Max & Me Mysteries Set

by Patricia H. Rushford

  “I wanted to apologize for the way Sunny acted last night.” Ivy snatched up one of the cookies. “She’s been in the weirdest moods lately.”

  “It wasn’t your fault,” I said. Max kind of snorted.

  “She’s not usually so … well, so …”

  “Violent?” Max finished.

  “Um—yeah, I guess. Mom thinks it’s because her parents are selling their house.”

  Max grinned. “You mean they’re moving? Like out of state?”

  I kicked Max under the table and hoped she could read my be-nice message. Just because Sunny is nasty there’s no reason Max had to be.

  “I’d be upset too.” Cooper picked up one of the berries and bit into it.

  “Well, all I know is Emily went to her house yesterday and Sunny had been crying. You all know that Sunny does not cry.” Ivy shrugged. “Emily said she might have gotten in a fight with Jason.”

  “Who’s Jason?” Max asked.

  “Her brother,” I answered. To Ivy I said, “I thought he was going to the University of Washington.”

  “Me too,” Ivy said. “All I know is something strange is going on in that family.”

  I ate a strawberry, but it didn’t taste quite as good as it should have. I didn’t think I’d ever feel sorry for Sunny, but I did.

  “Do you guys want to go swimming this afternoon?” Ivy asked. “I get off in an hour. I could meet you at the pool.”

  Chenoa Lake has a big community pool, but I’ve only been there a few times. My mother worries about bacteria like E coli. According to her, even though the public pool is treated, it’s not a safe place for me to swim.

  “I’m good with that,” Cooper said. “What do you guys think?”

  “Fine with me.” Max sipped on her drink. “In fact, I think that’s a great idea.”

  “Sounds like fun,” I said, “but I’ll have to check with my parents.” The look on Max and Cooper’s faces told me they had something in mind besides swimming. My guess was that they planned to talk to the kids who were there to see if anyone had any clues about where Enrique might be.

  “Even if you can’t swim,” Max said, “you can hang out with us and put your feet in the water.”

  “Great.” Ivy snagged a cookie and pushed the plate closer to Cooper.

  Maybe I’m paranoid, but on the way home I began to wonder about Ivy’s eagerness to get us to the pool. Even though she’d been nice to us, I didn’t completely trust her. I mean, what if she had some kind of revenge planned against Max because of the snake thing? When I mentioned this to Max and Cooper, they didn’t seem too worried. “What are they gonna do, Jess?” Max asked. “It’s a public place, and there are lifeguards.”

  Mom wasn’t too excited about the pool idea, but decided it would be okay as long as I didn’t put my face in the water. “Since you’re going, would you mind if Sam went too? He’s been bugging me all afternoon to go swimming.”

  “But Mom,” I groaned.

  “Jessie …” Mom tossed me a warning look. I knew the next words out of her mouth would be, If you don’t take Sam, you can forget about going.

  I gave up. “Okay. You guys don’t mind, do you?”

  “Hey, I’m cool with that,” Max said. “Sam’s my bud. Where is he?”

  We found Sam in the backyard playing with the twins, who wanted to go swimming too. Half an hour later, all six of us were in the van waiting for Mom to finish talking to the twins’ mother, Carly.

  I spent the next two hours sitting around in whatever shade I could find, watching about fifty kids play in the water. I’m way too skinny and don’t like wearing a swimsuit, so I kept my towel wrapped around me. When I got too warm, I slipped into the shallow end of the pool to cool off, and then got right back out.

  I talked to some of the kids from school, but most of them didn’t even know that Enrique and his sisters were missing.

  Ivy didn’t show up. Sunny and her friends were there, but true to form, they ignored Max and me. Her occasional sneers told me she was still out for revenge. When nothing bad had happened by the time Mom came back to pick us up, I figured I’d been imagining things. Max and I headed for the showers. It felt good to wash away the chlorine, and I stayed under the water for a long time.

  “Hey,” Max yelled. “Where’s my towel?”

  I grabbed for the hook where I’d hung my towel, but it wasn’t there. “I knew it was too good to be true,” I muttered. It turned out Sunny and her friends had taken our towels and our street clothes. We were stuck in the locker room with absolutely nothing to wear except our swimsuits.

