As the girls waited to see if the bus would come, they didn’t see any sign of Angelo. The bus picked them up as usual, though now there were metal chains clacking on all of its four wheels. Lisa picked them up in the Jeep. A small plow was sticking out of its front bumper. It took much longer than usual to traverse the road to the reserve office. Every once in a while, Lisa had to let the plow down to push through the snowdrifts.
“You’re really good at that,” said Bailey from the backseat.
“Thanks,” said Lisa. “Thankfully, this only happens a few times a year. I don’t know what we’d do if we had to deal with it all the time!”
“I even saw a school bus on our way here,” said Alexis. “My cousin in Tennessee gets out of school if they think it’s going to snow! Wait until I tell her that kids in Tahoe go in a blizzard!”
“Yeah,” laughed Lisa. “It takes a lot to get a snow day here.”
By the time they were inside the office, warming themselves by the fire, Jake and Karen were already doing their rounds with the animals.
“Hey, Lisa?” Alexis said. “We have a lot of video of the animals. Do you think we could interview you about the reserve and your parents?”
“Sure!” said Lisa. “I finished a lot of my work early this morning. Besides, if you two win, I’ll be on TV! And I’m sure you’ll win. You just have to! People will love this.”
Alexis spent the next hour behind the camera filming as Bailey asked Lisa question after question. They learned everything they could about the reserve. Lisa’s grandparents had started it with their life savings, and the Ingles had worked continually to expand it since then. It was the only reserve of its kind in California or Nevada—the only option for the animals that animal control and the humane society couldn’t deal with.
The Ingleses felt their setup was still too small. Just last month they had had to turn away a wolf that someone had tried to keep as a pet. They just didn’t have the space. The wolf had gone to a sanctuary near Olympia in Washington State, but he had been lucky—most animals Karen and Jake couldn’t keep had nowhere else to go. If a zoo couldn’t take them, they had to be released or put to sleep.
After the interview, Lisa had to leave. The local high school was having a college fair, and she was going to help answer questions about her university. Before she left, Alexis caught her at the door.
“Lisa?” she called into the snow. “Do you think we could use the phone for a bunch of local calls? We were going to follow up on a lead.”
“Sure! Mom and Dad will be busy until lunch anyway.”
Alexis got out her pink notebook and placed it next to the phone while Bailey scrounged around the office looking for the phone book. There was a whole page full of numbers for snowmobile rentals, so the girls decided to go in alphabetical order.
By the time Alexis had called half the rental places, she still hadn’t written anything down. Bailey was getting bored. She started making origami out of a pile of yellow sticky notes lying on the desk.
Finally, on about the twentieth call, they got a break. Alexis learned that the snowmobile they were looking for was rare because it was expensive. Only two places in South Tahoe even rented them—and one of those places was only minutes away from the reserve! It was called Rainbow Rentals.
“This makes sense, Bailey!” said Alexis. “If the person we’re looking for rented the snowmobile just down the road, they wouldn’t have had to transport it at all. They could have just taken off up the mountain and circled around onto the reserve’s property! Bailey! Are you even listening?”
Bailey’s head had drooped onto the desk. She was sleeping comfortably and drooling on a half-made paper bird. Alexis shook her.
“Bailey!”
“Huh? What?” Bailey said. She sat up and Alexis laughed. One of Bailey’s sticky-note creations had stuck to her cheek.
“I might have found the right place,” said Alexis. “I just need to make one more call to check.”
Alexis made the call and scribbled furiously on her notebook the whole time. It turned out that someone had rented a Yamaha Phazer the day before. It was a girl who rented the machine all the time. Her name was Chloe. She had long, red hair and was a bit of a snob according to the guy on the phone. Alexis thanked him for the information and hung up.
“So, do you think this Chloe girl is the one who is doing all of this damage?” asked Bailey.
