* * * * *
Claudia and Ana were sitting down to a plate of macaroni and cheese with various assorted vegetables and deserts on the side when Caera came running down the aisle and surprised them. She was out of breath and trying to talk, flip through, and point at a book all at the same time, and at all three things she was failing miserably.
Once Caera was finally able to speak, she began babbling so uncontrollably that Claudia had to pry the book from her fingers and shove her into a chair. What was she doing here anyway? By Claudia's account, Caera should still be poring over research books at the library. Running into the cafeteria and having everyone in the entire seventh grade stare at her was definitely not what she should be doing. Ana tried to calm Caera as Claudia fingered the page that Caera had been pointing at. She came to three names and gasped: John Campbell, Susanna Campbell, and Collin Alexander Campbell.
Caera took this moment to grab the book back from her sister. "I haven't had the chance to read this yet because I came as soon as I could to show it to you guys, but look at the name 'Susanna Campbell'. You don't recognize it, do you?"
Claudia shook her head expectantly, while Ana wore her characteristic bemused expression.
"Well, I do. It just came to me that when I had pneumonia, I dreamed that I was Emma again—"
"Again? You didn't say anything about it!" Claudia said with a shout that carried through the din to the next table, where Caera could just see Marie Summit's head turning around.
"Ssshh! You're loud enough for the human sonar to hear you. Anyway, just look at this. It's something Susanna wrote, after becoming a prominent figure in the community." Caera was anxious to shut her sister up as it appeared Marie was straining to hear what they were saying as inconspicuously as it was possible for her. Claudia saw her sister glance at the next table, and upon seeing Marie, she decided to shelve the issue away as a topic for later discussion. All three girls turned their backs to Marie's table to read the first excerpt that Caera had found.
"'...Years after Emma's death, I am still plagued with questions. Why did Emma leave Argyll House? Under what circumstances was she left alone there on the evening of her death? Was she coming to me for help? However, the most important question I ask is the question of who killed her, and I fear that question cannot be answered. I do think it likely that the villain who murdered my dear cousin was the same who murdered my uncle; though I cannot persuade myself to accept that the respectable solicitor Mr. Davenport was involved, despite the charges leveled against him. Why should anyone murder an innocent child? Mr. Davenport died before the trial and left behind three young orphans. I cannot imagine a man with family, fortune, and honor capable of such a foul deed. Thus I shall go to my grave with the knowledge that Emma's murderer was never brought to justice to pay for his crime.
--Excerpt from the diary of Susanna Campbell McKinnon,
March 3, 1804.'"
"Wow." Claudia breathed as Caera finished. Ana had hardly said a word during the interchange, but her eyes urged for details. "What did you dream about?"
"Well," Caera began, "Susanna and I were on a picnic. We waded in the water on one of the last warm days of the year and we were having a good time, until suddenly a cloud passed over the sky, and I was watching a funeral procession. Susanna was there, all dressed in black. Her cheeks were red and puffy, like she'd been crying for a long time, and it occurred to me, no, to Emma, that I was watching my, Emma's funeral. It was so eerie, so terrifying! "
"But it's almost as if it was you, Caera, and not Emma, who was really on the beach talking to Susanna."
"I for one won't watch any more horror movies for a while." Ana shuddered.
"Why do you think you dreamed it, Caera?" Ana asked.
"Whaddaya mean?"
"Well, it just seems like too much to be a coincidence. You dreamed about Susanna and just a few days later you find her in this book? Why now of all times?"
"Ida know. But Susanna was really nice to me. I believe her—what she says about Mr. Davenport. I don't think he was Emma's killer, or the man who killed James Campbell."
"So Emma is trying to lead you both to the real killer." Ana said. "Your dream about Susanna is another piece of the puzzle of Emma's murder."
"But why am I dreaming about Susanna?" Caera wondered. "We already guessed that Mr. Davenport might not have been the real killer."
"Maybe she was trying to tell you to find out about her family?" Ana wondered. "Because... because maybe her family had something to do with her death, or the treasure, or maybe even both!" Ana finished, in growing excitement.
"Ana, you're brilliant!" Claudia cried.
