The Aldens followed the bike path through North Ridge Park on their way home from Cal’s house. The trees sheltered them from the wind, so it was easier pedaling here.
The bike path became a narrow dirt trail through the thickest part of the woods and the children had to ride single file. As they rode down one hill, they heard voices coming from the top of the next hill. Angry voices.
“Let go!” a boy’s voice said.
“No, you let go!” a girl answered.
“You’re not supposed to take them!”
“We’re not taking them, we’re protecting them!”
When the Aldens reached the top of the hill, they saw the Zeller twins and David Greene over by a huge tree stump. The Aldens had seen these kids arguing before, but never quite like this. David and Zack seemed to be playing tug-of-war with a metal box.
“What’s going on?” Henry called out to them.
Zack, Zoe, and David all froze as the Aldens got off their bikes and ran over to them.
“They’re trying to steal this cache,” David said as he yanked the metal box out of Zack’s grip once and for all. “They’ve been stealing caches all over town. But I’m not going to let them steal this one.” He held the metal box tight against his chest.
“Wait a minute,” Jessie said, turning to the Zeller twins. “You two have been stealing the caches?” The Aldens had been pretty sure the thief wasn’t the Zellers or the Greenes.
“No!” Zoe said, clearly insulted. “We just told David—we’re not stealing them, we’re protecting them.” She pulled on the box again, but David backed away from her, still holding it tight.
“Protecting them from what?” Henry asked.
“From being stolen by the real thief!” Zack cried.
“We’re only taking caches that have travel bugs in them,” Zoe explained.
“Why?” Benny asked.
“Some of these travel bugs have been traveling a long time,” Zack said. “And some of them have come from really far away. Like Europe. So we don’t want the thief to get them.”
“One of the caches we took has a flag from Switzerland that has already traveled around the world three times.”
Zack nodded. “We’ve got another one that has a racing car that belonged to a little boy in California,” Zack added. “It was one of his favorite cars, but he turned it into a travel bug so he could watch it travel around the country. Think how he’d feel if he found out the cache his car was in got stolen!”
“Let me get this straight,” David said. “You guys didn’t take any of the first caches that went missing. You’ve only taken the last few. And you’re only taking ones with travel bugs in them?”
“That’s right,” Zoe said. “And we’re leaving notes for the real thief that say ‘ha ha!’ As in ‘ha-ha, you didn’t get this one!’ ” She held up a note just like the one Andy had found.
“We’ve kept track of where all the caches we took are supposed to go,” Zack said. “Once the thief goes away, we’ll put them back. But not until we’re sure they’ll be safe.”
“Is that what you were talking about when we saw you in the woods after the geocaching meeting?” Jessie asked. “You said something like ‘maybe we should put them back.’ Were you talking about the caches you’d taken?”
“Yes,” Zack said. “Zoe thought we should take the treasure out and put the empty boxes back where we found them. But I thought it would be hard to keep track of what belonged in which box if we did that.”
“That would be hard to keep track of,” Violet agreed.
“We started gathering up caches with travel bugs in them last weekend,” Zoe said. “In case you were wondering what we were doing behind the mall that day you saw us back there.”
“I sure wish we knew who took all those other caches,” David said.
“So do we,” Zoe said. “Our dad’s been talking to a lot of people in the geocaching club. If the real thief isn’t caught soon, we’re probably going to disband the club.”
“My dad said the same thing,” David said. Nobody wants to keep the club going if somebody’s going to steal all our caches.”
“Then we’re going to have to work hard to find the real thief before the club disbands,” Violet said.
“Well, we know something about the missing caches,” Benny announced. “They were all hidden by the same person!”
Zack, Zoe, and David all turned to Benny.
“They were?” David asked. “That’s interesting.”
“Who hid them?” Zack and Zoe asked.
“Cal Edwards,” Violet replied.
Zack and Zoe’s eyes widened. “And he’s missing, too!” Zoe exclaimed.
“Actually, he’s not,” Henry said. “He got called out of town suddenly to take care of his mother.”
The Aldens told the other kids about their visit to Cal’s house and about their conversation with Mrs. Michaelson.
“Well, I’m sorry about Cal’s mother, but I’m glad he’s okay,” David said.
“So are we,” Zack and Zoe said.
The Aldens were happy to see the Zellers and the Greenes agreeing on something. Maybe they could all work together now and find the missing cache?
“One thing we can tell you about Cal—his caches are more fun to find than anyone’s,” Zoe said with a smile.
“That’s true,” David agreed, smiling back.
“Why?” Violet asked. “Why are his caches more fun than anyone else’s?”
