Haunting of Horse Island Read online

  Nancy described the woman. “And she was wearing a pair of jeans and a light blue sleeveless blouse. Right, George?”

  “Right,” George agreed. The girls took off on foot in the direction the woman had taken.

  “She’s probably a guest,” Nancy said. “Otherwise she’d have been working—unless this is her day off.”

  “Maybe she turned back to the lane toward the cottages,” George suggested.

  “Let’s try it,” Nancy said.

  The girls hurried around to the lane.

  “There she is!” Nancy said in a low voice as she pointed to the woman, who was walking along the lane ahead of them at a quick pace. “Let’s hurry and catch up, but don’t run unless she takes off.”

  The girls hurried to shorten the woman’s lead. When they were about a hundred feet from her, she turned and, seeing the girls behind her, quickly ducked in between two cottages.

  “Let’s follow her,” Nancy said.

  The girls rushed to the spot where the woman had stepped off the lane. She was not between the cottages.

  “She must have come around the side to lose us,” Nancy said. “Let’s keep looking. George, you and Bess go around to the left. I’ll take the right.”

  Nancy and the girls separated to search. Nancy slowed her pace—the woman surely was not far away. Nancy came around the front of a cottage that faced the lake. The woman was standing motionless among a group of pine trees that grew close to the water’s edge.

  “Hi,” Nancy said, trying to sound casual.

  The woman turned and looked at Nancy as if she’d never seen her before. “Hello,” she said, her face an unsmiling mask.

  “Are you a guest here?” Nancy asked.

  “Of course I’m a guest!” the woman said impatiently. “Aren’t we all guests here?”

  “I mean you’re not staff,” Nancy said calmly.

  The woman looked at her watch, turned abruptly, and headed away toward a group of cottages without saying another word.

  Nancy stepped into the lane and watched her go. The woman stopped at the door of cottage fourteen, took out a key, and disappeared inside.

  Just then Bess and George appeared. “We didn’t find her,” said George breathlessly. “You have any luck?”

  “Not much,” Nancy said. “I talked to her, but she made it very plain that she had no interest in talking to me.”

  “Is she a guest?” Bess asked.

  “That much I did learn,” Nancy said. “She said she was a guest and went into cottage fourteen. She must be the mysterious woman the Burkle sisters told us about.”

  “But what was she doing watching us come back from the horseback ride?” George wondered aloud.

  “I don’t know,” said Nancy.

  George looked around her. “I wonder where the division is between guest and staff cottages,” she said.

  “It would have to be right after ours,” Nancy pointed out. “Remember, the Burkle sisters live in cottage eighteen, next to us.”

  “Some of the staff must live in town,” George noted.

  “Right,” Nancy said. “Rodney Starr said he had a job in town, so I’ll bet he lives around here all year.”

  “Well, I don’t know about you two, but I’m up for a break in investigating and a dip in the pool,” George said. “How about it?”

  “Just let me grab my tanning lotion,” Bess said.

  “You two go ahead,” said Nancy. “I think I’ll have a little talk with Henry about his guest in cottage fourteen. No doubt he’s already heard about the dummy hanging in the woods. I want to see what he has to say about that, too.”

  “Meet us at the pool when you’re done,” George said.

  “Okay,” said Nancy. “I’ll be there in a half hour.”

  Bess and George headed for the cottage, and Nancy turned back toward the lodge. She found Henry Steadman visiting with some guests in the lobby of the lodge. When he saw Nancy, he excused himself and approached her.

  “Hello, Nancy,” he said. He leaned in toward Nancy and lowered his voice. “Did you hear about what happened along the riding trail this afternoon?”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “I was there.”

  “Another family left because of that.”

  “The Mathews, right?” Nancy said.

  Henry nodded. “I don’t know what I’m going to do. That’s four groups of guests we’ve lost in the last three weeks! And everyone else seems nervous. I’ve had at least a dozen people approach me to ask what in blazes is going on here.”