“If she rented the snowmobile, then she might be the one waking the bears,” said Alexis. “But we still have to figure out who she is and tie her to the crimes if we’re going to get her to stop. That’s what has to happen before the reserve will be safe.”
Bailey opened her mouth to say something else, but nothing came out. She was staring over Alexis’s shoulder at the front door to the office. Her mouth was hanging open, and when Alexis asked her what was wrong, she just pointed toward the door. Alexis turned around, and it was all she could do to keep her mouth from dropping open as well.
Standing in the doorway was none other than Misty Marks, one of Hollywood’s most popular actresses. Miss Marks shrugged off her coat and hung it on the rack, just as if she were at home. Then she turned to the girls.
“Hello!” she said, crossing the room. “I don’t believe I’ve met you two. I’m Misty, Karen’s sister.”
Alexis shook Misty’s hand.
“Oh, hello,” she said. “I’m Alexis and this is Bailey.”
Alexis elbowed her friend, and Bailey finally closed her mouth.
“You still have a bird stuck to your face!” Alexis whispered. Bailey swiped at her cheek and sent the paper pigeon flying across the room. It landed near Bubbles, startling him awake. Misty Marks looked like she was trying not to laugh.
“Are you two new here at the reserve?” she asked.
“Oh no,” said Alexis. “I mean, yes! Well, we don’t work here or anything. We’re shooting a documentary for a contest.”
“That’s right! My sister told me about that! Is she around?”
Just then, Karen burst through the back door.
“Misty! I thought I heard your car!” The two women hugged, and then they both began talking at the same time. Bailey leaned toward Alexis.
“Karen’s sister is Misty Marks?” she said. Alexis just nodded. How exciting! Alexis loved movies, and here she was meeting one of the hottest stars in Hollywood. It was obvious that Bailey was even more excited. She simply couldn’t sit still.
“So, Misty, have you met our detectives?” asked Karen.
“Detectives? I thought they were filming a documentary.”
“Yes, they are, but Alexis and Bailey have offered to help us figure out what is behind all of the strange happenings here,” said Karen.
“Well, not really what,” said Bailey. “It’s actually a who.”
“Really?” said Misty. “How interesting! Any leads?”
The actress leaned down toward the desk to get closer. Alexis was surprised. She had always thought that movie stars would all be rude in real life. Apparently Misty Marks was really interested in their mystery.
“Well, we did figure out who rented the snowmobile we saw yesterday. We think this girl could be the one who woke up the bear,” said Alexis.
“And the one who shot Alexis with a BB gun!” said Bailey.
“What?” said Karen. “Someone shot you?”
“Well, we didn’t know it at the time, but my dad said my bruise was caused by a BB. See?” Alexis pointed at the blotchy bruise on her right cheek.
“And we think that’s how the person woke up the bear. She was shooting BBs into the cave.”
“This is a lot more serious than you made it sound, Karen,” said Misty. “I thought you all had just forgotten to lock the cages a couple of times.”
“That’s what we thought too,” said Jake. He was at the back door stomping snow from his boots and shaking it out of his hair. “Hi, Misty. Good to see you.”
“You too, Jake,” said Misty. “So
what’s really going on?”
“Well, we thought everything was falling apart and that it was all our fault,” said Karen. “But then these girls showed up, and we realized that someone is sabotaging us. We found chocolate wrappers near the coyote cages the day they got sick, so we think someone fed them chocolate to purposely make them sick. And we think someone has been sneaking our keys and letting out animals. And just yesterday someone woke up a brown bear out of hibernation.”
“How is the bear?” asked Alexis. “Did you find him?”
“Oh yeah,” said Jake. “We tranquilized him and took him back to the cave. Hopefully, when he wakes up, he’ll realize he’s comfortable and go back to sleep.”
“Speaking of getting comfortable, let’s go sit down and talk about this for a few minutes,” Karen said. She led the group to the couches, and everyone sat around the fire.
“Alexis,” Karen said. “I’m worried. You could have really gotten hurt. What if that BB had hit you in the eye?”
