Free Movie Star Mystery by Charles Tang

CHAPTER 1
Who’s in This Old House?
    S mile and say cheese!” said six-year-old Benny Alden. He raised a camera and pointed it at his sister Violet.
    Violet smiled. But she didn’t say cheese. Instead she said, “Oh, Benny, you know that camera doesn’t have any film in it.”
    Benny’s elder brother, Henry, said, “That camera is so old it probably doesn’t even work anymore.”
    “I know,” said Benny. “I’m pretending. ”
    Jessie stopped and raised her arm dramatically. “Cheese,” she said to Benny.

    “What are you pointing at?” Benny asked.
    “I’m pretending I see a dinosaur,” Jessie said. “Quick, take my picture.”
    Benny raised the camera. He pressed a button. “There! Now I have a picture of you and the dinosaur, Jessie.”
    The Aldens all laughed and their dog, Watch, wagged his tail.
    The four Alden children were taking a hike through the woods near their hometown. They had once lived in an abandoned boxcar in these same woods. They had been orphans. They hadn’t known that their grandfather, James Alden, was looking for them.
    But then Grandfather Alden found them and took them to live with him in his big old white house on the edge of the town of Greenfield. He even moved the boxcar to a new place behind the house so that the four children could visit it whenever they wanted.
    “There’s an old barn up ahead,” Henry said.
    Jessie nodded. “And a clearing,” she remembered. “We can have our picnic there.”
    Benny said, “I’m going to take some more pictures.” Holding his camera tightly, he ran ahead of them.
    The rest of the Aldens followed him up a steep hill. They’d almost reached the top when they heard voices.
    “It doesn’t matter where you hide the loot. Forget about it,” a man’s deep voice said impatiently.
    “You’ll be sorry you didn’t take care of it,” a second male voice said.
    “Right now, I’m going to take care of you,” the first man said.
    Jessie, Henry, and Violet exchanged looks of amazement.
    “Robbers?” whispered Violet in disbelief.
    “It sounds that way,” Jessie whispered back.
    “Come on,” said Henry, and led the way up the hill.
    “It’ll never work,” said the second man. “You’ll never pull it off.”
    “Oh, yeah?” said the first man. “I’ve done it before and I can do it again.”
    Just then, the Aldens saw Benny standing at the top of the hill. He was staring down in the direction of the voices and he wasn’t even trying to hide.
    “What if the robbers see Benny?” Violet gasped.
    Without answering, Henry ran forward to grab his younger brother. But he wasn’t fast enough. Suddenly Benny began to slip and slide down the hill toward the voices.
    “Oh, no!” gasped Violet. She and Jessie quickly joined Henry at the top of the hill. They saw a short man with jet-black hair pulled back into a short ponytail, who was lying propped against the barn below. He wore faded jeans and a denim jacket and his eyes were hidden behind dark glasses. A taller man with a round stomach, chin-length brown hair, and a neatly trimmed, gray-streaked brown beard stood over him. He was dressed all in black and had a pair of dark glasses pushed up on his forehead.
    The man on the ground said, “Go ahead, Stefan. Give it your best shot.”
    The tall man raised his arms.
    As Benny reached the bottom of the hill, he said in a loud voice, “I have a camera, too, but it’s not as big as yours.”
    At that moment, Watch barked and pulled his leash from Violet’s hands. He ran down the hill and up to the man lying on the ground and began to lick his face.
    Sitting up, the man began to laugh.
    Henry, Violet, and Jessie ran down the hill after Watch and Benny.
    “Wow,” said the tall man, who was holding the camera. “What are all you kids doing out here in the middle of nowhere?”
    “This isn’t nowhere!” Benny said. “This is Greenfield.”
    “Greenfield,” said the tall man. “Right.”
    “My name’s Benny,” Benny