The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase Read online

  Bending down, she pressed a nearly invisible button below the lab table. A shallow drawer slid open, breaking the airtight seal and revealing the half-burned contract. It had been easy to find where Miles had stashed it. She’d liberated it from its hiding spot the previous night while everyone else had slept. She should probably teach the boys her sleeping-with-one-eye-open trick. She could have danced on their heads in high heels and they wouldn’t have awoken.

  One light touch with her fingertip told her the starch she’d sprayed on it had done its job and hardened the paper. Step one, complete. Working quickly, she spritzed the paper with a solution of glycerin and water and sealed it back up in the drawer. It shouldn’t take long for the solution to do its job. Unless it turned the contract into a soggy mess, which she still couldn’t rule out.

  When she rejoined the boys by the fire, Miles handed her a burger and said, “AJ told us not to bug you about why you went inside because girls need privacy and we should be respectful of that.”

  “And don’t you forget it, mister,” she said, throwing AJ a grateful look. “So what’d I miss? Miles still arguing in favor of his little-green-aliens theory? Philip find any more girls to serenade?”

  “No on both,” Miles said, “but we saw four shooting stars.”

  “Oh yeah, I saw some the other night,” Daisy said, her arm darting out to easily catch the water bottle AJ tossed to her.

  “I saw them, too,” Logan said. “Supercool.”

  “You did?” Miles asked. “I figured you’d have been asleep. I took a video to show you.”

  “I drew a picture to show you,” Logan replied.

  The boys grinned at each other while Philip rolled his eyes without looking up from where he was recording the lie from the candy store in his notebook. Making up that speech had maxed out his lying allowance for the day—maybe even the week.

  “I wandered outside to get something,” Logan said, “and just stumbled across it. Henry was there, too, but he couldn’t see them.”

  Philip’s head snapped up when he heard that. He stuck his pen into the notebook and closed it. “You ran into Henry outside the factory in the middle of the night?” he asked.

  Logan nodded. Now that he mentioned it, he could see how odd it sounded. “He said he was out for a walk or something. At least I think that’s what he said.”

  Philip shook his head. “He couldn’t have been out for a walk.”

  “Why not?” Miles asked. “Lots of people actually enjoy being out in nature, remember?”

  “Yes, I know that,” Philip said. “But since Henry can’t…” He trailed off. What could he say that would make sense now? He’d cornered himself.

  “Since Henry can’t see,” AJ said from behind them. “Not well enough to walk around on his own in the dark.”

  All four heads wheeled around to stare at him. Philip’s surprise quickly turned to anger. Who was AJ to reveal something like that? How had he even known? Logan jumped up so fast he almost toppled forward into the fire. Daisy quickly blocked him.

  “What do you mean, Henry can’t see?” Logan demanded, his voice a little shaky.

  “He still didn’t tell you?” AJ asked. He looked around at their surprised faces and realized they truly didn’t know. Everyone except Philip, that is, who was throwing daggers at him with his eyes. “Sorry,” AJ said. “I’ll stay out of this.” He backed away toward Harvey.

  “Not so fast,” Daisy said, instantly appearing in front of him. When had she gotten faster than him? The boys hurried over. “Spill,” Daisy demanded.

  “Please tell us what you’re talking about,” Logan pleaded.

  AJ sighed. “Henry told me he was going to tell you,” he said. “That’s why he couldn’t drive you on this trip.”

  “How long have you known?” Philip asked.

  “A few months,” AJ replied.

  “Months?” Philip repeated.

  AJ nodded. “I ran into him at a doctor’s office where I was… getting a checkup.” He didn’t dare glance at Daisy. He had no intention of revealing his own health issues. He hadn’t planned to reveal Henry’s, either. “Occasionally I would drive him to his appointments when he couldn’t drive anymore. That’s really all I know.” He turned to Logan, who had begun running his fingers through his hair at a fitful pace. “I’m sorry you didn’t know. And I’m sorry he’s losing his sight. There’s nothing to be done anymore. It won’t be long now till it’s all gone.”

