Mystery at Skeleton Point (2 page)

“Oh, James — and your wonderful grandchildren! I’m so happy you’re here at last,” Cousin Charlotte cried. “I’ve been gardening out front so that I would spot you right away. Come meet my visitor.” She turned to the man she had been speaking to. “James, this is William Mason. William, this is my cousin, James Alden, and his delightful grandchildren, Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny Alden.”

Jessie smiled and put out her hand for a handshake. “Oh, someone at the general store mentioned your name,” she said.

Mr. Mason didn’t smile back, shake hands, or seem the least bit interested in Jessie or any of the Aldens.

“I guess we’ll have to finish our business some other time, Charlotte,” he finally said before opening the garden gate to leave. “I see you’re too busy with all these people to discuss business right now.”

Cousin Charlotte didn’t let this stop her. “Actually, I’m glad you’re here, William. When I heard my cousin was driving up this way on business, I asked him to bring along the children to help at Skeleton Point, too. I’d like nothing better than to have you work with them. There are so many things they can do.”

Mr. Mason stared at Charlotte before he finally spoke. “Well, if children are involved, I’m not sure you need a trained architect like me. I’ll see you in the morning to discuss these plans. Good day.”

Before Charlotte could say another word, Mr. Mason headed down the street.

Grandfather gave Cousin Charlotte a hug. “I’m sorry if we interrupted something important.”

Charlotte gave the children the same welcoming Alden smile Grandfather often gave his grandchildren. “Not to worry, James. William and I were just winding up when you arrived. After he read in the paper that I had bought Skeleton Point, he contacted me to see if I needed help. I’m very lucky to have him, since he’s a retired architect. He specialized in old buildings.”

Benny could hardly stand still now that he had something exciting to tell Charlotte. “How about old skeletons?” he asked. “He’d better like those when he’s at Skeleton Point, ’cause, know what? That’s what’s out there. We saw a real skeleton staring out the window and a hairy monster in the lake.”

Charlotte’s soft blue eyes widened in surprise. “Goodness, something in the lake, too? The one you saw in the window is Mister Bones. Sorry if he gave you a scare,” Charlotte told the children. “I left him hanging there to keep trespassers away from the house, just like Dr. Tibbs used to do. But I didn’t think there was a
monster
in the lake.” Cousin Charlotte laughed. “What did it look like?”

Jessie explained about the T-shirt Henry had found on the porch railing and the swimmer with the long hair.

“Don’t forget the barking dog,” Benny reminded Jessie.

Charlotte chuckled. “Oh, that was probably Greeny Owen’s dog, Max. And Greeny himself was the swimmer, most likely. He was once a student of Dr. Tibbs. He never did finish medical school, but he knows more about bones than most doctors. Local people have told me he’s quite upset that I bought the property. Over the years, he’s come to think of it as his. He works in a lab at the medical school and often swims or rows over from the island, where he lives with Max.”

“Does he have lots of hair?” Benny wanted to know.

“Well, Max has short hair, and Greeny has long hair — for a man, that is,” Charlotte explained. “Plus a little skull earring. He often wears that black T-shirt with the skull and skeleton on it. He must have taken it off to go swimming. Nobody but Greeny would go swimming on such a damp, chilly day.”

“He didn’t scare us.” Benny felt brave now that he had arrived at Charlotte’s cozy house. “Not a bit.”

Charlotte hugged Benny, then gave each of the other children a hug, too. “Well, I’m glad of that. I can’t seem to make a friend of Greeny yet. I’m hoping you children will have better luck. He knows so much about Dr. Tibbs’s skeleton collection. I’d love to ask him to organize it before I send it on to the medical school. Unfortunately, he disappears on me whenever I go over to Skeleton Point.”

“That’s what he did with us,” Henry said. “Disappeared right under the water.”

As Charlotte led the children to a greenhouse in back of her house, she told the children more about Greeny. “I suppose I should be glad that he and Max do such a good job of guarding the property. The problem is, he chases off everyone, including the locksmith I sent over last week! Maybe the four of you will have better luck getting to know him and Max.”

“We like dogs,” Jessie said. “Especially watchdogs. Our dog, Watch, guarded us when we lived in a boxcar we fixed up in the woods after our mother and father died. Now Watch watches out for us at Grandfather’s house.”

Charlotte put her arm around Jessie. “I’m so glad Watch — and Cousin James — found you. Now, here’s another house for you to live in while you’re here — my old greenhouse. I didn’t need all of it for plants, so I turned the rest of it into a guest cottage. See?”

“Oh.” Violet was so pleased when she walked into the all-glass building, she hardly knew what to say. “We’ll be able to see the stars and moon at night.”

“And the moon and stars will be able to see you — at least when this foggy weather blows away.” Charlotte led the children to the far end of the greenhouse. “You can put your sleeping bags down on these camp cots. You’re also welcome to sleep out at Skeleton Point anytime. There are several decent beds in the tower of the house. Just bring your sleeping bags.”

“Too bad the rest of us have to sleep in a house with a roof you can’t see through,” Grandfather joked. “You’ve done a wonderful job with this greenhouse, Charlotte. We certainly spent a lot of happy hours in here when we were children. Now it’s my grandchildren’s turn to have some fan in here.”

“I hope so,” Charlotte said. “Now come inside my real house for some cookies and lemonade. You children must be starving.”

“I sure am,” Benny said as if he had completely forgotten the ice cream cone he’d polished off just a little while before.

The children followed Charlotte through the back garden and into her kitchen. Just as everyone sat down, the phone rang.

“Help yourselves,” Charlotte said before she went to answer it.