“She got hit by a BB?” asked Jake, and Alexis told her story all over again. She could see Jake was getting angry, so before he could suggest that she and Bailey stop investigating, she told him about the snowmobile and the “Chloe” girl they thought was responsible.
“We’re getting close to figuring this out, Jake,” said Bailey. “It won’t take too long now.”
“Okay,” said Jake. “So you know that a girl named Chloe rented the snowmobile. How are you going to find her? Do you even know where to start looking?”
Alexis hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. Tahoe was a big place, and her dad wasn’t just going to let her and Bailey wander around it looking for some girl with red hair.
“We’ll just have to pray for another clue that leads us in the right direction,” said Alexis. She smiled her most confident smile.
“Well, I guess we already know it’s not a tourist or any of our environmentalist groups,” said Jake.
“Really?” said Bailey. “How do we know that?”
“Well, the environmentalists usually ride around town on bicycles. They’re not really the type to rent a top-of-the-line snowmobile. And a tourist wouldn’t have known where to find the bear caves.”
Jake was right. Alexis’s head was spinning. What did this mean? Whoever was doing this was probably a resident—someone who lived in the Tahoe area. Either that, or they were very familiar with it. What she and Bailey really needed was another clue. A real one that would point them in the right direction.
Laughter interrupted Alexis’s thoughts. The group’s conversation had shifted. Now they were talking about Bruce Benton, the rich guy from the resort.
“Yeah,” Misty was saying, “I ran into him at breakfast, and he wanted me to remind you how far all that money could go. He really thinks this mountain would be the perfect place for an upscale resort. It’s on the quiet side of town, away from all of the noise and gambling over in Stateline. He’s right, you know—”
“What?” said Jake. “You really think I should sell my family’s heritage to that no-good, slimy—”
“No, no! Jake, let me finish,” said Misty. Alexis was amazed. Jake had all but yelled at the actress, and Misty Marks was still smiling her Oscar-winning smile. It was like there was a joke that no one knew about but her.
“What I was going to say, Jake, is that he’s right about the location. It would make a great resort, but there are plenty of resorts around this lake. I reminded him that this was the only reserve of its kind in the area. And it’s in a great central location to serve both California and Nevada. Even if you did want to sell, it would be almost impossible to find another tract of land this perfectly suited to what you do.”
“Oh. Well, thank you, Misty,” said Jake. “Sorry about before. I’ve been a little on edge lately.”
Alexis was lost in thought again. So Bruce Benton wanted the reserve, huh? Hadn’t she and Bailey heard him discussing his new resort the other day? He had said there were some complications…but he had also said that they wouldn’t last long.
Was it possible? Could this Bruce guy be involved in sabotaging the reserve just so he could have the land? It was a very “Cruella” thing to do. Alexis scribbled a reminder in her notebook. She would talk to Bailey about her idea as soon as they were alone again.
“Well,” said Misty, bringing Alexis back to the conversation again. “It looks like everyone needs to get back to work. How would you girls like to hear my take on all of this?”
“You mean like an interview?” asked Alexis.
“Sure! If you need it, that is. I don’t have a lot of time, but I’m willing.”
“It would be great to have an outside perspective on the hard work Karen and Jake have put into the reserve. Bailey? Would you like to take the camera and interview Miss Marks?”
Bailey was speechless again, but a huge smile broke her face almost in two.
Out Cold
Bailey chattered away as she dug the tripod out of Alexis’s camera bag. The thought of interviewing one of her favorite actresses had finally loosened her tongue, and now she was asking Misty Marks about a million questions a minute. Misty just laughed as she followed Bailey into the back office. It would give them a quiet place to conduct most of the interview.
Alexis decided it would also be a good idea to get scenes of Bailey and Misty walking around the reserve. “I’ll set up the camera and let you two get started with the interview. Since Misty’s time is limited, while you’re doing the interview, I’m going to find some areas where we can have good shots of you two to show. Then we’ll edit it all together later.”
