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Authors: Florence Parry Heide

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BOOK: Mystery of the Melting Snowman
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The street lamp swayed, making the shadow of the snowman lean first one way and then another. A gust of wind caught the powdery snow on the ground and swished it high up in the air. Dexter looked up and down the street. He didn’t see a thing. He yawned and shifted his position.

Was it the snowman’s shadow that was moving? Or someone else’s? Dexter squinted through his glasses.

Suddenly he sat up straight. “Psssst!” he whispered to Jay and Cindy. “Wake up! He’s back!”

Chapter 2
Who and Why?

T
HE THREE DETECTIVES
pushed their faces against the cold window. A tall figure in a hooded parka was slowly walking around the big snowman. The hood shielded his face from view.

As the Spotlighters watched, the man started to dig into the middle of the snowman. He reached in, then he drew himself up and looked around. Suddenly he started to knock the snowman down.

“He’s really mad,” whispered Jay.

“What will he do when he can’t find it?” Cindy whispered back.

“When he knows the iron dog isn’t in there, he’ll leave,” said Dexter. “Let’s be ready to follow him. We can at least get a look at his car. Maybe we can trace him from that.”

In a moment the snowman had been completely destroyed.

“Be ready to grab your jackets and run after him,” whispered Jay. “But we have to be quiet about it. If he hears us, he’ll know we’re following him, and he’ll know we have the dog.”

“What would he do to us?” asked Cindy, shivering.

“You can stay here, Cindy, if you want to,” said Dexter.

“Not me,” she whispered.

The tall figure stood and stared around him. The Spotlighters ducked out of sight as he turned to look at the house.

When they carefully edged their faces up again, he was walking toward the barricade at the end of the street.

“Hurry,” said Jay. They threw on their jackets and rushed to the front door. “Easy does it,” whispered Dexter. He opened the door a crack. A blast of cold air hit their faces. They shivered and peered out into the dark. It took a moment to spot him again.

“He’s started over to his car,” whispered Dexter.

Dexter, Cindy, and Jay walked quickly over the snow toward the street. In a moment they reached the barricade. Fresh tire tracks in the snow told them he had gone.

“He’s gone!” said Jay. “He really moved fast!”

They walked back to Dexter’s.

“He’s gone, and we don’t know one single thing,” wailed Cindy as they hung their jackets on hooks in the hall.

She got out her notebook. “I have my notebook, but I don’t know what to write,” she said. “We don’t know who he is or why he wanted the iron dog. Or anything.”

“He came back for it,” said Jay. “He’s still tall and he’s still wearing a parka. He knocked down our snowman looking for something. And he left in the car again. End of clues!”

“Your brain must be frozen,” said Dexter. “It isn’t the end. It’s just the beginning! When was that snowman built?”

“Yesterday afternoon,” said Jay, scratching his head.

“Right,” said Dexter. “While you and I were doing your paper route.”

Cindy interrupted excitedly. “The little Maxwell kids were building it. I was watching them for Mrs. Maxwell while she went to market. I helped them with the bottom snowball. We started it in their yard and rolled it into yours, Dexter. And then Mrs. Maxwell came back and I remembered I’d promised Mom that I’d pare the carrots and peel the potatoes. And then when I came out again, about an hour later, the snowman was finished!”

She stared at the iron dog. “Someone helped the Maxwell children with that snowman. I’m sure of it. And that means—that means whoever hid the iron dog! Nobody was around but the kids. He just rolled the dog into the middle snowball.”

“And planned to come back later,” Dexter added.

“So we ask the Maxwell kids who helped them and we’ve found Mr. X,” said Jay slowly.

Cindy wrote
Plans
at the top of a new page in her notebook. “I suppose we can’t go over and ask them now?” she asked.

“Almost, but not quite,” grinned Dexter. “They’re up at the crack of dawn every day. I know. I live next door.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Cindy, closing her notebook. “The Maxwell house is the first stop tomorrow morning. We’d better get some sleep now.”

The three detectives arranged their sleeping bags and were asleep within minutes.