  “Henry,” Nancy said, “there was a woman near the stables. She’s a guest in cottage number fourteen. Do you know her?”

  “Teresa Diamond,” Henry said. “She arrived three days ago, and she’s staying for ten days.”

  “Do you know anything more about her?”

  “Nope, just her name and home address,” replied Henry.

  “Where does she live?” Nancy asked.

  Henry consulted the guest register at the front desk. “Says here, New York City,” he told Nancy.

  “I wonder what she does for a living,” Nancy said.

  “I don’t know that.”

  “Do many people come here by themselves?” Nancy asked.

  “I’d say that in an average summer we might get two or three people who are here by themselves.” Henry ran his large hand over his balding head and sighed with frustration. “Nancy, have you picked up any information at all about who might be causing the trouble?”

  Nancy paused. She decided that it was too early to suggest suspects. There was too much she still didn’t know. “We’ve been looking into several possibilities,” she said, “but we haven’t come to any conclusions.”

  “I’m sure you need more time,” said Henry. “After all, you only arrived yesterday.”

  “Yes,” Nancy said. “But try not to worry, Henry. We’ll find out who’s responsible for all of these weird happenings.”

  “I sure hope so, Nancy,” he said, gazing off into the distance. “I sure hope so.”

  • • •

  “Look who we bumped into!” Bess said. She was lounging beside the pool, her face, arms, and legs slathered with oil. Steve Matheson sat next to her wearing his sunglasses, a pair of jeans, and a muscle T-shirt.

  “Hi, Nancy,” Steve greeted her with a friendly smile. “Ready for a swim?”

  “I sure am,” she said, tossing her towel into an empty chair next to Bess. She had stopped at the cottage and changed into her swimsuit. “You taking some time off?”

  He grinned. “Well, technically I’m on duty. One of my most important jobs is to see that the guests are having a good time. So I come up here occasionally to do just that.”

  “Well, we’re having a great time!” Bess assured him. “Oh, the sun feels so good today!” She settled back in the lounger and closed her eyes.

  George swam to the side of the pool and rested her arms along the edge. “Jump in, Nancy,” she said. “The water feels great!”

  “In a few minutes,” Nancy said. She turned to Steve. “Did you hear that another family checked out early this afternoon?”

  Steve frowned. “Yeah, Henry told me. I guess that hanging dummy really scared the little kids.”

  “But it’s not just that,” Nancy said. “There’ve been a lot of strange things going on around here.”

  “I know,” Steve admitted. “It’s really a shame. Henry and Ruth are such nice people. And I can’t pretend I’m not worried about a job here in the future.”

  “What do you do during the rest of the year?” Nancy asked.

  “I teach high school P.E.,” he said. “And coach football.”

  “Well,” Bess said, opening her eyes and sitting up a little, “it would sure make me feel better if I could know without a doubt that people were doing these things and not ghosts!”

  “You don’t have to worry about ghosts as long as you stay clear of Horse Island,” Steve said. “I don’t know why anyone would want to go
to the island, anyway. The place gives me the creeps.”

  “You go there?” Nancy asked, surprised.

  “Only when I think one of the guests has decided to go ‘exploring,’ ” he said. “As soon as I find the wayward guest, I tell him to get out, and then I leave as quickly as possible.”

  Bess leaned forward. “What’s it like on the island, Steve?”

  Steve sighed. “I don’t know that I’ve seen ghosts, Bess, but I’ve felt a presence of some kind—something evil—on the island. I don’t like the place. Too many bad things have happened there.”

  “It’s amazing what your imagination can do when you’re a little nervous in the first place,” George commented from the pool.

  “Well, whether it’s ghosts, or hunters, the island isn’t a safe place for anybody,” Steve said.

  Bess shivered. “Don’t worry,” she said, “you won’t catch me there!”

  Steve glanced back and forth between Nancy and George. “I hope I won’t catch any of the guests there.”

  “George, that water looks so good, I can’t wait any longer!” Nancy called out, choosing to ignore Steve’s comment.