“I think he puts more time into them than other people do,” Zack said. “He puts them in really interesting containers. For instance, there was one he made out of a piece of plumbing pipe.”
“And there was that other one that was part of a Halloween decoration,” Zoe put in.
“Oh, that’s a great one!” David laughed. “That’s the ‘Halloween Horror’ cache,” he told the Aldens. “You guys should try and find that one. You’ll love it!”
“He also hides the containers in really interesting places and he always has the best trade items,” Zack said.
“Yeah, once we found a Chinese kite in one of his new caches,” Zoe said. “We were the first to find that one.”
“We found a twenty-dollar bill in one of the ones that we were first to find,” David said.
“It’s strange that all the missing caches were Cal’s,” Zack said.
“Unless Cal took them himself,” Benny said.
Everyone stopped to stare at the youngest Alden.
“But why would he do that?” Zoe asked. “He knows everyone loves to hunt for his caches.”
“Well, maybe he didn’t mean to keep them so long,” Benny said. “Maybe he meant to put them back, but he didn’t have a chance to put them back before he left town.”
“But why would he take them in the first place, Benny?” Henry asked. “That’s the one thing we still don’t know.”
Benny sighed. “And it’s a big thing.”
Violet could hear Jessie tossing and turning in the other bed in their room, but the room was still dark. Watch was asleep on the floor between them. Violet could hear him snoring. She wished she were snoring.
“Jessie?” she whispered, “What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep. I thought I’d get a glass of milk,” Jessie said.
“I can’t sleep, either. Maybe I’ll get a glass of milk, too.”
The two of them tiptoed out into the hallway. Watch padded behind them.
“Hey, there’s a light on downstairs,” Violet whispered.
The light was coming from the direction of the family room.
“I wonder who else is up?” Jessie whispered back.
The girls crept down the stairs. But rather than head for the kitchen, they turned toward the family room.
“Henry!” Jessie whispered. “What are you doing up?”
Henry was sitting at the computer. His notebook lay open in front of him.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I can’t stop thinking about those missing caches. There has to be something we’re just not seeing.”
Just then Benny wandered sleepily into the room. “What’s everyone doing?” he asked out loud.
The others jumped in surprise.
“Benny!” Jessie said. “What are you doing out of bed at this hour?”
“I wanted to find out what you guys were doing out of bed at this hour,” he replied.
Violet smiled. “I guess none of us could sleep.”
“We’re all worried about the geocaching club,” Jessie said. She, Violet, and Benny sat down on the couch.
Henry nodded. “I would hate to see it disband.”
“Especially before Cal gets back,” Violet said.
“Too bad Cal isn’t here to fix everything,” Benny said, resting his head against Violet’s shoulder.
“Wait a minute,” Jessie said, sitting up a little straighter. “That’s it! Cal was fixing something right before he left. Remember?”
The others looked confused.
“What does that have to do with anything, Jessie?” Violet asked. “We don’t even know what Cal was fixing.”
“Well, what if he was fixing some damaged cache boxes?” Jessie asked, her eyes dancing with excitement.
“Then maybe Benny’s theory was correct,” Henry said.
Benny was still confused. “What theory?” he asked. “And what is a theory, anyway?”
“A theory is an idea you have to explain something,” Violet said. “But you don’t know for sure you’re right.”
“Oh.” Benny nodded. Then he wrinkled his nose. “What was my theory again?”
“You wondered if Cal had taken the caches,” Henry reminded Benny. “You said maybe he didn’t mean to take them for long, but he got called away before he could put them back.”
“The only thing wrong with your theory was it didn’t explain why he took them in the first place,” Jessie said. “But if Cal took them because they needed some repair work, then that would explain everything.”
“Is there any way to test this theory?” Violet asked.
“We could go online and see if there are any comments about damaged caches,” Henry suggested.
“Good idea, Henry,” Jessie said. Henry turned his chair back around so he was facing the computer. The others gathered around as he logged into geocaching.com.
Henry pulled up the web page for the first missing cache, then scrolled down to the list of comments.
“Yup. That one says the container is coming apart,” Violet said, pointing to the second comment from the top.
Henry went to the next cache on their list and read the third comment out loud. “ ‘Great hide! No trade items in container. No log book, either.’ ”
“Isn’t it possible Cal would’ve taken that one, too, just to fill it with things to trade again?” Violet asked.
“It’s possible,” Jessie agreed.
The Aldens checked the listings for the other missing caches. All had reports of damage or missing trade items.
“So maybe my theory is right!” Benny said.
“Maybe,” Henry said. “We won’t know for sure until Cal comes back.”
“But what if the geocaching club shuts down before that?” Violet said.
“We’ll just have to convince them to stay together,” Jessie said.
|