The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery (6 page)

Dr. Dart felt the need to lay his head back on the pillow. This meeting wasn't going well at all. They were trying to confuse him.

“Don't you remember the skeleton?”

Skeleton! He had been having horrible dreams of a skeleton trying to chew him up. Rising from a grave. What did it mean? Something important, he was sure, but now he needed to try to get some sleep.

“You said you were attacked,” said the younger of the two.

“I was?”

“Yes! In the cave!”

“Cave . . . ?” A memory tugged at his brain. “I remember something . . . I heard footsteps, then something hit me in the head.”

“Did you see who it was?”

Dr. Dart closed his eyes, trying to remember. “Yes,” he said. “I remember now.” He smiled. “It was a ghost!”

The white room began to spin again.

“I really don't feel up to this meeting,” he said. “Could we reschedule?”

Just then a square-shouldered woman dressed all in white came into the room. Was she his secretary?

“I think that's just about enough for him today,” she said.

 

“That was a waste of time,” said Roni.

“Maybe he'll be better tomorrow.”

“We might have to take things into our own hands.”

Brian didn't like the sound of that. “What do you mean?”

“Dr. Dart was trying to save the bluff from the developers. If he doesn't get better, we'll have to do it ourselves. He made you swear on the skull, right?”

“He didn't give me a choice. I don't think that counts.”

Roni wasn't listening. “I bet he was attacked to keep him from stopping the development.”

“My mom said he probably just hit his head on a stalagtite.”

“He said he heard footsteps!”

“He also said it was a ghost.”

“Well, whether there was an attack or not, the development will wreck a valuable Native American archaeological site, and they're breaking ground this Friday. We have to stop it, or at least delay it until Dr. Dart gets better, so he can complete his investigation.”

“How do we stop a bulldozer?”

“With our brains, Einstein. The first thing we do is scope out the enemy. Tomorrow morning Professor Bloom is taking us down to City Hall to watch the developer unveil his ugly condo plans.”

“Maybe they won't be as bad as you think,” Brian said.

“Maybe they'll be worse.”

The next morning, as Brian was just finishing his second bowl of Cap'n Crunch, he heard the putter of Roni's Vespa coming up the street. He shoveled the last few spoonfuls of cereal into his mouth, grabbed his backpack and ran outside.

“Hop on, Watson.”

Roni handed him her old pink bike helmet. It was better than nothing.

If his mom saw him on the back of a motor scooter, she'd have a fit, but Brian figured it was worth the risk. Riding to City Hall on a Vespa was ever so much more stylish than walking. And Roni was a pretty good driver. Except when she crashed into things.

The presentation at City Hall was scheduled for 9:00 A.M. Roni and Brian arrived right on time. Roni pulled in between a pickup truck and the school bus, creating her own parking space. Brian admired her creativity. They ran up the steps and went inside, where a receptionist directed them to the meeting. They walked into a large room to find their class sitting near the back. Other than the students, only about two dozen people had shown up for the meeting.

Buddy Berglund, the mayor of Bloodwater, stood on a low stage at the front of the room. He was wearing what Brian's mom called his “ice-cream suit”—a solid white three-piece suit with wide lapels and flashy gold buttons. The mayor wore his ice-cream suit only for special occasions such as dedicating a new building, swearing in a new police officer or announcing a new trash collection policy.

Charts and maps stood on easels at the front of the room. In big lettering across the top of one chart were the words RIDGEWOOD RESIDENCES. At first Brian was surprised that the name of the condos wasn't Bloodwater something. Maybe Bloodwater wasn't an appealing enough name.

“Today I am honored,” Buddy Berglund said, gripping a white lapel with each pudgy pink hand, “
deeply
honored, to introduce to you the great-great-grandnephew of Zebulon Bloodwater, who founded our great city, the man behind Bloodwater Development, Mr. Frederick Augustus Bloodwater!”

The mayor and two or three other people applauded. One of them was Roni's mother, Nick.

Fred Bloodwater, a tall man with a fringe of thin black hair surrounding his shiny dome, loped onto the stage. He wore a dark blue suit with a bright red tie.

“Thank you, thank you,” he said, showing off his blindingly white smile. “It is truly an honor to be here today and to have this opportunity to become a part of this fine community . . .”

Blah blah blah.
Brian glanced over at Roni, who was staring at Eric Bloodwater. This is not good, Brian thought. Roni's fascination with Eric could only make for problems.

He nudged Roni and pointed at Fred Bloodwater, who was droning on about “quality of life” and “midwestern values.”

“That's what Eric is going to look like in twenty years,” he said. “No hair.”

Roni gave him her you-are-dead-meat look. Brian grinned.

Fred Bloodwater was a fast talker. Brian was trying to follow what he was saying—something about “tax base” and “environmentally friendly” and a bunch of other stuff that didn't sound very sincere—when Roni's voice suddenly cut the air like a knife.

“What about the Indians?” she asked.

Fred Bloodwater stopped talking as if he'd taken a medicine ball to the gut.

“Excuse me?” he said.

“Isn't it true that you're planning to build your condos on an ancient Indian burial ground?” Roni asked.

“I don't . . . No! The area has been fully explored by experts from Bloodwater College. There are no Native American ruins on the property.”

“There are according to Dr. Dart,” Roni said.

