The Gum Tree Gang and the Mystery at the Old Queenslander (4 page)

"We sure can," said Matthew,
doing an about turn and
bouncing on the
bed.

"Watch my books, please!"
Krystal rescued her
scattered
books.

"Woops, sorry!" Matthew stopped bouncing.

"That's okay," replied
Krystal. "Trace, can you please
close the
door."

Tracey dashed to close the door, peering
outside as she did so.

Krystal moved towards her
pillow. "We found this."
She pulled the
little piece of paper from under her pillow
and handed it to Kevin.

He took the piece of paper.
Matthew moved close to
Kevin and both boys
read the note

"Is this all. It's just a
car sales ad." Kevin looked
puzzled.

"Yeah, looks great to me,
vruum, vruum." Matthew
made car
noises.

"Well, we don't think it's a
car sales ad. There's a
secret message in
it," said Tracey.

"We think there is anyway."
Krystal supported her
friend.

Kevin and Matthew stared at
the little note again.
"Nope, can't see any
secret message, can you Matt?"

Kevin turned the note upside-down, then held
it up to the

light of the window.

"Maybe, what's that strange
looking brown mark with
lines?" said
Matthew seriously.

“Where,” Krystal and Tracey clustered around
the note.

"There." Matthew pointed to
a brown curved mark
with small lines off
it.

"Oh, that! That's just dirt
from my shoe. That's not a
message. That's
not what we mean!" Krystal plucked the note from between Kevin's
fingers.

"I bet you girls made this
up to try and trick us. We've
gotta go,
right Matt?" Kevin headed for the door.

"Yeah, a silly message." Matthew yawned.

"How can you say that. You
have no imagination!"
Tracey
exclaimed.

"Goodbye then," said
Krystal, striding to the door and
pulling
it wide open. "It's too bad that you'll never know
what else we saw at the old Queenslander,"
she
announced, feeling annoyed that the
boys didn't believe
their exciting
story.

Kevin stood in the doorway.
"Which old
Queenslander?"

"The old place on Underwood Road. The one
with rails around it," Tracey explained.

"But nobody lives there.
It's all locked up." Matthew
looked
puzzled.

"Well, the door was open and
we went inside from the
rain. That's where
the guys met," Tracey blurted.

"Which guys?" Kevin asked sceptically.

"Toy and Maz, and two other
bigger guys," Tracey
replied.
"Called Chevy and Merc,"
Krystal continued.

"Sound like strange names to me." Kevin
turned to leave the doorway.

"Yeah, more like car names."
Matthew made some
more car
noises.

"And we know two of the
boys. Toy and Maz are
Nathan and Davo,"
Tracey continued.

"From our school?" Kevin
asked, turning back.
"Yeah,
I
saw them," said
Krystal.

"And what would they be
doing in that
old
place?
I
still
think you're making this up,
just to get us back. What do
you think
Matt?" Kevin looked at Matthew, who just
shrugged his shoulders.

They didn't believe the story!

"They'll probably meet at
the house again," Tracey
chirped
in.

"Yep, they probably will. Do
you want to come and
see for yourself?"
Krystal looked at Kevin. She was
determined
to prove their story now.

"Yeah, I'll come," Matthew butted in.

"When exactly?" Kevin asked,
after a moment of silent
thought.

"Oh no! We don't know when
they'll be meeting
again," said Tracey
limply.

"The note Trace, maybe it's
got a clue about the
meeting time?" Krystal
began to unfold the little note
again.

"Well, let's try and work it
out then. Anyone got a
pencil?" Krystal
asked, her eyes glued to the note.

Tracey handed her a pencil,
then stood next to Krystal,
looking over
her shoulder.

"To Trace."

The three gathered around Krystal and the
note.

"Great Offer Over next few Days. Wild

OffeRs. Know whaT Others and You wANteD?

aMAZing baRgains. Every day
We hAve gReat Dreams
comiNg truE, eXcellenT
Motors, utEs, ETc. FOUR new
FabulOUs
motoRs. FOr yoUR benefit, come to us,"
Krystal read aloud.

Krystal couldn't help feeling excited.

"Look at all the capitals.
There is a sort of message there after all." She
circled all the capitals.

"It is. It is. I knew it. I
knew it!" Tracey exclaimed,
reading the
capitals as words. "GOOD WORK TOY
AND MAZ
REWARD NEXT MEET FOUR FOUR
FOUR. It's a
message. It really is."

"Crazy message," Kevin droned, yawning.

"Coded messages are always
crazy. It's up to us to
work it out you
know," said Krystal firmly.

"Sounds like Toy and Maz
have been working hard, so
they get a
reward next meeting. But what do the three
fours mean?" Tracey translated the message.

"Three fours are twelve," Matthew
concluded.

"Maybe there are twelve cars for sale,"
Kevin

suggested.

"Maybe it's twelve days to
Christmas," said Matthew,
laughing.

