After that, the others seemed much more willing to give it a try. Adam went next, followed by Deirdre, Frankie, Robin, and George.
“Guess that means I’m on deck,” Bess said, standing up and brushing off her shorts as Hildy started climbing the platform. “Will you be okay until I get back?”
“I’m fine. Go on and have fun.” As Bess hurried off, I noticed Poppy wandering over to stand in the shade nearby. “Are you going to take a turn?” I called to her, trying to sound friendly.
She stepped toward me. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. The dark glasses still hid her expression, but her voice belied her nervousness. “After what happened to you...”
I just nodded, not really interested in talking about zip-lining. Once I’d realized that Poppy might not have rejoined us for lunch earlier, I couldn’t stop wondering what she’d been doing for so long. Had she really spent the whole time in the bathroom? Or could she have sneaked out — maybe to mess with that zip line? For all I knew, that other mystery figure was a red herring, and the true culprit was someone from our group.
“I noticed you left for a while during lunch,” I said, doing my best to keep my voice casual and concerned. “I hope your stomach wasn’t bothering you or something.”
“What?” Poppy had turned to watch Bess start the climb up the platform. But now she jerked her head toward me again. “Um, you did? I mean, yes. I wasn’t feeling too well.” She let out a short laugh. “Sorry, it’s just a little embarrassing.”
I nodded, trying to look sympathetic. But my mind was racing. Poppy definitely seemed nervous. Was it really embarrassment, or was she hiding something?
We both turned to watch Bess leap off the platform and glide through the air overhead. As Sarene stepped forward for her turn, I turned my attention back to Poppy.
But before I could figure out how to continue my questioning, a voice shouted her name. It was Adam. He’d just returned from his glide down the mountainside.
“That was awesome!” he exclaimed, bolting over to us. “You’ve got to try it, babe. What a rush!”
“I don’t know.” Poppy frowned. “I’m not really in the mood.”
“Aw, come on.” He tugged at her arm. “Don’t be like that, okay? Just think about it...”
The two of them wandered off together. I shook my head, sensing the start of yet another argument.
Just then Sara hurried toward me. “Hi, Nancy,” she said in her soft voice. “I wanted to check on you. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Are you going to take a turn on the zip line?”
Sara shuddered. “No, not today.”
“Have you done it before?”
“Yes, many times.” She nodded. “But it seems different now somehow.”
I couldn’t help feeling sorry for her. She seemed even more shaken than Poppy or any of the others. “Different?” I said.
She hesitated, glancing up as Sarene glided past overhead. Then she shrugged. “It’s silly, I guess,” she mumbled so quietly that I had to lean forward to hear her. “It’s just, well...”
Once again, she paused. “Yes?” I prompted, curious now. Did she know something she was afraid to say?
Finally she looked up and met my eye. “I just wonder,” she said. “Do you think — could Casa Verde be — be cursed? With all that has happened...”
“Cursed?” I echoed. “What do you mean?”
“It is supposed to be a wonderful place for green living and fun and beauty,” Sara said. “But maybe it is not meant to be that way.”
“What do you mean?” I asked again, suddenly flashing back to what Phyllis had said. “Are you talking about the stuff Juliana did? Or is there something else? Maybe rumors that Casa Verde isn’t as ‘green’ as it’s supposed to be?”
Sara bit her lip and stared at the greenery all around us. I waited, holding my breath. Did she know something?
Before she could speak, Alicia called her name. “Excuse me,” Sara murmured, turning and rushing off toward her boss.
I slumped down, disappointed. Had Sara been about to tell me something important? Or was she just upset by witnessing my fall after everything else that had happened lately?
I had no idea. But I was going to do my best to find out.
I didn’t have another chance to speak privately with Sara before we left the zip line place. In fact, by the time the bus dropped us off in front of the resort, I hadn’t found out much more at all. If anybody had a sense of who might have messed with that zip line, they weren’t saying.
“Oh well,” I said with a sigh as my friends and I entered our room. “I guess I can try to talk to people again at dinner. But I’m starting to wonder if we’re going to be able to solve this in the next day and a half.”
“Never mind that,” Bess said, setting her bag down on a table. “I’m just glad we’re all back safely.”
“Me too.” I slung my own bag onto my bed. It fell open, and I noticed a slip of paper inside. “Hey, what’s that?”