  “Come on in!” George said, grinning.

  “Ready for a dip in the pool?” Nancy asked Steve and Bess.

  “I’ll pass,” said Steve.

  “Count me out, too,” said Bess. “I’m happy just relaxing.”

  Nancy dived into the pool. She and George swam laps for the next few minutes. When they had finished and had swum back to the edge of the pool, Steve Matheson was gone.

  “He had to get back to work,” Bess explained. “Nancy, I noticed you didn’t promise to stay away from Horse Island.”

  “That’s because I can’t,” Nancy told her. She hopped up on the edge of the pool, then walked over to the towel she’d left on the chair next to Bess.

  “What do you mean?” Bess asked, her voice rising in alarm.

  “I’m curious about that island,” Nancy said. “And I have to wonder if the stories of ghosts and hunters have anything to do with all the strange things going on at the resort. I’m going to the island, no matter what Steve Matheson has to say.”

  6

  A Visit to Horse Island

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this!” said Bess. “Steve has told us repeatedly not to go to Horse Island. And here we are, taking an afternoon trip there! Nancy, it just isn’t safe!”

  The girls had checked out a canoe at the boat house and were paddling away from shore. Bess was sitting on the bottom of the canoe between Nancy and George, who were paddling.

  “I told you, you didn’t have to come,” Nancy said to Bess over her shoulder.

  “What? And let you go all alone? Forget it!” Bess replied. “We couldn’t do that, could we, George?”

  “Nope,” George replied from the stern of the canoe. Although she wasn’t as outwardly nervous as Bess, her face wore a tense expression.

  “Well,” Bess said, looking at the sky, “as if this whole trip weren’t dangerous enough already, now it’s getting cloudy. Say, what would you guys think about coming back on a bright, sunny day?”

  “I’d think you were looking for excuses not to go,” Nancy said, grinning.

  “And you’d be right,” Bess replied seriously.

  Nancy smiled at Bess. “It’ll be okay, Bess. We’ll be back by late afternoon. I just want to see a little of the island.”

  Bess was plainly not reassured, but she sat in silence as the girls’ paddling brought them closer to the island.

  “George,” Nancy said, “what were those books I saw you pack in your knapsack?”

  “Field guides to birds and plant life in this part of the country,” George said. “I thought I’d look for wildlife.”

  “I just hope it isn’t too wild,” Bess mumbled.

  It took half an hour more before the girls reached the island. They pulled the canoe up on the beach and looked around.

  “It’s really pretty here,” Nancy observed. “Too bad it isn’t available to the guests at the resort.”

  The island was filled with scrub pines and tall trees. Open areas lined the beach and fingered into the woods.

  “How far do you think it is across the island?” asked George.

  “Maybe a mile,” Nancy guessed. “Come on. We’ll leave the canoe here. Let’s see what the island has to offer.”

  Each of the girls had brought a knapsack and a life jacket. They left the bright orange jackets in the canoe and hauled out the knapsacks.

  “It looks more and more like rain,” Bess said, gazing up at the sky.

  “You’re right, it does,” Nancy agreed. “So let’s look around while we have the chance.”

  “Which direction?” George asked.

  “Let’s cross the island,” Nancy suggested. “That way we’ll see two beaches, plus the interior.”

  “Okay,” George said. She pulled the bird and plant books out of her pack and began leafing through them. “It says here that the bluebird is the state bird. We should see some game birds here, too, such as ducks, turkeys, and geese. Also partridges and pheasants.”

  “Where could the old house be?” Nancy wondered aloud as they began their hike.

  The girls soon entered a wooded area that was scattered with occasional patches of open glades, where the rocky ground prevented trees from growing.

  “Oh, look,” George cried, approaching some wildflowers blowing in the wind. “Black-eyed Susans. I know those without my book.” She opened her plant book. “But I don’t know these bushes here with the berries.” She leafed through the book and stopped at a page. “Oh, they’re mountain laurel,” she said. “It says here that the berries are poisonous.”

