Bailey’s Estes Park Excitement (14 page)

Bailey picked up the story. “We discovered it's on a motion sensor that's tied into the timer. So if the detector senses motion in the doorway, it turns off the timer and player piano, stopping the music.”

“Awesome! You guys are getting good at this!” Sydney exclaimed.

Bailey laughed. “But that's not all! While we were still in the lobby, there was another stampede in front of the hotel.”

“I was carrying Biscuit because I'd forgotten his leash,” Kate added. “He heard the noise and bolted from my arms and ran outside.”

“No!” Alex said.

“We chased after him, but it was too late.” Kate's voice shook as she relived the horrible evening. “He'd been trampled by the elk and was lying in the grass with a bloody paw.”

“It was terrible!” Bailey wailed. “Poor Biscuit could hardly breathe he hurt so bad.”

“What did you do?” Elizabeth asked.

“We had to take him to the hospital,” Kate said.

“And get this,” Bailey said. “Someone had just told my parents where the closest one was and which vet to ask for!”

“Wow,” Elizabeth said. “That sounds like a real God-thing!”

“Totally.” Kate cleared her throat. “And the hospital was pretty close, too!”

“You did the right thing by not picking Biscuit up to comfort him,” McKenzie said. “A loving touch is all anyone really needs as they wait for help in a time like that. So how is he now?”

“Well, the doctor checked him over,” Kate told her. “He had a crushed paw and some broken ribs. They wrapped his paw up in a big bandage and gave him some pain medicine to make him sleep so he could heal easier. We had to leave him at the hospital overnight, but we're going to get him this afternoon.” Kate grinned triumphantly.

Sydney sighed. “That's a relief.”

“Give the puppy a hug for me when he gets home,” Alex said.

“And an extra treat from me!” McKenzie added.

“I'm glad he's going to be okay,” Elizabeth said. “I'll be sure to remember him in my prayers. You know, in Proverbs, the Bible tells us a righteous man cares for the needs of his animals. I'd say you've done exactly that.”

“Thanks, Lizzy.” Kate smiled shyly at Bailey.

“But that's not the worst of it!” Bailey continued. “Three people were hurt in that stampede, too!”

“Oh no!” Sydney cried.

“Here's the sad part—the one hurt the most was Justin and Joe's Grandpa Perkins.” Bailey couldn't bring herself to call Justin “Oscar the Grouch” under the circumstances.

“That is sad,” McKenzie said. “How are they taking it?”

“We don't really know.” Bailey shrugged, even though the others couldn't see it through the phone.

“We haven't actually talked to them ourselves yet.”

“But here's the creepy part,” Bailey continued. “We saw Justin and Joe walking toward the hills the night of the stampede.”

“And it was only a few minutes later that the stampede happened.” Kate bit her lower lip.

“We think they had their gun with them even though it was way too dark for them to do any target practice.”

“Not only that,” Kate added, “the news station this morning reported that witnesses had seen two young men with guns before the stampede. So we weren't the only ones who noticed.”

“Man,” Sydney said. “Those boys are going to have some explaining to do.”

“You're telling me.” Bailey pulled her lip balm out of her pocket and smoothed some on.

“We want to try to get to know them better to see if we can help them in any way,” Kate said.

“They must be really afraid and lonely right now. Not to mention sad about their grandpa,” McKenzie added. “They really do need some good friends like you.”

Bailey and Kate then briefly told the Camp Club Girls about their trip to room 408 that morning.

“So we're hoping to go back up to see it around noon,” Kate said.

“And we want to look at that window from the lawn at that time to see if the cowboy ghost shows up.”

“Keep us posted,” Alex said. “That sounds like an awesome hotel!”

“We will!” Bailey said. “And in the meantime, we have to figure out what the boys are so angry about.”

“Maybe you'll remember something they said that will give you a clue,” McKenzie said.

“Yeah, we'll have to think back about our conversations with them,” Kate agreed.

Someone knocked at Bailey and Kate's hotel door, ending the conference call. Bailey made sure the chain was latched on the door before opening it the three inches it allowed. She inhaled sharply when she saw who stood on the other side.

Kate came to the door and peered out over Bailey's head to see Justin and Joe.

“Justin! Joe! What are you doing here?” Bailey unhooked the chain and opened the door.

“W–We just wanted to see if you want to go to the hospital with our family.” Justin inspected his black and red Nikes as he spoke. “My mom said you wanted to visit my grandpa.”

“Yes, we do,” Kate said. “We're sorry he was hurt.”