  “I’ve got to call him,” Logan said, turning away from the group.

  “Wait,” Philip said, grabbing Logan’s arm. “He doesn’t want you to know yet. This is hard enough on him.”

  “But you knew?” Logan asked. For the first time, jealousy really did begin to bubble up in him.

  Reluctantly, Philip nodded. “It wasn’t on purpose. I figured it out.”

  “I should have figured it out, too,” Miles said. “His glasses were getting huge.”

  Daisy remained quiet. She hadn’t been around the factory enough to have seen any change. But it sure did explain why Henry hadn’t said anything to Courtney yesterday by the safe. He hadn’t seen her!

  Logan’s head swam. Memories of Henry bumping into things or being unable to read small—and not so small—print. The way he swiveled his head all the way around to see something that wasn’t right in front of him. His frequent absences and the paperwork piling up on his desk. There were probably more signs, too. How had he missed all of them? His shoulders sank. He knew how. It was because all he’d been thinking about was himself and his own problems, which seemed very small and insignificant at the moment. His eyes filled with tears. “I need to talk to him.”

  Miles grabbed Logan’s other arm—the one Philip wasn’t holding. “Don’t call him. That’s not what Henry wanted for you on this trip.”

  “Then what was?”

  Miles hesitated, then replied, “He wanted all of us to have an adventure.”

  “Hard to do that when he’s home getting blinder every day,” Logan insisted.

  Miles shook his head sadly. “I know.”

  “I have something that will make everyone feel better,” Daisy said. “Don’t go anywhere.” She ran back into the RV. AJ followed. Miles didn’t let go of Logan’s arm, in case he tried to make a break for it. But Logan wasn’t thinking of running, or of waking up Henry, or even about being homesick. He was thinking about the Magic Bar, and about what his friends didn’t know about how it made him feel, and about how he could maybe help Henry.

  “Guys,” he said, in a low whisper, “I know Daisy wants to help us with the Harmonicandy, but as you know, she can’t get too involved because she can’t risk blowing her cover.”

  Miles nodded. “So?” Philip asked.

  “So I need you two to promise me something.” His voice took on an urgent tone. “Maybe the organism found in the bean just isn’t in the database, so the computer can’t match it with anything on Earth. Or maybe it really is from outer space, as unlikely as that sounds. But either way, promise me we won’t give up on finding the beans.”

  Philip’s eyebrows rose. “But you said we couldn’t use them, even if we could find them.”

  “I might be changing my mind.”

  Miles and Philip exchanged a look of surprise. Then Miles stuck his hand out in front of him, palm down. Logan gratefully placed his on top. They both turned toward Philip, who, after a second’s hesitation, added his own. “No giving up,” he said.

  “No giving up,” Logan and Miles repeated.

  “But where do we even start?” Logan asked.

  “We should start by asking Henry what he knows about that bean,” Miles said.

  It was at that moment that Daisy emerged from the RV, holding two things that they couldn’t make out in the dark. “We can’t ask Henry,” she said.

  “Darn those supersonic ears of hers,” Miles muttered.

  “Why not?” Philip asked. “It’s the best plan. He obviously knows more than we do.”<
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  She joined their circle. “We can’t ask him because he’s sworn to secrecy.”

  “Huh?” the boys asked.

  She lifted one hand, and they could see she was holding a pair of rubber tongs with a piece of paper clipped to the end. “It’s still a little damp,” she explained. Miles snapped on his headlamp. They all crowded around when they realized what they were seeing.

  The burn marks on the contract were completely gone. Four names appeared on the bottom in faded ink, one below the other, first names only. They scanned them hungrily. Sam was first, then someone named Frank, then Evy from the picture outside the factory. Their heads jerked up when they read the last name on the list. “Henry?” Logan asked, feeling dizzy.

  “Our Henry?” Miles asked, stepping backward until he could lean against the picnic table for support.

  Daisy nodded. “It has to be. Unless you know another Henry?”

  “Logan,” Philip said, turning quickly, “you were with Henry when that box came for you, right?”

