I recently read Super Mystery #3, Baby-sitters' Fright Night (and just in time for Halloween, too!) and now I will share my thoughts. First of all, let me give you a little behind the scenes of how I work on these reviews: I take notes as a read the book and as I'm reading I try to guess/solve the mystery. I will let you know what my predictions were as a I go through the story.
Our story begins with Abby telling us that that some of the SMS students will be going to Salem on a four-day "Halloween retreat" from Thursday until Sunday. (The last day falls on Halloween.) That's the Salem in Massachusetts, not in Oregon. (Sorry, had to make that joke!) Though, unlike when they all went to Vermont for their "winter vacation", this trip is not mandatory. Kristy is freaking out because five members of the BSC will be gone four four days: herself, Abby, Mary Anne, Stacey, and Mallory. That leaves four, count them, FOUR members who aren't going and therefore will be able to cover FOUR WHOLE DAYS without the rest of the BSC: Claudia, Jessi, Shannon, and Logan. Oh, no, Kristy, whatever will you do? Seriously, why is she freaking out over four flippin' days when there are plenty of baby-sitters in Stoneybrook when she's been gone two whole weeks several times without any baby-sitters (the two associated members if they're lucky) to cover anything? STFU, Kristy. But she will shut up about it once they get to Salem because while they're there, she never brings it up again. So weird.
The students who are going on the four-day field trip are required to pick a topic about Salem and work on a project about it. We really only learn what Stacey's idea for her project is She wants to do "something on [Salem's] early economic history." (Yawn!) At the BSC meeting before they all leave, Shannon says, "Reports or no reports, I wish our school would plan a trip like that for us." Uh....didn't her school take the French class students to Paris? Now, I know she didn't go because she purposely failed her French final, but that's her own damn fault.
Claudia isn't going because her parents are worried about her grades and I guess they want her to stay in Stoneybrook so she can work on her studies. But I'm assuming the Salem project would be considered extra credit, so wouldn't that be a good way for her to boost her grades? Both this book and Claudia Kishi, Middle School Dropout (#101) came out in October 1996, so this must be a bit of foreshadowing.
Jessi isn't going because she will be dancing in Stoneybrook University's Halloween Dance performance. I don't know what surprises me more: that there's a Stoneybrook University or a "Halloween Dance" performance is a thing. I just imagine Jessi dress in a black leotard with bones painted on it so she looks like a skeleton when she's dancing to "spooky" music.
Logan's not going because there's a football game that weekend. I guess that means the other team members won't get the chance to go either. It turns out just twenty students are going including Alan Gray, Cary Retlin, Cokie Mason, and Grace Blume (you know, the all the BSC girls' favorites!) Four teachers are going as chaperones: Ms. Garcia, Mr. Blake, Coach Wu, and Mrs. Bernhardt. Ms. Garcia is bringing her daughter and Mary Anne has volunteered to take care of her when she needs a baby-sitter. Of course she has.
So I have a theory about why not all the members of the BSC are going on the Salem trip and it's simple: there's not enough storylines to come up for all of them in Salem, so they'll have their own (really stupid and lame...just you wait) plot back in Stoneybrook. If you think about it, this started back in Super Special #10, Sea City, Here We Come! True, all the members will end up in the same place by the second week, but the first week, half of them are in Sea City and the other half are still in Stoneybrook. They will also split the group in Here Comes the Bridesmaids, BSC in the USA, Baby-sitters European Vacation, and Kristy and Mallory stay in Stoneybrook in Aloha, Baby-sitters! I really think the ghost writers were trying to rack their brains trying to come up with seven (sometimes more if Logan was there) storylines when they were all in one location and dividing them up makes it easier. And, honestly, I don't blame them.
Anyway, back to the meeting. They're talking about the upcoming trip and Stacey brings up that America's first millionaire lived in Salem. I fact checked (okay, I Googled) this and she's (probably) right:
Elias Hasket Derby (1739-1799) was Salem's most prominent merchant and probably America's first millionaire.
Apparently, around this time, Mallory has started carrying a briefcase instead of a backpack. Who does she think she is? Alex P. Keaton? It just cracks me up picturing this eleven-year-old redhead girl with glasses carrying around a briefcase. Inside she has a guidebook about Salem and tells them there will be a parade. Of course, because there's always a damn parade in these books, especially the Super Specials! Though to be fair, this one does make sense since they will be in Salem over Halloween. There is a celebration around Halloween called Haunted Happenings. Honestly, I'm surprised nobody brought up Hocus Pocus. Surely they have seen that movie!
The next day, Thursday, the twenty SMS students and four teachers and one bus driver head to Salem. On the way there, Alan dumps cold spaghetti down Kristy's shirt. This is the first of many pranks that Alan will pull on Kristy. Did he just bring cold spaghetti to do that or was that his lunch?
We meet Eileen Murphy, a shy sixth-grader we've never met before and probably will never see again after this book. She is made fun of by the likes of Cokie and Grace because she claims one of her ancestors was tried in Salem for being a witch so they're always making jabs about her being a witch. She will be sharing a room with Mallory which is why I think that's why they left Jessi back in Stoneybrook.
When they arrive at the Salem Gables the inn where they will be staying, Mal is excited because she sees Martha Kempner, a writer who's penned a few mystery novels and writes articles for papers and magazines. Mallory admires her greatly and introduces herself to tell her she's a fan. Mal notices that Martha is quite short, barely taller than herself and was "wearing what looked like three-inch heels." How tall do you think Mal is? Five-three, five-four? This woman is wearing three-inch heels and she's still shorter than Mal! Oh, wait, I take that back. I just Googled the average height for an eleven-year-old girl and I was way off. It's more like 4'8". So that means Martha Kempner is really freakin' short! Since her heigh is mentioned in such detail, while reading this, I predicted that she was going to be involved in the mystery somehow and her heigh was going to be a major detail or clue.
Martha tells Mallory she's working on "a piece on the Witch's Eye" which is on display in the Trove House Museum. (This must not be a real place because I tried Googling it, but couldn't find anything. Either that or the name changed. I've never been to Salem, so I wouldn't know.) What is the Witch's Eye? As Martha tells Mal, "It's a large nearly perfect yellow diamond, almost the size of a small egg." She says the color is rare and because of the size, it is "extraordinary valuable" and supposedly comes with "a horrible curse." While reading this, I made a prediction that I was certain would one hundred percent happen: this diamond will go missing. Mark my words. It will happen.
Martha continues, telling Mal she is there to "separate fact from legend about it." She believes it's called the Witch's Eye because of the color. Now you would think such a valuable gem like this would belong to a museum, but it actually belong to an elderly woman named Agatha Moorehouse. How did this woman acquire this super valuable diamond? Did she inherit it? Has it been in her family for generations? Is she so rich that she bought it off the black market? We are never told this information. Anyway, Agnes is also staying at the same inn (conveniently, all the people who are in play in the mystery are staying at the same inn as as the BSC) and she has a healthcare worker named Naomi Furusawa who is always with her.
Like I mentioned earlier, Mallory is sharing a room with Eileen and right next to her, Abby and Stacey are sharing a room and Mary Anne and Kristy are sharing a room.
The four chaperones have posted their schedules for tomorrow and the students can sign up for several tours including one of the House of the Seven Gables which is also the title of a Nathaniel Hawthorne book. (I admit I'm not familiar with that novel.) We get this interesting exchange:
"He wrote The Scarlet Letter too," [Mal] put in.
"But not the movie version," cracked Stacey. "Ugh."
Hmmm, was that a dig at the Demi Moore movie? Methinks that Nola Thacker (the ghostwriter) really hates that movie and projected it onto Stacey! (Ha, I remember watching that movie when I was either a sophomore or junior in high school after we read the book and our teacher would fast forward through the nudity scenes!)
