Rock 'n' Roll Mystery (6 page)

“Look at this person right here!” Violet said, pointing to the stranger.

“What about him?” Henry asked.

“Doesn't he look familiar?”

“No,” Jessie replied, shaking her head. “Not really.”

Violet picked up a pencil and started scribbling on the man's face. The others couldn't really see what she was doing. Then she pulled her hand out of the way. She had added a beard, a mustache, a pair of glasses, and a beret.

“I can't believe it,” Jessie whispered. “That's the man we saw yesterday. Now we know what he really looks like!”

“And now we know who he is,” said Henry. “He used to be in the band!”

The children showed the Greenfield Four the flyer with Violet's drawing. One by one, Alan, Amy, Karen, and Dave passed it around. They didn't speak for a moment.

Finally, Alan Keller said, “His name is Jon Emmott. And yes, I think he's the thief.” The other band members nodded. “Jon was part of the group for about a year,” Alan went on. “He played a few different instruments and could sing pretty well. He wasn't bad.”

“But …” Amy said, and her frown told the Aldens that she didn't care much for Emmott. “He was a tough person to deal with every day.”

“How so?” Jessie asked.

“He had a lot of talent,” Karen replied, “but not as much as he thought he did. He acted as if he was the greatest musician and singer in the world.”

“Is that why he left?” Violet asked.

“No,” Alan said. “He left because we had a big argument one day about what kind of music we should play.”

“We had one idea,” Amy continued, “and he had another. So he decided to leave.”

“He was pretty nasty about it, too,” Karen said. “I remember that last day very well. He was telling us how he was going to put his own band together, and it would be so much better than ours.”

The Aldens shook their heads. “Sounds like a pretty angry person,” Henry said.

“Yes,” Alan said. “Jon could also be very jealous. When he left, he moved out to California. He started his own band, just like he said he would. But they didn't do too well. The last I heard, they broke up, and he had to go back to his old job as an electrician. At the same time, our band was doing really well.”

“He must have heard about the man from the record company coming to the festival, and he decided to come back and try to ruin the show,” Amy said. “But we're not about to let it get ruined.”

“That's right,” Karen and Alan added. The children could see that the band was determined to succeed.

Just then the door to the rehearsal studio opened and Raymond came in.

“It's time to get ready for the show,” he told the band. Then he turned and noticed the Aldens. “Did you manage to find the thief?” he asked.

The children showed Raymond the scrapbook and the picture of Jon Emmott. He couldn't believe his eyes.

“I've seen him before!” he said.

“So have we,” Henry said. “We saw him helping out at the festival. Violet recognized him through his disguise. She drew the beard, glasses, and the beret.”

“But now we don't know where he is,” Jessie said.

“He could be anywhere!” Benny added.

“That's true,” Raymond said. Just then, the children noticed he had a wry smile on his face. “Anywhere—like the Greenfield Inn!”

Everyone seemed stunned by this announcement.

“The Greenfield Inn? The little hotel right here in town?” Karen said.

“How in the world do you know that?” Alan asked.

“It was the oddest thing,” Raymond said. “Some of the other roadies I know—the ones who are here from out of town—are staying at that same hotel. Just before I came here, I gave an old buddy a ride back to the hotel, and that's when I saw him in the parking lot.” He pointed at the picture. “I'd seen him helping out yesterday and he'd seemed friendly enough, so I waved hello. But this time, he wasn't friendly at all.”

“What did he do?” Violet wanted to know.

“He didn't wave back. He looked at me as if I were a ghost. And then he hurried back to his room,” Raymond replied.

“He must know you're the Greenfield Four's roadie,” said Alan.

“He does,” said Jessie. “When we were looking for you yesterday, Raymond, he knew who you were.”

“It sounds like he didn't want you to know he was at the Greenfield Inn,” said Henry.

“When did this happen?” Alan asked.

“About an hour ago,” Raymond answered.

“Oh, no,” said Jessie. “He might not be there much longer. We need to hurry!”

At the Greenfield Inn, darkness was beginning to fall, and crickets were chirping in the bushes. The Aldens and Raymond glanced around the parking lot, looking for the white van. There were several other cars and trucks parked in front of the rooms where people were staying, but no sign of the van.

“What do we do now?” Benny asked.

“We'll wait for Officer Weiss,” Jessie reminded him. They had called him to tell him what they'd discovered about the man with the glasses and beret. Now, as they stood and waited behind Raymond's car, they wondered what would happen next.

“I think the thief is staying in Room 12,” Raymond said, pointing to a door at the very end of the long motel building. “That's where he was going when I saw him earlier today.”

A light was still on in the window of Room 12, but the shades had been pulled down.

Suddenly, the door opened, and Jon Emmott stepped out. He was still wearing his black beret, but he no longer had his glasses on. He looked around, but he didn't notice the children watching him from across the parking lot. He slung his bag over his shoulder and walked to the corner of the building, then turned and headed towards the back.

“Where's he going?” Violet whispered. Her heart was racing.
Was he going to get away?

“Let's go see,” Henry said.

