Mystery of the Empty Safe Read Online Free Page A

Mr. Grayson, a tall, thin man with a mustache, welcomed them into the living room.
    “I can see why you don’t want to have the party here,” Jessie said, admiring all the beautiful sculptures and crystal vases on the tables and shelves.
    “Yes, I’m an art collector and I have a lot of valuable pieces here,” Mr. Grayson said. “I couldn’t take the chance that something would get broken.”
    Mr. Grayson motioned for the Aldens to sit down. “Sorry to call you on such short notice, but Hallie just broke her ankle. I happened to be chatting with Janet and Bob Woodruff, who are good friends of mine, and I told them my problem—fifteen guests invited for a party this Saturday, and no plans for entertaining them! Janet told me that you were planning Sara’s party and had some wonderful ideas. In fact, she just couldn’t say enough good things about you. So I figured I’d see if you could help us.”
    “We’re glad you did,” said Jessie.
    Just then a girl about Violet’s age hobbled into the room on crutches. She had a large cast on her ankle and looked very sad.
    “This is my daughter, Hallie,” Mr. Grayson said.
    “Hello!” said Henry.
    “Too bad about your ankle,” Jessie added.
    “Yeah,” said Hallie, looking at the ground. “Now my birthday will be ruined.”
    “Wait until you hear the ideas we have,” Benny piped up. “You’ll still have a great birthday!”
    Mr. Grayson couldn’t help but smile at Benny’s enthusiasm. But Hallie just slumped into a chair. She didn’t even look at the Aldens.
    Henry began talking. “We figured that since you wanted to have a skating party, you must like winter sports. So we’ve planned a puppet show and a lot of sitting-down games and crafts that are about winter.”
    “At least that’s better than what my dad suggested,” Hallie grumbled. “He wanted to have that magician. But we did that last year. I don’t want to have the same party again.”
    Jessie wondered if Hallie was referring to Cassandra the Great, but she didn’t ask. Instead she began to tell the Graysons about their ideas. “Do you and your friends like to make things?” she asked Hallie.
    “Yeah, why?” Hallie said.
    “You can each make your own snow globe,” Jessie said. “You make a little scene out of clay, put it in a small glass jar, and add water and some glitter for the snow.” The night before, the Aldens had made a snow globe to show Hallie. Jessie pulled it out of her backpack.
    For the first time since they’d met her, Hallie smiled. “Wow,” she said, taking the homemade snow globe from Jessie and turning it around in her hands. She watched as the glittery “snow” floated down on the little log cabin scene Violet had created inside. “We can make these ourselves?”
    “You sure can,” said Violet. “It’s easy. We’ll bring all the supplies and show everyone what to do. Our neighbor has a baby, so we’ll ask her for her empty baby food jars to make them in.”
    The Aldens then told her about a game they’d made up called “Melt the Ice Cube.” It was a little like “Hot Potato.” The kids would sit in a circle passing the “ice cube”—which was really a present wrapped in lots of layers of paper—in time to music. Each time the music stopped, whoever was holding the gift got to unwrap a layer. The one who tore off the last layer of wrapping paper got to keep the gift as a prize.
    “That sounds like fun!” said Hallie. “And I can do it even with this stupid broken ankle!”
    “You sure can,” said Violet.
    “Hey, tell her about the popcorn snowmen,” said Benny.
    “Popcorn snowmen?” asked Hallie.
    “As a special treat to eat, all the kids can make their own popcorn snowmen,” said Henry. “We’ll start them before the party, by mixing popcorn and melted marshmallows, and rolling the mixture into balls. Then everyone can stack the popcorn balls and decorate them with candy to make them look like snowmen.”
    “And then you get