Bailey and the Santa Fe Secret

by Linda McQuinn Carlblom

  Bailey glanced at Elizabeth and Aiyana. “You don’t think he’ll do anything crazy, do you?”

  “I doubt it,” Elizabeth replied. “He’s just mad.”

  “Those boys make him mad all the time,” Aiyana added. “He’s never done anything about it before.”

  Bailey inhaled deeply and blew out her breath through her mouth. She hoped Elizabeth and Aiyana were right.

  The Mystery of the Mine

  Inside Earth Works, Bailey wandered the aisles looking at the pottery, trying to forget what she’d just seen and heard. Her fury at the boys slowly subsided, though a dull ache remained inside her. Soon her eyes were drawn to a pot sitting on a shelf in a hallway toward the back of the store. She slipped toward it to take a closer look.

  The pot was round and full at the bottom, but tapered up to a narrow neck and out again to form a wider lip. Standing only about eight inches tall, it was painted in intricate detail. A sunset desert landscape—complete with prickly pear cacti, mountains, and tiny quail—encircled the wide, round pot belly. The painted sunset blazed in brilliant orange, yellow, and pink just behind the rugged mountain. The pot took Bailey’s breath away. She reached out and touched it. Then she picked it up.

  “No!” Aiyana yelled.

  Bailey jumped, almost dropping the pot. She quickly set it back on the shelf.

  “You can’t touch that.” Aiyana flew to her side, taking Bailey’s hand to pull her an arm’s reach away from the pot.

  “I—I’m sorry.” Bailey felt the weight of disappointment descend on her like a heavy Native American blanket. How she wanted to hold that gorgeous pot and examine every inch of its painted picture. “I—I didn’t know.”

  Elizabeth went to Bailey. “Is it some kind of special pot?”

  “It is a pot that has been handed down from generation to generation in our family.”

  “It’s beautiful!” Elizabeth exclaimed.

  “We keep it back here so no one bothers it.”

  “I could still see it from the main store area,” Bailey said. “You might want to hide it better so no customers try to buy it.”

  “We would never sell it even if someone offered us a fortune for it.” Aiyana’s black brown eyes became serious.

  “Even if they offered you a million dollars?” Bailey teased.

  Aiyana shook her head. “Not even a trillion.”

  “Wow. I guess some things are worth more than all the money in the world.” Elizabeth smiled at Aiyana.

  Aiyana looked down, studying her small, nervous hands.

  “Aiyana? Are you all right?” Bailey asked.

  The girl nodded, still not looking at Bailey and Beth.

  “You sure?” Elizabeth asked. “Did we say something we shouldn’t have?”

  Suddenly Aiyana looked up at the girls, a determined fire in her eyes. “If I tell you a secret, do you promise not to tell anyone?”

  Bailey and Elizabeth leaned in to hear what Aiyana would say. “Of course we’ll keep your secret,” Bailey said. “What is it?”

  Aiyana stepped closer and said softly, “My grandmother used to say that this old pot held the key to riches.”

  “Riches?” Elizabeth sounded surprised. “Do you know what she meant by that?”

  “I’m not really sure.” Aiyana scrunched up her face in apology. “Maybe she meant it would remind us of our rich family background.” She paused and scratched her head like she’d never thought about this so much before. “But Mama said her grandma always told her that behind the sunset our treasure awaits.”

  “Was she talking about this pot?” Bailey asked.

  Aiyana nodded.

  “‘Behind the sunset our treasure awaits,’” Elizabeth repeated. “I don’t know what that means.”

  “Me neither,” Aiyana said.

  “That’s totally mysterious. Sort of reminds me of the pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. Maybe they used to keep their money hidden in it.” Bailey looked closely at the pot, being careful not to touch it. She saw more detail every time she studied it. “Is that turquoise going around the bottom rim?”

  “Yes,” Aiyana said. “Mama said they were really careful to cut the stones to the perfect diamond shape and size, and they polished them to make them shine. Then they set the turquoise in melted silver and let it harden. When it cooled, they pressed the silver and turquoise band into the clay while it was still soft—or at least that’s what she’s been told. Of course the pot was made before she was born.”

