The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island

by Dana Alison Levy

  “Yo, Butter. What’s up?” Alex asked as Jax wandered into the yard.

  “Nothing. It’s so hot today! Are your parents around to take us to the beach? Mine are both busy.” Jax rolled his eyes. “Dad has to take Sam into town for his play thing, and Papa is working until after lunch. And it’s broiling!” He stared up at the cloudless sky, where the sun was indeed blazing down on them.

  “You know what really stinks?” he continued. “We can’t go in the lighthouse. It’s always way cooler there.” He sighed and stared at the red-striped building, which remained untouched and empty, with the fence still around it. “It’s so awesome up there. I wish you could see it.” He sighed again.

  “Me too,” Alex said. She kicked at the ground a little. “It’s so lame! They’re not even doing anything with it!”

  “It would be worse if they were, maybe,” Jax said, more miserable by the minute. “They could be working to tear it down right in front of us.” His stomach knotted at the thought. He wondered if he should tell Alex about how sad Papa seemed, how Jax had heard him telling Dad that it felt like his anchor to the island was disappearing. “It just really stinks,” he repeated, finally.

  “We could see if there’s a gap in the fence. Have you checked?” Alex sprang to her feet, brushing the dirt off her hands. She had been digging under rocks for salamanders, but it was too hot even for them.

  Jax looked skeptical. “I don’t know. It’s a big fence with Danger signs on it. I doubt it’s going to have a hole in it.”

  Alex shrugged. “We’ll never know if we don’t check. Let’s go!” She started off toward the lighthouse.

  Jax followed, moving more slowly. When they got there, they walked around and around the fence, peering at the lighthouse through the metal grid.

  “Hey! Check it!” Alex stopped suddenly.

  Jax stopped too. On the far side of the fence, away from the Fletcher house, the gate stood open. Parked inside it, right next to the lighthouse, was a huge, shiny SUV, its gleaming white sides and tinted windows looking bizarre in a place where everyone else’s car was coated in sand and dust.

  “Let’s go in!” Alex said, pushing Jax toward the gate.

  “I don’t…do you think we should?” Jax asked, hanging back. He was torn. There was the lighthouse, open and accessible, but something about that car, and the fence…It didn’t feel like they belonged.

  “It’s open. Come on!” Alex ran through the gate, and after a second, Jax followed.

  “This is so cool! I can’t believe you used to be able to go all the way up!” Alex called from inside the front door.

  Jax peered inside. His eyes took a minute to adjust to the dimness of the old building after the bright sunshine. It looked the same as always, with faded plaques listing the names of all the lighthouse keepers, but now the staircase up was barred with a new metal gate and another Danger sign.

  Jax stepped inside, where it was indeed cool and comfortable, and sighed. “Yeah, it’s amazing up there. You can see Tuckernocket, and the top floor has room for us to put out sleeping bags, or set up a picnic. There are a bunch of other rooms on the other floors, old bedrooms and even a tiny kitchen, but they keep those closed to tourists….You can look in but can’t actually go inside them. Still, it was sick.” He looked back at the Danger sign. “Hopefully they’ll open it up again.”

  “Hey, what’s that guy doing? Is he digging?” Alex stuck her head out the door. “Maybe there’s buried treasure here! Maybe some bad guy closed it off so he can dig for the treasure!”

  Jax rolled his eyes. “Yeah. I don’t think so. That’s just the artist guy. Kark.” He peered over Alex’s shoulder. “But what the heck is he doing?”

  Chase Kark, once again in his bright green shorts, was talking loudly into a mobile phone that he had pinned between his shoulder and ear while he dug into the hard, dry earth.

  “I can’t hear….Say it again? What? Can you…? A soil sample. SOIL SAMPLE! Can you hear…? The foundation needs…DARN IT.” He pulled the phone away and angrily pressed some buttons. Then he looked up.

  “What are you doing here?” he asked, dropping the container of dirt. His eyes raked over their faces and dirty clothes. He blinked after a second and smiled. “You’re one of the Fletcher boys, right? Well, hello! What brings you here?”

  “Just checking it out. What are you doing?” Alex asked, leaning against the side of the lighthouse. “Why do you need dirt?”

