MISS ALLEN: YOUR FALL THE OTHER
DAY WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT. I
PURPOSELY WEAKENED THOSE
BOARDS IN THE SHED SO THAT THE
FIRST ONE OF YOU WHO LEANED
ON THEM WOULD CRASH INTO
THE WELL. IF YOU DON’T CLEAR
OUT OF THE LODGE SOON, EXPECT
WORSE “ACCIDENTS.” I WARNED
YOU THAT I MEAN BUSINESS.
Judy sniffed. “Well, it doesn’t frighten me. From the way you described Penny’s accident, I’m sure it didn’t happen because someone had tampered with the wall of the shed. Even if he had weakened the boards, how could he be sure someone was going to lean on them?”
“You’re right,” Marjorie admitted, completely over her nervousness. “Penny herself said she was foolish to touch that broken wall.”
She crumpled the letter and tossed it into the mesh basket. “A crazy person who heard about Penny’s fall wrote that silly letter. Come on. Let’s bring the empty baskets back to Theresa and forget the whole thing.”
But deep down inside, Marjorie was thinking about the footprint Jimmy had discovered in the dirt under the shed floor. Had it been left there before Penny’s accident, or after it?
“After it,” she finally decided. “The floor boards were all in place the first time we inspected the shed. The man who came snooping around that night must have left that footprint. He probably meant to sneak back and cover up the hole he made in the floor, but got frightened away for good when Phil and Pat fired those shots in the air.”
CHAPTER 6
CLUES IN A BOTTLE
All during the hot July days that followed Judy and Marjorie did indeed live in bathing suits. Mrs. Powell and Penny tried to make them dress up for dinner, but they compromised by changing into clean shirts and blue jeans.
“Aren’t we ever going to do anything about the treasure that’s supposed to be buried around here?” Judy asked one day. They had been in swimming and were now lying in the sun on the shore of the lake.