The Ninth Nugget Read online

  Jud thundered up the steps and banged on the door. “Fiona? It’s Jud Wheat. Are you all right?”

  When he heard no answer, Jud opened the door and stepped inside. “Oh my … someone go get Ma, quick!” Jud yelled over his shoulder. Ruth Rose barreled off the porch and raced toward the main house.

  Dink peeked past Jud. Fiona was tied in a chair with a gag tied over her mouth, just like Lulu.

  Dink grabbed Josh’s arm. “Let’s go check Ed!” he cried.

  Dink and Josh ran to Ed’s cabin. “Mr. Getz?” Dink called. “Are you okay?”

  When no answer came, Dink opened the door. Ed Getz was lying on his bed. A scarf was covering his mouth. His hands were behind his back.

  Dink untied the scarf and pulled it away.

  “Thanks!” Ed said. “I thought I’d be here all day!”

  He nodded toward his closet. “There’s a gym bag in there. Look for a small box. Inside is a key. The guy used my own handcuffs on me!”

  Josh found the key. When Ed sat up, Dink and Josh saw that his hands had been cuffed to the iron bed board. Josh used the key, and the handcuffs popped open.

  “What happened?’ Dink said. “They tied up Fiona and Lulu, too!’

  “Yeah, and the rat stole my gold nugget!” Josh said.

  Dink noticed that Ed’s foot was tightly wrapped in a bandage. A pair of crutches was leaning against the bed.

  “I was fooling around with my handcuffs, preparing to show you guys some tricks at dinner,” Ed said. “All of a sudden, someone dressed in black burst in here. Before I could move, he cuffed me to the bed and tied this scarf around my face.”

  Ed shook his hands and rubbed his wrists. ’Boy, those things were tight!”

  “Can you walk?” Dink asked. “Pa called the sheriff. We should probably all meet in the office.”

  Ed propped himself up and stood on his good foot. Josh handed Ed the crutches, which he slid under his arms. Holding his bandaged foot off the floor, he took a hop, then another.

  “Let’s go,” Ed said. “Don’t walk too close to me. If I fall, I don’t want to land on you.”

  With Dink and Josh leading, the three of them moved down the path toward the main house. Up ahead, Ruth Rose, Ma Wheat, and Fiona were standing with a man on the porch.

  In the driveway, a few chickens were pecking the tires on a green-and-white car. The word SHERIFF was printed on the door.

  Everyone crowded into the office. While the sheriff took notes on a pad, Lulu repeated her story. Fiona and Ed broke in to add details.

  “So the way I understand it’s the sheriff said, “some man or woman dressed in black tied each of you up. Then he or she opened the safe and stole a hunk of gold. Is that about it?”

  “Could it have been some stranger, someone just passing through?” Ma Wheat asked.

  Lulu shook her head. “You can see a mile in any direction from here, and believe me, I didn’t see a soul.”

  “Maybe some passerby was hiding in the trees,” Pa said. “It had to be a stranger—the robber sure couldn’t be anyone in this room!”

  Dink quickly glanced around the office. Everyone was doing the same thing, looking at everyone else.

  “Lulu,” Ma said, “did you happen to notice how this character got the safe open?”

  “I couldn’t see what he was doing,” Lulu said. “He was crouched down with his back to me, but I did see that he was wearing gloves.”

  The sheriff walked over to the safe. “So we can’t even get fingerprints. I assume the safe was locked. Who knows the combination?”

  “Well, I do, of course,” Pa said. “And Ma—Mrs. Wheat—and our son, Jud. That’s it.”

  The sheriff thanked everyone and headed for the door. He handed Ma Wheat a card. “If any of you think of anything, please call my office.”

  The sheriff looked at Josh. “Sorry you lost your gold, son. I’ll do my best to get it back for you.”

  Josh mumbled, “Thanks.”

  The kids followed the sheriff out of the main house. He waved good-bye and sped down the drive in his cruiser.

  Everyone wandered back to their cabins in a daze. The kids sat down on their front porch.

  “This crook was pretty clever,” Ruth Rose said.

  “What do you mean?” Josh asked. He formed a loop in his rope and aimed for the porch rail post. He missed.

  “I mean the crook made it look like nobody on the ranch could be the robber,” Ruth Rose said. “Seven of us were riding, right? So it couldn’t be any of us. Lulu, Ed, and Fiona were tied up, so it couldn’t be them, either. Ma and Pa went shopping and got back when we did. That’s twelve people with good alibis. So who was the robber? Nobody’s left!”

