by Ron Roy
Detective Robb walked out of the kitchen with a fresh mug of coffee.
“You three look like you’re up to something,” he joked.
Dink made up his mind. “Detective Robb, can we tell you something?” he said. “It’s, um, pretty bad.”
The detective nodded and sat on the kids’ bench. “Of course. What’s bothering you?”
Dink repeated everything he, Josh, and Ruth Rose had talked about. When he got to the part about finding the paintings inside the hollow trunk door, Detective Robb raised his eyebrows.
“Have you told anyone else your suspicions?” he asked Dink.
Dink shook his head. He felt better now that he’d told someone, but his heartbeat was still racing.
“This is a serious accusation,” the detective went on. “Still, I can see how it’s possible. Mademoiselle Musée told me she was a painter first, then turned to art restoration. When she realized that the Darbys owned some valuable paintings, maybe she couldn’t resist the chance to make some easy money.”
“Do you think she was planning to sell the paintings she hid?” Josh asked.
Detective Robb nodded. “More than likely. There are plenty of art buyers who don’t care where paintings have come from,” he said, standing up. “Don’t tell anyone else what we’ve talked about. I have to make a call and put some things in place. Then I’ll have a talk with Mademoiselle Musée.”
Detective Robb looked down at the kids. “And stay out of the lodge,” he said.
The kids watched Detective Robb pull out a cell phone as he walked away.
“This is creepy,” Josh said. “Should we go back to the cabin?”
“We eat lunch in fifteen minutes,” Dink said. “We might as well wait here.”
Just then Remote the goat and Ronald the rooster came around the corner of the barn. Remote headed right for the kids, but Ronald stopped to scratch in the dirt.
The goat rested his chin on Josh’s knee.
“My dog does that when he wants to be scratched,” Josh said, stroking the goat’s silky ears.
“Oh my gosh!” Ruth Rose cried, making the goat back up. “Josh, your M stands for Mote!”
“M-O-A-T, like surrounding a castle?” Josh asked.
“No, Mote is Buzzy’s nickname for Remote, remember?” she said. “And Buzzy made up some of these clue cards. So maybe the M stands for Mote, and those are goat hairs on your card!”
“Ruth Rose, you’re a genius!” Josh said. He pulled out his clue card and compared the hairs on the back to the goat’s hairs.
“They’re the same!” Dink said.
“So do you think the map piece is hidden on Mote?” Josh asked.
“Luke said the clues would lead us to a place,” Ruth Rose said. “Where’s Mote’s place?”
“I know!” Dink said, bolting toward the barn. He showed Josh and Ruth Rose the doghouse where the goat slept. “I’ll bet the map piece is in there.”
Josh got down on his knees and peered through the opening. “I hope he didn’t eat it,” he said, crawling inside.
Josh began turning over the straw bedding. After a minute, he backed out holding a flat tin box. “Ta-da!”
Josh opened the box and found a piece of paper that looked like the ones Dink and Ruth Rose had found.
“We found it!” Ruth Rose said.
“Just in time for lunch,” Josh said, grinning.
The kids ran around to the picnic tables. Most of the other campers were there, but a few stragglers were just arriving.
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose sat together just as Buzzy, Luke, and Angie came out through the kitchen door. Buzzy stood on a bench and blew his whistle.
“Detective Robb is busy, but he wanted us to ask if anyone is still missing his or her map piece,” the tall teenager said.
No hands went up.
“That’s awesome!” Buzzy said.
Luke went around and collected all twenty-six map pieces.
“Now, since there are so many of you, each cabin should select one person,” Buzzy went on, “and those three kids will meet and assemble the map.”
“Why can’t we all do it together?” one girl asked.
Angie laughed. “Have you ever tried to put a jigsaw puzzle together with twenty-five other kids helping? That’s two hundred sixty fingers altogether!”
Everyone laughed.
“Can they put the map together right now?” Duke asked.
“Sure,” Luke said. “The three you choose can work on it while we eat lunch. So get in a huddle with your cabinmates and vote for who you think would do a good job on the map.”
The kids scrambled around and formed into three groups by cabin.
“I nominate Dink,” Josh said to the rest of his group. “He’s really good at puzzles and stuff.”
Dink was chosen.
A minute later, he found himself sitting with Jade from Fox Cabin and Stanley from Bear Cabin. Luke came over and piled the map pieces on the table in front of them. “I’ll give you a hint,” Luke whispered. “The edges have a dark blue line.”
