Old Motel Mystery

by Gertrude Chandler Warner

  “We’ll be sorry to see you go,” Violet said sincerely. “We just get acquainted and then we’re separated.”

  Jessie nodded in agreement. “Your work with the Seminoles is fascinating, Catherine. We’d like to hear more.”

  “Maybe tomorrow,” Catherine replied. “Today I’m hitting the books.”

  “Don’t work too hard,” Violet said.

  “And that goes for you, too,” Catherine said as she turned and went into her unit.

  Jessie couldn’t help thinking that if Catherine were the guilty one, she’d be gone in a few days.

  Rolf, Henry, and Benny came down the hill from Kay’s. Benny ran ahead and bent down to see what the girls were planting in the window boxes.

  “Kay’s not going to hire a detective,” Henry said, standing over the kneeling girls. He leaned over and handed Violet a geranium plant. “Kay thinks we can find the person doing all this ourselves.”

  “I hope she’s right,” Violet said doubtfully.

  “Besides,” Benny added, “Kay says a detective would cost too much.”

  “She’s right there,” Rolf said. “A detective would be expensive, and Kay has plenty of bills to pay already. The new shingles alone will cost enough.”

  Jessie stood up. “Kay must be wondering if she should invest any more money in her motel. I know I’d begin to think about it.”

  Rolf walked toward his Jeep.

  “Are you leaving now?” Violet asked.

  “Yes,” Henry said, moving to Rolf’s side. “We’re going to the dump and get rid of the shingles, and then drive to Lyndale to buy more.”

  “Coming, Benny?” Rolf called, climbing in the driver’s seat.

  Benny dashed forward, got into the Jeep, and slid toward the middle while Henry got in on the other side.

  The girls watched the Jeep roar down the lane.

  “I have a feeling,” Violet said, “that the prowler has more plans for Kay’s motel.”

  Jessie laughed. “Is that just a feeling or do you know something I don’t?”

  Violet smiled, giving a slight shrug. “I guess it’s a feeling ’cause I don’t know anything for certain.”

  “Well, maybe we’ll find out soon,” Jessie said lightly.

  After using up the bags of potting soil, the girls had filled eight window boxes. The red blooms, small now, would grow quickly.

  One by one Jessie and Violet carried the window boxes and set them on the wide window ledge of each unit.

  Jessie stepped back to admire the flowers. “For every wrong thing, there’s a right one,” she said, wiping her smudged cheek.

  Violet laughed. “You’re right. Look how the motel has changed since our arrival.”

  They had one more task. Carefully dragging the water hose out of the bike shed, they watered each window box.

  Pleased with their day’s work, the girls showered and dressed in fresh shorts and T-shirts and went to the pool for an hour.

  “It seems like we’re always at the pool,” Violet said.

  Jessie laughed. “That’s what you do when you stay at a motel to relax.”

  When the boys arrived, they were hot and tired. “Rolf bought new shingles,” Henry said. “He was right. The shingles were pretty expensive.”

  “It’s a good thing Kay isn’t doing the whole roof,” Violet commented.

  “I know,” Jessie said. “I’m glad she got the loan, just in case there are any more unpleasant surprises. After seeing. Mr. Smiley, I didn’t think he’d give her the money.”

  Henry chuckled. “I didn’t either, Jessie. I’ll never forget his sour face.”

  “When is supper?” Benny asked.

  “Six-thirty,” answered Violet. “First, though, will you set the table?”

  “Sure, I will,” Benny said, and he promptly went to the shelves to get the dishes.

  After a supper of broiled fish, string beans, and baked potatoes, the Aldens played another lively game of Monopoly. They finished the day by eating a bowl of ice cream that dripped with butterscotch sauce.

  Getting ready for bed, Jessie felt uneasy. What nonsense, she thought. Violet was the one who had the feeling that something bad would happen.

  But for two days nothing happened. One day it was sunny, so the Aldens biked, swam, and went into Lyndale, while the next day was rainy so they played games, visited with Aunt Jane and Kay, and played with Willie.

  That night, however, shortly after midnight, Jessie awoke to the sound of running water. Something’s wrong, she thought, and her heart began to pound.

