Randi laughed. “You seem to be pretty good at it. How’d you learn to be a detective?”
“Read a lot of books, I guess. There’s one series I really love. My dad buys them for himself, but I always read them first. It’s got this lady detective named—”
“Glenn Street?” Randi asked.
“How’d you know?” Pudge asked in astonishment.
“They’re my favorite books, too. My dad wrote them.”
“Your dad is Herb Rhodes?”
“Yep.”
Pudge seemed absolutely awestruck. “Well, that explains how you got to be such a great detective.”
“I’m not,” Randi admitted. “I couldn’t even find a missing time capsule before the deadline. Now half the people in Deer Creek will lose their businesses, and D.C. and his mom are going to get kicked out of their orchard.”
“Who do you think took the capsule? You have any suspects?”
“At first I was pretty sure Angus McCarthy stole it. I saw him talking to Mr. Sutton and your dad, and I figured he had something to do with the Deer Creek resort.”
“Nope,” Pudge said. “My dad says McCarthy keeps refusing to sell the little bit of land he has left—even though he’s about to go bankrupt. I don’t know if he’s even heard about the resort.”
“So that leaves Mr. Sutton. But I didn’t see him anywhere near the monument when the capsule was stolen. I guess I could have missed him. . . .”
“You didn’t. Mr. Sutton was in a meeting with my dad when the capsule was stolen.”
Randi sighed. “Then I don’t know who could have done it. Glenn Street always asks, Who stands to profit? And I can’t think of anyone else who’d profit from making the whole town of Deer Creek go broke.”
“I can,” Pudge replied. “The mystery guy who wants to buy the whole town. I just wish I knew who it was.”
“I don’t think there’s anyone that rich around here,” Randi said.
“The treasure,” they heard D.C. mumble. “What if someone found the treasure?”
Randi crawled closer. “You okay?” she asked.
“My mind feels like water. Muddy water.” D.C. kept his eyes closed but managed a weak grin. “If the treasure was inside the capsule, whoever stole it could use it to buy the whole town.”
“I don’t think the treasure was ever under the monument,” Randi said. “I’m pretty sure Toot discovered it right before he disappeared. When I read his diary, it sounded like he thought the message on the plaque was a clue to the treasure’s real location. Remember how it all began.”
“What does that mean?” Pudge asked.
“I think it means that the treasure is hidden where the town first began.”
“The story,” D.C. said. “Tell Pudge the story about the Indian sisters.”
Randi took a deep breath. “Sheriff Ogle says that when the three founders first came here, they were fighting over the land. Then one day, they rescued two Indian girls from drowning. The girls’ father was a chief, and he gave the founders a treasure as thanks. So they stopped fighting over the land and started fighting over the treasure. Then winter hit the mountains. None of them had prepared, so they all had to live in a cave. They would have died if the Indians hadn’t helped them. When spring came, they started this town, which they named after the chief’s two daughters.”
“So the treasure must be hidden down by the river where they saved the two girls,” Pudge concluded.
“No.” Randi felt a bolt of inspiration shoot through her brain. “That’s not where it all began. The town began in the cave where they spent the winter of 1813. Before that, the founders had been fighting. They must have had to work together in order to survive the winter. Before their time in the cave, they were enemies. Afterward, they decided to found Deer Creek.”
“That’s why the fake Secret Service agents are here in Rock Hollow,” D.C. said. “They must be searching the caves for the treasure. The only way to get to them is through the Hollow.”
“But who told them where to look? Someone must have known that the treasure was hidden in one of the caves. He stole the time capsule so the festival would have to be canceled—and the town would go bankrupt. Then he planned to use the treasure to buy the whole place and turn it into a big resort.”
“There’s only one person it could have been,” Pudge said.
“The mayor!” all three kids cried at once.
* * *
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
* * *
SPELUNKING
As soon as D.C. had recovered, the three ninja detectives followed the underground passage until they found the ladder that led to the trapdoor in Angus McCarthy’s barn. Randi and Pudge were already running down the road in the direction of Rock Hollow when they heard D.C. calling for them to stop.
