Bailey’s Peoria Problem Read online

  “I’d say that sheep must have had weird-looking parents.” Bailey smirked. She didn’t want to give too much information about their investigation until she knew if Brian could be trusted not to tell.

  “You are impossible,” Brian said to his little cousin through gritted teeth.

  “Well, what did you make of them?” Bailey countered.

  “I already told you what they looked like to me!” Brian growled. “‘Help Gonzo’!”

  Alex gave Bailey a cautionary look then turned her eyes back to Brian. “We thought the same thing,” she said quietly.

  Brian’s eyes lit up. “Really?” He stepped away from the door and moved toward the girls.

  “Really,” Bailey finally admitted.

  “So I’m not going crazy!”

  “Not today, anyway,” Bailey teased.

  “Why didn’t you tell someone about the markings?” Brian asked.

  “Did you tell someone?” Alex asked, suddenly wishing she’d kept her big mouth shut.

  “Only you,” Brian answered.

  “You didn’t tell your parents?” Bailey questioned.

  “No. Why?”

  Bailey and Alex exchanged looks and nodded.

  Bailey spoke first. “Because we think we know who Gonzo might be, but we don’t want anyone else to know until we’re sure about what we think we know.”

  “Huh?” Brian’s eyes glazed over a bit.

  “Sit down,” Alex suggested. “We’ll explain.”

  Brian looked for a chair but only saw a pink beanbag. “I’m not sitting in that.”

  “Oh come on. It won’t turn you into a girl,” Bailey teased.

  Brian hesitated. “You’d better keep this quiet.” He pulled the feminine chair close to Bailey’s bed where both girls sat. The beans whooshed when he plopped down, and Alex laughed out loud. “I’m warning you…,” Brian threatened, but Bailey saw a smile sneaking into his snarl.

  Bailey and Alex alternately filled Brian in on who they thought Gonzo might be and what they’d discovered so far about the mystery. They left out the part about Yeller, Dude, and Rude, since they didn’t know if the men really fit into the Gonzo mystery. Brian’s dark eyes grew bigger with every detail.

  “I can’t believe it! You guys have only been here three days, and you’re already working on a mystery the police haven’t solved in seven years!” Brian shook his head.

  “But you have to promise not to tell.” Bailey pointed a menacing finger at Brian.

  “I promise,” Brian said.

  “Cross your heart?” Alex pushed.

  “Cross my heart.” Brian made an X on his chest with his finger then leaned in. “So you’ll keep me posted on any other clues you find?”

  “Sure, if you want us to.” Bailey nodded her head vigorously.

  “You can’t tell me all this and then leave me in the dark!” Brian’s bright white smile lit up his face.

  “Okay. We’ll keep you posted,” Alex promised.

  “How do you think the writing got on the sheep?” Bailey asked.

  “It isn’t a normal brand, that’s for sure,” Brian said.

  “Looked like a marker to me,” Alex added.

  “But it was so wide. Do they make markers that fat?” Bailey cocked her head. “And it would have to be permanent to withstand the weather.”

  “They make big permanent markers for writing on outdoor banners,” Brian said.

  “How big?” Alex asked.

  “The biggest I’ve seen was probably about an inch wide.” Brian held his finger and thumb about an inch apart to show them. “The spirit squad used them at school on posters for football games. And our vacation Bible school director at church used one to write on the banner for the church lawn.”

  “Good information, Brian,” Alex said. “Anything else you know about the markers?”

  “They smell horrible!” Brian laughed. “When we used them to make posters at school, our classroom smelled toxic for a couple of days!”

  “Perfect!” Bailey clapped her hands.

  “What do you mean?” Alex asked.

  “We can smell the yearling to see if it has any leftover marker smell!”

  “I doubt that it would now.” Brian shook his head. “Who knows how long ago that message was written? Besides, markers would be bad for the sheep.”

  “It’s still a clue we need to check out,” Bailey insisted.

  “She’s right,” Alex agreed. “A good detective leaves no clue unturned.”

  “Don’t you mean ‘leaves no rock unturned’?” Now it was Brian’s turn to tease.

