The Niagara Falls Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “Always,” Will answered. “In fact, the insurance company keeps telling Granddad he should keep it in a safe or at a bank. But he won’t hear of it. He wants to share these treasures with visitors who come to the shop. Granddad must have left the case unlocked by mistake. Good thing I noticed. I’ll lock it up now.”

  Will was walking toward a cabinet in the corner of the room when he accidentally kicked something. “Gosh! Granddad really must have been rushed. He dropped these keys. I’d better lock up the guest book case right now.” He turned the key in the lock and rechecked it twice before putting the keys into his pocket.

  For the next half hour, Will showed the Aldens where things were and what to do. Everything needed a good vacuuming. Boxes needed to be unpacked. A list needed to be written to keep track of everything.

  “Is that too much work?” he asked the children a while later.

  “For us?” Benny asked. “Nothing’s too much work!”

  “Let’s get going,” Jessie said.

  CHAPTER 4

  A Wallet Disappears

  “Achoo!” Violet sneezed for the third time in a row while she was vacuuming. “There’s an awful lot of dust in here.”

  By late morning there was less dust but still quite a few boxes stacked up in the display room.

  “Tomorrow we can start unpacking,” Jessie said. “When we’re done, this room will be like a little museum.”

  As the children worked, a few customers peeked into the display room.

  “Too bad this room is closed,” one man from a tour bus said when he and his wife stepped into the display room by mistake. “We honeymooned in Niagara Falls fifty years ago. We just love looking back on how it was in the old days.”

  Henry smiled at the couple. “If you come back in a couple of days, this room will be open again.”

  After the couple left, the children continued with their work. Henry had just piled some empty boxes near the connecting doorway to the shop when he noticed something. “That man dropped his wallet!” Henry ran through the shop after the couple. He was too late. Their tour bus had just pulled away.

  Henry stood on the sidewalk and checked inside the wallet. “Wow! There’s over three hundred dollars in here. And some identification cards, too.”

  Back inside, Will Lasalle was showing a young couple how to use the cash register. Before Henry had a chance to tell about the lost wallet, Will waved Henry over.

  “Henry, bring Benny and your sisters out here,” Will said. “I want everyone to meet my new assistant managers.”

  When the Aldens came into the shop area, Will introducd everyone. “These are the Aldens: Benny, Violet, Jessie, and Henry. Kids, I’d like you to meet Robert and Sally McKenzie.”

  The children smiled at the McKenzies before glancing at each other.

  “You children look as if you have a little secret,” Will said with a smile. “Come on. Let us in on it.”

  Benny couldn’t hold it in. “We saw you on your honeymoon at the Rainbow Inn. Only we weren’t on a honeymoon — just a regular trip.”

  Will chuckled. He didn’t notice that the McKenzies weren’t smiling at all.

  Jessie poked Benny gently with her elbow. “Sorry. We weren’t snooping on you at the Rainbow Inn. It’s just that we were the only family there that wasn’t on a honeymoon.”

  Robert McKenzie still looked upset, but Sally McKenzie seemed to relax a bit. “It’s okay. I bet it feels strange to be around so many couples when you’re with your whole family.”

  “Well, this family is helping me organize the display room next door. We plan to reopen it soon,” Will explained. “It’s gotten pretty dusty and disorganized. I asked the Aldens to straighten things out for us. It’ll be shipshape when my grandfather returns.”

  Robert McKenzie didn’t seem too happy to hear this. “No need for these kids to give up their vacation. Sally and I can fix up the display room in our spare time. I thought that’s why you hired us — so we could take care of everything while you’re working on the Maid of the Mist.”

  “Oh, I’ll need you in the shop and running errands for me,” Will said. “Picking up my store sign this morning was a big help already. There’s more than enough work for everyone.”

  Mr. McKenzie seemed about to say something until his wife gave him a funny look.

  The Aldens walked back to the display room when Henry remembered something. “Oh! I almost forgot why I came out here in the first place. A couple from the tour bus dropped this wallet when they were talking to us. What should I do with it?”

