The Secret of Skull Island

by Zack Norris

  Cody nodded. “That’s what I thought, too. Now I think they need some detectives around here. But Dad and Maxim probably wouldn’t agree.”

  “Keller and Cordell would deny everything. They’d say we misunderstood what they said, or didn’t hear it right,” said Otis.

  “I don’t like keeping secrets from Dad,” said Cody.

  “Neither do I,” said Otis. “But all we know now is that those guys are hiding who they really are. It’s not like we heard them planning to rob a bank. Let’s get something we can prove.”

  They heard a rustling noise and looked up to find a wiry old gentleman in a broad straw hat. There were pruning shears in his hand.

  “Afternoon, boys, I’m the gardener. Winston Cato’s the name.” He smiled. His voice was soft, lilting—a mix of accents. “Do you remember that I picked you up at the airport? It was raining pretty hard that night.”

  “I recognize your voice,” said Otis.

  “Me, too,” Cody said. “We were keeping our heads down because of the rain.”

  “Yes, it was real bad. You Carson twins are getting famous around here. Everybody’s talking about how you and your cousin saved Aunt Edith from the snake.”

  “You heard about the snake already?” Otis asked.

  “Oh, sure,” Cato chuckled. “I hear most things right away.”

  “Have you been on the island a long time?” Cody asked eagerly.

  “Born here,” Cato answered, bending to examine a rose bush.

  “Then have you heard about the pirate and the lost buried treasure?”

  Cato stood up and nodded. “Sure have … but I couldn’t tell you how to go about finding it. Nobody ever laid hands on a map … least as far as I know.”

  Cody sighed. Otis shrugged. “Without a map we’re kind of up a creek without a paddle,” he said.

  “Do you have some shovels you could lend us, Mr. Cato?” Cody asked.

  “You don’t give up easily, do you?” Cato said with a grin. He walked to a shed and returned with two shovels.

  “Thanks,” Cody said, taking them and handing one to Otis.

  “Now we just need to know where to dig.”

  “Right,” Cody agreed. “I’ve got an idea. C’mon.”

  The twins said good-bye to Winston Cato, who wished them good luck. As they walked, Cody told Otis his idea.

  “I’ve heard stories about people tattooing maps on their bodies,” he said. “Maybe the pirate’s skull tattoo is a marker.”

  “So all we’ve got to do is look all over the island for the skull, right?”

  “Yeah.” Cody nodded enthusiastically.

  “Ever wonder why the pirate can’t find the treasure when he had the marker tattooed on his own chest?” Otis asked, and faced Cody with his arms crossed.

  “Well—I dunno,” Cody replied.

  A couple of hours later they found the answer to the question. They found a skull marker, all right. It was scratched into a rock. But then they dug and dug and dug under the rock and found nothing.

  They found two more skull markers and dug under them. They had the same result as before. Zip. Nada. Nothing.

  “No wonder that pirate can’t find his treasure. There are markers all over the place,” said Otis. He leaned on the handle of his shovel and mopped his sweaty brow.

  “I guess he left fake markers everywhere to outsmart others who were trying to look for the treasure,” said Cody, taking a seat on a rock. He wiped his dirty hands on his shorts.

  “Well, he ended up outsmarting himself, didn’t he?” Otis raised his eyebrows. Both boys burst out laughing.

  Cody slapped his knee with his hand. “I think I’ve had it. For today, anyway. Let’s go down to the beach and find Rae. I could use a swim.”

  They found Rae sliding on the waves on her boogie board. She waved when she saw them. “Where have you guys been?”

  They told her about the treasure hunt. Then they filled her in on what they had heard Cordell and Keller talking about. “I still think there is some treasure on the island,” Cody said.

  “Maybe—or maybe it’s just a hoax,” said Rae. “As for your mystery, I can’t get excited about it. Why worry about a couple of grumpy guys when there is this beautiful island with this perfect blue water? Look at it!” She ran and plunged into the waves.

  The twins looked out at the great ocean. Seabirds dotted the sky and swooped down over the water.

  Cody squished sand between his toes. He smelled the scent of the sea and the flowers and trees. He forgot about Cordell and Keller and the mystery.

