The Orchid Thief by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

9

Treasure-Hunting Tales

Bess, Delia, and I stumbled from our cars, all talking at once. “What!” “You’re kidding!” “Where?” “What’d you find?”

“Shhh! I guess I shouldn’t be talking so loud,” George cautioned, lowering her voice. “I don’t think Lucy and Diego want everyone on Key Largo to know about it. But it’s so cool!”

That was for sure. I was dying for more details, but George was already shooting back up the stairs to Delia’s balcony. The rest of us scrambled after her.

As soon as we were inside in the living area, Bess dropped onto the couch. “Is this private enough? Or should we check for listening devices?” she joked, feeling under the cushions.

George was so worked up that she didn’t even have a comeback. “Four gold bars. That’s what we found. And a bunch of gold coins—fifty-three, to be precise. Lucy and Diego and I counted them.” She sank onto the couch next to Bess and hugged one of the pillows. “Diego says it’s worth over fifty thousand dollars. And that’s just the beginning. I mean, the rest of the treasure can’t be far away, right?”

“Wow! It’s like a dream come true,” I said, climbing onto one of the stools next to the kitchen counter.

“I knew all their hard work would pay off,” Delia added. “I can’t wait to tell St—”

She stopped in the middle of saying Steve’s name. All of a sudden she looked a lot less excited.

“Steve?” George said, finishing Delia’s thought. She was so psyched about the Catarina’s treasure that she didn’t notice Delia’s discomfort. “Can you believe he said he didn’t think we’d ever find the treasure? He’s totally going to eat his words.”

Delia’s cheeks turned an uncomfortable red. Turning away from George, she stood at the kitchen counter and flipped through the mail she’d grabbed from her mailbox on the way up from the driveway.

“What?” George shot a confused glance at Delia. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

“Um, something happened while you were out on the Scout,” I began. “We saw Steve.”

“In a red motorboat . . . with a scrape on it,” Bess added.

George blinked, and I could see some of her excitement fade. “Uh-oh,” she said.

Delia kept her eyes on the mail while Bess and I told George about seeing Steve—and about our visit with Mrs. Manning.

“So it was the same boat as yesterday, huh?” George said when we were done. “Do you think Steve was . . .”

“Poaching? No way,” Delia said firmly, looking over the kitchen counter at us. “Once Steve gets back, he’ll be able to explain.”

I had a feeling she was waiting for us to agree, but I just couldn’t. If Steve had such a great explanation, why was he avoiding Delia’s calls?

“Oh, never mind. I’m going to change,” Delia said. With that, she headed down the hall to her room. The sound of her bedroom door shutting echoed in the living room until George finally broke the silence.

“She must feel awful,” she said, keeping her voice low. “I mean,

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