“We found holes,” I said. “Shallow ones, but they are still there.”
Mr. Finnigan jumped out of his seat. “That’s an outrage and degradation of someone’s final resting place!”
Colin and I stared at each other. We had never seen Mr. Finnigan mad before. Sad and guilty, yes, but never mad.
“We are trying to figure out who dug the holes,” I said.
Finnigan rubbed his chin. “My number one suspect would be your polyester-wearing ghost.”
I removed the piece of fabric from my pocket again and stared at it. “If we find out where this came from, it would crack the case wide open.”
Colin held the book Mr. Finnigan gave him to his chest. “But how are we going to do that?”
“I haven’t figured that out yet,” I said as I tucked the fabric back into my pocket. “But don’t worry, I will.”
CASE FILE NO. 13
I unchained my bike from the lamppost outside of Mr. Finnigan’s museum. “Colin, we have to go back to Shalley Park. I want to look at those holes in the graves again before it gets dark.”
Colin straddled his bike. “But I told Bergita that I would go straight home after seeing Mr. Finnigan. My parents are coming home for dinner. You know how rare that is.”
I swung my drawstring bag onto my back and climbed onto my bike. “It won’t take long. I borrowed Amelie’s camera, and I want to take photos of the holes.”
Colin cocked his head. “You brought Amelie’s camera. You were planning this expedition all along.”
I grinned and kicked off the pavement. I was halfway down the block when I heard Colin ride up behind me. I never doubted that he would come.
When we reached Shalley Park, we chained our bikes to the bike rack. There were still a few cars in the parking lot, but nothing like yesterday when all the birders within a hundred mile radius were there. At least, it felt that way. Of the birders who were still there, I expected to see Claudette among them, but her Jeep was missing. “Do you think Claudette went back to your house?” I asked Colin.
He shrugged, and we followed the now familiar trail to the cemetery.
When we reached the graveyard, I pointed at the ground. “Look, there are even more holes than before.” I noticed at least three new holes between Harold and Randall’s graves. I removed Amelie’s camera from my bag and started snapping pictures.
Colin walked around the perimeter of the cemetery searching for any more signs of the ghost. “Ahh!” He screamed and disappeared behind a huge rhododendron bush at the edge of the ravine.
“Colin!” I cried.
His hand popped up over the bushes and waved back and forth. “I’m okay!”
I gasped. “I thought you fell over the side the ravine.”
His head appeared over the bush. “Nope, but I think I found something.” He waved me over.
I hung Amelie’s camera from my neck and peered into the brush. I saw metal.
Colin reached down and pulled a metal detector from the weeds. “This is what tripped me up.”
“Whoa,” I said.
“Hold this.” He thrust the metal detector at me. “There’s more.” He reached down again and came up with a short-handled spade.
“I think we found what’s doing the digging,” he said, holding the spade out to me.
I took it in my free hand. “We have the tools that are being used, but we don’t know who is using them. Someone is robbing the graves.”
I swallowed hard and looked at the tools I held.
Colin climbed out of the bushes and sneezed. “What are we going to do about it?”
“We can’t let it go on,” I said. “We have to put these somewhere that the grave robbers can’t find them.”
“We can take them home.”
I shook my head. “We can’t go riding through town holding a metal detector without attracting attention. Even if whoever is doing this doesn’t see us, he is sure to hear about two kids on bikes wielding a metal detector and shovel.”
“Maybe we should give them to the police then.”
I twisted my mouth. “We don’t know if a crime has been committed. Would the police even care?”
Colin nodded. “Or even worse, someone might think we were the ones digging up the graves.” Colin tapped his foot down on the loose dirt over one of the freshly dug holes. “Whoever it is can’t be digging for the bodies.” He shivered. “I mean the holes are scattered all around the graves and most of them aren’t bigger than my shoe.”
I shook my head. “No, I think they are looking for pieces of metal around the graves, like maybe coins. That’s why this metal detector.”
“Like Civil War coins?”
“Maybe.” I squatted next to a hole. “Or something else that’s metal.”
“Let’s try it,” Colin said and took the metal detector from my hand.
“Do you know how to work that thing?”
“Sure,” he said. He pressed the button and the machine beeped to life. “Bergita bought one for us when we were in North Carolina last year, to look for coins on the beach.” He ran the metal detector back and forth over the ground.
“Beep, beep, beep.” The machine made the same noise as he waved it over each grave. When he reached William’s grave, the beeping became more rapid until it made a long single wail.
“Here,” Colin said. “There’s something here.”
I picked up the spade and knelt on the edge of William’s grave. Before I touched the spade to the ground I stopped.
“What’s wrong?”
I looked up at him. “It doesn’t seem right to dig here.”
“We’re looking for evidence. If something valuable is here that’s what the grave robbers are after.”
