Kate jumped up and down. “Let’s go, Cardinals!” she said. “¡Vamos los Cardenales!” Kate was teaching herself Spanish and liked to practice it whenever she could.
Mike smiled. “¡Vamos los Cardenales!” he yelled.
Mike and Kate stamped their feet and cheered with the rest of the fans as Red left the dugout to bat.
But Red took his time walking to the plate. He seemed to be scanning the crowd on his way. Finally, he spotted Mike and Kate. He pointed at them and held up his hands for a moment.
“He pointed at us!” Kate said.
“I think he wants to know if we found Louie!” Mike said. “What do we say?”
“The only thing we can say—the truth,” Kate said. She shook her head at Red. Then she shrugged, held up her hands, and mouthed the word sorry.
Red’s shoulders drooped. He nodded and continued to walk to the plate. He took a couple of deep breaths and then swung his bat back and forth. Red ground his front foot into the dirt, stared out at the pitcher, and waited.
The Pirates pitcher waited for the right sign from the catcher. He shook off one after another but then got one he liked. A moment later, the ball zoomed toward the plate.
Red stood still. The ball sailed by.
“Strike one!” the umpire called.
The crowd booed.
Red held up his hand and then took two more practice swings.
A moment later, the pitcher threw again.
Red wasn’t going to let it go this time. He dug down and swung as the ball shot over the plate. The bat chopped through the air and blasted into the ball.
But instead of flying toward the outfield wall, the ball launched almost straight up!
Red dropped his bat and ran for first base.
The Pirates catcher jumped out of his crouch, ran forward, held up his glove, and waited. The ball fell back down. Just as Red reached first base, the baseball dropped into the catcher’s glove.
PLONK!
It was an out.
The inning was over. Red would have to wait until his next, and possibly final, at bat in the game to try to extend his hitting streak.
“Argh!” Mike said. “Red might only have one more chance to break the record!”
Kate pointed to the scoreboard. “But at least he still has a chance,” she said. “And the Cardinals are only losing by one, so that’s good.”
“Well, you can’t win on an empty stomach,” Mike said. “Maybe it’s a good time to get some food.” He rubbed his belly. “I’m hungry!”
“It’s not time to get food,” Kate said. “We need to investigate the peanut butter!”
Mike sighed. He scuffed at the ground with his sneaker. “Okay,” he said. “If we have to.”
“Of course we have to,” Kate said. “We have to find Louie before Red is at bat again!”
Mike straightened up. “Hey, I’ve got a better idea,” he said. “What if we go find Harry the hot dog guy?”
“What’s he going to know about the peanut butter?” Kate asked.
Mike shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “But I always work best on a full stomach! Let’s get a hot dog and then investigate the peanut butter.”
Kate smiled. “Actually, that’s a great idea,” she said, jumping up and down. “Maybe Harry knows something about the groundskeeper who was holding the jar of peanut butter!”
“Yahoo!” Mike said. “A new clue! And one that requires a stop at a hot dog stand to investigate! That’s my favorite kind.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “It always comes back to food for you, doesn’t it?” she asked.
“It’s dinnertime, and I’m hungry!” Mike said. “Hey, speaking of food. Do you know what they call a hot dog race?”
“No, what?” Kate asked.
“Wiener takes all!” Mike said.
Peanut Butter
Hot Dogs
Kate and Mike found Harry near the main entrance. The red-and-white-striped cart was filled with hot dogs, chips, and drinks. Harry was standing behind the cash register on the right side.
Mike and Kate stepped up to the cart.
“Hey, guys!” Harry said when he noticed them. “Hungry for some hot dogs? You’ve come to the right place. Oh, hang on!”
Harry grabbed a handful of napkins from the stand and turned around.
“Ah, ah, achoooo!” Harry sneezed. A few of the napkins fluttered away. Harry ran after them and scooped them up. He tossed them away and then rubbed some hand sanitizer on his hands.
