus N plus T . . . DON’T!”

  “So that means Ella is the one signaling to the robber to tell him when to rob the bakery,” said Jerry.

  “Come on, Jerry, we need to hurry! We have to go to the police station!”

  CHAPTER 6

  Act Naturally

  “Well, how about that?” said the police chief, impressed with Jerry and Maya’s logic. “I think you’ve discovered something important. This means that if we switch the display in the window, we could lure in the robber.”

  “That’s what we were thinking,” said Maya. “And once we’ve caught him, we can find out why Ella Bernard was helping him.”

  “This is what we’re going to do . . . ,” said the police chief to Jerry and Maya.

  The three of them sat for a while at the police chief’s desk and planned their trap. Finally, everything was ready and they headed over to Café Marzipan.

  As they passed Mohammed Carat’s jewelry shop, the police chief opened the shop door and called out to Vivian Leander:

  “You’ll soon be able to wander around town safely again, Miss Leander.”

  Vivian Leander looked up with surprise, but the police chief, Maya, and Jerry were already on their way to the bakery. Inside Café Marzipan, the police chief asked the employees to gather in the storeroom to talk things over. Jerry and Maya looked around the café.

  Once they made sure they were alone, they scrambled to work. They removed the doughnuts, orange muffins, nutcake, and tart from the display, and replaced them with apple pie, carrot cake, and tea cakes instead.

  “ACT,” read Maya happily. “Now we just need to wait.”

  Just then, the police chief, Sara, Dino, and Ella came out of the storeroom. Jerry and Maya nodded secretly to the police chief to let him know everything was ready.

  The police chief had told Dino, Sara, and Ella that he had received an anonymous tip: Somebody had called to say that the robber was about to strike again.

  “But . . . ,” Ella said in surprise, before falling quiet.

  The police chief took Sara to one side and whispered to her.

  “When should I faint?” they heard Sara ask.

  “After you open the cash drawer,” whispered the police chief.

  Jerry and Maya could see Ella hovering anxiously by the window, but the police chief wasn’t going to let her touch anything.

  “Everyone, back to your usual positi
ons,” he said, clapping his hands. Maya and Jerry each ordered a cinnamon bun and settled in at a table by the window. Dino went back to his coffee machine, and Ella fiddled with cakes and pastries behind the counter. Sara stood in her normal place behind the cash register.

  Lastly, the police chief crouched down at Sara’s feet, hidden by the register.

  “Keep working and act naturally!” he hissed from his hiding spot. The staff members continued with their jobs, and Jerry and Maya enjoyed their buns.

  As time passed, Jerry and Maya were beginning to think that they were mistaken. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the cakes were placed that way in the window.

  But now that the trap had been set, they could only wait and see.

  Everyone in the café was looking nervously from the door to the street. The robber might come in at any moment!

  Then the door opened!

  CHAPTER 7

  A Fainting Cashier

  Through the open door walked . . . Roland Sussman! The caretaker who looked after the church in Pleasant Valley! He had a thick scarf around his neck, and his nose was red. Dino, Sara, and Ella relaxed a little. Roland Sussman was sniffing and sneezing.

  “Bless you!” said Maya. Roland Sussman noticed the two detectives and smiled, gesturing to his throat.

  They understood that he had a sore throat and had lost his voice.

  Roland Sussman approached the counter, then stood there for a very long time deciding what to eat.

  Finally, he pointed to a brownie and a cinnamon bun. Ella put the brownie and the bun in a paper bag and handed it to Sara at the register. Roland Sussman passed a bill to Sara, who opened the cash drawer. Then something unexpected happened!

  Sara tripped behind the counter, then quickly recovered her balance—but then she tripped again. What was going on?

  It was the police chief tugging at her apron! He thought the robber had come into the café, and he was wondering why Sara wasn’t pretending to faint like they’d planned.

  Sara managed to stay standing until Roland Sussman had left the bakery, despite the police chief’s pulling and tugging.

  “What are you doing?” asked Sara, irritated.

  “Why didn’t you faint like we’d planned?” the police chief snapped in reply.

  “That wasn’t the—” began Sara, but she didn’t finish her sentence, because the door to the café suddenly flew open. And this time there was no doubt—the robber was back!

  Like a dangerous wild animal, he had been lured into a trap without realizing that he would be caught at any moment.

  Behind his balaclava mask, his wild eyes quickly looked around the almost-empty bakery. Then he noticed Jerry and Maya by the window! He took a step toward them!

  When he saw that they were just children, he put his finger to his lips to tell them to be quiet. He himself didn’t say a word.

  I wonder why he’s so quiet, thought Maya. Either he has a sore throat like Roland Sussman, or perhaps he doesn’t speak English. Most likely he’s afraid that his voice will give him away. If he started talking, someone here might recognize his voice.

  The robber went to the register. Ella stood behind the counter, shaking her head subtly. Was she trying to tell the robber something?

  But the robber didn’t see her. Instead, he looked at Dino Panini, who was standing by the coffee machine with his mouth open.

  If Ella is helping the robber, thought Jerry, why is he looking at Dino?

  By the register, the robber held out the bag for the cash. A terrified Sara pressed the button to open the drawer. Just as it opened, Sara threw up her arms and shrieked. “Aaaaaaaaaah!” She collapsed behind the counter.

