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.”
17
epidemic
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.”
Dinner at the Delicata residence that night was Chinese takeout, which Nick insisted on eating with chopsticks.
“So how did the rest of the meeting go?” Roni asked.
Nick raised one eyebrow, an expression that meant, I can’t believe you asked me that. “There were a few tense moments,” she said. “But nothing has changed. They’ll be breaking ground on Friday.”
“They aren’t even going to investigate the cave?”
“Eventually, yes. The college will send someone to look things over, and the police are bringing in a forensics expert to look at those old bones. But the development on the bluff is going forward.”
“But what about—”
“Roni,” Nick interrupted, “I’ve had a hard day and I really don’t want to discuss it.”
After cleaning up, Roni went to her room and flopped down on her bed. Why was her mom acting so weird? Usually Nick encouraged her
to ask a lot of questions. Roni could hardly believe her mom was in favor of razing Indian Bluff—Nick was a gung-ho save-the-planet sort of person.
Roni’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come on in.”
Nick opened the door and stepped into the room. “I owe you an apology,” she said. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”
Roni sat up. She loved it when her mother apologized to her.
“I know you’re worried about what will happen to the bluff,” Nick said. “I have to tell you, I don’t like it, either. But the city has an important stake in this development, and the mayor is very worried that if construction is delayed, it will be a financial disaster for Bloodwater. Fred Bloodwater has convinced the mayor that the town desperately needs this new development, and I’m afraid Buddy isn’t about to change his mind.”
“Not even if we can prove that Indian Bluff is an important archaeological site?”
“I don’t know.” Nick shook her head. “You’d need more than one crumbled old skeleton, that’s for sure.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Roni said.
18
blast
“I think you should slow down,” Brian shouted.
Roni hated to be told how to drive. She twisted the accelerator and roared through the tall grasses, bushes and weeds that bordered the narrow track leading to the top of the bluff. Brian was clinging on to her backpack. That was her rule for him riding on her Vespa—she didn’t want to be seen with his arms around her waist. She liked the kid, but she didn’t want anybody to get the wrong idea.
It was early morning. The tall grass was heavy with dew. As they crossed the top of the bluff, they drove past a contractor’s storage trailer, with two bulldozers parked nearby. Dozens of wooden surveyor’s stakes tied with bits of fluorescent orange ribbon dotted the grassy expanse.
“This is where they’re going to build the condos,” Roni said.
Brian said, “Slow down! It’s right up here!”
Brian was right. The path suddenly opened up, and Roni hit the brakes. They skidded to a stop about three feet from the edge of the bluff.
“That’s close enough,” said Brian.
Heart pounding, Roni said, “You think so?”
Brian hopped off the scooter and walked up to the brink. The river looked as if it was a mile below them, but he knew it wasn’t that far. Looking over the edge, he couldn’t see the cave opening, but he could make out the rock ledge just outside the entrance.
“You think we can climb down?” Roni asked.
“Maybe. But not straight down. I think we should try to come at it from a slant. It looks like it might be a little easier from over there.” Brian followed the bluff to the left. About twenty yards from where they had parked, the edge of the bluff fell away into a wooded coulee—a steep-sided ravine that sliced into the face of the bluff.
“Maybe we can climb down here, then cut back across to the cave. That way we can make it to the ledge.”
Roni said, “Let me know if you see any poison ivy.”
“Okay . . . watch your step.” Brian climbed down into the coulee, working his way around a tumble of boulders and fallen trees. He was excited to get back to the cave now that he had his trusty flashlight with fresh batteries and his dad’s good digital camera so they could record whatever they found. He stopped when he didn’t hear any noise behind him. Roni was still standing up on the bluff.
“What’s the matter?” Brian asked.
“I don’t like coulees. I think maybe we should try to come at it from below, like we did before.”
“Are you afraid?” he asked.
“Absolutely not,” she said, stepping back from the edge. “I just think a little caution isn’t a bad thing.”
“You’re scared!” Brian couldn’t help rubbing it in a little.
Her expression changed and she held up her hand. “Listen.”
Brian listened. At first he heard nothing, but then a crunching sound filtered through the trees. Something big was moving through the woods below them, and not far away.
“Probably just a deer,” Brian whispered.
“Or a bear,” said Roni.
Brian climbed up onto a moss-covered boulder the size of a minivan and peered through the trees. He caught a glimpse of something moving quickly down the coulee. Could be a deer, he thought. But then he saw a flash of red. Deer don’t come in red.
“See anything?” Roni asked.
“I saw something red. Maybe a hunter.”
“In June?”
“A poacher, maybe.”
“I don’t think we should go into the woods if . . .” Roni was interrupted by a loud explosion.
