Hockey Mystery Read Online Free Page B

Davidson? Remember how upset she was when she learned that the rink was going to be right in her neighborhood?”
    “I thought she was happy it would be so close,” said Benny.
    “No, that was Beth,” Henry said. “Her mother was worried it would cause a lot of noise and traffic.”
    “But she’s such a big fan of Coach Reynolds,” Violet pointed out. “I don’t think she’d do that.”
    “Can you think of anyone else?” Henry asked.
    Jessie took a sip of her hot chocolate. Then she spoke. “I’ve noticed that Tracey seems really angry that people are switching from figure skating to hockey.”
    “Maybe she’s worried that she’ll lose her job if no one wants to take figure skating lessons anymore,” Henry suggested.
    “But do you think one of these people spilled ink all over the drawings?” Benny asked.
    “They might have,” said Henry. “Let’s think about this for a minute. Which of these people knew that the plans were there?”
    “Scott and Mrs. Davidson did,” said Benny. “They were both looking at them with us.”
    “And Tracey’s office is right next door, so she might have overheard us talking about them,” Jessie said.
    “Coach Reynolds said those were the only set of plans, remember?” Henry added. “So whoever did it knew that if they were ruined, it would cause a big problem.”
    “I just thought of someone else,” said Jessie, eating the last bite of her pretzel.
    “Who?” asked Henry.
    “Cathy Reynolds,” she said.
    “Coach’s own daughter?” Violet said.
    “At first she seemed nice and asked me to show her around Greenfield,” said Jessie. “Then all of a sudden she became really unfriendly—even a little bit mean during the practice. After practice, she said she had to take care of something and left in a big hurry.”
    Benny’s eyes grew wide. “What did she have to take care of?”
    “She didn’t say,” Jessie said. “But she would certainly know that her father had just gotten the plans. And she probably knew that he was going out to breakfast with her mom.”
    “That means she could have sneaked in and wrecked the plans,” Benny said.
    “What would her reason be?” asked Henry crumpling up his empty hot chocolate cup.
    “I’m not sure,” Jessie said. “But it’s hard to move to a new town and make new friends. Maybe she’s angry at her dad for taking her away from her old school and her old friends.”
    Suddenly Benny sat up very straight in his chair. “I just thought of something else!”
    “What?” said Henry and Jessie at the same time.
    “Do you think that the person who ruined the plans also stole the orange cones?” Benny asked.
    “Maybe,” said Jessie.
    Henry seemed doubtful. “I can see why ruining the plans would delay the rink’s being built. But what would stealing the cones do?”
    “Remember what Scott said?” Jessie asked. “The town council has to approve the rink. If they don’t trust Coach, they might not let him go ahead with his plans.”
    “You mean someone might have stolen the cones to make Coach look irresponsible?” said Henry.
    “Exactly,” Jessie said. “In fact, that reminds me of something Tracey said when I told her about the missing cones. She said, ‘He wants to build a whole new rink and he can’t even keep track of some cones.’ ”
    The Aldens gathered up their empty hot chocolate cups and crumpled napkins and threw them in the garbage. Then they put on their coats and got ready to leave.
    “Is there anything we can do to help Coach Reynolds?” Benny wondered aloud.
    “I think the best thing we can do,” said Henry, “is keep our eyes and ears open and try to figure out what’s going on—before anything else bad happens.”

CHAPTER 4
A Secret Plan
    A few days later, the Aldens were back at the rink for another practice. In the days after their talk in the snack bar, Jessie had gone to the rink for a few practices on her own. She was getting used to waking up early. She and the