Detective Camp (4 page)

The kids took turns roasting their marshmallows. Pretty soon everyone had sticky lips and fingers. Instead of sitting on their stumps, a lot of the campers
were lying in the sand, gazing into the fire. The sky had grown dark, and the stars were bright over their heads.

“While you kids are digesting your s’mores, well tell you about the Marvelous Mystery Map,” Angie said. “You’ll be meeting Detective Robb at breakfast tomorrow. He drew a map that leads to a special treasure, then he ripped the map into twenty-six pieces. Luke, Buzzy, and I hid them all over the camp. Each of you has to find one piece.”

“How do we do that?” asked Josh.

“Alphabet clues,” Luke said. “Buzzy, Angie, and I wrote the letters of the alphabet on twenty-six cards. Each of the map pieces will be found in a place that begins with a certain letter. To help you out, we put a clue on the back of each card. You’ll each pick a card out of a hat tomorrow.”

“I don’t get it,” Campbell said.

“Okay, here’s an example,” said Buzzy. “Suppose your card has the letter
W
on the front and a piece of bark taped to the back. Where would you go to look?”

“I’d go to the woodpile!” said Ruth Rose.

“And you’d be right!” Buzzy said.

“Cool!” Campbell said. “It’s a treasure hunt!”

“You’ll work in teams,” Angie went on. “There are twenty-six of you, and you should form into teams of three or four kids. Remember, your goal is to find all twenty-six pieces of the map and put them back together. The treasure’s location will be on the map.”

“When do we start?” asked one of the girls.

“It’s on your daily schedule,” Angie said. “At nine-thirty, right after your morning chores, come up to the picnic
tables to get your clue cards.”

Suddenly Luke jumped on his stump with a banjo in his hands. “Who knows The Washerwoman Song’?” he yelled.

No one answered.

“Well, we do!” said Luke. “Come on, Angie and Buzzy, let’s teach it to them.”

While Luke plucked the banjo strings, all three sang:

“Now everyone stand up and try it,” Luke said. “You have to make all the motions. Anyone who laughs has to sit down, and the last person standing is the winner!”

Luke started them off with his banjo. “Now sing,
‘Way down south, in a wild, wet place
 …
’ 
”

All twenty-six kids started singing. Within five seconds, they were all laughing and falling in the sand.

“I guess it’s a tie,” Luke said, grinning. “Tomorrow night, one of you can choose a song. Now let’s put the fire out and head back.”

“Not so fast!” Buzzy said with a big grin on his face. “Angie, tell the kids about the Shady Lake Monster.”

“Oh, they don’t want to hear about
the Shady Lake Monster!” Angie said, smiling at Buzzy.

“YES WE DO!” twenty-six kids screamed.

“Oh, all right,” Angie said.

It was very dark now, and cooler. The kids leaned closer to the fire. They got quiet as Angie began speaking.

“Long, long ago, a forest ranger was camping near this very lake in July. The next morning, other rangers found just his hat. The man was never seen again. The following year, again in July, another person disappeared from the banks of Shady Lake.” Angie pointed out at the dark water.

“This went on year in, year out. Every July, a person walking near this lake would disappear, never to be heard from again. Sometimes adults disappeared; sometimes it was children. Two years ago, a whole bunch of kids
disappeared while camping here!”

Josh moaned, and someone else giggled in the dark.

“Anyway,” Angie continued, “no one disappeared last July, so some people think the monster is gone. Of course, I have my own theory.”

Angie leaned closer and whispered, “I think the monster is at the bottom of Shady Lake, hibernating. And while he’s down there hibernating, he’s getting very, very hungry! So keep your eyes open, especially when the sun goes down, just like … 
now!
”

Suddenly everyone heard a huge splash in the lake.

“It’s the monster!” Angie yelled.

The kids all screamed and jumped up. They tripped over their stumps, bumped into each other, and fell in the sand.

“Run for the cabins!” Buzzy yelled, barely able to keep from laughing.

The kids shrieked and tore away from the campfire. Dink and Josh burst into their cabin and jumped into their bunks. They were followed by the six other boys, laughing and growling like monsters.

“That was so cool,” Campbell said. “But my uncle Mickey told me that same story about the camp he went to. He said he heard it from his camp counselors when he was a kid! Buzzy, Angie, and Luke are having a good laugh down there now.”

“But what made that splash?” Josh asked.

“One of the counselors probably slipped away from the campfire in the dark,” Campbell said. “When Angie said ‘now!’ Luke or Buzzy must have thrown a rock in the lake.”

As soon as Dink’s heartbeat had quieted down, he grabbed his toothbrush
and headed for the washhouse.

When he returned to his bunk, Josh was at his cubby, pushing things aside to find his own toothbrush.

Dink kicked off his sneakers and flopped down on his bed. He picked up his Vermont book and began reading about white-tailed deer.

Dink heard a scratching sound outside his window. When he turned, he saw Ruth Rose peering in through the screen.

“What’re you doing out there?” Dink asked.

“I found it!” Ruth Rose said. “Meet me around front under that big tree!”

