The Mystery in New York City

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R E A L K I D S • R E A L P L A C E SAMERICA’S NATIONAL MYSTERY BOOK SERIES

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C A R O L E M A R S H

The Mystery

in

New YorkCity

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Copyright ©2003 Carole Marsh/Gallopade International/Peachtree City, GAAll rights reserved.Fifth Printing July 2009Ebook edition Copyright ©2011

Carole Marsh Mysteries™ and its skull colophon are the property of Carole Marsh andGallopade International.

Published by Gallopade International/Carole Marsh Books. Printed in the United Statesof America.

Editor: Chad BeardEditorial Assistant: Steven St. LaurentCover Design: Vicki DeJoyPicture Credits: Michael BoylanContent Design: Steven St. Laurent and Lynette Rowe

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ChristinaYotherAge 9

GrantYotherAge 7

CyrusAkbariAge 11

HeatherEllis

Age 10

about the characters

We love the Big Apple!

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“Start spreadin’ the news. . . ” Christinaheard someone singing. She paused in the hallwayat the door to Grant’s bedroom. Grant was singingas he dug around in his dresser for clothes to pack.A pair of khaki shorts flew over his shoulder andlanded on the bed.

“I’m leavin’ today. . . ” Another pair of shorts,blue jeans this time, sailed across the room.

“I wanna be a part of it. . . ” One last pair ofshorts atop the pile and Grant closed the drawer.

“New York! New York!” he shouted as heturned toward the closet to select his shirts.Christina smiled as she walked into the room.

“Are you having fun packing?” she asked.Grant turned from the closet with a small

armload of shirts. He nodded as he continuedhumming the song.

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1Pack your bags

“Are you almost done?” Christina asked. “It’stime for dinner, you know.”

“I just have to pack my underpants,” Grantchirped. He tossed the shirts into a suitcase,hangers and all. Christina scrunched up her nose atthe thought of underpants, anyone’s, clean or not.And you never knew with Grant’s, since he wasalways jumbling up his clean and dirty laundry!

“Well, Mimi and Papa are here,” Christina said,“and we’re putting dinner on the table, so c’mon.”

As they made their way to the dining room,Grant belted out, “NEW YORK, NE-EW YOOORK!!”

Papa greeted them at the dining roomarchway. “Hey, Christina! Hey, Grant! How areyou? Ready to go to the Big Apple?”

“To the city that doesn’t sleep?” Mimi appearedfrom the kitchen. “Hey, kids! Are you ready?”

“YES!” they shouted in stereo.“I have everything we need right here,”

Christina smiled. She proudly presented a redthree-ring binder. It was stuffed with all sorts ofthings for their trip.

“It’s got the field journal my teacher gaveme, brochures from historic sites in the city, andeven subway route maps.”

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“All neatly organized, I’ll bet,” Papa said,knowing Christina’s everything-in-its-place way ofdoing things.

“Yes, sir!” she assured him.“Are we going to eat?” Grant asked. “Singing

makes me hungry!”

Everyone ate quickly, as if there was a bigrush, but they were all packed and ready to fly toNew York City the next morning. Everyone wasexcited about the trip. And, to make it morespecial—they would be there on the 4th of July! Alocal friend had arranged for them to watch thefireworks extravaganza from a chartered riverboat.

“The 4th of July fireworks display is going tobe spectacular!” Mimi said.

“Breathtaking!” Christina said.“Cool!” Grant piped in.“LOUD!” grumbled Papa.“Did you know,” Papa asked, “that the

fireworks display in New York City has beenpresented since 1800?”

“The first Independence Day fireworks displaywas in Philadelphia,” Christina reported, “in 1777.”

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“That’s very good, Christina,” Mimi said.“So, do you know where we’re going? All the places,I mean?”

“Yes, it’s all in my notebook.”“I thought it was a binder,” Grant said. “I can call it a notebook since it has a

notebook in it,” Christina said. Sometimes her littlebrother could be so. . . little brothery! “Anyway, Iplanned out subway routes and bus routes to andfrom all of the places we’ll be going to.”