  “It’s gorgeous,” Elizabeth said. “Your family does awesome work.”

  “I’m just learning to embed stones in the pots I make, but I’ve been making pottery without stones for a few years now.”

  “Do you still cut and polish the stones yourself?”

  “We don’t, but there are people in our pueblo who do it for us.”

  “Is turquoise the most popular stone to use?” Bailey asked.

  “It is around here.” Aiyana nodded. “Around here Native Americans like my family are practically famous for their turquoise work because our ancestors lived near turquoise mines. But a long time ago, there was no rain for almost two years, and they had to move closer to the cities.”

  “Wow,” Bailey said. “Two years with no rain is hard to imagine. We hardly go a week without rain in Illinois!”

  “The drought was hard on my family back then. They were experts at using turquoise in their jewelry and pottery, but they had to move away from the mines. They just couldn’t survive out there without water.” Aiyana looked around to be sure no one else was listening. “Remember that mine I told you my family owned?”

  Bailey and Elizabeth nodded.

  “It had the most turquoise of any mine in the area. And they say the turquoise was more beautiful than the stones in all the other mines.”

  Bailey shook her head. “Too bad the deed got lost over the years.”

  “That’s for sure.” Aiyana said sadly. “We’d have the biggest and best turquoise mine around.”

  Elizabeth’s face brightened. “Maybe we can help you find it while we’re here.”

  “How could you do that?” Aiyana asked. “It’s been lost for hundreds of years.”

  “I don’t know how we’ll do it, but I promise we’ll try.” Elizabeth patted the girl’s hand.

  “Elizabeth and I are great at solving mysteries,” Bailey told her. “We’re even in a mystery-solving club called Camp Club Girls.”

  “You are?” Aiyana’s eyes widened. “Have you solved any mysteries yet?”

  Bailey laughed. “We’ve solved lots of them! We were all in the same cabin at Camp Discovery, and we solved our first one at the camp. We found lost treasure. Since then we’ve solved more than a dozen mysteries together!”

  “Then maybe you’ll be able to solve this one, too!” Aiyana’s smile was filled with hope. “It would help my family so much if we could prove we own the old mine. We could reopen it and not have to pay other people for their turquoise. We’d get stones from our own mine and use them for free!”

  “That would sure save your mom a lot of money,” Elizabeth agreed. “Plus, she could sell turquoise to other people to use in their crafts, too.”

  “Aiyana, would you mind if we told the other Camp Club Girls the secret about the pot so they could help us solve the mystery?”

  Aiyana hesitated. “I guess that would be okay. We don’t tell many people, because we are afraid someone may try to steal the ancient pot from us. But I know you wouldn’t do that.”

  “That’s for sure,” Beth said. “And neither would our friends. Besides, they don’t even live in New Mexico.”

  “Do you know where the mine was located?” Bailey asked.

  Aiyana’s face fell, and she shook her head. “That’s the other problem. We don’t even know for sure which land is supposed to be ours, much less where the mine is.”

  “Hmm.” Elizabeth screwed her mouth up. “That is a problem.”

  “Well, we’ll
do our best to try to figure it out and find out if there’s really a mine on it. Hopefully we’ll find the deed to prove your family owns it, too.” Bailey crossed her arms and nodded as if that settled the matter.

  That afternoon, Bailey and Elizabeth went into their bedroom at Halona’s house and used their cell phones to conference call the other Camp Club Girls. Bailey sat at the head of the bed and Elizabeth at the foot.

  “Hey girls, everybody there?”

  “We’re here!” everyone shouted together.

  “Guess what? Beth and I are in Santa Fe, New Mexico!” Bailey announced.

  “Santa Fe! How’d that happen?” McKenzie asked. McKenzie Phillips was a fourteen-year-old from Montana who was good at seeing people’s motives behind their behavior, and loved to ride horses.

  “My mom’s distant cousin, Halona, is a Native American who lives here,” Bailey explained. “Her mother died and she needed help to keep their pottery store going during the busy tourist season.”