“You found what?” Dink asked.

Ruth Rose put her hand near the screen. With the light spilling outside, Dink saw it clearly.

Resting in the palm of Ruth Rose’s hand was a woman’s ring.

Dink grabbed Josh and pulled him out onto the cabin porch.

“What’s going on?” Josh asked. “I haven’t even brushed—”

“Ruth Rose found the ring,” Dink whispered as he tugged Josh off toward the trees.

Ruth Rose joined them, scurrying from behind their cabin. “It was hidden under my mattress,” she whispered. She showed the ring to Dink and Josh.

“Do you think it’s hers?” Josh asked. “I mean Mad … what’s her name.”

“Mademoiselle Musée,” Ruth Rose
said. “It must be, unless someone else is missing a ring.”

“How did you find it?” Dink asked.

“My mattress was crooked,” she said. “When I straightened it out, I felt the ring.”

“So someone hid it there,” Dink said. “But why?”

“I hate to say it, but maybe one of my cabinmates stole the ring,” Ruth Rose said. “And maybe they hid it in case Mademoiselle Musée decided to search the cabins.”

“If she did, she’d find the ring under your mattress and blame you for stealing it,” Josh said.

Ruth Rose nodded. “I know,” she said.

Josh chuckled. “At least we know Remote the goat didn’t eat it,” he said.

“What should we do?” Ruth Rose asked.

“Maybe we should tell the Darbys,” Josh said.

“No, they’d just get all upset if they thought one of their campers was a thief,” Ruth Rose said.

“Should we give it back to Mademoiselle tomorrow?” Dink asked. “Explain how you found it under your—”

“No,” Ruth Rose interrupted, shaking her head. “Because then she’d go and upset the Darbys.”

Just then Buzzy, Angie, and Luke came strolling toward the cabins, laughing and whispering. Ruth Rose pulled Dink and Josh farther into the shadows.

“I have an idea,” she said. “Let’s sneak into the lodge later and leave the ring where Mademoiselle Musée will be sure to find it in the morning.”

Both boys stared at her.

“She’ll just think she misplaced it,” Ruth Rose went on.

“I guess that is the best thing to do,” Dink said. “How will we get in? The doors might be locked.”

“The kitchen door isn’t,” Josh said. “It doesn’t lock. Remember how Mario told us the goat gets in?”

“Okay, set your watch alarm,” Ruth Rose told Dink. She shoved the ring deep into the pocket of her shorts. “Meet right here at midnight!”

They split up, and Dink and Josh hurried into Moose Cabin.

“What’s up, guys?” asked Buzzy. “It’s time to get ready for bed.”

“We were just talking to our friend Ruth Rose,” Dink said.

“Okay, fellas, you can read or whatever for ten more minutes, then lights out,” Buzzy said. “Sleep tight and don’t let the Shady Lake Monster bite!”

Most of the kids laughed.

Josh got undressed and climbed up
the ladder to the top bunk.

Dink did the same, pulling on blue pajamas. He set the alarm on his watch, then tried to read. He was reading about bobcats, but all he could picture was someone hiding a stolen ring under Ruth Rose’s mattress.

Later, after the lights were out, he kept thinking about that ring. For some reason, he didn’t believe one of the girls in Fox Cabin was the thief. Could it be Buzzy? In his mind, Dink kept seeing the Moose Cabin counselor on his knees next to Hunter’s bed.

Something
very
weird was going on in Detective Camp!

Dink was dreaming. He was riding Remote the goat through the forest, with Ronald the rooster on his shoulder. Ronald began to chirp in his ear, and Dink woke up.

The chirping was his watch. He fumbled for the tiny button to shut the alarm off. Midnight. Sitting up, Dink listened to the cabin noises. He heard a lot of soft breathing and a couple of deeper snores from Buzzy’s bed.

Dink reached one leg up and kicked the top bunk to wake Josh. A moment later, Josh climbed down his ladder and stood next to Dink’s bed.

Dink put a finger to his lips, and the two boys slipped out of the cabin. They hurried off the porch toward the trees.

They were both in pajamas and barefoot. The damp grass tickled the bottoms of Dink’s feet. The moon was only partly visible through the trees, but it cast a glow on the ground and cabins.

“She’d better show up soon,” Josh grumbled when they were deep in the shadows.

“I’m riiiight behind youuuu,” Ruth
Rose said in a raspy voice.

Josh jumped and put his hand on his chest.

“Why don’t you give me a heart attack!” he hissed.

Ruth Rose grinned. “Gee, are Moose Cabin boys afraid of the dark?” she asked.

“No, but I owe you one scare,” Josh said. “Okay, are we gonna do this?”

The three of them hurried across the lawn, then the driveway. They crept past the picnic tables to the lodge’s back door.

Dink looked for lights, but the windows were totally dark. He reached for the doorknob when Josh’s hand stopped him.

“What if there’s an alarm?” Josh asked.

Dink thought about all those paintings inside and that collection of animals
that looked like valuable silver. “There could be, I guess,” he said, pulling back his hand.