  Will took the wallet and put it into a drawer. “Granddad keeps lost items locked in this drawer near the cash register for a day or so in case the owner comes back. If no one does, then we take the item to the Lost and Found Department at the police station. Most times, folks figure out where they lost it and come right back.”

  Henry was relieved. “I hope this couple comes back. There’s a few hundred dollars in there and the man’s identification cards.” He turned to the McKenzies. “Let us know if you need any help.”

  Mrs. McKenzie was about to say something when her husband spoke up first. “No, we can handle everything out here, no question about that.”

  Will said good-bye to the McKenzies and the Aldens. “You’ve got the keys to the cash register and the lost and found drawer. Lasalle’s Curiosity Shop is in good hands. Now I’d better get down to the Maid of the Mist docks. The next boat departs in a half hour. So long.”

  “’Bye,” the Aldens said before they went back to work.

  Minutes later, Robert McKenzie appeared in the doorway. “We have to shut this door between the store and this room. It’s hard to hear ourselves think with all the noise.”

  Jessie blinked nervously. “Oh! Sorry. We didn’t know we were so noisy. Talking makes the work go faster. We’ll be quieter.”

  Without another word, Mr. McKenzie slammed the door anyway.

  “Gee,” Violet said, biting her lip. “For someone who just got married, he seems very cross. I guess he’s upset about leaving the Rainbow Inn. Maybe he knows we overheard them talking about their money problems.”

  Jessie sighed. “That’s probably true, Violet. We’ll just have to be as nice as we can. I don’t want the McKenzies to feel unhappy around us. Still, I wish we could keep the door open. We’d get to know each other better if we worked side by side.”

  Henry got curious about a long skinny box he found. He lifted the lid. Inside were several odd-looking wooden canes. “Hmm, I have no idea why these are in here. There aren’t any tags or notes explaining what they are.”

  Jessie came over and twirled one of the canes. “I wonder how these connect to Niagara Falls. Maybe they’re part of some costumes from an old musical or something.”

  “What nonsense,” a gruff voice said from the corner of the room.

  Startled, the Aldens turned in the direction of the voice.

  “Everybody around here knows those canes weren’t used onstage,” the gruff voice said.

  “Mr. Drummond!” Jessie cried. “We didn’t see you. How did you get in here?”

  Angus Drummond stepped from a dark corner into the middle of the room. “Same way I always get in here. Right through the back door. I’ve been here the whole time you were yammering out in the shop. Now hand me that cane, young lady. I’ll show you what a real Niagara Falls souvenir is.”

  Angus Drummond wasn’t too friendly-looking. His clothes were a bit worn. His white beard hadn’t been trimmed in quite a while. But now that the Aldens knew who belonged to the gruff voice, they weren’t afraid of him.

  Angus took the cane from Jessie and held it up. “Now, this is a fine-looking Navy Island cane. Probably fifty years old if it’s a day. Even older, I reckon. And do you know where this cane was made?”

  Before the Aldens could answer, Angus’s voice boomed out: “Niagara Falls, that’s where! These canes are made from trees on Navy Island, smack in the middle of the Niagara River. The
re was a time when nearly every tourist walked around with one of these.”

  “Were these canes carved by hand?” Violet asked. “They look very well made.”

  Angus’s voice boomed again. “Of course they were made by hand, young lady. There was a workshop on the river where wood-carvers turned these canes out by the thousands. No more, though. All folks want now are a lot of T-shirts and caps and other ugly nonsense.”

  “We’ll put the canes in a special place,” Jessie told Angus. “I’ll make a sign explaining what they are. Maybe you can come back tomorrow and tell me what the sign should say.”

  Angus ran his hand over the wooden cane. “It should just say: NAVY ISLAND CANES. HANDMADE IN NIAGARA FALLS. And make sure you keep ’em in a case. They’re worth some money. Not as much as the Prince of Wales guest book, of course. Nothing in this shop is worth as much as that. All the same, those Navy Island canes are valuable.”

