Maybe it was an anonymous check. If the amount was huge—big enough to save the park—then whoever left it might have felt better putting it on the desk instead of the donations box. But why would they give it to her and not Mrs. Smith or Miss Maria?
The car pulled in the driveway, and Alexis and Kate tore up the stairs. Finally, they were in her room, at a safe distance from the prying eyes of the twins.
Alexis opened the envelope. To her dismay, there was no check. It was just a folded piece of white paper. Maybe a note from Miss Maria or Mr. Bell…
She noticed that her name on the envelope was not handwritten—it looked like the work of an old typewriter. Who would take the time to type on an envelope? Alexis dropped the envelope on her bed and unfolded the note. The words typed there stole her breath away.
STOP SNOOPING, OR ELSE…
Litter and Lip Gloss
TO: Camp Club Girls
SUBJECT: New Stuff
1. Creepy note—who could it be from? Is someone just messing with us, or could it be a real threat?
2. Thad Swotter—says he isn’t our guy…we’re not so sure.
Updates:
1. Donations box total to date: $24.37 (obviously not enough to save the park…)
2. Posters—most of them covered up by other announcements. Mrs. Smith’s school board idea might be our last chance.
“It’s ready!” said Kate.
She was kneeling on Alexis’s bed in front of the open laptop. On the screen was a live picture of Aspen Heights. Kate had spent most of the day rigging up a web camera in the park. She used Mrs. Smith’s internet connection at the visitors’ center, so now they could watch the park all night from the safety of Alexis’s room. “I’ll send a link to the other Camp Club Girls so they can take shifts and help us watch.”
“Six sets of eyes are better than two,” Alex agreed.
The girls wanted to watch the park by night again, and this was the best way to do it. Spending another night out in the forest was out of the question, since Mrs. Howell had found out about Thad Swotter wandering around after hours. They didn’t admit it, but Alexis and Kate were freaked out too. Not really because of Swotter, but because of the note. They definitely didn’t want to be alone in the dark woods if someone was angry enough to hurt them.
Kate placed the web camera near the Raptor clearing. Since Jogger moved every night, they figured some action would probably occur there. It was also pretty close to the visitors’ center. That made it easier for Kate to run the tiny wire all the way from the computer in the visitors’ center to the tree with the camera in it.
“Everything’s set,” said Kate, falling back onto the pillows. “Now all we have to do is wait.”
“Shouldn’t be too long,” said Alexis. “Swotter said he usually sneaks into the park to take pictures around midnight. That means whoever moves the dinosaurs and leaves the footprints—if it isn’t him—must do it before midnight.”
The digital clock on Alexis’s bed stand flashed 9:40.
At first they just stared at the screen. Their eyes stung, and they were afraid to blink. After all, the dinosaurs had moved right under their noses the other night. Someone had tromped around leaving foot-prints only feet away from their pillows, and they hadn’t heard a thing. Alexis was determined not to miss out this time.
Finally, after twenty minutes with no movement on the camera, they started playing games to pass the time.
The clock read 10:30.
They ate chips and managed to drink an entire two-liter bottle of Mountain Dew. They couldn’t have fallen asleep if they wanted to, and Mrs. Howell had been in twice to ask them to be quiet.
It was 11:15.
They had tossed the deck of cards off the bed and were playing Clue for the third time when Kate got a text from Bailey, asking if she was watching the screen.
“It’s happening!” Kate yelled. She clapped her hand over her mouth, hoping she hadn’t awakened Alexis’s family.
“I know it’s happening!” said Alexis. “I’m about to beat you again! I think it was Colonel Mustard, with the wrench, in the conserva—”
“No, Alexis! Look at the computer!”
Alexis dropped her game piece. The bushes across the path from the camera were rustling. To the left of the screen, closer this time, something flashed—the white tip of a Converse shoe.
“If our Converse guy is near the camera, what just moved in the bushes?” asked Kate.
“There must be two of them,” said Alexis.