“What’s what?” George kicked off her shoes and flopped down onto her own bed.
“This.” I plucked the paper out of the bag and let out a gasp. “It’s another note!”
I showed it to my friends. It was written in the same block letters as all the others. This one was short and sweet, consisting of a single word:
DEEPER.
TIME IS RUNNING OUT
The next morning I woke up stiff and a little sore, my body’s delayed reaction to the fall from the zip line. Every time I moved, I was reminded of how close I’d come to being badly injured or killed the day before. Who would be willing to go that far to make his or her point? It was hard to imagine any of our suspects doing something as serious as sabotaging the zip line. Well, except maybe Phyllis — we didn’t know her well enough yet to judge her character, and she did seem kind of unhinged.
“I just can’t stop thinking about it,” I confessed to my friends at breakfast after Bess had to ask three times for me to pass the sugar. “What if the line hadn’t broken when it did? Or what if someone else had gone first — maybe Robin?”
“But it didn’t, and they didn’t,” George pointed out. “And come to think of it, that second part was no accident.”
Bess pursed her lips thoughtfully. “She’s right, Nancy. The director pretty much insisted that you go first!”
I had to admit that the fall had wiped that fact out of my mind until now. “Is that suspicious?” I wondered. “It’s definitely a little odd. Why me?”
“Well, he said it was because you were right for the test shot,” Bess said. “Which is true — you look like Kat, although she’s a little taller than you. But if they only needed a blond stand-in, they could’ve just as easily picked me. My hair is closer to Kat’s color than yours is.”
“True.” I touched my strawberry blond hair, glancing over at Kat’s platinum tresses at the next table. “And come to think of it, that Michaels guy was on the phone right before he asked me to go. Maybe I should talk to him — see if whoever he was talking to suggested he send me up first.”
George’s eyes widened. “You think someone could be targeting you now?”
“Maybe. What if someone’s figured out I’m investigating this whole mess?” I shot a look at Frankie, who was loudly holding court across the dining room. “It’s not like that’s a big secret, thanks to certain people.”
Bess grimaced. “True,” she agreed. “Maybe whoever it is thinks you’re getting a little too close to some answers.”
“But why would that director guy listen to a random person?” George protested, reaching for another slice of toast. “I mean, if you’re talking about Juliana or whoever...”
“Why not?” Bess argued. “He’s the assistant director, remember? He’s used to taking orders. Besides, Juliana is the boss’s niece.” She shrugged. “Anyway, it’s worth checking out.”
“Definitely,” I said. “It’s not as if we have a lot of other leads right now.”
We hastily finished eating, then headed out to look for the assistant director. Just outside the dining room we ran into Hildy, who told us she’d seen the crew heading off down the main path through the resort.
“Come on,” I said to my friends as we went in that direction ourselves. “Let’s see if Mr. Michaels is with them.”
George nodded. “Okay. But I — hey, is that Sara?”
Bess and I looked where she was pointing. Just ahead, the young woman was crouched down over something on the trail. When she heard us coming and glanced up, I saw that her face was covered in tears.
“What’s wrong?” Bess cried, rushing forward.
“Don’t come too close! I’m trying to keep it calm until Alicia gets back.” Sara sniffled and moved aside a little.
That was when we all saw the bright red parrot lying on the ground in front of her. Its beautiful plumage was in disarray, and there were several deep-looking cuts on its wings and back. The bird was clacking slowly in distress as Sara held it down.
“Oh, wow,” George said. “What is that, some kind of parrot?”
“It’s a lapa roja,” Sara said. “Um, I mean...” She paused, obviously too upset to think clearly in English.
“A scarlet macaw?” Bess guessed.
Sara nodded gratefully. “Yes, that’s right. They are very endangered in the wild.”
“What do you think happened to it?” I asked, eyeing the wounds.
Sara stared at the bird, seeming uncertain how to answer. Just then Alicia appeared behind her. She was out of breath and carrying a large wire cage.
“Got it,” she called to Sara. Glancing at us, she nodded a quick hello. Then she set the cage down and opened the hinged top.
“Is it going to be okay?” Bess asked.
“I hope so,” Alicia said grimly. “We need to get it back to the office so we can medicate it and get a better look at its wounds.”