  Logan had to push through the fog in his head in order to focus on his words. He nodded and choked out, “Yes. He helped me open it. Actually, he cried when he saw what it was.”

  “He cried?” the others repeated.

  Logan nodded slowly, thinking back to the other day. “He never told me why he was crying, so I didn’t really put it together with the box. But it must have been that. Or, wait, it was after I read him the letter.”

  “You said an old friend of your grandfather’s sent you that stuff,” Miles said. “But I didn’t see a letter in there.”

  Logan was glad the fire had nearly completely died out, so no one could see his cheeks redden. “Yeah, I took it out before I gave you the box. It’s probably in the shorts I was wearing that day. It was kind of… embarrassing, I guess. Stuff about not feeling bad about losing the contest, that sort of thing.”

  “Did you know the person who wrote it?” Daisy asked.

  Logan shook his head. “It was from a guy. I remember thinking it sounded like he had two first names.”

  Daisy pointed down at the name below Sam’s on the contract. “Was it Frank?”

  Logan thought back and quickly nodded. “Yes. He signed it Franklin, though. Franklin Griffin.”

  Miles sprang off the table as though he’d been pushed hard by an invisible hand. “Franklin Griffin?” he repeated. “Franklin O. Griffin?”

  Logan took a step back, surprised by the outburst. “Um, yes? I think so. Do you know him?”

  “Oh wow, oh man, no, I don’t know him personally, just… wow.” Miles flapped his arms around and bounced on his heels while the others stared at him. “Franklin O. Griffin is only one of the most famous mapmakers in the world! I have three copies of his maps on my bedroom wall at home. When I grow up, I want to be just like him. No, I want to be him! I wanted to write him a fan letter when I was little, but I couldn’t find a place to send it. He’s, like, a recluse or something. I used to imagine that he’d crawled into one of his own maps and was living there.” Miles collapsed back onto the table.

  “So you’ve heard of him, then?” Philip joked.

  Miles just sighed happily.

  “Oookaayy,” Daisy said, patting Miles gently on the head, “that was extreme.” She got out her vid com and opened the file she’d named The Case of the Missing Chocolate. “We’ve made some good progress. Time to update.”

  Philip began ticking things off on his fingers.

  “One: Henry knew this guy Frank, so he must have known what was in that box, including the contract and the map, which, if I had to bet, was made by none other than Frank himself.” He raised another finger. “Two: Henry was in possession of one of the beans mentioned in this contract. Or at least we can assume the bean came from the same batch, especially since he had that photograph with it. Three: He gave us chocolate made from the beans. It is unclear if he knew that it would be impossible to actually get more of it, since, according to our analysis, at least part of it is not found anywhere on this planet. That said, as Daisy no doubt overheard, we promised Logan we wouldn’t stop looking. Four: Henry must have gone to the safe for the Magic Bar and realized we’d found it. He somehow persuaded AJ to drive us, so he clearly wanted us to go on this mission. His strange reactions both on the day we left and in front of the safe seem to confirm that. I say if we have any chance of finding the source for the beans, we will have to ask him to break the contract and tell us. Did I leave anything out?”

  Daisy smiled. “Between your deductive reasoning and your ability to lie to large crowds, you really should take AJ up on his offer and consider spy work someday. You know, if the violin gig doesn’t work out.”

  “I just might,” Philip said. Something in Daisy’s other hand caught his eye, and he suddenly backed away and pointed at it. “Um, Daisy, what is that?”

  “Oh, right,” Daisy said. She’d forgotten she was still holding the item from the dead drop. “This is what I went inside to show you. I thought you’d think it was funny.” She held her palm closer to Miles’s headlamp. He and Logan leaned in to get a better look at the absolute last thing in the world they expected to see. They scrambled backward, almost knocking Philip over.

  “That’s a pile of poop!” Miles exclaimed, eyes wide in horror.