They watched the screen for five minutes. Nothing moved. All of a sudden, the screen went dark. No more dinosaurs, no more bushes. Just blackness.
Or was it green?
Alexis lay down on the bed and got as close to the screen as she could. She pushed a button with a little sun on it, and the picture got brighter. The blotch of black lightened, turning into a bunch of three-pointed shapes that were gleaming in the moonlight.
“They’re leaves,” said Alexis. “The camera has been blocked by a bunch of leaves.”
“I thought Jerry and I rigged the camera far enough away from the plants,” mused Kate.
Just then, the leaves moved. Jogger was missing, and his footprints were everywhere.
“No!” cried Alexis. “We missed it again!”
“AAAHH!” both girls screamed and fell off the bed. Game pieces and chips flew everywhere. Somewhere in the house a door banged. Angry footsteps stomped down the hall, but that’s not what had frightened them. Something had suddenly jumped into the camera’s line of sight. Alexis crept back to the foot of the bed and peeked over the footboard at the computer.
Jogger was looking directly into the camera. His head bent to the side, curious maybe—and then he was gone.
The next morning the sun glowed brilliantly, as if it didn’t know—or didn’t care—that Alexis’s case was falling apart. The girls were running out of time. The truth was that the Camp Club Girls still didn’t have much to go on. Last night’s watch hadn’t accomplished much.
The girls walked slowly through the park. Alexis wanted to examine the new crime scene, and they needed to get the web cam out of the tree.
“I still can’t believe it!” said Alexis. “Jogger looked right into our camera!”
“Yeah,” said Kate. “That means that the people moving him must have found it. They know we’re watching them now.”
“It’s like they are making fun of us. I thought you said you hid the camera!” said Alexis.
“I did!” said Kate.
“Okay,” said Alexis. “I’m sorry. Let’s focus on what we did find out last night.” She flipped to a clean page in her notebook and began to scribble.
“We know that there are probably two people involved,” she said. “Maybe one to move the dinosaurs and one to place the prints? The first person is Converse Guy. He left his print at some other scenes, and we caught a glimpse of his shoe last night. The other person was hiding in the bushes. Man! If it weren’t for those stupid leaves, we might have seen their faces!”
When they reached the Raptor area, they headed to the bush on the far side of the trail. Alexis hoped Criminal Number 2 had left some kind of clue. The search didn’t take long, but it wasn’t because Alexis was fast. There simply wasn’t anything to find except an empty water bottle with a bright pink lip gloss around the rim.
“Maybe this means one of the suspects is a girl,” said Alexis.
“Maybe,” said Kate. “Or maybe some visitor was just too lazy to walk across the clearing to the trash can.”
Kate walked over to look at the camera. A lump of oily leaves wilted on the ground beneath it. It looked like someone had pulled them up by the roots. Kate reached down to pick them up.
Alexis glanced over her shoulder. She dropped the water bottle she had been examining and yelled, “Kate, stop! That’s poison oak!”
Kate’s fingers stopped an inch from the plant. Alexis joined her and poked the leaves with a stick.
/> “It looks like someone yanked these out of the ground,” she said.
“Don’t they look like the leaves we saw covering the camera last night?” asked Kate. “I knew there weren’t any leaves where I hung it. What if someone covered the lens on purpose?”
“You’re right,” said Alexis. “I bet they hid until the leaves were in place. Then one came out of the bushes to do the prints and the other one grabbed Jogger. After they were done, they moved the leaves and gave us a show!”
Alexis felt sure she was right. It made sense that the criminals wouldn’t want to be seen on tape. But why cover the camera instead of simply unplugging it? And why dance Jogger in front of the lens?
Alexis could handle a lot without getting angry. The heat of a California summer was bearable. Long lines at her favorite amusement park were no problem. She could even deal with her little brothers when they hid all over the house, waiting to scare her as she walked by. But when her suspects started to tease her, her patience wore thin.