“We won’t be taking subways or buses,” Papasaid. “We have transportation for the whole timewe’re there. Ben’s uncle is a taxi driver, and he hasa special van for tourists. We’ll get to see New YorkCity the nitty-gritty way it needs to be seen—upclose and personal—from the streets!”

Christina felt a little frustrated by that. Shehad worked so hard planning their trips around thecity. But Mimi had said that the subway—one of theoldest in the world, and the largest in NorthAmerica—was its own underground world. She alsosaid that they really didn’t need to spend much timedown there. Mimi did not like to be ‘underground’.

“We’ll get to see everything!” Grant giggled.“Not just those smelly old subway trains!”

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Christina sighed. All that hard work, shethought. But she knew that Papa and Mimi andGrant were right. They were going to the greatestcity in the world, and they shouldn’t have to look atsubways all the time.

Besides, they were going to New York forChristina’s summer project and Mimi’s mysterybook research. Mimi probably wouldn’t want towrite a mystery about the subway or anything thathappened on it!

Later, as they left to spend the night at Mimiand Papa’s house, they gave hugs and kisses to Momand Dad, and listened to all the parental advice:“Listen to Mimi and Papa; remember to wash yourhands whenever you can; don’t take off byyourselves; and stay out of trouble!”

Christina was slightly amused by the onephrase that always followed all the others: “Don’t gogetting involved in any crazy mysteries!”

As they fell asleep that night, dreaming ofskyscrapers, taxicabs, and alligators in the sewers,they had no idea what was in store for them this time!

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Christina looked past Grant out the window ofthe jet airliner that was in line for takeoff. All shecould see was tarmac and grass and little yellow signs.Across the aisle, Papa marveled at the hustle andbustle at the terminals of the busy Atlanta airport.Planes, trucks, baggage carts, and people everywhere!

“I hope we get to see Stone Mountain as wetake off,” Grant said. “Do you remember when wesaw the Christmas tree on top of the mountain?”

“I do! That was so neat!” Christina said.They heard the jet’s engines get louder, and

the plane rolled forward and turned. Now theywere looking down the runway, where a huge planewas hurtling away from them and lifting its noseinto the sky.

“Wow!” Grant exclaimed. “That’s evenbetter than seeing them from the highway!”

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2leavin’ on a

jet plane

Christina smiled. Planes landing atHartsfield International Airport flew very low overInterstate 85. They both had shrieked in terror thefirst time a 727 crossed the highway right in frontof their speeding car!

The plane’s engines got louder, then theaircraft turned again, and aimed down the runway.Christina held onto the armrests with a strong grip.Grant’s eyes opened as wide as they could. Theengines got really loud, and the big plane lurchedforward, forcing everyone back into their seats.

“Hee hee hee!” Grant laughed, as their planesped faster and faster down the runway and lifted offinto the sky.

Almost the second after they were off theground, Christina was thumbing through a NewYork City tourist’s guidebook. “Hey, Grant,” shesaid, “do you know how many taxicabs there are inNew York City?”

“A million?” Grant responded.“‘There are more than 12,000 Yellow Cabs in

New York’,” Christina quoted from her guidebook,or “survival guide,” as Mimi called it.

“Where do they park at night?” Grantwondered aloud.

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“Do you know how old the subway systemis?” Christina asked.

“Ummmm. . . one hundred years old?”“That’s right, Grant!” Christina beamed

proudly. Grant smiled. Christina knew her brotherwas smart, especially when it came to rememberingtidbits of trivia.

“Do you know how tall the Empire Statebuilding is?” Grant asked Christina, hoping she hadn’tmarked that page in her survival guide. She hadn’t—but she had already written it in her field journal.

“One thousand four hundred fifty-four feet,”she proclaimed, “with the mast.”

“Mast? Like on a sailboat?” Grant lookedconfused.

“No, silly,” Christina said. “It’s a big, giantradio and TV tower.”

“Christina,” Papa called from across theaisle. “The mast was originally designed to be amooring for zeppelins.”

“For what?” Christina and Grant asked.“Zeppelins!” Papa said. “Big blimps that

used to carry passengers.”Christina was amazed. She could picture a

huge blimp hovering above the Empire State Building,but she just couldn’t see how people would get off.

