Cora Flash and the Treasure of Beggar's Bluff Read online

I left my knapsack sitting by the front door, deciding to deal with it after we returned.

  "Come on, Calvin," I said, leading him out the door.

  Our typical walk only lasted about ten minutes. We would walk down about six or seven houses, not even making it as far as the corner, before Calvin would start pulling his leash, asking to be taken back home. I wasn't entirely sure if Calvin was a lazy dog, or just very stubborn.

  On our way back, Calvin stopped a few times to relieve himself and endlessly sniff at leaves or grass until I pulled him away with a, "Let's go!" After a few minutes, I decided it was time to head home.

  I unlocked the front door and let Calvin in ahead of me, unhinging him from his leash so he could tear about the house looking for one of his many toys. I picked up my knapsack from the hallway and headed for my room.

  When I pushed open my bedroom door, I was shocked to see my room in a complete mess. My drawers were opened and turned out on the floor. My sheets were pulled right off the bed and thrown in a pile. The books I had carefully alphabetized on my bookcase had been dumped in a jumbled pile under my window.

  My first thought was that Ethan had gotten inside my room and decided to pull things apart. My mom obviously had not noticed before she left, or she would have tidied it up.

  "Ethan!" I shouted. "Ugh!"

  As I started to pick up the books on the floor, I heard a noise from somewhere else in the house.

  "Mom?" I called.

  No answer.

  I opened the door to my room and tiptoed out to the kitchen.

  "Mom? Is that you?"

  A crash thundered from the bathroom, the door flew open and someone came tearing out. The intruder pushed passed me, covering his face as he ran out the sliding doors at the back of the kitchen.

  Calvin, clearly realizing this person should not have been in our house, began to hysterically bark at him.

  The man ran out the doors with Calvin hot on his trail.

  "Calvin!" I yelled as I took after them both.

  I ran out the door just in time to see the man jump over the bushes that separated us from the row of houses on the next street.

  Calvin was far too small to jump over the bushes himself, but he continued to bark furiously in the direction of the intruder.

  The intruder, I could not help notice, had been wearing a beige trench coat, just like the man who was watching me at the library. It did not take me long to realize what the man was looking for. He was clearly after the treasure map.

  CHAPTER TEN

  "What do you mean there was a man in the house?" Mom yelled.

  Twenty minutes had passed and she and Ethan had returned home. We were standing in the kitchen along with Officer Orzabal. As soon as I'd come back inside, I'd called the police, even before calling my mother to tell her to come home.

  "Who was he?"

  "I don't know. I came home, went to my room and noticed it looked like someone had gone through some things. When I went into the kitchen, the man pushed passed me and ran out the back door. Calvin tried to chase him, but he didn't catch him."

  "You've got yourself a regular little police dog," Officer Orzabal said.

  "Yeah," I replied. "He's pretty good at catching criminals, but not this time."

  "Aarrgh," said Calvin, slumping to the floor, clearly disappointed that he hadn't caught the intruder.

  "You're sure you're okay?" Mom said to me.

  "I'm fine, really."

  "What was he looking for?"

  "That's what we're trying to figure out," said Officer Orzabal. "From what we can see, nothing was taken from the house. Your jewelry wasn't touched, and neither was your laptop. And since both were in plain view, he would not have had any trouble finding them. And for some reason he seemed to be concentrating on Cora's room."

  My Mom threw up her hands. "Why would he want to search through the room of an eleven-year-old girl?"

  "Maybe he likes Nancy Drew books," joked the Officer.

  "Cora," my Mom said, ignoring the Officer's attempt at making a joke. "Do you know what he might have been looking for?"

  "No," I lied. "I can't think of anything." I couldn't help but think of the treasure map that was safely tucked away in my knapsack, but decided not to say anything in case the police decided to take the map. Luckily the intruder hadn't noticed it sitting beside the front door.

  "Well," said Officer Orzabal, "here's my card if you think of anything. I'm going to drive around the neighborhood for a while in case I see anything suspicious. Call me at the first sign of anything strange."

  My mother took the card from his outstretched hand. "Thank you," she said, "I will. And tomorrow, we're getting a security system installed."

  "Have a good night, try not to let this bother you too much," said the Officer as he left our house.

  "Isn't that a laugh?" said Mom. "How could we not let this bother us? Someone broke into our home!"

  "I'm sure it was just random," I said. "They were looking for something and didn't find it, so they moved on. I'm sure it's done now."

  "I hope you're right, Cora, because I don't feel safe right now."

  Mom turned and went into the kitchen, locking the sliding doors with great force. She took a broom from the kitchen cupboard and wedged it into the doorframe for extra support.

  "I'm going to start cooking dinner now," she said.

  "Okay," I replied. "I'm just going to tidy up a bit."

  I returned to my room and stared at the mess on the floor, still feeling guilty for lying. Not only had I lied to my Mom, I'd lied to a police officer! I'm pretty sure lying to the police is a punishable offense, but lying to Mom carries a much harsher punishment!

  Calvin sniffed around the room and growled a little as he detected the scent of the intruder.