“How did it get hurt?” George asked.
Alicia shrugged. “It was already down when Sara found it. Maybe it had a run-in with a predator, or more likely got tangled in the wind turbines.”
“Really?” I couldn’t help being a bit dubious. Admittedly I wasn’t a veterinarian or any other kind of bird expert. But those injuries looked more like wire cuts to me than anything else. Would a wind turbine cause that type of wound?
Alicia was bending down to help Sara grab the bird. As soon as Alicia touched it, it let out a squawk and kicked out at her with its curved claws.
“Careful!” Sara exclaimed.
“Rats,” Alicia muttered. “Just realized I forgot to grab my gloves.” She glanced up at us again. “Listen, could one of you do me a favor?” “Anything,” I said immediately.
“There’s a pair of heavy leather gloves lying around in the vet hut somewhere.” The biologist waved a hand back the way she’d come. “Should be either on the examining table or somewhere nearby.”
“I’m on it.”
I took off in the direction of the veterinary hut. It wasn’t far, and soon I was pushing through the front door, which was standing partially ajar.
The gloves weren’t on the exam table, so I glanced around the room. I didn’t spot the gloves right away, but I did notice something else.
What’s that? I thought, stepping around the table and staring at something on one of the counters.
It was a ragged piece of material that looked like thick, stiff cardboard — or maybe more like leather. My mind flashed to that missing chunk from the leatherback turtle’s shell. This looked about the right size and shape to be that missing piece. But how had it ended up here?
Did Alicia or Sara find it somewhere on the grounds and pick it up? I wondered. Or could one or both of them be involved in what happened?
Just then I spied the gloves sitting on another counter nearby. I grabbed them and took off, my mind spinning with what I’d just seen.
Once Alicia had her gloves, it didn’t take long for her and Sara to lower the injured macaw into the cage. The two of them headed off, carrying the cage carefully between them, and my friends and I headed the other way.
As soon as I was sure we were out of earshot, I told Bess and George about the leathery chunk. They were just as surprised and confused as I was.
“Could either of them really be involved?” Bess exclaimed. “They seem so nice — and so dedicated to animals and the environmental mission here!”
“I know. But that’s exactly the point.” I shrugged. “What if they’ve discovered that those Internet rumors are right? What if Casa Verde isn’t as green as it claims? Maybe they want to expose that.” I glanced over my shoulder in the direction the pair had gone. “I mean, that bird didn’t look like it had tangled with a wind turbine to me. If this place is supposed to be such a well-designed, eco-friendly reserve, what would injure it like that?”
“Well, it could’ve been a predator like Alicia said.” George seemed thoughtful. “But I wonder if —”
She clammed up so suddenly that I looked over at her in surprise. When I did, I saw that Frankie had just appeared behind us.
“Hello, hello!” she greeted us, hurrying to catch up. “What are you three up to?”
She sounded suspicious. Had she overheard part of our conversation?
I decided to play dumb. “We were just wandering around looking for the film crew,” I said. “We thought it would be fun to watch them do their thing.”
“Oh.” She still looked a little skeptical. “I just saw them over by the botanical display garden.”
“Thanks! See you later.” I turned and hurried off with my friends right behind me.
Luckily, Frankie didn’t follow us. And a few minutes later, we found the film crew exactly where she’d said they were. Unfortunately, the assistant director wasn’t with them. The main director, Harvey, was watching as Kat, Deirdre, and Pretty Boy frolicked among the flowers. Well, Kat and Deirdre were frolicking, anyway. Pretty Boy was mostly snapping at bugs or trying to eat the plants.
“Hi,” I said, walking over to Harvey. “Where’s your second in command today?”
The director shot me a surprised look, as if wondering who exactly I was and why I was speaking to him. “Michaels?” he said. “He’s in San Jose this morning. Meeting with someone from Green Solutions HQ.”
My heart sank. So much for questioning the assistant director!
Rejoining my friends, I filled them in. “Bummer,” George said. “Guess there’s no point hanging around here, then. Not unless we want to watch Deirdre and company make even bigger fools of themselves, that is.”
“Let’s not and say we did,” Bess said.
I nodded. “Maybe we should try talking to Enrique. He seemed really upset about what happened with the zip line. It’s possible he knows more than he was letting on.”