  Chase Kark’s smile grew even bigger. He looked like he was made of teeth. “Oh! That! Hahahahaha!” He gave a loud laugh. “Just a little…well, just an artist’s silliness, really. I’m about to start painting and I wanted to really see the colors in the landscape.” The smile dropped off his face and he looked for a minute like a sad clown. “But enough about that. You really should come away from there. You know I got badly injured by falling rocks. It would be a terrible thing if someone else got injured before we deal with the issue.”

  Jax didn’t like how he said “deal with”—it sounded like he meant get rid of. He didn’t move. Neither did Alex.

  “Where did the stones fall from, anyway?” Jax asked, craning his neck. As far as he could tell, the lighthouse looked as sturdy and solid as ever. Sure, there was some chipping paint and stuff, but nothing really bad.

  “Over there. You can still see some of the debris,” Kark said, pointing to a pile of crumbled brick and stone. “Now please. You really need to move.”

  Jax and Alex slowly walked away from the lighthouse. Jax looked at Kark, in his bright white linen shirt and green shorts.

  “Where’s your painting stuff?” he asked suddenly.

  Kark gave them a blank look, then answered, “Oh! It’s in the car. I’m driving a bit farther along toward the bluff to paint today. I just wanted to…” He trailed off. “Anyway! Can I offer you kids a ride? Do you want to go down to the cove? I’m happy to drop you off.” He bustled behind them, toward the SUV.

  “No thanks,” Alex said. She was standing next to the car, looking at the trunk, which was open. “Cool map.”

  Jax looked over her shoulder. The trunk was full, but the biggest thing in it was a large poster-board map of the island, with topographical features, model buildings, and a bunch of pins all through it, as well as a leather briefcase, a box of files, and a couple of other containers filled with dirt.

  It was cool. Jax started to move closer, but Kark slammed the trunk shut. “Okay! Well, nice to see you both. Now please get back outside the gate. I’ll lock it when I drive out. Remember, it’s not safe to play here. Have a nice day!”

  He delivered all of this over one shoulder while starting the car with a roar, then began to back out of the gate. He waited impatiently for Jax and Alex to exit, then jumped out of the SUV, locked the gate, and jumped back in, roaring down the road with a wave.

  Jax watched the dust billow up behind the quickly disappearing car.

  “Weird dude,” Alex said, wrinkling her nose at the dust. “But at least I got to see inside the lighthouse. Wish I could go up!”

  Jax turned to stare back at the lighthouse. With the gate locked again, it looked farther away than ever.

  “Come on,” he said, starting to walk back toward his house. “Maybe Papa’s done working and we can go to the beach.”

  They walked slowly, the heat draining even Alex’s constant energy. They were almost at the house before either one spoke.

  “Did you see any painting stuff in the car?” Jax asked.

  Alex shook her head. “Nope. Just the map and all the office-looking stuff.”

  Jax nodded slowly.

  “Did you see the lighthouse on the map?” he asked.

  Alex paused, then shook her head. “Nope. Definitely not. I noticed because I saw what I thought was our house, but there was no lighthouse, so I figured I was wrong and it was just some other part of the island.”

  “I didn’t see it either,” Jax said. “Not anywhere.” A strange feeling—half dread,
half excitement—was coming over him. He walked faster, then broke into a run. Behind him, Alex started running too.

  “What’s up? It’s too hot to run. Did you hear the ice cream truck or something?” she panted, trying to keep up.

  “No. I want to find my brothers. I’m not sure what Kark’s really up to. Is he really an artist painting on the island? Why’s he always so clean? And why don’t we ever see him painting? I mean, maybe he got hurt there, but…maybe not. According to the newspaper he was ‘checked out by his private physician’ but didn’t go to the hospital or anything. And if he isn’t an artist—”

  Alex started to run faster. “Then what the heck is he?” she finished. The two of them ran up the back deck to the house as fast as they could.

  —

  “It’s official. Zeus does NOT like to swim!” Eli said, coming out of the bathroom, followed by Frog. “We are not trying that again, okay? We’re done with this.”