  "I know, Calvin. Don't worry, we'll find out who he is."

  Sitting on the edge of my stripped bed, I took out the map again. The red X was clearly marked over some hills or mountains, but the blue line that pointed from the red X and led to the scramble of letters over the torn half of the page clearly had something important to do with the treasure.

  I had to find the other half of the map.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  That night when I returned home, a truck marked 'Bulletproof Security Agency' was parked in the driveway.

  Inside, Mom was grilling the poor little man from Bulletproof on whether or not their product lived up to their name. "Do you sell electric fences?" she asked. "You know, the kind they have in prisons?"

  "Mom," I interrupted. "I think that's a little extreme."

  "Don't worry Mrs. Flash," said the Bulletproof man, "the system that I have picked out for you is almost as good as having an electric fence. There will be motion sensors on every window and door. No one can come in or out of here without tripping the alarm system. You can also have cameras set up so you can see who is in your house at any time of the day right from your computer or phone."

  "I don't want a camera in my room," I said.

  "No, we don't put them in the rooms, unless you want them," he said. "We just put them on the main entrances and exits, as well as the exterior of the house."

  "I guess that sounds good," said Mom. "Can you do it today?"

  "Absolutely. Let me just get my stuff out of the truck."

  The Bulletproof man left the house to get his materials so he could begin converting our house into Fort Knox.

  Bling! My computer made a noise to alert me that Shelby was sending a video message. I clicked 'connect' and watched my screen fill with a full-size video of Shelby's face.

  "Hi," she said.

  "Hey."

  "I heard what happened. How did you hear about that?"

  "Officer Orzabal ran into my dad at the coffee shop, he told him all about the break in."

  "Why didn't you tell me?"

  "I didn't want anyone to worry," I replied.

  "What do you think they were looking for?"

  I thought
a minute before answering. Shelby Lane had the biggest mouth in school. I knew there was a fifty-fifty chance she would text message everyone within minutes of our conversation ending.

  "You have to promise you won't say anything," I finally said.

  Shelby's eyes lit up like the headlights of a new car. "Of course! I swear!"

  "The other night, when we were at the library, I found a map—or part of one at least."

  "What kind of map?" Her eyes widened even more than before, which I would have not thought possible.

  "I'm not sure. But it has a big red X on it."

  "It's a treasure map!" she squealed. "You found a treasure map!"

  "I don't know for sure that it's a treasure map, or if it's even real. And besides, half the map is missing."

  "Do you know who has the other half of the map?"

  "No."

  She gasped. "And you think the person who broke into your house is the person who has the other half of the map?"

  "I'm beginning to think so. Why else would someone break into my house and not bother with anything valuable? They only searched my room, and since I had the map with me, there was nothing to be found."

  "Cora, you need to tell the police about the map!"

  I shook my head. "Not just yet. I have to see if I can find out who has the other half before I tell anyone."

  "I don't think that is a very good idea," she said, "but if you go searching for it, I want to come with you."

  "Of course. I'm going to go now. I have some things to do."

  I told my Mom I was taking Calvin for a long walk, but I would be back in a while. I made sure to take my cell phone in case she panicked and wanted to know exactly where I was.

  I ended up down by the waterfront, so I could take some pictures of the river for my project. As I stood by the docks, with Calvin at my side, a voice spoke from beside me. "Well hello there."

  I turned around to see a fisherman in his full gear. He looked just like the man on the box of frozen fish sticks that my mom bought for Ethan.

  "Hi there," I said.

  "Aarf!" said Calvin, introducing himself.

  "You're the Flash girl, aren't you?" he said.

  "Yes, I am." Apparently he knew my parents.

  "I'm Gerald Pape. Your dad used to work for me in the summers to make some cash when he was in school."

  I'd never pictured my father as a fisherman before, so I found this piece of trivia very amusing. "I never knew that. Was he any good?"

  "Nah, not really, but he was an extra pair of hands, and that's what mattered. What are you doing down here by yourself?"

  "Aargh," growled Calvin, offended at having been left out.

  "Not by yourself, then," corrected Gerald. "What are you doing here with your dog?"

  As if satisfied with Gerald's new question, Calvin settled down at my feet.

  "I'm doing a project for school," I answered. "About shipping routes."

  "Ah, well they don't ship much here anymore. All the industry is gone."

  "That's what I've learned."

  "Even the fishing has mostly disappeared. I'm one of the only guys around here now, and some days I wonder if I should pack it in." Gerald seemed saddened by the thought of giving up his livelihood. He lowered his head and started kicking the side of his left boot with the other foot.

  "I'm sure things will pick up," I said. I was not exactly sure what I meant by that, but my dad would often say that to local businessmen when they were telling him how slow business was.

  "Were there ever any... pirates around here?" I asked.

  Gerald laughed. "Pirates? Good heavens, no. Not around here."

  "Oh," I said, disappointed.

  "I know pirates are very exciting to folks your age, but they were a dangerous bunch in their day. Many people lost their lives to the sword of a pirate."

  "I just thought there might have been some here because of all the shipping."