Brian would never forget that sound. He had often imagined the world blowing up, and for a moment he thought it might be happening. It sounded like a huge thumb had been jammed inside a really enormous mouth and then come rocketing out with a colossal pop.
A fraction of a second after the explosion, the boulder Brian was standing on shifted, and he came crashing down. He screeched as he fell and then slammed into the earth flat on his back.
After that it seemed very, very quiet. Brian couldn’t even hear himself breathe.
Because he wasn’t.
Roni’s face rose in front of him like a big full moon. She stared down at him. “Are you okay?”
Brian tried to say something, but couldn’t. The fall had knocked the wind out of him. He felt as if his lungs had been squeezed flat and glued together. Roni’s face grew larger.
“Brian?” Roni’s voice rose to a panicky screech.
“Heek, heeek,” Brian managed to say—and then Roni was grabbing him, trying to help him sit up. She looks scared, Brian thought as he fought to breathe.
“Brian?” Roni’s voice rose another octave.
Brian closed his eyes, and suddenly the bands around his chest loosened and he drew a shuddering breath.
“I . . . I’m okay,” he said, even though he wasn’t sure it was true. For a few seconds Brian just sat there enjoying the sensation of air flowing in and out of his lungs.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Roni asked.
Brian moved his arms and legs. All in working order. “I’m fine. I think.”
“You sure?”
Brian climbed to his feet. He was shaky, but nothing hurt. “Yes . . . except . . .” He reached into the side pocket of his cargo pants and came out with his dad’s five-hundred-dollar digital camera—or what was left of it.
“This doesn’t look good,” Brian said.
“You have to break a few eggs if you want to make lemonade,” Roni said. “What was that big bang, anyway?”
Brian remembered what he had seen as the explosion had rocked him from his perch: a fountain of dust and rock erupting from the face of the bluff. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
19
red shirt
Roni followed Brian down the steep coulee as he picked his way around trees and scrambled over boulders.
“Do you think it was our fault? Because we were standing on top of the cave?” Roni asked.
“No way,” Brian said. Roni could tell by his tone of voice that Brian thought her concern was stupid. “That was some kind of explosion.”
Ten minutes later the coulee spilled out onto a weedy field. They turned right and soon found themselves looking up at the bluff.
“It looks different,” Roni said.
“I’m going up,” said Brian. He started climbing. Roni stayed behind and watched him make his way up the face of the bluff. It took him only a few minutes to reach the ledge that led to the cave. She waited for him to disappear into the concealed cave entrance, but he just stood there for a few seconds, then came back down the bluff.
“It’s gone,” he said.
“Gone?”
“No cave. Caveless.”
“The cave caved in?” Roni was glad they had not been inside when it happened.
“More like it bl
ew up,” Brian said. “Like somebody dynamited the cave entrance.”
“Why would someone do that?”
“Obviously to keep anybody from finding out what’s inside.”
“So now what?” Roni asked, feeling defeated.
“Well, we could get some picks and shovels and start digging . . .”
“Or we could go to the police,” said Roni, who did not like the idea of digging her way into a cave full of bats and old bones.
“And tell them what?” Brian said. “Is it illegal to dynamite a cave?”
“I think it’s illegal to blow up anything. The land belongs to the college. I bet they’d have something to say about it.”
“I’m sure Dr. Dart would, if he ever starts—”
“Look!” Roni interrupted, grabbing Brian’s sleeve and pointing.
Less than a hundred feet away a young woman was standing in the weeds looking up at the bluff.
“Hey!” Roni shouted.
The woman looked over at them, frowning. Roni started toward her.
Brian, a few steps behind her, said in a low voice, “Notice her T-shirt? It’s red!”
“I see it,” Roni said.
As they drew closer, Roni raised her voice. “Did you see what happened?”
The woman shook her head. “I heard something.” She appeared to be in her late twenties, with a dark tan and long blond hair pulled into a ponytail. She was dressed in khaki shorts and a bright red T-shirt. “It sounded like an explosion.”
Roni stopped about ten feet away. Now that she was closer, she could see that the woman was unusually tall and broad shouldered, like a Viking queen.
Roni pulled out her ever-present notebook. “Have you seen anyone else in the area?”
“No. I was walking along the river and I heard the bang, so I came up here to see what it was.”
Roni made a note and asked, “And you are . . . ?”
The young woman laughed and her bright eyes glittered like shards of blue ice. “Who are you? The Grand Inquisitor?”
“I’m Roni Delicata,” said Roni. “I’m a reporter for the Bloodwater Pump.”
“I see. Well, if you must know, my name is Jillian Greystone.”
The Bloodwater Mysteries: Skullduggery Page 5