“To her store in Greenfield and to her store in Northport.” Benny bounced up and down on his chair.
“And, Ms. Wilson likes the word Yip!” Benny added.
The others laughed. “That’s true, Benny,” said Jessie. “Is that good or bad?”
“Good,” said Benny.
Jessie used a third page of her notebook and wrote:
Candy Wilson
—can get dogs to follow her
—has sharp cutting tools
—asks a lot of questions about each dog
—owns a store that sells puppies and dogs
“There is only one person left to think about,” said Violet.
Jessie nodded. “Mike Kovack.”
“There are a lot of suspicious things about Mr. Kovack,” said Henry. “He told Mr. Brooks that the malamute would be stolen next. That’s Grayson. And Grayson was stolen next!”
“Mr. Kovack is very good with dogs,” said Violet. “Dogs just seem to listen to him and do what he says. And,” she said, “Mr. Kovack was doing something to Grayson’s collar.”
“Yes,” said Jessie. “Whatever it was, he didn’t want us to know about it.”
Violet looked puzzled.
“What are you thinking?” Henry asked her.
“About Christie, Mr. Kovack’s dog. She’s the best trained dog I’ve ever seen,” answered Violet.
Henry nodded. “That’s right. So I wonder what Mr. Kovack is doing in dog training school. Maybe he’s there to steal dogs.”
“There’s a problem with that,” said Jessie. “Mr. Kovack wasn’t there Monday afternoon, when Boxcar was stolen.”
Henry thought about this for a while. “That’s true,” he said. “But today Mr. Kovack said he had to leave for a meeting. Then, when Grayson was stolen, Mr. Kovack came running. And he stayed the whole time we were searching. I think Mr. Kovack lied about having a meeting.” Henry scratched his head and thought a bit longer. “And Roxanne seemed very upset with Mr. Kovack. I wonder if she thinks he stole Grayson Majesty.”
“Mr. Kovack lied about the dime,” said Benny.
“What dime?” asked Henry.
“The shiny thing that fell from Grayson’s collar,” said Benny. “Only I saw it, and it wasn’t a dime. Mr. Kovack put it in his pocket.”
Henry snapped his fingers. “That reminds me! After I said that Grayson’s leash had been cut, Mr. Kovack took the leash and put it in his pocket!”
“Mr. Kovack is very suspicious,” said Jessie as she turned to another page of her notebook. She wrote:
Mike Kovack
—dogs obey what he says
—seemed to know which dog would be stolen next
—tried to do something to Grayson’s collar, then Grayson was stolen
—lied about the shiny thing that fell from his hand
—lied about needing to go to a meeting when Grayson was stolen
—took Grayson’s leash after Henry said the leash had been cut
After she had finished writing, Jessie read the notes out loud.
“Wow,” said Benny. “Somebody is stealing dogs, but I don’t know who.”
That night before the children went to sleep, they agreed they had to talk to some people the next day.
CHAPTER 7
Watch’s Collar
“We gave out all our flyers about Grayson Majesty,” said Violet as she and Henry met up with Jessie, Benny, and Watch. The children had hiked to town after breakfast. They had divided into two teams and visited stores.
“We did, too,” said Jessie.
“I sure hope Mrs. Servus gets her dog back soon,” said Violet “And Mr. Brooks, too.”
“Now we’ll get right to work on the mystery,” said Henry.
Benny led the way to the Bread Loaf Bakery.
There was a new handwritten sign on the door. It said, Dogs Welcome.
“I guess that means we can take Watch inside,” said Jessie.
“Hello, Mr. Brooks,” said Benny as the children entered the shop. “Have you found Boxcar yet?”
“No,” said Mr. Brooks.
“We’ve come to buy some rolls and get our free lemonades,” said Benny. He clutched the coupon in his hand and almost pressed his nose to the glass case. Jessie pulled him back just in time, before he smeared the sparkling