A Perilous Journey of Danger and Mayhem #2 by Christopher Healy

Author:Christopher Healy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2019-09-26T16:00:00+00:00

17

“And the Culprit Is . . .”

“WHAT’S THE MEANING of this?” Alexander Graham Bell asked as he walked, bleary-eyed, into the hazy morning sun, waving the note that had been slipped under his door. The note, written in pencil, said, “Emergency Meeting on Central Deck, 0700 hours. MISS IT AND YOU WILL BE KEELHAULED!” And then it had a drawing of an angry pirate.

Lars, Icepick, Roald, and Emmett were already there, grumbling with varying levels of impatience. “I don’t know anything about it,” Emmett said. “We all got the same note.”

Bell looked at Emmett’s note. “Hmmph. Why doesn’t my pirate have a parrot?”

“What’s the emergency?” Cassandra and Nellie hurried to join the others on the deck.

“You don’t know?” Bell asked. “I assumed you had something to do with this.”

“There’s going to be an emergency, if something doesn’t happen soon,” Icepick snarled.

“Okay, whose idea was this?” Agent Forrest said, stretching and yawning. “Because I explicitly told you all that my mornings don’t start until nine.”

“I am the only person on this ship who should be calling meetings,” Captain Stone said as he approached. “And I didn’t write these notes.”

“I wrote them.” Molly popped from her hiding spot in a crate of fishing tackle and stepped into the circle of people.

“What’s this about, Molls?” her mother asked.

“Yeah,” Emmett said slowly. He looked hyperalert, as if expecting a jaguar to pounce. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Captain Stone crossed his arms.

“Do you even know what keelhauling means?” Forrest asked through a yawn.

“I can show her,” Icepick threatened.

“I called this meeting,” Molly said, “because we have an imposter among us.” She paced the circle with her hands clasped behind her back. “It all started shortly after Pembroke was brought on board. I overheard someone talking to him in the brig. I couldn’t hear everything, but it definitely sounded like the two were in cahoots. We interrogated Pembroke and—”

“You what?” Cassandra asked.

“Please, let me continue.”

“Are you certain you want to do this?” Nellie asked in a cautionary tone.

“I know exactly what I’m doing,” Molly said. She noticed Emmett looking green, even though he hadn’t been seasick in days. He really didn’t trust her. She needed to change that. “Pembroke said he didn’t know the person who spoke to him,” Molly continued, “but that the person had a beard. Then, last night, I found . . . this!” She pulled the false beard from behind her back. People began shooting one another looks of confusion, skepticism, and suspicion. “This disguise confirmed my theory that someone on board this ship is not who they say they are,” she continued. “But which one of you? Who does this fake beard belong to?”

This key piece of evidence had helped Molly narrow the culprit down to one of two people: Agent Forrest or Nellie Bly. She had her reasons for suspecting both, but only one, in her opinion, had revealed their true colors.

“Our traitor,” Molly announced, “is the one man here without a real beard: Agent Archibald Forrest!” She mashed the faux facial hair against Forrest’s mouth.

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