Cindy was the first to waken. She crawled out of her sleeping bag and looked through the window. There were only piles of trampled snow in the yard. Last night’s adventure was no dream.

“We’ve got to talk to the Maxwell kids,” she whispered loudly to waken Jay and Dexter.

Half awake, the boys muttered to each other, “Got to do it. Talk to the Maxwell kids.”

“Here,” Cindy said, “let me roll up the sleeping bags. Let’s get started.”

“I hope I wake up pretty soon,” said Jay.

“I have an awful time being a detective on an empty stomach,” said Dexter. “Let’s have breakfast first.”

They fixed breakfast and left the house munching apples. The two little Maxwell children were already coming outside.

Amy smiled up at Cindy and picked up some snow.

“Making more snowmen?” asked Cindy.

“They’re all gone,” cried Amy. “They melted and melted flat.”

“They didn’t melt,” Randy said, frowning.

“Somebody smashed them all up. Bang! Crash! Pow!”

“How do you know?” Dexter asked. “Did you see someone do that?”

Randy shuffled his feet in the snow. “No. I just know they didn’t melt, that’s all. It’s too cold.”

“We’ll build another big snowman later,” promised Cindy.

“Now-now-now-now!” shouted Amy. She sat down on the snow and started humming to herself.

Cindy turned to Randy. “Do you remember yesterday when I helped you build the bottom of the snowman?”

“Sure,” Randy said.

“Then I had to leave, remember?”

“Sure,” Randy said again.

“Did someone else come and help you with the snowman?” Cindy asked.

Amy nodded. “Oh, yes, and he had two Amys in his eyes. Two Amys, two Amys!” she said, patting the snow around her.

“Two what?” asked Cindy. Amy didn’t make any sense.

“Two Amys,” cried Amy again.

Randy was throwing a snowball up in the air and catching it.

“Who helped you with the snowman, Randy?”

Cindy asked him again.

“Some man,” Randy said. “He was nice. He told us to go in the house and get a carrot for the nose.” He tossed his snowball in the air and watched it splat on the ground. “So Amy and I went in the back door and waited for Mom to get us a carrot for the nose.”

Cindy thought quickly. That was when the man must have put the dog in the snowman.

“What did he look like, Randy?” asked Cindy.

“He was nice,” Randy said.

Amy had come up behind Randy and was tugging on his jacket. “Gotcha last!” she squealed, and started running. Randy shouted after Amy, “Oh no, I’ll get you last.” He ran after her. They both disappeared behind the house.

“He sent them in the house for a carrot,” said Jay. “That’s when he rolled the dog into the snowman.”

“Let’s talk to the kids again,” Dexter said. “Amy doesn’t make sense, she’s too little. But maybe we can find out more from Randy.”

“All we know so far is that a tall man in a parka was looking for the iron dog in the snowman,” sighed Cindy. “A tall man in a parka.”

Dexter stared behind Cindy. “Here comes a man now,” he said. “A tall man in a parka!”

Chapter 3
Watching and Waiting

C
INDY TURNED AROUND
and faced a young man with blond hair. He was striding toward them. Jay was right—he was tall. And he was wearing a parka. The hood was down.

He was wearing large mirror sunglasses, and he was carrying a small metal box under his arm. He shifted it to the other arm, and something inside the box clanked. His glasses turned in the direction of the three detectives.

“Nice morning!” he said.

“Sure is,” said Dexter.

Cindy looked at the man’s face. She saw herself reflected in his glasses—two blue jackets, two Cindys. Her thoughts raced. What was it that Amy had said? She saw two Amys in his eyes? Of course! This was the man who had helped Amy and Randy with the snowman! It must be.

Cindy couldn’t tell whether his eyes were looking at her or at Dexter or Jay or what. The mirror glasses were like a mask.

The young man looked at the Maxwells’ house. Then at the Tates’. Then at the Temples’. At least, thought Cindy, he turned his head in those directions. With those glasses you couldn’t tell. Anybody who wore glasses like that must have shifty eyes, she decided.