“Wait, guys. Maybe we should go see the sheriff before we head to the caves,” he suggested.
“Are you kidding?” Randi scoffed. “And let that old jelly bean take credit for breaking the case?”
“Pudge saw Angus McCarthy head into the woods with a shotgun,” D.C. pointed out. “He probably wants the treasure for himself—and who knows who he’ll shoot to get it. And those fake Secret Service agents probably have a few weapons too. This could get really dangerous.”
But Randi wouldn’t listen to reason. “If you’re worried, feel free to stay here,” she said. “Pudge and I can handle the rest of the case on our own.”
“I’m not scared!” D.C. insisted.
“Good! Then let’s go!” Randi replied.
~ ~ ~ ~
When they reached Rock Hollow, the kids set off on the trail that led into the woods. The storm earlier in the evening had left the path slick and muddy. Thorns tore at Randi’s clothing, and tree branches swatted her in the face, but she was too excited to feel a thing as she forged uphill.
“There must be a hundred caves in this mountain,” D.C. said. “How are we going to know which holds the treasure if we don’t have a map?”
“Hey, D.C.’s got a point,” Pudge said, just as they arrived at a fork in the trail. “How are we supposed to know which way to go?”
“Easy,” Randi said. “We just keep taking the trail that sparkles the most.”
When she aimed her flashlight’s beam at the right-hand branch of the path, all the kids saw were rocks, plants, and mud. Then she trained her light on the left-hand path, and little specks of mineral glowed in the dirt.
“Mica,” Randi noted. “The treasure cave must be full of it. The fake Secret Service men have been tracking it out on their shoes.”
“That’s what Pumpkin was covered with!” D.C. said.
“He must have snuck into one of their SUVs outside the River View Hotel,” Randi said. “And then he followed the men up to the cave. That’s why the mayor was trying to catch him. He didn’t want anyone to come looking for Pumpkin and stumble across the operation.”
Randi, Pudge, and D.C. followed the glittering mica path for half a mile until it ended at the dark entrance of a cave. There was no sign that anyone was inside.
“Do you think they’ve gone back to the hotel?” Pudge asked.
“Shhh,” Randi replied. She could hear a faint hum deep down in the cave. “They’re still down there. Let’s go.”
“Are you sure?” D.C. asked.
Randi glanced back at the trail they had taken up the side of the mountain. A tiny circle of light was dancing in the Hollow below. “Someone’s coming,” she said. “We can’t go back now.”
Randi led the way, plunging deeper and deeper into the cave. The ceiling high above their heads was black with bats, and they could hear the rustling of leathery wings. A few of the creatures buzzed past them, and one came close enough to nick Randi’s ear. The cave’s other residents were equally active. Everything around the kids seemed to be moving. Spiders scampered along the walls, and insects crunched under their shoes.
They followed the hum they’d heard outside the cave, descend
ing deep into the underworld. Finally, Randi spotted a light in the distance, and it grew whiter and brighter as they approached. A portable generator and a dozen utility lamps lit a giant cavern. In the center of the space, a brilliant blue lake teemed with blind white cave fish.
On one side of the lake lay a pile of rubble. On the other side were several neatly stacked piles of rocks, each gleaming with tiny flecks of mica. Randi counted nine men hanging out in the cavern. All of them were covered in sweat and glittering mica dust. They must have been moving the rubble from one side of the lake and stacking it up on the other. But now they appeared to be taking a break.
The three kids slid behind a rock pile.
“Fresh water, food, and I bet this place stays the same temperature all year round,” Randi whispered. “If the founders had to spend a winter inside a cave, they couldn’t have chosen a better one.”
“You think this is the cave the founders lived in?”
“Yep. That’s why these guys have been cleaning up the rubble. They must think the treasure is somewhere underneath it.” She pulled a pair of binoculars out of her backpack. As soon as she took a peek through the lenses, Randi gasped. “I know why they’ve stopped! They’ve found a skeleton! It was underneath the rubble! It’s got to be Toot the Treasure Hunter!”
