“She said she hurt her back moving those bears out of the water,” Ms. Freeman said. “I don’t want her to strain it more.”

  “We’ll all help with the ice cream,” said Henry.

  Jessie checked the freezer. “The ice cubes are melted almost all the way. These frozen foods won’t last much longer without power.”

  They cleaned out the freezer, and Ms. Freeman cooked everything. They had an interesting dinner. They could choose from hamburgers, baked chicken, french fries, egg rolls, fish sticks, and mixed vegetables. Benny had a little bit of everything.

  Sarah joined them for dinner. She seemed distracted and kept getting up to look out the window at the bears. As soon as she finished eating, she went outside again.

  As the Aldens finished dinner, Mr. Valencia drove up with an assistant.

  “We’ll clean up,” Henry told Ms. Freeman.

  Ms. Freeman and Grandfather went outside to help with the fishing bear.

  The children carried the dishes to the sink and started washing them. “Let’s think about our mysteries,” said Henry.

  Jessie pulled out her notebook. “I’ll make notes,” she said. “What do we know?”

  The Aldens wrote down what they had talked about at the marina about the boat owner, Eric Pruett.

  “Mr. Pruett is acting strangely,” said Jessie. “But that is not a crime. We are looking for the person who broke the generator at the ice-cream shop. Why would he do that?”

  “Maybe he is working with George Williams,” said Violet. “We saw them arguing about money outside the shop. Maybe George hired Eric to hurt the ice-cream shop.”

  “Maybe,” said Violet. “But Mr. Williams didn’t seem like he knew what Eric was talking about.”

  “Perhaps George hired Mr. Pruett, but then he didn’t want to pay him after all,” Jessie suggested.

  “That would be risky,” said Henry. “If he doesn’t get paid, Mr. Pruett might tell everyone about their deal.”

  Benny went to the window and looked out. “Sarah is acting funny too. She’s really worried about all the bears.”

  “She does seem very interested in finding the ice-cream bear,” Jessie said. “I understand why Ms. Freeman wants it back. It’s her shop and her bear. But Sarah doesn’t act worried about Ms. Freeman. It’s like she wants the bear for her own reasons.”

  Henry dried the last of the dishes and hung up the towel. “Remember the night the power went out?” he asked. “Sarah was the last person to leave the ice-cream shop.”

  “Maybe she turned off the generator!” Violet said. “Wait, someone broke the lock to get to the generator. Would Sarah have a key?”

  “Maybe not,” said Henry. “An employee would not usually need to get to the generator.”

  “I know who would have a key,” Jessie said. “George Williams. Ms. Freeman said the generator was for her shop and his. He wouldn’t need to break the lock to get to in.”

  “Good point,” said Henry.

  Benny turned from the window. “Maybe he broke the lock to make it look like he didn’t have a key.”

  Violet flopped into a chair. “We have too many suspects and too many clues. We need new information. The trail is growing cold.”

  “And the ice cream is getting warm,” Benny said.

  Henry laughed. “We are going to make the ice cream cold again. Maybe then we’ll get a hot trail.”

  CHAPTER

  The Bear Trap

  The Aldens went into town with Ms. Freeman to bring the ice cream to the fish market. As they drove up to the ice-cream shop, Benny shouted, “Look, look!”

  The others peered out the windows of Ms. Freeman’s pickup truck. “Why, we have a visitor!” said Jessie.

  Standing outside the shop, right where it belonged, was the ice-cream bear. After Ms. Freeman pulled up, Benny ran out and gave the bear a hug. Violet patted its arm. Henry looked it over. “It needs a wash, but otherwise it looks fine,” he said.

  “How on earth did it get here?” Ms. Freeman asked.

  The door to The Stylish Sailor opened, and Mr. Williams stepped out. “Your bear came a-wanderin’ back,” he said.

  “Do you know how it got here?” Ms. Freeman asked.

  Mr. Williams nodded. “Some folks who live out on a houseboat found it down by the waterfront. I guess it was in the same park where you kids found all those other bears.”