The Witch's Eye is brought up and Stacey tells Mal that she learned about it when she went to the Museum of Natural History on a field trip. We get this funny exchange:
"What is the curse on the Witch's Eye?" [Mal] asked Stacey.
"I don't remember," Stacey said. "Something awful."
"Curses usually are," commented Abby, rolling her eyes.
Alan's prank tour on Kristy continues that evening during dinner when he somehow pours ice on Kristy's chair. I'm confused about the logistics of how this happened. We do see him come over and "apologize" about the spaghetti incident so that's when he must have poured ice on her seat, but nobody seemed to see anything. It seems all of a sudden Kristy notices that her chair, pants, and shirt are wet.
While eating dinner, Mal notices a man at another table with a newspaper who keeps glancing at Martha Kempner. She notices he's only pretending to read the paper because he hasn't turned the page. She dubs him the "newspaper spy". She sees another man, "dressed like a banker or a lawyer" approach Martha's table and introduce himself himself as Harvey Hapgood, but then realizes she's not talking to Martha, but rather to Agnes Moorehouse. (I'm guessing they were at the same table.) Mal tells us she is able to hear snippets of their conversation (including the man's name) because a table with some loud rowdy kids had just left. Harvey must have asked Agnes if she would be willing to sell the Witch's Eye because they hear her say, "Sell the Witch's Eye? Absolutely not." This guy has some balls, just asking the owner of a very expensive (and I assume rare) jewel to sell it to him.
After dinner, the girls hang out in Kristy and Mary Anne's room for a while and Mallory brings up the guy with the newspaper and how she thinks he's watching Martha, because, as she puts it, he "might be an unauthorized biographer of Martha Kempner". Even Mal has to admit that idea sounds pretty lame and they all think he's probably watching Mrs. Moorehouse. Mal likes this idea a lot better and jumps to the insane conclusion that he wants to steal the Witch's Eye. Stacey points out that if that were true, he'd be casing the museum instead. Yeah, DUH, Mallory. After Stacey says that, we get this:
"Boo-hoo, Cassandra Clue," Abby said referring to a mystery show some of our clients had created and staged when they'd had to endure a ban on television.
Uh, aren't their clients the parents? I don't think the kids they're baby-sitting for are paying them to watch them! Mal should have said "some of the kids we sit for" instead of "some of our clients."
We get our first mention of Mallory wishing she had the mystery notebook with her, but then realizes there's not really a mystery at the moment, so she forgets about it. I made a prediction that it would be brought up again, and, oh, it will be. Just you wait. Just you wait for a really stupid side plot.
Speaking of really stupid side plots, Alan continues his prank war by calling them, pretending to be a ghost. Pretty lame, although it cracked me up when Kristy yells "Infantile brat!" into the receiver and slams it down.
On Friday, they're all splitting up with the different groups. Stacey and Mary Anne are going on the museum tour which includes going to the Trove House Museum to see the Witch's Eye; Kristy and Mallory are going to see the House of the Seven Gables; and Abby is going on the Red Line Tour where she and the other students will be jogging as they follow a red line that goes past many famous sites. Unsurprisingly, that one is led by Coach Wu. That group wouldn't be so bad if jogging wasn't involved. Like, why can't you just walk? I would sign up for any of the tours but the one. The fourth tour is of the Salem Witch Museum and Eileen, Cokie, and Grace are in that group. Stacey gives us a fashion report of Eileen's outfit:
She was wearing a huge purple dress, a puffy orange windbreaker, and these really clunk shoes. Her hair struck out in spikes beneath a wool hat that had patterns of white snowflakes on a red background. She was fashion-challenged.
Okay, yes, that does sound like a terrible outfit, but you know if Claud was wearing this exact same thing, these bitches would be RAVING about it and how Claudia Lynn Kishi is the most fashion forward person they know and a style icon and blah, blah, blah.
Stacey and Mary Anne have just barely entered the Trove House Museum when the alarm goes off and "everything went from museum quiet to utter chaos." This reminds me of Claudia and the Mystery at he Museum when she's at a museum and the alarms go off because something is stolen (I can't remember what).
Stacey tells Mary Anne to wait and heads towards the big room where the alarm is coming from and sees a group of people, including a few police officers, gathered around a case in the middle of the room. She hears one man insist that he set the alarm. A woman mentions that the alarm can be shut off manually if someone has the key and the code. A man in a security guard uniform informs them that when he walked into the room to begin guard duty, he noticed the Witch's Eye was missing and he trigged the alarm manually. One of the officers mentioned there is "no overt sign of tampering with the case."
Stacey sees a scrap of white paper half hidden under the edge of a case and recognizes it as stationery from the Salem Gables with a series of numbers printed on it. Stacey tells us that the numbers "immediately imprinted themselves on [her] brain" and that "numbers have a way of of doing that" and gives an example that she had had the license plate of the bus that drove them to Salem in her head. Have we ever heard about this odd little quirk from Stacey or have they just conveniently added it as a new character trait?
A security guard sees Stacey, alerting the police officers of her whereabouts. Stacey ends up giving one of them, Officer Saxon, the piece of paper (good thing she has the number memorized!) she found. The floor is swept and mopped every night so it must have been dropped that day. Officer Saxon, takes Stacey's information in case she needs to talk to her later. After she's done she simply says "Thanks, you may go now" and this pisses Stacey off for some stupid reason:
"You're welcome," I replied, trying to sound icily dignified, and miffed at being dismissed like a little kid. Adults! I was surprised she didn't say "Run along and play!"
WTF is Stacey talking about? Maybe her tone to Stacey was condescending, but I didn't read it that way. As she's exiting the building, she sees the man Mal dubbed "the newspaper spy" coming up the stairs and hears him ask Officer Saxon for a "complete briefing."
Is it me or do the baby-sitters seem to witness a lot of robberies?
Meanwhile, while that was going on, Mary Anne had exited the museum and is headed back to the inn. The other students in her group (except for Stacey!) have already gone back there. When she gets closer to the Salem Gables, she hears people coming around the side, so her first instinct, for some reason, is to hide in the bushes by the building. (Yeah, that's not shady at all Mary Anne!) It's Mrs. Moorehouse and her nurse. The elderly woman wants to get to the museum as soon as possible. She is upset about her diamond being stolen and this means she is now bankrupt. I'm thinking, doesn't she have insurance on this thing?, but half a page later I get my answer when Mary Anne narrates:
Surely Mrs Moorehouse had insured the diamond. So even if the Witch's Eye were the most valuable thing she owned, and it was stolen, wouldn't she get an enormous amount of insurance on it? I mean, you wouldn't own something like the Witch's Eye without having it insured....Had Mrs. Moorehouse forgotten to pay her insurance? Could that be why she was so upset?
That would be pretty dumb if she forgot to insure it! It's at this part of the book when I make my first prediction of who possible stole the diamond: I think it's the caretaker! Maybe she "took care" of the insurance. Is my prediction right? Read on to find out!
Mary Anne assumes that someone must have called and told Mrs. Moorehouse that the diamond was stolen and that's why she knew about it so quickly. She wants to ask Stacey about the insurance because she thinks she'll know about it because "people who are good at math usually know about things like that." She realizes she's still crouched in the bushes and looking super sus (no kidding) and starts to get up. When she puts her hands on the ground to push herself up, she touches "something soft and furry and very, very dead." The chapter ends on a cliffhanger (only for us to find out what happens in the very next chapter!) I predict it's some article of clothing, maybe a fur coat. I don't know why she's thinking dead animal. I would imagine you could tell a fur coat from a dead animal if you were just touching it (and touching a dead animal would be much, much worse!) I don't even know how she didn't see this thing in the first place. I guess whatever it is, it must have been well hidden.