  Otis dipped his toes into the water. “It looks like your treasure marker idea was all wet,” he said.

  “I haven’t given up yet.” Cody gave him a lopsided smile. “Come on, let’s go for a swim.”

  The two boys plunged into the surf. The water was crystal clear and cool. Colorful fish swam all around them.

  The twins swam for over an hour. Then they left Rae, who insisted on staying in the surf, and walked slowly back to the inn. They left the shovels in the garden shed and then headed up the walkway, past some iguanas and geckos standing on rocks that lined the path. The reptiles were so still they looked like green spiky-headed statues.

  The step had been fixed. The new board looked strong and sturdy.

  “That was fast,” Cody observed.

  The twins entered the kitchen, where they found Aunt Edith and Maxim sitting at the table in the dining room. The adults looked up as the boys walked in.

  “We’ve just been talking about cooking,” said Aunt Edith. “I had no idea Maxim used to be a chef.”

  “He’s done a lot of things,” Cody said. “Hey, Aunt Edith, you got that step fixed pretty fast.”

  “Yes. Shortly after the accident, Mr. Cordell came to me and insisted on fixing the step so that no one else would get hurt. He even apologized for getting so angry—isn’t that nice?”

  “Oh,” Otis said softly.

  “Is something wrong?”

  “No—no. We were just wondering how it broke the way it did. It held us all when we were entering. And then we noticed that the wood on the step that broke didn’t look the same as on the other boards.”

  Aunt Edith put her hands on her hips. “But they were all replaced at the same time. That would be very odd.”

  “Yes, wouldn’t it?” Cody nodded. “But think about it. Why did it break all of a sudden?”

  Maxim was shaking his head. “I see that you are determined to be detectives. There is a perfectly reasonable explanation. Apparently an animal has been scratching and gnawing away at it. Finally the step was so weak that poor Ms. Esposito went through it.”

  The boys exchanged glances. Just as they thought, Maxim was sure the boys were only getting carried away with the game of being detectives.

  “What happened to the broken board?” asked Otis. “Do you know where it is?”

  “I imagine that Mr. Cordell tossed it on the rubbish heap behind the house,” said Aunt Edith. “But I don’t think you’d find it. There is a mountain of stuff left back there from the renovation that I’ve got to get carted away.” She thumbed over her shoulder.

  Otis and Cody walked to the window and stared out at an immense mountain of tangled lumber and plaster. It was very unlikely that they’d locate the board there.

  As they walked from the kitchen they talked about what they’d been told. It just didn’t seem right that it all fit together so neatly and innocently.

  “Well, we didn’t exactly nail that one,” Otis remarked.

  “No, we didn’t.” Cody sighed. He paused for a moment, listening. “Do you hear water running?”

  Otis tilted his head. “Yes, I do. It sounds like a lot of water.”

  The boys hurried in the direction of the sound. It was coming from the bathroom in the lobby, gurgling and whooshing.

  By the time they reached the bathroom, water was rushing out from underneath the door. They opened it and saw water all over the floor, p
ouring from the toilet tank.

  Maxim and Aunt Edith ran up behind them. “Oh, no!” cried their aunt as she looked at the flood.

  Cody bent down and turned the knob that shut off the water. Otis grabbed some towels off the rack and threw them down to soak up the water. Then he took the top off the tank and peered inside.

  “This is a nightmare!” Aunt Edith wailed. “I think a pipe burst!”

  Rae appeared, her towel slung around her neck. She eyed the overflowing toilet. “No, no, Aunt E.—it’s not that bad,” she said. “I think the toilet just overflowed. The water kept running because the overflow tube was clogged up.”

  “What’s that?” asked Aunt Edith.

  “It’s a tube where water drains from the tank back into the bowl. The flotation device has been tampered with, too. There was no way for the tank to ‘know’ that it was full. So the water just kept on running.”

  “Did you read that in a plumbing textbook?” Maxim asked. “Honestly, Rae, the things you and the twins know never cease to amaze me.” He chuckled.

  “We had that problem when a contractor redid our bathroom, that’s all,” said Rae.