  Quickly, she threw back her covers and stepped out of bed.

  To her horror her feet touched cold water.

  Drawing her legs back, she called hoarsely, “Violet! Violet, wake up!”

  “Hmmmm?” Violet said drowsily. She sat up, rubbing her eyes. “What is it, Jessie?”

  “Water!” Jessie said in an alarmed voice. “Water is everywhere!”

  Fully awake, Violet reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. Sure enough, water covered the floor.

  “Where’s the water coming from?” Violet asked urgently.

  “I don’t know,” Jessie replied, a prickle of fear running down her spine.

  CHAPTER 11

  The Suspects

  Henry rushed out of his bedroom, followed by Benny. “What’s all the commotion?” Henry asked.

  “Don’t take another step,” Violet warned.

  Henry glanced down and saw the water edging toward him.

  Curious, Benny ran forward and stopped abruptly when he found himself standing in water. He lifted one bare foot, then the other. “Why is there water on the floor?”

  “We’re not sure,” Jessie said as calmly as she could.

  Henry rolled up his pajama bottoms and raced to the front door where the sound of gushing water was loudest.

  Jessie hurried to Henry’s side, followed by Violet. Benny was last, splashing through the water.

  “The garden hose!” Jessie exclaimed. “The nozzle’s stuck in the window box and all our poor geraniums plants are drowned!”

  The hose, pouring forth water, had overflowed from the window box through the open window, and into their room.

  Without wasting a minute, Jessie raced to the outside faucet and turned it off.

  Water ran along the outside wall, flooding the soil along the motel’s foundation. “This could have been serious,” Henry said.

  Violet hurried out and grabbed a mop from the supply closet. She swished the mop back and forth on the floor and then wrung it out in the sink. Henry grasped a broom and swept water outside.

  Jessie, using rags, soaked up water along the baseboards.

  Benny, though, hadn’t moved. He continued to stare at the wet floors. “Millicent was right,” he said. “The motel is jinxed!”

  Jessie rose and said, “No, Benny. A real person is causing the damage.”

  A frown crossed Henry’s face as he paused in his sweeping. “If the water kept running, it could have seeped through the wall cracks into the next unit.”

  Jessie’s brown eyes flashed. “Of everything that has happened, this is the worst!”

  “I knew something would happen,” Violet murmured.

  “Let’s go to bed,” Jessie said. “We’ve cleaned up the water.”

  “I won’t sleep!” Benny said.

  Henry smiled and put his hand on Benny’s shoulder. “Oh, I think you will.”

  But that night none of the Aldens slept well. Henry’s thoughts were on the prowler—was he still hanging around? Jessie thought of danger—would whoever was doing these awful things turn violent? Violet wondered what the prowler would do next. And Benny kept thinking he saw shadows and heard mysterious noises.

  In the morning, Jessie climbed the hill to inform Kay of the deliberate attempt to flood her motel.

  At first Kay didn’t reply, but then her eyes took on a steely look. “I can’t believe anything else is going to go wrong, but I’ll call Offic
er Miller just the same. He’ll patrol the place at night.”

  Aunt Jane, who had been standing in the doorway in her robe, now moved to Jessie’s side. “You poor children,” she said. “You must have been scared to death. Shall we call Grandfather and go home?”

  “We weren’t afraid,” Jessie said boldly. She didn’t want to alarm her aunt. But the image of Benny’s face when he’d said the motel was jinxed stuck in her mind.

  Kay chatted on, trying to sound unconcerned, though she looked very concerned. “Rolf was over for dinner last night and stayed quite late. He promised to come over today and check on the painters. It’s their last day to finish some retouching. He also promised to shingle parts of the roof.”

  Jessie became instantly alert. The water had been turned on about midnight, when she’d been awakened. “What time did Rolf leave?” she asked in a casual tone.

  “Oh,” Kay said, “I guess it was midnight.”

  So, Jessie thought, was Rolf the guilty one after all? Had he been prowling about outside their motel? But why? He seemed to really like Kay.

  “Is something wrong?” Aunt Jane questioned.