“Sorry, it’s my allergies. What can I get you?” he asked.
While Mike thought about whether he wanted a hot dog with ketchup, mustard, or both, he noticed a jar of crunchy peanut butter on the counter. “What’s that for?” he asked.
Harry glanced down at the jar. He picked it up and moved it over to the side of the cart. “Oh, it’s just peanut butter,” he said. He shrugged. “Sometimes people want it on their hot dogs.”
“Yuck!” Kate said. “That’s gross!”
“Are you kidding? It’s great,” Harry said. “But maybe it’s not for everyone.” He looked at Mike. “What do you want on your hot dog?”
“Definitely not peanut butter!” Mike said. “I’ll take one with mustard and relish. And a PowerPunch!”
“I’ll have a hot dog with ketchup and onions,” Kate said. “And a lemonade!”
“Coming right up!” Harry said. He prepped their two hot dogs and put them on the counter with the drinks. Kate handed him some money.
“So, Harry,” Mike said. “Kate and I were thinking that one of the groundskeepers might have taken Louie. Before the game, there was one with a mustache who was eating peanut butter. Do you think he had anything to do with it?”
“Boots?” Harry asked. “Boots is the manager of the grounds crew. He’s always dipping something into peanut butter. Celery, pretzels, broccoli. In fact, he’s the one who likes peanut butter on his hot dogs! But I don’t think he’d steal Louie.”
“Did you happen to see any other groundskeepers hanging around Louie?” Kate asked.
Harry leaned back for a moment and thought. Then he handed Kate her change and nodded. “You know, now that you mention it,” he said, “I did see one in a red jacket petting Louie just before I left.”
“Really?” Mike said. “We can check into that. It might be an important clue.”
“No problem,” Harry said. “Happy to help. I’d hate to see anything happen to that dog. How’s Manny doing with the ransom?”
“Good, I think,” Kate said. “He’s working on it.”
Harry nodded. “Great! I hope he’s able to get a World Series trophy for Louie,” he said. “At least the Cardinals have a bunch of them.”
“I think he will,” Mike said. He grabbed his hot dog and PowerPunch. “Well, thanks for helping.”
Harry waved goodbye and turned to the next customer as Kate and Mike walked away, munching their food.
As they rounded the corner to head back to their seats, Kate started to make strange noises. “Humth! Humth!” Her mouth was full of hot dog. Mike stopped to see if she was choking.
Kate swallowed her bite of hot dog. “The ransom!” she cried.
Mike looked around. “What ransom?” he asked.
“Harry just asked about the ransom for Louie!” Kate said.
“So what?” Mike asked. “We told him about it when we saw him earlier.”
Kate shook her head. “But we never said what the ransom was!” she said. “We didn’t say anything about the World Series trophy to Harry!”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “You mean—”
“Yes!” Kate said. “The only way Harry would know that the World Series trophy is the ransom is if he’s the dog-napper!”
A Special Kind of Hot Dog
“Wow!” Mi
ke said. “Why would he do such a thing?”
“He’s a huge Cardinals fan!” Kate said. “He told us that when he was looking at your Red Gibson signed ball. Remember how he said he’d like one? What if he really wants a Cardinals World Series trophy?”
“And he was there when Louie first escaped!” Mike said. “It definitely could be him! Good work!”
Mike gave Kate a high five.
“Thanks,” Kate said. “But we still have to find Louie.”
Mike and Kate peeked around the corner to watch Harry. He was helping a customer who had bought three hot dogs. There was one more customer in line.
“So, where do you think he put Louie?” Mike asked.
“That’s what we need to find out, and fast,” Kate said. “Maybe he put him in the storage room over there. Or in his car.”
Kate glanced at the scoreboard. It was the bottom of the eighth inning, and St. Louis was batting. They were still behind by one run.
“We’ve got to find Louie before Red gets up again,” Kate said. “Otherwise he’ll still be too upset to break the record!”