  Elizabeth jumped in. “Bailey asked if I could come and help, too. I’m only out of school for another week, but we decided it would be a fun ending to the summer. Plus, since I want to be a missionary someday, my folks thought it would be good training for me to see the Native American culture up close and personal.”

  “Do you want to be a missionary to the Native Americans?” McKenzie asked.

  “I don’t know yet,” Elizabeth replied. “But learning any new culture is good training.”

  “Sounds interesting,” said Alexis Howell, a twelve-year-old from Sacramento, California, who was also known as Alex. “Met any cute boys?”

  Bailey rolled her eyes at Beth and smiled. “No, but we’ve met some not-so-cute ones.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “Some boys were really mean to Bailey’s cousin, Elan.”

  “Why were they mean to him?” Sydney asked. Sydney was the athletic girl of the bunch, a twelve-year-old from Washington DC.

  Bailey shook her head, the frustration of the encounter washing over her again. “Because he’s small for his age and was sweeping the sidewalk in front of the pottery shop. They said he was doing girls’ work. Can you believe that?”

  “Sounds like they’re living in a time warp,” Kate said. Kate was the whiz kid of the group, even though she was only eleven. She specialized in gadgets galore at her home in Philadelphia. “Men do all kinds of different things these days, just like women do. How old is Elan?”

  “He’s thirteen, but is not too much taller than his eight-year-old sister.”

  “I think those boys must not feel very good about themselves, or they wouldn’t bother someone else over something so ridiculous,” McKenzie said. “My mom says people often mirror their own fears in what they say to other people.”

  “I never thought of that,” Bailey said. “But whatever the reason, they were sure mean. Poor Elan tried to stand up to them, but the biggest boy, Paco, pushed him down.”

  “Do his parents know they’re picking on Elan?” Sydney asked.

  “His mom knew at one time, but doesn’t know it’s still going on. And his dad died when he was very young.”

  “His little sister, Aiyana, wanted to tell her mom, but Elan wouldn’t let her.” Elizabeth pushed back her blond, wavy hair.

  “Anyway, that’s not the real reason we called.” Bailey sat up straight on the bed. “We have a mystery to solve.”

  “All right! What is it?” Alex asked.

  Bailey and Elizabeth told the girls all about the pot that was handed down from generation to generation.

  “It’s so beautiful!” Elizabeth said. “You should see it!”

  “Yeah, it has a desert landscape painted on it,” Bailey told them. “It has cacti and even little quail walking in a line. And a bright sun setting behind a mountain fills the sky with all kinds of colors. It’s so cool!”

  “Why don’t you e-mail us a picture?” Kate suggested.

  “We will,” Bailey said. “I hope we can get a good shot of it. We aren’t supposed to touch it. I found that out the hard way.”

  “Well, don’t break any rules or anything, but do the best you can.” Kate suddenly giggled. “Biscuit, stop!” More giggling. “I think Biscuit says hi. He’s licking the phone. It’s disgusting!”

  Even Biscuit was part of the sleuthing team! The girls had found him at Discovery Lake, and though Kate kept him most of the time, he still found ways to help the girls solve mysteries.

  “Sounds like nothing has changed much with Biscuit!” Alex said. “So Bailey, what’s the mystery about? Does it have something to do with the pot?”

  “Halona’s family used to own land that had a huge turquoise mine on it,” Bailey explained. “The problem is that the deed has been lost for hundreds of years.”

  “Not only that,” Elizabeth added, “but they don’t even know where the land is or if there really is a mine on it. Our job is to try to determine the location of both and find the lost deed that proves it’s theirs.”

  “Man, that’s gonna be hard!” McKenzie wailed. “I’m not sure we can do that.”

  “Hold it!” Elizabeth said with a smile. “Don’t forget that with God, anything is possible.”

  “True enough,” Alex said. “What’s your cousins’ last name? Maybe I could research public records on the Web.”

  “Their last name is Tse.” Bailey spelled it for her.

  “Oh! We almost forgot to tell you an important clue to the mystery!” Elizabeth banged her forehead with the heel of her hand. “Elan and Aiyana’s grandmother used to tell them that the pot held the key to riches. And their great-grandmother always said that ‘behind the sunset our treasure awaits.’ “

  “Weird!” Sydney said. “That sounds like some kind of code.”

