The Pea Soup Poisonings

by Nancy Means Wright

  “Here’s the key,” Alice whispered, and thrust a key ring shaped like a whale into Zoe’s hand. “I’ll come if I can.”

  “If we don’t see you,” said Zoe, “we’ll meet tonight on Spence’s porch. Six o’clock sharp.”

  “Tonight?” whispered Alice. “To get those boxes?”

  “To get your Aunt Thelma out of Rockbury.”

  “Oh. You mean...”

  “I mean kidnap her back. That’s what I mean.”

  Chapter Seven

  The Search Is Interrupted

  Aunt Thelma’s house, Zoe knew, had once been a one-room, one floor schoolhouse. The classroom was made over into a large living room, and a tiny kitchen and bedroom were added on. Still, it was like a doll’s house; even the furniture was small: a narrow Shaker rocking chair Aunt Thelma would never get her plump butt into. But Zoe wouldn’t mind living here herself, just to get away from her brother Kelby.

  “You take the bedroom and I’ll look around the kitchen,” Spence said with a sly smile.

  “We’ll both look through the bedroom,” said Zoe. “Don’t your parents ever feed you?”

  “Not enough,” said Spence, and sucked in his cheeks until he looked like a ghoul. He was rather bony, Zoe had to admit. And a full two inches shorter than she. Of course she was tall for her age, which was okay except that she wished her feet would stop growing.

  “We’ll look in the kitchen afterward,” she relented.

  Zoe could see that Aunt Thelma had left in a hurry. The bed was rumpled where she had probably been taking a nap, and the bureau drawers were still open, as though someone had been searching around in them.

  “Looking for something important,” she said. “Something they didn’t find.”

  “Or maybe they did find it,” said Spence, “and didn’t have time to pick up after.”

  “Maybe,” Zoe admitted. But privately she thought if they had found what they were looking for, they would have been careful to shut the drawers. The open drawers showed their frustration at not finding whatever it was. Like the time she’d searched Kelby’s drawers for a box of chocolates, and it turned out he’d hidden them in a basket of dirty underwear. She hadn’t wanted a chocolate after that.

  She searched through the drawers anyway, but found nothing beyond huge baggy underpants, a pink nightgown, a pile of handkerchiefs, and two sweaters with moth holes in them. When she straightened up, Spence was holding up a small gold key.

  “Where’d you find that?”

  “In this,” he said, pointing at a red leather jewelry box. “It was all tangled up with some gold necklaces. What do you suppose it opens?”

  “Or what it locks,” she said. It didn’t belong to the outside doors, she saw, it was too small. She put it in her pocket. “We’ll ask Aunt Thelma when we see her tonight.”

  “You’re not really planning to take her out of Rockbury?”

  “We might. We just might. After we find a place to hide her, that is.”

  “You’re kidding. We’re going to hide her someplace? Not in my house, we can’t. My mom would have a fit. She even complains when my grandmother comes to visit. Nana sings out loud and disturbs the piano lessons, Mom says.”

  “We’ll think of a place. Thelma might know one.”

  “And how are we supposed to get to Rockbury? Your dad going to drive us up? ‘Hey, Dad,’” he mimicked, ‘“we’re going to Rockbury to kidnap an old lady. You want to come along?’”

  “Funny,” said Zoe. “You’re absolutely hilarious, Spence. Of course we’re not going to involve our parents in this. We’ll take a bus.”

  “You can pay for a bus? I’ve already spent this week’s allowance.”

  “I’ve got a little saved up. Now let’s get out of here.”

  “We haven’t examined the kitchen yet.”

  “Okay. But if there’s leftover food, it’ll be moldy by now.”

  “Cookies don’t get moldy so fast. And we ought to have something to take to Aunt Thelma. When my mother visits people in the hospital, she takes stuff.”

  “Then go look for cookies. I’ll throw this black sweater in a bag. Thelma had only a dress on when they took her up. She’ll need something warm in case we get her out tonight.”

  Spence came back a moment later with a box of Fig Newtons and a big smile. “She won’t mind if we take one or two, will she? I mean, we’re risking our lives for her.”