  “I know!” Daisy said, grinning. “Isn’t it cool?”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Miles, Daisy, and Logan learned that the single best way to relieve the stress they were all under was to take turns hiding the fake plastic poop in various places around the RV. Under Philip’s pillow as he slept that night. On AJ’s shoulder as he drove toward their next candy store. On Aurora’s back. Judging by her snarl and hiss, she was the only one who didn’t seem to appreciate the joke. Philip had to pet her for ten minutes before she’d stop giving the others the stinkeye.

  Logan called Henry at home six times, getting an answering machine each time. When the factory opened for the day, Betty, the main receptionist, told him Henry had gone on vacation.

  “Vacation!” Logan said, hanging up. “Henry hasn’t taken a vacation since I’ve known him. He chooses now?”

  “Pretty sure it’s not a coincidence,” Daisy said. “I figured he wasn’t going to be any help.” She got up to check the computer. The last man in the photograph still stubbornly refused to be identified.

  “He wrote back!” Miles said, checking e-mail on his vid com. “Arthur wrote back.”

  They gathered around the table as Miles read the note out loud.

  Hello, young traveler, I hope you’re having a grand adventure and that you’ll have plenty of geocaching stories for me and will be ready to hide your own when you get back.

  Miles looked up. “Hmm. Haven’t done any caching yet. Mr. Sweet promised we could. And I told Arthur I’d teach you guys.”

  “We’ve been a little busy,” Daisy reminded him. “You know, trying to track down little blue beans from space.”

  When Miles continued to stare off, eyes unfocused, she said, “Oh, fine, how about I give you the poop container. You can use it to stuff some trinkets inside, and we can hide it when we get home.”

  Miles brightened. “It’s a deal. The perfect cache!”

  “Philip,” she said, “can you grab it for me?”

  He stood up. “Where is it?”

  “In your underwear drawer,” she said, keeping a straight face. Logan and Miles giggled.

  Philip sighed deeply. “You all may have serious problems.” But he went to fetch it anyway.

  Miles continued reading Arthur’s letter when Philip returned.

  The first thing I did when you gave me the photograph was try to contact the photography studio that took the original. By the way, I saw the original at the factory when I delivered that old box of candy wrappers to the librarian there. The factory’s library is a beautiful place. I can see why you speak so highly of it. Anyway, oftentimes photography studios will keep records of each person in the photos they take i
n case a copyright issue ever arises and they’re asked to prove they own the image. But to cut to the chase, there are no records of the names, because Spring Haven Photographs & Fur does not exist. It never did exist.

  Miles looked up again, brow furrowed. “That’s weird!”

  “Keep reading,” Philip said, pointing back down.

  Miles continued.

  All is not lost, though. I was able to figure out three of the people by perusing the other old photos in Mrs. Gepheart’s display that did have names on them. See attached scan below. I will continue to venture forth. Say hello to your friends. I look forward to meeting them one day.

  Miles scrolled down until a picture appeared. Above three heads, Arthur had scribbled the names Sam Sweet, Florence Sweet, and, for the last man on the left, Henry Jennings. That had to be their Henry!

  “It doesn’t look anything like him,” Logan said, “but that’s his name, all right.”

  Philip peered more closely at the picture. “Look how skinny he was. Shame what eating a pound of marshmallows every day will do to a guy.”

  Daisy kicked him under the table. “Let’s see how good you look in fifty years!”

  “I hate to say it,” Logan began, sliding the contract to the middle of the table. “But we have to face the fact that the computer is wrong. Wherever these beans came from, we know it wasn’t outer space. The contract talks about a hidden valley, and I’m sure it’s not in the sky.”

  Daisy sighed. She knew he was right. But if the computer was wrong when it analyzed the bean, what if it was wrong when it analyzed her and AJ’s DNA? What if he really was her brother? It looked like further testing would be required. “This is going to sound strange,” she said, “but I have an idea. Let’s give the lab more things to analyze, things we know the content of.”

  “Like what?” Logan asked.

  “Well, it can’t be too easy, or else it’s not a good test,” she said. She looked around at the group. “We all know we’re not related to each other, right?”