Sleepy Hollow Sleepover (6 page)

CHAPTER 8

The next morning, Dink’s dad drove them all to Peach’s Pancakes for breakfast. They each ordered a stack of pancakes with sliced fruit on top.

While Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose cleaned their plates, Dink’s father read the local newspaper. “There’s nothing in here about the fires last night,” he said.

“I guess it happened too late,” Dink said. He had decided to find Officer Klevor after breakfast. He’d tell him about the sneakers on one of the men he’d seen near the horses.

A waitress left a check on the table, and Dink’s father put some money down. “I was thinking we’d leave for home around noontime,” he said. He glanced at his watch. “That gives you a couple of hours to hang around town.”

“Thanks, Dad,” Dink said. He looked at Josh and Ruth Rose. “Are you guys finished?”

Josh shook his head no and chewed his last bite of pancake.

“I am,” Ruth Rose said. She used her napkin. “That was delicious! Thanks a lot, Mr. Duncan.”

“You’re welcome, Ruth Rose,” Dink’s dad said.

“Josh, don’t lick your plate,” Ruth Rose teased. “I’ll be embarrassed.”

Josh grinned and let out a big sigh. “Thanks, Mr. Duncan,” he said. “How many did I eat?”

“Seven,” Mr. Duncan said.

“No, it was seventeen,” Ruth Rose said.

“Nope, you ate forty-seven,” Dink said. “A new world record.”

Mr. Duncan stood up. “Okay, I’ll see you back at the cabin,” he said. “Don’t get into any mischief.”

Dink’s dad headed for the door.

The waitress came to the table and picked up the money. “Will there be anything else?” she asked the three kids.

“What kind of pie do you have?” Josh asked.

Dink and Ruth Rose grabbed Josh and dragged him out of the restaurant.

“But I’m sooo huuunnngry!” Josh said, imitating the grave ghoul they’d met last night.

“Tough,” Dink said. “Come on, I want to see if we can find Officer Klevor.”

“Why?” Ruth Rose asked.

Dink explained about the strange gleam he’d seen on the feet of one of the men. “It could be an important clue,” he added.

“Then why didn’t you tell Officer Klevor last night?” Josh asked.

“Because one of the police officers had those sneakers that light up,” Dink said. “It might have been him that I saw!”

“So you’re thinking maybe one of the officers set fire to the wagons?” Josh asked.

“Yeah,” Dink answered glumly.

“But why would a police officer want to burn the wagons?” Ruth Rose asked.

“That’s what I want to know,” Dink said.

The kids headed up Main Street. They asked a woman walking her dog where the police station was.

“It’s near the library,” the woman said. “Just keep going straight on Main Street.”

But they never made it to the police
station. Two police cruisers raced past them with their lights flashing.

“Where the heck are they going?” Josh asked.

“Let’s find out!” Ruth Rose said. She began sprinting up Main Street. Dink and Josh ran after her.

They didn’t have to go far. In front of the bank, the cruisers were blocking the street. Two police officers were guarding the door. Two other officers came out of the bank. One of the officers was Officer Klevor. He was carrying a length of yellow rope. Between the two cops was the woman who had started the mechanical horse in the bank window yesterday.

The woman was crying.

“Tell us what happened, Bonnie,” Officer Klevor said gently.

“They came to my home last night,” she said between sobs. “It was nearly midnight. They made me put on my coat
and shoes, then brought me here to the bank. They said they wanted the money from the vault. They knew a lot of money came in yesterday. But I told them I couldn’t open the vault. It opens automatically at eight every morning.”

“Did they believe you about the vault?” Officer Klevor asked.

The woman nodded. “I tried to get them to just leave, but they tied me up. They used that rope. Then they took money from the tellers’ drawers and left.”

“How much money was in the drawers?” asked Officer Klevor.

“Not much, two hundred dollars maybe,” the woman said.

“Did you recognize the men?” Officer Klevor asked.

Bonnie shook her head. “They wore masks, like for Halloween,” she said. Then she burst into tears again.

A man in a business suit came out of the bank. He walked over to the officers and Bonnie. “Please go home until you feel better,” he told the woman. “I’ll take care of things here.”

“Thank you, Mr. Garth,” Bonnie said. “Oh, and I called the party company to come and get the mechanical horse. They should be here soon.”