“These people are playing games with us, Kate. It’s getting on my nerves.” She kicked the poison oak back into the forest, away from the trail. Miss Maria didn’t need park visitors going home with rashes.
Rashes.
Suddenly Alexis remembered Sydney telling her about poison oak when they were at camp. “If you get into it, it can give you a bad rash,” Sydney explained. She had told Alexis about the rash she’d gotten while in the woods with her park ranger aunt.
Alexis couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it sooner. This was huge. If the Converse Guy touched the poison oak, he would have an awful rash by now. He could taunt her all he wanted—Alexis finally felt like she was ahead. She scribbled in her notebook:
Keep an eye out for someone with a rash…and someone wearing bright pink lip gloss.
Alexis picked up the plastic bottle and stuffed it into her backpack. She was excited to continue her investigation now that she had a break in the case, but they had to get the camera down first. They headed back through the park to a storage area behind the visitors’ center, where they could get a ladder.
The girls approached the cleared area that held a small greenhouse, piles of terra-cotta pots, and a small storage shed where Miss Maria kept her tools and equipment. A rope hanging between two trees sported a sign that read EMPLOYEES AND VOLUNTEERS ONLY! Alexis stepped over the sign and almost fell on Jerry. He was covered up to his knees in manure.
Alexis and Kate almost collapsed in a fit of giggles.
“It’s time to fertilize,” said Jerry, leaning on his shovel. “There’s no need to laugh so hard!”
“I’m sorry,” wheezed Alexis. “It’s just, I really needed a laugh!”
“Glad I could help. What brings you back here, anyway?”
“We need to get the web cam down,” said Alexis. “I was coming to get a ladder out of the shed.”
Jerry was out of the manure in seconds. He reached the shed before Alexis had taken two steps.
“You don’t want to go in there! Really, it’s unorganized and crazy—there’s stuff everywhere. You might get hurt.”
“You’ve been in there,” said Alexis, pointing to the shovel. “And you’re just fine.”
Jerry crossed his arms and shook his head.
“Well, since you’re being so chivalrous, can you get us the ladder?” said Alexis. “We need to take care of that camera before something happens to it. We already lost one of Kate’s cameras the night we camped out.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jerry, glancing over his shoulder at the wooden door. It was cracked open an inch. He backed up and kicked it closed. “I’ll get the camera down for you in a bit, when I’m done here.”
“Okay,” said Alexis. “Thanks.” The girls walked away, perplexed. Why was Jerry acting so weird? Maybe he was embarrassed about how messy he had let the shed get while Miss Maria was away.
“Boy, it’s hot out here,” Kate exclaimed, fanning her face.
“Yeah. But even winter in California can regularly be really warm,” Alexis said.
“Jerry must be dying,” Kate mentioned. “He’s wearing long sleeves.”
Alex stood still. Suddenly she remembered a mystery she’d seen on TV, one where the bad guy had worn long sleeves in the middle of summer because the person he’d attacked had scratched his arms, and he was trying to hide the wounds.
She told Kate about it.
“Sounds kind of scary,” Kate said.
“It was, kind of. But they caught the bad guy in the end,” Alexis said. “I don’t think Jerry was bitten by an animatron he moved or anything.”
“Probably just protecting his arms from that smelly manure,” Kate said. “Who wants that on your skin.”
“Yeah,” Alexis said. “But it’s odd. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him wear long sleeves—even in winter.”
Alexis took out the water bottle again. The pink around the rim looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember where she had seen it before. She glanced at Kate. Nope. Her Camp Club friend only wore lip balm. Maybe her mom? No. Mrs. Howell favored a mauve-colored lipstick. Oh well. It probably had nothing to do with the case, anyway. More than likely, it was just misplaced garbage, like Kate had said.
Alexis’s good mood deflated like a punctured beach ball. They really didn’t have anything to go on after all. Maybe they would see someone sneaking around the park with a rash creeping up his or her arm. Maybe the second suspect was a girl who liked pink lip gloss. Too many “maybes.” Nothing was for sure.
