Ghost of a Chance Read online

  “ ‘Gentlemen, I’ve finally overstayed my welcome in this glorious part of the world,’” Joe read. “ ‘You two hotshots are about to blow my cover and I’m bugging out before that happens. After my plane crashed a quarter of a century ago, I lost part of my treasure. I have been here since, gathering up the missing items. Although the movie was a flattering idea, it was also an enormous imposition. It increased the risk that others would find my missing treasure before I did.’”

  In the letter Jumper went on to say that he did his best to discourage the project by disguising himself as himself in his younger days and appearing as a “ghost.”

  “He could really pull that off,” Frank said. “As the extra cast member Hank Jeamer, he had complete access to the sets and locations.”

  “ ‘I substituted my mountain lion, Elvis, for yours and took your splendid puma,’” Joe read on. “ ‘Of course, I had to case the wranglers’ house and barn area Monday night in preparation for the catnapping. I apologize for knocking out the young wrangler in the process.’” Frank rubbed the back of his head as he remembered the blow he had received.

  Jumper went on to assure the reader that Omar had been well cared for because he loved pumas and would never endanger one. He also said that he followed the Hardys and Terry when they checked out his original shack.

  “He must have been the driver of the car that barreled out in front of us,” Terry said.

  In the letter Jumper mentioned Frank, Joe, Gene, Lloyd, and Terry by name. He also said that the Bigfoot costume was well-worn because he had used it decades ago to scare off townspeople and tourists from his property.

  “ ‘I haven’t used it in the last ten years,’” Joe read, “ ‘since I scared a group of developers who wanted to build vacation condos nearby. Whoever finds it is welcome to it.’”

  Finally Jumper said that he didn’t know where he was going and couldn’t risk taking Elvis. He asked that Gene and Lloyd make the cat a permanent resident of their animal care facility.

  Gene, Lloyd, Terry, and Cleo were exhilarated to be part of the mystery solving. “Man, I can’t wait to tell everyone,” Gene said. “This is cool.”

  “They’ll have to reinstate me,” Terry proclaimed. “This letter is proof that Jumper’s been causing all the trouble on the production.”

  “I can see the headlines now,” Cleo said. “I’d better schedule a press conference for tomorrow.”

  “To think that we almost caught the famous Jumper Herman,” Lloyd added.

  “ Almost caught,” Joe repeated, slumping down on the stool.

  Frank knew how Joe felt. They had come so close to cracking this case before Jumper left. If only they had figured it out a little sooner, they might have been able to catch him.

  “Terry, can you drive Gene to the compound so he can get the truck and a cage for Elvis?” Lloyd asked. “I’ll stay to make friends with him.”

  “Fine,” Terry said. “How about the rest of you?” he asked, turning to Frank. “You coming?”

  “I’d still like to take another look at that well,” Frank said. “We’ve got some good daylight left.”

  “I’ll come with you,” Cleo said.

  After Terry and Gene left, Frank, Joe, and Cleo headed through the forest to the abandoned well. They searched the area for nearly forty-five minutes but found nothing more. When they heard the wranglers’ truck in the distance, they headed back for the cabin.

  The Hardys and Terry helped Gene and Lloyd wrangle Elvis into the cage and then strap the cage onto the truck. Lloyd gave the cat a mild sedative so that he wouldn’t be anxious about being taken from his home by strangers. But Elvis seemed to have accepted his fate and settled down for the ride.

  Before they left, Frank went inside the cabin and gathered up the Bigfoot costume.

  The wranglers left in the truck, and the Hardys and Cleo rode with Terry. It was getting dark quickly, as it always did in the mountains. When the sun fell behind a peak, it seemed as if night arrived instantly.

  Terry dropped Cleo and her car off at the Cross-cook home she was using for the duration of the filming. Then, even though he was still banned from studio property, Terry felt confident enough to risk driving into the residence compound, which wasn’t guarded. He drove his car behind the wranglers’ house and parked.

  Gene and Lloyd had beaten them down the mountain. They were at their truck parked over by the animal trailers, talking to Elvis. “Joe, can you give us a hand here?” Gene called.

  As Joe walked off to help the wranglers move Elvis into his new temporary home, Frank and Terry walked to the house and stepped inside. Even in the dark, Frank could feel that something was wrong. When he switched on the light, he knew it.

  It was like a movie flashback to the scene in Ernesto’s room at the inn. Frank looked around. His skin crawled as if a dozen snakes slithered up his back. The inside of the house was completely trashed.

  16

  It’s a Wrap

  Frank’s breath caught in quick spurts. He felt as if he had played this part the day before. Terry ran to tell the others what they’d found.

  Frank called the studio security office. Then he picked his way carefully through the mess, trying not to disturb any evidence, but also looking for clues. Joe and the others came in after finally getting Elvis settled.

