Author’s note: Franklin, St. Mary’s and the Feast of Saint Rocco are real. However, the Franklin residents are not and neither is the situation. The real St. Rocco statue, which weighs a ton, is still sitting on the old convent grounds and the festival kicks off Friday night.
That’s Amore
By Yankeegirl
Chapter 1
Wednesday morning, the Beldens rushed into the Bob-White clubhouse where Honey and Di were measuring the windows for new curtains. Jim and Dan poked their heads out of the storage room when they heard the noise.
"Guess what," Trixie said. "We’re going to Boston."
"What?" Honey exclaimed. Di’s mouth made a silent "O," and Jim and Dan dropped whatever they had been doing to join the others.
"What do you mean, we’re going to Boston?" Jim said. "I thought your parents decided this was moving week at the farm?"
Jim and Brian were leaving in two weeks for their freshman year at the University of Missouri, and both households were busy preparing.
"We were, but Moms got this call, and we’re going to find a saint, and Mart gets lots of food, and it’s going to be great," Trixie said. She ran out of breath and threw herself on the old sofa they had added to the clubhouse that winter.
"What my younger sibling is trying to say is that her reputation for unraveling peculiar puzzles has reached the birthplace of our country," Mart said.
The other Bob-Whites still looked confused.
"What Trixie and Mart mean is that one of the women Auntie Helen met when she was learning about after-graduation parties called and asked if we would find a missing statue for the local church before their big Italian festival Friday night," Hallie said.
"Moms decided it was the least we could do after this woman and her friends gave her and Mrs. Wheeler and Mrs. Lynch so much help with party ideas, so they decided to let us go for a week, and pack when we get back," Brian said. "As soon as Mart heard about all the food at the festival, he couldn’t wait."
"It’s not really in Boston," Mart said. "It’s a suburb of Boston that has some really neat history."
"Don’t forget the mystery," Trixie said. "It sounds interesting, and they really need our help."
"If it’s so important, why not ask the police?" Dan said. "Why bring eight teenagers up from New York?"
"Because they don’t want anyone to know about it," Brian said. "I guess there’s some issues surrounding the festival that they’re afraid this might upset. This woman figured we could poke around without attracting too much attention. She’s on the festival committee, and said our cover would be as festival volunteers."
"So when to we leave?" Dan asked, grinning.
"Tomorrow morning, first thing," Trixie said, eyes gleaming. "This woman, Mrs. Rotella, is expecting us in Franklin for lunch. Moms suggested we head home, pack, and meet at the farm for dinner to load up the car. You’re all invited to spend the night so we can start early."
The teens scattered to their homes. Two hours later, Jim, Honey, Dan and Di pulled into the driveway. Trixie and Hallie saw the car pull up from Hallie’s window and raced out, dragging suitcases behind them. Brian and Mart followed at a more sedate pace.
Jim added the bags to the pile on the roof rack, and they all headed inside.
After dinner, when Bobby had gone to bed, the teens sat on the back porch eating raspberry pie and watching the stars.
"So tell us more about this missing statue," Di said. "This isn’t going to be as crazy as our last mystery, is it?"
Trixie gritted her teeth as she thought about the unsatisfactory end to their last adventure, something she did every time she saw Wolfgang Lannio walking free around town.
"It sounds fairly simple," she said. "The Catholic church, St. Mary’s, holds this Feast of St. Rocco every year. The festival started after a priest discovered a statue of the saint on the convent grounds next to the old school in the late 1970s. It’s a big fund-raiser for the parish, and a big part of the summer for the whole town. But when Mrs. Rotella and the rest of the committee were down there yesterday setting up, they noticed the statue was gone. They decided to tell everyone it had been removed for cleaning before the festival, and then she called Moms. The festival part of the feast starts Friday night, so we’ve got about 24 hours. We’re going to help out up at the field as they set up as cover."
"So we’re supposed to find the statue and get it back without anybody realizing we’re investigating?" Honey said.
"Exactly," Hallie said. "I guess one of the neighbors has been complaining about the festival for the last couple of years to the Town Council, so they don’t want to attract any negative publicity by calling in the police."
"Complaining about what?" Jim asked.
"This family moved in about three years ago, and at first they liked having the festival next door," Brian said. "But it’s a big deal in the area, and after the first year, the noise and traffic started to bother them. They keep asking the town to close the celebration down because it has a negative impact on the neighborhood." He sighed. "So far, the town has kept it going, and said the neighbors knew about the festival before they bought the house, so they shouldn’t complain."
"Could they have taken the statue to make the festival look bad and get it shut down?" Dan asked?"
"Nobody knows, and they can’t really go ask this family either," Mart said. "Besides, there are other possibilities."
"So what are they," Di asked.
"There’s the guy who used to help out and was banned from the field by the committee after he harassed some of the teenage girls helping out last year," Brian said. "Not to mention the possibility that someone wants to hurt the church."
"Particularly the fundraising part," Trixie added. "People donate money and pin it to ribbons hanging on the statue. If it’s not there, they won’t be able to have that, and it brings in a lot of money each year."