  “Whatever.” Alex smiled. “Let’s just turn it over, whatever it is!”

  “Brian, do you know where those sheep came from?” Bailey asked.

  “Hard to know for sure,” her cousin answered. “We bought a lot of sheep at auctions last year to stock up our herds. They came from several different ranches in the area.”

  “Any way we could find out?” Alex asked.

  “I think my dad keeps a record book of when sheep are bought and which farms they come from.”

  Bailey gave him a you’ve-got-to-be-kidding look. “A record book?”

  “I know. Dad’s too old-fashioned to use a computer spreadsheet,” Brian answered. “Anyway, he also puts tiny tags on each of the sheep’s ears to identify them. He may even record how many sheep he gets at each auction.” Brian paused. “The problem is, we won’t know for sure which ones came from which farm.”

  “That info sure would help us narrow down the possibilities, though,” Bailey said, excitement rising in her voice.

  “Brian, do you think you could get a list of auctions and farms your dad bought from in the past year?” Alex asked. “We can check out each one to see if it’s tied in any way to Gonzo.”

  “I’m not sure, but I could try.” Brian rubbed his chin. “I’ll have to snoop around my dad’s office to find his record book. It’s a mess in there!”

  “Just be careful. Don’t get into any trouble.” Bailey’s eyes narrowed with concern.

  “I won’t. Don’t worry.” Brian thought another minute. “You know, Gonzo could be one of the seasonal migrant workers.”

  “You think so?” Alexis asked.

  “Maybe,” Brian said. “Gonzalez is a pretty common name among them.”

  “Why would one of them need help?” Bailey wondered aloud.

  “Good question,” Brian responded. “Many of them are pretty poor.”

  “Seems like an odd way to get help with money.” Bailey twisted her mouth.

  “Especially if you have children to feed,” Alex added. “You’d want quicker results than hoping someone saw your message months later during shearing season.”

  “I still think we shouldn’t rule it out,” Brian said. “Never leave a clue unturned.” He grinned at Alex.

  Alex returned the smile. “You’re right. You just might make a good detective after all.”

  “By the way, how’d the shearing go today?” Brian asked.

  “Alex was awesome!” Bailey bragged. “She sheared as many sheep as I did!”

  “Only because we were trading off,” Alex added modestly. “If I’d been shearing at my own station, you would have done lots more.”

  “I knocked two minutes off my starting time.” Bailey held up two fingers.

  “So you’re definitely going to compete this weekend?” Brian asked.

  “I’m pretty sure. We’ll see how much faster I can get first.”

  Brian looked at Alex. “What about you? Are you going to try it?”

  “Me?” Alex squeaked. “You’ve got to be kidding! This was only my first day of shearing in my whole life. I don’t think I’m quite ready.”

  “Are you going to be in the competition, Brian?” Bailey asked.

  “I competed the last few years. I’m not sure if I’ll enter again this year.” Brian flexed his muscles. “Although I’ve been training and am a lot stronger now. These guns could re
ally handle those sheep this year!” He patted his right bicep, and all three of them laughed.

  “Brian!” Uncle Nathan’s voice boomed up the stairs.

  “I’m coming, Dad!” Brian jumped up from the beanbag chair. “I’ve got to get back to work or Dad will get suspicious. Must be nice having the rest of the afternoon off!” he teased. Then he added, “I’ll let you know if I find anything about the auctions in his records.”

  “Thanks, Brian!” Bailey pushed the beanbag back to the wall as her cousin left the room, then sat back on her bed again.

  “He could be a huge help with this case,” Bailey said. “I just hope we didn’t give him too much information too soon.”

  “I think we can trust Brian. He seemed excited to be included in the secret, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, he seemed excited,” Alex agreed. “I just hope he is excited for the right reasons.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He might just want to use the information to get us in trouble or something. Don’t forget, he’s a boy!”

  Bailey shook her head. “I doubt it. Brian’s not like that.”

  “He did seem pretty sincere, didn’t he?”