I knew it was a long shot — the taciturn chef hadn’t exactly been willing to open up to us so far. But I was running out of ideas as well as time.
We wandered back into the main building. Breakfast had ended some time ago, however, and the kitchen was deserted.
“No Enrique,” Bess said. “Want to see if Cristobal knows where he is?”
“I have a better idea.” George was staring hungrily across the room at Enrique’s computer.
I shot a quick look around. There was still nobody in sight. “Go for it,” I said. “But be careful!”
George hurried over and sat down at the computer. Bess and I stood behind her, by turns watching her work and keeping an eye out for anyone passing by.
George started surfing some travel sites on the Web. Within minutes she’d pulled up information on all the flights and buses around Costa Rica.
“Here we go,” she said, tapping the screen. “Looks like someone by Phyllis’s name did fly into San Jose the day before yesterday from someplace called Puerto Limon.”
“I think that’s a town on the Caribbean side,” Bess said. “Just as she said.”
I nodded, shooting a look over my shoulder. The sound of voices was drifting in from the direction of the main lobby. It was only a matter of time before Cristobal or someone else walked past the kitchen door and saw us in there.
“Let’s leave it at that,” I whispered. “We don’t want to get caught in here.”
“Hang on.” George was already clicking through to a different site. “I just want to check on some of the stuff she was saying about Green Solutions.”
Soon she’d found several different blogs criticizing the company. Most of them also mentioned Casa Verde. We didn’t have time to do more than skim, but the gist seemed to be just as Phyllis had said — that Casa Verde had cut corners to make itself look more green than it really was.
“Interesting!” Bess said. “Looks like Phyllis isn’t completely crazy after all. Or at least she might have been telling the truth about why she’s here.”
I nodded. “Okay, now you’d really better log off before we get caught,” I warned George. “Too bad — I’d love to do a little research on Adam and Poppy, and see if we can figure out what motive either of them might have.”
“I can do a quick search,” George offered, fingers already poised over the keyboard.
“Not now,” Bess whispered. “Let’s get out of here. Maybe we can borrow Frankie’s laptop later or something.”
“Yeah, right.” I rolled my eyes. “Only if we tell her everything we know and promise to give her full credit if we ever do figure things out.”
George chuckled and moved the mouse to click off. But then she paused. “Hey,” she said, staring at something on the screen. “What’s this?”
She clicked an icon that had been minimized in the corner. It enlarged and filled the screen.
“Looks like it’s just Enrique’s e-mail in-box.” Bess shot another glance over her shoulder. “Close it and come on — I think I hear someone coming!”
But George was already clicking on one of the e-mails. “Check it out,” she said. “Think this is one of those love letters Juliana told us about?”
Despite my anxiety about being caught, I couldn’t resist a closer look. “Doesn’t look like it,” I said. “This isn’t addressed to Virginia. It’s to someone named Cassandra Samuels.”
“Close that right now!” Bess sounded scandalized. “We shouldn’t be reading his private e-mails!”
George ignored her, clicking on another note. “‘Dearest Cassandra,’” she read. “‘My beloved, I cannot wait until the moment when I can see your beautiful face again....’ Yep, definitely love letters! And definitely not to Virginia!”
“Unless they set up secret names in case Cristobal came across the messages or something,” I suggested. “They could do that, right?”
“Sure.” George shrugged. “All they’d have to do is set up a separate e-mail account under the fake name. But why disguise her name and not his?”
“And why write to each other in English rather than Spanish?” Bess pointed out.
“Is there a way to find out where these e-mails are going and coming from?” I asked George.
“I can try to trace the ISP.” George leaned forward. But before she could do anything, we heard footsteps in the doorway.
“Hey!” Enrique exclaimed from behind us. “What are you girls doing in here?”
AMONG THE PREDATORS
We all stared at the chef for a second, like deer caught in the headlights. George was the first one to recover.
“Sports scores,” she blurted out. “We were, uh, just checking on how our favorite team did yesterday.”
Enrique stared at her. “Oh,” he said.
I winced, waiting for him to ask what team or sport or score she was talking about. But he didn’t, instead he just glanced toward the computer screen.
Shooting a quick look that way myself, I was relieved to see that George had clicked away from the e-mails. Had he seen what we were looking at before she did? I hoped not.
