The Disappearing Friend Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

shrugged. “When you’re new in town, people get your name mixed up sometimes. It happens to me every time we move.” She didn’t seem too interested. She put the last piece of tape on the poster and stepped back. “There.”
    â€œNow all we have to do is wait for people to call,” said Henry.
    â€œI think people will,” said Benny. “Lots of people. We’ll be very busy!”
    â€œI guess,” said Henry. “We should probably have just a little ice cream—while we still have some free time!”
    â€œHooray!” said Benny, leading the way to the ice cream counter.

CHAPTER 7
    Beth’s Disappearing Trick
    T he phone rang as Jessie, Violet, Benny, Henry, and Grandfather Alden were finishing breakfast the next morning. A minute later, Mrs. McGregor came into the dining room. She was smiling. “I have a call for The Boxcar Helpers,” she said.
    â€œIt’s our first job,” said Jessie excitedly. “Oh, Grandfather, may one of us be excused to see who it is?”
    Grandfather laughed. “The early bird gets the worm,” he said. “Go on, Jessie.”
    Jessie slipped quickly away from the table. Everyone else began to help Mrs. McGregor clear away the dishes. They had just finished when Jessie came back.
    â€œWhat is it, Jessie?” cried Benny.
    â€œThat was a lawyer, Ms. Singh, who is going away on a business trip for two days,” Jessie told them. “She wants us to come feed her cats this week while she’s gone. She lives over on Garden Street, and she’s going to leave the key under the mat by the back door.”
    â€œThat’ll be fun,” said Violet. “Only we had better not take Watch!”
    The phone rang again. “I’ll get it,” said Henry.
    â€œSounds like you’re off to a good start,” said Grandfather. “I’ll leave you to conduct business.”
    â€œLet’s go see what job this is,” said Benny. He and Violet and Jessie joined Henry. Henry hung up the phone and wrote something down carefully.
    â€œWell?” asked Jessie.
    â€œMr. Hudson, on Hickory Lane, wants his grass cut. I told him I was an expert grass cutter!” Henry laughed. “So while you’re feeding cats, I will cut the grass.”
    The phone rang again, and then again. Soon they had more than enough jobs for the day, and they began to schedule them for the next day and the next.
    â€œWe have to tell Beth,” said Violet when the phone finally stopped ringing. Quickly she dialed Beth’s number. “Hello, Beth?” she said eagerly. Then she frowned. “Oh. Thank you.”
    A moment later she said again, “Hello, Beth? Is that you? This is Violet Alden speaking.”
    The others listened as Violet told Beth all about the jobs. “So we’ll be busy all day,” Violet said. “Are you going to come with us? . . . Oh. That’s too bad. Okay, we’ll see you tomorrow. Good luck!”
    Violet hung up the phone. “Poor Beth. She has to go to the dentist in Silver City today and can’t help us.”
    â€œToo bad,” said Jessie sympathetically. “But we’d better get started.”
    The Aldens made a list of all the jobs they had to do that day, then went and got their bicycles and pedaled into town to get started. They had just come out of the post office, where they had taken a package to be mailed for someone, when they saw a familiar figure riding her bicycle down the street ahead of them.
    â€œLook!” Violet was startled. “Isn’t that Beth?”
    Henry raised his hand to shade his eyes. “It sure looks like her. Beth! Hey, Beth!”
    The figure didn’t turn around.
    â€œBeth!” shouted Benny at the top of his lungs.
    This time, Beth turned around. So did several other people on the street.
    But Beth didn’t stop. She didn’t even wave. Instead, she turned around again and