“I’m glad it stopped snowing,” whispered Violet.
“Me, too. And when the sun comes up, it’ll be warmer,” said Jessie.
They were huddled in the little lean-to just off the Blizzard Trail. They’d been there since right before dawn. From where they sat, they could see the trail clearly.
“It didn’t turn out to be much of a snowstorm after all,” Benny complained.
“Shhh, everyone!” Henry warned.
After that, the Aldens were quiet.
“What if this doesn’t work?” Violet said very, very softly.
“Maris is waiting just down the trail at the next big rock,” Henry reminded her. “One way or another, our trap will work.”
“Listen ...” Benny said.
They all grew quiet now. And then they heard it. Something was scraping over snow. Someone was coming down the Blizzard Trail.
Crunch, crunch, crunch went the sound of boots on thin snow.
There was also the sound of something heavy being pulled over that same thin snow. Swish, bump, bump, swish.
A figure appeared through the trees. Everyone held their breath.
The figure leaned forward and pulled hard on a rope in one hand. A sled bumped along at the end of the rope. “Whoa,” the figure commanded, and raised one foot awkwardly to slow down the sled.
“Let’s go,” said Jessie, and leaped to her feet and out of the lean-to.
The person saw the four Aldens running through the trees and, yanking the sled hard, began to run, too.
“Stop!” cried Jessie.
“Stop, thief!” shouted Benny. Henry jumped forward—and landed right on the sled.
The sled tipped over. The person pulling the sled stumbled and fell, but tried to get up and run again.
But by this time Maris had stepped out into the middle of the trail.
“Give up, Chuck,” said Henry. “We know all about the gold.”
The man turned and pushed the hood of his jacket back. Chuck’s face was red.
“What a dumb thing I did,” he said, and sat down hard on a fallen tree trunk.
Jessie stepped forward and pulled back the tarp on the sled. Underneath was a lump, covered with purple velvet. Carefully, she and Violet lifted the velvet cape. Gold bars shone beneath it.
“Gold!” said Benny.
“It’s the museum gold,” said Violet.
“I ... I ... oh, no,” moaned Chuck, and buried his face in his hands.
“Not exactly gold,” said a new voice.
Maris and the Aldens looked up in surprise at the woman striding up the trail.
“Rayanne?” asked Maris. “What are you doing here?”
“Rayanne Adams, private detective, at your service,” said Rayanne.
“But you work at the diner!” said Violet.
“That’s because I was undercover. What better place to find out what’s going on than at the town’s only diner?” asked Rayanne. She stared at Chuck. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself, mister, robbing that museum.”
“I didn’t mean to.” Chuck looked up. “I was just standing there, and no one was around, and I saw how easy it would be to take the gold that was on display. I put a piece of tape on the back door lock and just pushed the door open right after the museum closed. I wrapped the gold in that old purple cape and carried it out.”
“You’re a private detective?” Maris asked Rayanne.
Rayanne nodded. “My nephew runs the museum. I’m retired now, but I agreed to take this case to help him out.”
“That’s why you asked so many questions! And knew so much about the museum theft!” cried Jessie.
“Yep,” said Rayanne. “And I had my suspicions about Mr. Chuck Larson here. But until you came along, I couldn’t prove anything. How did you know to make a trap for him?”
“Two clues,” said Henry. “Shoes and purple velvet. Chuck was acting like a hiker who didn’t know anything. But he wore good old comfortable hiking boots. Boots that had been used a lot.”
“And they were worn down on one side, like a man who’d been limping while wearing them,” said Jessie. “That matched the boot prints we found in the snow. The prints weren’t very clear, but they were clear enough to show us that whoever walked around our cabin limped on the same foot as Chuck. Only we didn’t know why he’d be following us.”
“We thought first he’d found Stagecoach George’s treasure. It wasn’t until you mentioned the cape from the museum was purple velvet and we remembered that scrap of purple cloth Violet had found that things began to make sense,” said Henry.
“That purple velvet was an important clue,” Rayanne agreed. “It got my attention. And it got Chuck’s attention, too.”
“That’s when we knew for sure Chuck was faking it. That his ankle was not all that broken anymore,” said Benny.
Henry looked at Chuck. “You’re not even a history teacher, are you? It was all faked.”
Chuck groaned. “No,” he confessed. “I’m a mountain guide from out West. I came here just to hike.”
