“Pass it to me!” Jessie called. “I’m open!”
Cathy looked at Jessie and quickly passed the puck.
Jessie pulled back her stick and fired the puck. The puck flew through the air toward the net. But to her dismay, it went wide of the goal. The puck missed the net completely.
The buzzer sounded and the game was over. Jessie had failed to score and tie up the game. The Cobras had won.
After shaking hands with the other team, Jessie and the other Polar Bears skated slowly off the ice. As they walked back to the locker room, no one spoke.
Jessie slowly got dressed and began to pack up her things. She was almost ready to go when Beth called her over. “Hey, Jessie, can you fasten the clasp on my necklace?” Jessie left her bag on the bench and went to help her. Beth’s necklace was a silver skate on a chain, which Jessie had often admired. As she attached the clasp at the back of Beth’s neck, Beth whispered, “Don’t worry, Jess. You tried your best.” She gave Jessie a warm smile.
Jessie gave her friend a weak smile in return. She wished she could have helped her team win. “If only I hadn’t missed that pass!” Jessie said. “If only I had scored at the end!”
“You’ll do better next time,” Beth assured her. “Want to go get something to eat?”
“No, I think I’ll just head home,” Jessie said.
When Jessie went back to get her bag, Cathy was standing right by her locker. When she saw Jessie, Cathy’s face suddenly flushed. She looked as if she were about to say something. But then she seemed to change her mind and turned away. Cathy quickly gathered some things into her bag and left the locker room. She didn’t even say good-bye.
Jessie wondered if Cathy was angry with her because she’d made the Polar Bears lose the game. I’ll just have to try harder, she told herself. Then she began putting the rest of her gear in her bag.
While Jessie was getting dressed, the Aldens were waiting by the rink for her. Henry was helping Coach collect and put away the equipment.
“Can I help?” Benny asked.
Kevin smiled at Benny. “Why don’t you take the pucks back to my office.” He handed Benny a bucket.
Benny reached in the bucket and pulled out a hard rubber puck. “They’re cold.”
“They have to be,” Kevin said. “Otherwise they don’t slide well on the ice. If they’re too warm, they stick. Before the game we ice them down.”
“I’ll come with you,” Violet volunteered.
“Thanks,” said Kevin. “You remember where my office is, don’t you?”
“Sure,” Violet called over her shoulder. She and Benny walked quickly to the lobby. Next to the main entrance to the building, there were two closed doors.
“Do you remember which door it is?” Violet asked. The doors looked exactly the same.
“I think it’s this one,” Benny said, pointing to the door on the right.
Violet knocked on the door.
“Come in,” a voice inside called.
Violet pushed the door open and saw Tracey sitting in a chair, looking at a catalog of skating costumes.
“Oh, hi, Tracey,” said Violet. “Sorry to bother you. I’m looking for Coach Reynolds’s office.”
“You’re Jessie Alden’s sister and brother, aren’t you?” Tracey asked.
“Yes,” said Violet. “We just watched Jessie’s first hockey game.”
Tracey sighed loudly and rolled her eyes. “It worries me that so many kids are playing hockey these days. It’s such a dangerous sport. I’m afraid somebody’s going to get hurt—maybe Jessie. And when you watch the professional games, there’s so much fighting.”
“I love watching hockey,” said Benny. “I love the fast skating.”
“Sometimes players get a little rough, but it’s still a great sport,” Violet added. “And Jessie’s team doesn’t play rough.”
Tracey shook her head. “I’d do anything to steer people clear of that sport. Anyway, Coach Reynolds’s office is next door.”
“Thanks,” said Violet.
“No problem,” Tracey said, turning back to the catalog.
Violet was just stepping out the door when something caught her eye.
In the corner of Tracey’s office, partly hidden behind a chair, was a large stack of orange cones.
CHAPTER 6
The Rink at Night
“Did you see that, Benny?” Violet whispered when they had stepped outside Tracey’s office and shut the door.
“See what?” Benny asked.
“The orange cones! In Tracey’s office!” Violet said. “Remember at Jessie’s first team practice, the orange cones were missing?”
“Yes,” Benny recalled. “You saw them in Tracey’s office?”
“Yes, in the corner, behind a chair,” Violet said.
“Wow—do you think she stole them from Coach’s office?” Benny asked. “It’s right next door.”
“I can’t believe she would do that,” said Violet. “Why would she want to?”
“You heard what she said,” replied Benny. “She wants to steer people away from hockey. Maybe messing up the practices is part of her plan.”
“Maybe so,” Violet said. She looked at the door next to Tracey’s office. “This must be Coach Reynolds’s office.”
She knocked on the left-hand door and waited a moment. There was no response, so she opened the door slowly. It was dark and quiet inside. Benny found a light switch and turned on the light. Then he put the bucket of pucks on the floor next to the desk.
“Wait until Coach Reynolds hears about those cones in Tracey’s office,” Benny said.
But when he and Violet got back to the rink, Coach Reynolds was nowhere to be seen. Grandfather and Henry were standing by themselves, talking quietly about the game.
