Boxcar Children 54 - Hurricane Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

about the mystery. But when they reached Mrs. Ashleigh’s house, they were no nearer a solution.
    “Is this another mystery?” asked Benny happily.
    “It sure looks that way, Benny,” said Henry.
    “I wonder what will happen next,” said Violet.
    She got her answer that very night.

CHAPTER 7
Who’s There?
    I ’m thirsty, thought Violet sleepily, waking from a deep sleep. It was very late. Violet got her flashlight and water glass from by the bed and went to the bathroom to fill the glass.
    Back in her room, she sat down on the edge of her bed, turned off the flashlight, and took a sip of cool water.
    Suddenly she heard a funny sound outside.
    Violet stood up and peered out her window. She had the room above the kitchen. It looked out over the side yard, where the Pirate’s Gate had once hung.
    The Pirate’s Gate wasn’t there now, of course.
    But someone in a raincoat was.
    Quickly Violet grabbed her flashlight and ran out of her room into Jessie’s. “Jessie,” she gasped.
    “Uhh,” said Jessie sleepily.
    “Someone’s outside in the garden. I think it’s the person who took Benny’s map! Tell Henry and Benny,” said Violet as she hurried away.
    That woke Jessie up. In no time at all she’d gotten Henry and Benny and Watch. “Don’t bark, Watch,” warned Benny. They ran through the house as fast and as quietly as they could, trying not to wake Mrs. Ashleigh or Grandfather Alden.
    They raced to the kitchen. Henry, who was the tallest, peered through a window that looked out over the garden.
    A shadowy figure stood only a few feet away.
    Suddenly the figure moved. It raised its arm and they all heard a dull clang, clang, like metal on metal.
    Watch growled very softly, but he didn’t bark.
    “What is he doing?” whispered Violet.
    “I don’t know,” said Henry. “We’ve got to see who it is. Maybe if we surprise him we can at least see his face.”
    They ran to the kitchen door and threw it open.
    “Stop!” cried Henry. “Who’s there? Who are you?”
    The shadowy figure whirled and leaped through the opening where the gate had once hung. He went so fast that they didn’t even have time to train their flashlights on him.
    “Did you recognize anything?” asked Henry.
    “Just that raincoat,” Jessie said.
    “What was he doing?” said Violet. She turned her flashlight on the iron fence and got her answer. “Oh, no!” she said. “Look.”
    The intruder had hit one of the hinges where the gate had hung. When Mr. Farrier had fixed it, it had looked shiny and new. Now it was scratched and dented.
    “Why would anyone do that?” Henry wondered aloud. He bent forward to inspect the damaged hinge. “It’s not bad,” he said at last. “Mostly scratched. You could still hang the gate on it.”
    “Oh, good,” said Benny.
    “It doesn’t make sense,” Henry concluded. “Why would anyone vandalize Mrs. Ashleigh’s fence?”
    “Maybe it’s her son, trying to scare her into moving,” said Jessie slowly. “And maybe he is the one who snuck in to steal the papers. Too bad we didn’t get a better look at him.”
    “See?” said Benny. “Mr. Ashleigh is a mean man.”
    “We don’t know who it was, Benny,” Violet reminded her younger brother. “It looked like the man from this afternoon.”

    “Or woman,” said Jessie, thinking of Diana. “We just don’t know.”
    “Maybe Diana and Forrest Ashleigh are working together,” said Henry. “After all, she lives nearby. It would be easy for her to get to Mrs. Ashleigh’s house without being noticed. All we know is that it was the person in the raincoat.”
    “And whoever it was knows his way around. That’s one of the reasons he got away,” said Henry.
    The four children looked at each other.
    The clues were beginning to add up. But they still weren’t sure why all these mysterious things had happened. That was the biggest mystery of all.
    “I’m going to Charleston to see about the gate and to take care of some