  “You do think it was Jumper who did this, don’t you?” Lloyd asked the Hardys. “Sort of a final bit of craziness before he left town?”

  Frank and Joe exchanged glances. “There always has to be a motive,” Frank said. “I just can’t figure out why Jumper would trash this house.”

  “Or Ernesto’s room at the inn,” Joe added.

  “Look, guys,” Terry said. “The man’s a nut. He always has been. Living with a puma on top of a mountain for twenty-five years has only made him crazier. I’m not sure we’re going to find a reason that makes sense.”

  When the sheriff and studio guard arrived, Frank and Joe followed them around to be sure that they also saw all the evidence the law enforcement officers found.

  A few fingerprints were gathered, but no one was optimistic that they would be matched. It didn’t look like a professional job, done by someone who might have prints on file.

  “It doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of someone looking for valuables,” the sheriff commented. “I wouldn’t expect you fellows to have a lot of jewelry or money lying around, right?”

  “The wild animals alone would scare most burglars off,” the studio guard said, nervously glancing out the window at the animal trailers.

  “This reminds me of an incident that we had at the inn yesterday,” the sheriff said, “but we don’t have a clue yet who did that job. Do you have any hunches about who’s been here?” he asked Frank. “You know anybody who might want to make this mess just for fun?”

  Joe handed the sheriff the letter they had found in Jumper Herman’s cabin. “You might want to have a handwriting expert verify this, but I’m pretty sure it’s authentic.”

  Frank told both officers how they had discovered that Hank Jeamer was actually Jumper Herman. Both the sheriff and the security guard were clearly impressed by the Hardys’ conclusions and left to check the prints against Jumper’s.

  After the sheriff and guard left, everyone pitched in to clean up the mess.

  “I still think it had to be Jumper,” Gene said. “He was sore because you had blown his cover.”

  “Don’t forget Ernesto’s ransacking,” Frank said. “The two jobs were so similar, but why would Jumper trash Ernesto’s room?”

  “Maybe to find the artifacts and relics,” Joe reasoned. “After all, it was Jumper’s loot. Ernesto’s pretty open about his collection. Jumper could easily have heard about it.”

  Joe stopped to think for a minute. “No, that doesn’t add up because how would he know we might have a few pieces? It has to be someone else.”

  “You’re right, Joe,” Frank agreed. “If the two break-ins are related, we have
to have something in common with Ernesto. The most obvious thing is finding objects from Jumper’s missing treasure.”

  Frank checked his locked computer case, where he had secured the leather strapping and corroded chain from the abandoned well. The lock was jimmied open, and the objects were gone. Frank and Joe looked at each other and nodded.

  “Other than the people in this room, only one person knew about Ernesto’s relics and also thought that we’d found some items,” Frank concluded.

  As he dropped the computer case onto the bed, a small neon purple triangle slipped from the handle and drifted to the floor. Joe gingerly picked it up and held it to the light.

  “I’d bet anything that this is a chip from Sassy Leigh’s clipboard,” he said, his jaw tight.

  Frank raced to the phone with the paper Sassy had given him earlier. “We’ve got to get her here right away,” he told the others.

  Frank dialed her number and asked her to meet them. “I’d like to show you some things we found this afternoon,” he told her. “I’m sure they’re part of the archaeological treasures that Jumper Herman stole.”

  Frank gave a thumbs-up to the others and then spoke to Sassy again. “We almost didn’t have anything to show you after all,” he said. “Someone broke into our house and really trashed it. Fortunately we had stashed the treasures in the barn out back.” He was quiet, nodding his head as Sassy responded.

  “Well, we’re all leaving in half an hour for a meeting with one of Dustin’s assistants about tomorrow’s shoot. But we’ll be back in a couple of hours. We could meet with you then. Great!”

  “I think she took the bait,” Frank reported when he hung up the phone. “She’ll probably be here in about forty-five minutes, when she thinks we’ve left for our meeting. We have half an hour to get something set up.”

  The Hardys, the wranglers, and Terry began setting a trap for Sassy. Terry grabbed some equipment from his car trunk with Frank’s help. Lloyd and Gene parked one of the trucks out of sight behind a building a block away. Joe grabbed the Bigfoot costume. They all gathered in the barn and went to work.

  Lloyd was the lookout, and as they expected, Sassy walked up the driveway about forty-five minutes after she had talked to Frank. “Here she comes,” Lloyd whispered. “She probably parked on the street so she wouldn’t attract any attention.”

  Lloyd joined Terry and the straw-stuffed Bigfoot costume in the loft, ready to work the illusion. Joe hid in one of the stables, prepared to grab Sassy if she tried to run out the back. It was dark in the barn. Only a shaft of moonlight filtered in the dusty window across the straw, giving everything a sort of yellowish glow.

