Mystery at Skeleton Point (3 page)

The children rolled along, making good time on the smooth, empty path.

“There’s the sign for the general store. Should we stop?” Jessie teased, even though she already knew the answer.

“I saw gorp fixings in the store — nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips,” Henry said.

“Good, gorp,” Benny said about the delicious, healthy snack they often brought on their outings.

The general store was already busy with people buying fishing tackle, getting mail, drinking coffee, and picking up groceries and the morning newspaper.

Jessie led the way to the camping section. “Here are the nuts and raisins. Benny, you and Violet go over to the baking aisle for the chips. I brought along some zip bags so we can mix up some gorp for each of us.”

When Benny and Violet came to the next aisle, a young woman was blocking the way. She and one of the cardplayers the children had seen the day before were so busy talking, they didn’t see the children standing there.

“Have you lived here a very long time?” the young woman asked the man, who was wearing a fishing vest today. “I’m trying to get information about those statues out at Skeleton Point. Nobody seems to know how old they are or where they came from.”

“Or where some parts of the statues are going,” the man told the young woman. “Lots of fool stories are going around about somebody — or something — damaging the statues. Stay away from them, I say. Those old statues have been out there forever — before I was born, anyway. Leave ’em be. Why do you want to know?”

The young woman hesitated, then stopped to read the label on a jar of honey. “Um ... just curious.”

With that, the young woman left the store without buying anything.

“Newcomers!” the man told Benny and Violet when he saw them standing there. “Always asking questions. You’d think from that young lady that Shady Lake was nothing but old statues covered with moss. What about our fishing? Why, our trout are practically jumping out of the lake.”

“They are?” Benny asked, hoping to find out where he could see some of these jumping trout.

The man left without answering Benny.

“All set?” Jessie said when she and Henry joined the younger children. “Let’s go pay for everything.”

While the children stood in line, they heard a grinding sound nearby. One of the clerks was making keys for a customer. “Here’s the extra key you wanted, Greeny.” The worker handed over a new key and a brown bag. “Bring it back if it doesn’t fit this lock you just bought.”

“That must be Greeny Owen!” Henry whispered to his brother and sisters.

“I guess even on the island you have to be careful to keep your cabin locked up, huh?” the clerk asked.

“Um... right.” Greeny pocketed the key and put the bag in the small backpack he wore over his T-shirt and jogging shorts. He stepped away from the counter and left.

“I think Greeny was the jogger I saw in my bike mirror,” Jessie said quietly.

Henry agreed. “I bet you’re right. I wonder why he ran into the woods when I turned around. It was almost like he was following us but didn’t want us to see him.”

After the children made up their gorp bags, they returned to the parking lot.

Benny poked Henry then Jessie. “See that lady getting in the red car? She was being nosy about the statues when she was talking to that fisherman,” Benny said.

Henry watched the woman back out her red car and head down the road. “There sure are a lot of people besides Charlotte interested in those statues.”

After a long bike ride, the Aldens finally came to Skeleton Point. Just as the children slowed down, a familiar dog bounded from the bushes and barked. Then he began to sniff around.

“He smells our ham sandwiches,” Benny guessed.

“There, there, Max,” Jessie said softly.

The dog tilted his head the way Watch always did when someone knew his name and spoke gently to him.

Jessie carefully reached into her bike bag. She found her ham sandwich and tossed a piece of it to Max. This calmed him right away. When the dog whined for more, Jessie tossed another piece farther off. The children didn’t have to worry about the dog now.

“I’m glad that worked,” Jessie said. “I wonder if Greeny knows his dog is loose.”

The next thing the children heard was somebody yelling and whistling. “Max! Maxilla! Get over here!”

“What kind of a name is Maxilla?” Benny wanted to know.

Henry laughed. “It’s part of a jawbone. I guess it’s a good name for a dog whose owner wears a skull shirt.”

“Max!” the children heard again. This time the dog dashed off into the woods to join Greeny.