  Violet smiled at Angus Drummond. “Don’t worry. We’ll put them where everyone can see them.”

  Jessie laid the canes back in the box. “I hope you can return tomorrow morning. We want to set things up like a museum. Will you be around, Mr. Drummond?”

  Angus nodded. “The name’s Angus. That’s what folks around here call me. And I’m always around.”

  “Will told us that,” Benny piped up. “And he said you have lots of stories.”

  Angus nearly smiled. “I’ve known Willy Lasalle since he was born. Fancy that young fella thinking he can work the Maid of the Mist and run this shop at the same time. He’s still wet behind the ears.”

  “I’m going to be wet behind the ears, too,” Benny announced. “We’re going on the Maid of the Mist boat. Everything gets wet, even your ears.”

  This time, Angus Drummond really did smile. “Well, you won’t get too wet. They give folks plastic raincoats nowadays, not like in the old days when folks didn’t mind getting wet. No, not like the old days.”

  “I like my piece of barrel from the olden days,” Benny said. He pulled his wood piece from his pocket. “See, I still have it.”

  Angus nodded. “You have a real piece of history there, young fella. My Aunt Tilda went over Horseshoe Falls in 1905 in that barrel — not a scratch on her, either. I asked Will’s grandfather to put the barrel on display, but he said he had two already. So I decided to give folks a real souvenir, not these things that fall apart the minute you get home.”

  Benny held his barrel piece tight in his hands. “Thank you for selling it to me,” he said.

  Angus smiled directly at Benny. “Thank you for buying it. Not too many folks can appreciate a souvenir like this, young fella. Someday, that will be worth a lot of money.”

  With that, Angus turned and walked out the back door of the display room — the same way he had come in.

  CHAPTER 5

  A Face in the Tunnels

  Good as his word, Angus Drummond appeared at the back door the next morning. Side by side with Angus, the Aldens unpacked boxes and listened to his stories.

  After they’d been working together for a while, Jessie had an idea. “Would you like to come with us to Journey Behind the Falls, Angus? There are tunnels and caves right behind the falls. People stand and watch the falls crash in front of them. Can you come?” she asked.

  “No, no,” Angus answered. “Many a time I visited those tunnels in the old days before they were all fixed up. In my day, the tunnels were open to the air and water. And if you didn’t watch where you were going, you could wind up in the river for good.”

  “I’m glad it’s safer now,” Jessie said. “I’m sorry you can’t come with us. I guess we’ll lock up.”

  Angus wasn’t quite ready to leave, after all. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take another look at some of these things. They’ve been packed up so long. I’ll go out through the store when I’m done.”

  Jessie gestured for Henry to come into the store with her. “Do you think it’s okay if he stays, Henry?” she asked him.

  “I think so. He seems nice enough,” Henry replied.

  Jessie went back into the display room and checked that the back door and all the displays were locked up. “Good-bye. I hope you’ll come back tomorrow, Angus.”

  The children left through the store, leaving the connecting door open. Angus was too busy looking through a box of old photos to answer Jessie or to say good-bye.

  The Aldens took a bus from the shop to Table Rock Plaza, where the tunnels were. Joining a long line of people, they bought tickets to Journey Behind the Falls. They joined another line to get the raincoats and boots everyone needed to enter the tunnels.

  While waiting, Henry noticed a nearby table filled with fliers. “I brought along some extra brochures from Lasalle’s Curiosity Shop,” he told the other children. “I’ll put some on that table while we wait.”

  Henry came back empty-handed. “There wasn’t a single brochure for the shop. I left all the ones I brought. Either people are picking up an awful lot of brochures or somebody is taking way more than his share. Will told me he left a stack of brochures here just a couple days ago, but they were all gone.”

  The line of tourists moved slowly. Finally the Aldens got their raincoats and boots. They could hardly wait to get soaked!

  “Maybe we can ask someone to take our pictures in these funny outfits.” Jessie reached into her backpack for her instant camera.

  She turned to a couple standing behind the children. “Would you like us to take your picture, then you take ours?” Jessie paused when she realized who the couple was. “Aren’t you the people who were in Lasalle’s Curiosity Shop yesterday? My family works there.”

