The Secret of Skull Island (9 page)

Otis watched as his brother's face turned from pink to red. He bit his lip. Whatever Cody was trying to do, he prayed he could do it.

Cody squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth. The sneeze kept building. He began moving his arm ever so slowly. His muscles were so tense that they ached. Finally he was able to press a finger firmly under his nose. He stopped the sneeze just as it surged from inside.

Both twins would have sighed with relief had they dared. But they couldn't risk being heard. What happened next nearly made them gasp in surprise.

Steve Cordell sat down on the bed, making the springs creak. The twins each prayed that he wasn't planning on taking a nap.

But he was only changing his shoes. He kicked off the scuffed sneakers and grabbed a pair of sandals.

“Listen, little brother,” he said. “You always worried too much even when we were kids. You used to drive yourself nuts worrying if you'd pass a test or make the team or get caught stealing change from Mom's purse. Everything always turned out okay. This will, too. We'll figure everything out. It'll be fine. Once this
big job
is finished, we'll be on easy street.”

The twins felt a jolt when they heard the word “brother.” Cordell and Keller, or whatever their real names were, were brothers! Keller wasn't who he claimed to be, either. Now it was easy to understand why they were concealing their identities. That's what criminals did.

“I want to get everything done right away. This isn't like stealing nickels and dimes,” Keller replied. “This is big money … or big trouble. The kind of trouble that really hurts and doesn't go away. The kind of trouble you can't talk your way out of. The kind of trouble that—”

“Knock it off!” Cordell yelled. Then it sounded like he punched his palm with his fist. “Keep it up and you'll get me worrying, too.” He let out a long sigh. “Look, when you worry too much, you make mistakes. That's no good. Just keep your mind on business. Remember, you're Sam Keller, and do your job. We'll figure out what to do about the inn later. Just focus.”

Cordell heaved himself off the bed. “Come on, bro'. Let's go down to the beach, lie on the sand, play some cards, relax.”

“Okay, maybe that's what I need,” Keller said slowly. Then he spit out his next sentence. “But I sure would like to be rid of those three smart-aleck kids.”

Cody felt the skin on the back of his neck tighten. A shiver ran up Otis's spine. This guy sounded like he was losing it.

“Now you're worried about a couple of kids? What am I going to do with you? Come on, let's go make like we're guests soaking up the sun.”

At last, the two men left. When the door closed behind them, Cody and Otis went limp. They waited several minutes before dragging themselves out from under the bed and struggling to their feet. “That was too close,” said Otis as he mopped his forehead with the edge of his shirt. “I'm sweating so much I'm surprised they couldn't smell me.”

“Tell me about it,” Cody agreed. He sat down where Cordell had been moments before. “Well, now we know they're up to more than selling pirated DVDs for sure. But we have no idea what it is.”

“I wish I could remember where I saw that guy who calls himself Cordell before.” Otis bit his lip. “Too bad that we're on our own,” he said. “It's not like we can tell anyone what we found. We can't exactly tell Dad or Maxim or Aunt Edith that we broke into someone's room and went through his wallet.”

“Even if we found credit cards with different names, and that Cordell and Keller are brothers?” Cody asked. Then he answered his own question. “No, we can't. It's just not enough. Two slick guys like them would deny everything, and then nobody would insist on seeing the passport and credit cards. Maxim and Dad think we're playing detective anyhow.”

“Right,” Otis agreed. “We need more proof. What's this
big job
they were talking about?”

Cody put his ear to the door. “I don't hear anything. Let's get out of here.”

He opened the door slowly and peered into the hallway. “All clear,” he said. “Let's go.”

Cody and Otis exited the room and strode briskly toward their own. Inside, Cody looked at his brother thoughtfully.

“I've got to admit that you were right about breaking into that guy's room,” he said. “We never would have found out all that stuff if we hadn't.”

“Uh-huh,” Otis agreed. “Now we just have to figure out what to do next.”

They went downstairs and found Aunt Edith behind the check-in desk, staring into space, her shoulders sagging. She looked worried and upset. The twins exchanged glances.

“What's the matter, Aunt Edith?” Cody asked.

“Can we help?” asked Otis.

Aunt Edith looked up and smiled. “Thank you, boys, but I don't think so. I don't know what's going on around here, but it isn't good. Muriel Esposito checked out a little while ago. She said she didn't feel safe here. And then Inez, the maid, left just now. She said it was dangerous to stay. This place could be wonderful but it's falling apart around me.”

“Well, I think we can help after all, Aunt Edith,” Cody said with a smile. “Otis and I can be your new cleaning crew.”

“Rae will help, too,” said Otis. “I know she'll want to.”

Aunt Edith's face brightened. “Well, that's a wonderful idea. Thank you, boys, and I'll have to thank Rae, too. You
are
a help.”

“Otis is a slob, but maybe he'll be good at cleaning up other people's messes.” Cody chuckled.

Otis punched him in the arm. “You should talk, pigpen.”

“I believe you both will do very well,” said Aunt Edith with a smile.

Then suddenly the smile vanished. “Don't tell anyone that Inez left yet,” she said seriously. “Anyone except Rae, of course. They'll find out, but I just don't want to make a big deal about it. There are enough people leaving this place already.”

They both agreed not to say anything and to ask Rae to do the same.

She handed them some duplicate room keys. “Be careful not to lose these,” she said, shaking a pointed finger at them. “We don't have a locksmith on this island.”

“We'll be careful, Aunt Edith. Don't worry,” Cody told her.

As they walked along the beach to tell Rae the plan, Otis held up a key and grinned. “Now we won't have to break into another room.”

“Like Sam Keller's.” Cody nodded.

“Like Sam Keller's.”