Abby has been on her jogging tour, but she starts to get a "rubbed sore spot" (eww! (and ow!)) which she thinks might be the start of a blister (ugh!), so she asks Coach Wu for permission to leave the group so she can go back to the inn to take care of it with gel and a band-aid. She blames the blister on the new pair of socks she's wearing which I thought was weird cuz if I get a blister, it's usually from a new pair of shoes; never from socks. Luckily I haven't had a blister in a while, so yay!
As she's headed back to the Salem Gables, she hears Mary Anne's "blood-curdling scream." I was right about it not being a dead animal, but I was wrong about it being an article of clothing. It was a black wig. I still don't understand why she thought it was a dead animal. And, God, how embarrassing for Mary Anne to be screaming over a wig!
Mary Anne tells Abby about the stolen Witch's Eye and says she was hiding in the bushes because she heard voices. Abby points out that she must not have been the first one hiding and whoever the owner of the wig is must have been there first. Duh, ya think, Abby? She wonders how the wig ended up in the bush and if perhaps it fell from a window. Mary Anne also finds sunglasses and what looks to be a custodian's uniform with the name of the museum. Seriously, how did she not see all of this before?
Abby thinks it must be what the thief wore to get into the museum undetected and rob the diamond. Why the hell would they be so stupid to leave their uniform in the bushes? Well, don't you worry, that question will be answered in due time!
The two girls go inside the inn to tell Mr. Hewson, the owner, who's at the reception desk, what they found and he insists they stay down there while he calls the police. While he's on the phone with the police, they ask him to give a message to Martha Kempner and he says he just saw her go in the gift shop so he asks Abby to tell her that he needs to give her a message.
This whole thing is so weird. Why would the police need to give Martha a message? And why are they asking the owner of the inn to tell her? If they needed to talk to her, they could easily contact her themselves. It's just such an odd scene that she has to be somehow involved in this mystery. This is when I make the prediction that the clothes and wig that were found in the bushes belong to her.
Abby goes to the gift shop to tell Martha she's wanted at the front desk. She sees a small ceramic pumpkin in a basket of "hokey souvenirs" near the door. According to her, it's "made of that fake ceramic stuff that doesn't break easily, and painted a really bright orange" and "it had round eyes and a toothy grin." She thinks it might be part of a salt and pepper shaker set, but deems it's not the right size and there are no holes at the top. She is able to hold it on her palm, so I'm guessing it's the size of a baseball or softball. She decides she must have it. There's no price sticker on it and when she goes up to pay for it, the clerk doesn't recognize it as their merchandise and just thinks it must be something new. While reading this, I make a new prediction! This pumpkin is an important part of the plot and holds a clue. But who left it there and why? Martha was last seen in the gift shop, hmmm. Abby gives the clerk two dollars since there's a crack at the bottom. Even for 1996, that seems pretty cheap. But the clerk accepts it. Abby will name the ceramic souvenir Cornucopia and jokingly call it her pet pumpkin.
She and Mary Anne are interviewed by one of the officers who come to the inn, Officer Frizell.
So it's this part of the book when we take a break from all the excitement in Salem and get a chapter set in Stoneybrook. I'm going to tell you right now: this book could have easily cut out the Stoneybrook chapters. There's really only one chapter that intertwines with the main plot and it's when Jessi and Shannon are baby-sitting for the Pikes on Friday. The whole B story with them is that Jordan claims he has discovered "an ancient book of secret spells" and now he's putting spells on his siblings (or claiming to put spells on them). Mal calls to tell them what had happened. I guess she knew Jessi would be sitting at her house? Or did she call the Ramseys first and they told her where she was.
Since Jessi has no idea what the Witch's Eye is, she has no clue what Mal is talking about (because Mal just starts with "The Witch's Eye has been stolen" without explaining what it it) and I laughed at this:
[Jessi] looked at the phone. Had Jordan cast a long-distance spell on Mallory, making her lose all reason?
Mal explains everything to Jessi and Shannon so they have a better grasp of what's going on. Remember when Mal said she wished she had the mystery notebook? Well, she still does. She asks Jessi to send it. Jessi is thinking Mal called them because she wants them to do research at the library or follow a potential suspect and she's all excited to do something like that, so when Mal asks her to send the notebook, she replies, "What?" because that's not what she was expecting and dumbass Mal replies:
"The mystery notebook. You know, the one I helped put together from all the notes about the other mysteries in our club notebook, remember?"
Duh, Mal, I'm sure Jessi knows what you're talking about. But I can't really blame Mal too much because if I had to do all the copying from one notebook to the other, I would constantly remind everybody the hard work I did too, heh!
Jessi thinks that maybe she can help by looking up a suspect they have, but Mal tells her she needs the notebook to keep notes. She claims that she can't write them in her social studies book and Shannon says it doesn't matter where she writes the notes which is true. Why is Mal so obsessed with having the notebook? She tells them Coach Wu's husband and Mr. Blake's wife are driving up together tomorrow so she wants Jessi to give the notebook to them...this is just really stupid. They're only there for four days so they'll only have the book for two days. Also, if I were Jessi, I would be annoyed at having to go to a teacher's house to give them a notebook to take to Salem.
Now back to our regularly scheduled program in Salem. Kristy, Mallory, and Alan are all in the same group that is touring the House of the Seven Gables. Mallory and others count the gables to make sure there are seven. I'm not exactly sure what a gable is, but it has something to do with the architect. According to Wikipedia, "a gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches." Yeah...just look up the House of the Seven Gables and you can see what it looks like!
After their tour, they all stop at a candy store on their way back to the inn. Here, we get a very odd scene and more of Alan tormenting Kristy. There are free samples in a small dish that must not be labeled. Alan takes one first, then passes the dish to Kristy where she notes there was only one chocolate in it and that "should have tipped [her] off." She takes it and puts it her mouth, then immediately spits it out because it's a salted chocolate and majorly overreacts by screeching "EEUUUWW! That's disgusting. It's salty!", then makes a big show of spitting it out in her hand. I would have been so embarrassed if I was the teacher with them and one of my students acted that way. Similar to the pouring ice on her chair prank, I am confused about the logistics of this prank. I feel fairly confident that Alan didn't add any salt and that it really was a salted chocolate. But did Alan know Kristy didn't like those and that's why he offered it to her? But why was there only one left? Were there other chocolates in it and he somehow got rid of them so Kristy would be forced to take the only one left? (Kristy says she was looking at the case when Alan noticed the free samples.) If so, where did he put the extra chocolates? I'm just so confused. And, honestly, just so mortified by Kristy's immature reaction. Also, am I the only one who likes salty foods and chocolate together? One of my favorite snack combinations is chocolate covered raisins with popcorn! I can't say I've ever had a salted chocolate before.
When they return to the inn, Kristy sees the police cars and pretty much demands Mr. Hewson (who's behind the front desk) to tell her what's going on. Even though it's none of her damn business, he tells her anyway and adds that a couple of her classmates found some clues. She and Mal go up to Abby and Stacey's room where they're there with Mary Anne. Kristy demands to know what's going on:
"What's missing? Have they dusted for prints? Do they have any suspects? What clues did you guys find?"
Why does she care so much? Why do they all care so much? Sure, it sucks for the old lady that her expensive diamond was stolen, but that's on her if it wasn't insured. A piece of jewelry was stolen. Nobody was hurt or killed, nothing else was taken, no property was destroyed. Who fucking cares? Sure, I guess it would be exciting if you were on a trip and something like that happened, but I wouldn't be, like, trying to inject myself into the investigation! I rolled my eyes when Kristy says "I declare this an emergency meeting of the Baby-sitters Club. We have a mystery to solve." Who do they think they are, the gang from Scooby-Doo? Mallory is totally Velma! Stacey is Daphne, Kristy is Fred, and I can see Abby as Shaggy...they both like to crack jokes. Would that make Cornucopia the Scooby-Doo? Also, Kristy, no, no you do not have a mystery to solve. Let the authorities do that. That's their job, not yours.
