Spy in the Bleachers (4 page)

Jessie was watching Carlos Garcia. When Cody came to bat, Carlos did not sell hot dogs. Carlos stood near the railing and watched Cody bat. She saw Carlos lift the lid of his vendor’s box up and down.

The pitch came in and Cody Howard swung. Everybody heard a loud crack as the ball sailed out of Cogwheel Stadium.

“That proves it!” shouted a loud, angry voice. “Somebody is telling that batter what our pitching signals are! I want to know who is doing it!” Henry leaned over to see partway into the Cogs dugout. The person doing the shouting was Sam Jackson, the Cogs manager.

Mr. X spoke into his headphones and wrote something in his notebook.

“This is bad,” Henry whispered to his sisters and brother. “We have to discover who is giving Cody Howard the Cogs’ signals.”

Jessie, Violet, and Benny nodded. Whoever was stealing signs was not a good sport.

The score remained Cogs 2, Hatters 1, until the top of the fifth inning, when Cody Howard hit another home run. The Hatters had a runner on, so now the Hatters were leading 3-2.

After Cody’s second home run, Mr. X wrote for a long time in his notebook. Henry saw that Mr. X was right-handed.

Mr. X looked up from his notebook. “You kids say that you like mysteries,” he said. “Well, here’s a good mystery for you—there’s a spy in the bleachers.”

“A spy who is stealing Reese Dawkins’ signs to the pitcher,” said Jessie.

Mr. X looked surprised. “Say,” he said, “you kids really are into mysteries, aren’t you?”

The Aldens nodded.

“Well,” said Mr. X, “I know who the spy is.”

“You do?” asked Violet.

Mr. X nodded, then pointed across the baseball field into the bleachers. “It’s the woman in the lavender dress,” he said.

“How do you know she’s the spy?” asked Violet.

“Obvious,” said Mr. X. “She has binoculars so she can see the catcher’s signs better. Then, each time Cody Howard is at bat, she stands up. She waves her visor or her straw hat or whatever she’s wearing. That’s how she signals Cody. Today she’s wearing white lace gloves. Very suspicious, don’t you think? So easy for the batter to see her hands.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cogs scored two more runs to tie the score, 4-4.

But in the top of the seventh inning, Cody Howard came to bat again. Emma Larke stood up again and waved her straw hat. Cody did not hit a home run this time. But he did hit a triple, which allowed one of the Hatters already on base to score a run. The Hatters won the game, 5-4.

When the game was over, the children walked back to Mr. Tanaka’s office.

Grandfather was there with Jim Tanaka, who looked very unhappy.

“Mr. Tanaka,” said Henry. “The Cogs lost the last two games because somebody is stealing the catcher’s signs.”

“And that somebody is signaling the signs to Cody Howard,” added Jessie. “That’s why he hit five home runs and a triple in just two games. Because he knows. “

Mr. Tanaka rubbed his chin. “Well,” he said slowly, “Cody Howard is a
very
good hitter. And he wants to win the batting title. Maybe that’s why he hit all these home runs.”

“It’s true that Cody is a very good hitter,” said Henry. “But he hit each of those home runs as if he knew
exactly
what pitch was coming.”

Mr. Tanaka turned to Grandfather. “Your grandchildren are very, uh, unusual,” he said.

“My grandchildren are very smart,” said Grandfather. “They think things through. If they say somebody is stealing signs, they are most likely right.”

“Hmmmm,” said Mr. Tanaka, rubbing his chin again. “This is a very serious charge. Stealing signs is a very dirty trick.”

Violet nodded. “It’s not fair,” she said.

“Hmmmm,” Mr. Tanaka muttered again. He was about to reply, when the door opened with a bang.

Sam Jackson, the Cogs manager, burst into the office. “Somebody is stealing our signs!” he shouted. “That’s why we lost these two games.”

Before Mr. Tanaka could say anything, Wheelie came in just behind Sam. He was struggling to take off the top half of his costume. Sam Jackson turned around and helped him. “I told you this is none of your business,” the manager said to the mascot.

“It
is
my business,” replied Winn. “If somebody is stealing signs, I want to know who it is.”

“Your
job is to turn cartwheels,” said Sam Jackson. “You stay out of this.”

Mr. Tanaka raised a hand. “Quiet!” he said firmly.

The manager and the mascot stopped arguing.

“Sam,” said Mr. Tanaka, “please continue with what you were saying.”

