The Trimoni Twins and the Shrunken Treasure (6 page)

“Where can we hide him?” Mimi asked, out of breath.

“In here!” Beezel slid open a hidden panel on the Box of Doom. “You'll have to sit with your knees against your chest.”

“Anything to get away from those guys,” Wiliken said as he flashed her the grin she had seen so many times in movie theaters.

Suppressing the urge to sigh and stare at him, she pushed the edge of his jacket inside the box and slid the panel shut.

“Now be quiet and sit still,” Mimi whispered to him.

Beezel and Mimi busily pretended to pack up their equipment.

A few minutes later one of the reporters burst into the room. He had orange frizzy hair, a round face and a round belly to match.

“Where did he go?” he demanded of the girls. He glanced over his shoulder. “Come on, come on! That shrimpy guy with the white hair will be here any minute.” Seeing their mute faces, he said, “Don't you people speak English over here?”

“Yes,” Mimi said sweetly, “as a matter of fact, we do.”

“Listen up, little girls,” the man said. “I'm a very important American reporter, so don't waste my time. I'm looking for Wil Riebeeck. And I know he came back here.”

“We haven't seen him,” Beezel said, smiling as innocently as she could.

The man eyed the Box of Doom. “What's in there?” he said, kicking the side of the box.

“Hey,” Mimi said. “Don't kick our equipment!”

“Do you want to see inside?” Beezel turned and winked at Mimi.

The twins turned the box to face the reporter. Beezel slid open the front. It appeared to be empty.

“See?” Mimi said happily. “Nobody there!”

The man scrutinized them suspiciously. “Who are you two? Are you friends of Riebeeck's?”

“We,” said Beezel as she put her arm around her sister, “are the amazing Trimoni Twins! Would you like to take a picture of us for the newspaper?”

“Ha! You're not in the same league as Riebeeck, sisters.” He turned and began to inspect the Box of Doom, looking very carefully at its construction. Beezel decided she'd better distract him before he accidentally figured out its secret and deposited Wiliken on the floor in front of them.

“You must be an
amazing
reporter,” she said as she elbowed Mimi. “How did you know that Wil Riebeeck was going to be here tonight?”

“Little girl, this is
nothing
. This is chump change,” the reporter said inches from Beezel's face. She pretended not to notice his bad breath. “I've tracked Riebeeck all over the world.”

“And I bet he's very hard to follow,” Mimi added, stepping between the reporter and the box that hid Wiliken.

“Not so hard. He's given me the slip once or twice. But all in all, he's been a continual source of good income.” He smiled slowly. “And I'm sure he'll be good for more.” Beezel tried hard not to flinch. His two front teeth were tinged with gray. The ones on either side of them weren't looking too healthy either.

He leaned in close to the girls. Beezel held her breath. “Let me tell you something about this pretty boy star,” he said. “I've got them lining up to give me dirt on the guy.”

Beezel heard what sounded like a low growl coming from inside the Box of Doom.

“You know,” she said rather loudly to drown out Wiliken, “I can't believe anyone would ever say
anything bad about Wil Riebeeck. He seems like such a nice person.”

“Believe me, there's always
someone
willing to talk for a price.” The fat man had decided to clean his fingernails with a toothpick while he talked to them. “There's a guy staying at his house, someone in his family—he told me plenty about him,
and
about his grandfather.” He snorted. “Wil Riebeeck's crazy old grandpa. That story alone made me a few thousand dollars. I sold it to an American magazine yesterday.”

Mimi raised her arm and pointed at the reporter. Beezel quickly knocked her arm down. “Mimi,” she scolded through clenched teeth, “it's not nice to point.”

“I wasn't pointing,” Mimi argued. “I was going to …” She looked at Beezel. “Never mind.”

“Hey, pal!” The twins saw Hector standing on the edge of the stage. “I thought I escorted you out of the building. You're not allowed back there. It's strictly performers only. Do I need to call security again?”

“Keep your shirt on, squirt,” the man said to Hector. He turned back to the twins. “Just remember, if you want to tell me some little story about
him, or his family … or maybe you have a photograph of him? I pay good money. And I prefer they're not good stories, if you know what I mean.”

