by Tara Ellis
“I think you’re right,” Bill agrees. “Weren’t you looking for Shawn Hollow’s money?” he asks the disheveled man.
“Humph,” the trespasser grumbles, not looking at anyone.
“Well, what are you doing back here?” Bill demands. “It’s been over a year since we last chased you off.”
“I don’t think he ever left,” Sam volunteers.
The man frowns at her as Sam shares her theory.
“Day before yesterday, after Ted left us on our hike, Ally and I found an old cabin. Inside was the gear he’s been using to go diving in Florence Lake, and--”
“Whoa,” Bill interrupts. “How do you know he’s been diving in Florence Lake?”
Sam and Ally look at each other guiltily. Sam blushes.
“You see, Uncle Bill,” Sam starts, “I’m afraid we’ve been keeping a couple of things from you. When we were out on the lake, someone… well, now we know who, turned the boat over on us. At the time, all we saw were some flippers. I’m sorry we didn’t tell you about it, but we decided that we were going to try and find Shawn Hollow’s money and the ‘ghost’. I was afraid that if we told you about the boat, you would send us home.”
“You’re probably right,” Beth agrees, her lips pressed in a tight line.
Uncle Bill has crossed his arms and is studying his niece closely, waiting for her to finish.
“I understand now what you were doing in the lake,” Sam says, looking at the disgruntled trespasser seated across from her. “You thought that Joseph drowned while looking for the money, so Florence Lake was the most likely place to find it.”
The man shifts his weight uneasily in the chair and lowers his gaze, but remains silent.
“When we found the cabin the next day,” Sam continues, “we put two and two together. We figured there was someone else here looking for the money and that they were also most likely the ghost.” She looks over at Ted.
“So that’s why you were so wary of sharing your secrets with me,” Ted says. He turns to Beth and Bill. “You see, I haven’t been straight with you either.” He goes on to tell them his story, including being caught in the passageway while trying to take the riddle. “I’m really sorry if I scared your guests,” he finishes sheepishly. “I didn’t mean to, and I swear that I didn’t cause any of the vandalism.”
“And he saved our lives!” Ally adds.
This leads to more questions and the girls tell the story about the snake in the mine. Sam’s guilt intensifies, and she tries to avoid looking at her uncle. Bill’s scowl has been steadily deepening.
“What’s this about a riddle?” Beth interjects, looking nervously at her husband.
“Oh!” Sam cries, relieved to have a diversion. “This was the most exciting part.” She slowly unfolds the brittle paper and reads the riddle aloud. “So,” she adds, “we eventually figured out that the angel in the bird bath was the ‘body of flight’ that faces Florence Lake. We just discovered that tonight when we saw the sun setting on the water. I promise we were going to tell you everything after we checked the statue.”
Ally turns to Ted. “How did you know we would be there?”
“I didn’t,” he replies, “but I did know you were up to something. I just waited around outside to see if you would sneak off somewhere and then followed you. I was positive there was someone else here causing problems, and I didn’t want you running into him.”
“It’s a good thing he did, Sam,” Bill says sternly, “or we might not have such a happy ending. I have to say that I am disappointed in your lack of trust. Keeping something important from the adults responsible for your well-being is not the right thing to do, Samantha.”
“I know,” Sam says quietly, cringing at the use of her full name. She knows her uncle is mad. “I’m so sorry, Uncle Bill. I know it was wrong. I just wanted to help you keep the inn.”
She then turns her attention to Ted, thanking him for his help.
Ted smiles at her, wanting to relieve some of her discomfort. “So, are you going to share your find with us?” he asks, pointing at the sack Sam is holding in her lap. “Or is that a secret, too?”
Grinning, Sam lifts it up with some effort and places it on the table with a loud thump. She swiftly pulls at the loose cords and exposes the gold within. Everyone gasps in response, including Sam, even though she’s already seen it.
“Isn’t it amazing?” she asks, her eyes sparkling. It wasn’t a nice, smooth bar of gold like you see in the movies, but rather a large mass of cooled molten gold still containing swirls and bubbles. Shawn Hollow must have melted it down himself to fit into the head of the angel.
They all jump at a loud knock from the front door. Bill answers it and soon returns, followed by two deputy sheriffs.
“That’s him,” Bill states, pointing at the man with his hands tied. “I want him arrested for trespassing, and for threatening my niece with that gun!” He points at the revolver.
“Well, that’s Billy Fisher!” the taller of the two officers declares. “I thought that he left these parts over a year ago.”
“We did, too,” Beth says. “I guess he’s been living on our property this whole time.”
“What in the world is that?” the second deputy asks, staring at the gold on the table.
“That’s what should belong to me!” Billy shouts, trying to rise from the chair. The deputies quickly restrain him and put him in handcuffs.
“The gold belonged to Shawn Hollow,” Sam says, pulling the sack off the rest of the way. “I think that the paper Ally has will tell us who it rightfully belongs to now.”
Ally looks down at the scroll in her hands as if just realizing it was there. Sam handed it to her after the fight broke out, before going for the gun. “Oh!” Ally says. “You mean, you think this is old Shawn’s will?”