“Yes, but let's try to keep our distance,” Raymond said.

They followed Jon Emmott as he turned another corner and disappeared. They turned the corner, too, and at last they saw the white van with the blue stripe.

“He parked it where no one would see it,” Jessie whispered.

They could see Jon Emmott grinning to himself as he started the van and waited for the engine to warm up. “Excuse me,” Henry called out. “Aren't you Jon Emmott?”

The man's smile disappeared as quickly as it had come. “How do you know that?” he demanded.

Raymond spoke up. “That's not important right now,” he said. “What's important is that you give back all those instruments you stole from the Greenfield Four.”

“Forget it,” Emmott said in a nasty voice. “Now get out of my way.”

“I don't think you're going anywhere,” said a voice behind the Aldens. The children turned around. It was Officer Weiss.

Jon Emmott turned off the engine of the van. His shoulders sagged, and he put his head down.

It was over.

At the police station, Jon Emmott confessed everything.

“I had to do it,” he said. “I had to get even with them. I didn't want them to be so successful without me. Then, when I heard about the festival and the man from the record company, I wanted to ruin it for them.”

“So you broke into their rehearsal studio,” Henry said. “You guessed the security code.”

Jon Emmott smiled bitterly. “You figured out I did that, didn't you? Yes, I was lucky that the new code wasn't very different from the old code.

“At first I wasn't going to sell the stolen instruments,” Jon went on. “My only plan was to ruin the show.”

“Well, you didn't ruin it,” Jessie said. “They're still going to do their best and play tonight.”

Jon's eyes narrowed. “I knew it wouldn't be enough to stop them.” He chuckled.

The children looked at each other. They couldn't help but think there was something Jon Emmott wasn't telling them.

“Wait a minute,” Henry spoke up. “What were you working on at the festival yesterday?”

Jon paused for a moment, then said stiffly, “I'm not sure what you're talking about.”

“You were working on something while the stage was being built.” Jessie insisted. “Something with wires and cables.”

“Aren't you an electrician?” Violet asked.

“Come on, Jon,” Raymond said sharply. “It's over. You'll just get yourself into more trouble if you don't tell us.”

All eyes were on Jon. He looked at Officer Weiss. Finally he said, “I set up a timer under the stage so that the electricity would go off during the Greenfield Four's show.”

The children looked at each other in disbelief.

“When is it supposed to go off?” Jessie asked.

“Eight-thirty,” Jon replied. The Aldens checked their watches—that was less than an hour from now!

“Where did you put the timer?” Henry asked.

“In the back, by the right side of the stage,” Jon told them.

“We'd better get over there,” Violet said.

“And fast!” Benny added.

By the time Raymond and the Aldens got to the festival, the Greenfield Four had just gone onstage. The children could see a man in the front row wearing a white suit and a wide hat. He didn't look happy, but he didn't look unhappy, either. He was paying close attention to the show.

“That must be the man from the record company,” Violet said.

“We need to hurry,” said Jessie. “That timer might go off any minute now!”

They rushed to the back of the stage. The crawl space underneath the stage was covered by a dark curtain. Henry flipped it up and peered underneath. Raymond had brought two flashlights and handed him one.

“Be very careful, Henry,” Violet said. “Those wires and cables can be dangerous!”

“I wouldn't touch one if you gave me a million dollars,” Henry told her, looking at the cables as if they were live snakes. “I just want to find the timer and stop it.” He checked his watch. It read eight-twenty-five.

Henry and Raymond turned on their flashlights and crawled in. The noise coming from the stage above them was tremendous. Henry could feel the drums beating. They crawled around cardboard boxes, instrument cases, and packing crates. Henry and Raymond pointed their flashlights everywhere.

“Henry?” Raymond asked. “Did you find it?”

“No, not yet,” Henry answered.

Then Henry pushed aside a large box and he saw glowing red numbers underneath.

The timer. And there were less than three minutes left!

“Here it is!” he called out. Raymond, on his hands and knees, crawled over as fast as he could.

The timer was a simple metal box. There were four small buttons, but they weren't marked. Henry watched as the red numbers counted down.
2:00 … 1:59 … 1:58 …

Henry reached out slowly and pushed the first button. Nothing happened. He pushed the second button, and nothing happened again. The timer kept going down—
1:33 … 1:32 … 1:31 …

He tried the third button.

Still nothing.
1:10 … 1:09 … 1:08 …

Henry's heart was pounding like mad now. Only one button left. He pressed it.

And then something happened.

“Uh-oh,” Henry said.

The red numbers vanished for a moment. Then they reappeared. Now they said “0:10.” Ten seconds!

Raymond saw this. “Jon set the timer up so it would go into a fast countdown if someone tried to shut it off!” he cried.

Henry didn't say anything. He just watched with a helpless feeling as the numbers counted down.

0:03 … 0:02 … 0:01 …

Suddenly, there was a loud CLICK!

Everything went dark.

There was a loud gasp from the crowd. Suddenly, it was pitch black on the stage, and the entire festival was lit only by the glow of the full moon.