  Jax and Alex stared. Eli was red-faced and his glasses sat crooked on his nose. His shirt was soaked, but whether with sweat or water wasn’t clear. And he was cradling one arm like he had injured it. Frog didn’t look much better. He had a long bloody scratch along his collarbone, which Jax could see clearly through his ripped T-shirt.

  “What’s wrong with your brothers?” Alex said. She gestured to them. “What did…that?”

  Jax just closed his eyes and shook his head. “Frog has this stupid idea that Zeus can swim—”

  “It’s not stupid! Felines are natural swimmers! My book says so!” Frog interrupted.

  “And Eli decided it would be an interesting experiment in animal behavior to try to train him, and now they’re forever covered in fur and water and sometimes blood.” Jax finished. “Anyway, we have more important things to talk about. Where’s Sam? Don’t tell me he’s still at that dumb play practice!”

  “Call it dumb to my face, fart,” Sam said, walking in with a peach in one hand and a bag of chips in the other. “And I’ll see how good you look with half a nose.”

  Jax waved his hands impatiently. “Not now! I need to talk to you guys! Alex and I were just at the lighthouse—”

  “Can we get in?” Frog interrupted.

  “No! Well, kind of. The gate was open, but that’s not the part I need to tell you.” Quickly, Jax tried to explain what he and Alex had seen and heard.

  There was silence for a minute as everyone digested his story.

  “You mean you think he’s in disguise?” Sam asked. “Like, he’s pretending to be an artist who got hit by a bunch of falling rocks, but really he’s…what? What is he if he’s not an artist in bad green shorts?”

  “I don’t know,” Jax said stubbornly. “I know it sounds kind of stupid, but seriously? Think about it. He’s got a wicked-fancy car and boat. He must be loaded to buy the lighthouse—”

  “Some artists are rich,” Sam said.

  “Yeah, but remember when we were doing the lobster fund-raiser, we saw him with the town selectmen, and when you saw him in town, and—”

  “At Butter Day. Remember, he was at the table at the front,” Alex added. “We were introduced to him when Mami and Dad went to say hi to some library people there.”

  “And his car was all filled with maps of the island and business-type stuff. And what’s with the dirt? Why does he need dirt?” Jax went on.

  Sam finished the peach and put the pit in the chip bag, which he had also emptied. “You’re nuts. It sounds like something out of Shakespeare. He’s always putting people in disguises and stuff. Next you’re going to tell me some fairy queen is mad at Kark.” He started to walk out of the room, but Jax grabbed him.

  “No! I’m serious! Something’s really weird about this. And just say I’m right. Think about it….I mean, I get it. The federal government is selling the lighthouse, which is awful enough. But this whole might-need-to-tear-it-down thing? That’s because it’s supposedly so unsafe. But who says it’s unsafe! Only he does!”

  Sam paused for a minute, then shrugged. “Nope. I think you’re nuts. Why would he want to tear it down? He’s the one who wants to buy it! Did you think about that?”

  Jax was silent.

  Sam waved his hand. “I don’t have time for this.” He started to leave again, but turned to look at his brothers and Alex, who were all staring at him.

  “Look, I’m as bummed about the lighthouse as you guys,” he said, and his voice sounded sad. “But even if you’re right and Kark is some kind of lying freak, what are we going to do about it?” He disappeared into the kitchen.

  The rest of them looked at each other. Jax almost wanted to cry, he was so mad. How could Sam be so stupid? Didn’t he care about the lighthouse? Didn’t he care about them?

  “What’s everyone doing in here? I came over to see if anyone wants to go to the beach.” Val’s voice broke the silence, and everyone jumped.

  She stood in the doorway, in her trademark giant hat and with some kind of scarf wrapped around her. Jax was mostly used to her crazy clothes, but today he couldn’t help thinking she looked a little like she was wearing a toga.

  Alex turned and stared grimly at her sister. “We’ve got more important things than the beach on our minds,” she said. “Jax and I think that Kark guy isn’t really some poor artist dude who got hit by falling rocks. We think he’s scamming to try to get the lighthouse torn down, but we don’t know why!”

  Val, Jax realized, was a useful person in some ways. Unlike Sam, she didn’t tell them they were nuts. Or look all pathetic and say it didn’t matter anyway. Instead, she stared, first at Alex, then at the rest of them, and then she shrugged.