“Let’s read it and find out!” Beth suggests, smiling now.
Ally unties the old ribbon wrapped around the scroll and cautiously unrolls the yellowing paper. Squinting, she strains to read the faded ink.
“‘I, Shawn Hollow, being of sound mind, bequeath my land to my three eldest sons: Christopher, Michael and Thomas, in equal parts. To my youngest son, Joseph, I bequeath a sum of five thousand dollars which is held at the State Bank. I regret that he is then on his own. He knows the reasons for this.
“Lastly, I bequeath this precious metal, attained at such a high cost, to the only currently living person who didn’t love me for my money. I am saddened to admit that it is not one of my own sons. The person I speak of doesn’t live at Hollow Inn any longer, but I know that she is still alive. Her name is Nancy Baker. My lawyer will be provided with the information to contact her.
“I am placing this new will, along with my life’s endeavors, in a place where my sons will never look. Its location will be provided to my attorney so that at the time of my death it can be located and carried out. In the case of something unforeseen happening, I will also leave a poem in my journal.
“If the words on this page are being read, I cherish the voice that declares it, for it means that I am at long last with my Florence, and we are reunited once again. This is my last will and testament.’
“It’s signed Shawn Hollow,” Ally finishes, her eyes misty. There is a moment of silence as everyone in the room tries to figure out what it all means.
Sam is the first to get it. “Oh, my gosh!” she exclaims. Everyone turns to look at her expectantly.
“Ted!” Sam continues, “if this gold was left to Nancy, your great-grandmother, then it must belong to you now.”
“Your great-grandmother must have willed her estate to your grandmother,” Bill adds. “Who did your grandmother will her estate to?”
“My parents,” Ted replies, and then slowly grins, although his eyes fill with tears. “And my parents left their estate to me.”
“Then it is yours!” Aunt Beth says happily.
“But I don’t want it,” Ted says. To everyone’s surprise except Sam, he cal
mly pushes the bag away. “Like I explained to Sam earlier, I don’t need the money.” With that, he takes the gold and turns, placing it in Bill’s hands.
“What are you doing?” the older man asks, flabbergasted.
“I’m doing what my great-grandmother would have done,” Ted says with confidence. “I don’t need the money, but Hollow Inn does. She would want to see this place completely restored and being enjoyed, the way Shawn meant it to be. The gold is yours.”
Aunt Beth and Uncle Bill are speechless.
16
GOING HOME
The greyhound bus pulls up to the old depot with a groan, letting out a plume of exhaust.
“Here it is,” Ted announces. He lifts the suitcases and turns towards the two young girls standing next to him. The sun is beating down through a cloudless sky, once again heating the day into the nineties.
Sam looks regretfully at the bus and thinks about the warm goodbyes she and Ally exchanged earlier with her aunt and uncle. They were too busy with their multiple guests to drive them in themselves.
After the initial shock wore off, Uncle Bill agreed to let them stay for the rest of their planned visit. Sam’s parents weren’t as easy to convince. She would be facing some stiff penalties when she got home, but it was all worth it.
As soon as word got out about what happened at Hollow Inn, the media was all over it. Within a couple of days, rooms were being booked. Everyone wanted in on the nostalgia of a long-lost will, hidden treasure, and ghosts. For the past week, the girls have helped prepare the inn for the new guests.
Uncle Bill and Ted devised a way to make the hidden cabin part of a “Hollow Inn Tour,” a loop of the property that will include all of the landmarks and key points to the Hollow story.
The maid returned to work the day after Billy Fisher was caught. And, with all the upcoming guests, they already need to hire another one, as well as someone else to help organize tours and other outings.
Uncle Bill made arrangements to meet with a local architect and contractor to start on the renovation plans. Sam and Ally can hardly wait to return the following summer to see what they come up with.
Even with the flurry of activity, the girls managed to spend many hours down at Florence Lake. With the threat gone, they were able to enjoy the amazing beach and water. Aunt Beth even went swimming with them, and Uncle Bill showed them all the best places to fish. Ted turned out to be a really good rower and took them all the way to the other side of Florence Lake, where they spent a whole afternoon exploring.
Now, ready to board the bus, Sam sighs and wipes her hot forehead. “It’s hard to believe we’ve already been here for two weeks.”
“I know,” Ally agrees. “It seems like we just got here. I’m glad that everything turned out so well.”
“If it wasn’t for you two,” Ted says, “I don’t think that gold would have ever been found.”
“You would have figured it out if you had gotten the journal and the riddle before us,” Sam says modestly.
“You don’t give yourself enough credit,” Ted counters. “You accomplished in four days what everyone else has been trying to do for years.”
Sam and Ally both blush as they mount the steps to the bus. The driver takes the bags from Ted and packs them in the compartments above the seats at the very back of the bus.
“Looks like we’re the only passengers,” Sam observes, changing the subject.
“Good,” Ally answers. “Maybe I can get some sleep on the way home.” Stretching out across the back seat, she struggles to find a comfortable position.
