8

INVESTIGATIONS

The girls hurried to the bank, and every time Marie-Grace saw a man that resembled Clancy Bond's picture from the wanted poster, even the slightest bit, she jumped—until Alice assured her that the man was just "Mr. Simon, the butcher" or "Old Mr. Simpson, who's lived in town for fifty years."

When they arrived they saw that a few police were still standing around the bank, though not as many as there had been earlier.

The girls started circling the building, looking for any clues.

A police officer came over to them and barked gruffly, "What are you girls doing here?" when Alice was just whispering for Marie-Grace to bend down so she could step on her shoulders to look through a window.

"We're trying to find out what happened to Mayor Potts," Alice answered honestly, clasping her hands together behind her back.

The officer chuckled. "That's what we're here for, girls."

"Can't we just look around?" Alice begged.

The man hesitated. "I suppose," he finally agreed. "But don't go inside the building."

"Can't we even peek in the door?" Alice begged.

"All right, you may just step through the door," the officer agreed. "But stay outside mostly."

"And may we ask a few questions?" Marie-Grace asked politely.

"What are they?" the officer asked.

Marie-Grace began, "Where was the mayor when he was found the next morning?"

"At the back door," the officer told them.

Before Marie-Grace could ask another question Alice tugged at her hand, quickly saying, "Thank you!" to the policeman. They hurried around to the back door of the bank.

"One of the mayor's friends said that he thought Mayor Potts was checking on the papers in the bank. I wonder how the thief got the documents if they were in a bank safe?"

"What if Mayor Potts took them out of the safe to look at them, and that's when the person murdered him?" Marie-Grace suggested. "Then the person wouldn't even have to open the safe, because the mayor would have opened it for him."

"Yes!" Alice grew excited. "But," she pointed out, "you keep saying 'the person' or 'him' for the murderer. I'm sure it's Clancy Bond."

"If he's in Cairo," Marie-Grace reminded her.

"Hmm," Alice said, looking thoughtfully up into the blue sky. "But the officer said Mayor Potts was found at the backdoor lying on the ground. Why would he be at the backdoor, when the safe that held the documents is most likely in the front of the bank?"

They came to the backdoor, which looked ordinary. There was a large bush with thick leaves near, sitting beside the steps at the door, and a thick-trunked tree a few feet off.

"I don't understand it!" Marie-Grace sighed in frustration. "The only possibility is that something made Mayor Potts come to the backdoor with the documents, and then . . . maybe the person—Clancy Bond, perhaps—took the chance to kill him, and take the papers."

"No!" Alice shook her head. "I'm sure it was plotted out. The murderer couldn't possibly have just been near the backdoor of the bank at the time and known that Mayor Potts had the papers. Maybe Clancy Bond caused a distraction that led the mayor to come to the backdoor, and then he killed him and stole the papers?"

"How could he distract him, and then kill him?" Marie-Grace asked. She pointed out, "It would make more sense to sneak up behind the mayor to kill him, and you couldn't do that if you were busy causing a distraction . . ."

She and Alice gasped and looked at each other. They cried at the same time, "There were two people!"

Alice said, "It only makes sense! Someone was helping Clancy Bond!"

"Yes, one person caused a distraction so the mayor would come to the backdoor, and then the other person—Clancy Bond—murdered him, and they took the documents."

"But who could the other person be?" Alice wondered, her eyebrows furrowing.

"It must be someone in Cairo," Marie-Grace said. She glanced down at her feet and then her eyes flitted to the ground where something sat near her shoes.

"I wonder why anyone would want the documents, anyway?" Alice mused aloud.

Marie-Grace was hardly listening. She was studying the footprints in the dirt that led to the bush near the backdoor. "Alice, look at this!" she exclaimed.

Alice glanced down and shrugged. "The footprints could have been made by the police officers."

"But these prints have a pointed toe! I don't think the officers were wearing pointed shoes or boots. We can check when we leave."

"But it could have been anybody!" Alice protested. "Anyway, I'm still wondering how someone distracted the mayor."

"Let's look for clues," Marie-Grace suggested.

They searched all around, and tried to open the backdoor, but it was locked.

Alice looked around and spied the thick tree that stood several feet from the door. "Look, Marie-Grace!" she said. "There are footprints here, which lead to the tree, and two prints are deep in the dirt behind the tree, which means the person who left them must have stood there for a while."

Marie-Grace bent to examine the large bush near the backdoor steps. She pulled out a long piece of string from the leaves. "I found something, Alice," she told her cousin.

Alice came to stand by her. "It's a piece of string," she said, looking at it uninterestedly.

"But this might be what they used to distract Mayor Potts!" Marie-Grace cried excitedly.