“Right.” I dipped the tip of the spade into the earth.
The first shovelful was just weeds and dirt and so was the second. Colin ran the metal detector over the exposed earth, and it went crazy. “You’re getting close.”
I dug two more shallow scoops before I saw the glint of metal.
With the tip of the spade I tried to tease the metal out of the earth. It was trapped under a shallow tree root, and wouldn’t budge. The piece of metal was wedged too tightly under the root. I pulled at the root, loosening it just enough to pull the metal free. It was an old gold coin. I brushed the dirt away. I could just make out the outline of an eagle. I laid the coin on the grass and took a photograph. Flipping it over, I brushed away what dirt I could and took a photo of the other side. It was a person’s profile, but there was too much dirt ground into the surface to make out the features.
“Hey,” someone shouted. “What are you kids doing in there?”
“They’re digging up the graves!” another voice cried.
I dropped the coin and jumped to my feet. Through the trees we saw a line of birders staring at us through their binoculars.
“Someone, call the police,” the first voice said.
“Wait! Wait!” I waved my hands at them to stop. “We were digging to find out why someone else has been digging here.”
“I don’t think that helped,” Colin said out the side of his mouth.
“She’s lying,” someone said. I couldn’t see her face behind the massive binoculars.
“They are the reason Dominika Shalley’s ghost came back. They’re disturbing the graves of the ghost’s sons,” the first man said.
All the birders began talking at once. I wished there was one face that I recognized in the group. There wasn’t. Thi
s was not a good day for Claudette to take the afternoon off from birding.
“We aren’t,” I insisted. “We would never do that.”
In the distance, I heard sirens.
“Bergita is going to kill me if we get arrested,” Colin said.
“You and me both,” I replied.
Colin and I sat in the back seat of the police officer’s SUV with bars between us and Officer Handly.
I grabbed onto the bars. “Officer Handly, we didn’t do it. We were investigating vandalism to the graves, not doing the vandalizing ourselves!”
He looked at me in the rearview mirror. He had laser-sharp green eyes. They were so green, I wondered if he wore contacts. I bet he got many kids to confess to things they didn’t do with his steely emerald glare. “Likely story. You would be surprised how many kids your age I pick up in this town for vandalism misdemeanors. Kids have no respect for history.”
“We do have a respect for history,” I argued. “That’s why we were there.”
“Where are you taking us?” Colin asked.
Officer Handly dropped his gaze from the rearview mirror to the road. “I’m taking you back home and releasing you into the custody of your families.”
Colin’s eyes widened. “Maybe we should go to jail. It might not be so bad.”
“We’re not going to jail because,” — I raised my voice — “we didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Tell that to your guardian,” Officer Handly said.
I folded my arms and fell back onto my seat.
Too soon, the officer turned onto Dunlap Avenue. The moment Officer Handly turned the SUV into the Carters’ driveway, Bergita ran out of the house. Across my yard, I saw Amelie running for us too. This wasn’t good. Even worse, Colin’s parents came out his front door. He took a quick intake of breath. I knew the last thing Colin would ever want was to disappoint the Drs. Carter.
Officer Handly climbed out of the car and spoke to the adults for a few minutes. I tried to open the back door but couldn’t. The doors only opened from the outside. “I wish I could hear what they were saying.”
“Whatever it is, my dad doesn’t look happy.” Colin twisted his hands together in his lap.
“You didn’t do anything wrong. Bergita will holler at you, but then she’ll get over it.”
“I’m not worried about Bergita. Bergita gets over everything. It’s my parents.” Colin covered his face with his hands.
Through the windshield, I saw the front door of the Carters’ house open again and Claudette stomped out. She stood on the front porch with her arms crossed.
“I’d be more worried about Claudette.” I pointed her out to Colin. “She looks like she’s ready to toss someone over the porch railing.”
Colin peeked through his fingers and snickered.
After what seemed like months, Officer Handly let us out of his patrol car. As soon as I cleared the car door, I said, “We didn’t do it.”
Amelie walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. “We know, Andi. We don’t think you did anything wrong.”
Colin’s mother shook her head. “We are so disappointed in you, Colin. You never should have gone off to Shalley Park woods without telling an adult, and now, the police brought you home.”
Beside me, Colin deflated like a popped balloon and stared at the tops of his shoes.
“What were you doing there?” Colin’s mother asked.
Officer Handly removed the coin Colin and I dug up in the cemetery from his pocket. “They were digging this up.”
“Only because we wanted to know what the grave robbers were after,” I quickly put in.
He pocketed the gold coin again. “In any case, you should have reported the grave digging to the police and let us investigate what the thieves were after.”
“Well, thank you for bringing them home, Officer.” Colin’s father shook the officer’s hand.
“Dad — ” Colin started to say.