Mike snapped his fingers. “We don’t have time for the chief of security to investigate. We need to get Harry to tell us where Louie is right now,” he said.
“How?” Kate asked.
“We’ll just tell him that we know he’s the dog-napper,” Mike said. “But that we won’t turn him in if he brings us to Louie. Then we can return Louie and tell Red that we’ve found him!”
Kate thought about it, and then nodded. “Great idea,” she said. “It’s more important to get Louie back than worry about turning Harry in to the police.”
“Okay!” Mike said. He and Kate started walking to the hot dog stand. But as they turned the corner, Harry disappeared behind his hot dog cart.
“Ah, ah, achoooooooo!” Harry bent over in a sneezing fit. “Achoooooooo! Achoooooooo!”
He grabbed handfuls of napkins to sneeze into. The sneezes echoed down the hallway.
Kate grabbed Mike’s arm and pulled him back around the corner.
“Hold on!” she said. “I’ve got a new plan. Harry’s sneezing!”
“I know that,” Mike said. “He’s been sneezing all day.”
“No! You’re missing the point,” Kate said. “He’s sneezing. Remember when we were petting Louie and Harry looked at our signed baseball? He sneezed! He said he was allergic to dogs!”
Harry sneezed again.
“That must be a bad allergy if he’s been sneezing all this time,” Mike said.
“No! That’s not it!” Kate said. “He’s sneezing now because Louie must be someplace nearby!”
Mike’s eyes opened wide. “Wow! I’ll bet you’re right,” he said. “But where?”
Mike and Kate peeked around the corner. Harry had stopped sneezing and was selling hot dogs to two little girls. When he was finished, Harry turned around and opened a door behind him. He went into what looked like a storage room and came out a moment later with packages of hot dog buns.
“Louie could be in that storage room!” Kate said.
“Or in that cooler,” Mike said. He pointed to a red cooler behind Harry. “It’s big enough for Louie to fit in if he curled up. Maybe Harry drilled holes in the top so Louie would have air to breathe.”
Mike tapped the wall with his finger. “How can we get Harry out of there so we can search for Louie?”
Kate thought for a moment.
“Well, we know he really wants that World Series trophy,” Kate said. “What if we tell him that Manny needs his help with it? Then Harry will go down to the groundskeepers’ area. That will give us at least ten minutes before he returns.”
“But what happens when Manny isn’t there asking for help with the trophy?” Mike asked. “Isn’t he going to be mad at us?”
Kate shrugged. “It doesn’t matter,” she said. “Maybe he’ll think we made a mistake. He’ll probably just come back to his cart. All we need is a few minutes to find Louie.”
They walked over to Harry’s stand and waited for him to finish with a customer.
“Hungry for more already?” Harry asked when he spotted Kate and Mike.
Kate laughed. “No, but we just talked to Manny,” she said. “He’s down in the groundskeepers’ area and wanted to know if you could help him.”
Harry glanced at the hot dog cart. He shook his head. “I don’t know,” he said. “I should really stay with the cart. Maybe he can get someone else.”
“But Manny needs your help getting the World Series trophy ready for the dog-napper,” Kate said.
Harry’s eyes grew wide. “The trophy?” he asked. “Really? I guess I could take a few minutes off.” He nodded for a moment while he thought. Then he reached underneath the cart and pulled out a black-and-white sign. He set it on top of the counter and locked the cash register.
The sign read BACK IN 15 MINUTES.
“Thanks for letting me know,” Harry said. “I’ll be back shortly.” He headed for the groundskeepers’ area.
When Harry disappeared around the corner, Kate turned to Mike.
“Quick! We don’t have much time!” she said. They turned and ran for the door to the supply room. Luckily, it wasn’t locked. Mike pulled it open. Kate ducked inside and switched the light on.
The shelves inside were filled with supplies. Big packages of rolls. Extra cardboard containers for the food. And lots of sauces. But no dog!
Kate sighed. She turned the light off, and they slipped outside.
