The Mystery of the Black Raven by Gertrude Chandler Warner Read Free Book Online

down the beach while the grown-ups found a sunny spot to have lunch. Benny had to be called twice before he quit panning long enough to eat.
    When it was time to go back to the hotel, Benny still hadn’t found a single grain of gold.
    His shoulders bowed, he stowed his pan in his pack.
    Henry was about to go cheer up his brother, but Monique reached Benny first. She offered the knotted handkerchief to him.
    “You deserve this,” she said. “You’ve worked harder than any of us today. I bet you shoveled a hundred times!”
    Benny’s eyes were round. “You mean it? I can keep your gold?”
    “As a present from me,” said Monique.
    “Are you sure you want to give it away?” Henry asked.
    She shrugged. “It’s mine. I can give it away.”

    Benny ran ahead to show Grandfather.
    Henry walked alongside Monique. “That was very nice. Benny will never forget it.”
    “He’s a cute kid. You’re all nice. I know my family can be a pain sometimes—” She stopped, smiling. “I was hoping we could be friends.”
    “Well … sure,” Henry replied. Monique chatted all the way back to the hotel, but Henry was suspicious. Why the sudden change? Was Monique friendly because she wondered what the Aldens knew about the theft?
    What was even more odd, he decided, was that Monique and Mark never once said anything about the theft of the scrapbook and raven statue. Did that mean they were the thieves?
    It had been a long day, Jessie thought. That afternoon the group did more sightseeing, then had dinner at the Dockside Restaurant.
    It was fun eating and watching the cruise ships leave, all lit up like Christmas trees. But she was glad when they were finally back at the lodge for the evening.
    After Grandfather fetched their keys at the front desk, the children said good night and walked up to the third floor.
    Jessie put the key in the lock and turned it. As she pushed open the door, she had a strange feeling.
    “What is it?” Violet asked, switching on the lamp.
    Jessie stood perfectly still. The room looked just as it had when they had been there earlier. The housekeeper had made the twin beds and vacuumed the rug. But something was different…
    Then she noticed what was wrong. She and Violet kept their hair ribbons and barrettes in two piles on the dresser. The piles had been moved. Not much, but pushed aside. It was as if someone had been in a hurry, looking for something.
    “Someone has searched our room,” Jessie declared.
    From across the hall, Henry and Benny bounded over. “Look what we found!” Benny cried.
    Henry held out a folded sheet of hotel stationery. In printed letters were the words:
    GO HOME IF YOU KNOW WHAT’S GOOD FOR YOU!

CHAPTER 7
The Missing Scrapbook
    J essie stared at the note. “Something really weird is going on here,” she said. “You guys better come inside.”
    Henry and Benny went into the girls’ room. Benny still carried the knotted handkerchief Monique Pittman had given him.
    “The stuff on our dresser has been moved,” Violet told the boys. “Jessie spotted it first. We usually keep our hair ribbons in two piles by the lamp.”
    Benny nodded. “They look kind of messy now.”
    “Exactly,” Jessie said. “Like someone brushed them aside—”
    “While he or she was searching the dresser drawer,” Henry finished. “Looking for what, I wonder?”
    Jessie shook her head. “And now this note! What does it mean?”
    “Someone wants us out of here,” Benny said soberly.
    “They also want something we have,” Violet added. “But what ?How can anybody think we have the scrapbook or raven? Why would we take it from Grandfather? That would be silly.”
    Henry thought about the night before. “Wait a minute! Violet, you heard someone outside this door last night when Miss Parker was here.”
    “When she was talking about that old letter—” Violet clapped a hand over her mouth. “Do you think the person who listened came back today to take the letter?”
    “But it