At Alice's confused expression, Marie-Grace sighed. "Look," she said, and pushed Alice near the door. "You are Clancy Bond." Marie-Grace took an end of the string. The other end, she had noticed, was tied to a branch in the bush, so Marie-Grace knew that it hadn't just accidentally fallen there from a passerby. Someone had deliberately tied it to the bush.

Marie-Grace then went behind the tree until she was invisible to Alice, the string still clutched in her hand. "And it is dark out," Marie-Grace reminded Alice. "So you won't be able to see the string." From her cousin's silent response, Marie-Grace could tell she was still puzzled.

Marie-Grace gave the rope a tug, which made the bush shake, the leaves shaking loudly. "And it was hot last night," she went on, "so maybe the window was open." She paused dramatically. "Then Mayor Potts comes to see what the noise is, and Clancy Bond is waiting in the shadows behind the door—" Marie-Grace stopped abruptly as Alice's head popped into view beside the tree.

"I understand!" Alice sounded excitedly. "It all makes sense!"

She rushed off, leaving Marie-Grace to untie the string and put it in her pocket. But then she thought better of it, thinking the officers might want it as evidence, so she dropped it back in the bush.

Marie-Grace found Alice near the front of the bank, asking the same officer they had talked to before, "You're sure the window was open when Mayor Potts was found?"

The man scratched his head. "Now that I think of it, yes, it was open."

"Thank you!" Alice said. She came to Marie-Grace's side and whispered, "Their shoes aren't pointed. Maybe the footprints were from Clancy Bond's partner after all."

The girls decided their work was finished, and went back to Uncle Pierre's house, into Alice's room.

"Now we have to figure out who is helping Clancy Bond," Alice decided. "Although I'm sure the criminal murdered the mayor."

"I think so, too," Marie-Grace agreed. "But we don't know for sure. It didn't have to be Clancy Bond—the murder and theft could have been by two men we don't even know."

Alice sighed. "And to think the person helping Clancy Bond might be a citizen of Cairo! Do you remember anyone at the bank in the crowd yesterday? My memory isn't too good."

Marie-Grace thought carefully for a minute then nodded. "I should write it down," she decided.

Alice took out a piece of paper and a pen from a drawer. Marie-Grace wrote:

Mrs. Davis

Miss Marshal

Betsy Anna Rogers

Mr. Anon

"It's not Betsy!" Alice cried. "She is bossy, but she would never help a criminal. She's just a girl!"

"I know there were a lot more people," Marie-Grace said, frustrated, "but I can only remember those four, for sure."

"And I don't think a woman would help Clancy Bond," Alice added.

Marie-Grace crossed out the three, and there was only one name left.

Mr. Anon

"Oh, it must be him!" Alice cried excitedly. "I don't like him, and he was rude to me."

"But he is an old friend of my papa's," Marie-Grace protested. "I don't think he would do such a thing." She hesitated. "I don't like him, either, but I just don't think it's him."

"Can you remember anyone else?" Alice asked.

Marie-Grace slowly shook her head. "Not right now, anyway," she said. "I'm sure I could remember some people if I thought about it." She closed her eyes a moment, quietly sitting on her Alice's bed next to her cousin.

She thought about the people in the crowd at the bank. She knew more people were there . . . but it was all fuzzy. Then she remembered Mr. Anon staring intently at the bank.

Marie-Grace opened her eyes and said slowly, "I think Mr. Anon was looking at the bank yesterday. He seemed to be studying it."

Alice clapped her hands together. "I knew it was him! He was studying it for the job he and Clancy Bond would do that night! Now we just need some proof for the police."

"But we have no proof," Marie-Grace told her. "We know that two men murdered Mayor Potts, and there was the string at the bank, but I left it in the bush. We don't even know for sure if it's Mr. Anon."

"What about his shoes?" Alice inquired. "Were they pointed?"

"I remember he was wearing black boots," Marie-Grace answered slowly. "I can't remember if the toes were pointed, but it's possible."

"We need to look at his shoes," Alice decided.

"But what if the toes aren't pointed?" Marie-Grace asked.

"Well," Alice shrugged, "he could be wearing different shoes now. It still doesn't rule him out."

"Also," Marie-Grace said, "I've been thinking about Mrs. White's jewels. What if they were sold after they were stolen?"

Alice gasped. "Oh, what if they were sold to Mr. Gregory's jewelry store!"

"That's just what I was thinking." Marie-Grace nodded firmly. "We should check at the store tomorrow."

"But we still don't know if Mrs. White's jewels being stolen and Mayor Potts's murder are connected," Alice reminded.

"Yes, but we still need to find out who stole Mrs. White's jewels," Marie-Grace pointed out. "If we find jewels matching the description of Mrs. White's in the newspaper at Mr. Gregory's shop tomorrow, then we can ask him who sold them to him."

"And we'll have our thief!" Alice finished excitedly.