Water-Ski Wipeout by Franklin W. Dixon

Author:Franklin W. Dixon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

Chapter 7

MISTAKEN IDENTITY

Frank knew something wasn’t right. Sometimes he got a nagging feeling that they’d asked the wrong questions, or that they were looking in the wrong places. There was something about this case that they had missed.

The boys walked through the woods in silence. Frank glanced up the hill, noticing the cabin Adam and Paul had stayed in. It said PINECONE CABIN above the door. Paul hadn’t given them a great description. But where had he been standing? Had he seen everything clearly?

“I just want to check something,” Frank said, walking toward it.

When he got there, the front door was open. He crept inside, Chet and Joe following close behind him. There were four bedrooms spread out off the main living area.

“Paul said he was staying in that room in the corner,” Joe whispered. He had his notebook out and was looking at his notes.

“Which means he probably used the bathroom that’s right near it,” Chet said.

The three boys climbed the stairs. The cabin was much dirtier than the main lodge. There were some cobwebs near the ceilings, and mud tracked across the floor. When they got upstairs, they went into the tiny bathroom. There was only one window, and it was covered with dirt.

“He saw the boy from here? At night?” Chet asked. “It’s the middle of the day and I can barely see out of this window!”

Frank leaned forward, putting his nose close to the glass. “Exactly,” he said.

“Whatever he saw,” Joe added, “it can’t be trusted.”

Frank stood up straight. “He probably did see someone in a black hooded sweatshirt,” he said. “He’d be able to tell his height.”

Joe’s eyes widened. He cupped his hand over his mouth, like he’d just remembered something. “I know what we missed!” he said. “It all makes sense now.”

“What?” Chet asked.

“SLSG!” Joe said. “The yellow towel!”

Frank and Chet almost laughed. “Huh?” Frank said. “What about it?”

Joe was so excited, he started talking twice as fast as normal. “When we went down to the dock and saw those girls. One of them was sitting on a yellow towel. And the other girl was wearing a sweatshirt that said Saint Lilac School for Girls.”

“Wait . . . SLSG,” Frank repeated. He couldn’t help but smile. Joe had figured it out. They’d missed one important clue. “The towel from the shed belonged to a girl.”

Chet looked confused. “I don’t understand,” he said.

“SLSG stands for Saint Lilac School for Girls,” Joe said. “The girls only got to the lake last night. So whoever left the towel in the shed was there between eight o’clock last night and ten o’clock this morning. Right when the water skis were stolen.”

“This whole time we’ve been looking for a boy in a hooded sweatshirt,” Frank said. “And Paul didn’t even see the person clearly.”

Chet laughed. “I can’t believe it!” he said. “We’ve been looking for a boy . . . when we should’ve been looking for a girl!”

“Exactly,” Joe said. “We need to go back to the dock and talk to those girls again, before it’s too late.

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