Animal Shelter Mystery (6 page)

With Watch and the new dog, Benny and Henry flew down a hallway.

“Lad! Lad! Come back!” Benny yelled. He chased the dog to the back of the house.

“You kids stay out of this house and keep those hounds out, too,” the man shouted. “I say, get out of here!”

Henry hurried back and stood in front of the man. “We won't leave without our brother or the dogs!” he said. Then Henry ran off again to find Lad.

Jessie stood tall, too. “That black dog and this white one live in this house,” she told the man.

“No one lives here but me,” the man said.

Violet was shaking, but she spoke up all the same. “Where is Miss Newcombe?” she demanded. “This is
her
home.”

The man stepped toward Violet. “And what business is that of yours, little girl? None at all, I say. I'm in charge of this property now, and I don't have to explain anything to trespassers!”

By this time, Henry had caught Lad by the leash, and Benny was right behind. “Don't worry, we're leaving. But you can't keep us from looking for Miss Newcombe,” Henry said.

Before anyone could stop Benny, he spoke to the man, too. “We have a deed to her house, and my grandfather is going to bring it to the state capital to see who owns this house.”

“We'll see about that!” the man warned. “Now get off this property, you hear?”

When everyone was safe at the end of the driveway, Jessie put her arm around Benny. “Are you all right, Benny?”

“I'm good,” Benny said, “but that man is bad. And I think there are other people in that house, too. I heard a door bang and some footsteps while I was chasing Lad.”

Henry led his brother and sisters out the gate. “Benny's right. When I ran to the back of the house to follow Benny and Lad, I thought I saw someone disappear into a back room. Another man. They're the same men who bought the dynamite at Mr. Seed's and who nearly ran us over with their truck.”

“I can't believe strange people would be in a nice old woman's house,” Violet said. “And to act as if Lad didn't live there! Why, anyone could see both dogs knew that house very well.”

When the Aldens peeked through some evergreens at the house, Jessie stared longer than anyone else. “Look, Henry. The truck that tried to run us over is parked back there,” she whispered.

Henry took a look. “It's the same pickup truck! That man who answered the door isn't alone in there, I'm sure of it. I'm going to sneak around the side of the house and see what that truck says.”

Violet and Benny looked on as Jessie and Henry walked through a clump of trees that led toward the house.

With each footstep, Jessie and Henry seemed to crack a branch or an acorn or scare a bird out of a bush. They were sure the men in the house could hear every snapped twig and crunched leaf.

“I think we can get a good look through those loose stones,” Jessie told Henry when they got to the wall that surrounded the property.

“I'll take out this rock from the wall,” Henry said.

A chipmunk dashed out from the space where the rock had been, and Jessie and Henry jumped back.

“Whew!” Henry said.

He and Jessie bent down low. They peered through the wall opening. Now the rusty truck was only a few feet away.

Jessie read the peeling sign on the side of the truck. “It says, ‘Wolf Demolition.' In smaller letters it says, ‘We take down buildings any size.' ” Jessie's eyes opened wide with worry. “Do you think they're going to tear down Miss Newcombe's house, Henry?”

Henry shook his head. “I guess that's why they bought all that dynamite. But maybe Miss Newcombe hired them for that. This is the last piece of farmland so close to town. It's probably more valuable to build on it than to keep it as a rundown farm. Maybe Miss Newcombe needs money, and wants to sell the land to somebody who wants to build on it.”

Henry and Jessie ducked when they heard the door squeak open. They took turns peeking through the stones. The unshaven man stood on the side porch smoking a cigarette while he talked to some other men still inside the house.

“We'll just let her in the house to get her things, and that's all,” one deep voice said from inside. “If she even comes back. I think we scared her good.”

“Maybe. She's got a few days to get back. Then we'll turn this place into dust,” another voice said. “Can't believe the old lady's been sitting on this gold mine, and it ain't even hers. Too bad the boss took so long to get that land search done. We'd better make sure those kids don't start snooping around the Land Records office at the capital before we get there.”

“Don't worry about that,” the man on the porch said. “They'll never get there in time.” He put out his cigarette in the window box and went inside.

Henry and Jessie could no longer hear the three voices, but they'd heard enough. They crept back through the woods to find Violet and Benny.

“Did you find out anything?” Benny asked.

“We found out that truck is from a demolition company that's going to tear down Miss Newcombe's house,” Henry said.

“The men in there said this isn't even her house,” Jessie added. “At least that's what we think they said. We only heard a little.”

“We heard enough to know that Miss Newcombe's home is in danger,” Henry said. “We have to find her, and we have to get the deed up to the state capital right away!”

CHAPTER 7

A Good Deed

T
he next day, everyone was up early so they could get a fast start on their trip to the state capital. Grandfather's friend, Elizabeth Thompson, who did some work with the Land Records Office, had said they could file the deed immediately.

“Now you make sure to give yourself time to have those peanut butter sandwiches at lunchtime,” Mrs. McGregor told everyone as they got into Mr. Alden's roomy car. “I know you'll be hungry.”

“I know I will be, too,” Benny said.

Jessie checked her long list of chores. “The animals are all fed and walked for the day,”she told Mrs. McGregor.

“Don't worry about a thing,” Mrs. McGregor said.

“We won't,” Mr. Alden said when he backed out his car. “We've got a full tank of gas and the excellent lunch you prepared to keep us all from starving.”

Jessie held up the all-important black notebook for Mrs. McGregor to see. “And tucked safely in here is Miss Newcombe's deed.”

“It's a good deed!” Benny called out the window to Mrs. McGregor.

