The Mystery at the Fair Read Online Free PDF Page A

said. She handed the girl a pen. Then she glanced down at the girl’s name on the sign-in sheet. “Susie?”
    â€œYes,” the girl replied. “Susie Martinilli is my name. It’s nice to meet you.”
    â€œIt’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Jessie Alden and this is my sister, Violet, and our friend Courtney Jenkins.”
    The girls exchanged greetings. Susie finished signing in. The girls noticed that she dotted the i’s in her name with tiny hearts.
    â€œThanks so much for letting me use your pen,” Susie said as she handed it back to Jessie.
    â€œYou’re welcome,” Jessie said. Then she signed everyone up for the contests.
    â€œWhat contests are you entering?” Susie asked.
    â€œI’m entering my painting in the art contest,” Violet said.
    â€œMay I see it?” Susie asked.
    â€œSure,” Violet said. She loosened the brown wrapping paper and held the painting up for Susie to see.
    â€œThat’s very nice,” Susie said. “That yellow paint you used is beautiful.”
    â€œThank you,” Violet said. “It’s a new paint I found at the crafts store.”
    â€œJessie and I made a necklace and earrings out of some African beads,” Courtney said. She showed the jewelry to Susie.
    â€œHow beautiful,” Susie said. “It looks like the whole thing is held together by this wire string. Is that right?”
    â€œYes,” Jessie said. “It’s not that hard to make.”
    â€œWhat’s in that bakery box?” Susie asked.
    â€œOh, that’s a blueberry pie our brothers made,” Violet said.
    â€œWell,” Susie said. “It looks like you’ve entered every event at the fair! So did I.”
    â€œYou entered every event?” Jessie said.
    â€œYes, I did,” Susie said with a laugh. “I just love competition.”
    â€œHow many times have you entered?” Courtney asked.
    â€œI’ve entered every year for the last eight years,” Susie said. “But I’ve never won anything. So this year I made a cherry pie for the baked goods contest, a rag rug for the crafts contest, and I painted a picture of a horse for the art competition.”
    â€œYou’ve really worked hard,” Violet said. “Maybe you’ll have better luck this year.”
    â€œI hope so,” Susie said. “I think my chances are much better this time. For some reason, not that many people are competing this year.”
    â€œThat’s because someone tore down all the posters announcing the contests,” Jessie explained.
    â€œReally?” Susie said. “How strange.”
    Just then, the man in the baseball cap the Aldens had seen in front of the fair poster the other day entered the registration tent. He looked at the sign-in sheet carefully and made notes on a small pad. When he noticed Violet was watching him, he hurried off.
    â€œThere’s that man who was asking us so many questions,” Violet said.
    â€œI wonder what he’s up to now,” Jessie said.
    â€œI don’t know,” Violet said. “But the moment he saw us he rushed off.”
    â€œMaybe we can figure out what’s going on before the fair is over,” Jessie said.
    â€œI’m sure it’s nothing serious,” Susie said. “Excuse me, but there’s something I have to do before the contests start.”
    â€œWell, it was nice meeting you,” Courtney said.
    â€œGood luck,” Violet said.
    â€œYes,” Jessie said. “Good luck. We’ll see you this afternoon.”
    â€œLet’s drop our projects off at the contest tents,” Courtney said when Susie had gone. “Then we can go meet the boys at the bumper cars.”
    â€œThat’s a good idea,” Violet said. “We’ve got a couple of hours before the pie competition starts.”
    â€œI want to ride the bumper cars first, then the Ferris wheel, and then