  The robber wasn’t expecting that! What should he do now? He couldn’t pick up the money with a club in his hand.

  The robber quickly put down the club so he could use both of his hands, then he reached over to stuff the money from the drawer into his bag.

  But the police chief’s fists shot up from behind the register and grabbed the robber’s arms. Suddenly, he was caught in an iron grip! As quick as a flash, the handcuffs were on and the robber couldn’t move an inch. The police chief locked the handcuffs to the register. The robber twisted and turned, but he was chained to the spot.

  Then the police chief walked around the counter. The robber was about to be unmasked!

  CHAPTER 8

  Seeing Double

  The robber tried to wriggle away, but the police chief grabbed ahold of the mask and pulled it off the robber’s head. And under the balaclava, it turned out to be . . .

  “Steve Marzipan!” said the police chief with surprise.

  “What?” said Dino and Sara in unison.

  “Are you robbing your own café?” asked Maya.

  “You traitor!” hissed Steve Marzipan to Ella Bernard. “The message in the window said that the coast was clear. You lured me into a trap!”

  “I promise you, darling,” said Ella, beginning to cry. “It wasn’t me. It was the children . . .”

  “Darling?” the police chief said in disbelief. “Is that what this is all about? A love story? Ella arranges the displays in the window for the ‘darling’ owner Steve, all so that he can come in and frighten the life out of the poor staff here in the café. How selfish!”

  The police chief shook his head.

  “It’s not what you think at all,” said Steve. “I’m not Ella’s ‘darling.’ She just helps me to get tax-free cash out of my own company.”

  “Tax-free cash?” said the police chief, not understanding.

  “Yes, we have to pay taxes on all the money we make,” said Steve. “But you don’t pay taxes on money that disappears, do you?”

  “You’ve been using me!” shrieked Ella Bernard. “You said we were going to move to a bigger town and that I could open my own café.”

  “If you don’t want to open a new café with my mother, what do you want the money for, Steve?” asked Sara pointedly, now furious with both her mother and her boss for putting her through this.

  “I want to make a fresh start,” replied Steve. “A new life. Yes, I do want to move on, but not to a bigger town, and yes, there is something else I want.”

  Everyone in the café turned and looked at one another, trying to understand what Steve was talking about.

  Ella was seething with rage.

  “What on earth are you talking about?” she yelled. “You lied, you stole, you used me, you scared my daughter, and you tried to frame poor Dino with all your strange winking! The police chief is right—you are selfish, Steve!”

  “Why would you frame me?” asked Dino Panini. Steve Marzipan’s strange behavior clearly came as a shock to him, too.

  “What are you talking about?” asked Steve. “I never tried to blame the robberies on Dino!”

  “But what about all your winking?” asked Jerry.

  “Oh, that?” said Steve. “I have terrible eyesight. I hated my old glasses and got these uncomfortable contacts. But my eyes water, and they make me blink and wink all the time. I need the money to get eye surgery. I had planned to see the area’s best eye surgeon tomorrow.”

  “Your new eyes are going to have to wait,” said the police chief as he fastened Ella Bernard and Steve Marzipan together with the handcuffs. “Right now, we’re heading for the police station.”

  Once the police chief had taken away Ella and Steve, Jerry and Maya were left standing in the café.

  “A cup of hot chocolate and a freshly baked muffin, perhaps?” suggested Dino Panini. “We should celebrate now that the case is closed. Let our famous hot chocolate soothe your nerves.”

  Jerry and Maya felt in their pockets.

  “We were in such a hurry, we didn’t bring any money with us,” said Maya.

  “Café Panini and Bernard is offering i
t to you on the house, of course!” said Sara. “As long as Dino and I work here, you can come in anytime and eat for free. We’re so grateful that you’ve helped us out of this terrible situation. It’s such a relief now that it’s all over.”

  Maya and Jerry stayed awhile talking to Dino and Sara about everything that had happened.

  And the next day, Vivian Leander and everyone else in the town of Pleasant Valley were relieved to read the following article in the paper :

  Another Success Story for the Whodunit Detective Agency

  Pleasant Valley’s young detectives, Maya and Jerry, have once again helped the police solve a difficult— but delicious!—case. During their investigation of the Café Marzipan robberies, the Whodunit Detective Agency discovered that the two culprits were the café owner and an employee. The employee/partner in crime used the café’s baked goods to send secret messages to the owner/robber. Never before has a seemingly innocent apple pie been used to tell a robber when to steal large sums of money from a cash register.

  Jerry and Maya would especially like to thank Vivian Leander, the shop assistant at Mohammed Carat’s jewelry shop, who helped with an important clue.

  The police chief announced that Steve Marzipan, the culprit and the former owner of the café, will spend his community-service time learning how tax money helps local communities.

  THE MUMMY MYSTERY

  A Mysterious Disappearance

  The front of the museum was full of reporters and other curious people. Maya and Jerry instantly recognized Barbara Palmer, the museum director, in the middle of the crowd. A few reporters were interviewing her for the news, and Jerry and Maya pushed closer to hear what she had to say.

  “No, nothing else has disappeared,” she said.

  “What does the mummy’s note say?” asked a reporter with a microphone.