  “I guess not. But no more than two. Now let’s lock up and go.”

  Spence opened the front door – and then shut it again quickly.

  “It’s them!” he hissed. “It’s that blue car.”

  “That proves it,” said Zoe. “They didn’t find what they were looking for. Come on.” She ran back in the bedroom and pulled open the bureau drawers so the kidnappers wouldn’t suspect someone had been in there.

  “Let’s go,” Spence pleaded. “Out the back door.”

  “You crazy? This is our big chance to find out what they’re looking for. We’ll wait.”

  “And let them take us to Rockbury? Oh no.” Spence’s mouth was a round O.

  “Under the bed,” whispered Zoe as a key turned in the front door. “Quick! Get down!” She gave Spence a shove, and crawled under the bedskirts after him.

  Chapter Eight

  A Close Encounter

  “Thelma wants her black sweater sent up,” the woman’s voice said.

  “Uh oh,” Spence breathed.

  The bag with the sweater and the cookies was stuffed under the bed beside Zoe. She could hear the bureau drawers opening and shutting.

  “The sweater’s not here anywhere,” said the woman. “Maybe she left it next door.”

  “Never mind the sweater,” the man called from another room. “We have other f-fish to fry.”

  “Fish?” Spence whispered, and Zoe shushed him.

  “S-start looking for it,” said the man – Cedric, Zoe assumed. She noticed that he had a slight stutter. She heard his footsteps thumping into the bedroom. “It has to be in the house,” he said. “And close those drawers. N-nothing we want in there.”

  Zoe heard a clunking and then a tinkling. They’re probably looking through the jewelry box, she thought.

  “There’s a pretty jade necklace in here,” the woman said. “It would go nice with my green silk blouse.”

  “Leave it, Chloe,” the man growled. “We’re not looking for any f-fool necklace.” His gruff voice reminded Zoe of a pit bull on the attack.

  Zoe felt Spence shiver beside her. The pupils of his eyes widened as he stared into hers. She was scared herself, but she wasn’t going to let Spence know.

  The two were standing by the bed; Zoe could see their feet under the cotton bedskirt. The woman’s swollen ankles were stuffed into shiny red pumps; the man was wearing enormous black shoes with scuffed toes. One kick and he could send her and Spence to the moon!

  It was dusty under the bed. Zoe’s allergies were acting up again. She was desperately trying not to sneeze. She saw that Spence had a sneeze coming on, too. She didn’t want to think what would happen if he let it out. He was going, “Ah-ah-ah,” and she held her breath. He pressed two fingers under his nose and finally the sneeze subsided. She let out her breath with relief.

  The feet moved away from the bed. For what seemed an hour the couple banged about the house, searching. And finally, finally, they opened the front door. The wind swept through the house and into the bedroom. It felt refreshingly cool, like rain after a dry spell.

  Cedric said, “It’s not here. Unless she buried it in the garden or something. We’ll have to go back to R-Rockbury. We’ll make her t-talk. T-tell us where it is.”

  “She won’t tell,” Chloe said. “She won’t even talk to us now.”

  “We’ll find a way to make her t-talk.”

  “After dinner,” said Chloe. “Not now. I’m starving.”

  “I could eat something myself,” said Cedric. “There’s a steak house in town. We’ll go up to R
-Rockbury after.”

  “But what if those kids found it?” said Chloe. “If they’ve been in here? That girl who tried to stop us when we took Thelma? A little busybody if ever I saw one.”

  “Kids?” Cedric scoffed. “Don’t worry about k-kids. We can take care of them.”

  The door banged shut on their voices and Zoe felt her body slowly unthaw.

  “You got it?” Spence whispered.

  She stuck a hand in her pocket and encountered the key. It felt cold and hot all at once. Any minute, she thought, it might burn a hole in her shirt.

  “Let’s go,” she said, wiggling out from under the dusty bed and letting out the sneeze she’d been holding back. “We’ve got to catch the evening bus. We’ve got to get to Aunt Thelma before those two get there!”

