Mystery on Blizzard Mountain Read Free Page B

all over these parts when the spring snow melts and it rains.”
    “How do you know that?” asked Bobcat. “You must like these mountains better than you think, to know all that about ’em, especially since you’ve only been here since the summer.”
    Rayanne shrugged. “I’m not a big hiker, but the mountains are pretty to look at,” she said.
    Chuck stood up and reached for a pair of crutches propped on a chair next to him. His chair fell over with a crash. When Chuck made a grab for the chair, he overturned the sugar bowl. Packets of sugar slid across the table.
    Jessie jumped up and righted the chair. Then she put the sugar packets back in the bowl.
    “Thanks,” said Chuck. Then he began to limp awkwardly toward the bathroom in the hall between the restaurant and the general store.
    “If you ask me, he broke his ankle just being plain clumsy,” said Bobcat.
    “Ghosts. Bad luck. Phooey,” said Maris, who’d just come in. “The only reason people still talk about that old story is because nothing ever happens in Blizzard Gap. The last big crime around here was when someone painted the doors of the firehouse blue!”
    “No, it wasn’t,” Rayanne said suddenly.
    Everyone looked at Rayanne. She said, “Remember the burglary at the Seven Mountains Museum over in the county seat?”
    Maris said, “How did you know about the robbery, Rayanne? You didn’t move to Blizzard Gap until after it happened.”
    “Heard about it,” Rayanne said. “All the news in town goes through this diner and a waitress is just naturally going to hear most of it.”
    “Folks around here are saying it was the work of professionals,” said Bobcat. “I mean, look at what the robbers took. Gold bricks. You have to plan a robbery to haul away gold bricks. They’re heavy!”
    “The museum didn’t have much security,” remarked Rayanne. “It couldn’t have been such a hard place to break into. They say there was no sign of a break-in.”
    “Doesn’t that just prove the burglars were professionals?” asked Chuck, who’d come back in and settled again at his table. “Probably a whole gang of thieves. From a big city somewhere.”
    “What else did the robbers take?” asked Henry.
    “Nothing else except a purple velvet cape. But it was historically priceless,” said Rayanne. “It was worn by Jenny Lind, a famous singer who visited the town once. She left her cape behind with the owner of the old opera house as a memento.”
    “Maybe that’s what the robber used to escape!” said Chuck, and several people snickered. “Put on the velvet cape and flew away.” Chuck flapped his arms, enjoying the audience.
    Maris rolled her eyes. “Time to go,” she said to the Aldens and Bobcat. They finished their hot chocolate and got up to go.
    “Let’s not forget the robbery wasn’t actually in Blizzard Gap. It was all the way over in Millpond,” Bobcat reminded everyone as they walked out of the diner.
    “That’s about as close as we get to crime these days,” said Maris.
    But then she stopped so quickly that Bobcat bumped right into her. “Oh, no!” she said. “What happened to my truck?”

CHAPTER 4
Stay Away from Blizzard Mountain!
    The red pickup truck was just where they had left it. But now it was tilted to one side, like a sinking ship.
    “Look,” said Henry. “Both tires on one side are flat.”
    “Great!” fumed Maris. “This is just great!”
    “It’ll be okay,” said Jessie. “We can fix the tires.”
    “Better yet, I’ll get Lulu the mechanic to come over from the gas station. She can patch and pump those tires in no time flat,” Bobcat said.
    “Oh, okay,” Maris said grumpily.
    While Bobcat was gone, the Aldens all examined the tires very carefully. But they couldn’t find a nail or a piece of glass or anything that would have made a hole in the tires so they would go flat.
    “Someone must have let the air out of the tires,” said Henry at last.
    “That’s what I think,” Maris