“The only problem is that my parents aren't here for me to ask permission right now.” Bailey frowned.

“Can you call them?” Joe asked.

“Yeah. Sure.” Bailey was so surprised by this unexpected invitation she could hardly get her words out. “When are you leaving?”

“Later this afternoon,” Justin replied. “We just wanted to give you a heads-up in case you wanted to come along.”

“I'll call my mom right now.” Bailey grabbed her phone from her pocket and speed-dialed. “Mom? Can we go with the Perkinses to the hospital later today to see their grandpa? Okay. That should work. Thanks. Love you, too.”

“Well?” Justin asked.

“She said yes. She'll pick us up at the hospital when she and my sister are done shopping, and then we'll pick up Kate's dog from the vet. Plus, she also wants to see your grandpa.”

“Why's your dog at the vet?” Joe asked.

“He got trampled in the stampede, too,” Kate said.

“He did? Is he all right?” Justin seemed genuinely concerned about the little dog.

“He broke some ribs, and his paw got messed up.” Kate grimaced. “He had to spend the night there, but he's getting out today.”

“He might not be quite as fast as he was when he saw you in the hills yesterday,” Bailey teased the boys.

“Thank goodness for that!” Justin cracked a shy smile, the first Bailey had ever seen on his face. It was a nice smile, she decided, looking at his straight white teeth. He was cute.

“Thanks for inviting us to go with you,” Kate said.

“We'll knock on your door when we're ready to leave.” Joe seemed more relaxed than Bailey remembered him being before, maybe because Justin wasn't so irritable.

“Wait!” Bailey called. “We're going to check out room 408 where the cowboy ghost is always seen today at noon. You wanna come?”

Justin looked at Joe and shrugged. “Sure.”

“We're meeting the bellhop, Lance, in the lobby then if you want to meet us there, too.”

“Okay, we'll see you in the lobby at twelve o'clock,” Joe said.

“Great. See you then.” Kate shut the door and latched the chain.

“Can you believe that?” Bailey exploded.

“They're like different people today!”

“Well, they can't help but be changed by what happened to their grandpa.” Bailey shook her head. “But I never dreamed the change would be this dramatic.”

“Let's tell the girls we're going so they can pray that we have an opportunity to share our faith with the boys,” Kate suggested. “This could be just the chance we've been waiting for.”

Bailey snatched her laptop from the bed, and Kate grabbed hers off the nightstand. “We'll just have to tell whoever's online since we don't have time to get everyone together before they pick us up.” Bailey logged on.

Bailey looked from her computer to Kate and they traded grins.

Bailey logged off and closed her laptop. Kate got out the bread and started making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

“Something Justin said at the Elkfest just came to me,” Bailey said.

Kate spread the peanut butter on her bread. “What was it?”

“I think it may be what McKenzie was talking about when she said the boys must feel threatened somehow. Remember how Justin was so mad when we said we hoped Grandpa Perkins would win the bugling contest?” Bailey grabbed the peanut butter jar. “He said something about how the tourists shouldn't be able to win and should just go home.”

“I thought he was just kidding,” Kate said around a bite of sandwich.

“So did I until I looked at him. He was mad and dead serious.” Bailey finished making her sandwich and poured a glass of milk.

“That could be it, Bailey!”

“Justin and Joe used to visit their grandparents here before all the tourists started coming. Maybe Estes Park has changed so much from all the tourists that Justin wants them to leave.”

“He could be angry that their quiet vacation spot is now crowded and busy.” Kate took another bite. “I bet the tourists don't take care of the place like the locals, either.”

“I know I've seen some of the tourists littering and leaving messes behind,” Bailey said.

“That would explain why Justin didn't like us at first. If he feels threatened by tourists, he'd feel threatened by us since we're tourists!”

Bailey stopped eating. “Maybe he's using that gun to scare the elk into town so they'll scare the tourists away.”

“But how did he always know where to find the elk?” Kate asked.

Bailey bit into her sandwich and thought a second. Then her eyes lit up. “Sydney said one thing's for sure. If you have wallows, you have elk.”

“That's it!” Kate yelled. “The wallows! The boys are finding the elk by finding the wallows. Bailey, I think we may have just figured out our mystery.”

“Now we just have to prove it.”

“Come on, we have to get down to the lobby. It's almost noon!”

As they exited the elevator, they saw Lance waiting for them. The Perkins boys showed up moments later.

“Everyone ready to check out room 408?” Lance asked.

“Can we start by looking at it from the courtyard first to see if we can see the cowboy ghost?” Bailey asked.