Ice Cream Mystery by Gertrude Chandler Warner

stolen!”
    “Stolen! When? What happened?” Marcos said.
    “Someone took her out of the barn last night,” Violet told him. “We don’t know who.”
    “That’s terrible,” said Marcos. “Just terrible!” Shaking his head he took a small box out of the back of the truck and closed the doors. “Samples of new ice-cream products,” he explained. “I thought Katy and Brianna might like to try them before they place their next order. Maybe it will cheer them up a little, too. I know how they liked that horse.”
    The Aldens walked with him into the store. Brianna was at the ice-cream counter serving customers.
    She smiled when she saw them, but it wasn’t much of a smile. “I’ll get Katy,” she told Marcos.
    A moment later, Katy came into the store.
    “I heard about your horse,” said Marcos. “I’m sorry. I’m sure you will find her.”
    “I’m sure we will, too,” said Katy, but she didn’t sound sure.
    Marcos handed her the small box of frozen treats. “New treats from my company for you to try,” he said.
    “Thank you,” said Katy. She looked down at the box as if she didn’t know what to do with it.
    “Thanks, Marcos,” Brianna said. “Give it to me, Granna. I’ll put it in the freezer behind the counter for now.”
    Katy handed the box over, then sat down at one of the tables.
    “How is business?” Marcos asked.
    “Business is good,” Brianna said, then turned to wait on a family that had come in for ice cream.
    “I’m glad to hear it,” said Marcos. “Because I have an idea for the Ice Cream Barn. I was describing your ice cream to a friend who is the chef of a small restaurant and he is very interested in it.”
    “Interested?” repeated Katy.
    “Yes. He’d like to order some of your special flavors for his dessert menu. I told him you were a small company and I didn’t know how much extra you could make, but I think you could handle this.”
    “Sure we could,” said Brianna, who somehow could serve the customers and listen to Marcos and Katy at the same time. “If I’m not going to be driving the ice-cream wagon...” She paused, then went on, “I could make the extra batches of ice cream.”
    “Or when you get your horse back, you could hire extra help,” Marcos said.
    “Yes,” said Brianna. But she sounded no more convinced than Katy about Butterscotch’s return.
    Benny had wandered over to stare at the ice cream in the freezer, but Violet, Henry, and Jessie had settled at a table near Katy and Marcos. Now they looked at one another. Marcos didn’t sound like a man who had stolen a horse—or one who wanted the Ice Cream Barn to go out of business.
    “I like that idea, Marcos,” said Katy. “It’s nice of you to think of us.”
    Marcos grinned. “You’d need to order more supplies from me to make the extra ice cream,” he added. “So it would be good for my business, too. And, of course, I’d want to be the one who delivers the ice cream to the restaurant.”
    Brianna grinned.
    “It would take some planning,” said Katy. She paused. “Let me give you our order for next week, then we’ll talk this over more.”
    The shop bell jingled as a customer walked in.
    Katy looked up for a second and frowned slightly.
    “May I help you?” Brianna asked.
    “It’s her,” Violet said in her quiet voice.
    “Who?” asked Benny. He looked, then said, “Oh! She’s the customer who never eats her ice cream.”
    “I’d like to try your Haystack Sundae,” the woman said, reading from the menu board behind the counter.
    “Coming right up,” said Brianna.
    “Mmm,” said Benny as the customer walked out of the shop a few minutes later with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream drizzled with caramel and smothered with slivered almonds.
    Benny kept watching as the woman stopped at the curb to taste the sundae. She slid into her car and took another bite and then another. Then she rolled down her window and dumped the rest of the sundae into the trash