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“How did the passengers get down?” she asked.Papa laughed. “There never were any

passengers. They discovered that it was too tricky to tiean airship to the top of the building. It was too windy.”

Christina wrote everything Papa said in herfield journal. “I didn’t know that! Thanks, Papa!”

Papa smiled and went back to reading hismagazine. Grant watched the patchwork quilt ofland below glide by. Mimi slept. Christina read herguidebook, searching for the next interesting triviafact she could ask Grant.

“I see city down there!” Grant exclaimed.They had been flying for about two hours. Christinalooked out the window at the amazing sight—Manhattan Island filled with skyscrapers that lookedso tiny from way up high.

Just then, the pilot spoke over the intercom.“Ladies and gentlemen, we’ll be landing at LaGuardiaInternational in just a little while. If you look out theport side—the left side—of the aircraft, you’ll be ableto see Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.Currently, the weather in New York City is sunny andwarm. Enjoy the rest of your flight, folks.”

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Grant immediately glued his nose to thewindow. Christina busied herself packing her books.After the plane turned and began its ear-poppingdescent, Christina crammed herself up next toGrant so she could see out the window, too. ButGrant squirmed around so only he could see out thewhole window.

“There it is!” Grant shouted. “The Statueof Liberty!”

Christina finally moved him aside and got herfirst glimpse at Lady Liberty. The gray-green statuewas beautifully framed by the lush green of LibertyIsland and the deep blue waters of New York Harbor.

“Wow!” Christina exclaimed. “It’s beautiful!And, it’s the first place we’re going!”

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LaGuardia Airport was awash in noise fromthousands of people talking and laughing, kidsyelling and babies crying, baggage being thrownaround, announcements blaring over the publicaddress system—Christina thought it would probablybe quieter out on the tarmac with the planes!

“Christina! Grant! Over here!” came a shoutthrough the cacophony. They turned to see whowas calling them. A boy with spiky hair and bigbrown eyes jogged toward them.

“Hi, Ben!” Christina called back and waved.Ben skidded to a halt in front of them. He gaveChristina a big hug and a kiss on both cheeks.

“Hi Grant!” Ben reached out his hand andshook Grant’s with a crushing grip.

“Ow! Hi. . .” Grant muttered.“Binyamin!” Mimi greeted him. “Shalom!”

3Mystery vanwith a view

“Shalom!” he replied, then greeted Papa andshook his hand.

Christina was always excited to see Ben, orBinyamin, his Jewish name. His family honored allthe Jewish customs, even though his mother was afull-blooded Italian. That always made for aninteresting Hanukkah/Christmas season!

Ben was two years older than Christina. Hehad stayed with Christina and Grant on a month-longstudent exchange program a couple of years earlier.He had also changed a lot since the last time they hadseen each other. That probably was why Grant wasstaring at him like he’d never seen him before.

“Hey, you guys!” a heavily accented voicefrom the past shouted. “It’s good to see you again!I thought you’d never get here! It’s been so long!How long has it been? Years! I can’t believe it!”

Ben’s Mom, Viviana, with arms outstretched,came bursting through a steady river of people tothe little island the group had formed. A young girlabout Christina’s age, whom they had never met,trailed behind her.

Christina braced for another round ofhugging and kissing and shaking hands. Grant triedto hide behind his bag, but he still got a big smackerof a kiss from Ben’s Mom.

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“Guys, this is Katarzyna,” Viviana introducedthe girl, pronouncing her name slowly, like ‘cat-are-zhee-na’. “She’s from Poland, she’s staying with usfor the summer, and she’s having a wonderful time,aren’t you, Kate?”

Kate nodded. “It’s nice to meet you all. Ihope I won’t be imposing if I accompany you on yoursightseeing.”

Christina was surprised. She hadn’t heardabout this! She looked up at Mimi, who read thequestion on her face.

“Surprise, Christina!” Mimi said, with a slysmile. “You planned our trip so well that I just hadto throw in a surprise!”

