Ice Cream Mystery Read Online Free

office at Town Hall. They’d just hung a poster on a telephone pole near the post office when they met Mr. Bush.
    He scowled harder than ever when he saw them.
    “Hello, Mr. Bush,” said Jessie politely.
    “Hi,” said Benny.
    Mr. Bush leaned over to peer at the poster. “Take it down,” he said.
    “What?” asked Jessie, startled.
    “Take the poster down, or I will,” said Mr. Bush.
    “Why?” asked Benny.
    “Because you’re defacing public property,” Mr. Bush said. “You can’t put posters up without permission. Do you have the permission of the phone company to use their telephone pole for advertising?”
    “Uh, no,” admitted Jessie.
    Watch barked once. Mr. Bush didn’t notice. Benny squatted and put his arm around the dog. “Shhh,” he warned.
    “Then take the poster down,” Mr. Bush said. He folded his arms.
    Jessie didn’t know what else to do. She took the sign down. As she rolled it carefully, Mr. Bush snorted. “‘The Amazing Butterscotch,’ indeed,” he said in a scornful voice. Then he went into the post office without another word.

    “He’s really, really mean,” said Benny.
    “I guess he’s right, though,” said Jessie.
    Benny wasn’t listening. “Really mean. Mean enough to play that melted-ice-cream joke,” he said.
    Jessie blinked. “I hadn’t thought about that, Benny,” she said. “I guess he could have.”
    “I think he did,” said Benny.
    “We’ll have to talk it over with Henry and Violet. Let’s put up the rest of the posters and then find them.”
    “Okay,” said Benny. To Watch he said, “Come on, boy. And if you see Mr. Bush, you can bark as much as you want!”
    They found Henry and Violet outside the bookstore, talking to a tall, lanky boy not much older than Henry. The boy had straight black hair and round black glasses.
    He was pointing at the poster in the window as Jessie, Benny, and Watch came up to them.
    “So you’re the ones who’ve put up the posters all over Greenfield,” he said.
    “Yes,” said Jessie. “The Ice Cream Barn is expanding.”
    “And they hired you to put the posters up,” the boy went on.
    “I guess you could say they did,” Henry began.
    The boy narrowed his eyes angrily. “They hired you—two of you!—and they fired me. Said they couldn’t afford me!”
    “Well, they’re not exactly paying us—” Jessie started to explain.
    But the boy didn’t let her finish. “Fine,” he said. “Just fine. But they’re going to be sorry they didn’t keep me around. You’ll see.” He turned and almost ran away, his cheeks red with rage.
    “Good grief!” said Jessie. “I think we just met Preston.”
    “He’s mad, too,” said Benny.
    Violet said, “He’s mad, too ?What do you mean, Benny?”
    “Mr. Bush got mad at us for putting up posters just now,” Benny explained. “By the post office.”
    “Oh,” said Violet.
    “Benny thinks Mr. Bush might be the one who phoned in the fake ice-cream order,” Jessie explained. “And after the way he acted just now, I think Benny could be right.”
    “Maybe,” said Henry. “Or it might be Preston. He seems pretty upset.”
    “I wonder if Brianna suspected Preston,” Jessie said.
    “I don’t know,” Henry said. “But now we’ve got two suspects.”
    “And a mystery,” said Benny.

CHAPTER 4
Who Took the Posters?
    “No dessert?” Grandfather Alden sounded surprised. “Not even you, Benny?” The Aldens had just finished dinner together. Grandfather knew that Benny always had room for dessert.
    “I had ice cream this afternoon,” Benny said. “Two free scoops.”
    “Big ones,” said Henry. “We all had ice cream this afternoon —although none of us had quite as much as Benny did.”
    “I thought none of you seemed very hungry,” said Grandfather, a twinkle in his eye.
    “We got paid in ice cream,” Violet explained. “For delivering fliers and putting up posters.”
    “You told me about putting up the posters, but not about the ice-cream