“I wouldn’t say anything right now if I were you,” his father said.
The police officer nodded and returned to his SUV. He removed our bikes from the cruiser’s bike rack before driving away, taking the Civil War coin I had found with him.
When the officer was gone, Claudette joined us. “What’s going on?”
Colin’s mother pointed at me. “This girl convinced my son to dig up the Shalley graveyard.”
Claudette’s mouth fell open, and she stared at us as though she didn’t know us.
“Claudette, it’s not true,” I said. “We were trying to help. We found a metal detector and spade, plus lots of holes around the graves. Someone was digging in there. We used the metal detector to look for what the grave robbers were after.”
“S-someone is digging up graves in Shalley Park?” Claudette asked.
“Yes,” Colin said. “And we are trying to find out who it is.”
“Y-you are?” She cleared her throat. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“For once,” Colin’s father said, “I agree with Aunt Claudette.”
Claudette folded her arms. “I think we should all stay away from Shalley Park. If there is really someone there stealing from the cemetery, he must be dangerous.”
Colin’s mouth fell open. “But what about the Kirtland’s?”
A pained expression crossed Claudette’s face. “There will always be another chance to see a Kirtland’s.”
But Claudette had spent her entire life searching for the Kirtland’s warbler, hadn’t she? How could she give it up now?
Bergita sighed. “It’s been a long day. I think we need to all go home and regroup.” She gave me a side hug and whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry, Andi. I’ll talk to Colin’s parents. I always do.”
I gave her a wobbly smile.
That night, back in my bedroom I snuggled into bed. It felt so nice not to be sleeping on the ground, but I wished that I was still in Shalley Park so that I could get to the bottom of this case.
I cracked open the book Mr. Finnigan had given us and began to read. Halfway through the first chapter, I fell asleep.
CASE FILE NO. 14
The next morning, I found the book flung open on the floor. I leaned over to pick it up. As I did, I found that it was in the middle of the last chapter.
I blinked sleep from my eyes and read. “When Dominika’s last son died, the mother of five boys only lived another two years, still in deep mourning. In that two-year period, there was a rumor she buried coins and other trinkets in the ground near her sons’ graves. Her husband was so worried about her doing this he planned to take her back to his hometown in New York for psychiatric treatment, but she died before the couple left Ohio, and two months after that, rumor began to circulate through the town. To this day, her ghost roams Shalley Park near what remains of the old Shalley homestead and the gravesites of her sons.”
The coin! I hopped out of bed and removed Amelie’s camera from my small backpack. Officer Handly had taken the coin, but I still had the pictures. I turned on the camera and studied the eagle side of the gold coin. It was the clearer of the two. I wished I could make out the features of the face on the other side of the coin.
Mr. Rochester bumped his orange head against my arm and meowed. Absently, I scratched him behind the ear.
If Dominika hid coins and other items from the Civil War in the ground near her sons’ graves, they would be worth a lot of money now. At least, they might be. Mr. Finnigan would know, and if I knew Mr. Finnigan, he would know exactly what my eagle coin was worth too.
<
br /> Mr. Rochester placed a white paw on my knee.
I looked into his green eyes. “Do you think I’m right, Mr. Rochester?”
He meowed loudly. I took that as a yes.
After I headed downstairs, I found my aunt and sister already in the kitchen. Amelie hovered over a mug of coffee with her eyes half-opened, but surprisingly Bethany was wide awake and smiling. That couldn’t be good . . . for me.
My sister broke off the corner of her piece of toast and held it between her fingers. “I heard you and super nerd next door got dropped off by the cops yesterday.”
I went to the cupboard for the Lucky Charms. “Shut up, Bethany.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s cute. You guys can have matching orange jumpsuits in prison.”
Amelie took a swig from her coffee mug and grimaced. “I think this is yesterday’s coffee. In any case, no one in this house is going to prison, ever, if I can help it.” She turned to me. “Andi, I heard from Bergita last night. She was able to talk some sense into Colin’s parents that you guys being brought home by Officer Handly wasn’t completely your fault. Colin isn’t to blame either. She promised his parents that she would drive Colin to school this week, so that you two have some time apart.”
I opened my mouth to protest.
“I know it’s crazy. Bergita knows it’s crazy too. You will see Colin at school and have plenty of time to spend with him there and at home here when his parents are at the hospital, which is all the time. This will blow over. Just try to stay out of trouble for a little while.”
“But — ”
There was a honk outside.
Bethany hopped off her barstool. “When has Andi ever stayed out of trouble?”
The honk came again.
“That’s my ride.”
Amelie put down her coffee mug. “Ride? What ride? I thought I was dropping you and Andi off at school this morning.”
“You can drop Andi off, but I have a ride with Romero.”
My aunt blinked. “With Romero?”
Andi Unstoppable Page 9