“Sounds great to me,” Misty said, flashing another of her famous smiles.
Before Alexis shut the door, Bailey looked back and waved at her.
“Thank you!” she mouthed. Alexis gave her two thumbs-up and smiled. She wondered if the actress would get a word in.
Alexis sat back on the couch and got out her notebook. As she looked over her notes about the mysterious “Chloe,” Bubbles jumped up onto the cushion next to her and put his head in her lap. His misty eyes looked up into hers like he was asking her for something. Alexis looked at Karen nervously.
“He may be three times bigger, Alexis, but sometimes Bubbles thinks he’s just a plain ol’ house cat. I think he wants you to pet him.”
Alexis rubbed Bubbles’s head. The little tufts of hair sticking out from the tips of his ears were extremely soft. She realized that long tufts stuck out from between each of his toes as well. Alexis could see how people might think a bobcat would make an awesome pet. It was like holding a giant kitten…until Bubbles yawned and reminded her that his teeth were much bigger.
Jake was walking back toward the couch with two steaming mugs of coffee when they heard it—a muffled cough from somewhere outside and a faint rattle.
“Is someone outside?” asked Karen. “I thought I heard a cough.”
“Shh!” said Jake. He was frozen in the middle of the room, his head bent toward the sound. “It’s not the cough I’m worried about. It’s the can of spray paint!”
He dropped both cups of coffee and bolted out the back door. Karen and Alexis stared at each other for a minute before following. They ran to the back steps just in time to see Jake disappear around the corner of the building.
“Be careful, Jake!” Karen called. There wasn’t a path through the snow here, so Alexis and Karen waited under the eave.
“He won’t catch them,” said Karen. “He never does.”
They stood in silence for a minute. Then for two. Then almost five had gone by, and they hadn’t heard anything. Karen took off through the snow calling after Jake. Alexis followed again, tripping through the feet of loose powder. They rounded the corner, and Alexis saw the paint. The messy, red letters stood out against the snow like spaghetti sauce spilled on a new, white shirt.
GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN.
The last letter trailed off at the end, as if the painter had been caught before fin
ishing.
“Jake?” Karen called again. Still there was no answer. The women left the first barn and circled around so they were near the outside edge of the parking lot. As they rounded another corner, Karen stopped so suddenly that Alexis ran into her.
“Jake! Oh no!”
Karen stumbled through the snow and knelt on the ground. Alexis came up behind Karen and gasped. Jake was lying in the snow, unconscious. At first Alexis thought the dark red all over his face was paint. Had the mysterious painter sprayed Jake in the face so he could get away? Then it hit her.
It wasn’t paint. It was blood.
“Jake! Jake!” Karen said. She was wiping blood away from his mouth and nose. Jake opened his eyes. He sat up and looked frantically around.
“Did you see him? Did you see the car?”
“What? No,” said Karen. “You were alone when we got here. Out cold. What happened?”
“I saw the guy painting the barn and tried to catch him. He must have waited for me around this corner, because when I rounded it, his fist was there waiting. I never saw a thing—just his black coat.”
Alexis left Karen’s side and walked toward the parking lot. A series of footprints led her through the parking lot to the other side where tire tracks showed where the person’s car must have been parked. Near the parking spot, two things caught her eye—the can of spray paint was on the ground, and something red glinted on the bark of a nearby tree. Alexis took a step closer and saw a large handprint in red paint.
It was too big to be a woman’s hand. And a woman had probably not hit Jake hard enough to knock him out and mess up his face like that. So if “Chloe” didn’t paint the barn, who did? Were the two connected? Or were there many different people out to mess with Karen and Jake and ruin their reserve?
Alexis made her way back to Karen, who was helping Jake up the front steps and into the office. Inside, Bailey was helping Misty Marks clean up the broken coffee mugs. Alexis noticed that the puddle of liquid was no longer steaming.
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