He pulled a wallet out of his back pocket. “Get in touch with me next time you see star boy.” He handed Beezel a card.

Hector jumped down from the stage and followed the reporter. “Finish packing,” he told the twins, motioning with his head to the Box of Doom. “I'll see this guy out and be right back.”

“That reporter is a complete sleazeball,” Mimi said after they left.

“With bad breath,” Beezel said.

“Oh my gosh!” Mimi said. “We forgot about Wil!” She turned the box around and opened the secret panel, and Wiliken climbed out. “Are you okay?” she asked him.

“I'm fine, but it was hard not to bust out of the box and punch that guy in the nose,” he said.

“You can't do that,” Beezel said as she handed him the reporter's card. “That's just what he wants you to do. Think of how he'd write
that
story.”

“You're right.” Wiliken smiled. “But, still, it's very tempting!” He glanced at the card. “I knew it was Slear. He follows me everywhere. That guy
has made me his personal mission. I can't buy a slice of pizza without that jerk's face popping up.”

“Do you know who it was that talked to him about your grandfather?” Beezel asked him.

Wiliken nodded. “I know exactly who it was. My grandpa's second cousin, Edwin.”

Beezel and Mimi exchanged looks. Edwin was the name of the man Gaidic had told them about.

“He's a real pain,” Wiliken said. “Hoogaboom said he was always dropping in on my grandpa uninvited for weeks at a time. As soon as grandpa died, he was at the front door, bags in hand, waiting to hear the will read. And he's
still
here. Hoogaboom says he's miffed that my grandpa left me the house instead of him.” Wiliken shrugged sadly. “But I didn't think family did that sort of thing to each other, you know? Sold family stories?”

“They shouldn't,” Beezel said. In the Trimoni Circus, their family and friends were the most important things they had. She couldn't imagine doing what Edwin had done.

“Yep, that Edwin guy is as big a jerk as Slear,” Mimi said.

“Mimi!” Beezel said, glancing at Wiliken to see if
Mimi had offended him. After all, they were related. But Wiliken just laughed and agreed.

“Hoogaboom will hit the roof when he hears Edwin did this,” Wiliken said. “He's been worried that Edwin is after our treasure. But at least he's leaving at the end of the week, and we'll be rid of him.”

Mimi's mouth fell open.

“Great sorcerer's sweat socks!” Beezel said. “You mean to tell me that
you
think there's treasure inside your grandpa's house, too?”

“Of course,” Wiliken said as he dusted off his pants. “Didn't Hoogaboom tell you we were looking for it? He told me he was going to.”

“He did tell Hector,” Mimi said. “But he said it was
all
the treasure from a Spanish galleon. And that
all
of it was hidden inside the house somewhere.”

“And he said that he and your grandpa have been looking for it for
twenty
years,” Beezel said.

Wiliken grew silent.

“Wil?” Mimi asked. “Are you okay?”

“Huh?” Wiliken said. “Oh, I was just thinking, and Hoogaboom is wrong.”

Beezel's heart sank. Uncle Hoogaboom was
unraveling after all. The treasure was probably just some gold coins tucked away somewhere. Hector was going to be so upset when he found out.

“Yeah, he's dead wrong,” Wiliken said thoughtfully. “I think it's been twenty-two years.”

It was the twins' turn to be silent. Finally, Mimi said the thing that was on Beezel's mind as well. “But that's just crazy,” Mimi said. “If there was all the treasure from a galleon inside the house and they had been searching for it all that time, they would have found it.”

“Well, we are getting closer,” Wiliken said cheerily.

Beezel and Mimi looked at each other. Beezel didn't know what to say. The twins stood motionless next to each other and stared at Wiliken.

“Hey …” Wiliken ran his hands through his hair. “I really enjoyed your show tonight. You guys are amazing.”

Beezel managed a thanks. Did Wiliken actually believe what he was telling them? He seemed to. She didn't get a chance to ask him, because Hector had returned.

“Coast is clear, Wiliken,” Hector said proudly. “I personally escorted each and every one of those
guys out of the hotel. And the security guard is waiting for you in the hall. He's got a Merlin Hotel car parked by the kitchen door ready to take you back to your house.”