  “What?” Jessie said weakly. “Oh, no, no.” She backed up, a nervous feeling in her stomach. She liked Rolf. “I have to go,” she said lamely, trying to smile. “Or they won’t leave me a bite of breakfast.”

  Slowly Jessie walked down the hill. How she hated to tell her sister and brothers about her suspicions. But the sooner they knew and Kay knew, the sooner these awful things would stop. She wondered if Rolf would be sent to jail.

  Entering the motel, Jessie brushed back her hair. Benny was the first to greet her. “Pancakes, Jessie,” he said, smiling. “We’ve been waiting for you to get back.”

  “We’ve kept breakfast hot,” Violet said.

  Sitting down, Jessie dully told them about Rolf. “And,” she ended, “midnight was when the running water woke me up.”

  “I can’t believe that Rolf is the one. He always wants to help.” Henry hesitated. “Yet he did haul the shingles in his Jeep. It would have been easy to pour tar on them.”

  “But there’s no proof,” Violet said, a slight frown creasing her forehead. “We must be certain.”

  She passed the bacon to Jessie, but Jessie shook her head. “I can’t eat,” she said miserably. Rolf had been everyone’s friend.

  Benny drank his orange juice and said, “Rolf isn’t the mean one. I rode piggyback on his shoulders downhill.”

  “I don’t think we should overlook Catherine,” Violet said. “As much as we all like her, Catherine was here all day and night yesterday.”

  “That’s right,” Jessie said thoughtfully.

  “I don’t know,” Henry said. “She’s so sweet.”

  “And pretty!” Benny added.

  “We can’t blame anyone,” Violet said practically. “We have no proof.”

  “Maybe it’s Millicent,” Benny said. “She’s a spy who learns a lot about Kay’s motel by giving us things to eat.”

  “Millicent?” Henry asked with a chuckle. “She’s just a nice little old lady.”

  Quietly they sat at the table, each thinking about the suspects.

  They spent the afternoon at the pool and that night they had one of Benny’s favorite suppers, hamburgers, tomatoes, baked potatoes, and hot fudge sundaes.

  They slept well.

  In the morning, as they were eating their cereal with sliced bananas, Millicent called, “Yoo-hoo, may I come in?”

  Henry glanced at Jessie. “Here’s Millicent again,” he whispered, smiling. “I wonder what she has today.”

  Benny jumped off his chair and ran to the door.

  Millicent hurried in. “I woke up at six so I baked chocolate chip cookies this morning.” Benny rolled his eyes at Violet. Millicent smiled. As she set the plate on the table, she stumbled. Her large handbag dropped to the floor, and the contents spilled out.

  “Dear, dear,” she said, stooping down and trying to gather up everything. Violet, however, was faster. She scooped up several letters, and as she handed them to Millicent, she caught a glimpse of the addresses. They read: MS. KAY KINGSLEY CYPRESS MOTEL LYNSDALE, FLORIDA.

  Millicent snatched the letters from a shocked Violet. “I-I must hurry along.” She nodded quickly in a nervous way. “Enjoy the cookies, children.”

  As soon as the door shut, Violet said in a shaky voice, “Millicent Fair had Kay’s mail. I saw the envelopes!”

  The children stopped eating to stare at Violet.

  Finding his voice, Henry asked Violet, “Do you think those letters could have been reservations for the motel?”

  Violet nodded, answering, “I saw lots of letters and they all had Kay’s name on them.”

  “If that’s true, then it’s no wonder Kay hasn’t received reservations from her Snowbirds,” Jessie said.

  “Did Millicent steal letters from Kay’s mailbox?” Benny asked, his voice rising in surprise.

  “Yes,” Violet stated. “That must be exactly what she’s been doing.”

  “Didn’t I tell you?” Benny asked smugly. “I knew Millicent was a spy with her sweets.”

  “It would be easy to sneak the letters out of the mailbox,” Henry said thoughtfully. “It’s on the edge of the road and open to anyone.”

  Jessie quickly placed her plate and glass in the sink. “I’m sure Millicent noticed Violet’s reaction to the letters. My guess is that she’s packing right now.”

  Benny was already at the door. “Aren’t we going to tell Kay?”

  They looked up at Kay’s and parked in front of her house was a blue police car. “Kay’s in trouble,” Henry shouted, breaking into a run. “Let’s see what’s wrong!”

