Mystery on Stage

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Grandfather is taking us all out to dinner,” Violet told Benny.

  “Really!” Benny exclaimed. He put down his scissors. “I hope we’re going to the pizzeria.”

  “If that’s where you want to go, Benny, the pizzeria it will be,” Grandfather said as he came into the kitchen. “Are you ready to leave soon?”

  “I am sort of hungry,” Benny admitted.

  At dinner, Benny ordered two slices of his favorite pizza — pepperoni with special tomato sauce and lots of cheese. He also asked for apple juice and a green salad.

  Henry took a bite of his pizza. “You know, the man at the table by the window looks kind of familiar,” he remarked.

  Violet and Jessie looked sideways. “I think I’ve seen his picture in the paper,” Jessie said. She poured some dressing on her salad.

  Grandfather frowned a little. “I know I’ve seen him before, too,” he said slowly. “I just can’t remember where.”

  Benny reached for his glass of apple juice. “I don’t know him,” he said. “Oops!” Benny shouted as his glass of juice spilled onto the red-and-white checked tablecloth.

  Several people in the restaurant turned toward their table, including the man who looked familiar. When he saw the Aldens, he started to nod in their direction, then suddenly stopped and turned away.

  A waiter in a white apron hurried over with a wet cloth. Another waiter brought Benny a new glass of juice.

  “Did you see that?” Violet asked her sister.

  “What, the juice spilling?” Jessie asked.

  “No.” Violet shook her head. “That man who looked familiar knows us, too, I think.”

  Jessie turned toward the man, but he had put on his coat and was heading out the door. She shrugged. “I guess he must have finished eating,” she said to Violet.

  Benny took a big sip from his new glass. “This juice tastes much better,” he told the waiter, who laughed.

  “Enjoy the rest of your meal,” the waiter said.

  Soo Lee carefully put her glass of grape juice on the table. “I hope it doesn’t spill,” she said.

  Grandfather said, “Don’t worry. Oh, Soo Lee that reminds me.” He turned in his chair to face her. “Alice dropped off a suitcase of clothes for you today. She said you could stay at our house until the play is over.”

  Soo Lee smiled happily. She liked staying with her cousins.

  Benny pushed aside his empty plate. “You know,” he told his family, “Watch really liked his gold star. I put it on his house before we left.”

  “How do you know he liked it?” Henry teased.

  “Because he tried to jump up and lick it,” Benny said.

  Grandfather chuckled. “I hope his stardom doesn’t go to his head,” he remarked, as he looked proudly around the table. “You’re all doing so well with this play.”

  “Oh, we’re enjoying it,” Jessie said. “It’s just too bad so many funny things happened in the beginning.”

  “At least, Melody’s been on her best behavior at rehearsals,” Violet remarked.

  “I’ve noticed that,” Henry said. He poured himself some water from the pitcher. “That talk with Jim must have really scared her.”

  “You really think she’s the one who made the phone call, wrote the note, and took all those props?” Jessie asked.

  “Don’t forget the ripped costume,” Benny reminded her.

  “I don’t know what to think,” Henry said slowly. “At first I thought Melody wanted to give Sarah a bad time for getting the lead, but now I’m not so sure.”

  “I know what you mean.” Jessie played with her spoon. “Melody seems really scared when anything bad happens, and lately she’s tried to do her best.”

  “I don’t think she wants to hurt the show,” Violet agreed.

  “Then who does?” Benny wondered.

  “That’s what we have to find out.” Henry said.

  As the Aldens drove home from the restaurant, they passed the Community Playhouse.

  “Hey, look!” Benny shouted. A bright light shone from the second floor.

  “That’s where the stage is. Maybe someone is practicing,” Soo Lee suggested.

  “So late?” Grandfather asked, looking at his watch.

  “We saw Jim turn all the lights out after rehearsal. He even locked the door. No one’s supposed to be in there,” Violet pointed out.

  “No, but someone is,” Henry said.

  Grandfather stopped the car and the Aldens got out. Henry tried the door, but it was locked.

  “That’s funny,” Violet said.