“Sorry,” Bess spoke up in her tactful way. “We were going to ask if we could borrow your computer for a sec, but since nobody was here, we didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Of course not,” Enrique muttered. However, he still looked a little suspicious as he politely shooed us out of the kitchen.
Outside we hurried away around a corner. “That was close!” Bess said. “Do you think he suspects what we were doing?”
“Probably not. I just hope he’s not computer-savvy enough to trace back and see what we were looking at.” I glanced at George.
She shrugged. “He doesn’t seem like the type. But you never know.”
Just then we heard Cristobal calling for attention out in the main lobby. Heading that way, we saw that most of the other guests were already gathered there.
“The bus will be leaving for the crocodile tour right after lunch,” Cristobal announced.
“Crocodile tour?” Robin clapped her hands, looking excited. “That sounds cool!”
“It does sound kind of cool,” George said to Bess and me. “Are we going?”
I sighed. “Why not? We’re certainly not learning anything useful around here.”
“I think Enrique still suspects we were up to something this morning,” Bess whispered to George and me. “I just saw him shoot us a funny look.”
The three of us were in a large flat-bottomed boat floating down a wide, slowmoving river. Most of the other Casa Verde guests were on board as well, though Sarene had again chosen to stay behind at the resort. Enrique was once more leading the tour in his brother’s place, and once more seemed less than thrilled about it. Alicia and Sara were also there, along with the entire film crew, including the assistant director, who had returned from San José just in time to join us. Kat and Deirdre were taking full advantage of being trapped in a small space with the crew, vamping and prancing for the cameras for all they were worth.
“Watch out,” Adam called out as Kat held Pretty Boy up near the edge of the boat to look at a toucan perched in a tree on the shore. “You’d better keep a tight hold on that dog. Looks like crocodile bait to me!”
Kat shot him an incensed look and immediately pulled Pretty Boy in closer. “What a horrible thing to say!” she cried. Then she buried her face in the dog’s fur. Or rather, the polka-dotted sunbonnet currently covering it. “Don’t pay him any mind, baby.”
“Speaking of crocodiles,” Alicia spoke up, “if you’ll all look over the left stern, you can see a couple of them now.”
“Really? Let me see!” Frankie hurried closer. She snapped a few photos with a fancy-looking camera. “Wow, my editors are going to eat this up!”
Robin gasped and pointed. “Look! There it is, Mom! Oh, wait — it just went under the water.”
“Don’t worry,” Sara told the little girl with a smile. “There’s a spot farther upriver where we’re almost guaranteed to see plenty of crocodiles.”
Hildy chuckled. “A real croc hangout, eh?”
“Something like that,” Sara agreed. “And even if they’re acting shy, we brought along some chum we can use to attract them or bring them closer to the boat.”
She gestured toward a few buckets sitting at the back of the boat. I’d glimpsed into them earlier, just long enough to see that they contained bloody, fly-encrusted chunks of meat.
“Aw, man!” Adam called out. “You mean that’s not a snack for us?”
He laughed loudly at his own joke, though only a few of the others chuckled along politely. I’d already noticed that he seemed to be in an especially good mood that day, though Poppy was her normal quiet, reserved self.
The boat’s operator continued steering up the river. As we drifted lazily along, Alicia pointed out various species of birds flying overhead or perched on shore, along with the occasional monkey, sloth, deer, or ocelot. We also saw a few more crocodiles, though they mostly ducked underwater when they heard the boat coming. It was an interesting tour with tons of gorgeous scenery and some truly fascinating wildlife, but I couldn’t help being distracted. We would be heading home tomorrow, and I was still no closer to figuring out who was leaving those notes — and why.
Still, I did my best to enjoy myself, trying to remember that I might never have the opportunity to visit Costa Rica again. Even so, I never quite stopped thinking about the case. When I found myself at the back of the boat with Alicia, I decided to take advantage of the semiprivate moment to ask her about that chunk of turtle shell I’d seen in the vet hut.
Alicia was leaning back, her elbow propped on the low edge of the boat. She squinted up at me. “Oh, yes,” she said casually after she heard my question. “Sara found that in the mud outside the main building. We figure it must have torn off while whoever put that turtle there was trying to get it inside. We’re going to drop it off at the restaurant the next time either of us is in town. They should be able to glue it back on.”