  “Could be.” Bailey tucked her feet under her legs in crisscross style.

  Kate piped in. “I remember learning in history that some Native Americans were code talkers in World War Two.”

  “Oh, yeah!” McKenzie said. “I learned that, too!”

  “Well, maybe this is some kind of code, too.” Sydney cleared her throat. “I’ll research that angle.”

  “Great!” Elizabeth said. “I think we’ve got a good start.”

  “How long will you be in Santa Fe?” Alex asked.

  Bailey licked her lips. “Today is Saturday, and we leave on Thursday, so almost a week.”

  “That doesn’t give us much time,” Sydney said. “We’d better get busy.”

  “Okay,” Elizabeth said. “Stay in touch with anything you come up with, even if you’re not sure it really applies to the case.”

  “Right,” Bailey agreed. “That’s what the police always say about tiny bits of evidence. If you know anything or saw anything that could possibly have something to do with a case, call. We’ll try to put the pieces together later.”

  “Okay,” Kate said. “Have fun in Santa Fe!”

  “We will!” Bailey hung up and high-fived Beth.

  The mystery solving had begun.

  Becoming a Man

  Monday morning, the Tses, Bailey, her mom, and Elizabeth went to open up the shop at eight o’clock. Bailey removed the black velvet coverings off the jewelry cases, and Beth dusted the pottery. Aiyana swept the floor while Elan turned on soft Native American music. Bailey’s mom retreated to the back office with a steaming cup of coffee to work on the bookkeeping records that were weeks behind.

  “When you’re done dusting, let’s look at that pot again,” Bailey suggested to Elizabeth.

  “I don’t know, Bales,” Elizabeth replied. “Maybe we should just leave it alone.”

  “We won’t pick it up,” Bailey said. “But it can’t hurt to look at it. We told the girls we’d get pictures of it to send them.”

  “Okay, but we have to be careful.” Beth tickled a pot with her feather duster. She finished dusting the row of merchandise and returned the duster to the closet. “I’m done. Are you?”

  “Yeah, I’m done, too.” Bailey
hopped off a high stool behind the counter, and the two walked to the back of the store.

  “Let’s get those pictures taken and then get away from here.” Elizabeth pulled out her phone and held it close to the ancient pot. “I hope the lighting is good enough.”

  “Guess we’ll find out,” Bailey said.

  Elizabeth clicked the picture and then showed Bailey. “What do you think?”

  “It’s a little dark, but I’m sure they can still see it,” Bailey said. “It only shows part of the painted picture, though. I’ll turn it one quarter of the way around so they can see the continuation of it.”

  “Bailey,” Elizabeth said in a warning voice. “We shouldn’t touch—”

  But it was too late. Bailey had already reached out and turned the pot.

  “See? I was careful,” Bailey assured her friend.

  Elizabeth snapped a shot of the pot in its new position, and Bailey gave it another one quarter turn. Soon they had four pictures that showed the entire desert landscape to send the other girls.

  “I’m glad that’s done.” Elizabeth wiped imaginary sweat from her forehead.

  “You worry too much,” Bailey said. “How could I break it when I wasn’t even picking it up?”

  “I know, but I hate to take chances.” Beth blew a strand of hair from her face. “Anyway, it’s done, and nothing happened. I’m praising God for that!”

  The two laughed.

  “Hey, what’s this?” Bailey looked into a room across from the office where her mother was entering data on a computer spreadsheet.

  Halona and Aiyana came to the back of the store just as she asked.

  “That’s our studio,” Halona said. “I teach pottery classes in there.”

  Bailey’s dark almond eyes widened. “You do?”

  Halona nodded. “Pottery making has been in my family for generations, so it comes naturally to me. We even follow pueblo tradition of making our own dyes from plants and other parts of nature.”

  “Wow. That’s amazing,” Bailey said. “Who do you teach it to?”

  “Anyone who wants to learn.” Halona smiled broadly.

  “Could you teach me?” Bailey asked.