A few minutes later, when the children rounded the point, they saw Max and Greeny about to get into a rowboat. Then Greeny disappeared into some trees and returned with a blue milk crate. That, too, went into the boat. He whistled for Max to jump in. Soon he and Max headed out to an island a short distance from shore.

“I wonder why he docked at Skeleton Point instead of closer to the general store,” Henry said. “From the looks of it, that milk crate seemed pretty heavy.”

Jessie wondered the same thing. “Do you think it came from Skeleton Point?”

Violet didn’t want to believe anything bad about Greeny. “Maybe he had some personal things he had left with Dr. Tibbs and came by to get them back.”

“There’s only one way to find out,” Henry said. “We’ll have to keep an eye on Greeny Owen.”

A few minutes later, Henry pulled his bike off the path. “We’ll never get our bikes up these steps. Let’s tie them up to some trees.”

After the children locked their bikes, they began their climb up the wooden steps that went to the top of Skeleton Point.

“Hey, look, there’s a shortcut off this path,” Benny said when the children had gone halfway. “Can we see where it goes?”

“Sure,” Henry said. “After you.”

When he came to a small clearing at the far end of the overgrown gardens, Benny spotted someone up ahead sitting on a rock. “Who’s that?”

The children walked toward the person.

“Maybe it’s Hilda Stone,” Violet said. “I hope so. I’d like to meet a real artist.”

Something seemed odd to Jessie. “It’s funny that person doesn’t hear us and turn around. Hello!” she called out. “We’re here.”

“She’s as still as a statue,” Violet whispered.

Benny ran ahead. “It
is
a statue — of a girl sitting on a rock,” he said. “We sure got fooled.”

Violet went up to the statue. The small figure seemed to be gazing at the lake. “She looks so sad. I wonder who it’s supposed to be. This one isn’t broken like the others.” Violet walked around the statue, studying it from every side. “There’s a name carved on the back:
Clover Dodge.
”

“Can I take a picture of you next to it?” Benny asked Violet.

“Sure.” Violet sat next to the statue. “That’s what we planned to do anyway. Later I want to sketch this one. It’s beautiful.”

“Say cheese,” Benny said, but Violet just sat peacefully looking out at the lake, not thinking of cheese at all.

A few minutes later, the children huddled around Benny to wait for the instant picture to appear.

“Oh, it’s so beautiful,” Jessie said to Violet. “I wonder who Clover Dodge was.”

The children walked toward the house. Along the way, they posed next to some of the other statues.

“Hey, my camera’s stuck!” Benny complained when he aimed it at Henry, who was imitating the stone lion near the house.

Jessie came over to take a look. “That’s because you’re out of film, silly. Let’s go inside. By now Charlotte must have dropped off the job list. I don’t see any cars, but maybe William and Hilda parked by the road.”

This time, when they passed Mister Bones in the window, the children waved at him as if they were used to seeing full-sized skeletons every day.

“Hi, Mister Bones,” Benny said. “I’ll have to take your picture another time.”

Inside, the whole house seemed to creak with every step the children took.

Henry led the way. “Ugh. What was that?” he asked when something brushed against his face. “I hope it wasn’t a bat.”

The children looked up.

“Eew, it’s a long, dusty cobweb,” Jessie said.

The children crept along, trying not to walk into any more sticky cobwebs. They soon found the room with Mister Bones hanging in the window. Every corner of Dr. Tibbs’s study was full of all kinds of skeletons and skulls — little mouse skulls, the skull from a horse, and many bird and animal skeletons of different sizes.

Violet went over to a delicate bird skeleton.

“Don’t even think of touching that,” a voice said.

The children whirled around. In the doorway, the sunlight streaming from behind outlined a person’s shape. The Aldens couldn’t quite see who it was.

“What are you doing in here?” the person demanded.

Jessie stepped forward. “We’re waiting for someone. This is our grandfather’s Cousin Charlotte’s house. She told us to come here. We’re meeting her friends, Hilda Stone and William Mason.”

