The Spy in the Bleachers

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Wow!” said Benny. “He must be working on a baseball movie!”

  Everybody looked at Benny. “Why do you say that?” asked Mr. Tanaka.

  “Because every time something exciting happens in the game, Mr. Tanaka takes out his notebook,” said Benny. “Or he talks into his headphone.”

  “Hmmm,” said Mr. Tanaka. “Well, if he is working on a movie, I hope he films it in Cogwheel Stadium.”

  “We’re down to three suspects,” said Jessie. “Each of us should watch one person very closely.”

  “I’ll watch Emma Larke,” said Violet.

  “I’ll watch Wheelie,” said Henry.

  “And I’ll watch Carlos Garcia,” said Jessie.

  “I’ll watch the game,” said Benny. “I want the Cogs to win!”

  The others laughed. “Somebody has to watch the game,” said Henry.

  “It’s an important job,” said Benny. “Do you think we have time for some hot dogs before we begin work?”

  “There’s Carlos,” said Jessie as Carlos walked toward them.

  “Hello,” said Carlos. “Ready for some red hots?” he asked.

  “We’re hungry,” said Henry. “We’d like eight hot dogs.”

  “Good choice!” said Carlos with a smile. “If I remember right, all four of you like mustard.” He topped their dogs with mustard and passed two hot dogs to each of the children.

  “Do you think the Cogs will win today?” Jessie asked him.

  Carlos no longer smiled. In fact, he looked very sad. “I don’t think so,” he said. “Every time Cody Howard comes to bat, Reese Dawkins calls the wrong pitch.”

  “Is it true that you tried out for the team?” asked Jessie.

  “Who told you that?!” Carlos looked at them suspiciously.

  “We heard Sam Jackson, the manager, say so,” said Jessie.

  “Oh,” said Carlos. “Yes, it’s true. The manager didn’t pick me. But look at the bad job Reese is doing—I’ll bet Sam Jackson picks me next year.”

  Carlos walked up the aisle to sell more hot dogs. The Aldens ate their food.

  A woman in tan pants and a light trenchcoat sat down in front of them. She wore dark sunglasses and a big hat with a brim.

  Violet thought they were strange clothes to wear on a hot summer day.

  The woman turned around and said, “Hello to all of you.”

  Violet realized that the young woman was Emma Larke.

  The Aldens said hello. Violet asked Emma if she thought the Cogs would win today.

  “No,” said Emma sadly. “I don’t think so.”

  Violet didn’t understand why Emma looked sad. Didn’t Emma want the Cogs to lose?

  Carlos returned and said hello to Emma. He sold her a hot dog. As he handed it to her, she whispered something to him. Carlos smiled.

  Henry saw Wheelie coming down the aisle. Every few steps Wheelie did a little dance.

  When he reached the Aldens, Wheelie sank to his knees. He clasped his hands together as if begging. He shook his head back and forth. Then Wheelie stood up and pointed a hand down toward Emma Larke’s head. Wheelie nodded his head up and down. Wheelie was telling them that he thought Emma was the sign stealer.

  Wheelie went to his special platform and sat down. Carlos brought him a hot dog and a soft drink.

  “Yesterday Winn thought Carlos was the sign stealer,” Henry told the others. “I wonder what made him change his mind?

  The game began. When Reese Dawkins came to bat, Emma stood up and pointed at him. “You’re history,” she growled in a deep voice. “You’re gone, Reese Dawkins. Gone!”

  “Look,” Benny whispered to Violet. “She’s pointing with her left hand.”

  “Yes,” said Violet. “I noticed that Emma is left-handed.

  “Maybe she’s the one who wrote Wheelie’s name on that envelope,” said Henry. He remembered the funny slanted handwriting.

  Reese Dawkins hit a home run right at Emma. She ducked, and so did everybody else around her. Wheelie turned three cartwheels on his platform. The Cogs were leading, 1-0.

  When Cody Howard came to bat, Emma stood again. She pulled her hat lower on her head and thrust out her arm. She pointed at Cody and growled, “Get the job done, Cody!”

  Jessie watched Carlos, who stood staring at Cody Howard. Carlos banged the lid of his hot dog box three times.

