Box That Watch Found (6 page)

When they finished going through all eight, Henry looked at the paper in front of him. “It looks like both the Greenes and the Zellers have visited all of them,” he said.

“If both families have already been to all those missing caches before they disappeared, neither one is gaining anything by taking them and preventing the other family from finding them. They’ve already found them!” Jessie said.

Violet and Benny nodded. But Henry just stared at the computer screen. All of a sudden he sat up a little straighter.

“Can we scroll back through the other missing caches one more time?” Henry asked.

Jessie turned to him. “Did you see something?”

“Maybe,” Henry said. “I don’t need to read all the logs. I just need to see the main page for each one.”

“What are you looking for?” Benny yawned. He wasn’t used to being up so late.

Henry pointed to the screen. “Look at this line,” he said.

“It says, ‘placed by Hammer Ed,’ ” Violet read. “So?”

“Look at who placed all the other caches,” Henry said.

The children all leaned closer to the screen and watched as Jessie loaded the information for each of the missing caches.

“They were all placed by Hammer Ed,” Violet said.

Benny yawned again. “So who’s Hammer Ed?”

“That’s a good question,” Henry said.

“I have a surprise for you,” Mrs. MacGregor announced when the children sat down to breakfast the next morning.

“What?” Benny asked eagerly.

“It smells like … scrambled eggs,” Violet said, breathing in the delicious smell.

“But it doesn’t look like scrambled eggs,” Jessie said as Mrs. MacGregor set a plate of stuffed burritos in the middle of the table. “It looks like breakfast burritos.”

“Yum!” Benny said. “What’s inside them?”

“You’ll have to bite into them to find out,” Mrs. MacGregor said with a smile.

“Hooray! Geocaches we can eat!” Benny said, reaching for a burrito.

Everyone laughed.

“And just think, we didn’t have to use a GPS to find them,” Henry said.

“No. All we needed was our noses!” Violet said. “Our noses led us straight to the kitchen.”

“It looks like there are eggs, sausage, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and cheese in the burritos,” Jessie said. “These are very good, Mrs. MacGregor.”

“Thank you, Jessie,” Mrs. MacGregor said. “I’m glad you like them.”

While the children ate, the talk turned to Hammer Ed, the person who had first placed all the missing caches. Who could Hammer Ed be, they wondered.

“Have we met anyone at the geocaching club named Ed?” Jessie asked as she dished up some fruit for herself, then passed the bowl to Henry.

“Not that I remember,” Henry replied.

Benny helped himself to another burrito. “Have we met someone who likes to build stuff?” he asked.

“Maybe we have,” Violet said. “But we don’t know it. All we really know about any of the people in the club is that they like geocaching.”

“It’s too bad Andy and his dad are visiting Andy’s grandma,” Henry said. “Otherwise we could call and ask them. They probably know everyone in the club.”

“They might even know who uses the nickname Hammer Ed,” Jessie said. “Andy knew the Zellers’ nickname and the Greenes’ nickname.”

“You know who else would probably know all the club members?” Violet said. “Cal would. Andy said he was one of the people who started the geocaching club.”

“Yeah, but nobody knows where Cal is,” Benny said.

“People have tried calling him, but I wonder if anyone has actually gone to his house to see if he’s home,” Jessie said as she wiped her mouth with her napkin.

“I wonder,” Henry said.

“If he’s not home, maybe we can figure out where he went,” Violet said.

Henry nodded. “If everyone’s done eating, we can go right now,” he said, pushing back his chair.

“Wait! Can I have one more burrito before we go?” Benny asked.

Violet laughed. “You’ve already had three!”

“I know,” Benny said. “But they’re geocaching burritos! Maybe if I eat another one, it will help us solve this mystery!”

While Benny gobbled up another burrito, the other children looked up Cal’s address in the phone book. He lived on Seventeenth Street.

Then, when Benny finally said he was full, the children set off on their bikes for Cal’s house.