  “We’ll just clean it out then, right, Cody?” Otis said. Cody nodded. “Don’t worry, Aunt Edith.”

  “I’m going to run and change,” said Rae. “See you all later.” She took off up the stairs. On her way, she passed Albert McNab.

  Aunt Edith raised a hand to her forehead. “It’s one thing after another since I’ve opened this place. I’m just worn out.”

  “Now, now, calm down, dear,” Maxim said gently.

  “I can’t calm down,” said Aunt Edith. “This wasn’t an accident.”

  Cody shook his head. “Can you think of anyone who would want to sabotage the inn?”

  Aunt Edith sucked in her breath. She hesitated a moment and then said, “Actually, there might be someone who would. I had to fire a worker. He was always late, left early, disappeared for hours. He was pretty angry when I let him go.”

  “Maybe he came sneaking back here and made sure some things went wrong,” said Cody.

  Aunt Edith looked thoughtful. “Do you mean that maybe he drained the hot water heater and caused the chandelier to fall and put that snake in my bed?”

  “It’s possible,” Cody replied. He rinsed the dirt and pebbles from the return tube and fixed the flotation device. “Good as new,” he announced.

  “I hope we’ll get to relax for a while.” Aunt Edith sighed.

  “Well, I’m not feeling very relaxed,” said a voice in the doorway. They looked up and saw McNab. “My room has been ransacked,” he said.

  [Chapter Eight]

  The room had been ransacked, all right. The mattress had been pulled off the bed, the linens and pillows scattered everywhere. The clothes had been pulled off the hangers in the closet and were piled on the floor. Every drawer had been dumped out.

  “Look at that note,” McNab said, pointing to a piece of paper taped to the inside of his door. Written in jagged letters that looked almost as if they’d been slashed into the paper were the words, Get out while you can.

  “What a mess! What happened?” said a woman’s voice outside the door. It was Muriel Esposito, and when she saw the wreck someone had made of the room her face went pale.

  “Oh, goodness,” she said, her body sagging as she leaned against the wall. “I can’t take all of this. My constitution is just too delicate.” She gazed at McNab. “You should leave. You’ve been threatened!”

  “Don’t get all worked up,” McNab said hurriedly. “Everything will be fine.”

  “That’s right.” Maxim put a hand on her shoulder. “It might be some sort of prank. Apparently there is a disgruntled worker lurking about. It seems he’s angry, but we don’t think he’s dangerous.”

  Was he forgetting that he might have been responsible for the chandelier falling down? the twins wondered. Someone could have gotten hurt, although no one could be sure that it hadn’t been an accident. Maybe Maxim was just trying to calm Ms. Esposito.

  “We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Aunt Edith said hurriedly. “Don’t worry, Muriel. I tend to agree with Maxim. It’s a prank.”

  “I’m going to go splash some cold water on my face,” said McNab. He walked into the bathroom and let out a yell. “In the toilet! It’s a huge rat, and it’s trying to jump out!”

  Nobody moved. They all hated rats.

  “Aw, why does there have to be a problem in a toilet again?” Cody mumbled. “Come on, Otis. Let’s have a look.” They headed cautiously into the bathroom.

  The rat in the toilet was a super-gruesome sight. The animal looked crazed. It was a dark gray with a pointed snout. There was blood around its mouth and growling sounds erupted from it as it tried to jump again and again but kept losing its footing on the smooth porcelain.

  “Eww … gross,” said Otis. “Maybe it has rabies. And there’s no way to get it out of there without getting bitten, right? If we just leave it alone it will tire itself out and drown.”

  “How did it get in here anyhow?” Cody wondered aloud.

  Other guests appeared. They had returned to the inn for lunch and then heard the commotion.

  “Now, you boys be careful,” Eric Barber said in a shaky voice. “I think you should stay away from that awful animal.”

  “Yeah, I think you’re right,” Otis agreed. “Come on, Cody, there’s nothing we can do.”

  But Cody didn’t move. He stood still, head tilted, staring at the rat. Then, before anyone could stop him, his hand shot out and he grabbed the rat’s head.