  “That’s strange,” said Jessie. “We rescued every bear statue there. I’m sure we didn’t miss any.”

  “From what I heard, most of those statues floated, correct?” asked Mr. Williams.

  “That’s right,” said Henry. “They’re hollow.”

  “Well, apparently this one didn’t float,” said Mr. Williams. “It lay facedown on the ground. It was hidden until the water level dropped.”

  Henry gasped. “I bet I tripped on this bear when I fell in the water,” he said. “I was right on top of it and didn’t know!”

  “I’m so glad it’s back home again,” Ms. Freeman said. “It makes me believe everything will be all right. Now, I need to talk to Gloria. I want to make sure her freezer has space ready. Then we can move the ice cream from my big freezer.”

  “Do you kids want to come with us or wait here?” Grandfather asked.

  “We’ll wait here,” said Henry. “We can clean up the bear.”

  Ms. Freeman unlocked the ice-cream shop. “You’ll find cleaning supplies in the closet,” she said. “Thank you for doing that.”

  Mr. Williams went back into his store. Grandfather and Ms. Freeman headed down the street. The children clustered around the ice-cream bear.

  “I want to check this statue,” Henry said. “Why didn’t it float when the others did?”

  Jessie knocked on the bear’s shoulder. “It sounds like the others.”

  Henry rocked the bear from side to side. “Do you hear that sloshing sound? I think some water got inside.”

  “We can clean it and take a good, close look,” said Jessie.

  The Aldens got spray cleaner and towels from the closet. They filled a bucket with water and started scrubbing. Henry examined the bear’s head as he washed it. He pulled on the ears and pressed the eyes and nose. “Nothing strange here,” he said.

  Jessie polished the bear’s back. “Everything looks normal here,” she said.

  Violet carefully washed the ice-cream cone. “Look at this,” she said. “A line goes around the top of the cone, right above the bear’s hands. I think the ice cream is a separate piece.”

  Benny jumped up and down. “Pull on it! Maybe you found a secret opening.”

  Violet pulled on the cone, but nothing happened. She tried to turn the stack of ice cream to the left. It didn’t budge. She turned it to the right. “It’s moving!” she said. She twisted the ice-cream scoops halfway around. They popped right off.

  The children peered into the small opening in the bear’s hands. “Some water must have gotten in through the crack,” said Henry. “That helped weigh it down, so it didn’t float.”

  Jessie looked closer. “I think I see something,” she said. She reached her arm into the statue and pulled out a small cloth bag.

  “Yuck, it’s all wet and dirty,” Violet said.

  Benny leaned in to get a better look. “What do you think is inside?” he asked.

  “There’s only one way to find out.” Jessie pulled open the drawstring and tipped the bag to pour out its contents.

  Dozens of jewels spilled into her hand.

  The children gasped. Violet picked up a jewel that had fallen onto the ground. She held up the red stone so the light shined through it. “I don’t think these are plastic or glass. They look real!”

  Henry looked up and down the street. A dozen people were walking or cleaning up their stores. Something moved in the boutique next door. Was Mr. Williams looking out the window?

  “Let’s take these inside,” Henry said. “Who knows who is watching.”

  The children put the ice-cream scoops back onto the statue and went into the shop. Henry made sure the Closed sign showed on the door.

  The Aldens sat around the table and studied the jewels. “We wanted another clue,” said Jessie. “I guess we found one.”

  “What does it mean?” Violet asked.

  “Pirates!” said Benny.

  Henry grinned. “You’re not too far off. Mr. Valencia told us about smugglers. Remember? That’s why they are inspecting all the boats. This must be what they’re searching for.”

  “I get it,” said Jessie. “Someone is bringing the jewels on a boat to Port Elizabeth. Then they’re sneaking them ashore so they don’t have to pay the taxes. They hide the jewels in the bear, then someone else comes and picks them up.”

  “Why are they using the happy bear?” Violet asked. “I can’t believe Ms. Freeman knows about this.”

  “I don’t think she does,” said Henry. “She wouldn’t leave us alone to wash the bear if she knew it was hiding jewels.”