They think the thief must also be staying at the Salem Gables since the museum is nearby and the stationery that Stacey found with the numbers written on it was from the inn. Abby calls the front desk to ask if there were any check outs, but nobody checked out or checked in. Not sure if the front desk is allowed to give that information, but maybe it's okay since she wasn't asking about anybody in particular. Just you wait til a later scene!
This is when Mal gets the idea to call Jessi to ask for the notebook. And my questions gets answered. She already knew that Jessi and Shannon were baby-sitting at her house that afternoon. (Maybe Mary Anne told her.) Wouldn't it have made more sense to have the baby-sitting chapter after this one? I guess Nola thought it needed a Stoneybrook chapter sooner to break up the Salem storyline.
They come up with a few suspects which include Harvey Hapgood (you remember, the guy who asked Mrs. Moorehouse if she would sell the diamond to him), and the "newspaper spy", although since the police let him in he's not too high on their list. Abby thinks Mrs. Moorehouse and her nurse are in on it together and that the elderly woman really doesn't need a wheelchair. Mary Anne points out she wouldn't steal it if she didn't have insurance and says she overheard that she doesn't. (I guess that happened off page!)
At lunch, Mr. Blakes makes an announcement about the stolen gem to the whole SMS crew. Why are they treating this like the Mona Lisa was stolen? Is this diamond world renown or something? Is this getting national, even international attention? (If it is, we're not told about it.) Why didn't they have better security? Again, who really cares that much? I chuckled a bit when he tells them he "didn't think it would interfere too much with [their] trip." Well, why would it? It's not like the whole city of Salem is shutting down because of this. Although, the way the BSC members are acting, it's the only thing that's on their mind and they need to solve the case before the can eat or sleep! The Trove Museum will be closed, but, hey, I'm sure there's plenty of other things to do in Salem!
Somehow they are told the following information:
Long before lunch was over, we'd been told that a partial fingerprint had been found, a roadblock had been set up, and the police had sent the maintenance uniform to the FBI for analysis.
Kristy does admit she doesn't know if all of this is true. I'm guessing Nola Thacker had her say this because even she knows it's ridiculous.
We do get a bit of a dig at Dawn which I thought was kinda funny. Kristy mentions she's keeping an eye on Alan and that, for now, the dining room remained prank free:
It did not, however, remain cruelty-free. And I'm not talking about the fact that meat was served (sorry, Dawn). I'm talking about Cokie and Grace and their ongoing torment of Eileen.
Throughout the book, they've been making snide comments about her being a witch and her ancestors being witches.
That afternoon, the group is going to walk along the Essex Street Pedestrian Mall, a "historic cobblestone-and-brick street in the middle of downtown Salem that has been closed off to vehicle traffic" (that was taken from the Salem.org website; not the book) and participate in the Haunted Happenings activities. Ms. Garcia asks Mary Anne to watch her five year old daughter, Nidia. The whole group is going to the same place, so I'm not sure why this woman can't watch her own daughter.
As they go out on the streets of Salem to check things out, it sounds very touristy. Kristy narrates:
We saw several people wearing "Ask a Witch" buttons. They weren't really witches, of course, but people who could give answers to questions about the history of Salem, particularly the part pertaining to the famous witch trials.
It cracks me up that she has to clarify they aren't real witches.
Kristy and Mal go to a bookstore (where Mal buys a copy of The House of the Seven Gables; who wants to bet she's not even going to read it?), then meet Stacey, Abby Mary Anne and Nidia at a face painting booth where Nidia is getting her face painted as a cat. She tells them she's going to be a cat at the parade tomorrow night. So is she going to keep her face painted for the next 24 hours? Why is there always a damn parade in these books? We find out there's a children's costume parade in the afternoon and a separate parade for the adults at night. So why is Nidia, a five-year-old going to the evening parade, you ask? Beats the hell out of me. Of course, Kristy and Abby think they will be able to attend (as long as they get permission). I hope they are told that this parade is for adults only and them being only 13 means they cannot attend! But we know that won't happen! Even Mal, the 11 year old, thinks she will be able to attend! At least Mary Anne has some doubt that they will be able to attend
"Do you think it will be okay with Mrs. Bernhardt and the others?" Mary Anne asked anxiously.
"We can ask, but I'll bet they'll say yes. As long as we promise it won't interfere with our projects," Mal said.
I love how Mal just assumes they can just attend, but appeases Mary Anne by saying "we can ask".
They are going to see a production of The Crucible, but before that they are eating dinner where the inn has prepared "a special New England boiled dinner" for them. We don't hear what they get, but I'm assuming it's lobster or some kind of boiled fish, maybe some sausage in there, and vegetables like potatoes and corn? I've seen them do a fish boil on Top Chef and it looked really good, but Kristy acts like it's disgusting because she narrates "I bravely refrained from making the sort of comments I usually make over food at our school cafeteria."
They go to the theater to see the play and somehow (even Kristy admits she does't know how it happened) Alan tampered with her ticket. When the usher shows her to her seat, she ends up in the back corner of the theater. They figure out where she's supposed to sit and she's shown to her actual seat. Wouldn't all the seats be together anyway? Why would the usher take Kristy away from the group she's with? How did Alan get a hold of her ticket without her knowing? This is the third time he's pulled a prank on her that defies all logic of how he managed to do it. If you're wondering if there's going to be a payoff to all these pranks Alan is playing on Kristy, yeah, sort of, there will be.
Not surprinsgly, Mary Anne cries during the play. Afterwards, Stacey makes a comment about how she's "never going to make jokes about witches again". When has she ever made jokes about witches? Maybe she's joked about Morbidda Destiny? Speaking of which, maybe Karen should see this play...
After the show, Abby "careened dramatically out of the door of the ladies' room." Kristy says she didn't even know she wasn't with them. Huh? Their group isn't that big. Abby says someone gave her a "full body block" when she was coming out of the bathroom and that she just body slammed this person back. She didn't see who it was and jokes that maybe this person didn't want her bringing her "pet pumpkin" into the restroom.
Later that night, Stacey calls Claudia who had been working on her math homework. After she asks Stacey for some help, she remembers there's a mystery going on in Salem and shrieks, "STACEY! What's happening? Tell me everything!" Good Lord, these girls must lead some boring lives if they get their kicks from a stolen diamond that really won't impact them if it's found or not. They talk about the mystery for a bit, then Stacey asks her for some costume suggestions. Before they hang up, Claudia says "Call me instantly if you find any new clues or solve the mystery." Again why do they care so much? These girls really need hobbies or something. Haha, too bad this was set before the days of podcasts because I can see them podcasting about all their mysteries, and like, nobody caring at all. They wouldn't have an audience at all.
We have another pointless chapter set in Stoneybrook where Claudia and Logan are baby-sitting for Kristy's siblings and the Papadakis's (I don't know how to write the plural possessive of that). The kids are worried because it might rain tomorrow on Halloween. Okay, just take an umbrella. Karen gives us some of her usual bullshit: "It if [rains], and you bump into a ghost on Halloween while it is, then you will melt." Okay, she's just making this shit up off the top of her head.
The kids find out about the Halloween parade in Salem and of course they want their own parade. Again, what is it with people and parades in these books?
The next day, Mallory's precious mystery notebook is delivered to her when the two teachers' spouses come to Salem with it. Mal acts like she's Gollum with the ring because she "snatched [it] from Mr. Wu's hands as if it were a life preserver." Jessi had put it in a sealed enveloped, writing "Personal and Confidential" all over it. I laughed at Abby narrating "Talk about making something look conspicuous." Well, thank God Mal got her mystery notebook with just two days left in Salem and really no reason for having it all. :::Major eye roll::: She could have easily bought a blank notebook at the bookstore and written her clues in that.
