Vanishing Passenger Read Online Free PDF

he liked Mr. Finch right away.”
    “Oh, is that his name?” Jessie asked.
    “Yes, Max,” Mrs. Taylor replied.
    “We’re not surprised that he liked Mr. Finch,” Violet said. “Mr. Finch loves animals. Max must’ve sensed that.”
    “Do you know how he got off the train?” Henry asked.
    “We have no idea,” Mr. Taylor said. “That’s why we’re putting these signs up. We’re hoping maybe someone on the train saw what happened.”
    “He wasn’t with you during the trip?” Benny asked.
    “No,” Mr. Taylor replied. “He was in the last car, in a cage, by himself.”
    “The fourth car!” Violet said.
    “That’s right,” Mr. Taylor went on. “And when we went back to get him when we arrived here in Greenfield, he wasn’t there.”
    “We looked everywhere,” Mrs. Taylor added.
    “He must’ve gotten loose and jumped off somewhere,” Mr. Taylor finished, shaking his head sadly.
    “Why was Max in the last car?” Henry asked.
    “He gets nervous around strangers and tends to bark a lot,” Mrs. Taylor replied. “So we thought it best to leave him back there, alone.”
    “We were really worried when we went through the thunderstorm, though,” the father added. “Max is very afraid of loud noises.”
    “I went back to check on him during the storm,” Mrs. Taylor said, “and he seemed fine.”
    “Did you see anyone in the fourth car when you went in?” Jessie asked.
    “Oh no, I didn’t go in. I just looked through the window. If I’d gone in there, he would’ve gone crazy as soon as he saw me. He would’ve wanted me to take him out of there.”
    Henry asked, “What does he look like?”
    “He’s very small,” Mr. Taylor told them. “A miniature schnauzer. He’s mostly white, with a little black nose and a few black marks. And he’s got plenty of hair. It’s short but kind of thick, almost woolly.”
    “If he did jump off, where do you think he would go?” Jessie asked.
    “He’d be scared,” Mrs. Taylor said, “because he wouldn’t know where he was. He would hide someplace, like under a tree or a bush.”
    Jessie nodded. “We’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for your time.”
    The Taylor’s little son stepped forward. “Are you going to find Max for us?” he asked.
    Jessie knelt down in front of him. “We’re going to try our best. Okay?”
    He managed a tiny smile—probably his first smile since he learned that Max was missing.
    “Okay,” he replied.
    The Aldens finally made it to the bakery, where they sat around a small table in a quiet corner and ate their bagels.
    “All right,” Jessie said, “so now we know there was a dog on the train, and that he somehow got loose and jumped off.”
    “And we know that Mr. Finch was in the fourth car with the dog because he left his briefcase there,” Violet added. “We also know he ate a granola bar, dropped the wrapper, and jumped off the train.”
    “Do you think Mr. Finch could have taken the dog with him?” Benny wondered.
    The others shook their heads. “No, why would he do that?” Violet asked. “He’d never steal a dog.”
    Then Henry said, “Wait a minute! What about this—what if Max got loose, became scared, and jumped off the train, and Mr. Finch went after him? ”
    Jessie nodded. “That makes sense. If the dog suddenly jumped off and Mr. Finch saw it, I doubt he’d just stand there and do nothing.”
    “But where?” Violet asked. “Where did they get off the train?”
    “Mr. Finch already gave us that piece of the puzzle,” Jessie told her. “In his phone message.”
    “Allerton!” Benny said.
    Jessie nodded, proud of her little brother. “That’s right, Allerton.”
    “That name again,” Henry said. “You know what? I think it’s time we went there.”
    “I agree,” said Jessie.”
    “And you know what else?” Henry continued. “I think we’re going to get lucky, too …” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out the train schedule. “The next train heading north