Alexis and the Lake Tahoe Tumult (9 page)

“Thanks, kid,” he said. Jake laid his head on the back of the couch and balanced the bag of ice on his throbbing nose and cheek. “The police said it will take them quite awhile to get here—with the weather, they have a lot of accidents they have to get to first.”

“Oh no, Jake! What about the benefit? You can’t get on stage with your face looking like that!” Misty exclaimed.

“Misty,” Jake laughed, “I think a flashy party is the least of our worries right now, don’t you? Maybe we should think about canceling it anyway. What if word gets out that we’re having these problems?”

“Jake, we can’t afford to cancel the benefit,” said Karen. “It’s our number-one source for donations all year!”

“What benefit?” asked Alexis.

“Did you say a flashy party?” asked Bailey. Her eyes lit up, and she scooted to the edge of the couch.

“Well, yes,” said Karen. “Every year we have a benefit party at one of the resorts. This year it’s at the one you’re staying in. People come from all over the country to hear what we’ve been doing and what we plan to do in the next year. Then they donate the money that helps us run this place. We were hoping that this year we would get enough to expand—maybe even enough to build our own animal hospital and to hire a vet.”

“Yes, it’s a tradition!” chimed Misty. “And Karen’s right, Jake. You can’t afford to cancel the benefit. It’s tomorrow night! People are already in town just for you!”

Alexis saw the light in Misty’s eyes and figured she was the reason for most of the donations made to the reserve. If Alexis was right, there would be more than one movie star at that party. By the look of awe on Bailey’s face, she had the same idea. Misty noticed, too.

“I have an idea!” she said. “How about if we invite our movie makers to the party! They can film some of it for their documentary …
and
get to meet some really cool people!”

“That’s a great idea!” said Karen.

“I don’t know,” said Jake. “Haven’t we gotten them in enough trouble?”

“It won’t be an issue, Jake,” said Misty. “The party’s at their hotel this year! They won’t even have to go anywhere.”

The girls sat on the edge of the couch, leaning toward Jake. Alexis tried not to look too excited, but the idea of being in a room full of stars had her head spinning.

“All right,” said Jake with a smile. Bailey and Misty squealed together and then immediately began talking of dresses and high heels. Alexis was excited, but her mind went in another direction. She was thinking about the spray paint and the red handprint again. She and Bailey
had
to solve this case, because it wouldn’t matter how much money was donated to the reserve if the government shut it down.

Alexis went over all of the clues in her mind. There had to be something she was missing—somewhere they hadn’t looked. And then it hit her.

“The letters!” she said, startling everyone in the room.

“What d’you mean, Lexi?” asked Bailey. “What letters?”

“The threatening letters Karen and Jake have been getting—we haven’t looked at them yet. Jake, do you think we could browse through them?”

“Sure, Alexis. They’re in the top drawer of the desk.”

Alexis and Bailey sat behind the desk again like they had that morning making phone calls. Alexis spread about twelve letters out in front of them. A few were old and wrinkled and looked as though they had been made out of old newspapers. The newest ones, however, were very different. Their words weren’t cut from dull gray newspaper. Instead, they were shiny or glossy, like a magazine.

Alexis prodded the edge of one of the glued words and realized that, unlike a magazine, the paper was thick—almost like cardstock, the heavy paper used for index cards, menus, and other things that need heavier paper.

“Look, there’s a picture on the other side of that word! That’s a picture of our hotel!” shouted Bailey. Sure enough, as Alex pulled the word up, the back side of it showed the stone tower and part of the hotel’s title in lights. Bailey was right!

“Bailey,” said Alexis, “I think these letters are made out of brochures! Pamphlets advertising hotels around Tahoe!”

By this time, the others had gathered around the desk to look over the girls’ shoulders.

“I think you’re right,” said Karen. “Look—this is Harrah’s!”

“And this one’s from Caesar’s,” said Jake. “These are the most recent letters we’ve gotten. What could this mean?”

“I’m not sure,” said Alexis. “But it narrows things down. Whoever is bothering you guys must hang around the resorts, where it’s obviously easy for them to get their hands on these brochures.”

Alexis pulled out her camera and started taking pictures of the brochures.

A horn honked from outside.

“That’s Lisa,” said Jake. “Time for you all to get back to the hotel. We’ll be in touch about the party.”

The girls smiled and said their good-byes. The bus ride back was quiet. Both Bailey and Alexis were thinking about the new clues they had. What did “Chloe” and the snowmobile have to do with the brochures and the man with the red spray paint? Were they connected? Alexis looked out the window into the wall of white and pleaded with the One she knew could help them piece together the puzzle.

Please, God! We need a break. We have all of these clues but no way to connect them
.