"That will be a big problem if it rains again this year," Mart said. "It’s rained during the feast every year for the last 10, and the parish is starting to wonder if the festival should be abandoned. I guess Mrs. Rotella thinks the missing statue might be the final piece of ammunition the naysayers need to convince the pastor."
"I need a scorecard to keep this all straight," Di said.
"Right now, I think we’d better get to bed," Jim said. "We’re going to have to leave pretty early to get there by lunch time tomorrow."
Chapter 2
The Bob-Whites were on the road by 5:30 the next morning. Jim, Trixie and Hallie sat in the front seat. Brian, Honey and Di sat in the middle and Dan and Mart claimed the back for themselves. Jim and Brian planned to switch driving halfway.
As they drove down the Mass Pike, Hallie turned to Mart.
"You’re the one who always knows the weird stuff," she said. "Who is St. Rocco? Why is he so important?"
Trixie groaned as Mart started to talk.
"St. Rocco is the patron saint of the sick," he said. "He tended people with the plague and contracted the fatal disease. He didn’t want to take up a bed in the hospital, so he wandered off into the woods to die. A small dog found him, and brought him food. The dog visited him every day. After a while, a villager noticed the dog’s unusual behavior, followed him, and found St. Rocco. He recovered from the plague, and continued his mission to heal people."
"So why is he important?" Di asked. "He isn’t the saint the church is named after."
"I can answer that," Trixie said. "Back in the 1950s, a parishioner donated the statue. He had been sick as a boy, until his mother took him to a shrine to St. Rocco. He promised her he would dedicate a statue to St. Rocco, and he did when he grew up. The statue was placed on the convent grounds, where it remained until the priest found it about 20 years later."
When they finally pulled into Franklin, Honey read off the directions Brian gave her to Mrs. Rotella’s house. It was across the street from what seemed to be the town green. St. Mary’s was on the other side of the green, and there was a big sign for the feast next to a large brick building that had a sign for the Benjamin Franklin Classical Charter School in front.
When they pulled into the driveway, Mrs. Rotella stood up from her seat on the wrap-around porch. She was a middle-aged woman with curly black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She greeted the Bob-Whites as they piled out of the car.
"Let’s see, you must be Trixie, which makes you Mart," she said, pointing. "I know the red-head is Jim, and you two must be Brian and Hallie. That means you must be Dan, you must be Honey, and you’re Diana."
"Wow," Mart said. "Moms must have given you great descriptions."
"It helps that you, Trixie, Honey and Diana look like your mothers," she said, smiling. "Now let’s get your bags in the house, and have lunch. Then I’ll take you over to the field."
As they were unloading, Hallie asked her a question.
"You’ll fit right in," she said. "We have plenty of people at the field setting up. And you can call me Lisa. We’re pretty informal up at the field."
"Are you sure?" Brian asked.
"Absolutely. People would know you weren’t from around here if you didn’t anyway. We all go by first names during Rocco. One of the chairmen has his whole family up there helping out, and even his grandkids call him by his first name."
The Bob-Whites saw the truth of her statement as soon as they got to the field. They walked over across what they learned was the Town Common.
"This is where the town holds its big July Fourth celebration," Lisa said. "That’s St. Mary’s down the end. We’re headed behind the school hall. The field goes right up to Main Street, but the Barn is down the other end."
"What’s the Barn?" Dan asked.
"That’s the old carriage house for the Hayward place," Lisa said. "The Haywards were a rich couple who lived here at the turn of the century. They donated the bandstand on the Common. The parish bought the house several years ago and turned it into a convent for the nuns who ran the school. After the school closed, we sold it. Now it’s a private house. We have a deal with the owners to let us use the land for Rocco every year. The Barn is ours still, and we keep all the Rocco stuff inside it."
They walked into the Barn, where Lisa introduced them to Carl and Mario, two of the chairmen. The older men were stacking trays of rolls. Carl, the older of the two, seemed to be organizing the stacks, while Mario did most of the lifting.
"We need to get a look at where the statue was," Trixie said. Is there any way to do it without attracting a lot of attention?"
"The stand is surrounded by those bushes over there. Maybe a couple of the guys could head over with hedge clippers and do some trimming," Mario suggested. "That’s what I was going over to do Tuesday when I discovered the statue was gone."
"I guess hedge-clippers means Dan and I," Mart said. They grabbed them from a pile of tools in the corner and walked off.
Trixie took the chance to ask more questions.
"How was the statue attached to the base?"
"We thought they were one piece," Carl said. "Nothing should have been able to separate them, nothing. How on earth could something like this happen? This is a terrible omen."
"Now, Carl, they had to be at least two places. The base is solid granite. When they added it in 1959, it would have been a huge job to move something that large and that heavy. It would be difficult now," Mario said. He walked back into the Barn office. "Hang on, I’ll show you." His voice drifted out from behind the door.
While they waited, the Bob-Whites got their first good look at the inside of the Barn. The windows were small and high, and the wooden interior was dark with years of varnish. Large beams formed a network above their heads, and the old metal turntable clanked below their feet when Brian stepped on the edge.