“Okay, you guys!” Viviana said. “My brother,Vinny, he’s outside in the cab waiting to take youwherever you can take a cab. I’ve got to get back toour new restaurant near Central Park North!Lunchtime starts real soon—say, are you guyshungry? I can call ahead and have Paolo set a tableand have today’s special waiting for us when we getthere. I’m going to call him. You got all your bags?Okay, follow me!”

And just like that, Viviana whirled and madeher way to the exit. She whipped out her cell phoneand called her restaurant, speaking loudly in Italian.

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Christina, Grant, Ben, Kate, and Mimifollowed her to the exit. Papa, pushing the luggagecart, huffed behind them. Christina wondered ifViviana’s brother Vinny was as colorful a characteras she was.

Outside, it was quieter. The sounds changedfrom those of humans to those of vehicles. A bigyellow taxivan was waiting for them. As theyapproached, the sliding door on the side openedautomatically. Uncle Vinny came around the back tointroduce himself and to help Papa load their bags.

Vinny didn’t say much. Christina thoughtthat maybe it was because his sister got all thetalking genes. She grabbed her small suitcase fromthe luggage cart and handed it to him. He justsmiled and said, “Buongiorno, signorina!”

Christina went to get into the van and sawGrant standing there with a silly look on his face.“What is it, Grant?”

Grant pointed at the van. “It’s a mysteryvan!” he blurted. “Cool!” On the van’s door was anadvertisement for the Broadway show Phantom ofthe Opera. It was a spooky-looking banner featuringthe famous half-face mask and shadowy silhouettesof the characters.

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Christina rolled her eyes. She wasn’tplanning on a being involved in a mystery—they hadso much to do, so much to see! She took Grant’shand and led him into the van. They took thesecond row seats. Viviana was sitting up front, stilltalking to Paolo on the phone.

“Wow!” Grant exclaimed. “Check it out,Christina!”

Christina looked at him—Grant was staringup at the van’s roof. Christina followed his gaze—and looked up and up and up! The roof of the vanwas one huge window!

Ben and Kate got in and took the seatsbehind Christina and Grant.

“What a view, eh?” Ben said. “Just wait tillwe get into the city! You’ll think the skyscrapersnever end!”

Papa helped Mimi up into the van and theywent straight to the back. Vinny closed the slidingdoor and it got real quiet in the van.

“Okay, you guys,” Viviana said, “we’reheading to the restaurant! We’ll be there in about20 minutes. Paolo is going to have lunch on thetable when we get there!”

Christina’s tummy rumbled. It had been along time since breakfast—and the airlines didn’t

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give you snacks anymore. “What’s for lunch, MissViviana?” she asked.

Viviana started to reply, but Vinnyinterrupted her.

“Ah! Lunch! My favorite meal of the day!”Vinny proclaimed. “Today, for lunch, we are havingagnello all’aceto balsamico e bocconnoti!” He turned inhis seat and smiled hungrily at them. “I can alreadysmell it!” He took a big sniff, and let it out. “Ahhh!”

“What’s that?” Grant asked.“Lamb with balsamic vinegar and pastries

filled with ricotta cheese,” Viviana translated.“Mmmmm!” Papa rumbled from the back seat.Grant scrunched his eyebrows. “Can I just

have plain old spaghetti?”

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WORDS TO KNOW

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The Mystery of...Alamo Ghost

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California Mission TrailCape Cod

Chocolate TownCounterfeit Constitution

Death ValleyDevils Tower

Disney WorldFort Sumter

Freedom TrailGold Rush

Golden Gate BridgeGrand Canyon

Graveyard of the AtlanticGreat Lakes

Haunted Ghost TownHawaii

Hoover DamIditarod Trail

JamestownKentucky Derby

Kill Devil HillsLiberty BellLost Colony

Missing DinosaurMount Rushmore

Mount VernonNew York City

Niagara FallsOregon Trail

Rocky MountainsSmoky Mountains

Space Center HoustonSt. Louis Arch

Underground RailroadWhite House Christmas

WilliamsburgYellowstone National Park

and more!

T

On a trip to New York City,Christina and Grantbecome gridlocked in amystery that takes themon a wild, hair-raisinghistory tour of the BigApple’s most famouslandmarks to �nd apriceless part of history!