The bones were still clad in a denim shirt and dungarees. A plastic pith helmet and a pickax lay nearby.
“Toot must have gotten trapped by a cave-in! That’s why he vanished without a trace!”
“Can you see the founders’ treasure?” Pudge asked.
“Nope,” Randi replied. “But wait just a second! There’s something on the wall!”
There were three different handprints on the wall of the cavern, just a few inches from Toot’s skull. They’d been arranged to form a circle. It must have been a symbol the founders had left to mark the site of the treasure.
“Good evening, gentlemen!” a man called out in a confident voice.
“It’s Mayor Landers!” D.C. whispered.
Randi dropped the binoculars. The dashing, debonair mayor had just entered the cavern in the company of one of the fake agents. He hurried over to the skeleton and crouched down to rifle through its clothes and belongings. When the mayor stood up, he was holding a yellowing sheet of paper, which he folded and shoved into his pocket.
“Excellent work!” he told his henchmen. “Now that you’ve found him, our work will soon be over. Will someone please bring me a shovel?”
“He’s going to dig up the treasure!” Randi gasped in excitement.
One of the men handed the mayor a shovel, and Mayor Landers began to dig. There was only a small hole in the earth when he stopped and passed the shovel back to his man.
“Bury the bones here,” he announced as his face stretched into a wide smile. “Then remove the handprints from the wall and replace all the rubble. I don’t want any evidence left behind. It should look like no one has ever set foot in this cavern. As soon as you’re finished, you’ll be paid in full. It’s been a pleasure working with you, gentlemen.”
“What’s going on?” Pudge whispered. Randi didn’t have any time to answer before a loud shout echoed around the cavern. She watched the grin slid right off Mayor Landers’s face.
“You ain’t gonna hide Toot’s bones, college boy! You think I’d let you leave my daddy in this cave?”
Everyone spun around. There at the entrance stood Angus McCarthy with a shotgun in his hand.
“What are you doing here?” Mayor Landers demanded.
“Came to take the treasure off your hands, Mayor. I believe it belongs to the good people of Deer Creek. So where is it? Give it to me.”
“You’re too late, Angus. We dug up the treasure yesterday. And for your information, it’s mine!” the mayor snarled. “I searched for that treasure for almost twenty years, old man.”
“You don’t have to tell me, Mayor Landers,” Angus said. “I’ve been hiding out in that cabin watching you come and go the whole time. Even built a tunnel from my house. But just ’cause you found the treasure don’t make it yours. This here’s my land. That treasure was buried in this cave by my great-great-great-grandpappy. And my father was the one who figured out where the founders had hidden it.”
“But I’m the one who finally dug it up,” the mayor argued.
“Sure, using the treasure map you stole outta Toot’s diary.”
Mayor Landers let out a bitter laugh. “You know as well as I do that the map in the diary wasn’t much help. It was just an unfinished draft! He brought the real map with him when he returned to the cave.” Landers took out the paper he’d stolen from Toot’s bones and waved it in the air. “I knew the treasure was down here somewhere, but it took me ages to figure out that there must have been a cave-in inside this cavern. I was the one who paid these men to remove the rubble.”
“Cooked up a pretty good story to explain them being in town, too. Secret Service agents, my boot!” Angus spit on the ground to show his disgust. “Bunch a hired thugs is all they are. I knew they didn’t work for the President of the United States when the cowards ran away from a little ol’ skunk, leaving that capsule sitting there where anyone could tamper with it.”
“So that’s why he set the skunk loose on the mayor!” Randi whispered. “He was trying to prove that the Secret Service agents were phonies!”
“And then the mayor took the opportunity to accuse Angus of stealing the capsule!” D.C. whispered back. “Mr. McCarthy’s been innocent all along!”