  Josh sighed and coiled his rope. “You’re close, Ruth Rose,” he said. “But you forgot one little thing. There were only six of us riding—us three, Seth and Bonnie, and Jud.”

  “What about Thumbs?” Dink asked. “He was with us—”

  “OH MY GOSH!” Ruth Rose yelled. “Dink, Josh is right! Thumbs was with us at the end of the ride, but not at the beginning!”

  Josh grinned. “Yep. He could’ve tied up Fiona and Ed after he unsaddled their horses. Then he did the same to Lulu, grabbed the gold, and hotfooted it up to the meadow.”

  “But Thumbs is practically one of the Wheat family,” Dink said. “Why would he rob the ranch?”

  “For the biggest hunk of gold he’s ever seen,” Josh said, tossing his loop at Dink’s foot.

  He missed.

  The kids sat and thought about Thumbs as the thief.

  “I know you don’t like Thumbs,” Dink said to Josh, “but I can’t believe he’d rob the Wheats. Besides, he didn’t know the combination, remember?”

  “Who says?” Josh asked. “If he worked here for years, he could’ve learned it without the Wheats knowing.”

  Dink picked up some pebbles and tossed them into the path. “Maybe it was some stranger,” he said, “like Ma suggested.”

  “I keep thinking about them being tied up and gagged,” Ruth Rose said. “Whoever did it was taking a real chance. What if we all came back from riding in the middle of it all?”

  “That’s another reason I think it was Thumbs,” Josh said. “He knew we wouldn’t be back for a while. And he knew Ma and Pa would be gone at least an hour. Have you guys noticed how he’s always sneaking up behind people?”

  “Guys,” Dink said after a moment, “I wonder why the robber used ropes on Fiona and Lulu but he handcuffed Ed.”

  “Ed told us,” Ruth Rose said. “He had the handcuffs out to practice some tricks. The robber saw the handcuffs and decided to use them.”

  “Maybe,” Dink said.

  “What, do you think Ed was the robber?” Josh asked, grinning. “I can just see him hobbling around, tying up people and cracking safes on crutches.”

  “Unless he was faking,” Ruth Rose said.

  “Faking what?” Josh asked.

  Ruth Rose turned and stared at Dink and Josh. “What if Ed didn’t really hurt his ankle? What if he pretended so he could stay here to rob the safe?”

  “Ruth Rose, Ed was handcuffed and gagged,” Josh commented. “He couldn’t do that to himself, could he?”

  “Well, he is a magician, isn’t he?”

  “Plus,” Josh went on, “Fiona stayed with him. Unless you think she and Ed are partners in crime.”

  “Well, it’s possible, isn’t it?” Ruth Rose asked.

  “I guess it could be any of them,” Dink said. “But how do we prove it?”

  “I still say it was Thumbs,” Josh said after a minute. “He knows a lot about ropes, and I bet he wore gloves so no one would see his missing thumb.”

  “Josh, a lot of people know how to tie knots,” Dink said, “and anyone planning to rob a safe would wear gloves so he wouldn’t leave fingerprints.”

  “Officer Fallon would say, ’Find the proof,’” Ruth Rose said. “So why don’t we look in their cabins?”

  “Fo
r what?” Dink asked.

  “Clues,” Ruth Rose said. “Like the black clothing this guy was wearing.”

  “And my gold!” Josh said. “Whoever took the nugget might’ve hidden it in his room.”

  “Wouldn’t that be breaking and entering?” Dink asked.

  “Just entering,” Ruth Rose said. “All the doors are unlocked, so we wouldn’t be breaking in.”

  Just then the dinner bell clanged.

  Josh dropped his rope and stood up. “Let’s go eat. My brain can’t think when my stomach is empty.”

  They hurried to the dining room. While the adults talked about the robbery, the kids ate, kept quiet, and listened.

  Dink looked around the table at the guests and staff. It seemed unbelievable that one of these people was probably guilty. How could that person sit here and pretend?

  It can’t be any of the Wheats or the Clydes, Dink reminded himself. That leaves Ed, Fiona, Thumbs, and Lulu.

  Dink glanced at Ed, sitting on the other side of the table. His crutches were leaning against the wall. Ed was showing Fiona and Jud a trick using a piece of string.