So now we find out the entire SMS group is going to the grown-ups' parade and they're going to the mall to get anything they might need for their costumes. How the fuck are eleven, twelve, and thirteen year olds considered "adults"?
While the girls are at the mall shopping, they see Martha Kemper at a shoe store trying on high heels. They sure do like hitting us over the head that this woman is short and likes to wear heels.
Here is a description of each girl's costumes:
Kristy was wearing her collie cap, a necklace made out of dog biscuits and bones, and one of those fake nose-moustache-glasses combinations, and carrying a large magnifying glass. She was also wearing a name tag that said "Sherlock Bones".
Mallory, dressed almost entirely in orange (including a Day-Glo orange down vest of [Abby's]), had pinned cut-out paper pumpkins all over her body, connected with green yarn. She was wearing the top half of one of those hallow plastic pumpkins as a hat and carrying the pumpkin itself, from which trailed green yarn and paper leaves. She had borrowed [Abby's] pet pumpkin and clipped it to her belt loop. [She's a pumpkin patch].
Mary Anne was going as her kitten, Tigger. She wore whiskers and ears made out of felt and mittens with fake fingernails trimmed into claws. The outfit was topped (or bottomed) off with a tail made of yarn attached to one of Kristy's gray sweatshirts.
Stacey had fallen back on her assortment of basic black clothing. Dressed in black from head to toe, she had painted her face with the numbers of a clock. She was Mother Time.
[Abby] was wearing a shirt that read, "Soccer: invented by men, perfected by women."[She] had also attached one of those plastic blow-up globes to one shoulder and a plastic cup to the other. [She] was the World Cup.
Okay, a few thought about these costumes:
-All of these sound way more suitable for the children's costume parade. Maybe Stacey's is the only one that could be considered not childish.
-Abby tells us she has the best costume (of course, that's her own opinion), but I think it was Stacey. If I had to choose to wear one of those costumes, it would be hers. It's very understated, but clever. The others (except for Mary Anne's) seem very...gaudy. ESPECIALLY Abby's. Best costume, my ass! Abby also tells us that nobody "got" her costume. Sounds pretty self-explanatory to me. Maybe the World Cup wasn't a thing (at least for Americans) back in the '90s? But didn't the U.S. host it in '94?
-I find it hard to believe, Mallory, a redhead, would wear all orange. Also, that must have been a pain in the ass having to cut all those pumpkins from paper (I'm guessing it was orange construction paper).
-Hasn't Mary Anne dressed up as Tigger before? When I was in fourth grade, my best friend and I both dressed up as our cats for Halloween. That's why I can't dump on her costume too much!
-I wish Claudia was here so I could have seen what crazy-ass outfit she would have come up. Like, how can they not have Claudia be part of this adventure? Halloween was made for her what with the costumes and the candy! They should have switched her out with Mary Anne. I'm only saying Mary Anne because I feel like she's the only one that's pretty much interchangeable in this whole thing; the others serve some sort of purpose: Mallory and her obsession with the mystery notebook, Kristy and Alan's prank war on her, Abby and her souvenir pumpkin, and Stacey and the "mysterious" numbers she found. Mary Anne is there to baby-sit for Nidia, but Claudia could have done that.
In the crowd, during the parade, someone in a white sheet bumps up against Abby and she notices that her waist pack is gone. She tries to find the person, but sees three ghosts and doesn't know which one it was. She's annoyed, but there was only an (unmarked) key to her room and a couple dollars as she left most of her money in her room. Did the pickpocket think she had the little pumpkin on her? She gave it to Mallory to use for her costume. When I was reading this and taking notes, at this part I wrote this: IS THE DIAMOND IN THAT PUMPKIN?? I would also like to point out that Abby doesn't even think that someone might be after her ceramic pumpkin.
We get some interesting social justice narrative from Abby:
Salem really did get dressed up for Halloween. It was, I thought somewhat cynically, big business in these parts. I wondered what the people who'd been killed for refusing to to confess to being witches would think of all this. After all, it was their deaths that had given Salem the reputation it was capitalizing on now.
I mean, she's not wrong. It does feel like they are exploiting the witch culture. But maybe since it happened so long ago, it's okay?
Abby and Stacey return to their room after the parade to find it's been ransacked. It's at this point that I'm convinced that somebody is looking for that pumpkin! I'm telling you, I bet the jewel is in there! I did go back to see if she mentions hearing something rattling around in it, but couldn't find anything. Stacey's jewelry and Abby's money that she left in the room are still there.
Abby thinks the person who grabbed her bag used the key to get in and said it must be someone who knew where she was staying and in what room since the keys are unmarked. It's at that moment when they realize that Harvey Hapgood is staying in a room next to them. Dun, dun, dun!
The girls end up in the lobby where Martha Kempner is sitting by the fire and she tells them the tale of the Witch's Eye curse. She claims it causes "dire misfortune - even death - to all who encounter it." She sees that Abby has the small ceramic pumpkin attached to her belt loop and asks her if she would sell it to her because she hasn't found a souvenir for her goddaughter yet. She's trying to be super casual about it, but, she has to be in on the mystery. I think she knows the diamond is in there. Did she put it in there? She is definitely involved in the mystery. At this point, I'm not even looking at Mrs. Moorehouse's caretaker as a suspect anymore. Abby's not departing with her beloved Cornucopia! She tells Martha she can probably find one in the gift shop.
Alan and Cokie are being a-holes to Eileen and the BSC members tell them to knock it off.
As they're getting ready for bed, Mallory starts talking with Eileen about their families and realizes she's really not that weird. (Mal's word, by the way.) We get Mal comparing the way Cokie, Grace, and Alan treat Eileen to the way the people who were accused of being witches back in the day were treated:
It was human nature to go after anyone who was different, and to protect oneself by hiding in the middle of a crowd, going along with everyone else. The Salem Witch Trials were just one example of that pattern in history.
I'm not even going to talk about the throwaway chapter of Logan baby-sitting the Rodowskys' as they use papier-mache (I don't know how to add the accents) for Halloween costumes. Why do we even need a Logan chapter?
Sunday morning (and the last day the girls are in Salem), the BSC girls meet up for breakfast and come up with a list of suspects that include Martha Kempner, Harvey Hapgood, Agnes Moorehouse, Naomi Furusawa (remember, that's Mrs. Moorehouse's caretaker), and Sean Knowles. Who is Sean Knowles, you ask? He's the guy who Mal called "the newspaper spy" and the guy who Stacey saw talking to the police when she exited the museum. He's now on the list because Mary Anne said she saw him talking with Harvey Hapgood lats night. I have no clue when Mary Anne found out his name. That's another thing that must have happened off page. I'm guessing Nola was getting tired of describing him as "the newspaper spy" or "Mal's newspaper spy", so she just named him.
I guess the girls telling Alan and Cokie to stop taunting Eileen didn't work because she joins the girls for breakfast, but right before she's about to sit in her chair, Alan pulls it away from her so she lands on the floor. What an ass. Mallory sticks up for her:
"Quit being a bully, Alan. You - and Cokie - and everyone - you're just like those witchhunters, going after people because you can. It's not fair. It's not right. And it's stupid and ignorant."
See, this is the Mallory I like. I remember in later books when she's described as "shy", but that never sat right with me because with scenes like this, I wouldn't describe her as shy.
When Stacey is back in her room, she notices there's a combination lock box in the closet, which she hadn't noticed it before. Gee, that's convenient for the plot! Haha, I remember when I was visiting my brother and his family in St. Augustine and when my nieces and nephews came into the hotel room I was staying in, they went through everything and found the combination lock box within five seconds! (Of course, the box is right there on the floor when you open the closet...makes me wonder where the lock box in Staceys' room was if it took her this long to find it!) She realizes the five number digit that was on the stationery paper (the one she memorized) has to be a combination.