Amy and Randy came running around the side of the house. “I’m a big snowman and I’m going to get you!” shouted Randy. Amy squealed and ran toward Cindy.

At that moment the young man quickly pulled his glasses off and put them in his pocket.

Cindy stared. Why would he do that? Unless he thought Amy was going to recognize his glasses?

“I got you!” shouted Randy, and Amy squealed some more. Cindy glanced down at Amy. She was too excited with their game to notice the young man. Randy looked up at him and cocked his head to one side. Then he started to chase Amy again. The young man turned and walked quickly across the street.

“He’s the one,” whispered Cindy as soon as he was out of earshot.

Jay laughed. “Just because he’s wearing a parka? And he’s tall?”

“Not just that,” said Cindy quickly. “He was wearing mirror sunglasses. Amy said she saw two Amys in his eyes, remember? Well, when Amy was running toward us just now, he took his glasses off in a hurry. He didn’t want Amy and Randy to recognize him.”

Dexter whistled. “Let’s follow him,” he said.

“Wait,” said Cindy. “We don’t want him to guess that we have the iron dog.”

“I wonder what was in that metal box he was carrying,” mused Dexter.

“Why did he steal the dog in the first place?” asked Jay. “Who really owns it?”

“We don’t know for sure that he stole it,” said Dexter. “Remember Mr. Hooley’s Rule. We have to
prove
everything.” Amy and Randy were back.

“Was the man who was just here the man who helped you with the snowman yesterday?” Cindy asked Randy.

Randy shook his head. “The man that helped us had funny glasses.” He turned around and started chasing Amy again.

The three detectives watched as the man stopped in front of the red house on the corner.

“He’s going up to that house,” Jay said.

Sure enough, the stranger walked up the porch steps and rang the doorbell. A minute later the door opened, and he walked inside.

“At least we know where he is,” said Cindy.

“We’ve got to keep an eye on him.”

“I’ve got it,” said Jay. “You and I can shovel the walk for Mr. Mulberry, Dex. His house is right across the street from the red house. That way we can watch the house without looking suspicious. And besides, Mr. Mulberry shouldn’t be shoveling snow anyway. OK?”

“Sounds swell,” said Dexter. “How about you, Cindy?”

“I’ll poke around here and see if I can find anything in the snow,” she said. “Any clue.”

The boys ran around to the garage to get the snow shovels, then off for the Mulberrys’ house.

Amy and Randy came running over to Cindy. “Help us, Cindy, help us!” Amy cried.

“I can’t make a big snowman now, but I’ll make you some little ones,” said Cindy. She knelt down in the snow. She made five tiny snowmen.

Just as Cindy turned over another little pile of snow, she caught a glimpse of something bright orange. Her fingers closed over several strands of wool fringe and she pulled. It was a long orange scarf.

“The snowman’s scarf!” cried Amy. “The man gave it to us.”

“You mean the man who helped you wore this scarf?” asked Cindy.

Amy nodded and nodded.

Cindy put the scarf in her pocket. If this is Mr. X’s scarf, it almost proves he was the one who put the dog in the snowman, she thought.

Just then Cindy heard Anne calling from the porch. “Oh, there you are, Cindy. I don’t know who’s to blame for my stubbed toe, you or this silly creature. What is it, anyway? It must be a doorstop to a castle door or something.”

“Wait!” Cindy cried. “I’ll be right there.” She hoped nobody had heard Anne. Or had seen her standing on the porch holding the iron dog.

Cindy ran up to her. “It’s a very important part of our mystery. If anyone comes around asking about it, you’ve never heard about the iron dog.”

“What dog?” asked Anne, winking.

Cindy laughed and took the iron dog. “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll tell you more about the mystery later.” She put the dog under her coat and ran across Dexter’s yard to her own yard.

She ran into the house. “Hi, Mom,” she called, setting the dog down on the floor of the living room. It was pretty heavy.

Mrs. Temple called from upstairs. “I just got up and I found your note. What were you doing over at the Tates’ in the middle of the night?”

BOOK: Mystery of the Melting Snowman
6.72Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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