Stalk, Don't Run (11 page)

The name of the snake made my own mouth dry up like cotton. I’d been introduced to a Florida cottonmouth snake not too long ago . . . at Camp Athena!

“N
ed,” I said, taking deep breaths to remain calm. “Does the Florida cottonmouth have olive-green scales and a bandit mask?”

“Yeah,” Ned said. “What I don’t get is how the snake ended up in our kayak. It’s not like they’re found around here.”

“So someone might have put the snake in our kayak while we were cloud gazing?” I asked slowly.

“Who would want to do that?” Ned asked.

Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava, that was who. If they could sneak out of camp to get to Main Street in the middle of the night, they could sneak to the river, too. Though it was hard to imagine them handling a snake, I was pretty sure they’d find a way.

“Ned, there are these three girls at Camp Athena,” I said. “They’re twelve but going on thirty.”

“What about them?” Ned asked.

“All I can say is they’re bad news,” I said. “Would you mind if I cut our date short? I really have to talk to Bess and George. I’ll text Bess to pick me up.”

“No problem,” Ned said. “I’ll stay here and call animal protection. They’ll know how to handle the snake.”

As I texted Bess, I thought of the madness that had followed us back home from Malachite Beach.

What was happening to River Heights?

It wasn’t long before Bess and George pulled up in Bess’s car.

“Scott lost a good chunk of his tooth on that kernel,” George said. “Who knew popcorn could be so perilous?”

“You think
Scott
had a bad day?” I said. “Wait until you hear what happened to me.”

“Oh, no, Nance.” Bess sighed. “Don’t tell me you had another fight with Ned.”

“I found a Florida cottonmouth in our kayak. Sound familiar?” I said.

“Florida cottonmouth,” Bess repeated. “That’s the type of snake we saw at the Camp Athena zoo.”

“Wasn’t its name Slithers?” George said.

“Yep. Ned said the Florida cottonmouth is venomous and uncommon in this part of the country.”

“Then what was it doing in our river?” George asked.

“I think Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava might have the answer to that question,” I said.

“You mean Bunk Diana could have put Slithers in your kayak?” Bess asked.

I nodded and said, “Ned and I could have gotten seriously ill or died had that snake attacked us. Does that tell you they’re capable of hurting someone?”

“Like Mandy, Mallory, and Mia?” George said. “I still can’t imagine why they’d want to do away with their idols.”

“Mia told them to back off, remember?” I said. “Those spoiled brats probably couldn’t deal with the rejection, so they decided to get even.”

“They did mention something about payback,” Bess said. “But why would they want to poison
you
with that snake?”

“By now they probably know we’re detectives,” I said. “They could have seen us in the café last night and figured we were on their tails.”

“So Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava are our new ‘persons of interest’?” George asked.

I groaned at the words. It was nice to have forgotten about Chief McGinnis and our quandary for a while—even while I was dodging a venomous snake.

“They’re suspects,” I said. “And we should be investigating them as soon as possible.”

“What about the guy in the white jacket?” George asked. “Shouldn’t we be looking for him, too?”

“Yes, but the information we have on Bunk Diana is too important to ignore right now,” I said.

“Let’s go to Main Street,” Bess said. “That’s where they’re always hanging out.”

“Too busy there,” George said. “There’ll be too many opportunities for them to get away.”

She was right. Then I said, “How about going to Camp Athena late tonight? If Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava aren’t around, we can at least look for clues.”

“What if Amy sees us?” Bess asked.

“Amy Paloma?” I scoffed. “She’s so out of it lately, I don’t think she’ll notice or even care.”

“Don’t be so sure about that, Nancy,” Bess said. “Amy’s still the head of that camp, no matter how weird she’s been acting.”

“Let’s take a chance,” I said.

“All this for a bunch of twelve-year-olds?” George said.

“A bunch of
dangerous
twelve-year-olds,” I pointed out. “That was a venomous snake in our kayak, and who knows—maybe they locked us in the fridge last night too.”

“I’d like to go to Camp Athena tonight,” Bess said as she turned her car onto my block. “After everything that’s happened, I want to make sure Maggie is okay.”

“What about you, George?” I asked. “Ready to go to camp?”

“I’m in,” she answered.

“I ran into Mr. Marvin today,” Dad said. “He said someone had cut your brakes.”

I stared at my father across the dinner table before saying, “He’s right, Dad.”

“That is serious stuff, Nancy,” Dad said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

My shoulders dropped. There was a lot I wasn’t telling him about lately: the guy in the white jacket, the walk-in fridge fiasco, and the venomous snake in the kayak.

“I didn’t want to worry you,” I said. “Sorry, Dad.”

Dad heaved a big sigh, like he always did when he was disappointed in me.

“Nancy,” Dad said. “Your inquisitiveness probably got you in trouble with Chief McGinnis in the first place.”

“No, Dad,” I muttered. “It’s Deirdre Shannon who got us in trouble.”

“Fine,” he said. “From now on I want you to tell me these things, okay, Nancy?”

All I wanted to do was change the subject. So I blurted, “Deal,” then said, “Could you please pass the string beans with sun-dried tomatoes? They look awesome.”

As Dad passed the bowl, he said, “Did you tell Chief McGinnis about your brakes when you were at the station?”

“Not yet,” I said.

“Nancy, I want you to tell Chief McGinnis tonight,” Dad said. “If you don’t want to, I will.”

“It’s Sunday night, Dad,” I said as I spooned string beans onto my plate. “Chief McGinnis is probably having a nice dinner with his family.”