  Hearing our screams, my mother came in. Though she didn’t exactly laugh, she wasn’t feeling sorry for us either. She handed Max and me some damp towels she’d taken from the boys, then went to find our clothes. What she came back with were rags. Sunny—I knew without a doubt it was her—had cut and ripped our tops and shorts into sheds. By now, Mom was furious.

  “The war is on,” Max grumbled as we followed Mom out to the van. “Just wait until I get my hands on those girls.”

  “It w-won’t do any g-good.” My teeth were chattering, and I was so cold that my goose bumps had goose bumps.

  “Don’t you want revenge? We can’t let her get away with this.”

  “I j-just want to g-get warm.”

  When we got home, I saw Ivy watering the flowers in her front yard. She acted like she hadn’t seen us, which made me think for sure she’d been in on Sunshine’s little clothes-stealing game from the start. I felt used and angry. So much for us being friends.

  Max and I hurried up to my room. Mom loaned her a sweatshirt to put over her swimsuit while I changed into some warm clothes.

  Cooper was waiting for us out on the deck. Even though he thought the practical joke a mean thing to do, he seemed to think it was pretty funny. He was, however, more than happy to help us plan our revenge.

  He and Max stayed for dinner, which gave us some time after we ate to go back out on the lake and talk about our next step in finding the Sanchez kids.

  “Did you guys talk to anybody at the pool who knew where Enrique might have gone?” I asked.

  Neither had. “I have some ideas,” Cooper said. “If I were running away, I’d get on a bus and head for someplace in western Montana.”

  “Why Montana?” Max pulled up her oar.

  Cooper shrugged. “I like Montana. There’s some good fishing there.”

  Max rolled her eyes. “Enrique wouldn’t have had enough money to buy bus tickets, and he wouldn’t risk hitchhiking.”

  “For sure.” I nodded. “Somebody would probably pick them up and take them straight to the police.” I looked around. “I’d hide right here on the lake. Remember Bear Island? Now that’s a good place to hide. All of the islands around here would be.”

  “I agree,” Cooper said, “but it would take us days to search even one island.”

  “What about Ghost Island?” I told them about the boat I’d seen cutting across the water the night before. “I can’t be sure, but it looked like that’s where it was heading. And who would be going out there that time of night unless they were hiding?”

  “You are brilliant, Jessie.” Cooper looked at me like I’d just given him a million dollars. “Pick the one island that’s off-limits. Ghost Island has to be the first place we look.”

  My face felt hot, but it wasn’t from the sun.

  Max fastened her gaze on the island. A misty fog had moved in from the northeast and settled around it, making it look as spooky as its name. “I vote we sneak out tonight and have a look.”

  I swallowed hard and rubbed at the sudden goose bumps on my arm. “We won’t be able to see anything. And we could get lost.”

  I thought she was going to call me a wimp, but she didn’t. “Tomorrow’s good.” I couldn’t tell if she was just being nice to me or if she had a few doubts of her own.

  Cooper leaned back with his hands behind his head. “We can head out after church. We can meet
here at like 10:30.” He arched an eyebrow and looked at Max, then me. “What are you going to tell your parents? They’ll want to know what we’re up to.”

  “Just that we’re exploring the lake. They’ll be okay with that.” I hoped that would be the case.

  “Mrs. T will too.”

  “Good. My dad loves when I’m active.”

  “Okay. How about we bring a lunch?” Max suggested. “That way we can stay out on the lake longer.”

  “Sure,” I said, trying to keep the worry out of my voice.

  Cooper and Max dropped me off at my house at 8:30. Within an hour I was sprawled out on my bed trying to go to sleep. I wasn’t afraid to go to the island. Okay, maybe I was—a little. Maybe a lot, because all night long I kept telling myself that the legends I’d heard about spirits inhabiting the island were just made up. Like the one about the Indian princess named Chenoa. And yes, the lake was named after her. She’d gone fishing with her brother and gotten lost on the island. They’d searched for days, but Chenoa was never found, and sometimes late at night if the wind is blowing just right, you can still hear her weeping. Her father named the lake Chenoa to honor her.