  Henry watched Wheelie, who was leaning back in his special chair. Wheelie looked like he was relaxing and wasn’t worried.

  Cody Howard smashed a triple and drove in one run.

  “What if there are two sign stealers?” asked Jessie. “What if Carlos and Emma are a team?”

  “Or Carlos and Wheelie,” said Henry.

  “What if we can’t prove who it is?” said Violet.

  The children looked at each other. They had promised Mr. Tanaka and Sam Jackson that they would discover who was stealing signs. What if they just couldn’t find the proof?

  The Cogs lost the game, 2-1.

  The Aldens watched as the fans started to leave.

  Violet noticed that Emma Larke did not look happy. But if Emma wanted the Hatters to win, shouldn’t she be happy?

  Jessie noticed that Carlos slumped down into an empty seat. He looked very sad.

  Henry watched Wheelie walk away. It was impossible to see inside Wheelie’s costume, to see if he was happy or sad.

  CHAPTER 6

  Mr. X Explains

  At the top of the aisle, Henry and Jessie went in one direction. Violet and Benny went in the other. They hoped to find Mr. X before he left the ballpark.

  But ten minutes later, neither group had found Mr. X.

  “What should we do now?” asked Violet when they all met up again.

  “Let’s go outside,” answered Jessie.

  So they left the stadium, which was still crowded with fans. Unhappy fans, because the Cogs had lost three games in a row to the Hatters.

  The Cogs had to win the last two games. If they didn’t, they would lose the pennant race to the their biggest rival.

  “There he is,” said Benny. He pointed to a souvenir stand.

  Mr. X stood there, holding three different kinds of Cogs baseball caps.

  “Hello,” said Jessie.

  Mr. X turned. “Why, hello,” he said.

  “We need to talk to you about the sign stealing,” said Henry.

  “Sure,” said Mr. X. He chose one of the hats and paid for it. “Let’s step out of the crowd,” he said. He led them to the shade of a tree.

  “What made you decide that signs are being stolen?” Jessie asked him.

  “That’s easy,” replied Mr. X. “It’s clear to anybody who knows baseball well. Cody Howard knows which pitch is coming next. He waits for just the right pitch. Then he hits a triple or home run and the Hatters win the game.” Mr. X looked at them closely. “Why are the four of you so interested?” he asked.

  “We’re working for Mr. Tanaka,” Jessie explained.

  “We told Mr. Tanaka we had three solid suspects,” Jessie explained. “Plus one not-so-likely suspect.”

  “That was you,” Henry added.

  “Me?!” Mr. X said. “Why me?”

  “Because you’re always taking notes at the game,” said Violet. “And then you speak into your headphone.”

  Mr. X smiled. He pulled out his notebook and wrote in it. Then he spoke into his headphone.

  “New idea,” he said. “Four kid detectives try to discover who’s stealing signs.”

  Mr. X looked at the Aldens. “You all look trustworthy,” he said, “so keep what I’m telling you a secret. My name is Simon Brock. I’m a movie producer.”

  Henry nodded. “We know,” he said. “When we mentioned you as a suspect, Mr. Tanaka told us who you are.”

  “So,” said Simon Brock, “I’m off the suspect list because I’m a movie producer?”

  Jessie shook her head. “No,” she said. “You’re off the suspect list because you can’t see the catcher’s s
igns. And Cody Howard can’t see you when he’s at bat.”

  Simon Brock laughed and spoke into his headphone. “The kid detectives are very smart,” he said. “They solve the case.” He smiled. “You’re giving me great ideas for a new movie,” he told them.

  Henry nodded. “We just want to know why you think Emma Larke is stealing signs.”

  “Who?” asked Simon Brock.

  “Emma Larke,” said Violet. “Yesterday she was wearing a lavender dress. You pointed to her and said she was stealing signs.”

  “Right!” said Mr. Brock. “I didn’t know her name. Yes,” he said, “she’s the one who’s stealing signs.”

  “Why are you so sure?” Henry asked again.

  “She’s so easy to see,” explained Mr. Brock. “She calls attention to herself. She wears very different clothing each day.”