  “Who is it then?” asked Benny.

  The children thought for a moment. Then Henry snapped his fingers and stood up. He went to the window and looked out.

  “Remember what Ms. Freeman said about the generator?” he asked. “When the power goes down, it keeps the ice cream cold and it keeps the security system going. There’s a camera that looks over the front of the store. Without power, the security camera wouldn’t work.”

  “That’s why the person broke the generator!” said Jessie. “It wasn’t to melt the ice cream. It was to turn off the security camera! They didn’t want the camera to record them putting the jewels in the secret hiding place.”

  Violet gathered the jewels back into the bag. “I’ll hide these in the closet. We can find the inspectors tomorrow and give them the jewels. But they still won’t know who the smugglers are. We haven’t caught the person yet.”

  “The smugglers must be desperate to find it,” said Jessie. “Whoever wants these jewels will check the bear soon. Maybe we can catch them in the act.”

  “But how?” asked Violet. “They will probably come at night. We can’t stay here and watch for them.”

  “And the security cameras still don’t work,” Henry said. “We’ll have to find another way to catch the smuggler.”

  “We have done a lot without electricity,” said Benny. “We made phone calls and listened to the radio. Jessie typed the flyer with a typewriter. We printed it with that old machine. And we ate lots of food before it went bad!”

  Henry smiled. “I see what you’re saying, Benny. We can do it the old-fashioned way. We just need a way to identify the person. But how?” Henry tapped his fingers on the table as he thought.

  “Henry, your thumb!” said Violet. “It’s still purple.”

  “Yes, it’s from the ink we used for the flyers,” said Henry. “It’s impossible to wash out.”

  Violet explained. If they could mark the smuggler with ink during the night, the children would then be able to find the person during the day. All they needed to do was put ink inside the hidden compartment. When the person reached in, the ink would stain their hands.

  “Great idea, Violet,” Henry said. “Now, how will we know if someone has opened the bear? We can’t keep opening it to check the ink. Someone might notice.”

  Jessie had an idea. “Remember the penny in the ice tray?” she said. “When the ice melted, the penny sank. If the ice froze again, you could still tell what had happened. Maybe we can do something like that.”

  Benny did not understand. He scrunched up his face and asked, “You want to put ice and pennies in the statue?”

  Jessie laughed. “No. I want to set a trap to find out if someone looked inside the bear. It doesn’t have to use ice cubes or pennies. It only has to show us that something has changed.”

  Henry tried to explain. “Remember that detective story Grandfather read us?” he asked. “The detective taped a strand of hair across the crack in the doorframe. When somebody went through the door, the hair broke. That was how the detective found out someone had been inside.”

  “Oh, I get it,” said Violet. “The hair in the door lets us know the door has been opened and closed again, just like the penny in the ice cube lets us know the ice has melted and frozen again.”

  “That’s right!” said Jessie. “But I don’t think we need to use a hair.”

  Jessie went into the shop and came out with two pieces of clear tape and a thin piece of napkin. She held the napkin up to the cone. The color matched almost perfectly.

  “It blends right in,” said Jessie. “The thief won’t even see it! They will open up the bear, and the napkin will rip.”

  “But we will see it because we know what to look for,” said Violet. “If the napkin is ripped in the morning, we will know someone came looking for the jewels.”

  Benny jumped up. “Then we’ll catch the thief purple-handed!”

  CHAPTER

  Treasure on a Trailer

  Ms. Freeman’s house was only a mile away, so Henry ran back there. Sarah was in the side yard when he arrived, helping with the flower shop bear. Henry snuck inside the house and got the ink container from the mimeograph machine. Then the children spent the evening setting up their trap and moving ice cream.

  In the morning, they could hardly wait to get to the shop. Ms. Freeman walked up to the door. “Sarah isn’t here yet,” she said. “I guess the storm really threw off her schedule. I hope it’s nothing more serious, but still, I did ask her to come in today.”

  Grandfather and Ms. Freeman went inside. The children hurried over to the ice-cream bear.