The three kids went to work. Many of the pieces had blue lines, so it took only a minute to assemble the four edges. Then they worked on the inside. As the map took shape, the kids saw a picture of the lake, the dock, and the ring of stones around the campfire. There was a big X drawn at one spot, on a flat rock. An arrow pointed from the dock to the X. Dink realized that the ET and FR he’d seen on Ruth Rose’s map piece were part of a sentence: MEASURE TEN FEET FROM THE DOCK.
“The treasure must be under that rock!” Stanley said.
Just then the three counselors came over to their table. “Guys, your lunch is waiting,” Buzzy said. “How’re you doing with the map?”
“We finished!” Jade said.
“You guys are amazing!” Angie said. “Now go back to your tables and tell the other kids what you learned. After lunch, you can all run down to the lake and get your well-earned treasure.”
Mario had heaped platters with rolls, cheese and tomato slices, and three kinds of sandwich meat. The kids built their own sandwiches. They gulped them down with milk, then took off for the lake.
The fastest runners were already moving the rock when Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose got there. Everyone gathered around as Jade began digging in the sand under the rock.
A minute later, she held up a plastic baggie. Inside was a folded sheet of paper. Jade unzipped the baggie and read the note: “Congratulations! Your treasure is a lobster feast tonight. Come here at five o’clock, and wear your bathing suits!”
The note was signed by Angie, Buzzy, and Luke.
“Lobsters! Awesome!” Josh said.
Angie and Luke had walked up behind the group.
“Good work, kids,” Angie said. “Now it’s time to head back to your cabins for a while. At one-thirty, meet at the barn to choose an activity. Luke will take some of you canoeing if you choose that. I’ll be with the kids who want archery or crafts.”
“Where’s Buzzy?” Campbell asked.
“He’s … he’s busy,” Angie said. “Okay, we’ll see you all later.”
The kids started to head toward the path. Angie stopped Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. “They want you three in the lodge,” she said quietly.
“Who does?” Dink asked.
“The Darbys,” she answered. “And Detective Robb.” Then she followed the rest of the kids toward the cabins.
Dink had eaten too fast. Now his stomach felt like he’d swallowed marbles. “What if Mademoiselle Musée is there?” he asked. “What if I was all wrong, and she’s going to sue me or something?”
“Let’s just go and find out,” Josh said. “And if you go to jail for breaking and entering her trunk, I’ll bring you a lobster claw.”
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose walked toward the lodge. The first thing they saw was a police cruiser parked in front of the porch.
“They must be here to arrest Mademoiselle Musée!” Ruth Rose whispered.
“Or Dink,” Josh te
ased.
Dink found that his mouth was too dry to say anything back to Josh.
The front door of the lodge opened. Two police officers escorted Mademoiselle Musée out of the building and down onto the driveway. Her hands were handcuffed in front of her.
With Mademoiselle Musée in the backseat of the cruiser, the officers drove away.
Detective Robb held the door open for the kids. “Come on in,” he said. “The Darbys are waiting for you.” He led them into the great room.
Michael and Bessie Darby were sitting on one of the sofas. Sitting between them and holding Bessie’s hand was Buzzy Steele.
“Well, hello,” Michael Darby said when he saw the kids enter. “Please sit. Mario is going to bring us all some lemonade.”
The kids sat on another sofa facing the Darbys and Buzzy.
Buzzy looked at Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. He winked.
“First I want to thank you three for exposing Mademoiselle Musée for the thief she is,” Michael Darby said. “When we decided to open this little camp, we had no idea any real detective work would be necessary!”
“Mademoiselle Musée admitted to everything,” Detective Robb told the kids. “If you three hadn’t figured out what she was up to, she’d have walked out of here with several extremely valuable paintings.”
Bessie Darby turned to Buzzy. “Dear, why don’t you tell the children the rest of the story?”
Buzzy blushed. “Okay, Grandma,” he said.
“You’re the Darbys’ grandson?” Josh blurted out.
“Yep, I sure am,” Buzzy said. “I didn’t say anything because I wanted all the kids to treat me the same as Luke and Angie. Anyway, this is what happened. When Mademoiselle Musée came—”
“By the way, her real name is Maude Murn,” Detective Robb said. “She wasn’t from France at all. But she’s wanted in five states out west. In Arizona, she’s known as Maude the Fraud. She left there in a hurry and changed her name when she got here.”
“When she got here to clean the paintings, my grandparents told her about Detective Camp and all the kids we were expecting,” Buzzy said. “I guess she figured with a detective and a bunch of kids snooping around, her scam might be discovered. So she made a plan, right, Detective Robb?”
He nodded. “She decided to add some confusion so no one would pay her any attention,” Detective Robb said. “She took a few pieces of the Darbys’ silver and hid them under mattresses in the kids’ cabins. Then she went to the Darbys and told them she’d seen a kid running out of the great room. The Darbys warned Buzzy about it.”