A red and yellow dragon towered over three slush carts in the corner by the door, while a partially dressed mannequin held a sign pointing the way to the worker’s only bathroom.
Di pointed to the dragon. "Lisa, I thought St. Rocco had a dog. Why is there a dragon here?"
Lisa laughed. "The dragon isn’t ours. It belongs to the All-Night Party, but Fr. Rick lets us store it here because it’s so large. Carl and Mario grumbled at first, but they’ve gotten used to having Filbert here."
"Filbert?" Trixie said. She started giggling. Honey looked at her, and the dragon, and joined in. Hallie and Di looked at each other, and started laughing. Brian and Jim just rolled their eyes.
Mario rejoined them, holding a small, framed photograph of a white granite statue. The edges of the picture had yellowed with age, but the Bob-Whites were still able to see the details. St. Rocco was about three feet tall. A small dog pranced around his feet, and the bearded man held a shepherd’s crook.
"As you can see, the statue is fairly small, as such things go," Mario said. "It would difficult for one man to move it, but not impossible. The statue was mortared on. We found pieces of the cement on the ground around the base."
"But that must have made a lot of noise," Brian exclaimed. "Wouldn’t someone have heard the commotion?"
"But of course somebody heard," Carl said. "It is all the same. Nobody has a sense of duty. They hear something unusual; they turn their backs. Nobody wants to get involved."
"Oh, I think people heard it," Lisa said. "They just figured it was one of our crews putting up the booths." She shrugged. "Say what you will, whoever pulled this off was clever."
"Not clever enough to beat Trixie and Honey," Jim said. "We’ll have that statue back in no time."
Just then, Dan and Mart walked back into the Barn. Dan had a streak of dirt across his nose and Mart’s cheek was scratched. Both wore triumphant grins.
"What happened to you two?" Di asked. "I thought you were going to trim the bushes, not fight them."
"We found something," Dan said, chortling. He pulled a handkerchief-wrapped bundle from behind his back. "We found the chisel used to free the statue from its base under one of the bushes. The guy must have left it there."
Trixie gave both boys a high-five and turned to Lisa. "Is there someplace safe we can put this? It could be important evidence for the police once we catch this guy."
Carl spoke up. "We have a drawer in the office that can be locked. I’ll put it there."
Dan handed the chisel, still covered, to the older man. Carl walked into the office and returned a minute later.
"Why don’t you tell us what we need to do for the festival," Brian said. "Then we’ll decide who should investigate what."
"Right now we’re putting the booths up and moving the equipment in. We have plenty for you boys to do," Mario said. "I don’t know what you girls can do today. It’s all heavy work."
Trixie gritted her teeth at his attitude, but said sweetly, "Oh, I’m sure Lisa can find something for us to do."
Mario led the guys off, and Lisa led the girls into a side room stocked with all sorts of supplies."Sorry about that," she said. "Mario and Carl still have definite ideas about what women can and can’t do."
"That’s okay," Trixie said. "It gives us more time to investigate. The guys look like they’re going to be busy for a while. Let’s figure out who’s doing what."
"Well, we’ve got three or four leads to investigate," Honey said. "There’s the guy who was banned from the grounds last year, the people in the parish who aren’t satisfied, the neighbors and the way the statue was taken."
"You’ll probably be able to find Pete downtown," Lisa said. "He’s the guy we threw out last year. He’s usually hanging out down by the parking lots downtown. If you see a scruffy looking guy in a muscle shirt and Red Sox cap, that’s him."
"Why don’t Di and I go looking for this Pete guy," Hallie said. "If he was such a pain hitting on girls last year, he ought to be in heaven if we actually flirt with him."
"Better you than me," Trixie said. "Jim and Brian would have a fit. Besides, guys drool over you and Di much more than over me."
"Sometime when we have more time, I’m going to make you take a good hard look at yourself in a mirror," Hallie said. Until then, Di and I are going Pete-hunting." They walked out of the Barn and back toward the center of town.
"Well, the guys are going to get plenty of information about the people in town from the workers, I’ll bet," Honey said. "Why don’t we check out the statue base."
"While you’re at it, can you make a list of supplies for each booth?" Lisa said. "The information is at each booth, but the lists need to be matched with the spots on the map."
She handed the two girls a map and a list attached to a clipboard, and they walked outside.
Chapter 3 - Thursday
Di and Hallie walked through the church parking lot toward the Common.
"So where do we go from here?" Di asked. "I don’t know about you, but I haven’t a clue where downtown Franklin is."
Hallie stood on the brick wall and scanned the area.
"Well, according to the sign, this is Main Street," she said, waving her hand down the road. "I’m guessing we’ll find downtown if we follow it. If not, we turn around." Hallie hopped off the wall to the sidewalk and gestured for Di to follow.
"Why do I get this mad urge to start singing ‘Follow the Yellow Brick Road?’" Di said, sighing, as she joined Hallie.
"You’ve got me; I certainly don’t think this Pete guy is any wizard," Hallie said.
"Neither was the one in the movie," Di retorted.