  “Look,” whispered Violet, pointing at the ground. On the sidewalk, a trail of purple dots led away from the bear.

  Henry looked closely at the napkin. It was ripped right across the middle. “Someone definitely fell for our trap.”

  Benny jumped up and down. “We did the trick! We did the trick!” he said.

  “That’s right,” said Jessie. “Now we just need to figure out who was here.”

  The children went into the ice-cream shop. “Marie is out back with the repairman,” Grandfather said. “Hopefully, he can get the generator going soon. There’s not much for you to do here at the moment.”

  “That’s okay,” said Henry. “We’ll take a walk through town.”

  As the children left the shop, Benny said, “We’re going to look for the thief, right?”

  Henry nodded. “Maybe we can find some of our suspects. We’ll see if they have purple spots on their hands.”

  Jessie pointed to the shop next door. “I don’t think Mr. Williams is our smuggler. But he is still a suspect.”

  The Aldens studied the fancy shop for a moment. They knew Mr. Williams did not like children in the store. Finally, Violet said, “Henry, you are the oldest. You had better go in alone.”

  Jessie, Violet, and Benny waited outside while Henry went into the boutique. He joined them a few minutes later.

  “Was he mean?” Violet asked.

  “No,” said Henry. “I said we might want to buy a present for Mrs. McGregor. I asked about the scarves in the window.”

  “Oh, we should get her one!” Violet said. “They’re pretty.”

  Henry nodded. “Mr. Williams was friendly. He joked that I was welcome as long as I didn’t have ice cream. I didn’t see any ink on his hands when he was showing me the scarves.”

  “Who’s our next suspect?” Violet asked.

  “How about Eric Pruett?” said Jessie. “We think the smuggler uses a boat. And we know his boat has not been inspected yet.”

  “And he was demanding money from Mr. Williams,” added Henry.

  “And I saw a ghost in his boat!” said Benny.

  Jessie laughed. “Now that would be a twist,” she said, “a ghost with purple hands.”

  The children walked to the marina. Mr. Pruett’s boat still sat on its trailer. The children stopped to study the boat. “Someone is moving inside,” Jessie said. She bit her lip. “I’m getting nervous. Maybe we shouldn’t confront him without an adult.”

  “I see Mr. Valencia out on the dock,” said Violet. “If anyone is smuggling jewels here, he will want to know about it.”

  They asked Mr. Valencia if he would come with them to talk to Mr. Pruett.

  The marina manager agreed. “I need to find out his plans anyway,” he said. “I left him a message yesterday and asked him to come see me as soon as possible. I didn’t realize he was here now.”

  The group approached the boat. “How do we let him know we’re here?” Violet asked. “Should we knock on the side of the boat?”

  Mr. Valencia frowned and shook his head. “Usually you ask for permission to come aboard. That’s polite among people with boats. But Eric has been avoiding me, and I must talk to him. We’ll go in.”

  They climbed a ladder set against the side of the boat. Mr. Valencia led the way to the cabin door. He knocked and pushed open the door. “Eric!”

  Mr. Pruett hurried toward them. “What’s going on? You can’t come in here!”

  Mr. Valencia pushed through the door. “You’re on marina property. If you’re hiding something, it’s my right to know.”

  The children gathered behind him. They looked around the cabin, which was still damp from the storm.

  “Look!” Benny said. “It’s the bald person with red earrings!”

  Benny pointed to a piece of foam in the shape of a head and shoulders. Around the neck was a fancy-looking piece of jewelry.

  “A mannequin head!” said Violet. “That is what you must have seen in the window, Benny.”

  Jessie crossed the cabin. Several piles of colorful stones lay on a small table. “Look at these jewels!” she said. “They look like the ones hidden in the bear statue.”

  Mr. Pruett dropped into a chair. He rubbed his face with his hands and groaned.

  “What’s all this?” Mr. Valencia asked. “A bear statue with jewels? You’d better explain.”

  The children took turns explaining what they knew. They told Mr. Valencia about the missing ice-cream bear. They described its return and how they found the jewels.