Hockey Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner Read Free Book Online

Jessie asked. “I mean, no wonder you’re so good, if you’re here this late practicing.” Jessie laughed.
    But Cathy didn’t respond. She seemed nervous. She wouldn’t look Jessie in the eye.
    “So why are you here?” Jessie asked again.
    “Oh, I was just, um ... well, why are you here?” Cathy asked in return.
    “I’m looking for my skates—not my hockey skates, my figure skates,” Jessie said. “I just noticed they were missing from my bag.”
    “Well, I haven’t seen them,” Cathy said. “I was just here, um, doing some stuff.” She grabbed her bag from her locker and quickly zipped it. “I’ve got to go. ‘Bye.” With that, she took her coat and bag and walked out.
    Jessie still hadn’t found her figure skates, and she wondered what could have happened to them. But there was another question bothering her: What was Cathy up to so late at the rink?
    The next day, after hockey practice, something happened that was even stranger.
    Cathy came out onto the ice late, so Jessie didn’t have a chance to ask her any more about the night before. Coach Reynolds worked them hard, giving them lots of hard skating, passing, and shooting drills. When the hour was over, Jessie was worn out. She went to the locker room and changed back into her regular clothes. Then she joined her family in the lobby, carrying her heavy skating bag over her shoulder.
    “I’m hungry,” said Benny.
    “Don’t tell me—you want some hot chocolate,” said Violet.
    “What a good idea!” Benny said.
    The Aldens walked to the snack bar. After choosing a small table in the back, Jessie sat down to get some change out of her bag. “Now, where is my coin purse?” she said to herself, digging through all the things in her bag. “I always leave it right on top.”
    “Don’t tell me your things are out of order today,” Henry teased his sister. Jessie was the most organized member of the family. Out of all the Aldens, she was the one who always kept everything in the right place and kept track of anything important.
    Jessie smiled, but suddenly her smile disappeared.
    “What’s wrong?” Violet asked, seeing the strange look on her sister’s face.
    “I don’t know,” said Jessie. She began pulling things out of her large sports bag.
    “What is it?” Henry asked.
    “I thought I just felt something ...” Jessie said, still pulling things from her bag.
    At the bottom of the bag she saw something shiny.
    Jessie pulled out her hockey socks and her jersey. She found the purse near the bottom, too.
    There was something else at the bottom of her bag that was still partly covered by her skating dress. It looked like a skate blade.
    Jessie reached down into her bag and pulled out—her figure skates!
    “Weren’t you looking for those last night?” Violet said.
    “And I thought you said you hadn’t found them,” Henry added.
    “I didn’t,” said Jessie. “How did these get back in my bag? I took everything out of my bag yesterday. They definitely were not in there.”
    “It seems as if someone sneaked them into your bag,” Violet said. “As if they didn’t want you to know.”
    “And the only reason someone would do that is if they’d taken them in the first place,” said Henry.
    “But why would anyone want to steal an old used pair of skates?” asked Jessie.
    “And then why return them the next day?” asked Benny.
    “I bet this has something to do with the other weird things going on around here,” Jessie said.
    “I’m much better at thinking about weird things on a full stomach,” Benny said. “Let’s get some hot chocolate!”
    During the next two weeks, the Polar Bears played three more hockey games and won all three. Jessie played well. She made a few assists, passes to the players who then scored the goals. She was glad to help her team any way she could. But she was disappointed she still hadn’t scored any goals herself.
    One day after practice, Henry stayed on the ice with Jessie to help her