They walked down Main Street, passing several old houses and a church. When they reached an intersection with a mammoth granite building on one side and a sign for Dean College on the other, Hallie whistled.
"I’d say this is downtown," she said. "Just look at all the traffic."
Di was looking at the sign in front of the granite building.
"Earth to Di," Hallie said. "What’s so interesting about a sign?"
Di laughed. "I just thought Mart would find this interesting. It’s the first public library in the country."
"Knowing my cousin, he’s probably already read the whole history of the library and will recite it at the drop of a hat," Hallie said. "Please don’t drop the hat."
Di frowned for a second, then gasped.
"What’s wrong?" Hallie asked. "I was only kidding about Mart."
"Who cares about him? I think I see Pete," Di whispered. "Now what?"
"Now we flirt. Just make like we’re talking and having a great time, and walk past him."
They walked down the shady sidewalk toward Pete. His gray shirt was paint- and sweat-stained and he needed a shave. "Blech," Di muttered.
As they approached Pete, both girls smiled. Di fluttered her long eyelashes, and Hallie winked at Pete.
"Hey," Pete said, "what can I do for you ladies?"
"Oh, Diana, maybe this man can help us," Hallie said, looking adoringly at Pete. "He looks like he would know where to find your sister."
"Oh, I hope so," Di said daintily. "She must be so worried about us."
"I know this town like the back of my hand," Pete said. "Where are you trying to go?" He leaned closely to them.
"Well, she said to meet her behind a school, where there’s a festival going on," Di said. She struggled not to wrinkle her nose at Pete’s stench. Sure, it was hot, but hadn’t he ever heard of a shower?
"St. Rocco’s," Hallie chimed in.
"Yes, that’s it," Di said.
Pete’s face turned purple. "Those fools!"
"I’m sorry," Hallie said. "We didn’t mean to upset you."
"Oh, no, of course you didn’t," Pete said. "But what do you want to spend time down there for? They’re a bunch of idiots."
"Really," Hallie said, forcing herself to move closer. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, they got mad at me a few years ago and said I couldn’t come on the field. Boy, did I show them. Last year, I was up there for two whole days and not one of them noticed me." He laughed. "Yeah, they really know what they’re doing."
"Wow, that must have taken a lot of smarts to pull that off," Hallie said.
Just as Pete started to edge closer, Di spoke. "Look, Hallie, it’s my brother," she said, pointing down the street. When Hallie turned to look, Di winked.
"You’re right," Hallie exclaimed. "Pete, I’m so sorry, but we really have to go. Will you be around here tomorrow?"
"Of course, babe," Pete said, leering.
"I’ll see you then," Hallie said.
The two girls hurried off closer to downtown.
* * *
The male Bob-Whites followed Mario onto the field. He led them to a stone patio at the end of the field where pieces of a tent lay on a ground.
"Jim, why don’t you and Dan grab the poles for this side, and Brian, you and I can get this end," Mario said. "Mart, you need to drive in the anchor ropes."
As the framework of poles started to come together, more men walked down from the end of the field near the statue. Mario waved briefly.
"Here come Tom, Rob, Kevin and Will," he said. "They’ll help us put the top on the tent."
As they started, Mart spoke up. "How come this tent isn’t up yet?" he asked. "It looks like everything else is ready to go."
Tom groaned, and Kevin explained. "Carl couldn’t decide whether he wanted this end set up with two smaller booths or one large one. He finally made up his mind this morning."
"We’ve got plenty of time," Rob said. He was younger than the other men, only a few years older than Jim and Brian. "Most of the other booths are set with all the equipment. We usually don’t get that done until tomorrow morning. At this rate, we’ll have everything but the bunting and signs up today."
"Always the optimist," Will said. He pulled off his Red Sox cap and wiped his forehead. "You’d find a bright side to anything, even the rain."
"It does make everyone appreciate the good weather we get that much more," Rob said. He ducked as Will pretended to strangle him.
"Come on, let’s get moving," Mario said. "We don’t have all day."
The crew finished stretching the tent top over the frame as Jim and Mart buckled the top down. Then they went back to the barn to get the ovens and deep-fryers. As the afternoon wore on, the boys almost forgot they were supposed to be investigating because they were having so much fun laughing and joking with Mario and the others.
* * *
Trixie and Honey grabbed Lisa’s map of the field and headed out, clipboard in hand.
"So how are we going to do this," Trixie said. "We can’t just dash over to the base and start poking around. Somebody’s sure to notice."
"Why don’t we work our way around the field," Honey suggested. She pushed a stray strand of hair behind her ear and motioned to her clipboard. "We need to figure out where all the supplies are going anyway so the guys can deliver them. We’ll just check the base out on the way."
"Sounds good," Trixie said. She shoved damp curls off her forehead and ducked under the bar at the back. "This is manicotti," she said.
Honey checked the map and made a note. "Then we need foil, one-pound and two-pound containers, sauce, grated cheese and a can opener."
"What about manicotti?" Trixie said.
"That’s in the truck," Honey said. They’ll come get it as they need it, because it has to be kept cold. We’re just doing non-perishables, remember."