  I think some of the stories are true, just not the ghost parts. Hundreds of years ago, there really had been a tribe of Native Americans living on the shores of the lake. The old ones went to Ghost Island to die, and it was where they buried their dead. Settlers came and transmitted diseases like small pox and cholera. The natives died out, and the few who were left moved on. No one knows how many were taken to the island.

  All we know is that the archeologists who come there to dig are always finding important artifacts. A few years ago, one of the archeologists died during a dig. Some people say the spirits killed him. Some say he died of natural causes. No one really knows.

  I groaned and turned over, covering my head with a pillow. Jessie Miller, you have to stop thinking about this stuff. You don’t even believe in ghosts.

  Okay, so maybe I do, just a little.

  CHAPTER

  SIX

  TThe next morning after Mom woke me up for church, I took a ten-minute shower just to wake up. To be honest, I thought about calling Max and telling her I couldn’t go, but I wasn’t about to let Cooper and Max go to Ghost Island without me.

  Max and Cooper were supposed to meet at my house at 10:30. They were there fifteen minutes late and came by boat—canoe, actually. “Sorry we’re late,” Max said as she balanced on the rocking canoe and jumped onto the dock. “Cooper came out to the farm to help me with chores. Then Mrs. T fixed us a big picnic lunch.”

  I probably shouldn’t have let their time together that morning bother me, but it did. Fortunately, I didn’t say anything stupid or snooty. I was jealous of their time together without me, but more than that, I resented my illness and having so many limitations.

  “I need to go back inside and get my stuff.” On the way to the house, I tried to adjust my attitude. You are lucky to be alive, Jessie Miller, I lectured myself. Enjoy what you can do, and don’t be angry about what you can’t.

  Though Mom had told me the night before that I could go, she recited her usual warnings and had to go through her list. I covered myself with sunscreen and remembered to grab a hat.

  “Be sure to drink lots of water so you don’t get dehydrated,” she called from the patio. “And if you get tired, come home.”

  “I will.” I waved back at her, happy now to be going out on the lake with my friends.

  Dad thought it was great that we were exploring, but insisted we take the rowboat with the motor instead of Max’s canoe, in case we got into trouble. I was more than pleased with that arrangement.

  Mrs. Truesdale had packed a picnic basket for us, and the wonderful smells coming from it made my mouth water. Cooper set it in the front of the boat under Max’s seat and put the blanket I’d brought over it. Dad handed him the small cooler with pop and water in it.

  “We have enough stuff to last a week,” Cooper complained as he helped me in and handed me my backpack.

  Dad laughed. “That’s what happens when you let women do the packing.”

  “At least we won’t run out of food,” Max said.

  “Remember to just use the motor for emergencies. There’s plenty of gas, so you should be fine.”

  “Hopefully we won’t need it. I’m working on strengthening my arm.” Cooper got in and shoved off. Without asking, he set the oars in place and started rowing. Cooper had broken his arm a couple of months ago. The cast was long gone, and he seemed strong as ever. Though they hadn’t said, I imagined he and Max would take turns. Maybe I’d try rowing some too.

  “You okay, Jess?” Max studied my face. “You look kind of pale.”

  “I’m fine.” I ducked my head. “Just tired. I was too excited to sleep.” And too scared. I kept the last part to myself.

  “Yeah.” Max leaned back, apparently glad to have Cooper row. “Me too. I asked Mrs. T about Ghost Island.” She laughed. “You should have heard the stories she told me.”

  “Did she tell you about the Indian princess the lake was named for?”

  Max nodded. “I’ll bet you’ve heard them all.”

  “Probably.” I turned around to look at Cooper. “How about you?”

  He frowned as he pulled on the oars, lifted them, and pulled again. “I’ve heard a lot of things. They’re stories, that’s all.”

  “Have you been on the island?” I asked.

  “A couple of times. Dad and I went on a dig last year. It was cool. I found some arrowheads, but we couldn’t keep them. All the artifacts people find have to go to the museum. Everything found here belongs to the Indians.”

