Free Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary by Wendelin Van Draanen Page A

straddle the bike, not knowing what to say. I mean, for the first time in my life I'm finding it really hard to lie to Officer Borsch. “You…you're not telling me I can't go?”
    He laughs. “Experience tells me that that would be useless. Just keep back, and try not to
say
anything. The last thing they need are comments from the peanut gallery.”
    I nod, and before I can say thanks, off he goes to expand the detour from his jurisdiction, and we do a U-turn to expand ours.
    We decided we'd have less chance of being stopped if we went past the Huntleys' driveway and entered through the break in the fence. So we rode along Lucinda's property, and pretty soon we could see lights flashing through the fog, and the smell of smoke became very strong. And the closer we got, the worse my stomach felt.
    The break in the fence was easy to find. The whole section was slumped over. Holly looks at me and I look at her, and right away Dot asks, “What's the matter?”
    So we tell them about the damaged fence and Lucinda being upset by it, and how we'd left it strapped closed. Marissa says, “So maybe some of the fire people came through here. Does it open up wide enough to drive through?”
    That was a thought. We checked out the distance from one post to the next and decided that it was a bit too small to get a car through, and way too small for a fire truck.
    Marissa says, “Maybe they drove up and walked.”
    “Maybe, but there's no one here now. They're all up the driveway, and
someone
came through this way!” Then it hit me that there might be tire tracks in the dirt. “Hey, you guys! Hold still! Don't move.”
    They freeze while I stoop down, trying to find tire tracks in the dark. Holly says, “What are you
doing?
”
    “I thought maybe there'd be some tire tracks, but I can't see anything! I wish we had a flashlight.”
    Dot says, “Your bike's got a light. Too bad we can't just ride it in place.”
    I say, “Hey, that's it!” So I get Dot and Marissa to hold the back wheel off the ground while I grab a pedal and crank. As soon as it's going fast enough for the light to come on, we pivot the bike on its front wheel and scour the ground for tracks.
    And what do we find? Just a bunch of footprints that the four of us had made.
    Marissa croaks, “Sammy! Haven't we done this long enough? There's nothing to see!”
    We stop and plop, and Holly says, “Well, if there was anything there, we messed it up walking on it.”
    Dot says, “I don't know why we're even doing this. I thought you guys wanted to go see Lucinda.”
    Everyone agrees that she's right. So we park our bikes inside, then close up the sections of fence, wrapping the leather over the post. Then we make our way toward the cabin, and as we pass by the toolshed, the smell of smoke becomes overwhelming. Nauseating.
    Then, at the same time, we all stop and stare. The area is flooded with light glaring from the side of a fire truck, and poking through the ashes like a tombstone is the fireplace, charred and dripping water. And except for the fireplace, the cabin is gone. Completely gone.
    There are a few firemen in rubber boots and hard hats talking to each other as they inspect an area off to the side with their flashlights. We stand there a moment, stunned, then Marissa says, “That was it?”
    Holly and I nod, but we don't say a word. And I'mfeeling completely choked up about the whole thing, even though I'm telling myself that I'm being stupid. I mean, how long had I known Lucinda? Less than a day. And Moustache Mary was interesting, but she wasn't
my
ancestor. And the cabin? Well, really—it
was
just a shack.
    So I'm standing there, trying to force the tears back into their ducts, when I get goosed.
    That's right, goosed.
    And I'm not talking just a little nudge in the behind, either. I'm talking full-on goosed. I squawk, and as I'm spinning around I see that what I've been goosed by is a pig. A big, black, bow-wrapped pig.
    Penny's bow is half untied and