  Chapter Nine

  A Nighttime Bus Ride

  “Alice called,” Kelby said when Zoe and Spence arrived at her house. “Her mother has the night off from her job at Chat & Chew Restaurant and Alice has to stay home to help clean the attic.”

  “Bad luck,” said Zoe. “That means she can’t go to Lili Laski’s supper party with us.”

  “Lili Laski’s having a supper party?” asked Spence.

  “Of course. We’re both going. You remember,” said Zoe, and gave Spence a knowing look.

  “Oh, that party,” he said.

  “Zoe arranging your social calendar now, Spence?” Kelby asked. Spence reddened, and then coughed.

  Kelby was sitting at the table staring at a bowl of pea soup. “I can’t eat that,” he told his mother. “The Bagley sisters made it. In a chamber pot. It killed Alice’s granny.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” their mother said. “I ate the soup and I’m perfectly fine. Now sit down, Zoe, and have some supper. Bowl of pea soup, Spence? It’s delicious. I added a little ham. I think the sisters are vegetarians.”

  “Uh, no thanks,” he said. “But I’ll have some of that.” He pointed at a dish of macaroni and cheese.

  “Sorry, we don’t have time,” said Zoe, tapping Spence on the shoulder. “We’re having supper at my friend Lili Laski’s house. Can you drive us into town, Dad? Please?”

  Town was only three miles away. They would catch the six-thirty-five bus to Rockbury and then walk to the place from there. Zoe hoped it wasn’t far.

  “Please, Dad?” Her father hadn’t sat down yet. He always had something else to do when dinner was served. One time, just for fun, her mother had called him to eat at three in the afternoon, only to see him wheel about and stride off to the apple barn to do “one more job.”

  “Actually,” her father said, running a hand through his shaggy hair, “I have to pick up an herbicide at Agway.”

  “Oh, Dan,” said their mother. “Then everything will get cold,” She sighed heavily, then brightened up. “Last one finished does the dishes!”

  Zoe’s father shrugged and grinned at Zoe. “Let’s go then, kid. I’m the best darn dish washer you ever saw.”

  Her mother laughed. “We’ll have to rent you out.”

  “Three and a half days,” Kelby hissed as Zoe and Spence left. “And we have new evidence. Damaging evidence. Gonna put those old ladies right behind bars.”

  “What evidence this time?” Zoe demanded.

  “Oh, you’ll see.” He gave a sly smile and heaped macaroni and cheese on his plate. He didn’t want to have to do the dishes.

  In five minutes they were at Lili’s house. Luckily Zoe’s father drove off at once so they didn’t have to go in. They ran off to the Citgo gas station where the bus made its stop – and just in time.

  “Where to?” the driver said, a big brawny man with a round bald spot in the center of his head.

  Zoe said, “Two for Rockbury, please.”

  “We’re going to visit a relative,” Spence informed him, and Zoe sighed. “You don’t have to explain,” she said. “Lots of people live in the town of Rockbury.”

  “When are we going to eat?” Spence asked as they took their seats in the center of the bus. She knew he was thinking of that plate of macaroni and cheese he’d missed.

  “We’ll eat afterward.” Zoe shook out a handful of chocolate peanuts. “Here. This is a salary advance against tonight.”

  Spence shoved the peanuts into his mouth and smiled. “So what’s the strategy? We go in there and snatch her? And then what do we do with her?”

  “We wait and see. We play it by ear.”

  “The way I play my cello?”

  “I guess so. You certainly don’t look at the notes when you play. I mean, it sounds like a fingernail scraping a blackboard.”

  “That’s an insult,” said Spence. “And I’m getting off the bus right this minute.” He stood up – and Zoe pulled him back down.

  “I’m just kidding. You’re a brilliant cello player. Really.”

  “Tell that to my mom,” said Spence. The bus lurched around a corner and threw him against Zoe’s shoulder. “Oops,” he said. “You’ve got sharp bones.”

  “The important thing,” said Zoe, ignoring the comment about her bones, “is to find out what this key is for. And warn Alice’s auntie about those bad relatives wanting it. Then we can kidnap her next trip – after we figure out where to hide her.”

  “In the blacksmith shop across the street?” said Spence.

  “What?”