  “Maybe Jim or Nancy came back to check on something and forgot to turn the lights off,” Jessie said.

  “Well, there’s nothing we can do now,” Grandfather said.

  “We’ll tell Jim in the morning,” said Henry.

  “He’s not going to like this,” Benny added.

  CHAPTER 7

  Problems on the Set

  “Someone noticed a light on in the theater late last night,” Jim announced to the cast and crew the next day. He paused to nervously pull up the collar of his faded blue shirt.

  “Are you sure it wasn’t the janitor?” Richard asked.

  “I was the last one in the building. I turned out all the lights and locked the door,” Jim said as he paced up and down the stage.

  Violet was worried about Jim. He looked paler and thinner than ever.

  “Okay, let’s get started,” Jim called. He suddenly seemed in a hurry to begin rehearsing. “I want Sarah, Jessie, Melody, Harold, and Richard on stage.”

  As Benny made his way backstage, he noticed Sarah in the wings. She had a large manila folder tucked under one arm. When she noticed Benny looking at her, she quickly stuck the folder in her script.

  “Did you ever find your script?” Benny asked, trying to sound friendly.

  “Uh, yes. I mean no. Nancy found an extra script.” Sarah seemed anxious to get away from Benny.

  “I really think there should be a softer light on me in this scene,” Richard was saying loudly to Henry and Jim on stage. “I see no need for a green gel.”

  “A what?” Benny asked Jessie.

  “It’s a piece of thick plastic you put over a stage light to make it change color,” Jessie explained softly.

  “You have to look green.” Jim tried to sound patient with Richard. “We need to have green lighting in this scene. The Wizard does live in the Emerald City.”

  “Why can’t there be a soft, white spotlight on me?” Richard demanded.

  “Look, I give the lighting directions here,” Jim said firmly. “Now, please take your positions so we can get on with this scene.”

  “Come on, Benny, you should be backstage,” Henry called softly. He pulled one of the levers on the lighting board down to low.

  “I’m going,” Benny said. He did a few dance steps from his Munchkin routine.

  “You’re showing off,” Henry teased him.

  “Not as much as Richard is,” Benny pointed out. Henry couldn’t argue.

  Backstage, Violet and Soo Lee were making the tail for Jessie’s lion costume. Benny went over to watch them.

  “Oh, Violet,” Nancy called as she came into the costume room. “Could you make a big poster for the show? We open in a week and we need more advertising.” Nancy sighed and looked at the jumble of materials spread out on the big table in front of the girls.

  “I can make the poster right here. Remember, we found lots of crayons and paints in this drawer.” Violet opened the long thin drawer of the black dresser.

  “Good, I know you’ll do a good job. All you Aldens are such a big help around here,” Nancy said, looking appreciatively at Benny and Soo Lee. “By the way, Benny, if you’re not busy, I’d like you to help Mrs. McGregor paint the Yellow Brick Road on the backdrop. I have to be in the wings all afternoon to give the actors their cues.”

  “I’m coming,” Benny said cheerfully. He liked to paint.

  When Violet had sketched and pa
inted the poster, she left it on the table in the costume room so the paint would dry. Then she went with Soo Lee to help Benny finish painting the Yellow Brick Road.

  “Oh, good, I’m glad you’re here to help.” Mrs. McGregor brushed a wisp of hair off her forehead with her arm. “Benny has to go on stage now. They’re rehearsing the Munchkin scene.”

  As she worked on the Yellow Brick Road, Violet noticed people going in and out of the costume room. When Richard came out, Violet asked, “Can I help you?”

  “Oh, no.” Richard sounded a little embarrassed. “I, uh, was just looking for my costume.”

  “It’s hanging on a hook near the wardrobe,” Violet said as she dabbed yellow paint on the big canvas backdrop in front of her.

  “Yes, I saw it.” Richard played nervously with his bow tie. “It’s too bad I have to wear a brown suit during most of the play when all the others have such colorful costumes.”

  “You have a colorful part,” Mrs. McGregor reminded him.

  “Well, yes,” Richard admitted. “But a brighter suit would make me stand out more in the Emerald City.”