"Oh, right." She grinned ruefully. "I got so caught up in figuring out the base that I didn’t really listen to Lisa’s instructions." She ducked under the bar separating the manicotti booth from the next one, and they continued around the field. Finally, they reached the bushes surrounding the statue.
"Is anyone watching?" Honey asked.
Trixie scanned the field. "Nope. They’ll all busy with their own work," she said. "Let’s get this over with before somebody notices us."
The two girls approached the base. Trixie bent down to examine the ground, while Honey looked at the base itself. It was basic white granite with a rusted metal plaque attached to the font.
"Trixie, look," Honey whispered, excited. "Feel the middle of the base."
Trixie rubbed one finger over the center of the top. It glided smoothly across the old granite. "That’s odd," she said. The two girls looked closer at the base. Trixie rubbed one edge absently with her thumb, thinking. "This doesn’t make sense."
"No, but it would explain a lot of things," Honey said.
* * *
The Bob-Whites met at the bandstand on the Common late Thursday afternoon. The shadows were long as the sun started to dip behind the trees."Shouldn’t we be someplace no one can hear us," Dan asked. "Anybody could walk by."
"Yes, but we’d see them coming," Honey said. "Every other place around here has so many trees that somebody could sneak up and we’d never know, just like Slim did on Cobbett’s Island."
"Good point. So what did you girls learn while we were breaking our backs?" Dan ducked as Hallie took a mock swing at him.
"Enough, guys," Brian said. "We’re running out of time." He looked at his watch. "If we want to give them a couple hours to get the statue back on the base before people start showing up, we’ve got less than 18 hours, and we need to fit in eight hours sleep somewhere."
Di thought for a second. "I thought this thing didn’t open until six tomorrow night," she said. "That should give us almost 20 hours; it’s only about eight o’clock now."
"People start showing up as early as four," Dan said. "Rob and Kevin were complaining about it earlier. Some of the booths start cooking mid-afternoon so they have some food ready."
"Don’t forget, once we hit noon, there are going to be swarms of people up there setting up," Jim said. "We need to get this thing solved, and fast."
"So let’s stop wasting the little time we have and figure out who did it," Trixie said, impatient. "What did you guys find out?"
"Enough to rule out anyone connected with the festival itself," Mart said. "These guys were having a blast, no matter how hot it was today."
"I agree," Brian said. He wiped the sweat from his face. "We met most of the guys on the field, and I think all of them truly want the festival to succeed."
"What about the ones not on the field," Di asked.
"What do you mean?" Trixie said.
"I don’t know if anyone else felt this way, but it seemed like Carl was a little too ready to give up and declare this whole thing a disaster," she replied. "I can’t picture him stealing the statue, but there’s something not quite right about him."
"I noticed that too," Jim said. "For a group that’s having so much fun, he seemed awful gloomy."
"But could he have moved the statue?" Dan asked. "It looks like it would have taken some time to separate the two pieces. Would he have been able to do all that and move it? He looks pretty old. I mean, so does Mr. Maypenny, but from living outdoors his whole life, he’s in better shape than even Uncle Bill."
"We checked into that," Honey said. "It wouldn’t have been as difficult to move the statue as it looked."
Trixie chimed in. "The mortar holding the two pieces together was just at the edges. Once the thief chipped through one edge, it would have gone pretty quickly."
"That’s odd," Hallie said. "This was supposed to be a really important gift to the parish. Wouldn’t the guy who donated it have made sure it was secure?"
"Well, it was until this week," Mart quipped. "He probably wasn’t figuring on a thief."
"What did you guys find out?" Honey asked, turning to Hallie and Di.
"Pete thinks he’s God’s gift to women," Hallie said. Di nodded enthusiastic approval.
"He’s pretty intense, and he hates St. Rocco’s for throwing him out. He bragged about how he spent two days at the festival last year, and nobody noticed," she said.
"We even stopped by the police substation downtown and asked about him," Hallie said. "They know him, and don’t think much of him, but they said he hasn’t done anything illegal, yet."
"Yet?" Trixie echoed.
"They seemed to think it was just a matter of time," Di said. "Hallie, you better watch it; he really seemed interested in you."
"So what do we do now?" Jim said. "We still need to check out the angry neighbors and the people in the parish who don’t like it."
Trixie thought for a minute. "Honey, why don’t you and Brian talk to the neighbors tomorrow morning. Maybe your legendary tact will get us some information. Hallie, why don’t you find Pete again and see what else you can find out. Jim and Dan can follow along as backup, just in case he gets out of hand. Mart, why don’t you and Brian find out from Lisa where the information spot is in town and see what local gossip you can pick up. Di, maybe you can find out what’s bugging Carl. I’ll bet Lisa can find something for you to do in the Barn so you can stick close to him."
"So what are you going to be doing?" Jim asked.
"I want to check out the rest of the fairgrounds, starting from the base and working out. There’s got to be some clue that tells us where it went."
The Bob-Whites headed back toward Lisa’s house. Dan and Hallie dropped a few steps back from the group.