“Thanks, Hector,” Wiliken said. “I'm sorry about all this.”

“Not a problem,” Hector said. “I don't like their type one bit. It felt good to toss them out.” He smiled and looked at the twins. “What's the matter with you two?”

“Nothing,” Mimi said. “We're just thinking.”

“Well,” Wiliken said, “I should get going. Hoogaboom and I still want to do a little treasure hunting before we turn in.”

As they stood and watched Wiliken leave to meet the security guard, Hector said to the girls, “Correct me if I'm wrong, bumblebees, but did Wiliken Riebeeck just say he was going on a treasure hunt?”

“Yep.” Mimi nodded.

“He sure did,” Beezel said.

“Then I guess my poor uncle isn't the only one unraveling a little bit, is he?” Hector shook his head and herded the girls back to their room.

“Beezel, I've lost her,” Mimi sobbed as she crawled across the floor the next morning. “Oh, poor,
poor
Gumdrop!”

“Stop crying, Mimi,” Beezel said as she looked under their bed again for the missing snake. “We'll find her. It's not like it's the first time you've misplaced Gumdrop.”

Mimi sniffed and wiped her eyes. “You're absolutely right, Beez. I just have to be logical about it, like you.” She chewed on her lip. “Let's see. First, I got Gumdrop from Enid and took her up to our room. Then I fed her some kibble. Then I ka-poofed her into her old self again….” She looked at Beezel. “Because Gumdrop can't be a dog all day—it makes her grumpy.”

“Then we sat on the bed and looked at the guidebook,” Beezel said. “And I took a shower.”

“And then I went into Hector's room to ask if we could see Rembrandt's house this week …” Mimi froze.

The twins slowly stood up and stared across the bed to the door that separated their room from Hector's. It was wide open.

“MIMI!” The twins flinched as they heard Hector scream her name.

“Guess I'd better go explain,” Mimi said in a small voice.

Beezel sighed. “I'll come with you.”

Hector didn't wait until the twins were actually
inside
his room to begin yelling at them.

“You've actually smuggled a boa constrictor into the Merlin Hotel! In
Amsterdam!”
he shouted. “Of all the idiotic animal muddles you've cooked up, this one takes the cake!” He pointed to the big snake on the floor. “There are times when I think
Gumdrop
has more common sense!”

Hector ranted for a few more minutes, but when he saw tears welling up in Mimi's eyes, he caved. “Oh, don't cry, duck,” he told her. “We'll figure something out.”

“I already did, Hector.” Mimi blew her nose on the tissue Beezel handed her and proceeded to tell
Hector all about Operation GAAD. “And Enid, the prop manager, takes care of her. She'll even take her for a walk if we want her to. I'll pay for everything with my allowance.”

Hector rubbed his hands over his face, then stared down at the boa curled up at his feet. “Gumdrop. This is just what I needed. Well, it can't be helped. You get her downstairs now … as a
dog”
He shook his finger at Mimi. “And you leave her downstairs as a dog. Let the prop manager take care of her. I'll work out the details with her.”

“Thank you, Hector.” Mimi jumped up and kissed his cheek.

Beezel shook her head. She knew Mimi couldn't go two hours without checking on her snake. There was simply no way she would leave the big boa alone for several days.

That afternoon, Hector took the girls to the Van Gogh Museum. Beezel thought he did it because he was feeling a little guilty over his reaction to Gumdrop.

Mimi was thrilled to see the paintings of one of her favorite artists, Vincent Van Gogh. So thrilled that she spent the entire way back to the hotel making plans for her own art career.

“It's going to be so great, Beezel,” Mimi said. “I'll have a studio, and I'll paint all day and all night. I'll be poor at first, and miserable. But then, someone will discover me, and I'll be fantastically rich! And Gumdrop and I will come visit you!” She twirled her hair thoughtfully. “Of course, it would be good to combine our visits with an art opening, wouldn't it?”

Beezel nodded.

“You're awfully quiet, duck,” Hector said to her. “Are you feeling all right?”

“I'm fine,” Beezel said. She wasn't sick; she just was remembering all the times she and her sister had practiced their magic act together. Performing magic with Mimi always made her happy.