Free McKenzie’s Branson Brainteaser by Shari Barr

continued. “Maybe Mr. Ford looked for Shara this afternoon. If he saw the girl in the southern belle dress, he would know immediately it wasn’t his niece. Maybe he thinks we were playing a mean trick on him, telling him his niece was in town.”
    McKenzie’s heart sank when she thought that she might have hurt Mr. Ford.
Dear God, forgive me if I made him sad. I was only trying to help
.
    Sydney looked at McKenzie with sympathetic eyes. “You didn’t do anything wrong. That could be what happened, but what can we do to fix it? I don’t think he’ll read any more mail from us. Anyway, by the time the mail gets to him, I’ll be leaving for home.”
    McKenzie stared out the window at the woods surrounding Miss Val’s house. “If we could find him, we could tell him Shara is really looking for him.”
    Sydney pulled her long legs under her and leaned her elbows on her knees. She cupped her chin in her hands. “We haven’t made any more calls to woodcrafting shops. We could try a few more and see if they’ve heard of the Shara Smiles man.”
    â€œWe might as well try that since there’s not much else we can do right now.” McKenzie sat Mr. Pibb on the couch and grabbed the phone book off the kitchen counter.
    Blip, blip!
The computer announced a new e-mail in McKenzie’s inbox.
    The girls read the message from Alexis together:
    The writing looks like a woman’s, don’t you think? And did you notice she dots each
i
with little circles? I watched a detective show once about a missing person. The person didn’t want to be found, so he tried to frighten people into leaving him alone. I think the woman who wrote this note doesn’t want you to find Reggie Ford, so she’s trying to scare you away
.
    McKenzie chewed her bottom lip and then jerked her head toward Sydney as a sudden thought came to her. Grabbing the envelope, her heart pounded wildly in her chest as she glanced at the front.
    â€œI don’t believe it,” McKenzie said, her voice low. “How could I have been so stupid? I didn’t even notice it until now.”
    â€œNotice what?” Sydney asked, her eyes flashing suspiciously.
    â€œLook.” McKenzie pointed at Miss Val’s address printed across it. “How did this person know I was staying with Miss Val? I didn’t put my address on the postcard.”
    Sydney stared with shock at McKenzie. “You’re kidding. How could anyone know that?”
    McKenzie swallowed the knot forming in her throat. “Whoever wrote the note must know Miss Val well enough to know I’m staying with her. Anyone could Google Miss Val’s name and get her address.”
    â€œWhy wouldn’t the person just mail the letter instead of sticking it in our mailbox?” Sydney asked, raising her dark eyebrows.
    McKenzie frowned. “I don’t know. Maybe he or she wanted the letter to get here quicker.”
    â€œOr maybe the person just wanted to make sure we got the note. Sometimes things get lost in the mail,” Sydney suggested.
    McKenzie sighed, her fingers trembling as she typed the information to Alexis. Her fingers were so shaky it took several times to get the typing right.
    Alexis:
This calls for action from the Camp Club Girls. I’ll e-mail everyone for you. I know we all need to pray, but I’m going to call Elizabeth. She is so smart about these kinds of things. She’ll know what else we need to do. TTYL
.
    McKenzie rose and stepped into the kitchen. Noticing the mail scattered on the floor, she quickly scooped it up and tossed it on the table. She stood at the window, staring at the garden. Miss Val was busy picking ripe red tomatoes off the lush green vines.
    â€œShould we tell Miss Val about this?” Sydney asked, joining her friend.
    â€œLet’s wait until we hear from Elizabeth. I don’t want Miss Val to worry about us. That will give us time to think