At the same time Stacey discovers the lock box, Kristy finds a folded up piece of paper by Mr. Hapgood's door. She doesn't tell anyone what she found. They're all supposed to meet downstairs to go sightseeing with their groups, but she tells her friends she needs to grab her camera (she has one of those disposable ones, heh, I remember those). Inside her room, she opens the note, which has been ripped but she can still make out some words It says "must destroy evidence in the mu-". The next line says "-econd floor in the north cor-." I think this is either Alan or Cary playing a prank on Kristy. One or both of them have probably gotten wind of what the BSC sleuths are doing. Kristy thinks the paper must have fallen out when the cleaning staff emptied his garbage. Even if the culprit had ripped up the note, why would you leave such big portions that people could read? You would be shredding that shit or tearing it up in very tiny pieces. To me, this is why it's so obvious it's either Alan or Cary. Sometimes these girls are too gullible.
Kristy does the old TV sitcom trope where she tells Coach Wu she's going to be with Mr. Blake's group and she tells Mr. Blake she's going to be in Coach Wu's group. This will give her time to sneak into the museum to make sure the the evidence isn't destroyed even though she doesn't know what it is. Kristy tells us the reason she didn't tell the others about the piece of paper:
I have to admit, though, that part of me was just dying to solve this mystery alone. I guess I was still miffed at missing so much of the action on Thursday.
Wasn't Mallory with her group on Thursday? So it's not like Kristy was the only one who missed the "action".
The museum is locked, but Kristy sees a man in a suit carrying a briefcase exit from a side door and she quickly catches the door, then realizes it locks behind her. So if it locks from the inside, how did that guy get out? I guess he had a key? She's turned on the lights, but as she's making her way to the second floor, the lights go out and she realizes she's not alone. Looks like we have a cliffhanger as the chapter ends...
Mary Anne, Stacey, Abby, and Mallory are on a tour of Pickering Wharf which is full of shops and stalls. Somehow, Abby has slipped away the group for a moment without anyone noticing, then when she rejoins them, she informs them that she was looking at a sign for whale watching when somebody pushed her to the side. It's so obvious someone is trying to get her stupid pumpkin! You would think she would have realized this when the clerk at the gift shop told her she had never seen that pumpkin before. Duh, Abby, let's try to put two and two together! She is carrying the damn diamond! I'm telling you! And considering Martha Kempner was keen on trying to buy it from her as "a souvenir for her goddaughter", I bet she's the one who keeps "bumping" into Abby, although it's weird that Abby never seems to see her. I guess they conveniently have her never see her so they don't give away the big reveal. Ha, that means if she is carrying this super rare expensive diamond, she only paid two dollars for it! That reminds me of that scene from National Treasure when Nic Cage has stolen the Declaration of Independence and he's carrying it in the gift shop and the woman at the counter, thinking it's one of those souvenirs, tells him he needs to pay $35 for it.
When the return to the inn, they're wondering where Kristy is. They assumed she was with one of the other two groups, but one of those groups is already back and she had already been on the tour with Mr. Blake, the group that is still out. They check the library (apparently there's one at the inn when they work on their projects), front desk, and dining room, but can't find her. They were supposed to have an emergency meeting of the BSC (organized by Kristy, who else?) so they're worried they can't find her. Two emergency meetings in less than two days? A little bit of overkill, don't you think?
They decide to have their own emergency meeting without Kristy. They figure she must have found another clue so Mal gets out the mystery notebook so they can look it over. Mary Anne points out that Mal has written a lot of information about Martha Kempner and finds it interesting that she is the only one of their suspects who didn't head back to the museum after the theft and wonders if that could be a clue. Stacey agrees with her, saying maybe she was guilty and "didn't want to return to the scene of the crime." Abby disagrees, saying the obvious thing to do would return to the scene of the crime and "leave your fingerprints around...to cover for yourself in case you left evidence behind without realizing it." Now, normally I would agree with Abby, but right now all of my suspicion is pointed at Martha Kempner. Mary Anne thinks Kristy figured out Martha was behind it and Martha kidnapped her which is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Also, if you truly believed that, then wouldn't you fucking tell one of the teachers or call the police? Duh.
Okay, remember when Abby called the front desk the day the diamond was stolen to ask if anybody had checked in or out and I was wondering if that somehow violated any kind of ethical code? Well, when Mallory calls the front desk to ask if Mrs. Kempner is in her room and they tells her she's not, I definitely thought that was a violation. Not only does Mr. Hewson (the owner of the inn, so he should really know better) tell her she's not in her room, but tells her that she went to the newspaper office to do research on the diamond. First of all, how does he even know that, and second of all, why does he think it's okay to tell an eleven-year-old (or anybody, really) this? Yes, I realize at this moment I believe Martha is a criminal, but at this point there's no solid proof and I'm shocked the innkeeper is violating her trust and personal space.
The violation keeps continuing as they ask about Harvey Hapgood and Sean Knowles and are told neither are in their rooms and that Mr. Knowles had gone to a "famous tearoom that had a fortune teller" and Mr. Hapgood had gone on a tour of Salem. Again, why are they given all of this information? And how does Mr. Hewson know where they went? Does everybody just volunteer where they're going when they're leaving or does he ask? I was in Estes Park with my mom and niece a month ago and every time we left the hotel, we didn't tell the person at the front desk, "Oh, hey, we're going shopping downtown" or "Oh, hey, we're going on a jeep tour of Rocky Mountain National Park."
They decide to call all the places where these people are supposed to be to see if they are really there. They get confirmation that none of them are at the places where they are supposed to be. Abby thinks they all might be working together since none of them have alibis. Okay, so if these three did tell a fake story to the front desk about where they would be (I guess they knew about the nosy BSC!), that's pretty brilliant, but it still doesn't give the front desk the right to tell anyone where they supposedly are.
Now it's time to ignore another throwaway chapter where Shannon and Claudia are baby-sitting the Pikes. Let's see, the Pikes were sat for on Friday and again on Sunday...what the hell are the Pike parents doing that they need sitters so often?
The start of Mallory's journal on Sunday seems like a slap in the face to Dawn which I LOVE:
Okay, this inn is not haunted. I don't really believe in ghosts. But I do believe in criminals.
Haha, I love that Dawn's not even in this book amd they've dissed her twice already!
There's a huge storm and the lights have gone out in the inn, but nobody has packed a flashlight and this is before smart phones. Coach Wu hands them each a candle and a book of matches. Yeah, that seems really smart. Let's give several eleven, twelve and thirteen year olds a bunch of matches!
None of the BSC members have told any teachers that Kristy is missing and now that the lights are out there's no way they'll notice. Yep, that sounds right with them not telling an adult about a serious situation.
Stacey tells them this would be a good time to get into the suspects' rooms since the rooms uses computer coded cards so because of the electricity being out, the doors won't be locked when people leave. I don't know how factual that is...wouldn't the doors always lock, regardless? Maybe the card wouldn't work if you tried to get in if the electricity was out. Oh, hell, it doesn't really matter. It's all for the sake of the plot. They try Harvey Hapgood's door, but it's locked.
On the steps they see Mrs. Moorehouse walking down slowly with the help of her caretaker and Mr. Hewson. They decide to eliminate her from the suspect list since there's no way she could flee fast enough. Abby says she feels like they are being watched. Turns out she had some good intuition because before they reach the exit of the floor they're on, someone steps out. It's Sean Knowles. But before we find out what's about to happen, we get a new chapter and return to Kristy. You may remember, the last time we were with her, she had just snuck into the museum to make sure the evidence doesn't get destroyed and she realized she wasn't alone. She hears footsteps and manages to find "an old-fashioned featherbed" which she jumps into and hides under the covers.
