The Case of the Missing Deed (11 page)

Errands, right
, Sébastien thought.

“At the Emergency Station,” Geneviève said.

Sébastien watched Charlie as his sister said this. Charlie’s cheeks colored.
Gotcha!
Sébastien thought.

“The Emergency Station?” Eve repeated. “Is everything okay?”

“Everything’s fine,” Alex said. “We found this.” He held up the flashlight.

Eve and Charlie looked puzzled. Sébastien didn’t want to talk about what they’d been up to in front of Charlie, but there didn’t seem to be any way to get rid of him, so he explained about the clues in the recipes. Claire fetched the other objects to show them.

“But what are the numbers for?” Charlie asked. “And what are you supposed to do with them?”

“We have no idea,” Sébastien said. “But I’m sure they have something to do with the deed.”

“You think your grandfather planted a bunch of clues in Lily’s recipes, which are supposed to lead to these things, which are supposed to lead you to the deed? That’s crazy,” Charlie said.

“You didn’t know Grandpa!” Sébastien shouted.

“Sébastien!” Eve said. She turned to Charlie. “I know it sounds farfetched, but it
is
the kind of thing he might have done.”

“If only we knew what to do with this stuff,” Alex said.

“What if we showed it to Grandma? Do you think she’d know, Mom?” Claire asked.

Eve shook her head. “It upset her so much to see Grandpa’s handwriting the other day, I don’t want to do it again. See if you can figure it out without bothering her.”

“We’ll try,” Sébastien said. “We’ve got to find the deed before Tantalus,
and their friends” –
he looked straight at Charlie – “start building the mine.”

hat evening, Geneviève curled up on the couch and texted back and forth with Shane; Olivia went into Grandma’s studio to paint; and Sébastien, Claire, Alex, Eve, and Charlie gathered in the kitchen for a game of Monopoly. As usual, Sébastien landed in Jail on his first turn, and, as usual, Claire landed on Boardwalk and promptly bought it. Then Alex ended up in Jail with Sébastien.

“We might as well just stay in here,” Sébastien told his cousin. “Claire’s going to win anyway.”

Rattling the dice, Claire grinned. “This is the only thing I’m smarter at than you, Seb.”

She wasn’t the only one who had luck, though. Charlie scooped up Park Place and then a succession of railroads. Eve, who had no properties, put her arms around him. “You wouldn’t want to slip me one of your houses, would you, sweetheart?”

The others laughed, but Charlie just gave a weak smile.

That wasn’t the only odd thing about Charlie, Sébastien noticed. On her next turn, Claire landed on Park Place. With a groan, she started counting out money, preparing to pay Charlie rent. But Charlie didn’t ask for any. Claire waited. But when Charlie remained silent, staring off into space, she flashed a sly smile at the others and handed the dice to Alex.

And the next time it was Charlie’s turn, he sat there with the dice in his hand until Eve poked him.

“Sorry,” he said with a sheepish smile. “Guess I was somewhere else.”

Thinking about the mine
, Sébastien thought,
and how he’s going to help his new buddies put it through
.

Finally, after Claire won, bankrupting Sébastien, Eve, and Alex, they put the board away.

Charlie stood up and stretched. “I think I’ll go for a walk,” he said.

“I’ll come with you,” Eve said, reaching for her sweatshirt.

Charlie hesitated. “Uh … I’d rather be by myself, if you don’t mind.”

Eve looked surprised. “Are you all right, Charlie?”

“Yeah, I just … I’ll be back soon.”

Charlie picked up a flashlight and left. A moment later, Eve headed upstairs to bed. As soon as she was gone, Sébastien said to Alex and Claire, “Come on, let’s find out what Charlie’s up to.”

“How do you know he’s up to something?” Alex said.

“You saw how weird he was!”

“You’re so suspicious, Seb,” Claire said. “He probably just wants to look at the stars.”

“Yeah, and he was probably just shooting the breeze with those guys today,” Sébastien said sarcastically. He tugged on a baseball cap. “You coming or not?”

“Coming, coming!” Claire said, as she and Alex followed Sébastien outside.

There was no moon, but in the wash of light from the cottage windows, they could see Charlie on the sand below the
deck. Standing there, he looked left, right, then headed down the beach to the right, toward the boat shed.

“What’s he doing?” Claire whispered. “Taking out a canoe at this time of night?”

“Hush!” Sébastien said.

Hugging the shadows against the dark side of the cottage, he led them across the deck. As silently as they could, they jumped down onto the sand. Charlie paused, cocking his head as if he’d heard something. They froze. Charlie continued walking down the beach.

Running in spurts, staying in dark patches, the three cousins advanced to the dock, crouching in the shadows beneath, and then to Grandpa’s canoe, where they hid along its length. Charlie, twenty feet away, stopped again. They held their breath. He walked around to the far side of the boat shed. They heard a click, then saw a brightening on the ground where the flashlight beam must be shining.

“What on earth is he doing?” Alex said in a low voice.

“Let’s go see,” Sébastien whispered.