While Angus and the mayor faced off, another figure emerged from the darkness. The man crept up behind Angus McCarthy, threw an arm around his neck, and trapped the old man in a headlock. The shotgun went off, and a bullet hit the roof of the cavern. Within seconds, Angus McCarthy had been subdued.
“You should have stayed out of this, Angus,” the mayor gloated. “But I’m afraid you’ll have to pay for that little skunk incident. Your filthy pet ruined my best summer suit. Take Mr. McCarthy away and deal with him,” the mayor ordered his employee. “And make sure he won’t be coming back. I don’t want that old coot causing any more trouble.”
Angus’s captor nodded and began to drag the elderly man deeper into the tunnels.
“We’ve got to save Mr. McCarthy!” D.C. whispered.
“What about the treasure?” Pudge asked.
“Who cares about the treasure? They’re going to kill Mr. McCarthy!” Randi exclaimed. “Come on! Follow me!”
She and the boys crept behind the rock piles until they were unable to see the mayor and his men. Up ahead, they could see a flashlight’s beam.
“There he is,” Randi said. “I’ve got his upper body. D.C., you get his legs.”
“You sure I can do it?” D.C. asked.
“You’re a lot stronger than you think you are,” Randi assured him. “You might not have taken any classes, but you’ve been training for years.”
“By myself,” D.C. said.
“No—with Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. I bet you’ve seen every Bruce Lee film ever made, right?”
“Yeah, all of them.”
“Well, remember how he’d knock down bigger guys using a side kick to the knee? Think you can do the same move?”
“In my sleep,” D.C. replied with a grin.
“You guys are really up for this?” Pudge asked incredulously.
“Absolutely,” D.C. replied with new confidence.
“We can’t wait!” Randi added.
They slinked quickly and silently toward the man and his captive. When they were less than a foot behind him, Randi nodded to D.C. Then she tapped the thug on the shoulder.
“Wha’?” he cried out in surprise, and his grip on Mr. McCarthy loosened enough for the old man to slip free. When the thug wheeled around to see who was behind him, he was greeted with a lightning-fast punch.
“Arrrrrrrrgh,” he moaned, just as his legs were knocked out from beneath him.
Once he was down on the ground,
Randi delivered a chop to the side of his head that would make sure he stayed nice and quiet for as long as it took them all to escape.
Pudge rushed over. “I can’t believe what I just saw! The two of you . . . I can’t believe it! I like to think I’ve got a pretty mean right hook, but that was amazing!”
“I told you we were ninja detectives,” Randi replied.
“You okay?” D.C. asked Angus McCarthy. He’d taken a tumble when he’d broken free, and he was on the ground where he’d fallen.
“Just twisted my ankle,” the old man replied. “But I’ll survive, thanks to you three.”
“So was it true what you said back there? Have you really been trying to save Deer Creek?” Randi asked.
McCarthy snorted. “Don’t make me out to be some kind of hero. I just did what Toot would have wanted me to do. He always loved this town, even though they all laughed at him. That’s why he kept looking for the treasure. I was embarrassed by him back then. Now I wish I’d helped him search.”
“You and your dad will both be heroes if we can get that treasure back from Mayor Landers,” Randi said.
“Yeah, but first we gotta get out of this cave,” Pudge pointed out.
“And we gotta do it before the other guys start to wonder where this one went.” D.C. pointed at the man who still lay unconscious on the floor of the cave.
“Then let’s get cracking,” Randi said, taking one of Angus McCarthy’s arms. Pudge grabbed the other, and together they helped the old man hobble back toward the cavern.
~ ~ ~ ~
The mayor and one of the agents were gone when the kids arrived. Eight men were busy dismantling the utility lamps and the generator.
“You guys ready?” Randi asked.
“Yup,” D.C. replied.
“Let’s do it,” Pudge said.
They helped Angus McCarthy down to the ground. “We’ll just be a moment,” Randi told him. “Enjoy the show.”
Then the three ninja detectives stepped into the light.
“Look!” one of the fake agents shouted. “It’s those kids again!”
Case of the Time-Capsule Bandit Page 12