Alexis couldn’t help but think that maybe Miss Maria would be better off if the Camp Club Girls had stuck to investigating missing Spider Man socks.
An Unexpected Visitor
The girls were bummed out, to say the least. They walked back to the visitors’ center and found Mrs. Smith bustling around like a caffeinated squirrel.
“She’s been doing this all morning,” said Megan as Alexis and Kate walked in. Megan was folding maps on the floor because Mrs. Smith’s notes for the school board meeting were clogging up the desk.
“I hope you guys have been praying!” Mrs. Smith said as she searched for her paper clips. “This could be huge! If the school board approves my program, we won’t have to worry about money. People will line up to donate!”
“That would be awesome, Mrs. Smith,” said Alexis. “Are students allowed at this meeting?”
“Of course! Would you like to come? I can take you home when it’s over.”
“Yes!” said Alexis. She had never been to something as important as a meeting with the school board.
“Actually, since you go to one of the schools that would be involved in the program, you could really help. If we can show that students are interested in the park, the board can’t ignore us.”
Alexis had just sat on the floor next to Megan, but she jumped up like she had sat on a cactus. She had an idea.
“Mrs. Smith?” she asked. “Would it help to have a lot of students at the meeting?”
“Sure,” said Mrs. Smith. “But they would have to behave themselves. And they need to know why we’re there. There will be a time where you guys will be allowed to speak if you want. If you invite anyone else, make sure they know what we’re fighting for and why.”
Alexis smiled. She grabbed Megan and Kate by the sleeves of their shirts.
“Come on!” she said, and pulled them out of the visitors’ center without an explanation.
“What are we doing?” asked Megan. She was half running, half stumbling down the path after Alexis.
“We’re going to your house!” said Alexis. “It’s a lot closer than mine. You have last year’s yearbook, right?” Megan nodded, out of breath. “Great!”
Minutes later they were at Megan’s kitchen table with three Cokes, the yearbook, and a phone book. Kate was matching names in the yearbook to corresponding phone numbers. She was good at guessing. The names in the phone book were usually parents’ names, but she had only given Alexis a few wr
ong numbers. The hardest one to find so far had been Kelli Jones. There were five pages of Joneses in the Sacramento area phone book.
As Kate gave Megan and Alexis phone numbers, the girls took turns calling. They left messages where they could, and when they talked to someone, they told them to call all of their friends too. Alexis hoped that this would help Mrs. Smith at the meeting tonight. If she could get twenty-five or thirty students to show up, they could really make an impact.
That night, when Mrs. Smith pulled up to the Department of Education, a huge group of teenagers was gathered on one side of the doors. Most of the students wore khakis and polo shirts, which made them look like miniature versions of their working parents. The rest of the students stood out in various blue and crimson uniforms, showing their school spirit.
The entire girls’ volleyball team had left practice early to be there. So had most of the football team. Alexis got out of the car and straightened out her cheerleading skirt before going over to greet the crowd.
“Wow,” said Mrs. Smith. “I never expected…”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Smith,” said Kate. “You do your thing. We have this totally under control.”
The meeting room was short on seats, so many of the students sat in the aisles or stood against the walls. Alexis heard an adult mumble something about the fire marshal. He looked around the packed room, amazed.
The first half hour of the meeting was spent talking about budgets, bus routes, and banning tuna and pea casserole from the cafeteria. The students cheered when the board agreed to rework the cafeteria menus, but they settled down as the board director called Mrs. Smith’s name. He was a tall, balding man with a kind face.
“Mrs. Smith, would you like to present your idea to the board? We have all read your detailed proposal, but an overview would be nice. There seem to be many people here to support you!” He smiled.
“Yes, Director Burgess. Thank you.” Mrs. Smith stood up and took a deep breath. “I am here tonight as a representative from Aspen Heights Conservation Park. If you have seen the news at all lately, you will recognize our name.”
Alexis Page 8