“I’m Hilda Stone,” the person said.

“Great!” Jessie said. “We were looking for you, and here you are! We didn’t see any cars outside.”

As the tall, brown-haired young woman stepped forward, the children could see she seemed unhappy when she saw them standing there. “I parked my car on the road and walked up a little while ago. The driveway is chained off so trespassers won’t drive onto the property and poke around where they don’t belong.”

Henry swallowed hard before he spoke. “Charlotte gave us permission. I’m Henry Alden. These are my sisters, Jessie and Violet, plus my brother, Benny. Charlotte asked us to help out, just like you.”

Hilda Stone took a long time before speaking. “Well, William Mason hired me because I’m a trained artist. A historical house, with so many art treasures, requires experts, not children running about.”

Benny felt brave even though Hilda Stone was a little bit scarier than Mr. Bones. “We weren’t running. We took our bikes, then we walked up the path, nice and quiet. Plus, I took pictures of all the statues with my camera.”

Henry nudged Benny so he wouldn’t say anything more. “What Benny means is we’d like to give Charlotte pictures of the property so she knows what has to be fixed.”

Footsteps on the squeaky floors interrupted Henry. A long shadow fell across the floor. “That’s hardly something for children to decide,” a deep voice said.

Even Hilda Stone jumped back. “William! Goodness, I didn’t know you were in the house.”

William Mason stepped into the room. “Been here for an hour. Charlotte stopped by and left us a list of chores to finish before she gets back in a few days.”

“Us?” Hilda asked. “Does that mean just you and me or these kids, too?”

“All of us,” Jessie said in her own clear voice. “Remember, she told you on the phone that she was sending us out here to work? She told Mr. Mason the same thing. That’s why we’re here.”

Mr. Mason looked down at the paper in his hand. “Well, I’m here because I’m an architect. Hilda is here because she’s an artist. Yes, we can certainly put you to work. Why don’t you go outside and wait? Hilda and I will discuss how to proceed.”

“She’s the same lady who was asking all those questions in the store,” Benny told Jessie when they went outside. “Only we didn’t know she was Charlotte’s friend. How come she’s not friendly?”

Henry put his arm around Benny. “Don’t worry about Hilda. We’ll just have to get to know her, I guess. Maybe she’ll be friendlier when she sees how hard we work.”

But it looked like Henry might be wrong. When Hilda came out to speak with the children, she wasn’t at all friendly. “William and I need you to go over to the hardware store across the lake for some special light switches,” Hilda told the Aldens. “We’re too busy right now to drive there.”

Henry thought about this. “That’ll take a pretty long time, since we’re on bikes. Wouldn’t it be faster to go in the car so we can all get started working around here?”

Hilda shook her head. “As I said, we simply don’t have time to run errands today. Charlotte told William that you know how to row a boat. Her rowboat is the yellow one down by the dock. Here’s the combination for the lock. There are enough life jackets below the seats. Row straight past the island to the buildings on the other side of the lake. One of them is the hardware store. Ask for the owner, Brad.”

“Sure thing,” Henry said when Hilda handed him the information on a piece of paper. “How do we pay for the switches?”

“Well ... tell Brad to put the bill on Charlotte’s account.”

Henry had one more thing to say. “Charlotte said maybe Violet could sketch some of the statues out there — before-and-after pictures, so people can see how Skeleton Point used to be.”

Hilda had other plans. “No need for that. William and I have already taken note of the outdoor sculptures. Professionals examine artwork in certain ways.”

Violet, who hadn’t said very much, spoke up now. “We’d love to learn to do that — if you could teach us, that is.”

For a second, Hilda seemed almost interested in Violet’s request. Then she looked back at the house. William was on the porch waving for her to come inside. She turned back to Violet. “No, no, I haven’t time to teach you children my methods. There’s so much else to be done. Right now we need those light switches. As for the statues, they are quite fragile. We can’t have you working around them in any way.”