  Violet didn’t know what to say. She nodded a little and continued painting. By the time rehearsal was over, the Yellow Brick Road was finished.

  “Tomorrow, after the paint dries, they’ll put the canvas on the big wooden frame Henry made,” Mrs. McGregor said.

  Before she left, Violet went to the costume room to get her coat. She carefully checked all the costumes. Mrs. Adams had made Dorothy a new blue-checked pinafore, and it hung crisply on a hook. The Lion and Scarecrow costumes lay finished on one of the tables. Nothing had been touched.

  Violet breathed a sigh of relief, until she looked for the poster. It was missing!

  “What’s the matter?” Nancy asked as she came into the costume room behind Violet. Violet’s eyes were very wide.

  “The poster I made is gone!” Violet’s voice shook a little.

  “It has to be somewhere,” Nancy pointed out. She began to look in the closet and under the table. “Did you notice anyone coming into the costume room when you were painting scenery?”

  Violet frowned. “Well, yes,” she said. “Richard.”

  Nancy nodded.

  “And other people came in and out,” Violet continued, “but I didn’t pay much attention.”

  Nancy sighed. “I’m going to look for the poster backstage, then I’ll make an announcement. Maybe someone already hung it outside.”

  “No, I don’t think so,” a shrill voice said behind them. Melody had silently slipped into the room wearing her pink ballet slippers. She waved her hands in front of her to show off her purple nail polish.

  Nancy and Violet stared at her in surprise.

  “What do you mean, you don’t think so?” Nancy asked. “Have you seen the poster?”

  “Why, isn’t it over there?” Melody pointed with her purple-nailed index finger.

  The poster stood in the far corner of the room facing the wall. Violet examined it carefully. Everything looked all right except someone had tried to make the letters in Richard’s name bigger!

  “Of all the nerve!” Nancy exclaimed.

  Violet stared at her poster in silence. “I think I can fix it,” she said after a few moments. “I’ll just have to make Sarah’s name a little bigger, too.”

  Nancy just shook her head. “I’m going to have to have a talk with Richard.” She hurried out of the room.

  Melody paid no attention to the conversation between Nancy and Violet. “I want to see my Scarecrow costume,” she insisted. “Now.”

  “It’s right here.” Violet pointed to the patchwork jumpsuit filled with cotton and straw.

  “It looks so itchy,” Melody complained.

  Violet sighed. “It shouldn’t be,” she answered. “The straw won’t be touching your skin.”

  “I wish I could wear one of these long dresses,” Melody said as she inspected one of the long pink silk gowns hanging on the rack.

  “Melody?” Violet asked. “How did you know where the poster was?”

  Melody played with one of the rings on her finger. “I just saw it there when I came in earlier to change into my ballet slippers.”

  “Did you notice anyone fiddling with it?”

  Melody held the pink gown to her body and examined her reflection in the full-length mirror. “What do you mean fiddling with it?” she asked without looking at Violet.

  “I mean, did you see anyone changing the lettering on it?” Although Violet sounded polite, she was beginning to lose her patience.

  “No.” Melody shook her long auburn curls. “The poster was just sitting there against the wall. I didn’t touch it, if that’s what you mean. Why would I want to make Richard’s name bigger?”

  Melody twirled in front of the mirror one more time before hanging the dress back on the rack. She left the room without saying another word to Violet.

  When Nancy came back, she looked discouraged. “Richard’s left for the evening. I promise you, I’ll talk to him tomorrow.”

  Violet sighed. “I think I’ll finish this poster at home. I have lots of paints there.”

  “Don’t stay up too late,” Nancy advised as she put on her coat. “You’ll need your energy for all those costume fittings tomorrow.”

  “I won’t,” Violet assured her as she gathered her things to leave.

  As the Aldens walked out of the Community Playhouse, they noticed a big white car pulled up in front of the building. A man in a tweed coat sat behind the wheel drumming his fingers on the dashboard.

  “Have you seen a girl named Sarah Bellamy?” the man called to the Aldens as they walked past his car.

  “Yes, we know her. She’s staying late to practice her lines with Jim, the director,” Jessie answered.