“Hey, guess what we saw in Tracey’s office,” Benny said. “The orange cones!”
“What?” Henry asked.
“We went into Tracey’s office with the pucks by mistake,” Violet explained. “And we saw a stack of cones there.”
“Really?” Henry asked.
“She must be the one who stole them!” Benny said excitedly.
“Now, slow down,” Henry advised. “Let’s not jump to conclusions.”
“That’s right,” Violet said. “There’s no proof she took them.”
“It is pretty suspicious,” Henry said. “But we’d better not say anything until we have some more information. We don’t want to accuse her of stealing, in case there’s a simple explanation.”
Just then Jessie came out of the locker room, walking very slowly and looking sad.
The Aldens did their best to cheer up their sister.
“You were great out there,” said Benny.
“Not great enough to help us win,” said Jessie.
Grandfather put his arm around Jessie’s shoulder. “You can’t win every game.”
“Coach was really proud of how everyone played,” Henry said. “And you’ll all do better next time.”
“You’re right,” Jessie said, looking around at her family, her face brightening. “I’m sure I’ll do better at our next game.”
“Now, how about a trip to The Scoop?” Grandfather suggested.
“All right!” Benny shouted, taking off for the exit. The rest of the Aldens looked at one another and laughed.
After studying the menus at The Scoop, they all ordered their usual favorites, and by the time they left the ice-cream parlor, Jessie didn’t feel sad anymore.
That night, Jessie unloaded her equipment and uniform from her bag. Her clothes had to be washed before her next practice. “Hey, wait a minute,” she said as she took everything out of the oversized bag. “Where are my figure skates?” Even though she hadn’t been using them, Jessie had left her figure skates and dresses in the bag, buried under all her hockey gear. But now the figure skates were missing.
“Violet! Henry! Benny!” she called out. “Have any of you seen my figure skates?” No one had seen them.
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“Maybe you left them in the locker room when you were getting dressed,” Violet suggested. She remembered how much work it had been helping Jessie get dressed for her first practice. There had been so many pads and pieces of equipment—it would be easy to misplace something.
“I’m going back to the rink to see,” Jessie said.
“Now?” Henry asked. “The rink closes in half an hour.”
“Then I’d better hurry,” Jessie said. “I love those skates. I’ve got to see if I left them there.”
When Grandfather heard about Jessie’s missing skates, he was happy to give her a ride to the rink. “I’ll wait in the lobby while you check the locker room,” he said.
The building felt very different at night from their usual daytime visits. A janitor was mopping the floor of the lobby. Instead of the usual noisy crowd, Jessie saw only a couple of people gathering their skating equipment and leaving the building. Jessie ran through the double doors to the rink. The bleachers were empty, and no one was skating. The surface of the rink was smooth and shiny.
Jessie ran down the dimly lit hallway to the locker room. Her footsteps seemed loud. When she reached the heavy door to the locker room, she stopped and grabbed the handle. She was just about to open it when she had the feeling someone was behind her. She quickly turned around. All she saw behind her was the long, dark corridor.
Jessie pulled the door open and stepped into the locker room entryway. Walking around a short row of lockers, she entered the main room. Only some of the lights were on, so it was dark in the corners. There didn’t seem to be anyone else there.
But then Jessie heard a sound.
“Hello?” she called out. “Anyone here?” Her voice echoed in the large room.
There was no answer.
She walked slowly across the room to the locker she’d used that day.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. She stopped and turned quickly to see what it was.
Jessie smiled to herself when she realized it was just the curtain blowing on the slightly open window.
Jessie realized she’d been holding her breath. She exhaled. “It must just be a sound from outside,” she told herself. This empty, dark room was giving her the creeps.
Jessie opened the locker and peered inside. No skates. “Hmmm, where else could they be?” she said to herself. Her eyes scanned the rows of lockers and benches. She got down on her hands and knees to look under the bench.
Just then she heard a sound. Jessie stood up quickly. This time she knew she had not imagined it.
Someone was in the locker room with her!
CHAPTER 7
A Surprise in Jessie’s Bag
Jessie heard the locker room door shut, and she heard footsteps in the entryway. She could see someone’s shadow against the wall. Jessie waited to see who would come around the corner.
A moment later, Cathy came in. When she saw Jessie sitting there, she stopped suddenly. She looked even more surprised than Jessie was.
“What are you doing here so late?” Jessie asked.
“I—I—I’m, um ...” Cathy started.
“You were skating?” Jessie asked. “I mean, no wonder you’re so good, if you’re here this late practicing.” Jessie laughed.
But Cathy didn’t respond. She seemed nervous. She wouldn’t look Jessie in the eye.
“So why are you here?” Jessie asked again.
“Oh, I was just, um ... well, why are you here?” Cathy asked in return.
“I’m looking for my skates—not my hockey skates, my figure skates,” Jessie said. “I just noticed they were missing from my bag.”
“Well, I haven’t seen them,” Cathy said. “I was just here, um, doing some stuff.” She grabbed her bag from her locker and quickly zipped it. “I’ve got to go. ‘Bye.” With that, she took her coat and bag and walked out.