When the girls got back to the hotel, they zoomed straight to Mrs. Howell’s laptop. Alexis uploaded the photos of the letters and posted them on the CCG website. Then she started writing in the CCG chat wall. She told the girls about the threatening letters and about the message in the red spray paint, as well as the handprint.

Soon the girls were responding to her words.

Before dinnertime Alexis and Bailey took to the streets. Their goal was to watch people, and they were looking for something very specific. Jake had mentioned that the painter had been wearing a black coat. They were looking for someone who looked like he had money—since he hung around at the resorts all day, and they weren’t cheap—and who had an obvious red stain on his hand.

Soon, however, they hit a roadblock. They found that, on the Nevada side of the state line, they couldn’t go
inside
any of the hotels. All of them had casinos on the ground floors, and Alexis and Bailey were obviously not old enough to walk around those without parents.

“That’s all right,” said Bailey after they had been shown politely out of their third casino. “It’s nasty in there anyway … all smoky, and it’s hard to hear myself think over the blinging noises of all those crazy machines!”

Bailey was right. Alexis hadn’t enjoyed being inside the casinos, but she also knew that they didn’t have much of a chance of finding who they were looking for if they were limited to walking the sidewalks.

The snow started picking up, swirling thick around their heads. Bailey spoke up again.

“What if he’s wearing gloves, Lexi? We won’t be able to see his hands if he’s wearing gloves.”

Alexis hated to admit it, but Bailey was right. After more than an hour, Alexis led Bailey back to their hotel. They sat down in the lobby in front of the big fire to thaw out a little and talk about what to do next. The only other person nearby was a young woman using a laptop computer. She was wearing a scarf over her head, so Alexis guessed she had just come in from outside, too.

The girls chatted, until the woman’s phone rang. She picked it up with a huff and answered it stiffly.

“Chloe Stevens, how may I help you?”

Alexis and Bailey froze when they heard the name. They sat very still and eavesdropped, pretending to watch the fire dance in the hearth.

“No, he is unavailable tomorrow night,” snapped the woman named Chloe. “In fact, he won’t be in the office until next week. Yes. Thank you.”

She hung up the phone and went back to her computer. After less than a minute, her phone rang again. The woman tore the scarf off her head in frustration, and Alexis gasped.

The woman’s hair was bright red.

Alexis looked at Bailey, and it was obvious that Bailey was thinking the same thing. They had found “Chloe,” and they hadn’t even been looking for her! Alexis waited patiently for Chloe to finish her phone call, and then she began a conversation.

“So, are you enjoying your stay in Tahoe?” asked Alexis. “Are you on vacation?”

Chloe looked up from her computer, surprised to be addressed by two young strangers.

“No, and no,” she said. Then she lowered her head to the computer screen again. Alexis wasn’t turned off by Chloe’s obvious attempt to ignore her. She pressed on.

“Done anything fun, though? Skiing? Snowmobiling?”

Chloe made a disgusted sound.

“Ugh, no! I hate the snow. I can’t wait to get out of this place and get back to the Valley.” The phone rang again. Chloe snapped her laptop closed and stood up quickly.

“Thanks for the conversation,” she said rudely, “but I’m going to bed. It’s the only way to get away from the boss who never stops calling.”

With that, she stormed off toward the elevators and was gone.

“I guess that wasn’t her,” said Bailey. “You heard her. She hates the snow. Some other red-haired Chloe must have rented the snowmobile.”

“Hmm, maybe,” said Alexis. She wasn’t convinced. She didn’t believe in coincidences, and it would be a huge one if there were two young redheaded “Chloes” walking around the small town of South Lake Tahoe. The good thing was that it seemed like Chloe must be staying at their hotel. If she were somehow connected to the painter, they would probably find him here as well.

She couldn’t help but feel that God had answered her prayer on the bus. He was leading them closer to the answer, she just
knew
it. Before she could say what she was thinking, Bailey nudged her arm.

“Look, Lexi. Several computers are empty. Let’s go see if the Camp Club Girls have found out anything.”

The girls walked to a huge column that was surrounded by computers and chairs. F
OR
P
ATRONS’
C
ONVENIENCE
, the sign above each computer read. Alexis knew that this was a hotel where a lot of companies and organizations held conventions, like her dad’s company. She’d seen people dash out between meetings to check their messages. She knew from being around her mom and dad that they were making sure nothing important had popped up at work while they were in the meetings.

So Alexis felt rather important sitting down and logging in to the Camp Club Girls’ website. She felt almost like an adult dashing to get the latest news from her coworkers in solving mysteries and mayhem.

She and Bailey started to read the messages on the chat wall together.