Mara Louis; Girl of Mystery Read online

Giovanni told them that Tony had been playing the violin since he was three years old.

  “His grandfather, who is also musically gifted, taught him how to play,” said Mrs. Giovanni.

  For the rest of that afternoon, and evening, Mara and her parents were shown all of the historical sites of Philadelphia, including Independence Hall.

  During the tour, Mara and Tony became good friends. Mara asked many questions about Tony’s music, and Tony asked Mara a lot about the many mysteries that she had solved. Even though Tony was a year older physically, they were the same age mentally and emotionally.

  The next morning, after a delicious breakfast, Tony asked Mara if she would like to meet his grandfather, Antonio Giovanni.

  Mara got permission from her parents to go with Tony to visit his grandfather who lived just seven blocks away.

  As they walked, Tony told Mara a little about the Giovanni family history.

  His great, great grandfather, Antonio Giovanni came to America in 1885, from Italy. He settled in Philadelphia, where he married and had eight children. The youngest child, Francisco was Tony’s great grandfather, born in 1898.

  Francisco Giovanni married and had six children. The oldest child, Antonio was Tony’s grandfather, born in 1918.

  Antonio and Tony’s grandmother married in 1939 and raised five children, one of which was Joseph, Tony’s father.

  Joseph Giovanni was born in 1958. He married Tony’s mom, Sharon and they had four children, the youngest being Tony.

  Tony’s grandparents had been married for sixty-seven years when his grandmother died, just one year ago, when Tony was twelve.

  Because Tony came from such a large family, he had relatives throughout the Eastern states.

  Mara did not know what she expected Tony’s grandfather to be like, but when he opened the door, Mara was surprised at how full of life he was.

  For a man of eighty-nine years old, he was very agile and had a nice friendly manner about him.

  Tony introduced Mara to his grandfather. As the elderly gentleman shook Mara’s hand, he told her; “You look as beautiful as your mother did at your age.”

  This made Mara blush, but she managed to say; “Thank you sir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  The three of them, engaged in small talk for a while, and Mara was a little suspicious when Tony and his grandfather kept making motions with their hands and pointing to Mara, when they thought she was not looking.

  Finally, Mara could not stand it any longer. “Is there something that the two of you want to say to me, or ask me?” she asked them.

  “We have to be honest with you, Mara,” said Tony. “We did have an ulterior motive in bringing you over here today. We have read the articles about all the mysteries you have solved and we have our own mystery that we thought you could help us solve.”

  As soon as Mara heard the word mystery, she was all ears. It had been over a year since she solved the mystery of the haunted mansion in California.

  “I would love to help,” she said. “What’s the mystery?”

  As Mara took notes, Mr. Giovanni began to explain. “My grandfather owned a violin that had been in the Giovanni family for several generations. When he came to America, he had to sell many of his possessions to pay for room and board while he looked for work. The one possession that he refused to sell was that violin. He would have starved first.”

  “When I was a small child, He used to play that violin so beautifully that I was mesmerized by the music. When I was five years old, my grandfather started teaching me to play that violin. He told me that when I turned fifteen, and became a man, the violin would become mine.”

  “In the late 1920’s, during the Great Depression, money was scarce and people would often steal anything of value that they could get their hands on and sell it to buy food for their families.

  My grandfather was afraid that someone would break into his house to steal the violin, so he hid the instrument somewhere.”

  “A year later, he had a stroke and died. In his will, he said that the violin was to be given to me on my fifteenth birthday. He said that the violin was in his brother’s vault.”

  At this point, Mara interrupted him and asked, “Did you find the violin in the vault?”

  “That’s where the mystery began,” said Mr. Giovanni. When my grandfather came to America in 1885, he came to Philadelphia, where three of his brothers were already living. They had arrived in America years earlier. One of them was a Catholic priest, one worked in a bank, and one owned a small clothing store.”

  “When we checked with my great uncle at the bank, he said that there was no violin in the bank vault. My Great uncle, who owned the clothing store, said he had no vault.”

