solve.
The mood in the Greenfield Fourâs rehearsal studio wasnât much better. The Aldens had stopped by to listen to the bandâs last rehearsal before their big performance at the festival. The band had borrowed enough instruments to play their songs, but the sound still wasnât quite the same.
âLetâs just try to do the best we can tonight,â Amy told the others after they finished the last song. âThatâs whatâs really important.â
Jessie nodded and turned to smile at her sister and brothers. Even though they hadnât found the thief, they were doing the best that they could, too. Henry, Violet, and Benny smiled back.
The band took a breakâDave got up to stretch his legs, and Amy and Alan sat at the folding table to go over their sheet music. Karen went to the piano and played around with a new song the band had written. And the Aldens began to look through Jessieâs notebook to make sure there werenât any clues they had missed.
Jessie went over the list of everyone they had talked to. âRaymond the roadie, Danny Duellman, Tim from the music store, Zoey from the studio, the carpenter, and Barbara at Drive-It-Yours elf. I think theyâve told us everything they know,â she said.
âYes,â Henry said. âWait, whatâs this?â He pointed to two numbers Jessie had written down: 463534 and 463535. âI remember that first numberâthatâs the security code for the studio. But what about the second number?â
âThatâs the old code,â Jessie said. âThe one that Raymond said heâd changed to 463534âGRNFLD4. Wow, I forgot Iâd asked him for the old number, too. It didnât seem very important at the time.â
Henry looked thoughtful. âHmm. If the code theyâre using now spells out âGRNFLD4,â then the old code spells outââ
ââGRNFLD5!ââ Benny finished.
âFor the Greenfield Five,â said Jessie. âTheir old band name.â
âMaybe Raymond changed the code to go with the new name,â Henry said. But he wonderedâ was that the only reason?
Violet had noticed a colorful binder on top of the piano. It said âGreenfield Four Photo Albumâ on the cover.
âHey, thatâs neat. Can I take a look?â Violet asked Karen.
Inside were dozens of photographs, newspaper clippings, and old flyers, all carefully organized and set behind plastic sheets. Violet could follow the history of the band page by page.
When she was near the middle of the book, she stopped with a gasp. âOh my goodness!â she said. The children gathered around.
Violet pointed to one of the flyers. The Greenfield Five in Concert, it read. There was a photograph of the band below the headline. The children knew all of the faces in the photoâexcept one.
âLook at this person right here!â Violet said, pointing to the stranger.
âWhat about him?â Henry asked.
âDoesnât he look familiar?â
âNo,â Jessie replied, shaking her head. âNot really.â
Violet picked up a pencil and started scribbling on the manâs face. The others couldnât really see what she was doing. Then she pulled her hand out of the way. She had added a beard, a mustache, a pair of glasses, and a beret.
âI canât believe it,â Jessie whispered. âThatâs the man we saw yesterday. Now we know what he really looks like!â
âAnd now we know who he is,â said Henry. âHe used to be in the band!â
CHAPTER 9
The Angry Man
The children showed the Greenfield Four the flyer with Violetâs drawing. One by one, Alan, Amy, Karen, and Dave passed it around. They didnât speak for a moment.
Finally, Alan Keller said, âHis name is Jon Emmott. And yes, I think heâs the thief.â The other band members nodded. âJon was part of the group for about a