“I tell you, somebody is stealing our signs! If we don’t find out who it is and stop them, we’re not going to win
any
of these five games. And you know we need to win
two games
to win the pennant.” The manager looked at the Aldens. “What are these kids doing here?”

Mr. Tanaka introduced the children and Grandfather to Sam Jackson. “Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny have already told me about the sign stealing,” he announced.

“What?” said Sam Jackson.

“Impossible!” said Winn.

“Not at all impossible,” Grandfather replied. “My grandchildren have solved mysteries before.”

Jessie explained why they thought someone was stealing the Cogs’ signs and giving them to Cody Howard. Sam and Mr. Tanaka nodded their heads as Jessie talked.

But Winn shook his head. “There are ten thousand people out there,” he said. “Even if there is a spy, how are you going to know who it is?”

Henry spoke. “We think there are only four suspects,” he said.

“Four?”
Winn held up four fingers and then pretended to faint.

Henry didn’t like the way Winn was making fun of them. “We hope we can figure out which one is the spy during tomorrow’s game,” he told Mr. Tanaka.

“Who are these four suspects?” Sam Jackson demanded. “If what you say is true, let’s keep all four of them out of the ballpark!”

“No, Sam, that’s not right,” replied Mr. Tanaka. “We would be keeping three innocent people away from the game.”

“I don’t care!” shouted the manager.

Mr. Tanaka looked at the Aldens. “Please,” he said, “tell us who your four suspects are.”

“Three of them sit in the bleachers,” said Benny, “and one sits right next to the Cogs dugout.”

“What?!”
said Mr. Tanaka, very upset. “No, that can’t be.”

Everybody waited for Mr. Tanaka to say something more, but he just stared at the top of his desk.

“The person who sits next to the Cogs dugout can’t see the catcher’s signs,” Jessie said. “But he can hear what you’re saying in the dugout,” she told the manager. “And he’s always writing in a small notebook.”

“And he speaks into a headphone,” added Henry. “He might be talking to somebody who’s somewhere else in the ballpark.”

“Kick him out!” Sam Jackson shouted to Mr. Tanaka, who just shook his head.

“The three people in the bleachers can all see the catcher’s signs,” Henry explained. “And they all make motions that might be signals.”

Sam Jackson lifted his baseball cap and rubbed his head again. “Tell me about these three. Who are they? What kind of motions do they make?”

Jessie told him about Emma Larke, one of the suspects. “Yesterday she wore a visor and stood up and waved it when Cody Howard came to bat. Today she wore a straw hat and did the same thing.”

Violet told him about Carlos Garcia. “He’s easy to see because his baseball cap has an antenna wire with a tall pennant at the top. Whenever Cody comes to bat, Carlos bangs the lid of his hot dog box.”

“The third suspect is Wheelie the mascot,” said Henry. “He sits in the best position to steal the signs. And every time Cody comes to bat, Wheelie holds his nose.”

Sam Jackson looked at the children, then looked at Winn.
“Wheelie?”
he asked. “You can’t be serious!”

Winn pretended to sob and wipe tears from his eyes.

“Cut it out, Winn.” The manager was annoyed. “You kids are very observant. Based on what you’ve told me, it’s obvious who the spy is—Emma Larke.”

“Who is she?” asked Mr. Tanaka. “And why is it obvious?”

“Ah, she was dating Reese Dawkins,” Sam Jackson answered. “But he broke up with her, and now she hates him and the Cogs. Emma wants to make Reese look bad,” he argued. “What better way than to steal his signs and give them to Cody Howard? She doesn’t want Reese to win the batting championship.”

“We didn’t know that Emma used to date Reese,” said Jessie. “That gives her a motive.”

“But it doesn’t prove that she’s the spy,” said Violet softly.

“She might be the spy,” said Winn, who was now serious. “But you have to consider Carlos, too.”

“I like Carlos,” said Mr. Tanaka. “He’s a good worker and a cheerful person. Why in the world would he steal our signs?”

“I know why,” said Winn.

“I know why, too.” Sam Jackson said. “Carlos is a good ball player. He tried out for the team this past spring. Carlos wanted to be catcher. He was good … but just not good enough. We signed Reese Dawkins instead.”

“I think it’s Carlos,” said Winn. “He wants to make Reese look bad so that the Cogs will accept him at the next tryout.”

Benny spoke up. “Why does Carlos give you envelopes during the game?” he asked Winn.

“Envelopes?” asked Mr. Tanaka. “What envelopes?”

“The kid is crazy,” said Winn. “Carlos doesn’t give me any envelopes.”