Mike pointed to the red cooler. “Louie’s got to be in there!” he said. He leaned over and pulled the top of the cooler up.
It was filled with plenty of drink bottles. But again, no dog!
“Aww!” Mike said. “Now what? Harry’s going to be back soon, and we haven’t found Louie!”
“Harry was sneezing. So Louie must be here. But where?” Kate said.
She and Mike studied the area. There wasn’t anything around the hot dog cart except people passing by. There was a souvenir shop about a hundred feet away and a garbage can on the other side of the walkway.
As Mike looked around, he noticed the scoreboard. The Cardinals had just gotten the third out and were coming off the field to bat. “Uh-oh,” Mike said. “Red’s going to be up soon! And the game’s tied! If Red doesn’t get a hit, his streak will be over!”
Kate tapped the ground with her foot. “Think. Think. Think,” she said under her breath. “Where did Harry hide him?”
The glittery silver Gateway Arch caught Mike’s eye. “Well, if we were over at the Arch, I know where I would have hidden Louie,” he said. “In one of those little tram cars! I sure felt trapped in them this morning.”
Kate stopped tapping. “What did you say?” she asked.
Mike looked at her. “You heard me,” he said. He pointed to the Arch. “If we were over there, I would have hidden Louie in a tram car! They’re like little metal boxes.”
Kate’s eyebrows went up. “Brilliant, Mike!” she said. “I think that’s it!”
“What’s it?” Mike asked. “You think Louie is trapped on the Arch? That’s a bit far for Harry to go during the game.”
Kate rolled her eyes. “No! Look at this,” she said. She pointed to Harry’s cart. “What’s that?” she asked.
Mike looked at her funny. “A hot dog cart?” he asked slowly.
Kate shook her head. She pointed to a door on the right side of the back of the cart. “No, what’s that?” she asked.
Mike studied the door. It was about two feet by two feet. “A door to a small metal box on the hot dog cart?”
“Bingo!” Kate said. “It’s a supply cabinet, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t have supplies in it today! Let’s see what’s inside.”
Mike leaned over and turned the latch on the door.
It didn’t move.
“It’s locked!” Mike said.
Kate tried the handle, but it didn’t budge.
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Mike said. He searched the ground behind them. “Quick! Find a rock or something hard and I’ll smash it open.”
“No, I’ve got a better idea,” Kate said. She reached over to the other side of the cart and picked up a small skewer with grilled peppers and onions on it. Kate slid the food off the skewer and wiped it on a nearby rag. Then she slipped the end of the skewer into the lock.
“What are you doing?” Mike asked.
Kate jiggled the sliver of metal inside the lock. “Picking the lock,” she said. “It looks pretty basic.” She moved the skewer back and forth inside the lock while lightly pressing on the door handle.
“Hey, where’d you learn how to do that?” Mike asked.
Kate glanced over her shoulder at him. “Where do you think?” she said. “From a book, of course! I’ve been reading about Harry Houdini. He was famous for picking locks, and it sounded like fun to me. So I’ve been practicing at home.”
Kate poked one more time, and the latch turned! The cabinet door swung wide open.
Two eyes peeked up at Kate and Mike.
Then a furry nose poked out, and a big wet tongue gave them both big wet kisses!
A Dog Whistle
It was Louie!
He was curled up on his bed inside the hot dog cart’s storage area. There was even a red chew toy in front of him, filled with peanut butter. While Mike and Kate stared at him, Louie tried to lick the peanut butter out of the chew toy.
“Well, he’s not in a rush to get out,” Mike said. “I guess he’s comfortable.”
Kate nodded. She pointed to the far side of the compartment. “That’s good. At least there’s a bowl of water in there for him,” she said.
“And peanut butter in the chew toy!” Mike said. “I’ll bet Harry used the peanut butter to lure Louie into the cart when no one was looking. He probably dropped some on the floor. The groundskeeper we saw with the jar of peanut butter didn’t have anything to do with it!”
Ballpark Mysteries 14 Page 3