She hears some shuffling, then a voice saying "oww" as the owner bumps into something and peeks over the covers to see that it's Alan Gray and he's lighting a match (remember, the one given to him by a teacher). She jumps out of the bed and screams, "Alan Gray, you are dead!" which scares the shit out of him. She accuses him of planting "the bogus clue" (finally! she came to her senses and realized it must be someone pulling one over on her!), but he seems confused. It turns out he thought Kristy had left him a note telling him that if he wanted to solve the mystery of the Witch's Eye, to come to the museum. Okay, now I am 99.9% sure that Cary is behind all of this. Sending a note to Kristy makes sense, but why Alan? Is he really that interested in solving this mystery? I thought the BSC girls who were the only ones who gave a fuck, you know, besides the old woman, but it's her damn diamond, so she should give a fuck about an expensive, rare missing jewel! Kristy also thinks this is the work of one Cary Retlin. Apparently he has an "ability to fiddle with locks" (the hell?) and Kristy figures he had done something so the door would lock from the inside. Sure, Thacker, whatever you have to do to move the plot forward.
Kristy tells Alan that Cary probably lured both of them there because he "was going to scare [them] both out of [their] wits." So it's kinda ironic that Kristy was the one who ended up scaring him. She wants to find a way out, but would prefer not setting off an alarm if they can help it. Now that I think about it, how the hell did Alan get in the building? We only know Kristy got in because of the guy who came out. She realizes that the only way they can exit the building without setting the alarm is to have Cary, who she knows is bound to show up sooner or later, open a door with his stealthy ways. I had to laugh at this:
We would not only force Cary to free us, we would scare him to the middle of next week. It was the least we could do to repay him.
Miss Great Idea comes up with a plan to get back at Cary and tells Alan about it. We, the readers, aren't told what the plan is, but rather shown it. Kristy is hiding in the next room when he screams "pretty convincingly." Cary has shown up and after Alan screams, he says "Cary Retlin?" I'm not sure what Cary did to scare him or how long Kristy and Alan waited for him to show up. After they chitchat for a bit, Cary asks him if he wants him to help him scare Kristy because she should be in the room where the diamond was on display.
Okay, before we continue, I need to pause here for a second to ruminate on a couple of things: 1) It's pretty presumptuous of Cary to assume that Kristy will even be there. (I mean, yes, she fell for the note and did show up, but that's besides the point.) 2) It's also pretty presumptous of him to think Alan will help him scare Kristy AFTER he's "scared" Alan. Why not just have Alan in with him on the plan from the beginning instead of sending him on a wild goose chase? Of course, even if Alan hadn't ran into Kristy earlier and they didn't plan this scare attack on Cary, I'm sure Alan would have agreed to help Cary scare Kristy.
Anyway, back to the story. Alan tells Cary that Kristy is watching Nidia. When Cary tells him that Mary Anne is watching her, Kristy makes a note that Cary seems to be keeping tabs on all of them. That may be true, but it is a pretty small group, so I don't think it's that surprising that he would know that. Alan convincingly tells him that Kristy is baby-sitting her instead and asks Cary if he wants to wait for her. (Why the hell would she show up if she's baby-sitting in this situation?) Cary agrees, but says they can't stay too long because people will start to wonder where they are and it's getting late. (Since when does Cary Retlin care about stuff like that? I love how even the "rebels" have a sense of responsibility in these books!) Alan asks if he knows how to get out without setting off the alarms and Cary assures him he does. He also asks Cary if he thinks Kristy would bring Nidia to the museum with her and we get this almost unbelievable reply from Cary:
"No way. Kristy is a totally responsible baby-sitter. She'd never expose any kid she was in charge of to any danger."
I'm sorry, but that's a bit much for him to say that. All he needed to say was a simple "no". There's no way he would give Kristy such a high compliment even if he didn't think she was in earshot (which she was, so if I were her, I would never let him live that down). Even Kristy narrates, "I almost forgave Cary. Almost." What if...and go with me here...what if Cary KNEW that Kristy was eavesdropping and had something in store for him, so he said that because he knew it would stroke her ego and get him on her good side? That would be M Night Shyamalan levels of mindfuckery right there, but, it doesn't happen. C'mon, you know better than that!
They try to get into the next room, but can't because Kristy is in there, holding the door knob. I'm just a tad bit confused...do they need to enter through this room to get to the exit? They get into the room where Kristy scares Cary. Yeah...this plot line was just really dumb, I'm sorry. I guess they had enough people involved in the actual mystery and wanted to give Kristy something different to do.
Okay back to the other girls who have just encountered one of their suspects, Sean Knowles. But it's okay because it turns out he's investigating the theft of the diamond, though he's "not at liberty to discuss it." He does give the girls a "clue":
"I can't talk about my client's affairs, but I can tell you this: There is a pretty desperate criminal on the loose, more desperate than you realize."
Abby and Stacey think it's a threat. Huh, so I guess he's still on their suspect list! Sweet, naive, future potential murder victim Mary Anne replies, " I don't believe it. He has a nice smile." I'm sorry, but WTF? I'm surprised they had this in the books. Feels like they're telling young impressinoable readers that if they meet someone with a "nice smile", then they're a "good guy". Didn't they say Ted Bundy was able to lure his victims because he had "a nice smile?" (Okay, I don't know if it was exactly that, but I was being a little facetious there. Mary Anne is such an idiot, I'm sorry.)
For some random reason, Mal has a revelation and brings up how they were giving her a hard time for writing so much about Martha Kempner and even giving detailed descriptions of what she was wearing. She says the morning of the robbery, Martha was wearing sneakers because she looked shorter without her heels. The other girls think she was wearing sneakers because she would need them "to move fast and quietly." Mal is devastated that her hero is now prime suspect numero uno. They go to check her room (they're able to get in) and Stacey notes that there are several high heels lined up by the closet and "even the bedroom slippers had heels on them." WTF? Who wears slippers with heels? This woman must have a Napoleon complex! She notes that there are no signs of any sneakers. I mean, she could be wearing them wherever she is at the moment. They open the safe with the combination Stacey found (how do they know that one matched this particular safe?). There is no diamond (or anything) in it, but they surmise it could have been moved.
The girls continue whatever they're doing and end up on an empty floor that is being renovated. Mallory goes to get the notebook (I'm surprised she doesn't keep it with her at all times!). Abby sees a door ahead and dashes towards it, leaving the other girls behind. Both Mary Anne's and Stacey's candles burn out, but Abby has the matches. But before they can do anything, they hear something crash, then hear Abby answer them "with a horrible, strangled cry."
Now we're getting Abby's point of view. When she enters through the door she feels like she is being followed. These girls have a weird obsession with the supernatural for characters in a book series where it is established that supernatural characters do not exist:
Who could follow me in the complete darkness? Naturally I came up with an answer, or several answers. Vampire. Werewolves. Ghosts.
Gee, Abby, you don't think the someone following you is a human who may be involved with the theft of the diamond? I don't understand why these girls' minds always go to the most ridiculous theories. To give her some credit, she does consider Martha Kempner, but wonders if she might have an accomplice with her. Abby is right about someone following her because she feels a pair of hands grab her shirt and spin her around. Her souvenir pumpkin is torn loose from her belt loop, bounces on the floor and cracks open. Well, surprise, surprise, what do you know? The Witch's Eye is staring right back at her. I totally called it. I KNEW it was in that damn pumpkin! Oh, and the person who grabbed for the pumpkin? Another total surprise (I'm being sarcastic, yes): Martha Kempner. Abby grabs the diamond and runs away (but not without shoving her knee in the side of Martha's knee first). Now Harvey Hapgood is there, blocking Abby's way and he tells her to hand over the diamond. He stops and that is when Abby screams "with a strangled cry." Why is she giving such a desperate, horrid scream? It's because "the diamond was glowing an eerie, horrible green."