  “What about your uncle, the priest?” asked Mara. “Did he have the violin?”

  “Well, my Great Uncle Roberto, or Father Roberto, as he was known, died a few years before my grandfather, and the church had no safe, that they would admit to, anyway.”

  “I haven’t seen that violin in over seventy years. Before I leave this world, I would like to hear the sweet music of that violin just one more time.”

  Mara called her mom’s cell phone and got permission to stay with Tony and his grandfather for the rest of the day.

  Tony and Mara looked up the addresses for the clothing store, the bank and the church, where Mr. Giovanni’s great uncles worked, Mara wrote some notes down in her notebook, and with a copy of the will, she was ready.

  Mara and Tony took a city bus to the first of their stops. They found out that clothing store had been torn down years earlier and where it once stood; there was now a business park. Mara crossed that possibility off her list.

  Next, they headed to the bank, which was still in business at the same location. Luckily, for them, the bank was open from 8am to noon on Saturdays.

  When they arrived at the bank, they talked to the bank manager. They asked if they could have a tour of the bank to include the bank vault. The manager agreed to show them around.

  Mara and Tony saw that there was no place that a violin could be hidden in the vault. The safety deposit boxes were all too small.

  As Mara crossed the bank off her list, she began to doubt if they would ever find the old violin.

  There was one last possible hiding place for the violin; the Catholic Church.

  As the bus dropped them off in front of Cathedral-Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, both Tony and Mara were impressed by the size of the church, as well as the architecture.

  When they entered the church, they were greeted by the parish priest; Father John Roberts.

  Mara and Tony had agreed not to mention the violin, at least not right away. They had come up with a story to tell the parish priest.

  “Father John, I am doing a research project on my family. My great- great-great uncle; Father Roberto Giovanni was a parish priest here from 1880 until 1925. Is it okay, if we look around the church?”

  Father John smiled and said; “I’ve got a better idea. How would you both like a personal tour?”

  “That would be cool,” said Tony and the tour began.

  Two hours later, after they had been to every room of the large church, Mara asked Father John; “Do you have any safes where you keep religious relics or money?”

  Father John laughed and said; “We keep our money in the bank, and our religious artifacts are displayed in locked cases throughout the church.”

  Mara and Tony looked very disappointed. The church had been their last hope of finding the violin. Mara was also upset, because she had failed to solve the mystery.

  “Would you like to see Father Roberto’s crypt?” asked Father John.

  Mara’s eyes lit up and she got very excited.

  “What’s a crypt?” asked Tony.

  “Tony”, said Mara,
“A crypt is a vault, a burial vault. Where is the crypt?” asked Mara.

  “It’s beneath the church,” said Father John. He led Mara and Tony to his office and took a large book off a shelf. After turning several pages, he found what he was looking for. “According to this entry, your great, great, great uncle; Father Roberto Giovanni died in 1925 and he was cremated. The urn with his ashes was placed in his crypt.”

  Mara whispered something to Tony and he nodded his head in agreement. “Father John”, said Mara, we have an unusual request for you. According to Tony’s Great, Great grandfather’s will, he hid a family heirloom; an old violin in his ‘brother’s vault’ for safekeeping. He hid it there, because he wanted to protect it from thieves during the Depression. He died before he could retrieve the violin.”

  “His will left the violin to Tony’s grandfather.” Mara showed the copy of the will to Father John. I know that this a very unusual request, but, could we please look in the crypt to see if the violin is there?”

  “Tony’s grandfather is eighty-nine years old and has longed to hold that violin again, for almost seventy-five years”

  Father John looked at the two pairs of pleading eyes of the children and a voice deep inside of him, told him that it was the right thing to do.

  Father John located the other priest of the parish and the four of them, descended the stairs that led to the crypts, or burial vaults.

  After twenty minutes, they found the burial vault of Father Roberto Giovanni. Very carefully, the four of them slid the concrete lid, halfway off the