Brian grinned at the flustered expression on Fred Bloodwater's face. Mayor Berglund, standing a few feet to the side, had left his mouth hanging wide open. Brian looked at Roni, who was wearing her glittery-eyed I-gotcha look. A few feet farther on, Eric Bloodwater was smiling at her with open admiration.

And Brian had thought the meeting would be a snore.
Roni felt a familiar hand clamp her upper arm.

“Ow!” she said, even though it didn't really hurt.

“Let's go,” her mother whispered in Roni's ear as she lifted her from her seat.

“Okay! Okay!” Nick pushed her out of the room. Behind them, Roni heard someone else ask, “Are there really Indian ruins up there?”

Nick stopped just outside the door and turned on Roni.

“What was that all about?” she demanded.

Roni, rubbing her arm, said, “I was just asking about the burial grounds.”

“You can't just blurt things like that out at a public meeting! This development could be very important to Bloodwater. Millions of tax dollars are at stake! In fact, the city of Bloodwater is now a partner in the project—we have invested more than two million dollars in Ridgewood Residences!”

“But Dr. Dart says that the cave could be a major archaeological find!”

“Dr. Dart, from what I've heard, is a raving lunatic.”

“Yeah, because somebody bonked him on the head to stop him from investigating. You know, there really is a skeleton in that cave. And he also found this big arrowhead thingy.”

“I don't see how that should affect what happens on top of the bluff. And creating a scene at a public meeting is not the way to address this!”

“Isn't that what public meetings are for? To hear what the public has to say?”

“Yes, but—”

“And don't you always tell me not to be afraid to speak my mind?”

“Yes, but . . .”

Roni could see that she had Nick on the run.

“So don't I get to ask a few questions?”

“Yes, but not when it embarrasses me in public!” her mother said. Then she laughed. “I have to admit, though, that look on Buddy's face was almost worth it.”

After the meeting, as Professor Bloom's class gathered outside City Hall, Eric Bloodwater walked up to Roni. At first she thought he was going to say something nasty because she had embarrassed his dad, but Eric leaned in close and said in her ear, “That was so cool!”

A prickly feeling ran up Roni's spine the way it does when somebody you like says something really nice to you.

“Really?” she said, hoping for more.

“Yeah, you totally freaked my dad. I love it!”

“I didn't mean to,” Roni said.

Roni looked down and noticed Eric's legs. Like hers, they were covered with red blotches and pink splotches up to his knees.

“I see you've been stricken, too,” Roni said.

“Huh?” Eric answered.

“You know, poison ivy.” She pointed at her own legs. “It must be an epidemic.”

“Oh, wow, you, too? It's driving me crazy.”

“Don't scratch,” Roni warned him.

“I can't keep my hands off it.”

“That just makes it itch more and then it can spread.”

“Just so it doesn't spread any higher.”

Roni shuddered. She didn't even want to think about it. For a few seconds they stood in awkward silence. Roni was trying hard to keep her mouth shut about Eric's father's condos. Just because his dad was about to destroy the natural beauty of Indian Bluff didn't mean that Eric was a bad person.

“So . . . you really think there's an Indian burial ground?”

“I don't know,” Roni said. “But my friend found a—”

“Hey guys!” Brian suddenly popped up between them like a jack-in-the-box.

 

Brian had a feeling. Usually he wasn't that into feelings and hunches—he preferred facts and figures—but somehow he knew that Eric Bloodwater was bad news. And Roni had been about to tell him about the turkey tail. As far as Brian was concerned, the less Eric Bloodwater knew, the better.

“Hi, Eric,” he said, giving him a grin full of braces. He turned to Roni. “Hey, Roni, are you gonna give me a ride home?”

Roni looked flustered. “I don't . . . I guess . . . um . . .”

Brian turned back to Eric. “That didn't go so good for your dad, did it?”

After Roni's mom had escorted her out of the meeting, Fred Bloodwater had been barraged by questions about Indians and burial grounds. The mayor had stepped in and promised that the matter had been “looked into fully and rigorously by authorities,” whatever that meant.

Eric shrugged. “He'll be okay. If they won't let him build on the bluff, he'll build the development down on the bottoms by the river—like he wanted to do in the first place.”

“Yeah, but—”

“People! People!” Professor Bloom clapped his hands.

“Gather 'round, please. The bus will be leaving in a few minutes. Those of you who arrived by alternate transportation are free to leave at any time.”

Brian turned around to say something to Eric and Roni, but Eric had disappeared.

Roni, however, was giving him her dagger look.

“Have I ever told you what a pain in the butt you are?” she asked.

Brian grinned. “Many times.”

 

“I don't see what you've got against Eric,” Roni shouted over the whine of the Vespa.

“I don't think we can trust him,” Brian yelled in her ear. “You were about to tell him about the turkey tail!”

“So what?”

“So I think we should get solid proof that the cave is an important archaeological site before we let the developer's kid know what we're doing.”

Roni pulled up in front of Brian's house.

Brian said, “Who knows? Fred Bloodwater might even be behind the attack on Dr. Dart. Or even Eric.”

Roni's eyes narrowed. “So now all of a sudden you think he really was attacked.”

“First rule of investigating,” Brian said. “Always assume the worst, and never let on what you know until you have proof in hand.”

“That's two rules.”

“There are more.”

“Okay, okay,” Roni said. The kid had a way of wearing her down. “So how do we find this proof?”

“Simple,” Brian said as he dismounted. “First thing tomorrow morning, we return to the scene of the crime.”