  “It’s locked up, but my father has a key. He owns the land it’s on. They’re trying to turn it into a historic landmark, but for now it’s on our land. It’s got running water and a sink.”

  “Perfect. We might kidnap her tonight then. I have enough money for one more ticket.”

  “But you were going to use that money for supper.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  “Rockbury,” the driver announced. Fifteen minutes later the bus came to a smelly, grinding stop in front of a convenience store.

  “What time is the bus back to Branbury?” Zoe asked.

  “Nine-forty-eight, kid. Sharp. We don’t wait for nobody.”

  The doors squealed open and Zoe and Spence found themselves on a cold cement pavement without a soul in sight. The convenience store where they’d stopped had a CLOSED sign in front. The mountains loomed up beyond it, cold and dark blue. It was as though the whole town had gone to bed, and it was only seven-twenty by Zoe’s watch.

  “So where is this Rockbury place where they’ve got Alice’s aunt?” Spence asked.

  Zoe could only shake her head and stare out at the silent town.

  Chapter Ten

  Home Sweet Rockbury

  “There it is,” said Spence, after they’d walked up the road for what seemed an hour but had been only – Zoe peered at her watch in the gathering twilight – twenty minutes. Spence pointed at a large building looming up out of a dark woods.

  A sign on an open gate at the foot of the driveway read: ROCKBURY HOME FOR THE DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED.

  “Some ‘home,’” said Zoe, staring up at the gray stone walls. “It has bars on the windows.”

  “Jeezum. How do we get her out then?”

  “We’ll find a way. I told you we’d play it by ear.”

  “Tootley-too,” went Spence on his imaginary cello, and Zoe shushed him. “We’re ‘relatives’ you know,” she reminded him, and turned the brass handle of the large wooden door. A handwritten sign read “VISITING HOURS: 2-3; 7:30-8:30.” But the door was locked. She banged loudly.

  At last a slot opened up and a pair of watery green eyes squinted out. “Relatives coming for visiting hours,” Zoe shouted, and the door swung open.

  “Hello,” she said cheerily to an ancient female with a cloud of bluish hair who stood behind, looking suspicious. “I’m Zoe and this is my brother Spence. We’re here to see our aunt, Thelma Fairweather.” She held up Thelma’s black sweater. “We’ve come to bring her this. She left without it. Old people’s bodies need heat, you know.”

  She shivered a little in the
chill air.

  The woman’s face softened. “I know,” she said. “I’ve been telling them that. I’m just a volunteer here. And I have to wear a jacket, even in July! The cold just clings to these old walls.”

  “Something should be done,” Zoe agreed. “I’ll write a letter.”

  The woman’s smile pushed her cheeks into a hundred wrinkles. She let the children in and handed Zoe a pass. “Thelma is in Room 304,” she said, consulting a chart on the scarred desk. “She had visitors only yesterday evening,” she added, as though it was against the rules to have more than two visitors a week. A Mr. and Mrs. Cedric Fairweather. Are they your parents?”

  “No,” said Spence.

  “Yes,” said Zoe, stepping on his big toe. “That is, my parents. Jack here is my half brother, you see. He has a different mother.”

  The woman looked sympathetic, and pointed to a stairway in the center of the room. “Three flights up and no elevator,” she complained. “But you children have young legs.”

  “We’ll tell them to put in an elevator, too,” said Spence, and smiled sweetly at the woman. She patted him on his carroty head.

  “How’re we going to get Thelma out past her?” he hissed as they climbed the steep steps.

  “You’ll have to distract her.”

  “How?”

  “You’ll find a way.” Zoe jumped up on a bench on the second floor landing and balanced there for a moment. “Just practicing,” she said when Spence glared up at her.

  She paused at the door of room 304, and then pushed it wide. It creaked horribly.

  “Get out!” cried a voice.

  “Aunt Thelma Fairweather?” said Zoe. “Don’t you remember us? We’re Alice’s friends. We brought you your black sweater.”

  “And some Fig Newtons,” added Spence, holding them out.

  “I’m not Aunt Thelma Fairweather,” said the voice, “and I said to get out. So get out!”