Free Boardwalk Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

photos. In the meantime, they relaxed on the beach. They talked about all the things they had seen and all the clues they had gathered. Jessie wrote everything down in her notebook.
    When the Aldens returned to Hanson’s pier later in the afternoon, they went straight to the work shed as planned. They were surprised to find Wendy and Will sitting with their father on a bench. He had his arms around them.
    “We’re sorry,” Jessie said. “We did not mean to intrude. We will come back later. We thought we would come a little early.”
    “Please stay,” Mr. Hanson said. “Wendy, Will, and I were just having a long talk. I now realize that we should have talked a long time ago. I didn’t take their feelings into account when we moved to Oceanside.”
    “Dad, it’s okay,” Wendy said. “Everything is fine now.”
    “Yes,” Will said. “We weren’t fair to you either, Dad. In the beginning, we did not give Oceanside a chance. We thought that if you had a lot of problems with the pier, you would not like it here. We wanted you to hate running the amusement pier. We thought you would let us move back to Colorado.”
    “You were the ones who splashed the red paint in the house of mirrors,” Jessie said. “You were careful, but some of the paint splattered onto your shoes.”
    Wendy and Will looked down at their feet. “Yes,” Will said. “You’re right, Jessie. A house of mirrors is not fun if you can see where you are going. We’re very sorry, Dad.”
    “We want to apologize to Benny, too,” Wendy said.
    Mr. Hanson looked confused. “Benny? What did you do to Benny?”
    Wendy rubbed the top of Benny’s head, but she was too embarrassed to speak.
    “Will and Wendy took the zombie from the haunted house,” Henry explained. “I am sure that they did not know that Benny would be there. The zombie is very heavy, and Will must have accidentally hit Benny in the face when he was moving it. It was very dark.”
    Mr. Hanson turned to Henry. “You knew that Will took the zombie?”
    “Not right away,” Henry said. “We could not accuse him. But there were clues. Today on the beach, we put all the clues together.”
    “I was on top of the Big Slide,” Violet explained. “I saw someone going down the steps toward the beach carrying the zombie.”
    “And at the same time,” Jessie added, “the haunted house ride was turned on. So it had to be two people working together.”
    “And they had to have had a key to turn the ride on,” Henry said.
    “Will and Wendy had a spare key,” Jessie said. “We heard Wendy say so the next day.”
    “It was very dark in the haunted house that night. I’m sorry, Benny,” Will said. “It was an accident. Wendy turned on the ride so that the lights would come on. She knew that your brother and sisters would come and help you.”
    Mr. Hanson listened in amazement. “You should have stayed and helped Benny yourselves!” he said. “You should not have left him there.”
    “We know,” Wendy said. “We’re so sorry.”
    “We feel terrible about what we have done,” Will said. “But now we know that Oceanside is a wonderful place. We understand why you wanted to move here. And we have met some very nice friends.”
    Just then Ms. Mancini stepped inside the shed. She handed a stack of photographs to Mr. Hanson. “I took a quick look through the photos. They don’t really show anything that would help you catch the person who has been playing the tricks,” she said. “I’m sorry. But there are some nice shots that we can use for advertisements.”
    Mr. Hanson glanced through the photos. He held up the one of the Ferris wheel with the word unsafe on the cars. “Did you do this, too?” he asked Wendy and Will.
    Suddenly, the doorknob of the small work shed began to rattle. Everyone grew quiet. The door slowly creaked open. A head peered around the side of the door.
    “Bob!” Mr. Hanson cried. “What are you doing here?”
    Mr. Cooke looked startled to see