It was a warm but windy day, and the children found themselves pedaling against the wind for much of the ride. Empty garbage cans and recycling bins that had been left outside were rolling all around the road.

“Looks like it’s garbage day in this neighborhood,” Violet said as she swerved around a green garbage can.

“Looks like it,” Jessie agreed.

The Aldens turned onto Seventeenth Street and started pedaling uphill.

“What’s the house number again?” Benny asked.

“It’s 214,” Henry replied.

They rode past 126, 130, and 134 Seventeenth Street.

“It should be in the next block,” Jessie puffed. She was pedaling so hard she was starting to sweat. “And it’ll be on the right side of the street.”

“I see 206, 210, 214! There it is!” Benny cried. “The little white house up on the hill.”

The Aldens rode into the driveway and parked their bikes in front of the garage.

“Cal’s garbage can isn’t outside,” Jessie noted.

“Unless it’s one of those that blew all the way down the street,” Benny said as he put his kickstand down.

There was a fenced patio on top of the garage and two sets of steps leading to the front porch. When the Aldens reached the top, they counted three folded newspapers lying on the mat in front of the door. Jessie lifted the lid on the small black mailbox. It was almost full of envelopes and flyers.

“Well, I think we know why there’s no garbage can in front of Cal’s house,” Jessie said. “He’s obviously not home.”

They were about to turn around and start back down the stairs when they heard a dog barking. The barking was coming from inside the house.

The Aldens glanced at each other in surprise.

“That sounds like Chester,” Benny said.

“Why would Cal go away and leave Chester home alone?” Jessie asked.

“I don’t know,” Henry replied. “I don’t think he would do that. But if there was somebody staying here and taking care of Chester, wouldn’t they bring the newspapers and mail inside?”

Benny rang the doorbell and the children waited anxiously for someone to come to the door. But no one did.

The children walked down the first set of steps and over to the fence where they could see into the patio. There was a large picnic table in the middle. A hammer, a roll of duct tape, and an open jar of nails lay loose on the picnic table.

“That’s odd,” Henry said. “Why would Cal leave all this stuff sitting outside?”

“I don’t know,” Jessie said. “It looks like he was about to fix something.”

“What was he about to fix?” Violet asked.

Nobody knew.

“Hey!” a voice called from behind them. The Aldens turned and saw an older, heavyset woman standing in the yard next door. She did not look happy.

“What do you kids think you’re doing?”

“We’re looking for Cal Edwards,” Henry said, walking over to the edge of the yard. “Have you seen him in the last few days?”

“May I ask your names?” the woman asked.

“Sure,” Jessie replied. “We’re the Aldens. I’m Jessie, and this is my sister, Violet, and my brothers, Henry and Benny.”

The woman’s face softened. “I’m Mrs. Michaelson,” she said. “Mr. Edwards is out of town.”

“He is?” Henry said with surprise. “But his dog, Chester, is here.”

“Yes, I know,” Mrs. Michaelson said. “His mother broke her hip and she needed help right away. So I’ve been taking care of Chester. I’ve been feeding him and letting him out. I’d let him stay with me, but I have four cats and I don’t think he’d be very happy at my house.”

“Oh,” Violet said with relief. She was sorry to hear about Cal’s mother, but she was glad he was okay, and she was glad he hadn’t left Chester completely alone.

“We didn’t know,” Jessie said. “We saw all the newspapers and mail—”

“Yes, I imagine the mailbox is getting pretty full. I don’t pick up the mail or newspapers every day because it’s so hard for me to go up all those steps. I’ve been going in through the garage to take care of Chester. His things are all in the basement, so then I don’t have to go up any steps.”

“Oh, we can bring the mail and newspapers to you,” Violet offered.

“Would you?” Mrs. Michaelson looked thankful. “That would be a big help.”

“Sure,” Benny said. “Come on, Violet. Let’s go!”

While Benny and Violet ran back up the steps, Jessie and Henry talked to Mrs. Michaelson some more.

“How long has Cal been gone?” Henry asked.