  “Did you see Emma do anything today that made you think she was stealing signs?” asked Violet.

  Mr. Brock rubbed his jaw. “She did the same things she always does,” he said. “She stands up when Cody Howard comes to bat. She shouts something. She waves her hat. Then Cody hits a home run or a triple. That might mean something, but I don’t know what.”

  “Neither do we,” confessed Henry. “We wanted to figure out who the spy was today. But we still have the same three suspects.”

  “Who are the other two?” asked Simon Brock.

  “We don’t want to say,” Violet explained.

  Mr. Brock nodded. “Spoken like true detectives,” he said. Then he sat down on a bench. “This is serious stuff,” he said. “The Cogs must win both of the last two games. If there’s anything I can do to help you, just let me know.”

  “Why so glum?” Grandfather asked at dinner.

  “We haven’t discovered who the spy is,” explained Violet. “At today’s game we watched all three very closely. But we couldn’t tell which one was stealing signs.”

  “All three do things when Cody Howard is at bat,” Henry explained. “Things that could be signals.”

  “We promised Mr. Tanaka we would help,” said Jessie. “But we’re getting nowhere.”

  “I’m sure that’s not true,” said Grandfather. “You are all very good thinkers. You must be getting somewhere.”

  “If we could just rule out one of them,” said Henry. “Then we would be down to two suspects.”

  “But we still wouldn’t know which of the two is the spy,” argued Jessie.

  “We can’t guess,” said Violet. “That wouldn’t be fair.”

  “But if we had only two suspects, we could isolate one,” said Henry.

  “I-so-late?” asked Benny. “What does that mean?”

  “Remember when you had the measles?” Jessie asked Benny. “You had to stay home. Nobody could come visit you. You were isolated so that other people wouldn’t catch the measles from you.”

  Benny looked confused. “Are we going to put a suspect where nobody can see him?” he asked.

  Henry laughed. “Something like that,” he said. “If we can down to two suspects, we can put one of them where Cody Howard can’t see him.”

  “Yes!” said Jessie excitedly. “Let’s make a list of all the clues after dinner. I’m sure if we think hard, we can figure out who is innocent.”

  “That would leave us with two suspects,” said Violet.

  “Let’s make our list right away,” said Benny, looking around. “Right after dessert, I mean.”

  CHAPTER 7

  Who Is the Spy?

  The children had the inn’s game room all to themselves. They sat at one of the tables and Jessie pulled out her notebook.

  “Do we all agree that Simon Brock isn’t a suspect any more?” she asked.

  Henry, Violet, and Benny nodded their heads. “He’s just enjoying the baseball games,” said Henry. “And thinking about movies.”

  “So,” said Jessie, “let’s begin with Carlos Garcia.” She wrote his name in her notebook.

  Then they discussed all the things that made it seem as if Carlos might be stealing signs. Jessie listed them.

  Carlos Garcia

  • Carlos dislikes Reese Dawkins, the Cogs catcher, and wants to replace him.

  • Carlos hands Winn envelopes during the ballgame—maybe he and Winn are working together to steal signs.

  • Carlos put an envelope into Emma’s straw bag.

  • Carlos and Emma talk about Reese Dawkins. They both want to see Reese Dawkins fail. Maybe Carlos and Emma are working together to steal signs.

  • Carlos wears a pennant on his cap: he can be seen all the way across the ballpark.

  • Every time Cody Howard comes to bat, Carlos bangs the lid of his vendor’s box up and down. Could this be a signal to Cody?

  “This looks bad,” said Henry. “Carlos does a lot of suspicious things.”

  “We can’t prove that Carlos is stealing signs,” said Jessie. “And we can’t prove that he’s not stealing them.”

  “What about Emma Larke?” asked Benny.

  Jessie made a new list.

  Emma Larke

  • She dislikes Reese Dawkins, the Cogs catcher, and wants to see him fail.

  • She wears things that make it easy for the batter to see her.

  • Whenever Cody Howard comes to bat, Emma stands up and shouts and waves her hat. This could be a signal to Cody.

  • She was talking to Carlos Garcia about Reese Dawkins, the catcher.

  • She received an envelope from Carlos Garcia.