"Hallie, be careful tomorrow," Dan said. "I don’t like the sound of this Pete guy."
"I’ll be fine," she said. "He’s more talk than action in my opinion."
"Well, what about the cops’ opinions," Dan said. "They seemed to think he might be a problem."
"You and Jim are going to be right behind me. What can go wrong?"
Chapter 4
The next morning, Hallie set off for downtown. She wore a red tank top and jean shorts, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. Dan and Jim followed behind.
"Do you really think this is safe," Dan said. "I don’t like the sound of this Pete guy." He kept his voice low so only Jim could hear him. They passed the library and the college.
"Compared to some of the things Trixie’s done, this isn’t that dangerous," Jim said. "It’s daytime, we’re nearby and she knows Pete has his bad side. How much safer can it get?"
"Oh, I don’t know," Dan said, scowling. "How about by not happening at all."
"Even Brian okayed this, and he’s taking his job of standing in for Knut pretty seriously. He’s not worried, so why are you?" Dan’s face turned pink around the edges. They crossed the street to the row of shops. "Why don’t you just ask her out on a date already? If you’re going to worry about her that much, you might as well let her know why."
"Oh yeah, easy for you to say," Dan retorted. He gestured toward Jim as they passed a jewelry store. "Trixie’s head over heels for you, and has been since I moved to Sleepyside. I don’t know what Hallie thinks about me, much less if the Beldens would let her go out with me."
"Hallie might be a year younger than Trixie by the calendar, but other than that, you’d think she was the older of the two," Jim said. "They’re not going to have a problem with her dating, particularly not when it’s a Bob-White." He paused as they walked past the bank and looked down the street toward Hallie. "We’d better make ourselves inconspicuous. I’m guessing that character must be Pete."
The boys turned as though they were intensely interested in the posters on the travel agency’s windows. Dan found the right angle to stand at and watch Hallie and Pete’s reflections.
"I don’t believe this," Dan muttered. "He’s practically drooling on her."
Jim smiled. "Since you do that on a regular basis, she must be used to it."
Dan growled. "I wouldn’t talk, Frayne. I saw you and Trixie snuggled together on the ride down." He looked back at the window and did a double take. "Where’s Pete going?"
The two boys forced themselves to turn around slowly. Hallie stood alone across the street as Pete walked toward the post office. Even at a distance, her face bore a dejected look. Jim and Dan crossed the street and caught up with her just before she followed Pete.
"Where are you going?" Jim asked. "Pete’s going to notice if you follow him."
"Well, somebody needs to," Hallie retorted. "He’s up to something."
"Other than hitting on you?" Dan said sourly.
"Chill, Mangan," Hallie said. "He wasn’t hitting on me today. I thought he was going to when I started flirting, but all of a sudden he took off."
"What were you doing when he left?" Jim asked.
"I was just playing poor, helpless Hallie and asking him about some of the stores across the street. One minute he was all set to proposition me, the next he was racing off." She frowned. "I must have said something, but I don’t know what."
"While we talk, this guy is getting away," Dan said. "Let’s follow him."
"I’ve got a better idea," Jim said. "You guys head back to the field and report in. I’ll follow him. If I’m right, we’ll end up in the same place."
* * *
Diana stood in the storage room looking at the list Lisa had given her. She started pulling plates and cups from their boxes and piling them in the main room with the signs for each booth. With each trip, she watched Carl as he directed all the trucks unloading food for that night’s feast. When he headed back toward the office, she groaned. "Now how am I going to watch him," she muttered. Di carefully scanned her list, but nothing seemed likely to take her into the office. She sighed and continued unpacking supplies. Carl came out to take care of various problems and decisions from time to time, but for the most part, Di thought she had wasted the morning.
Finally, she decided to take a bathroom break. She followed the sign in the mannequin’s hands into a small bathroom near the office. She looked around at the shabby room and wrinkled her nose. Before she could do anything else, Di heard voices. She pressed her ear against the wall, ignoring the peeling paint flaking into her hair. As she listened to Carl talk, her jaw dropped.
"No wonder he’s acting so strange," she whispered. "I’ve got to find Trixie."
As soon as she finished using the bathroom, Di headed for the field. Trixie was nowhere to be found.
It took her several minutes to search the entire area, but by the time she was done, she was thoroughly convinced Trixie wasn’t anywhere on the field. She was just about to find Lisa when Mart showed up.
"What’s wrong?" he asked. "Why do you have grass stains on your knees?"
"I was crawling around looking for Trixie," she said, fighting to keep her voice under control. "We need to find Lisa."
"I saw her pulling out of the parking lot when I came in. I struck out at the coffee shop; everybody clammed up when I walked in," Mart said. "I’m sure Trixie’s fine. We don’t have any mass murderers running around and she’s getting pretty good at judo. She threw Brian last week when he volunteered to help her practice."
Di took a couple of deep breaths. "Judo’s great, but I’m still worried." She bit her lip and twisted a few strand of her long black hair between her fingers. "I heard Carl talking a few minutes before I started searching. The pastor is trying to turn the festival over to younger people, and he’s upset about it. I heard footsteps after that, and then I couldn’t find Trixie."
