Willie Boylan is a character in the Ghostwriter book The Ghostwriter Detective Guide: Tools and Tricks of the Trade. He appears in the mini-mystery, “The Case of the Shocking-Pink Envelope”, and is a fourteen-year-old that is known for his rude demeaner.
Summary[]
Jamal and Alex are both in the bodega one day, talking about that Lenni’s aunt always sends her money on her birthday in a pink envelope. Willie comes from nearby and pushes past them, asking them to quit blocking his path. Unfortunately, he accidently trips over Grandma Jenkins's mail cart and knocks her over. The cart causes a cupcake rack to fall down.
Alex, Jamal, and Mike Edels, the delivery boy, help Grandma Jenkins up. Mike then rights the rack. A bit later, Willie complains that he is ready to pay.
Alex grumbles for him to help, and his father tells him to apologize to Jamal’s grandmother. He complies, then starts putting the cupcakes back onto the rack. However, Jamal is confused that he put the strawberry cupcakes with to the lemon flavored ones, instead of in their own section.
Mr. Fernandez is slightly annoyed and tells Willie to do the job correctly, but Willie repeats the mistake. Alex’s father then asks to stack them the correct way or not do it at all. Willie then states that he does not care about the cupcakes. Mike tells Mr. Fernandez that he would take care of the cupcakes, and tells Willie to pick up the rest of the mail.
A bit later, Grandma Jenkins notices that both of Lenni’s envelopes, including the one with the birthday money from her aunt, are missing. Ghostwriter gives Jamal and Alex a clue which the former discovers is about a quarter, and they think that the envelopes are in someone’s pocket.
They are confused as to why someone would steal both of Lenni’s letters, instead of just the one with the money. Jamal figures out that the thief is Willie, and that he is color-blind. Therefore, he would not be able to tell the difference between the different colored cupcakes, as well as the envelopes.