  The man shook his head impatiently. “I can’t wait here forever,” he complained as he leaned on his horn and honked.

  “I don’t think she can hear you,” Benny pointed out. The man glared in Benny’s direction.

  “Would one of you mind going inside to find her?” The man tried to sound polite. “You see, I don’t want to lose my parking place,” he explained.

  “I can go,” Benny said.

  “I’ll go with you, Benny,” said Jessie. She didn’t notice any other cars parked nearby and wondered why the man was afraid of losing his parking place.

  “We’ll meet you at the house, then,” Mrs. McGregor suggested. “I have to get dinner started, and Soo Lee and Violet are helping me. Aren’t you?” she added winking at them.

  “I’ll help with dinner, too,” Henry said as he stamped his feet a little on the pavement to keep warm. He took the poster from Violet to carry.

  It took Jessie and Benny longer than they thought to walk backstage because they met some cast members in the lobby.

  “Have you seen Sarah?” they asked.

  “No,” Mrs. Adams answered. “But she did say something a while ago about wanting to stay late for practice.”

  Once Jessie and Benny reached the auditorium, it was completely dark. “All the actors must have left,” Benny said.

  The Aldens looked in the costume room, the dressing rooms, and on the stage. Jessie even turned on the house lights so she could see the whole auditorium, but Sarah was nowhere to be found.

  “She must have gone home,” Jessie said finally as she turned off the lights. “Maybe she didn’t know she was getting picked up.”

  “It’s funny Jim’s gone, too,” Benny said. “He usually likes to stay late!”

  “We seem to be the only ones here,” Jessie said, looking out at the darkened auditorium.

  Benny nodded. “Let’s go out and tell that man we can’t find Sarah,” he said. “Do you think he’s her father?” he added.

  Jessie shrugged. “He might be. He does look a little bit like her.”

  “He has dark hair and blue eyes,” said Benny. “Sarah does, too.”

  Before they left, Jessie made sure all the lights co
ntrolled by the lighting board were turned off. She took the red flashlight near the board so Benny and she could find their way to the door.

  “It’s dark back here,” Benny said as he sidestepped a pile of lumber stacked near the wall. “I’m glad you found a flashlight.”

  “Yes,” Jessie agreed. “I don’t know why they turned the night-light off.”

  “Jessie!” Benny whispered loudly. He grabbed his sister’s arm. “I hear voices!”

  Jessie moved closer to the backstage door. “Don’t worry, they’re just talking outside,” she whispered. “No one’s backstage.”

  “I won’t let you do this!” a man’s voice said angrily.

  “Do you think that’s Jim?” Benny whispered. “Who’s he talking to?”

  Jessie put her finger to her lips and shook her head. “I can’t tell,” she said after a moment.

  “You have to stop!” the man kept saying. The girl answered in low muffled tones.

  “That’s Sarah’s voice!” Benny whispered. “But I can’t hear what she’s saying.”

  Benny and Jessie looked at each other. Benny’s big eyes grew even rounder. “Do you think Sarah’s been the one doing all those things to the props and costumes … ?”

  “And Jim’s telling her to stop?” Jessie finished the sentence for her brother. She shook her head. “It sounds that way, but we don’t know for sure.”

  Jessie beamed the flashlight on the doorknob. “Why don’t we go outside and see what’s going on?” she suggested.

  Suddenly the girl outside the stage door burst into tears. Jessie hesitated with her hand on the doorknob. “I don’t think we should interrupt their conversation,” she said finally.

  Benny nodded. “Okay. We can go out the side door,” he said.

  Jessie turned, but something caught her eye.

  “Look, Benny,” she called in a low voice.

  “What is it?” Benny asked.

  Jessie pointed the flashlight at the backdrop of the wizard’s palace. “Somebody moved it,” Jessie whispered. “When we were working this afternoon on the Yellow Brick Road, I’m sure the Wizard’s palace was facing the wall near those boards.”

  When Jessie shone the light on the Wizard’s palace, the Aldens could see it was splattered with big drops of black paint. Attached to the set was a big note written in red ink.