“We should have known you were no beginner when we found you all snug in your tent when you were injured. Beginners usually wander off the trail. And they aren’t so prepared,” said Maris.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t notice that,” Chuck said. “Anyway, I’d carried the gold, wrapped in the cape, in my pack, about halfway down Blizzard Mountain when I slipped and broke my ankle.” He made a face at the memory.
“I knew I was near the cabin—I’d used it on the way over the mountain the first time. So I managed to get there and bury the gold under the floor of the cabin and put the boards back down.”
“That’s why there was so much dirt on the floor,” said Violet. “We figured that out, too.”
He nodded. “I guess that’s when a piece of purple velvet tore off that old cape. Anyway, I dragged myself back over to the trail so no one would know I’d been in the cabin. I had enough supplies to last awhile, and I knew I’d be okay, that someone would come along before long.”
“You let the air out of our tires, too,” Benny accused Chuck.
“Yes, it was me. When I went to the bathroom at the diner, I really sneaked out and did that. And I followed you up the trail and took part of your food,” Chuck confessed. “I hoped that would scare you off, but it didn’t. So I followed you to the cabin and tried to scare you away then.”
“And you took my boots,” said Henry.
“I did. But I gave them back!” said Chuck. “I couldn’t let you try to hike down the mountain without them, any more than I could leave you without any food at all. I’m a mountain guide. I just couldn’t do it.”
“You’re a better mountain guide than a thief,” said Rayanne. “That wasn’t even gold that you took.”
Chuck sat up. “What?” he said.
“Iron bars painted to look like gold, for the mining display,” said Rayanne. “That’s all it is. Heavy and worthless. It’s the cape the museum wants back. It’s an important part of this park’s history.”
Chuck’s mouth had fallen open. So had Benny’s.
“N-not gold?” Chuck managed to stammer at last.
“Nope,” said Rayanne. “So now that we’ve got the cape back, the museum’s going to let you go.”
“You will?” said Chuck. He jumped to his feet. “Oh, thank you! I’ll never, ever do something like that again. I’ve never done anything like that before. I know it was wrong. I’ve learned my lesson.”
“Good,” said Jessie. She almost felt sorry for Chuck.
“Thank you,” Chuck cried again. “Thank you.”
“Go on, then,” said Rayanne. “We’ll get this down the mountain.”
Chuck looked around. Then, almost running, he headed down the mountain.
As the Aldens and Maris and Rayanne came out of the woods at the bottom of the Blizzard Trail, Grandfather Alden stepped out of a car parked near Maris’s truck.
“Grandfather!” said Jessie. “We caught the thief.”
“And Rayanne’s a real live detective,” said Benny.
Another person got out of the truck.
“Bobcat!” said Maris. “There you are. What happened?”
“We forgot to ask Chuck what he told you to make you leave town,” said Henry.
“So you figured it out, huh?” Bobcat chuckled. He shook his head. “And I fell for it, too. Chuck met me outside the general store. Must have been waiting for me, I realize now. He gave me a message, said it had been left at the diner for me. That’s not unusual. Everyone knows that the people at the diner can always find you. It’s the way a small town works.”
“What was the message?” asked Violet.
“My brother had an attack of appendicitis. It said please come at once. Chuck said he’d see that someone else took supplies to you, so I drove to the airport and flew halfway across the country. Boy, was my brother surprised to see me. We had a nice visit, though.” Bobcat grinned. “That buzzard!”
“Bobcat called when he got back,” Grandfather explained. “I told him what had been going on and we drove here.”
“But what about when your truck wouldn’t start, Maris? Did Chuck do that, too?” asked Violet.
“Nope. My truck’s just an old truck. But Chuck knew about the trouble I’d been having with it. Carola had stopped by the diner earlier on her way out of town and been talking about it. That’s what gave him the idea to try to scare us off the trail until he could get back up there and haul the gold out,” said Maris.
“And because his ankle was hurting, he waited until the first snow so it would be easy to pull the gold out by sled. Only it wasn’t gold,” Henry concluded.
“Chuck made a mistake,” said Rayanne. “And he got caught. Bad luck for Chuck.”
“He always said Blizzard Mountain was a bad luck mountain,” Bobcat said. “Looks like it was—for him.”
“But good luck for us,” said Benny.
Everyone looked at Benny. “What do you mean, Benny?” asked Jessie.
“Well, Stagecoach George’s gold is still up on Blizzard Mountain,” Benny said. “So on our next visit, we can go back and find it!” |