  Frank was in the shadows near the front door, his senses on full alert. As he watched the door, it creaked open. Sassy crept inside and looked around. She took a few steps forward and closed the door behind her. As she stepped across the barn floor, a noise in the loft seemed to startle her.

  As Sassy looked up, Frank’s gaze darted back and forth from her to the loft. Sassy’s eyes grew huge in the yellow light as Bigfoot himself rose up from the loft straw. He snorted a few times and lurched toward the ladder.

  Sassy screamed and turned back to the door. She threw it open. Frank jumped from his hiding place to block her escape.

  Sassy stumbled backward, still screaming. Gene switched on the lights. Sassy was obviously shocked to see the Hardys, the wranglers, and Terry emerge from the shadows.

  “I never meant to really hurt anyone,” she said, slumping to the ground.

  Sassy looked out the barn window as if she were gazing far over the mountains. “It’s just that’I found a few of the old coins two years ago. I’d been searching for years and finally found something.”

  She looked back at Frank and the others. “There’s more out there, I know it,” Sassy said, her eyes narrowing.

  Then she smoothed her skirt as she continued. “I finally found what I was looking for, and then I heard that hundreds of people were coming here to spend months making a movie! Walking, driving, tearing up the place. Maybe finding the rest of Jumper’s cache. I couldn’t let that happen.”

  “So you tried to disrupt the production,” Frank said.

  “Of course,” she answered with a bright smile. “I just needed to keep everyone away from the places I had staked out.”

  “You had a perfect setup,” Joe said. “You got hired on as a consultant, so you had the run of the place.”

  “Thank you,” Sassy said. “I thought it was perfect, too.”

  “And you wrote the notes to Cleo?” Gene asked.

  “I did,” Sassy confirmed.

  “Did you ever dress up like Bigfoot?” Joe asked.

  “Oh my, no,” Sassy said. “I could never have pulled that off. But I did do anything else I could think of to get you all out of here and onto another mountain.”

  “Even sabotage my stunt rigging?” Terry asked.

  “Mm-hmm,” Sassy answered with a nod. “When your field is folklore, you learn a lot about hoaxes and gimmicks and stunts and illusions,” Sassy said. “I figured out what to do so that yours wouldn’t work.”

  “You might have gotten away with it,” Frank told her. “But I have a feeling you got greedy. There was only one reason to ransack our house and Ernesto’s. You were looking for treasure.”

  “Well, who can blame me,” Sassy said. “Not only were you snooping around, trying to find out who was doing all this, you also were finding some artifacts. That was extremely unfair. I figured I was at least entitled to what you’d found. And Ernesto had plenty. He’d hardly miss what I took.”

  Frank called the sheriff, who arrived quickly and took Sassy away. “Before you go, I want to tell you something,” Frank said. “You weren’t the only person trying to make trouble. Hank Jeamer is Jumper Herman, alive and now escaped once again.”

  For the first time since the Hardys had met her, Sassy Leigh was speechless.

  “She could be charged with attempted murder for what she did to Cleo,” Terry said as the sheriff drove off with Sassy.

  “Well, at least some sort of assault charge,” Frank guessed.

  “That’ll be nothing compared to what the studio will do to her,” Terry suggested. “They don’t like people messing with their movies.”

  They all felt like celebrating but postponed it until the next day because the wranglers and Omar had early shoots.

  Thursday evening the studio threw a huge celebration and party for the cast and crew. Frank and Joe were the honored guests. A planeload of pizzas were flown in from Hollywood’s best restaurant.

  “I have an announcement,” Dustin said when he’d finally gotten the crowd to quiet down for a minute. “The studio is so thrilled with the Hardys’ discovery and the worldwide publicity it is bringing that the ending of the movie will be rewritten to include the unmasking of Jumper by Frank, Joe, and their friends.”

  “Let’s hear it for the Hardys,” Berk said, leading a rousing cheer.

  After the speeches and the applause, the Hardys, Gene, Lloyd, Terry, and Cleo shared enormous pizzas at a private table.

  “Stuffing the Bigfoot costume and having me work it like a puppet was a brilliant idea, Frank,” Terry said. “I may have to borrow it for the movie. But there’s one thing that still bothers me.”

  “What’s that?” Frank asked. He was sure he knew what the stunt master was going to say, because it was bothering him, too.

  “Jumper said he hadn’t used the Bigfoot costume in ten years,” Terry said.

  “That’s right,” Gene agreed.

  “And Sassy said she never used a Bigfoot costume,” Terry continued.

  “She’s too small to play Bigfoot,” Cleo observed.

  “So who slammed into Frank?” Terry asked in a low voice. “And who looked in on us at the abandoned shack?”

  “It was a bear, of course,” Frank said.

  “A very smelly one,” Lloyd added.

  “One that ran upright on his back legs
,” Gene added, frowning.

  “And left very Big Foot prints,” Joe whispered.