  Fiona was wearing a black turtleneck shirt over black jeans. Dink could see the red rope marks on her wrists. Was she the thief in black?

  Lulu was bustling back and forth between the kitchen and dining room. Somehow, Dink couldn’t picture her tying people up and cracking safes. But, like Thumbs, she might have learned the combination.

  Dink looked down the table toward the seat Thumbs usually occupied.

  His chair was empty!

  Suddenly, Dink felt someone’s foot kicking him under the table. It was Josh.

  When Dink glared at him, Josh nodded toward the empty chair. Josh held up his thumb and wiggled his eyebrows.

  “I know he’s not here!” Dink whispered. “Cool it.”

  “What’s going on?” Ruth Rose said.

  Before Dink could answer, Josh asked Ma Wheat where Thumbs was. “He … he promised to teach me a rope trick after supper.”

  “Why, I don’t know, Josh,” Ma said. “Perhaps he’s gone to town.”

  Pa tapped his spoon against his water glass. “It’s been a bad day at the ranch,” he said. “Why don’t we all stay here after supper and play some cards? Ed, you can show us more of your magician tricks.”

  The adults at the table seemed to think Pa’s idea was great.

  Josh pulled Dink and Ruth Rose aside. “This is great!” he whispered. “We can check out the cabins while they’re all here.”

  “But won’t it seem weird if we just leave?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Josh just winked, then walked off to talk to Ma Wheat. He came back a minute later. “It’s all set,” he said. “We’re outta here.”

  “What did you tell her?” Dink asked.

  “Just a little lie,” Josh said, heading for the door.

  Dink and Ruth Rose followed. “What kind of lie?” Ruth Rose asked on the front porch.

  Josh headed down the path toward the cabins. “I told her we had a summer project we had to work on for school.”

  Dink laughed. “So what’s the project?”

  Josh glanced up at the sky. “Studying the constellations,” he said.

  “But we don’t know anything about stars!” Ruth Rose said.

  “I know that,” Josh said. “But it’s our cover. If anyone spots us running around in the dark, they’ll think we’re just stargazing!”

  “Which cabin should we do first?” Josh asked.

  “I’ll do Ed’s,” Dink said.

  “I’ll take Fiona’s,” Ruth Rose said. “Did you guys notice she was wearing black tonight?”

  “Yeah, and Ed was doing knot tricks,” Dink said. “Josh, why don’t you check out Thumbs’s cabin? It’s out behind the barn. But be careful, he might be there!”

  “No problem,” Josh said. “I’ll look for the truck and the station wagon. If one of them is gone, he’s gone, too.”

  The kids separated and Dink crept up the steps of Ed’s cabin. The wood creaked under his feet. Dink was nervous, even though he knew Ed was still in the main house.

  He pushed open the screen door and stepped inside. The small light over Ed’s bed was on.

  Ed Getz wasn’t very neat. Clothes were tossed around the room. A gym bag and duffel lay on the bed, half packed.

  Dink quickly checked the dresser drawers. He found a book called Magic Made Easy and a few colored scarves. He also discovered a couple of pieces of rope, but they didn’t look like the ones Fiona and Lulu had been tied with.

  In the bathroom, Dink saw a bottle of aspirin, shaving stuff, and a purple toothbrush. A black rubber tube hung from the towel rack. At first, Dink didn’t recognize it. Then he realized it was a stethoscope. He probably uses it in a magic trick, thought Dink.

  Back in the main room, Dink checked the wall hooks. Shirts and pants were hanging there, but none of the clothing was black.

  Dink felt guilty about poking around in some other person’s room. But he wasn’t hurting anything, and he wasn’t stealing.

  He peeked inside the duffel and gym bags. Each held clothing and a few books. Dink wondered why Ed hadn’t finished unpacking.

  Suddenly, Dink heard footsteps on the porch!

  He froze, then dove behind the bed. He lay there praying the screen door wouldn’t open.

  Then Dink smiled. Of course! It was Josh or Ruth Rose walking on their own cabin porch! The cabins were only about twenty feet apart, and the windows were all open.

  Dink stood up and peeked out Ed’s window. Josh and Ruth Rose were next door waving through the window!

  Dink waved back, then hurried next door. “Boy, you guys scared me!” he said.