“Thank you, Bonnie,” Mr. Garth said. “Don’t worry about that. Just get some rest.”

Officer Klevor noticed Dink, Josh, and Ruth Rose. He nodded as he helped Bonnie into his cruiser. They sped away, followed by the other car.

“Wow,” Josh said. “The bank got robbed while we were at the bonfire party!”

“I’ll bet that’s why those two guys set the fire last night,” Dink said. “They wanted the cops stuck in the woods while they made Bonnie open the bank
for them. The guys who robbed the bank must be the same guys who burned the wagons!”

Just then an orange pickup truck pulled up. A sign on its side said
RIDE ’EM, COWBOY—RIDE US AT YOUR NEXT PARTY.
There was a picture of a cowboy riding a bucking horse.

Two men got out of the truck and walked up to the bank. One was tall with broad shoulders. The other was short and chubby. They wore gray work shirts with
RIDE ’EM, COWBOY
patches sewn onto the sleeves. They disappeared inside the bank.

“Look,” Josh said. He pointed at the bank window.

The men appeared in front of the curtain. One of them unplugged an electric cord that ran from the horse’s belly to an outlet in the wall. Then both men picked up the horse and moved it through the curtain. A minute later, they
were on the sidewalk, carrying the horse and its headless rider between them.

“Careful with this baby,” the taller man said. “It’s worth a lot of money.”

“Got it,” the other man said.

The men loaded the horse into the back of the truck.

“Lay it on its side,” the tall man said.

When the horse and rider were flat on the truck bed, one of the men pulled a blue tarp from the passenger seat. The men unfolded the tarp and threw it over the horse and rider, hiding them from view. They used yellow rope to tie the tarp to the sides of the truck.

“I need a coffee to go,” the chubby man said.

“Okay, but make it snappy,” his buddy said.

They walked into the ice cream shop.

Dink thought he’d heard those
voices before. And he was positive he’d seen the tall man’s cowboy boots yesterday afternoon. He’d stepped on one of them. The boots had silver toes. Shiny silver toes.

Suddenly Dink raced over to the truck. He lifted a corner of the tarp and climbed up onto the truck bed.

“Dink, what’re you doing?” Josh asked. He and Ruth Rose ran over to the truck.

“Tell me if they come out!” Dink said. Hidden by the tarp, he opened the little door on the horse’s side. He reached his arm inside. His fingers touched cloth bags, and he knew what was inside the bags.

“Dink, what’s going on?” Ruth Rose asked.

“I found the money!” Dink whispered back.

CHAPTER 9

Twenty seconds later, Josh and Ruth Rose were climbing under the tarp with Dink.

“Look,” Dink said. He reached inside the horse’s stomach and pulled out one of the bags.

“Is that what I think it is?” Ruth Rose asked.

Dink nodded. “Remember, we saw those guys bringing it into the bank yesterday?” he asked.

“You mean, that’s all money?” Josh gulped.

“Yeah, and there are about ten more bags inside the horse,” Dink said.

“Holy moly!” Josh gasped. “How’d it get there?”

“I’m not sure,” Dink replied. He thought for a minute. “Maybe the robbers put it there,” he said.

“But that woman—Bonnie—told the police that they only took two hundred dollars,” Ruth Rose said. “There must be a lot more than that in only one of these bags!”

“Then she wasn’t telling the truth,” Dink said. “But why?”

“Wait a minute!” Josh said. “Maybe Bonnie is one of the crooks. She could’ve hid the money in the horse. And—”

“You’re right!” Dink said. “She must have taken the money out of the vault this morning, after it opened automatically!”

Just then they heard the truck’s
doors open. The truck rocked as someone climbed into the cab, and the doors slammed, one after the other. Then the engine roared.

When the truck started moving, Dink thought he was going to be sick. The three of them were trapped in the truck!

The ride was noisy and bumpy.

“What are we gonna do?” Josh asked.

His head was scrunched up next to Dink’s elbow.

“I don’t know,” Dink said. It was hot under the tarp. Sweat ran into his eyes, making them sting.

“Well, I do!” Ruth Rose said. She was curled up like a pretzel near Josh’s knees. She pulled out her cell phone. “I’m calling Officer Klevor!”

“Call nine-one-one,” Dink said. “It’ll be faster!”