  “Bummer.” Max dipped her hand in the water and splashed some on her legs. “You couldn’t keep anything?”

  “Nope. But my dad has a collection of arrowheads that he got when he was a kid. They didn’t have all those rules then. Don’t tell anybody though. He could get into trouble for even having them.”

  It took us nearly an hour to row out to Ghost Island. As we got closer, I recognized a familiar scent. “Is it my imagination, or am I smelling a campfire?”

  “You have a good nose, Jessie.” Cooper leaned forward and sniffed the air. “That’s exactly what it smells like.”

  “I don’t see any smoke.” Max twisted around so she could see better.

  “Maybe it’s on the other side of that hill.”

  “One thing for sure—someone has been here.”

  “Unless it’s the ghosts,” Max said. Ghost Island was about a mile in diameter. Though it wasn’t a perfect circle, it was close.

  As Cooper rowed closer, I started getting worried. “We’re not getting on the island, are we?”

  “Not yet. I thought we’d row all the way around it.” He put both oars in the oarlocks. “Max, would you mind switching with me? My arm’s hurting pretty bad.”

  “Sure. No problemo.”

  I held my breath while they maneuvered around me. “Just don’t tip us over.”

  They managed to switch seats and sit down. Once the boat stopped rocking, I started breathing again.

  “The island looks a lot bigger close up.” Max shaded her eyes and looked up at one of the high rock formations.

  “Go to your right.” Cooper directed Max with a wave of his hand. “There’s a sandy beach and a dock up ahead. Maybe we can tie up at the dock and eat.”

  “That sounds good,” Max said. “I’m starved.”

  The towering rock wall gave way to a sloping, tree-studded hill that eventually settled into a sandy cove. The dock Cooper had talked about reached out into the deeper water. I was surprised to see a boat twice the size of ours tied up there.

  “Someone’s here,” Max said.

  “It can’t be Enrique.” Cooper frowned. “He wouldn’t leave a boat in the open like this.”

  “I agree,” I said. “I’ll bet there’s a dig. Look at the University of Washington insignia on the boat.”

&nb
sp; About that time a guy came walking out of the rustic-looking bathroom at the base of the hill. He spotted us right off and waved as he jogged toward the dock. “Hey, Kev,” he yelled in the direction of a large tent. “We got company.”

  The guy was young, blond, tan, and well built, with glasses and a sloppy-looking hat that matched his khaki shorts and camouflage T-shirt. College student. Archeologist.

  “Whoa,” I heard Max mumble. “He’s hot.”

  “Hey, kids,” he greeted. “What are you guys doing out here?”

  “Um—just looking around,” Cooper told him. “My dad and I were in on a dig out here, and I wanted to show Max and Jessie.” He tossed a rope onto the dock. “We weren’t expecting to see anyone.”

  “Kevin and I got here last week.” He grinned as he tied the boat to the piling. “I’m Josh Morgan, by the way.”

  “Cooper Smally.” Cooper took Josh’s hand and stepped out onto the dock. He introduced Max and me as Josh helped us onto the dock too.

  Josh glanced back toward the tent. “My buddy and I were just breaking for lunch. Would you like to hang with us? We can show you some of the artifacts we’ve found if you’re interested.”

  “Sure.” Cooper reached into the boat for the picnic basket and cooler.

  “That would be great.” I jabbed my mesmerized friend in the side. “Wouldn’t it, Max?”

  “What? Oh, yeah. Cool.”

  We followed Josh through the sand and up a short footpath to their camp. Josh moved one of the flaps aside. “Kev, you in here?”

  “Where else would I be?” Kevin sounded gruff but managed to smile at us when he emerged from the tent. He had at least a couple days’ growth of facial hair and looked kind of mangy.

  “You’ll have to forgive Kevin. My friend doesn’t do well without his beauty sleep. And we haven’t had much of that this weekend.”

  I perked right up at that. “Why?” I asked, wondering if it was their boat I’d seen on the water Friday night.

  “Partying mostly. But then you kids wouldn’t know about that.” Josh winked at Cooper.

  “Did you stay on the mainland or come back to camp late?” I asked. “Like around two in the morning?”