  “Yeah, and if he can get those records of Uncle Nathan’s, that will be worth a lot even if he doesn’t do another thing!”

  Bailey’s cell phone rang, startling the girls. She looked at the display window before flipping it open. “Hi, Kate!”

  Alex watched her friend intently as she talked.

  “Uh-huh.… Really? You’re kidding!” Bailey’s eyes widened.

  “What?” Alex whispered impatiently, unable to contain her curiosity.

  Bailey held up her index finger to Alex and listened. She scribbled some notes on a pad of paper on her nightstand and said, “Great work, Kate. Let us know if you find out anything else. Okay. Yeah, I’ll tell her. Bye.”

  “What? What’d she find out?” Alex’s questions exploded out of her like lava from an active volcano.

  “First of all, she said to tell you hi.” Bailey smiled sweetly, not rushing into the information Alex was dying to hear.

  “Hi, already! Now tell me what she said!”

  “Okay. She did some Internet research, which she said was pretty tough because there were a gazillion listings for people named Gonzalez. But there weren’t many with the first name of Marshall. She was able to narrow it down and found out that our Marshall Gonzalez was born in Sinoloa, Mexico. He grew up the son of a poor shrimp fisherman. However, his grandpa raised sugar cane and was very wealthy.”

  “Wait a minute, if his grandpa was wealthy, why was his dad so poor?” Alex asked.

  “Good question. We’ll have to look into that.” “What else?” Alex prompted.

  “When Grandpa Sugar Cane died, he left his fortune to his only grandson, Marshall Gonzalez.”

  “Aha! So that’s who he inherited his money from. Go on.”

  “That’s as far as she’s gotten so far,” Bailey said with a sigh.

  “Man! She really knows how to leave a girl hanging, doesn’t she?” Alex laughed. “She did great getting that much information to us already. I know she’ll dig up more.”

  “Hey, I’ve got an idea!” Bailey sat up straight. “Let’s conference call the Camp Club Girls and give them all the updates. We can get their takes on this new info Kate just gave us.”

  “Great idea!” Alex scooted right next to Bailey so she’d be closer to the phone.

  Bailey called each girl individually then conferenced them in together. She put the phone on speaker so she and Alex could both hear.

  “Syd, can you hear me?” she asked.

  “I can hear you,” Sydney answered.

  “Elizabeth, are you there?”

  “I’m right here,” she replied.

  “How about you, McKenzie?”

  “I read you loud and clear!” McKenzie giggled.

  “Kate, can you hear us?”

  “Biscuit and I are all ears.” Kate’s voice gave away her smile.

  “Alex and I are on my speaker phone, so we’re both here, too.” Bailey held the phone between her and Alex. “Kate, why don’t you tell the others the information you’ve found out so far about Gonzo.”

  The other girls laughed at the nickname Bailey had come up with for Marshall Gonzalez.

  Kate repeated what she’d already told Bailey and Alex.

  “Sounds like jealousy may be a motive for this case, since Gonzalez is the only heir to his grandfather’s money,” McKenzie said.

  “Do we know if other grandchildren were left out of Grandpa’s will?” asked Alex.

  “Not yet,” Kate said. “He was the only grandson, but there could have been granddaughters. I’ll check that out, and also try to find out if Gonzo’s father was still living when his father died. He could have been pretty mad to have been left out of the will, too.”

  “Jealousy can cause people to do things they wouldn’t do otherwise,” Elizabeth piped in. “Proverbs 6:34 says, ‘For jealousy arouses a husband’s fury, and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.’ I’d say the same is true for anyone, not just husbands. Gonzo’s family could have been very angry as well as jealous, and taken revenge, which could be why we have a missing man!”

  “Good point, Elizabeth,” Sydney said. “I think I’ll research the sugar cane and shrimping industry to see if I can learn any helpful clues from that.”

  “Good thinking, Syd,” Alex said. “Hey, guess what, you guys? We have someone else helping us with the case now.” Alex told them about Brian and that he was investigating the Curly Q’s purchasing records for them.

  “You’re sure we can trust him?” Elizabeth asked.