Dad didn’t argue, so I went on. “I’m going out tonight too. George is picking me up in about an hour.”

“Tonight?” Dad asked. He didn’t seem thrilled that I was going anywhere—especially after hearing about my brakes. “Where are you going?”

My hand froze over my plate. Uh-oh. I had just promised Dad I’d tell him everything. How could I tell him I was still working on the case? Short answer—I couldn’t!

“Um—we might visit Bess’s sister at camp,” I said, trying to sound cool.

“Camp?” Dad asked with surprise. “In the middle of the night?”

“It’s a special program we’re part of,” I said with a smile. And thought,
Yeah, it’s called Catch the Mean Girls.

“I told you the front gate wouldn’t be locked,” I whispered when we reached Camp Athena. “Amy is so out of commission!”

Quietly and carefully we filed through the gate into the camp. It was dark, but George lit the way with her trusty flashlight app as we neared the bunks.

“Where’s Bunk Diana?” Bess asked.

Before we could look around, I heard a loud creak and saw the back door of a bunk open. Two figures were stepping out, one carrying a flashlight.

“It’s Maggie and Alice,” I said.

Bess called their names softly. Maggie shone the flashlight straight at us and smiled.

“What are you doing out of your bunk?” Bess asked as Maggie raced over. “And quit shining that thing in my face.”

“Sorry,” Maggie said, shutting off the flashlight.

“The bunks are pretty cold at night,” Alice said. “We were getting our sweatshirts from the wash line.”

“But what are you guys doing here?” Maggie asked, her eyes lighting up. “Did you come to rescue me? Did you come to take me and Alice home?”

“If it’s no trouble,” Alice said.

“We can’t take you home yet,” Bess said.

“We’re here to work on a case,” I said. “So you can’t tell anyone, not even your friends, that we’re here.”

“You have to take me home,” Maggie wailed. “I went to the camp zoo today, and Slithers the snake wasn’t in her tank. That means she’s crawling around here somewhere!”

“Slithers was caught at the river, Maggie,” I said. “So you don’t have to worry about that.”

“Okay,” Maggie said, her eyes darting around. “But that guy with the monster face is still creeping around.”

“Here we go again,” George said with a sigh.

Bess frowned at her sister. “Will you get a grip, Maggie?” she said. “That ‘monster man’ excuse didn’t work for you the first time.”

“Um . . . ,” Alice said softly. “I’ve seen the monster man around camp too.”

“You?” I said, surprised.

“You want to be mayor of Malachite Beach,” George said. “Since when do you believe in ghost stories?”

“It’s not a dumb story, it’s true!” Maggie said, her eyes welling with tears. “Come on, Alice. We’re not wasting our time with them.”

Alice shrugged before heading to the wash line with Maggie. The two pulled down their sweatshirts, then walked back toward Bunk Harmonia.

“Maggie, Alice, wait,” Bess hissed. “Which one of these bunks is Bunk Diana?”

Maggie tossed the flashlight to Bess. “Here,” she said angrily. “Find it yourself.”

Bess caught the flashlight with both hands as Maggie and Alice stepped back into their bunk.

“Definitely not a happy camper.” Bess sighed. “Maybe I should try talking to her again. . . .”

“Will you quit worrying about Maggie?” George cut in. “We should be worrying that Amy could find us and kick us out or even call the police.”

“Bess, turn on Maggie’s flashlight so we can find Bunk Diana,” I said. “It’s a lot stronger than George’s app.”

“Luddite,” George called me as she pocketed her phone.

We decided to read the names on the bunks one at a time. The closest bunk was about twenty feet away. We had started up the hill when—

THUNK!

The sudden noise froze us in our tracks.

“What was that?” Bess hissed. She beamed her flashlight at a nearby tree. A chill ran straight up my spine when I saw an arrow lodged in the tree trunk.

“D
o you see what I see?” Bess gulped.

“Unfortunately,” I said, afraid to move.

George was about to yank the arrow out of the tree when we heard giggling in the distance. Turning my head, I saw three girls hurrying in the opposite direction.

“Hey,” I whispered. “Isn’t that Darcy, Lindsay, and Ava?”

“There’s one way to find out,” Bess said. She shone the flashlight on the girls. They spun around and stared at us like deer caught in headlights. It was them, all right.

“Wait up!” I called as the girls ran off. “Did you just shoot this arrow at us?”

When they didn’t stop, George shouted, “Get them!”

The chase was on. The girls of Bunk Diana picked up speed as Bess, George, and I stampeded after them. Under the moonlight, they charged across the basketball court, where Ava picked up a ball and rolled it in our direction. We sidestepped it and kept running.

We chased them past the pool, but the twelve-year-olds outran us straight to the camp gate.

“Stop, you little creeps!” George shouted.

“Make us, loser!” Lindsay shouted back.

Nobody called George a loser and got away with it. It wasn’t long before George caught up with the girls. She grabbed the hood on Lindsay’s hoodie and yanked her back.

“Let go!” Lindsay said. She struggled to free herself from George’s iron grip as Bess and I rushed over.

Ava and Darcy made it out the gate, but they stopped running when they saw that Lindsay was caught, and trudged back to join their captured friend.

“You’re not supposed to be in here!” Lindsay snapped at us after George let her go.

“You’re not supposed to be out here,” I snapped back. “We saw you trying to sneak out of camp again.”

“You’re those lame-o detectives, aren’t you?” Ava asked.

“How do you know who we are?” George asked.