Jessie, Violet, and Henry all shook their heads. “Yes, he does,” said Jessie. “We’ve all seen Carlos bring you hot dogs and soft drinks. And sometimes he pulls an envelope out of his pocket and hands it to you.”

Mr. Tanaka looked at Winn. “What is this about?” he demanded. “You aren’t taking money from the fans, are you? I pay you well, and you must never take money from the fans. Everything that Wheelie does must be free to the fans.”

Winn nodded his head. “I can explain,” he said. “I forgot about the envelopes. There’s nothing in them but notes. They’re notes from the fans.”

“What kind of notes?” asked Mr. Tanaka.

“The fans write down ideas on what kind of stunts I should do,” answered Wheelie. “Some of them want me to skip rope, for example. I can’t do that, I’d trip and break my neck.”

“Hmmm,” said Mr. Tanaka, rubbing his chin. “It does not seem like a good idea.”

Henry and Benny looked at each other. They knew that Wheelie asked for money when Henry had asked for an autograph.

“Should we say something?” Benny whispered to Henry.

Henry shook his head. Wheelie liked to joke a lot. Maybe Wheelie had been joking with him about the autograph. For all Henry knew, maybe Wheelie was telling the truth about the envelopes.

Mr. Tanaka looked at everybody in the room. “We all agree that somebody is stealing signs.”

Everybody nodded.

“And we agree that we have no proof of who it is.” Mr. Tanaka went on.

Everybody agreed.

“If the spy isn’t discovered and stopped, the Cogs will not win the pennant this year.”

That night, Grandfather and the children ate dinner at the inn where they were staying. After dinner, the children talked in their room.

“Winn said the envelopes he gets don’t have money in them,” said Benny. “But Henry and I saw money fall out of an envelope in his pocket.”

“Yes,” added Henry. “There were lots of one-hundred dollar bills in the envelope. I don’t think anybody would pay a hundred dollars for a Wheelie autograph.”

“Me, neither!” shouted Benny.

“We didn’t know that Reese Dawkins used to be Emma’s boyfriend,” said Jessie. “I think she wants him to fail at his job as catcher.”

“We didn’t know that Carlos wants to be the Cogs catcher,” added Henry. “He also wants to see Reese fail.”

“Mr. Tanaka was very upset when we mentioned Mr. X,” said Violet. “I wonder why.”

“Wheelie was making fun of us,” said Benny. “It’s not nice to make fun of people.”

“You’re right, Benny, it’s not,” said Jessie.

“Tomorrow is the third of the five games,” Henry said. “Tomorrow we have to figure out which of our suspects is the spy.”

The next morning the children walked straight to the owner’s office.

“We would like to help you again today,” they told Mr. Tanaka.

“Thank you,” he said, “but I think the best way you can help me is to find the spy. So I would like you to spend all the time you need doing that. Where would you like to sit today?”

The Aldens had talked it over the night before. They told Mr. Tanaka that they needed to sit in the bleachers. He handed them tickets to the same four seats they’d had the first day.

“Before you go,” said Mr. Tanaka, “there’s something I must tell you.”

The children waited.

Mr. Tanaka cleared his throat. “Yesterday I did not tell you something—something I should have told you. It is about the man you call Mr. X.”

“What about him?” asked Violet, who could see that Mr. Tanaka was having trouble talking about this.

“Mr. X is really Simon Brock. Do you know who Simon Brock is?”

Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny all shook their heads.

“He’s a famous movie producer,” said Mr. Tanaka. “He grew up in Clayton. For three summers, he was batboy for the Clayton Cogs. Now he likes to come back each summer and watch the games. He’s a big Cogs fan.”

“We could tell that he likes the Cogs,” said Henry. “But why did he want us to call him Mr. X?”

“Simon Brock doesn’t want to be recognized,” explained Mr. Tanaka. “He’s afraid that if anybody knows who he is, they’ll bother him. So many people want to be movie stars, they might not let Mr. Brock watch the game in peace.”

Jessie nodded. “What is Mr. X—I mean, Mr. Brock—doing with a notebook and headphone?” she asked.

“Oh, that,” laughed Mr. Tanaka. “He told me he’s working on an idea for a new movie. Whenever he gets an idea, he writes it down. Or he records it by talking into his headphone.”

“Wow!” said Benny. “He must be working on a baseball movie!”

Everybody looked at Benny. “Why do you say that?” asked Mr. Tanaka.

“Because every time something exciting happens in the game, Mr. Tanaka takes out his notebook,” said Benny. “Or he talks into his headphone.”