“I can’t believe how fast the inn booked up,” Sam says to Ted as she takes her backpack from him.
“Yeah, I don’t think they’re going to have to worry for a while. Especially not after what the appraiser said about the gold. They should be able to do everything they want to and have some left over.”
“Thank you for everything you did, Ted. Not many people would have been so generous.”
“But I had to,” he answers, grinning, “or I think my great-grandmother’s ghost would have started haunting me!” All three of them laugh and Ted turns to go. “Now you better come back next summer,” he says, pausing at the door.
“Oh, we will,” Sam replies. As Ted disappears, she forces a cheerful wave and settles down on the seat next to Ally, who looks on the verge of crying.
“Ally,” she says, tilting her head and looking at her friend with mock surprise. “I can’t believe you!”
“What?” Ally asks, confused.
“We’ve been in cell service range for at least ten or fifteen minutes, and you haven’t even turned your phone on, yet! What’s wrong with you?”
Laughing, Ally hugs her best friend and then lies back down, with her head on her backpack. “I think…I might wait a little longer. I guess I’ve gotten used to not always talking with everyone. I kind of like it.”
Smiling, Sam turns to look out the window as the bus begins to pull away. The station wagon is already headed down the road, into the valley and back to Hollow Inn. The mountains tower above it.
I know I’ll come back here again, she thinks as the bus turns in the opposite direction. In fact, nothing could keep me from it. “Unless,” she whispers aloud, sitting up straight with a smile, “I find another mystery to solve!”
The End
I hope that you enjoyed, The Mystery of Hollow Inn! Please take a moment to leave a review at:
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Be sure to look for Sam and Ally in other exciting adventures in The Samantha Wolf Mysteries!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author Tara Ellis lives in a small town in beautiful Washington State in the Pacific Northwest. She enjoys the quiet lifestyle with her husband, two teenage kids and several dogs. Having been a firefighter/EMT and working in the medical field for many years, she now teaches CPR and concentrates on family, photography and writing young adult novels.
The Secret of Camp Whispering Pines
The Secret of
Camp Whispering Pines
Samantha Wolf Mysteries
#2
TARA ELLIS
ISBN-13: 978-1507800515
ISBN-10: 1507800517
The Secret of Camp Whispering Pines
Copyright © 2015 Tara Ellis
Cover art design Copyright © Melchelle Designs
http://melchelle.designs.com/
Models: Breanna Dahl, Janae Dahl, Brandon Pless
Photographer: Tara Ellis Photography
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locals is entirely coincidental.
This particular story holds special meaning for me. For this reason, I have to dedicate it to my lifelong friend, Lisa Hansen. So many of the escapades we got ourselves into while at summer camp inspired a good deal of the storyline in The Secret of Camp Whispering Pines. But even more important was the unique friendship that can only be formed by the events shared while traipsing around in the woods, swimming in the mountains and riding horses through the wilds. We were never short on imagination, and while this sometimes got us into trouble…we always had fun!
I would like to give a special thank you to my beta readers: Linda Morris, Cindy Pierce and Lisa Hansen!
Samantha Wolf Mysteries
The Mystery of Hollow Inn
The Secret of Camp Whispering Pines
The Beach House Mystery
The Heiress of Covington Ranch
Find these and other titles on Tara’s author page at Amazon!
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Contents
Samantha Wolf Mysteries
1 SUMMER CAMP!
2 WHISPERING PINES
3 CABIN NAVAHO
4 FIRST IMPRESSIONS
5 RUMORS
6 SINK OR SWIM
7 TRADITIONS
8 FAMILY SECRETS
9 LEGEND OF THE WOODS
10 DESTROYED!
11 ISOLATION
12 CREEK WALKING
13 SANDY
14 TRAIL OF DANGER
15 THE MASK OF ZORRO
16 SABOTAGED!
17 PIECES OF A PUZZLE
18 ANSWERS IN THE DARK
19 THE TRUTH WON’T SET YOU FREE
20 WHAT FRIENDS ARE FOR
21 UNEXPECTED RESCUE
22 REVELATIONS
23 BARGES
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
1
SUMMER CAMP!
The phone rings for the third time before Sam runs down the hall and snatches it off the cradle. “Hello!” she says loudly, flopping down in an overstuffed chair that sits next to a small desk. Grimacing at the archaic set-up, Sam feels a brief pang of frustration with her mom for refusing to give up on having a home phone. Even though the main reason is that their cell phones hardly work inside the house, it’s still irritating.
“Sam!” the person on the other end shouts. “It’s me, Ally. I’ve got a great idea for our next trip!” Sam smiles at her friend’s unnecessary explanation. Of course, she knew immediately who it was! The two twelve-year-old girls have grown up as neighbors in their small, seaside town in Washington State. They are now best friends and inseparable. The first part of their summer has already proved exciting, visiting Sam’s aunt and uncle at their inn in Montana. It involved a legend, ghosts, and treasure hunting! What could possibly have Ally all excited after going through that?