“My grandparents asked me to search the cabins,” Buzzy continued. “I did, and found the silver animals. I put them in my trunk for safekeeping.” He blushed again. “I admit, I thought some of the kids had stolen the silver.”
“Then Maude pretended her ring had been stolen and hid it under a mattress,” Detective Robb went on. “She planned to demand a search. She figured the ‘stolen’ stuff would be found, kids would be accused, and the Darbys would send you all home. Then she could continue with her scam. But Ruth Rose found the ring before Maude could get a search going.”
“So her plan to shut down the camp backfired,” Michael Darby said. “Thank goodness you clever kids discovered her trunk’s secret hiding place!”
“Turns out her father was a magician, and that was his trunk,” Detective Robb said. “He used to hide things inside that hollow door.”
Bessie Darby sighed. “So sad. The woman was a talented painter and restorer, but she threw it all away because she was greedy.”
“What will happen to her?” Ruth Rose asked.
“She’ll go back to Arizona for trial,” Detective Robb said. “Thanks to you three awesome detectives!”
At five o’clock, everyone feasted on lobster, corn on the cob, salad, and ice cream. The Darbys came to the lake and sat in lawn chairs out of the sun. At six o’clock, Buzzy supervised swimming and diving off the dock. Some kids went canoeing with Angie and Luke.
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose were standing up to their shoulders in the clear, still-warm lake water.
“I wonder if that monster really is hibernating in this lake,” Josh said, peering down into the water.
“Maybe you’re standing on him,” Dink said. “Better watch out, Josh.”
“I’m not afraid of any old monst—”
Suddenly Josh’s eyes opened wide. His tongue drooped out of his mouth, he fell over, and he disappeared under the water.
“Josh the joker,” Dink said.
“I wonder how long he’ll stay under,” Ruth Rose said, looking into the water where Josh had been standing.
Just then she let out a yell and jumped into the air. “Something pinched me!” she said. “It felt like a—”
Josh’s laughing face broke the surface. He was holding a red lobster claw, making the two pincers open and close. “That’s for scaring me last night, Ruth Rose,” he said. “Now we’re even!”
“You’re so immature,” Ruth Rose said.
Then she jumped on Josh and dunked him under the water.
When I was ten years old, my best friend Larry and I spent a week together at a summer camp. It was the first time either of us had been to a sleepaway camp. I remember how exciting it was to sleep in a bunk bed in a log cabin. We were deep in a dark forest, and there was a pond in the middle of a ring of cabins. We swam in the pond until someone discovered that a huge snapping turtle lived there!
Camp was so much fun. We learned how to track animals, use a compass, locate constellations in the night sky, find berries and roots that were safe to eat, and a lot of other cool stuff. We ate most of our meals in a big dining hut, but we cooked some over an open fire. Our counselors were teenagers, and we campers had fun playing tricks on them.
I got the idea for a mystery about art fraud from a friend who works in an art gallery. She told me that some crooked artists put fake names on their paintings, then sell the paintings for much more money than they are really worth. I hope you enjoyed reading Detective Camp. I had a good time writing it. Now I am going to end this letter and get busy writing the next book about Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose.
Happy reading!
Sincerely,
P.S. Be sure to look for the answer to the hidden message on the bottom of the next page. And please keep visiting my Web site at www.ronroy.com!
Did you find the secret message hidden in this book?
If you don’t want to know the answer, don’t look at the bottom of this page!
Collect clues with Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose in the next exciting A to Z Mysteries Super Edition
MAYFLOWER TREASURE HUNT
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose are spending Thanksgiving at Plimoth Plantation, learning all about the Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the first Thanksgiving. But will the kids uncover a mystery that dates back to the landing of the Pilgrims?
If you like the A to Z Mysteries,
you might want to read
GHOST HORSE
by George Edward Stanley
Emily got out of bed. She ran to the window and pulled back the curtains. In the moonlight, she could see the beautiful white horse!
Emily pinched herself. “Ouch!” Now she knew she wasn’t dreaming. The beautiful white horse was really there!
He started walking toward her window. But the closer he got, the paler he got.
Emily gasped. She could see through the horse!
“You’re … you’re a ghost!” she whispered.
Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose aren’t the only kid detectives!
What about you?
Can you find the hidden message inside this book?
There are 26 illustrations in this book, not counting the one on the title page, the map at the beginning, or the picture of the cabins that repeats at the start of many of the chapters. In each of the 26 illustrations, there’s a hidden letter. If you can find all the letters, you will spell out a secret message!
If you�
��re stumped, the answer is on the bottom of this page.
Happy detecting!