  “Emma is doing a lot of suspicious-looking things,” said Violet.

  “Maybe the things she’s doing are too suspicious,” said Henry.

  “What do you mean?” asked Benny.

  “Well,” said Henry to his younger brother, “if you were stealing signs, wouldn’t you try to hide it?”

  Benny thought about this. “I would never steal,” he said. “But a person who steals tries to hide it.”

  “Emma doesn’t seem to hide what she’s doing,” said Violet.

  “Let’s go to our last suspect,” said Henry.

  “Winn Winchell,” said Jessie as she wrote the name. “The team mascot.”

  “Also known as Wheelie,” Benny said.

  The others laughed.

  The children spent a long time discussing Wheelie. Jessie wrote the list.

  Wheelie

  • Wheelie receives envelopes from Carlos during the game. Maybe Wheelie and Carlos are working together to steal signs.

  • Wheelie has a very clear view of the catcher’s signals.

  • Wheelie makes motions each time Cody Howard is at bat. Sometimes he holds his nose, sometimes he holds both hands out to the side.

  • Wheelie seems to want money. He seems to want fans to pay for autographs.

  • Benny and Henry saw an envelope with money in it fall out of Wheelie’s pocket.

  “This is a tough mystery to solve,” Violet said. “All three people look guilty.”

  Henry stood up and paced around. “I wish we had been able to figure out who the spy was today.”

  “Me, too,” said Benny. “But all three of them did the same things they always do.”

  “I am very sad,” said Violet. “We don’t have a name to give Mr. Tanaka tomorrow morning. That means the spy will continue spying. And that means the Cogs will lose tomorrow’s game.”

  “But,” said Henry, still walking back and forth, “I think we can tell who’s not guilty.”

  Jessie nodded. “Yes. Who do you think is innocent, Benny?”

  “Emma.” said Benny. “Because she doesn’t hide what she’s doing.”

  “Very good,” said Jessie with a smile.

  “I think Emma is innocent, too” said Violet. “And I think I know why she wears different clothes. We can ask her tomorrow.”

  “Then we will have two suspects,” said Jessie. “Carlos and Wheelie.”

  “We will i-so-late one of them,” said Benny. “Like when I had the measles.”

>   Henry sat back down. “This will be the most important decision we make,” he said. “If we isolate the right person, nobody will be there to give stolen signs to Cody Howard.”

  “That means the Cogs will have a fair chance to win the game,” said Jessie.

  “We can think about this while we sleep,” said Violet. “In the morning we can decide who to isolate.”

  The others agreed.

  “There’s one more thing we can do,” said Jessie.

  “What’s that?” asked Henry.

  “We can get two autographs. I’ll get one, and Benny can get the other one.”

  “Good thinking,” said Henry. “The autographs will help us.”

  CHAPTER 8

  Emma’s Clothes

  The next morning the children went to Cogwheel Stadium with Grandfather. They arrived so early they had time to play in the ballpark outside the stadium. As soon as they saw cars arriving for the game, the Aldens put away their bats and balls.

  Just inside Cogwheel Stadium, they waited for Emma Larke to show up. “I wonder what Emma will be wearing today?” said Benny.

  They saw her coming through the turnstile. Today she was wearing a Cogs baseball cap, an orange Cogs baseball shirt, and white baseball pants.

  “I thought Emma hated the Cogs,” whispered Jessie.

  “Emma looks very sad,” said Violet.

  Henry said hello and asked Emma if they could talk to her.

  “Talk?” said Emma. “What about?”

  Before Henry could start asking the questions they needed to ask, Benny blurted out, “Why are you wearing a Cogs uniform?”

  Emma started to cry. “I’m a Cogs fan, really I am. I should have been rooting for them all along. And now,” she said, crying harder, “the Cogs won’t win the pennant. It’s all my fault!”

  “How is it your fault?” asked Jessie.

  “I rooted for Cody Howard,” said Emma, “just because I was so mad at Reese Dawkins! And look what happened—every time I cheered for Cody, he hit a home run! Or a triple! If only I hadn’t cheered for him.”

  Emma wiped tears from her eyes. “It’s all my fault,” she repeated.