"You're being silly. I
wonder what sort of work Nathan
and Davo
have been doing." Tracey's lips were pursed.

"I bet it's something bad,
else why would it have to be
in a coded
message?" Krystal mused aloud.

"Hey, maybe we ought to join
Nathan and Davo's gang,
and get some of the
reward." Matthew grinned.

"How can you say that.
They're doing something bad.
You're
supposed to do good if you're a Christian, you
know," Tracey told her brother.

"Yes. We want to find out
what bad thing they've been
doing, not do
it too. I think you two should exit and leave
the work up to Tracey and me. We'll solve the mystery.
Go!" Krystal ordered, opening the door
wide.

"Sorry. I was only joking."
Matthew tried to be
serious.

"We're on your side." Kevin tried not to
smile.

Matthew nodded, biting his lip so he didn't
laugh.

"This is your last chance
then." Krystal closed the door
again as the
two boys sat down with straight faces.

"Well, we know Toy and Maz
are Nathan and Davo, and
they're getting
some reward, but the question is, what
does
FOUR, FOUR, FOUR mean?" she questioned.

"One of the fours could mean
four people, and another
could mean four
o'clock. That was about the time we
were
there today, remember?" Tracey remembered
looking at her watch to check the time. It was after
four
when they were leaving the
house.

“That could be it, but that
still leaves one FOUR,"
Krystal
stated.

"Maybe they need four more
to join them for the
reward. Hey, this
might be interesting Kev." Matthew
looked
at Kevin.

"Mmmm. I don't know if I
believe all this...I mean,
Nathan and Davo
seem okay guys. Maybe the girls made
up the
story. What do we know?" Kevin frowned.

"Well, you can see for
yourselves if you want to. We
could meet at
the old Queenslander straight away after
school tomorrow, and see if they come again. We might
find out a bit more about what's going on. What do
you
reckon?" Krystal tried to keep up the
boys' interest.

"Suppose we could check it
out. What d'ya reckon
Matt? But wait,
tomorrow I have footie practice straight
after school. I could come after four." Kevin kicked
his
foot as high as the
doorknob.

"And I have soccer practice,
but I reckon I'd like to
catch the
baddies." Matthew dived onto the bed and
grabbed Krystal's pillow.

"Right, you'll come then."
Krystal glanced at the two
boys. They
nodded. "Tracey and I will go to the house
and hide inside. When you come, make sure nobody sees
you. Got that?"

"Sure! We'll be invisible,
won't we Kev?" Matthew
replied.

"Krystal," Mrs. Cormack
called from the family room.
"Krystal, are
you busy?" She peered into the bedroom.

"Not really Mum. Do you want
me to help with
dinner?" Krystal replied,
plumping up her pillow.

"No, I'd just like you to
keep an eye on Kathy while I
do the vegies.
She's very fretful today; she could be
coming down with something. And I think you should
put on some warmer things too, Krystal. I don't
want you
catching a cold." She looked with
disapproval at

Krystal's tee shirt and
shorts, and smiled at Tracey in her
snug
pink tracksuit.

"Kevin, could you put out
the garbage and the
vegetable scraps for
me, please?" Mrs Cormack headed
back
towards the kitchen.

"Sure Mum," Krystal and Kevin replied.

"Okay, you guys, get out! I want to put my
warm gear on." Krystal indicated the door to Matthew and Kevin.

"It's getting late. I'd
better go too, in case Mum needs
me."
Tracey left with the boys. "See you tomorrow
morning then?" Tracey waved her hand.

"Same place. See ya."
Krystal closed the door as the
three
left.

~~~~
Chatper
Eight
~~~~

Empty
Tomb

After dinner the Cormacks
settled in the family room for
the evening
Bible reading.

After a short prayer, Mr.
Cormack opened his Bible.
"We'll just
continue our reading of the Gospel of Luke,"
he said, flipping through the pages. "We're up to
chapter
twenty-four, which is about the
resurrection of Jesus," he
noted.

Steve Cormack usually
divided the chapter into
sections, with
each person reading a section. "There are
fifty-three verses in this chapter, so how many will
each
of us four read, Krystal, Kevin?" Mr.
Cormack looked in
the direction of the two
eldest children.

Kevin made a quick
calculation. "Three read thirteen,
and
someone read fourteen!"

"Do you agree with that
Krystal?" Mr. Cormack asked,
directing his
gaze at Krystal.

Krystal looked up. She had
not heard the question, or
the answer. Her
mind was on the note, and the old
Queenslander.

"Me? Agree with what Dad?"
she asked. She had a
far-away look in her
eyes.

Steve Cormack frowned at his
eldest daughter. "I
thought you were in
dreamland. Never mind, Kevin just
did some
mathematics. Can you please read the first
thirteen verses of Luke, Chapter twenty-four,
Krystal?"
Steve Cormack fixed his glasses on
his nose.