“He left last Monday as soon as he got the call,” Mrs. Michaelson replied. “But he phoned yesterday to say his mother is getting better and he’ll be coming back soon.”

“That’s good,” Jessie said.

Benny and Violet returned with Cal’s newspapers and mail and handed them all to Mrs. Michaelson.

“Thank you, children,” she said.

“You’re welcome,” Benny said.

“I’m so glad Cal and Chester are okay,” Violet said.

The children said good-bye to Mrs. Michaelson, then headed back to their bikes.

“Well, there’s one mystery solved,” Benny said as he swung his leg over the back of his bike. “We know what happened to Cal. Now all we have to do is figure out who Hammer Ed is and what happened to all those missing caches.”

“Wait a minute,” Violet said, holding onto her bike. “Do you remember what Mrs. Michaelson called Cal?”

“Sure,” Jessie said. “She called him Mr. Edwards. That’s his name.”

Violet grinned. “That’s right. His name is Mr.
Ed
wards.”

“Oh!” Benny said, grinning back at Violet. “And Mr.
Ed
wards likes to fix stuff.”

“So maybe Cal Edwards is Hammer Ed?” Jessie asked.

“I’ll bet he is!” Henry said.

“Then I guess we’ve solved two mysteries,” Benny said. “We know what happened to Cal and we know who Hammer Ed is.”

“But we still don’t know what happened to the missing caches,” Henry said.

“We’ll figure it out,” Jessie said.

“We’d better,” Benny said.

The Aldens followed the bike path through North Ridge Park on their way home from Cal’s house. The trees sheltered them from the wind, so it was easier pedaling here.

The bike path became a narrow dirt trail through the thickest part of the woods and the children had to ride single file. As they rode down one hill, they heard voices coming from the top of the next hill. Angry voices.

“Let go!” a boy’s voice said.

“No, you let go!” a girl answered.

“You’re not supposed to take them!”

“We’re not taking them, we’re protecting them!”

When the Aldens reached the top of the hill, they saw the Zeller twins and David Greene over by a huge tree stump. The Aldens had seen these kids arguing before, but never quite like this. David and Zack seemed to be playing tug-of-war with a metal box.

“What’s going on?” Henry called out to them.

Zack, Zoe, and David all froze as the Aldens got off their bikes and ran over to them.

“They’re trying to steal this cache,” David said as he yanked the metal box out of Zack’s grip once and for all. “They’ve been stealing caches all over town. But I’m not going to let them steal this one.” He held the metal box tight against his chest.

“Wait a minute,” Jessie said, turning to the Zeller twins. “You two have been stealing the caches?” The Aldens had been pretty sure the thief wasn’t the Zellers or the Greenes.

“No!” Zoe said, clearly insulted. “We just told David—we’re not stealing them, we’re protecting them.” She pulled on the box again, but David backed away from her, still holding it tight.

“Protecting them from what?” Henry asked.

“From being stolen by the real thief!” Zack cried.

“We’re only taking caches that have travel bugs in them,” Zoe explained.

“Why?” Benny asked.

“Some of these travel bugs have been traveling a long time,” Zack said. “And some of them have come from really far away. Like Europe. So we don’t want the thief to get them.”

“One of the caches we took has a flag from Switzerland that has already traveled around the world three times.”

Zack nodded. “We’ve got another one that has a racing car that belonged to a little boy in California,” Zack added. “It was one of his favorite cars, but he turned it into a travel bug so he could watch it travel around the country. Think how he’d feel if he found out the cache his car was in got stolen!”

“Let me get this straight,” David said. “You guys didn’t take any of the first caches that went missing. You’ve only taken the last few. And you’re only taking ones with travel bugs in them?”

“That’s right,” Zoe said. “And we’re leaving notes for the real thief that say ‘ha ha!’ As in ‘ha-ha, you didn’t get this one!’ ” She held up a note just like the one Andy had found.

“We’ve kept track of where all the caches we took are supposed to go,” Zack said. “Once the thief goes away, we’ll put them back. But not until we’re sure they’ll be safe.”