Tiptoeing on the sand, they made their way to the near side of the boat shed. Sébastien heard a page being turned. Followed by his cousin and sister, he edged along the wall of the shed until he could peer around the corner.

Charlie was sitting on the sand. The
OTTER ISLAND TANTALUM MINE: ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT
was spread out on his lap, and in the light of the flashlight beam, he was looking at it with a magnifying glass. Every so often he turned the page and changed the position of the magnifying glass, the flashlight beam skittering over the sand until he focused it once more.

Sébastien raised his eyebrows at Claire and Alex. “See?” he mouthed at them.

Abruptly there was the beep of a telephone keypad being dialed. From their position just around the corner, the cousins could hear the phone ring on the other end.

“Hi,” Charlie said. “I’ve been looking at the report … Yeah, a really positive environmental message …”

Sébastien’s heart beat faster. Who was Charlie talking to? Someone he was trying to interest in the mine? Another traitor, selling out another family?

“Can’t tell …,” Charlie said, “… says it’s a green project … fantastic profits too …”

Sébastien squeezed Alex’s shoulder.

“Yeah … I’ll keep looking … keep you posted … okay, ’bye.”

There was the click of the call being ended, then the sound of Charlie standing up and brushing the sand off his pants.

“Come on!” Alex mouthed, motioning for them to get out of there fast.

Scampering across the sand, they ran for Grandpa’s canoe. A moment later, the flashlight played over their backs.

“Hey,” Charlie yelled, “what are you guys doing out here?”

“Charlie!” Claire said, turning with a smile. “What a surprise!”

By this time Charlie had caught up with them. “What are you doing?” he asked again.

“Um …” Sébastien’s mind raced. Quickly he reached down and scooped up a seashell. “Gathering seashells … for my collection. You get the best ones at night, you know. They wash up in the tide.”

Beside him, he heard Alex stifle a snort.

Charlie looked at Sébastien oddly over the flashlight beam. “I didn’t know you had a seashell collection.”

“You didn’t?” Alex said. “Oh, yeah, Seb’s been into seashells from way back.”

“Take this one. It’s a
Cypraea bistrinotata.”
Holding out the specimen he’d just picked up, Sébastien thanked his photographic memory for bringing back a Latin name from a book on shells he’d once read. He had no idea if this shell was actually a
Cypraea bistrinotata
, but it sounded good.

Charlie looked impressed. “You’ll have to show me your collection sometime, Seb.”

“Sure thing, Charlie.”

“Well, it’s late. Better head back now,” Charlie said.

The cousins had no choice but to fall into line with him. As they walked back up to the cottage, Sébastien elbowed Claire, but she refused to look at him. He groaned with frustration. What was it going to take for Claire to admit that Charlie was in with Tantalus up to his neck?

he next morning all five cousins hauled Grandma’s recipes out of the pantry and started looking for more of Grandpa’s notes, hoping that they would lead to more objects.

“Here’s one!” Olivia said.

Everyone leaned over to see.
Would you pare a pair if I said a prayer
Grandpa had written on the recipe for
Pear Crisp
.

“A pair of what?” Claire said. “Shoes?”

“Socks?” Olivia guessed.

“Pants?” Alex said.

They tiptoed upstairs and, while Grandma slept, silently searched the closet where Grandpa’s clothes used to hang. Nothing was hidden there.

“Maybe he means a paring knife,” Geneviève said. But a search of the utensil drawer turned up nothing.

“You know,” Sébastien said, reading the notation again, “I think he’s just making a joke. You know, pare, pair, pear. Just having fun with the words.”

“I suppose so,” Alex said with a sigh.

They went back to shuffling pages.

A few minutes later, Claire gave a shriek. “I’ve got one!”

It was in the recipe for
Chocolate Cinnamon Sparkle Cookies
.
Grandpa had written,
“Star light, star bright, can you see the sparkle tonight?”

“My favorite!” Geneviève said. “Yum.”

“What does it mean?” Olivia said, reading the note.

“Something about stars,” Alex said. “And someplace where you can see them.”

“That could be the dock,” Claire said. “We used to lie out on the dock and look at the stars sometimes.”

“But where on the dock would Grandpa put something?” Geneviève asked. “Wouldn’t it get wet? Or wash away?”

“One way to find out,” Claire said. She dashed outside, and the others followed. But a careful examination of the underside of the dock showed nothing.

Back inside, they all stared at the note. No one could figure out what it meant.

“You know what I think?” Geneviève said. “I think we should make the cookies. Maybe we’ll figure it out while we’re making them.”

“There isn’t time,” Sébastien said. “We’ve got to get on with finding the clues.”

“I know … but I really think baking them might help.”

“You just want an excuse to go back to the general store,” Sébastien said.

“I do not!” Geneviève said, blushing.

“Yeah, right,” Sébastien said.

In the end, no one had a better idea, so they set off for the general store.

He was there. No matter that Sébastien brushed by him
without saying a word. No matter that even Alex said
“Ge-en”
in an annoyed tone when he saw him waiting out front of Muriel’s store.