  Nancy suddenly grabbed George’s arm. “Look, George,” she said. “There—through the trees. It’s the old house!”

  Bess gasped. “It’s just like a house out of a horror movie!” she said. “A huge Victorian mansion! And the dark clouds overhead sure add to the atmosphere.”

  George whistled. “That’s quite a summer home.”

  “The financier and his wife must have been very wealthy to afford a place like that,” said Nancy.

  “That place just looks haunted,” Bess said. “But I’m glad we don’t have to get any closer.”

  “I have to get a picture of this,” Nancy said, taking her camera from its case. Stepping onto a large rock, Nancy snapped several pictures of the old house.

  “Oh, Nancy, let’s keep walking,” George urged. “I’d love to see it up close!”

  Nancy smiled. “So would I. Bess, you can stay here if you want to. We won’t take much time.”

  Bess shivered. “Oh, great! I have the choice of staying here alone or going up to the house with you two?” She thought a moment. “I guess I’ll stay here. But don’t be long, okay?”

  Nancy and George promised they’d be back soon and headed off toward the house.

  In ten minutes the girls were standing before the looming Victorian structure. Now faded and flaking, green and white paint had once highlighted the ornamental trim. There was a porch that wrapped around the front of the house. Ornately carved narrow pillars supported the porch roof, which cast the front door deep in shadow. The tallest point of the house was a tower that stood over the two main wings.

  “Just look at that tower!” George said. “Wouldn’t you love to have a bedroom in that third-floor tower room?”

  “I sure would,” Nancy agreed. She snapped a few more pictures. “The architecture is incredible. Let’s see what the back of the house looks like.”

  The girls tromped around the side of the house, where thorny brambles scratched their legs. Vines hung from trees that grew close to the house, blocking their path. Finally they found the back door.

  “It’s boarded up,” George pointed out.

  Nancy approached the door and rested a hand on the boards. “Wouldn’t this house have stories to tell?” she said. As she spoke the board under her hand slid
slightly to the side. “What’s this?” She moved the board farther, and it fell back from the door.

  “That’s odd,” Nancy said. “This board has been placed on two nailed slats, but it’s not actually nailed shut. See? The doorknob is right here. It was covered by that loose board.”

  “You think someone is going in and out of the house?” George asked.

  “It looks that way,” Nancy said, jiggling the doorknob. As Nancy suspected, the door behind the boards wasn’t locked. With a loud creak, the door swung open into the house. “I’d love to go inside. Maybe we’d learn something about what’s going on around here. It would be easy to slip right through the space left by this loose board.”

  “But, Bess—” George started to say.

  “I know,” Nancy said. “We can’t go now. But I’m definitely coming back later.”

  After Nancy took a few pictures of the boarded-up door, they walked back to where Bess was waiting for them.

  “Oh, good, you’re back!” Bess cried with relief. “What was it like up close?”

  “No ghosts, but we did discover something interesting,” Nancy said. She told Bess about the back door that had been boarded over in such a way as to allow someone to enter.

  “That’s strange,” said Bess. “I wonder who is using the house. And why they’d want to. This island gives me the creeps!”

  “Well, let’s cross the island,” Nancy said, gazing up at the dark sky. “I’d like to see some more before it begins to rain.”

  The girls headed through the woods and out into a clearing in the middle of the island.

  “Look at this!” Nancy shouted.

  The girls were approaching a fence built with wooden posts and wire.

  “This is practically new wood,” Nancy observed, kneeling to examine the fence. “Why would someone build a fence here in the middle of the island?”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” George agreed, running her hand along the wooden post. “What’s here to fence out? Or fence in?”

  “Good question,” Nancy said. “I have no idea.” She took out her camera again and clicked off a few shots.

  “What do you think is going on here?” George asked.

  “I don’t know,” Nancy admitted. “Maybe it’s the hunters. But why would they build a fence?”