Stacey and Mary Anne run towards Abby and they hear Sean Knowles behind them, shouting "This way, over here!" How the hell did he get there so fast? Not only that, but the police have arrived and Mallory has rejoined them.
Abby realizes that Martha was in the gift shop right after the theft happened and that she must have put the jewel in the pumpkin which she stashed in the gift shop, then was called to the front desk in the weird scene where the police wanted to talk to her on the phone. She probably thought she'd just go back and retrieve it, only Abby had bought it. Ha, I can only imagine Martha's reaction she she realizes the rare and expensive diamond she had stolen went missing. But that begs the question, why would she stash it there? Wouldn't the clerks be suspicious of something that wasn't in their inventory? I guess the one who sold it to Abby wasn't because she just assumed it was part of their inventory and didn't think of anything. So maybe Martha actually was smart to do that, she probably shouldn't have put it in the front of the store where Abby saw it pretty quickly.
If you haven't already guessed, Harvey was also in on the plot to steal the diamond, but tells the police that Martha planned the whole thing.
Kristy arrives soon after and she seems upset:
She saw the diamond still resting on Abby's hands and folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "I knew it! I knew this was going to be a bad weekend! Tell me you didn't do this to me. Tell me you didn't go and solve this mystery without me!"
OMG, stop whining, Kristy. Why do you care so much? Has she always been this obnoxious if she's not involved in the mystery solving?
After all the excitement has died down, to show her appreciation, Mrs. Moorehouse has bought a pumpkin-shaped cake for the girls and "inside each slice was a tiny gold pumpkin charm". Agnes tells them it's for them "to help [them] remember [their] adventure and heroic deed." Heroic deed? Please! Also, I rolled my eyes when Mary Anne asked if the charms were for them. No, she just had them put in the cake in hopes you would choke on them! Stop being such an idiot, Mary Anne! Also, how the hell did she get a bakery to bake a cake (with tiny gold charms in them) so fast. She does say that the bakery was "open late on Halloween" (oh, yeah, have I mentioned it's Halloween? I wonder how Jessi's Halloween dance recital went), but how late is it? Don't you need to special order a cake at least a day in advance? I don't work at a bakery, but this seems pretty sus to me. I could believe it more if she had just bought a pre-made cake, then gave the girls some cash as a reward. Or just ask for their addresses, tell them there's something special for them, and mail them the gold pumpkin charms. But, no, we need to be cutesy.
Agnes tells the girls that Martha had "planted the rumors" about the Witch's Eye being cursed and that she was "obsessed" with it. Miss Kempner had originally offered to buy it from Mrs. Moorehouse, but Agnes had declined. Then she started getting more offers, with the most recent being Harvey Hapgood. (I believe we were all witnesses to that.) Her insurance agent had called her to inform her they could no longer insure the diamond because of the rumors of the diamond being cursed. At first I was shocked and outraged when I read that, then she continues to say it turned out to be a phony call and that it was from Harvey Hapgood and the diamond had been insured all along. He and Martha were "trying to add the pressure for [her] to sell it."
Martha wanted to steal the diamond from the museum because if she had taken it from Mrs. Moorehouse, it would make it easier to track back to her. How did Martha steal the Witch's Eye, you ask? She had disguised herself as a maintenance worker to get into the museum early. Okay, but don't you still need an ID to get in? Were the doors unlocked and she could just walk right in or did somebody see her and let her in, assuming she worked there? Mrs. Moorehouse continues with what happened that day:
"The theft took longer than she thought and as a result was discovered more quickly. She was headed back to the inn when when she was forced to duck into the bushes to avoid being seen. She took off the maintenance outfit and hid it there, intending to retrieve it later. Then she walked up the front steps. She had tucked the diamond into the small hollow ceramic pumpkin, which she had bought at another gift shop. Having already chipped a small piece out of the bottom, she put the diamond inside, and then glued it back together."
Abby interrupts at this point to exclaim "That's why the sales clerk didn't recognize it!" Well, no shit, Abby.
Okay, that's a nice story and all, but I still don't understand how Martha actually stole the diamond from the museum. We were told earlier that the alarm could be turned off manually by someone with a key and a code and that the case the diamond was in hadn't been tampered. But how the hell did she get the code and key? Unless someone on the inside helped her? I am so confused. Am I just totally stupid and missed something?
Also, there's some much to unpack with the Mrs. Moorehouse quote. Did nobody see her when she jumped into the bushes? Or when she popped out after she took off the uniform? Did she just have glue on her when she glued the chipped piece of the pumpkin after she put the diamond in it?
We get more exposition from Mrs. Moorehouse:
"Mrs. Kempner was trying to act as if nothing had happened, so she went into the dining room for breakfast. When she came out again, the lobby was full of police, and she realized she'd had her second stroke of bad luck. Mary Anne had found the disguise in the bushes, and now everyone in the inn was a potential suspect. She panicked and dropped the pumpkin off at the gift shop, intending to pick it up later."
Huh. Looks like Martha Kempner is 0 for 2 for intending to pick up things later!
When asked about Sean Knowles, who's an insurance claim investigator, she tells them he was sent by the insurance company "to keep an eye on the diamond." Because Mrs. Moorehouse had insured it for quite a bit of money, the insurance agency was "suspecting that all the rumors they were hearing about the diamond's curse were a cover for [her] to steal the diamond and claim the money." All this talk about insurance must be so riveting for the young readers!
Oh, remember how they saw the diamond glow? Abby assumes it was "just a trick of the light", but Mary Anne isn't so sure. Then the subject is dropped (by Stacey literally saying "whatever") and nobody brings it up anymore. Probably because Thacker didn't know what to do, so she kept it ambiguous. I am surprised that Abby was the one who was dismissive of the glow because didn't it make her scream like a banshee? If anything, she should be the one who thinks it's cursed!
The book ends with them deciding to put the photos of the Salem parade and the Stonebrook parade in a photo book together. With all the dang parades they attend, they could probably put ten photo books together just with photos from parades! (By the way, I looked up the count for the word "parade" (I checked the e-book out from my library) and it came to 57!) We are also reminded of their projects that I had totally forgotten about. We never did learn (aside from Stacey) what each girl chose for their topic. Something tells me one or more of them are going to write about the Witch's Eye or their experience with solving the case.
I'm still confused why Martha stole the diamond. It didn't seem like there was any motive for her to do so. In an earlier scene in the book when the girls are discussing their potential suspects, Mal, who idolized Martha and didn't even want to think of her as a suspect, points out that Martha didn't need the money. She says she's rich from all her books, movies, and "that series on public television." I'm guessing Mal is just assuming she's rich, but it sounds like she's doing okay financially. Mary Anne thinks she might have stolen it for publicity so she could write a book about it (oh, you mean like when OJ wrote his book after the murders?). That seems like a terrible idea. Let's write a detailed book about how this diamond was stolen from a museum! We won't look suspicious at all! Kristy agrees she doesn't have a motive, but she does have "the opportunity and the ability." It's just too bad we never learn why she did it. The only thing we're really told is that Martha was "obsessed" with the Witch's Eye, but we just don't know WHY.
Also, it was SO obvious she stole it. Yes, I did think it was Mrs. Moorehouse's caretaker at one moment, but the whole scene with the innkeeper telling Martha the police (who were on the phone) wanted to give her a message (we never found out what they talked about with her, did we?) was so weird, not to mention the fact that they kept up bringing up her height. They did bring up some compelling arguments against her (to not have her be too suspicious, I suppose), but to me, it was just too obvious.