  “Okay. Well, I guess you’ll need evidence. What do you figure? Try to wiretap his phone? Or should we just follow him?”

  Jax blinked. Evidence. Of course! He could have hugged Val, even with her bright pink ruffled bathing suit, flowered toga thing, and giant sun hat.

  “I think we should follow him,” he said slowly. “That’s the best plan. But in the meantime…”

  “In the meantime let’s go to the beach! It’s hot!” Alex said.

  “We’ll make a plan at the beach,” Eli echoed, and Frog agreed.

  Jax ran to get his towel and boogie board. The lump of dread was fading, and an overwhelming sense of excitement churned in his stomach. Maybe, just maybe, things with the lighthouse could be turned around.

  Eli’s brain wouldn’t turn off. It felt like someone was playing Ping-Pong in there. Sometimes he was sure Jax and Alex were nuts, and that they’d been spending too much time in the sun. But then he’d look up at the lighthouse and think about it being sold—which, if Captain Jim was right, didn’t necessarily mean they would lose it—or, and this was the horrible part, about it getting torn down because it was unsafe, and his stomach would clench. He couldn’t help wondering if Jax was on to something. But Sam was right. If Kark was going to buy it, why would he want to do all this safety stuff except to keep it safe? Could he be tricking everyone?

  But why? That was the question that always left Eli back at square one. In all the mysteries he’d ever read, it came down to motive, to some reason the bad guy wanted to commit the crime in the first place. Why would weirdo Kark want to buy a lighthouse just to ruin it? He didn’t live near it, didn’t have a house next door or anything. What was it to him? Eli racked his brain, but couldn’t think of a reason. Maybe it was some ancient family feud. Maybe his ancestors had been lighthouse keepers and the town did them wrong. Eli shrugged. He had no idea. Hopefully, Operation Guava, as they had named the spying plan, would work. Eli wasn’t sure why guava, but Alex said it was a fruit that was almost the same color as Kark’s shorts, and the name had stuck.

  “Are you ready? Come on, if you’re coming with,” Dad said, sticking his head out the back door to the deck, where Eli was pondering the lighthouse.

  “Coming!” Eli said, springing up.

  His father looked at him, perplexed. “Explain again why you all want to come into town wh
ile Sam has rehearsal instead of going to the beach? Jax looked downright cagey. What’s going on?”

  Eli shrugged, trying not to meet Dad’s eyes. “Nothing. We’re going to do another fund-raiser. You know, for the lighthouse.” This wasn’t a total lie. Frog had painted a bunch of rocks and large clamshells with pictures of the lighthouse, which, thanks to its distinctive red-and-white stripes, was easy to identify. The boys planned to ask Captain Jim if they could put them up for sale next to his stand on the dock. Of course, after that, they were hoping to get a glimpse of the elusive Kark and follow him.

  “Okay, then,” Dad said. “Climb in the van.” He went around to the driver’s side, while Eli slid in next to Val and Alex in the back, and Jax and Frog sat in the middle.

  They were puttering up the winding road, just past the turnoff to the cove, when a shiny white SUV whizzed past them and turned onto the cove road.

  “Hey!” Jax yelled. “Hold on!”

  Dad slammed on the brakes. “What’s wrong?”

  Jax whispered, “That was him!” Raising his voice, he said, “Um…I changed my mind. I really don’t want to go to town. I want to get out and go to the cove. Please, Dad! I won’t swim, I promise. I’ll just look for shells and crabs and stuff.”

  Dad started driving again. “Are you nuts? We’re heading into town. You can go to the beach later.”

  “NOOOO!” Jax bellowed, and Dad slowed again.

  “Tom, I don’t feel very well. I think I’m carsick. I’m going to need to get out,” Val said from the back.

  “Valerie, I thought you were filming the rehearsal with Sam. What in the world…,” Dad started, but a car behind them beeped and Dad jumped.

  “For Pete’s sake,” he muttered, putting on the blinker and easing over to the side of the road. The other car swung by them, with a wave from the driver.

  “NOW,” Dad said. “What on earth is going on?”

  “We just don’t want to go to town. It’s too hot! Please!” Jax, Alex, Eli, and Val all started to complain at once.