  “What’d you find?” Josh asked him. Dink flopped on his bed. “A book about magic and some stuff to do tricks,” Dink said. “No black clothing, and no gold. Sorry, Josh.”

  “Fiona has a lot of black clothes,” Ruth Rose said. “And she has a ton of mystery books!”

  “Anything about safecracking?” Dink asked.

  “Nope, but I did check out that chair she was tied in,” Ruth Rose said. “I don’t see how she could have tied herself. She could have done her feet, but her hands were tied behind her back!”

  “She didn’t tie herself,” Josh said. “It was Thumbs. By the way the station wagon is gone. I sure hope he didn’t drive to town to sell my gold!”

  “What’s his cabin like?” Dink asked.

  “Filled with stuff,” Josh said. “My mother would love this guy, he’s so neat! His bed was made and all his clothes were hung up.”

  “Josh, never mind how neat he is. Did you find any clues?” Ruth Rose asked.

  Josh grinned. “Yup. He owns black gloves, black jeans, and a black ski mask! A bunch of ropes, too. And check this out—he has a TV and VCR, and guess what movie he’s watching?”

  Dink and Ruth Rose just stared at him.

  “Famous Robberies of the West!” Josh said. “I saw the box it came in.”

  “That doesn’t prove he’s the robber,” Dink said. “In fact, none of the stuff we saw proves anything.”

  “And we still don’t know where my gold is,” Josh said, coiling his lasso on his lap. “I was almost rich!”

  Just then the kids heard a scuffling noise out front. They looked through their screen door and saw Ed hobble past the cabin on his crutches.

  He moved slowly, holding his bandaged foot in the air. Once he made it up his front steps, he balanced on his good foot while he opened the door. Then he slipped inside.

  “Josh, I know you’re bummed out,” Ruth Rose said. “I don’t blame you. But maybe the sheriff will find the robber.”

  Josh shoved open the screen door and walked out onto the porch. He sat on the step with his lasso draped overone knee. “By tomorrow, the guy will sell the gold,” Josh muttered. “He’ll get a bunch of money and take off and no one will ever catch him.”

  Dink and Ruth Rose joined Josh on the porch. It was growi
ng dark, and fireflies were beginning to flicker in the bushes. Sounds of laughter came from the main house.

  Dink sat next to Josh. “Want to walk down to the pond?” he suggested, trying to get Josh’s mind off his lost gold.

  Josh just shrugged and continued staring into the night.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Ruth Rose said, “but let me get my bug spray.”

  She turned to go back in the cabin, then stopped. From where she was standing, she could see right into Ed’s side window. “Guys, look,” she said.

  “What?” Dink asked, looking up from where he was sitting.

  Dink and Josh joined Ruth Rose. They could see Ed Getz moving around the cabin, carrying stuff.

  “What’s he doing?” Dink asked.

  “It looks like he’s packing,” Ruth Rose said. “Like he’s getting ready to leave!”

  “Something’s weird,” Josh said. He tiptoed down off the porch and scooted over to the side of Ed’s cabin. Dink and Ruth Rose followed him, and the three crouched under the window. They slowly raised their heads till they could see inside.

  The gym bag and duffel bag were zipped and standing next to the door. The crutches were lying on the floor.

  Ed was sitting on the bed, unwrapping his bandage. When the bandage was in a pile on the rug, Ed pulled off his sock. He tipped it upside down, and out tumbled Josh’s nugget.

  “That rat!” Josh whispered.

  Ed quickly jammed the nugget into his pocket. Then he walked toward the door. He wasn’t limping at all!

  “He’s leaving,” Dink whispered. “What should we do?”

  “I’ll go ring the bell,” Ruth Rose said. “You guys stop him!”

  Ruth Rose dashed toward the house.

  “I’ve got an idea,” Josh said, and ran behind Ed’s cabin.

  The cabin light went off, and Dink heard the front door open. He ducked down as Ed stepped onto the porch with his gym bag.

  Ed looked around, then reached back through the doorway for the duffel bag. Carrying one bag in each hand, he stepped off the porch.

  Suddenly, the dinner bell began to clang.

  Ed Getz stopped in his tracks. At that moment, a rope loop fell over his shoulders. The rope tightened. Ed stumbled, then fell to the ground with a thud.

  “Gotcha!” Josh yelled down from the cabin roof. He wrapped the other end of the rope around the chimney.