  "No, I'm afraid not. All of the industry here was established long after the time that any pirates would have been around. Although they would have had quite a bounty in this area, there was a lot of gold that was taken through this river."

  "Gold?"

  "That's right. There were a number of gold mines up river, four or five of them I believe. There's nothing left in them now, but there was quite a bit of it for a time. The gold would have been transported by ship along the river, right through here. Millions of dollars' worth."

  "Did any of it go missing?" I asked.

  "There was a story," he began, "about one of the ships disappearing. In the middle of the night, the ship vanished. Not sure if it sank, or if it changed course and got lost, but it was never heard of again."

  "And the gold was never found?"

  "Not as far as I know. I think they believed the crew purposely changed course and ended up somewhere else far away from here, keeping the gold to themselves."

  "That's interesting," I said.

  "Will that help your project?" Gerald asked.

  "Yes, it certainly will!"

  Even though I only had one half of the treasure map, at least I knew what I was looking for.

  A boatload of gold. That certainly sounded like a lost treasure to me.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  That night at dinner, I decided to quiz Mom about her first case at her new job. "Any developments on your case?"

  "Nothing interesting. I've interviewed five of the eight passengers, and they all have notes from their doctor and therapists, all with proper documentation. So far no evidence of fraud."

  "You sound disappointed," I said.

  "I am, a little. Isn't that terrible? I was hoping there would be a fraud claim that I discovered, and saved the company some money."

  "That would make you look good."

  "Yes, and I want to make a good impression," she said. "It's a new job and I want to do well."

  I noticed a file folder on the dining table with the label, "NUMBER 17 BUS, WATER ST."

  "Is that the bus accident file?" I asked.

  "Yes, I have to review it again after dinner."

  "Can I take a look through it?" I wasn't sure she'd let me, but decided to take a shot anyway.

  "I don't know, it's privileged information. I could get in trouble."

  I looked around the room. "The only other person in the room is Ethan," I said looking at my brother in his highchair. He was busy throwing carrots on the ground, which Calvin eagerly gobbled up. "I think you're safe here, Mom."

  "Okay, I suppose."

  Mom cleared the dinner table as I began to look through the notes she'd taken in her interviews.

  "Your handwriting is really messy," I said. "Mr. Levine would make you do writing exercises if he saw this."

  "Just read," she said, loading the dishwasher.

  I started to scan the medical files of each of the people and couldn't help notice the same name come up a few times.

  "Mom," I said. "Three of these people you have interviewed have the same doctor. Dr. Crawley signed the medical certificates for all but two of these people."

  "Really?" she said, wiping her hands and coming over to the table. "Let me see that."

  I gave her the papers and watched a puzzled look appear on her face.

  "Well how do you like that? It sounds like you may have found something."

  "It seems like an awful coincidence that three of the victims have the same doctor, doesn't it?"

  Mom's expression turned to one of uncertainty. "Maybe not," she said. "This is not a very big town, so it could be possible. Especially if the bus they were travelling on passed by the area where the doctor's office is located."

  "It sounds like you have some investigating to do," I said.

  "It sure does."

  She wasn't the only one who had some investigating ahead of her that evening. I had to find out more about that missing boat full of gold.

  As soon as I was finished cleaning the counter and wiping off the table, I
hurried to my room and started to research the gold.

  I searched for anything that had to do with 'gold' or 'boat' 'river' 'missing' but couldn't find very much. I found many other stories of boats that went missing, or rivers that had gold in them, but not in a way that would help me.

  Just as I was about to give up, I found an article about a woman who'd been married to one of the sailors on the boat. A journalist had interviewed her shortly after the gold disappeared. Someone had scanned it and uploaded a picture of it on a website all about missing money.

  It was hard to make out all of the words, as the article was old and hadn't scanned very well. I strained to read some of the contents of the interview:

  Evening Star: Mrs. Gordon, do you think there was a mutiny on board? Was the gold stolen by one or more of the crewmembers?

  Maggie: Lyle would have told me if there were others on the boat who were looking to steal that gold. He wouldn't have just disappeared with it.

  Evening Star: It has been almost a year since the S.S. Guppy disappeared. Have you heard anything from Lyle?

  Maggie: I certainly have not. I know what people are saying, that he and the rest of the crew took the gold and ran off somewhere, but I don't believe it. I think the boat sank, and they were lost at sea. It pains me to think of all of those men, good men, dying that way, but I can't believe it happened any other way.

  With the one-year passing of the disappearance of the S.S. Guppy, authorities have officially called off the search for the missing boat, its men and cargo. Maggie still holds out hope that one day her husband Lyle will return, with or without the gold.

  I printed the article in case I needed to refer back to it, wondering what ever became of Maggie and Lyle Gordon.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  "Will you come with me?" I asked Shelby the next day at school.

  "Who is this person again?"

  I repeated the story of the missing boat and Maggie and Lyle Gordon. I told her that with a little bit of Internet research, I'd managed to track down Maggie Gordon and wanted to visit her to see if she knew anything about the missing boat.

  "I'm going to go by her house on my way home from school. She might know something about the treasure."