  The others followed as fast as they could. I hope, Violet thought, that Kay is all right.

  When they entered the house Kay was in the dining room answering a policeman’s questions.

  Benny dashed over to the desk where papers were scattered about helter-skelter. The floor was littered with books and papers. “Jessie,” he said with his arms on his hips, “look at this mess.”

  Aunt Jane came over to the children and explained in a quiet voice, “Last night, Willie let out a terrible yowl. Kay and I jumped out of bed to see what was wrong and this”—she threw out her hand in the direction of the desk—“is what we found.”

  “Was it a prowler?” Jessie asked.

  “Yes,” Aunt Jane answered, with a worried frown. “We called the police about two o’clock and they came right over to search the grounds, but unfortunately they didn’t find a soul. Officer Miller”—she nodded her head toward the policeman in uniform—“returned to ask Kay a few more questions.”

  “The prowler really tore up the desk,” Henry said. “Is anything missing?”

  “No,” Aunt Jane responded. “Kay had some money in the bottom drawer, but it wasn’t touched. Thank heavens for Willie. Evidently, whoever was searching the desk stepped on his tail in the dark.”

  “How did they get in?” Violet wanted to know.

  “The prowler pried open a window and sneaked in that way,” Aunt Jane answered.

  The officer slapped shut his notebook and entered the living room.

  He tipped his hat in their direction, then left.

  Kay joined them, saying, “It was lucky the intruder didn’t get what little cash I had.” She gave them a weak smile. “Don’t worry, I intend to go on fixing up my motel.”

  “Good,” Henry said. He ran his hand through his hair. “Because I’m afraid we have more bad news for you.”

  Kay’s green eyes darkened. “What next?” she questioned sharply.

  “Millicent Fair,” Jessie said briefly.

  “She brought us some cookies this morning, and accidentally dropped her purse. Some letters fell out,” Violet explained, “and when I picked them up, I noticed they were addressed to you.”

  “To me?” Kay said, a puzzled expression on her face. “Why would Millicent have my letters?
”

  “We think she’s been taking your mail out of the mailbox,” Henry said grimly. “It could be your missing reservations!”

  “Oh, my,” Kay said. “I can’t believe Millicent is the one who has been doing all these awful things.”

  “Neither can I,” said Aunt Jane. “Millicent was always so pleasant. But,” she added thoughtfully, “she always had a hundred questions, didn’t she, Kay?”

  Speechless, Kay nodded. At last she spoke. “Yes, Millicent always wanted to know my every move. I don’t know much about her except that she’s retired and lives on a small pension.” She took a deep breath. “Millicent used to work as a secretary for the Adventure Hotel chain.”

  CHAPTER 12

  The Capture

  “Isn’t that the hotel trying to buy your motel?” Henry asked, frowning.

  “Yes,” Kay said. “I knew of her connection with the hotel, but didn’t let myself think about it. I didn’t see how Millicent could be the one. I think, though, now is the time to ask Millicent a few questions!” She turned and smiled at Violet. “You’re a good detective, my dear.”

  “Shall we run and tell Millicent that you want to talk to her?” Benny wanted to know.

  “Tell her to come up for coffee and rolls,” Kay said. “Maybe, then, she won’t be suspicious.”

  “I have the feeling she might be gone,” Jessie said quietly.

  “Rolf is coming to finish the roof,” Kay said. “I’ll talk to him about it. I really don’t want to call the police again. Not until we’re sure about Millicent.” She turned to Benny. “Go ahead and bring her here, Benny.”

  “We’ll see if she’s in,” Henry said, moving to the door.

  The four Aldens left, racing downhill.

  Benny was the first at Millicent’s door. He knocked and knocked.

  “No answer,” Jessie said. “It’s just as I thought.”

  Benny knocked louder.

  “I’m afraid you’re right, Jessie,” Violet said.

  “All right,” Henry said. “Let’s spread out and try to find her.”

  Three painters, who were finishing the trim on the windowsills, waved to Henry as he went by. One said they would soon be gone for good. Willie was weaving through the painters’ legs and they tried to shoo him away.