  Everyone gasped and groaned. Some were too shocked to make a sound. They just stared, unable to believe what they had just seen. Cody held onto the rat tightly as it thrashed.

  “I think I’m going to be sick,” murmured Mr. Barber.

  “Me, too,” said Ms. Wallace.

  Muriel Esposito had pressed her hand to her mouth.

  “It’s okay, folks, really,” said Cody. He held up the thrashing rat by the tail to convince them. It didn’t work. It just sent everyone into more spasms of horror.

  Cody shook the dripping rat. Its movements were slowing down.

  “It’s not real,” he said. “It’s a fake … a toy. Look!” He peeled back a flap of fur on the rat’s stomach and exposed a black switch. He flicked it and the rat was suddenly still.

  Everyone gasped. “But … how did you know?” Ms. Wallace’s voice trailed off.

  Cody shrugged. “Back home I sometimes help out in a store called Wackorama. They sell a lot of goofy gadgets like whoopee cushions and hand buzzers. Fake rats are one of our most popular items around Halloween. I guess a fake rat makes a great party booby trap,” he said, giving his brother a sidelong glance.

  Otis rolled his eyes and nodded back to let his brother know he recognized the palindrome.

  “That thing is disgusting,” said Ms. Esposito.

  “I know,” Cody agreed.

  “I can’t take it anymore,” said Aunt Edith. “I’m calling the police.”

  *

  All of the guests were gathered in the front hall when Officer Tano arrived. They followed as Aunt Edith took him to McNab’s room. The officer examined the mess, the mechanical rat, and the note.

  He treated the whole thing as a joke. He talked to Aunt Edith as if she were a child.

  “You got me out here for this, lady?” he asked with a smirk. “This is the kind of thing the local kids do. They know that you’re new to the island, and they decided to have some fun with you.”

  “Well, maybe this is your idea of fun, but it isn’t mine,” said McNab.

  “It isn’t mine, either,” said Maxim. “Frankly, I’m shocked by your reaction.”

  The police officer’s smirk deepened. “Messing up a room, putting a toy in the toilet, and leaving a note … is that what you call a real crime? I don’t.” He turned to McNab. “Was anything stolen?”

  “Well, no, there wasn’t,” McNab admitte
d.

  “See? This was some kind of kid’s prank,” said Officer Tano.

  “What about the worker I told you about on the phone?” asked Aunt Edith. “The one I fired?”

  “We can’t prove it was him,” the officer said smoothly. He smiled broadly at the guests. “Go on about your business, everybody. There was no crime here.”

  As Officer Tano drove away, the guests began muttering. Strangely enough, the officer’s unconcerned attitude was catching. As they began leaving, several guests were shrugging and mumbling about pranks.

  “Unbelievable, just unbelievable,” said Aunt Edith. “That man didn’t take this seriously at all.”

  “That was really weird,” Cody said to Otis as they walked downstairs.

  “Yeah,” Otis agreed. “What Aunt Edith said about firing that worker adds another suspect. I wonder how we can find out about this guy.”

  “We’ll ask the gardener,” said Cody. “He’s been on the island his whole life. Maybe he knows something.”

  They headed out to the garden to find Winston Cato.

  [Chapter Nine]

  Winston Cato wasn’t difficult to find. He was singing as he trimmed the hedges.

  “He’ll know something about the guy who got fired, if anybody does,” said Otis.

  The boys walked over and stood beside the gardener.

  “When you’ve got a minute, Mr. Cato, we’d like to ask you something,” said Cody.

  Cato kept on cutting for a moment. Then he put down his shears and mopped his brow. “What is it, boys?” he asked. “I notice that you are curious about many things. You really watch what’s going on. You try to figure things out.” Cato’s eyes twinkled. His words surprised both of the boys. They had been so busy watching others that they never thought about being watched themselves. They hoped that they weren’t the only ones Cato watched.

  “We were wondering about one of the men who worked on renovating the inn,” Otis said. “Did you know the guy who got fired?”

  “Oh, uh-huh, that one. He was something, all right.”

  “Something? What do you mean?” asked Cody.