The children passed around a basket of oatmeal cookies. While they munched, they could hear Charlotte speaking with someone about Skeleton Point and the Aldens.

“You’ll love Cousin James’s grandchildren,” they heard Charlotte say. “They are very grown-up and love hard work. They once fixed up an old boxcar in the woods and lived in it.”

Charlotte looked a bit more thoughtful when she returned. “Sorry I took so long. That was Hilda Stone. She’s an artist who just opened a studio in Shady Lake. William hired her to assist with the artworks that came with the Skeleton Point property,” Charlotte said. “I must say, the two of them have some very definite opinions about the work out there and how it should be done. Sometimes they forget that I’m the owner!”

“Violet’s an artist, too,” Henry said. “If you need any drawings or pictures, Violet’s the one to ask.”

Charlotte nodded. “That’s just what your grandfather told me on the phone. I’d love to have you children photograph and draw some of the artworks at Skeleton Point so I can have some before-and-after pictures. The statues are just crumbling to pieces, especially lately. That’s how all the Walking Skeleton stories got started.”

Benny put down his cookie. “A lady at the general store said the Walking Skeleton takes arms and hands from the statues so it can turn into a person again!”

“That’s one of the tales going around, but, of course, it’s just a story,” Charlotte said. “I really don’t know how the statues got damaged recently. They are quite old and already worn away by the weather. But now a few pieces are missing — not just falling off, but disappearing. I do hope you can all keep an eye on the property.”

This gave Jessie a good idea. “We gave Benny an instant camera for his birthday. If we take pictures of the statues and something happens to them, maybe we can figure out when it happened and who was around at that time.”

“Excellent,” Charlotte said. “I’ll be dropping off a job list tomorrow morning with Hilda and William. I’ll make sure to tell them to let you children photograph and sketch around the property. That will give them more time to do other things.”

“Here’s to catching the Walking Skeleton!” Jessie said.

The Aldens clinked their lemonade glasses.

By the time the Alden children tucked themselves into bed in the greenhouse, a steady breeze was blowing in from Shady Lake. The children gazed up through the glass ceiling and walls. Branches on Charlotte’s willow tree gently swayed back and forth, back and forth. Soon all four children were sound asleep.

But they did not sleep through the night. At four in the morning, a crack of thunder shook the greenhouse. Seconds later, streaks of lightning lit it up.

Jessie sat up first, after she heard some barking. “Watch!” she said, when she thought she saw a dog outside the greenhouse. She rubbed her eyes. “Oh, we’re at Charlotte’s, not at home.”

Soon loud plops of rain pelted the greenhouse.

Henry pulled his pillow around his ears. “What a racket!”

Benny scrunched himself way down into his sleeping bag. “Make the noise go away.”

Violet leaned over from her cot and patted Benny. “They’re only raindrops. Oh, no, what’s that?” Violet asked when she saw something move outside the greenhouse.

By the time Jessie looked out, the lightning was over and everything was completely dark again. “I think the lightning played tricks on our eyes. We’d better go back to sleep.”

The noisy raindrops gave way to a gentle rain, and everyone fell asleep again. An hour and a half later, the greenhouse filled with light.

“It’s only five-thirty,” Henry said when he checked his watch. “It’s so bright in here.”

Jessie yawned and stretched. “I dreamed Violet saw somebody with a dog outside during the storm. I thought Watch had followed us to Shady Lake.”

The Aldens quickly dressed and rolled up their sleeping bags. They had a big day ahead.

Charlotte was enjoying a cup of coffee with Grandfather when the children entered the kitchen. “Good morning,” Charlotte said, passing around a basket of blueberry muffins. “Take as many as you like,” she told the children. “Cousin James said you brought your bikes with you and want to bike out to Skeleton Point today instead of having us drive you there. It’s several miles each way on the bike path. You’re welcome to take out my rowboat, too. It’s the yellow one tied to the dock below Skeleton Point. You’re going to need a lot of energy for all your activities, so eat up.”

“We will,” Henry said as he buttered his muffin. “Are you and Grandfather going to come with us?”

“Not today, children,” Grandfather answered. “Charlotte and I have another cousin who lives upstate. She’s been feeling poorly, so we’re leaving for a few days, after Charlotte stops off at Skeleton Point.”

Charlotte put down her cup. “I’m going to meet with William and Hilda on the way. I’ll tell them I want you children to photograph and sketch the gardens and the house inside and out.”

After the children made their lunches, they went to get their bikes in Charlotte’s toolshed. That’s when they got an awful shock.

“What’s this?” Henry asked when he pulled his helmet from his bike bag. “Did you guys play a trick on me?” Inside Henry’s helmet, a plastic Halloween skull grinned back at him.

“Hey! There’s a skull in my bike helmet, too! And in yours and yours,” Benny said, pointing to the grinning plastic skulls inside his sisters’ helmets. “Somebody played a joke, but it wasn’t me.”

When Charlotte came out, she didn’t find the joke quite as funny, though she tried to laugh about it. “Goodness. I guess I can always use them at Halloween for my trick-or-treaters.”

Benny turned one of the skulls upside down to see if anything was inside. “We got the trick but not the treat.”

Charlotte laughed. “Well, if you children need more treats than what I left out for your lunches, stop at the general store. The bike path runs right behind it. You’ll see a sign for it.”

“Goody,” Benny said. “I saw lots of snacks there yesterday.”

The children put on their helmets and set off for the bike path. Since it was still early, they had it to themselves for a while.

Jessie checked the small bike mirror on her handlebars and saw a jogger in the distance. “I guess runners use this path, too,” she told the others. “There’s somebody behind us.”

When Henry turned around to take a look, the jogger took off into the woods. “Whoever it was is gone.”