"Those could have been Trixie’s footsteps you heard. Come on, I’ll bet she’s in the Barn or something," Mart said. "She probably went in the side entrance when you came out the front." They walked over to the Barn.
* * *
After getting the name and address of the O’Dowds, the irate neighbors, Honey and Brian set off down the street behind the field.
"This is a beautiful neighborhood," Brian said. "Lisa said many of the older homes in town are in this area."
"The O’Dowds’ is certainly beautiful," Honey replied, gesturing to a Victorian home painted in lilac, sea green and a soft blue. "I can see why they bought it."
"They must not like it all that much," Brian said. "There’s a for-sale sign in the lawn. Lisa didn’t mention anything about that."
"Maybe she didn’t know," Honey said, tucking her hand in Brian’s. "Although I can’t imagine her not knowing something about Franklin. It seems like she knows everybody and everything."
"Kind of like my dad in Sleepyside," Brian said, grinning. He slipped his hand from Honey’s and pulled her close, arm around her waist. "So what are we going to do? We can’t just go up and ask them what they think about the festival."
"Yes, we can," Honey said. "That for-sale sign is our ticket in."
Brian turned slightly to look at her. "Every time you stop making sense, I wonder if you and Trixie have been friends too long."
"Just follow my lead," she said. Honey turned so they walked up the walkway to the O’Dowds house. Just before she knocked on the door, she whispered in Brian’s ear. "Just think of this as future training." Her lips curved in a small smile, and she raised one eyebrow.
When the door opened and a woman in her early 30s looked out, Honey pulled out her most charming smile. "I’m sorry to disturb you, but we happened to see the for-sale sign in front of your house, and it looked so lovely, we just had to see it." She felt Brian’s grip on her waist tighten, and hoped that was the only outward sign of his surprise.
The woman opened her mouth, and started to speak, but Honey continued. "You see, we’re only in town for a day or two, and my sister-in-law has plans for us tomorrow, so we were hoping madly that we could speak to you about possibly buying the house."
The woman stood there for a second, then motioned for them to walk in. "I’m Maureen O’Dowd," she said. "The house really isn’t ready for showing, but if you’re willing to ignore the mess…"
"Oh, I’m certain it looks fine," Honey said. "I’m Madeline, and this is Brian Belden. I realize this is an imposition, but we would really appreciate it. Brian’s sister Trixie has told us so much about how lovely this area is, and we’ve been thinking about settling down here."
"Yes, it has been one pleasant surprise after another since we got here," Brian said.
"Well, why don’t we start in the living room," Maureen said. She guided them throughout the house, with Honey oohing and aahing. Brian chimed in a few times, until they reached the smallest bedroom.
"We’ve been using this as an office," Maureen said. "However, it would also make a fine nursery. That’s what is was when we bought it, and we’ve left some things the same." She opened the closet to reveal a waist-high clothes rack. "I suppose you’ll be waiting a while for that, though."
"Oh, this would be perfect for a nursery, wouldn’t it darling," Honey said, looking at Brian. His eyes reflected momentary terror, followed by fiendish delight, before he managed to speak.
"It certainly would," he said, and turned to Maureen. "Actually, we don’t have all that long to wait before we’ll need this."
He bit back a smile as Maureen immediately started asking Honey all sorts of questions about her supposed baby, most of which Honey was able to deflect. Finally, they got to the end of the tour.
"I just have a few questions about the neighborhood," Brian said. "I know this is a side street, but it’s so near the center of town. Is it quiet around here? After all, when we put the baby down for a nap, it would be terrible if trucks or other noise woke him or her up."
"Oh, no, this is a wonderful neighborhood," Maureen said. Her smile disappeared momentarily, but then she went on. "It’s normally very quiet."
"I would think the July Fourth celebration would be a little loud," Honey said. "Trixie said it goes on for four or five days. She also mentioned the Italian festival. She insisted we come up for it, but from what she told us, it sounds like a real distraction."
"Oh, no," Maureen said. Her lips started to wobble out of their smile, but she managed to keep a pleasant expression on her face. "We hardly ever notice the festival. It’s such a wonderful addition to the community."
After that, Brian and Honey maneuvered their way outside as quickly as possible. They made it around the street corner where Maureen couldn’t see them, and Honey turned to Brian.
"I was ready to kill you in there. She was expecting me to go on and on about our baby, and I didn’t know what to say." Honey’s voice was exasperated, rather than angry.
"Hey, you’re the one who said to play along," Brian said. "Besides, I figured that would be a good way to find out what she thought about noise in the neighborhood." He grinned mischievously and pulled her close for a kiss. "It worked, didn’t it."
"I suppose," she said. "Just don’t mention this to Jim. I don’t think he’d take it quite so well. Right now, let’s focus on something a little more crucial, like the Rocco statue."
"I don’t think she did it," Brian said. "Why would try to ruin the festival if she’s moving?" They walked down the street back toward the field.