  “I’m sure,” Bailey answered. “Let’s talk again in two days to see what new information has come to light. If we have any big breaks, we can always talk sooner.”

  “Like if Bailey learns to shear a sheep in two minutes or less and sets a new world record!” Alex laughed and explained to the others that their youngest friend was going to be in a shearing competition this Saturday.

  “That’ll be awesome!” McKenzie said. “I wonder if Biscuit would make a good sheepdog.”

  “I wish we could all come to watch.” Elizabeth’s gentle voice conveyed her remorse.

  “We’ll let you know how it goes,” Bailey assured them. “In the meantime, let’s keep working on the case, and we’ll talk again in a couple days.”

  “Sounds good to me,” McKenzie said.

  “Me, too!” added Kate.

  “Woof!” Biscuit barked in the background, and the girls all laughed.

  “Guess we have Biscuit’s approval, too,” Kate said.

  “And remember, we only have four more days until Alex and I go back home,” Bailey reminded them.

  “I wish I was as fast at solving mysteries as I am on the track!” Sydney joked.

  The girls said their good-byes and hung up.

  “Come on,” Bailey said. “Let’s get out of here for a while. It’s a beautiful day!”

  Alex was off the bed in a flash. They opened the bedroom door and immediately heard voices downstairs. They stopped to listen before going down.

  Uncle Nathan’s voice rose. “Brian! What are you doing in my office?”

  Another Message

  Bailey clapped her hand over her mouth. How could Brian be so careless after she had trusted him with their investigation secrets?

  “Dad!” Brian’s voice cracked.

  “What are you doing in here?” Uncle Nathan repeated.

  Bailey crept silently down the stairs with Alex close behind. They stopped three steps from the bottom where they could see into the office. They sat to watch the unfolding horror show.

  “I was looking for something,” Brian hedged.

  “I gathered that.” Uncle Nathan paused. “Are you going to tell me what it is you’re looking for?”

  Brian lowered his eyes. “I was trying to remember which farms we bought sheep f
rom at the last few auctions. I couldn’t remember, so I was going to look it up.”

  Uncle Nathan gazed at his son without a smile. Brian met his father’s eyes squarely, holding a stare for a second before Uncle Nathan’s face softened. He put a hand on his son’s shoulder. “So you’re taking an interest in the family business, huh?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” Brian replied, relief flooding his features.

  “I’ve always hoped you’d want to learn more about the business side of sheep farming, rather than just the animal care.” Uncle Nathan opened a desk drawer and pulled out a spiral-bound black book.

  “This is my ledger,” he explained to Brian. “In it I keep records of which auctions I attend, which farms I buy sheep from, and what I pay.” He handed the book to his son. “I know I should put all this in the computer, but I just haven’t made the switch yet. Maybe I’m just too old-fashioned.”

  Brian held the softcover book, flipping through its lined pages of columns and rows. “It has a lot of writing in it. How long have you been keeping track of all this?”

  “Since I bought the farm. About seven years.”

  “Wow. Can I borrow this to do some research?”

  “What are you researching?”

  Alex inhaled sharply. Bailey grabbed her friend’s hand and squeezed as they waited for Brian’s reply.

  “I want to try to figure out which sheep came from which farms so I can see if their markings are similar. You know, to see if sheep have any family resemblances like people do.”

  Uncle Nathan’s eyebrows shot up, and he grinned. “Oh, I see. Like a genetic engineer!” He smacked his son on the back. “Sure! Look all you want. I’d better start saving my money for your high-priced education!”

  The proud father strutted toward the office door but then stopped and turned back to Brian. “But son, next time you need something, please ask me for it instead of snooping. It doesn’t look good when you do that.”

  Brian laughed. “Sure, Dad. Sorry. Hey, maybe I could enter this stuff into a spreadsheet on the computer for you. It would take some time, but I know how to do it.”

  Uncle Nathan’s face lit up. “Sure! That would be a tremendous help. Thanks!”

  Bailey and Alex heard the screen door slam as Uncle Nathan went back outside. They hurried into the office.