The Mystery of the Phantom Grashopper

bundle stood in one comer.
    Sammy lifted a portion of the dirty canvas, and Trixie and Honey saw the copper face of the big grasshopper, with two green glass eyes staring straight at them.
    “Oh!” Honey gasped. “I didn’t realize Hoppy was so big.”
    “Hello, Hoppy,” Trixie said softly. She bent to touch the old weather vane.
    Instantly Sammy dropped the canvas back over the weather vane. “Keep your hands off it!” he warned.
    “I wasn’t going to hurt Hoppy,” Trixie said, flushing. She took a deep breath to calm herself and surveyed the room. “I still can’t understand it,” she said, puzzled. “I was in this room right after Hoppy was stolen, and it was empty. Somebody must have carried Hoppy into Town Hall and put him in this room.”
    “I don’t know about that,” Sammy said with a shrug. “But right here’s where I found it, and that Perkins guy didn’t say anything about where it had to be to collect the reward. Easiest thousand bucks I ever made.”
    “I’ll bet it is,” Trixie muttered to herself. She glanced at her wristwatch. “Honey and I have to go now,” she said. “We’ve got appointments with the dentist.”
    “See ya around,” Sammy called as they went down the stairs.
    As they were crossing the common, Trixie glanced over her shoulder to make sine no one was near. “Sammy is lying,” she said to Honey.
    “What do you mean?” Honey asked.
    “He couldn’t have just found Hoppy sitting there in that room,” Trixie declared. “I think he put Hoppy there himself.”
    “But, Trixie, that would mean—”
    “I know what it would mean. It would mean that Sammy stole the weather vane. And when he heard about the reward, he brought it back and pretended to find it in that room.”
    “But how could Sammy steal the weather vane?” Honey asked. “You heard him say that there’s no way to get up on the roof except from inside the building.”
    “I know,” Trixie admitted. “I haven’t figured that part out yet.”
    The girls entered the dental clinic and registered with the receptionist. Trixie was called almost immediately. An examination revealed no cavities, and a quick cleaning was all she needed. Honey was called next.
    Half an hour later, they were on their way out the door.
    “We must use the right toothpaste,” Trixie said.
    Honey nodded. “Now we’ll have plenty of time for the library,” she said.
    The public library was on the edge of the common, directly across from the medical building. Comfortable and delightfully old-fashioned, the big white building was originally one of the first homes in Sleepyside. Now it made a perfect place for reading.
    The librarian was busy at her desk when Trixie and Honey entered the main reading room.
    Trixie spoke softly to her. “Could you help us?” The librarian looked up and smiled. “I’ll try,” she said.
    Trixie reached into her pocket and took out the coin Bobby had given her to wash. “We’d like to see any information you have on Mr. Quinn’s coin collection,” she said. “We need to know if he has a coin like this.”
    The librarian took a look at the coin. “Oh, no,” she said. “Mr. Quinn’s Oriental coins are all Chinese. This is a Japanese yen. Mr. Quinn doesn’t collect Japanese coins at all.”
    Trixie shrugged. “I guess that’s that,” she said, hiding her disappointment. “Thanks anyway.”
    “But that is a coincidence,” the librarian murmured. “I believe a Japanese yen was one of the artifacts placed inside the weather vane.”
    “What?” Trixie asked. “We know Hoppy is hollow, but we never knew there were things inside him.”
    “Oh, yes, indeed,” the woman said, leaning forward with her arms on the desk. “That’s another reason why the weather vane is so valuable. It’s really a sort of time capsule of Sleepyside.”
    “Do you have a book about the artifacts?” Honey asked eagerly.
    The librarian shook her head. “No. But we do have all the old newspaper clippings about the weather vane. They’re all kept downstairs in the reference department”
    Trixie and Honey exchanged glances. Both had the same idea. “Are we allowed in the reference room?” they asked in one voice.
    The librarian laughed. “Of course,” she said. “It’s a bit gloomy down there, but you won’t have any trouble finding the clippings about the weather vane. I had them out for Mr. Perkins a few days ago, and several people have been in looking at them since then. Look for