“That’s good,” I said automatically. The biologist’s story made perfect sense.
Maybe that chunk of shell isn’t a clue after all, I told myself uncertainly. Unless Alicia’s lying, that is.
I shot her a look. She’d tilted her face back and closed her eyes, smiling and seeming to enjoy the feel of the sun on her skin. She certainly didn’t look like a woman with something to hide....
There was a sudden commotion at the front of the boat. Alicia’s eyes snapped open and she sat up. “Oh, good,” she said. “We’re here.”
“Where?” I asked, but she was already standing up and hurrying to the middle of the boat.
I stood up too. The boat was gliding into a lovely, still, open section of water. Birds were chirping and monkeys were calling in the trees along the shore. Everyone was oohing and aahing at the beautiful sight.
“Okay, people,” Alicia began cheerfully as the operator cut the motor, allowing the boat to drift to a stop. “If you’d like to turn and look to the east —”
“Excuse me,” Adam broke in, jumping to his feet. “Sorry to interrupt. But I just can’t wait any longer to do this.”
“Do what?” Frankie called out.
Adam ignored her. Stepping over to Poppy, he dropped dramatically to one knee, grabbing her hand. “My darling,” he intoned. “This trip together has made me realize that I can’t imagine life without you. Would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Please, babe?”
Poppy just goggled at him for a moment. She looked surprised but also kind of annoyed. Finally she burst into tears.
“I told you not to do this!” she cried. “I’ve been trying to tell you, I don’t care how romantic a story this would make. You know I’m just not ready!”
A few people had gasped or let out exclamations during Adam’s proposal. But now everyone on the boat went silent, with nobody seeming to know where to look or what to do.
“Awk. Ward,” George murmured, sidling up beside me.
Poppy had yanked her hand away from Adam and was glaring at him through her tears. He was glaring back.
“I can’t believe you’re embarrassing me like this!” he hissed. “What more do I have to do?”
“How about listening to me for a change?” she exclaimed.
There was more, but like everyone else, I was doing my best not to listen. That was no easy task on a boat that suddenly felt way too small and crowded. In any case, I now understood the couple’s weird behavior. It didn’t have anything to do with the mystery. Just an ardent would-be groom and a not-yet-ready-to-be-a bride with cold feet.
That explains all the arguments and tenseness between them, I thought ruefully. It probably even explains why Poppy disappeared into the bathroom for so long yesterday. She was probably crying or something — now that I think of it, she kept her sunglasses on for the rest of the trip, even while she was in the shade, probably trying to hide her red eyes....
“Never mind, you two,” Bess spoke up at last, stepping forward to put a comforting hand on Poppy’s arm. “It’s clear to everyone here that you guys love each other. Maybe you just need a little more time to work things out, hmm?”
“Or maybe I need better taste in men,” Poppy snapped, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand.
“Babe!” Adam protested, looking stricken.
“There, there.” By now Hildy had hurried forward to join Bess. She patted Poppy’s arm, shooting Adam a sympathetic look. “Let’s not say anything we don’t mean...”
She and Bess steered them both toward the back of the boat, still murmuring soothingly. “Wow,” George said as she watched. “That was crazy.”
Deirdre was standing close enough to hear her. “He was probably just trying to get into the ad,” she said with a sniff. “Some people will do anything for their fifteen minutes of fame!”
I poked George hard in the ribs before she could respond. This was no time to add one of their sniping matches to the mix. “Anyway,” I said loudly, “what were you about to say before, Alicia?”
Alicia cleared her throat, looking relieved. “I was just going to tell you all to take a look over there if you want a closer view of some crocs,” she said. “See? There’s one there, and another right there...”
When I looked the way she was pointing, I gasped. A couple of large crocodiles were floating just a few yards off one side of the boat!
“Look, there are more over there!” George exclaimed, jabbing her finger ahead of us.
“She’s right!” Robin cried. “They’re all around us!”
“Creepy,” Kat declared, hugging Pretty Boy closer.
She had a point. It was a little eerie to look out there and realize that we were completely surrounded by dozens of the huge, prehistoric-looking predators floating silently in the murky water. But it was kind of cool at the same time.