[Chapter Thirteen]

L
ate that night, when everyone had gone to sleep, a scream shattered the silence. Lights were turned on quickly and the guests ran to find out what happened.

Helen Wallace was standing in her doorway. She was in her robe and had a towel wrapped around her head.

“I was getting ready to shower when I heard a noise,” she said. “I came out of the bathroom and the room was dark. He was there—the ghost! He was sort of … glowing. He was dressed in a pirate costume and he was carrying a sword and mumbling about treasure. Then he told me he knew I was planning to steal it and if I tried to take it, he'd kill me! He said I'd better leave this place!”

McNab hurried to her side. “Don't be afraid, Ms. Wallace. We've all heard the ghost and he hasn't harmed anyone.” He tried to take her hand.

She pulled away. “Don't you touch me!” Her eyes narrowed. “Was it you? Was this some stunt to scare me off?”

McNab stared at her. “Why would I try to do that? You're very upset, Ms. Wallace, or you wouldn't say such a thing. It's all right, though, I understand.”

Ms. Wallace stamped her foot. “There's something
really
strange going on,” she said. “Anybody'd be crazy to stay here!” She slammed her door.

“We've got to have a talk with Aunt Edith,” Otis said when the twins were back in their room. “These hauntings of hers won't promote business—they'll kill it … for real. What was she thinking with this latest trick?”

“Maybe it wasn't a trick,” said Cody. “We know it wasn't Cordell or Keller. They were already at Ms. Wallace's door when we arrived. That means they got there moments after she screamed. Neither one had time to change out of a costume and into pajamas.”

“Aw, don't start with that pirate ghost again,” Otis said, jumping under the covers. “You know what bothers me? She said she was getting ready to get into the shower … but she had a towel around her head. Why? Wouldn't she put the towel around her hair
after the shower
?”

Cody sat down on his bed. “You're right.” He thought for a minute. “What if she made up the whole story? What if she screamed and talked about the ghost to scare
other
people away from the inn?”

“Yeah … but why?”

Cody shrugged. “Maybe she wants to buy it.”

The next morning they found their aunt before breakfast. They told her what they had learned from Winston Cato.

“What made you put together a trick like that, Aunt Edith? Do you really think it's good for business?”

“Don't you tell anyone I was engineering some—most—of those hauntings!”

“We won't, but you can't do things like you did last night,” said Cody.

Aunt Edith put her hands on her hips and looked down. “I didn't,” she said. “I'd already decided to stop faking the hauntings. Then
that
happened.”

The twins stared back at her with eyes like saucers. “You ought to call the police again. Even if someone just wanted to scare her, they
broke into her room
.”

Aunt Edith held up a hand. “Hold on, boys. I've already talked to Helen Wallace. She said she thought it over and realized she'd left her door open. She also said she knew who was disguised as the ghost.”

“Who?”
they both asked at once.

“She wouldn't tell me. All she would say was that it was a personal vendetta and nothing dangerous.”

That left them speechless. So did the sight of Ms. Wallace with bright red hair instead of her brown bob at breakfast.

“I just decided I needed a change!” she said. “I had the hair color with me but I couldn't make up my mind whether to use it or not—until last night.”

“Hair color explains the towel on her head before showering,” Rae said after breakfast. “I'd been wondering about it.”

“So were we,” said Otis. “I don't know much about hair color. Can you explain?”

Rae nodded. “My mom colors her hair and rinses out the color in the sink before she takes a shower. See? It makes sense.”

Cody frowned. “But I still wonder who pulled the haunting.”

“Well, let's get started on our cleaning,” said Otis.

*

“I'm more nervous than I was when we broke into Cordell's,” Cody told his brother. “If we have to hide again, I don't think I can take it.”

“We won't have to hide. We didn't break in. We're supposed to be here.”

“We're supposed to be cleaning and you and I both know that's not why we're really here,” said Cody. “Let's just get this over with.”

They unlocked Keller's room and headed inside. Otis let out a whistle.

“There won't be much cleaning to do in here,” he said.

He was right. Sam Keller's room was as neat as his brother's was sloppy. A look inside the dresser drawers revealed nothing but neatly folded clothes. Cody checked the pockets of the jackets and pants in the closet and found nothing.

“I don't see his wallet or passport in the desk,” said Otis.

“I'll try the nightstand.”

Cody came up empty. “I guess Keller, or whoever he is, is the kind of guy who keeps all his IDs on him. I guess I might as well try the bathroom.”

“Well, this guy likes gambling magazines, too,” Otis said. “And I found a couple of poker chips with the logo of a Las Vegas hotel. Cordell mentioned playing cards…. It looks like these guys are a couple of gamblers.”

“Gambling in Las Vegas isn't a crime, though,” Cody whispered. He opened the doors to the cabinet under the bathroom sink. He pulled out a rectangular plastic case and unzipped it. He sucked in his breath when he saw what was inside.

There were two wigs, one brown and one gray, a couple of mustaches of different sizes, a couple of beards, and a pair of bushy eyebrows, plus several tubes of makeup. A bottle of self-tanner was beside several contact lens cases that held lenses of brown, hazel, green, and gray.

Cody hurriedly rezipped the case and replaced it in the cabinet. He walked over to where Otis was peering underneath the bed. “Our guy is into disguises,” he said.

Otis pulled a newspaper from under the bed and sat back on his heels, studying a photo on the page in front of him. His eyes widened.

“He likes to save souvenirs, too,” he said. “This paper is from a few days ago.” He held up the section of
The Las Vegas Star
. “Check out the photo. It's another casino party—like the one that was in the paper Maxim was reading before we left. There's that gangster at the party. His name is Moe Kleese. Check out a couple of his friends in the background. Look really close.”