"How hard is it going to be to sell the house knowing that St. Rocco is still around," Honey countered. "Wouldn’t they have to mention it to the buyers so they couldn’t be sued?"
Brian’s forehead furrowed as he thought. "I don’t think so," he said, as they reached the festival grounds. "It’s not on their property, and anyone asking could find out easily enough. I think it would be like moving into an area where there’s a store. Anyone buying the house would know traffic is part of living near a store."
"She certainly wasn’t volunteering anything," Honey said. "If you hadn’t asked, she probably wouldn’t have mentioned it. Did you see her reaction? She was awfully upset that we asked."
"So where does that leave us?" Brian said. "All we know now is what Lisa told us. She doesn’t seem to like the festival, but we knew that, and we can’t seem to agree on whether it bothers her enough to steal the statue." He shrugged. "Let’s go find the others. Maybe somebody else has figured out what’s going on."
Chapter 5
Trixie picked up the small chunks of granite from the ground and rolled them between her fingers. She noticed a few more off to the side. As she followed the bits of granite, she moved deeper and deeper into the woods. Before she knew it, the noise from the field had almost disappeared. She had finally come to the end of the trail when she looked around. The leaves on one section of a nearby bush were starting to turn brown, and Trixie looked closer.
"Wish Jim or Dan was here," she said. "They’d know how long since someone had been through and broken these branches. As she poked her finger among the leaves, one branch fell to the ground. Trixie looked at the branch, then at the bush. She tugged another, and it came loose.
"These aren’t even attached," she said, surprised, and pulled the rest away. St. Rocco stared back at her. Trixie thought he looked lopsided, and noticed his feet were missing.
"That explains the granite chips," she said. She poked around the damaged part, and her probing made another piece crumble off. Trixie gasped, then gasped louder when she saw what was under the granite.
She had just whistled for the others, and was investigating further when she heard footsteps.
"Guys, look what I …" Trixie’s voice trailed off as she looked up into Pete’s face.
"Thanks a lot, Miss Nosy," he said, scowling. "Looks like you did my job for me. Now I’m all set. Too bad you’re not."
He stepped toward her, fists clenched. Trixie tensed, and tried to remember all the moves she’d learned in judo class. He swung a fist, but she dodged and ducked under his arm behind him. Before he could turn, she hit him from behind and knocked him out.
"Wow, Keith was right," she said. "That really does work."
She looked around for something to tie him with, but before she found anything, Jim came rushing through the trees. When he saw Pete lying on the ground, his jaw dropped.
"Thanks for my judo lessons," Trixie said. "He never saw it coming. Now look what I found."
As she pointed St. Rocco, Jim looked confused, and then understanding dawned. "So that explains it," he said. "But how did Pete know about it?"
"Maybe when he wakes up, he can tell the cops," Trixie said. "Will you stay here with him while I go find Lisa?"
"As you wish, my lady," Jim said. He kissed her on the nose and settled down to watch Pete.
* * *
An hour before the festival was scheduled to start, the Bob-Whites sat on chairs behind the clams and corn booth shucking corn with Lisa as Trixie and Jim explained what happened.
"When the guy who donated the statue had it commissioned, he had the sculptor hollow out a section and fill it with jewels," Jim said. "The jewels were supposed to be there if the parish ever needed money, but somehow, the secret got lost over the years. Pete found out from his great-uncle who carved the statue when he was clearing out his papers last fall, and decided to steal them for himself."
"But he also vowed revenge on the committee," Trixie said. "After Mario kicked him off the field last year, he wanted to make Rocco fail. Di and Hallie were right about him being the most likely. We just didn’t have the right motive."
"So how did you figure it out?" Dan asked. "From what Brian, Honey and Di found out, it sounded like Carl and the O’Dowds were just as likely."
"I didn’t," Trixie said. "I found bits of the statue on the ground behind the calzone booth, and followed them. Pete must have gotten them on him when he was chipping away and tracked them back to the field. It wasn’t until I found the statue and started poking at it that the last bit between the hollowed-out part filled with jewels broke."
"After she knocked out Pete and we got the statue back, we found the note inside explaining how the jewels got there," Jim added. "The hole Pete’s great-uncle carved to get them in there in the first place was cleverly concealed among the folds of St. Rocco’s robe. Pete didn’t know that, and just started hacking away."
"So what happens now?" Dan asked Lisa. "We got St. Rocco back, but you can’t put him out there in the next hour or two. It will take weeks to get him repaired."
"Actually, he’s already up. Carl and Mario started working on it as soon as Pete was arrested. We decided to let him sit there through the weekend, and the pastor will tell everyone what happened at the start of the festival. Everyone should know by tomorrow, because the local reporter was down here talking to the volunteers when you found Pete. This is going to be the front page story tomorrow, and he wants to talk to you a little bit later," Lisa said. "You guys did great, and we can’t thank you enough. Now go have some fun. You’ve earned it. Don’t forget to try a cannoli."
"And manicotti, meatball subs, calzones, fried clams, porketta, rum cake…" Mart said.
The rest of the Bob-Whites groaned.
The End