Jessie still hadn’t found her figure skates, and she wondered what could have happened to them. But there was another question bothering her: What was Cathy up to so late at the rink?
The next day, after hockey practice, something happened that was even stranger.
Cathy came out onto the ice late, so Jessie didn’t have a chance to ask her any more about the night before. Coach Reynolds worked them hard, giving them lots of hard skating, passing, and shooting drills. When the hour was over, Jessie was worn out. She went to the locker room and changed back into her regular clothes. Then she joined her family in the lobby, carrying her heavy skating bag over her shoulder.
“I’m hungry,” said Benny.
“Don’t tell me—you want some hot chocolate,” said Violet.
“What a good idea!” Benny said.
The Aldens walked to the snack bar. After choosing a small table in the back, Jessie sat down to get some change out of her bag. “Now, where is my coin purse?” she said to herself, digging through all the things in her bag. “I always leave it right on top.”
“Don’t tell me your things are out of order today,” Henry teased his sister. Jessie was the most organized member of the family. Out of all the Aldens, she was the one who always kept everything in the right place and kept track of anything important.
Jessie smiled, but suddenly her smile disappeared.
“What’s wrong?” Violet asked, seeing the strange look on her sister’s face.
“I don’t know,” said Jessie. She began pulling things out of her large sports bag.
“What is it?” Henry asked.
“I thought I just felt something ...” Jessie said, still pulling things from her bag.
At the bottom of the bag she saw something shiny.
Jessie pulled out her hockey socks and her jersey. She found the purse near the bottom, too.
There was something else at the bottom of her bag that was still partly covered by her skating dress. It looked like a skate blade.
Jessie reached down into her bag and pulled out—her figure skates!
“Weren’t you looking for those last night?” Violet said.
“And I thought you said you hadn’t found them,” Henry added.
“I didn’t,” said Jessie. “How did these get back in my bag? I took everything out of my bag yesterday. They definitely were not in there.”
“It seems as if someone sneaked them into your bag,” Violet said. “As if they didn’t want you to know.”
“And the only reason someone would do that is if they’d taken them in the first place,” said Henry.
“But why would anyone want to steal an old used pair of skates?” asked Jessie.
“And then why return them the next day?” asked Benny.
“I bet this has something to do with the other weird things going on around here,” Jessie said.
“I’m much better at thinking about weird things on a full stomach,” Benny said. “Let’s get some hot chocolate!”
During the next two weeks, the Polar Bears played three more hockey games and won all three. Jessie played well. She made a few assists, passes to the players who then scored the goals. She was glad to help her team any way she could. But she was disappointed she still hadn’t scored any goals herself.
One day after practice, Henry stayed on the ice with Jessie to help her practice shooting. Coach Reynolds gave Benny and Violet another skating lesson.
“Good work,” he told them when their lesson was done. “You two have improved a lot.”
Seeing that Benny and Violet were done, Jessie and Henry skated over.
“It looks like you’re improving, too,” Coach told Jessie, patting her firmly on the shoulder. “You’ll score a goal for us soon,” he assured her. “Now I’ve got to go meet with the architect who is working on plans for the rink.”
“How are things going?” asked Henry.
“The architect is almost finished redoing the plans,” Coach said. “The town council is meeting this Friday night. I’m hoping the plans will be done in time for me to bring them to the meeting.”
“And the championship game is Saturday,” said Jessie. “We’ll be playing in it if we beat the Tigers tomorrow night.”
“That’s right,” said Coach. “And if the plans for my new rink are approved, we’ll have a party here on Sunday to celebrate. I’ve been busy lately getting ready for that.”
“Anything we can do to help out?” Violet asked.
“No,” Kevin began. Then he said, “Well, actually, there is something. I’m getting together a bunch of hockey stuff to display at the new rink—old photos, trophies, that kind of thing. If you kids could help me organize it, that would be a big help. Are you any good at organizing?”
The Aldens all looked at Jessie.
“Did somebody say organize?” Henry asked. “My sister is a champion organizer!”
“Just what I need,” said Kevin. “Maybe we could get together one night this week and work on it.”
“You and your family can come to our house,” Jessie suggested. “We’ll make you dinner, and then we’ll go through all your things.”
“That sounds great,” said Kevin. He thought for a moment. “Tomorrow is the Tigers game, so how about the night after that?”
“That’s great,” said Violet. “We’ll just check with our grandfather. But I’m sure he’ll be happy to have you and your family over.”
“Grandfather is almost as much of a hockey fan as we are!” Benny said.
Kevin smiled broadly. “What can I bring for dinner?”
“We’ll take care of everything,” Jessie assured him. “Just bring the hockey stuff!”
“I left a box of things with Scott because I was going to ask him to help me,” said Kevin. “But he’s so busy. I’ll pick it up from him and bring it to your house.”
“We can get the box from Scott’s office,” Henry offered. “Then you won’t have to worry about it.”
“It’s pretty big,” Kevin said. “You may need two of you to carry it.”
“That’s okay,” said Henry. “We’ll ask our grandfather to come pick us up.”