  “Yes, we’re Mr. and Mrs. Lundy. We met you yesterday,” the woman answered. “In fact, we went to the shop about a half hour ago before our tour bus brought us here. We didn’t see you children, though, just a young couple. I’m afraid they weren’t too helpful about finding the wallet we probably lost in the shop.”

  “I found your wallet after you left,” Henry told the Lundys.

  “You know about our wallet?” Mr. Lundy asked. “We did go back for it, but the people who work there said they turned it in to the police.”

  “Did the police have it?” Henry asked.

  “That’s just it,” Mr. Lundy answered. “The police went through their lost and found box. My wallet wasn’t there. Nobody remembered anyone bringing in a wallet. So we took a taxi back to the shop. Then a strange thing happened. As soon as we got out of our taxi, somebody put the CLOSED sign on the door. We’ve given up on finding it.”

  Jessie felt sorry for the couple. “Why don’t you come back with us after this tour. We might be able to help you. It’s probably just a mix-up.”

  Mrs. Lundy shook her head. “We can’t. Right after this tour, our group leaves for Montreal. If we’re not on the bus, they’ll leave without us. We won’t be returning to Niagara Falls.”

  “There, there, Alice,” the man said to his wife. “It’s only some money and a few identification cards. They can be replaced.”

  “I know,” the woman said. “It’s spoiled our second honeymoon a bit, that’s all.”

  Henry had a good idea. “Why don’t you write down the phone numbers of the places you’re staying on the rest of your tour. If we find your wallet, we’ll call you and send it to you.”

  The couple felt better when they heard this. They smiled at the Aldens.

  “Stay just like that,” Jessie said, “and I’ll take your picture.” She pressed the camera button. A few minutes later, the instant picture of the smiling couple was ready.

  “Your turn,” Mr. Lundy said when the Aldens posed for their picture. “Say cheese.”

  While everyone was waiting for the instant picture to be ready, Mr. Lundy gave Henry a list of the places they’d be staying.

  “Thanks,” Henry said. “I know we’ll find your wallet. Now we’d better all hurry. The line is moving to the elevator that goes down to the tunnels.”


  Jessie quickly packed up her camera and the photograph. With the others, she boarded the elevator and listened to the guide explain a few rules to follow in the tunnels. Everyone would have a few minutes to look at the falls before moving along so other groups could see them, too.

  “Enjoy yourselves. Remember, stay with your group,” the guide said before the elevator doors opened.

  A few minutes later the Aldens couldn’t hear a word. Directly in front of them was a roaring wall of water. The children could hardly believe that they were practically in the falls!

  Soon it was time to move along. The children followed the guide when he waved everyone back to the elevator. The doors were about to close when the guide stopped. “Sir! Sir!” he called out to someone who had slipped away from the group. “You can’t go back that way. Please get on the elevator.”

  It was no use. The guide’s voice was lost in the roar of the nearby falls. Whoever the guide was talking to had joined the next group of tourists already in the tunnels.

  After the doors closed, the guide said to the crowd, “Anyone here missing someone? If so, just wait by the elevator when we get back up, so your companion can find you.”

  No one on the elevator spoke up.

  Jessie tapped Henry on the shoulder. “Did you see who it was?” she asked her brother.

  Henry turned around. “It’s odd. I had the strangest feeling it was that man we saw at the visitors’ center the day we arrived in Canada. But there were so many people in front of me, I couldn’t tell. Anyway, whoever it was, he’s with the other group down in the tunnel.”

  When the elevator doors opened, everyone stepped out. The Aldens turned around.

  “No one seems to be waiting for the missing person,” Henry said. “I guess the man came here by himself. I wish we could wait, but I told Will we’d be back soon. We’d better get going.”

  Benny wriggled out of his raincoat and boots. “Can Violet and I pick up some brochures for my scrapbook?” he asked Jessie.

  “Sure, go ahead,” Jessie said. “We’ll catch up.”