Mr. Alden and his grandchildren laughed. “It is
indeed!
” he said. Everyone laughed again, and they were on their way.

But not for long.

“Why is the car slowing down, Grandfather?” Henry said when he heard the car sputter. In a few minutes it stopped dead in the middle of the highway.

Mr. Alden quickly tried to restart the engine, but nothing happened. “I don't know what the problem is, but we have to get out quickly while the road is clear.” Mr. Alden raced to help his grandchildren out of the car.

When everyone was safe, Mr. Alden checked the highway. “Henry, you give a push while I steer the car off the road. No one is coming right now.”

But Mr. Alden was wrong. Just when Henry was giving the last strong push to roll the car to the side, Jessie screamed, “Grandfather! Henry! Watch out!”

Henry turned around just in time to see the Wolf Demolition truck whiz by, only inches away from the car.

The Aldens recognized one of the passengers right away. “Looks like you'll be here all day,” the unshaven man from Miss Newcombe's house snickered before the truck disappeared in a cloud of oily blue smoke.

“I bet they're going to the state capital,” Violet cried.

“Never mind, Violet,” Henry said while he and Jessie continued pushing the car. “We have the deed. Even though Miss Thompson said the Land Records Office closes early on Fridays during the summertime, we still have time to get there before noon.”

After the car was safely off the road, Mr. Alden took off his jacket and rolled up his shirtsleeves. “I'm going to check the engine. Maybe we've overheated, or the oil level dropped for some reason. Can't figure out why, though. Jack Vetrano checked out everything just yesterday.”

For the next half hour, the Aldens did everything they could think of to get the car started. Nothing worked.

“The water and oil levels seem fine,” Mr. Alden said after checking the dipstick. “If I hadn't just filled the gas tank yesterday, I'd almost think we were out of gas.”

Henry took out his baseball cap from the backseat and put it on. “Grandfather, I'm going to look for help. Maybe there's a gas station up ahead, and I can get a mechanic back here to take a look at what's wrong.”

Henry didn't waste any time jogging off for help. After he disappeared down the road, a few cars stopped by to offer help, but Mr. Alden waved them away, saying his grandson would be bringing back some help very soon.

“There's a red tow truck slowing down!” Benny said awhile later.

The driver jumped down from the truck, and Henry got out on the passenger side. “This is Mr. Hall, Grandfather. He knows everything about cars like yours.”

“I'll work fast,” Mr. Hall said. “Your grandson, here, told me all about how you have to get to the capital by noon.”

Mr. Hall went over and under the car with his tools. From under the car, everyone heard him say, “Maybe you're out of gas.”

“It's not likely,” Mr. Alden said. “I just had it filled up yesterday, and I didn't drive it until today.”

The mechanic took a gas can with a long spout and began pouring gas into the tank.

“Well, let's see if a little gas can get it going. It might push out some air that could be in the gas line,” Mr. Hall said as he poured. And poured. “I don't like to say this, sir, but your gas tank seems to be bone dry.”

“That's impossible,” Henry said. “If my grandfather said he filled the tank, he filled it.”

“Maybe he did, but it's still dry. With gas prices the way they are these days, maybe somebody drained your gas out.”

“I have to say I'm quite embarrassed at all this, but you fixed the problem, so give me the bill,” Mr. Alden said to the mechanic.

Everyone got into the car, which was soon humming down the highway again.

“I can't figure it, I just can't figure it,” Mr. Alden repeated. “I filled this tank with gas when I picked it up from Jack last night.”

“I think I know what happened, Grandfather,” Henry said. “I think they drained all our gas on purpose because they didn't want us to make this trip to check on the deed. Then they tampered with the gas gauge so you wouldn't know anything was wrong.”

“You're probably right, Henry,” Mr. Alden agreed. “In any case, we have the deed, and they don't.”

When the Aldens met Miss Thompson in the capital lobby at twenty to twelve, she didn't know a thing about the three men. “I'm sorry, James,” she said to Mr. Alden. “There've been hundreds of people going through the lobby all morning. I can't say I noticed three suspicious men in all these crowds. But that does give us even more reason to hurry! It's nearly closing time.”

Everyone raced behind Miss Thompson up three flights of marble stairs. As they climbed flight after flight, the Aldens told Miss Thompson the whole story about finding the deed in the old notebooks.

“Do you think you can help us?” Jessie asked when they finally reached the Land Records Room.

“If the deed is signed and stamped with the state seal, then all we need to do is make a copy and file it with Mr. Tully, the Land Records Clerk. Now don't worry if he seems a bit gruff. He likes to keep a close watch on the documents in the Records Room. And he's always a bit grumpy right before lunch.”

“Me, too,” Benny said.

Everyone's laughter bounced off the marble walls and floors when they went into the Land Records Room. This did not please the annoyed-looking man who came over to the Aldens.

“What can I do for you, Miss Thompson?” the man asked. “I hope it's not too complicated. On Fridays, we lock up at twelve sharp, and it's ten of already.”

“This is the Alden family, and they'd like us to find information about a fifty-year-old deed they discovered in Greenfield.”

“Greenfield? What in heaven's name is going on in Greenfield?” Mr. Tully said in a loud voice. “Is someone putting up skyscrapers or something? Some employees of a demolition company were in just about an hour ago, asking about some Greenfield property, and I told 'em what I always tell 'em. They have to wait until Wednesday before their bid goes through, just in case a deed turns up by Tuesday. I sent them packing just like that pesky old woman who was here a few days ago, asking about the same darn land in Greenfield.”

Henry stepped up to Mr. Tully. “Was it a Miss Newcombe?”