"Thanks." Ana shrugged.
"Hey, Caera, you'd better go," Claudia interrupted. "You don't want to be caught in school when you're supposed to be at home sick."
"I'll leave in a minute, but first, I couldn't help wondering, what should we do now? Now that we know Aaron Davenport may not have been Emma's murderer?"
"Well," Claudia said, thinking it over. "We need to start looking for evidence to prove his innocence."
"Yeah!"
"You're forgetting one very unpleasant scenario, Claudia." Ana dampened Claudia's mood and made her feel uncertain with a foreboding look. "If Aaron Davenport is the killer, it's a good bet he stole Emma's diary. So if we want to prove he was innocent, we are going to have to investigate the area around Davenport's house, maybe even inside it, too."
Everyone let this sink in; then Claudia broke the silence.
"Oh great. How do we search for clues where those two rodents live without their knowing about it? We don't want those creeps to find out about the treasure!"
"Simple enough." Caera said slyly. "We'll wait until we know they're going to be otherwise occupied."
Investigation
A few days later, after Caera had finished her history project and some of her other work, her mother forcefully suggested that it was time that she went back to school. Before first period she had already heard so many "I'm really sorry you were sick"s and "I'm so glad you're better, we all missed you"s and endured countless feeble smiles and waves that she tried to hide her face behind her books on the way to history.
She figured that somewhere down the hallway Claudia was being greeted with similar expressions by people who couldn't tell that she wasn't Caera, which was about half of the seventh grade. She turned around but couldn't see Claudia, and then she sped up when she guessed that the three girls walking in her direction from the water fountain were approaching to express their sympathies.
When she and Claudia entered the history room, Marie and Emily fixed their attention on the twins. Marie looked like a complacent spider waiting in its web, but Emily betrayed a certain eagerness in her attitude and voice.
"Are you guys going to have another Christmas party this year?" Emily enthused, for once refraining from sneering. Marie was new to the school and had never attended any of the Campbells' annual Christmas parties, but she seemed to relish the idea as an unparalleled opportunity. Caera was about to answer that she wasn't sure what her parents were going to do this year when Claudia answered,
"Yes. We're having it on December the eighteenth at about seven o' clock, but we haven't gotten around to sending the invitations yet."
"Are the Davenports going?" Marie asked.
Caera didn't like what Marie was implying and answered her in an acrimonious tone, "How could we know if we haven't asked them yet?" Emily narrowed her eyes and was about to say something more when Marie nudged her shoulder and told her that she had to leave before she got a detention. Judging how interesting Marie was finding the conversation, Caera figured that it pained her to leave.
Caera and Claudia ate their lunch that afternoon in relative silence. Ana had stayed after class to find out her French test grade. Ten minutes into lunch, Claudia saw her at the end of the lunch line, which had been permanently and sizably redu
ced a few weeks before with the addition of a snack food line on the other side of the cafeteria. Ana normally headed straight for the pizza and French fries, but it looked as if she'd have to wait until fifth period if the length of the snack line was any indication. Caera figured that Ana would have to make do with a submarine sandwich and chocolate "wacky" cake.
Ana sat down and did what she always did; she handed the cake to Caera and Caera passed down her three chocolate covered Oreos in unspoken agreement. Today, for once, Ana ignored the cookies and started a monologue at full speed.
"Guess what, guys?" She didn't even wait for a "what?" before continuing, "While I was waiting outside Mrs. Winters' door, I heard Michael Goodman and Corey Richardson talking by their lockers. It seems that those twirps, Alex and Andrew, are having a slumber party at their house on December the nineteenth. I think they've invited at least a dozen boys from school. They'll be too busy to notice us if we're really quiet. We could look around outside for clues without their interfering. It seems their parents won't be there all evening. They're going to a dinner party. The way I see it, this is our best chance!"
"Hold on there a second." Claudia laughed. "You’ve got a great idea there, Ana," Claudia said. "But what'll we do until then?"
"Well, we'll have to take a break next week during the Thanksgiving holidays." Ana replied, thinking about it. "I've gotta go with my family to my grandmother's house, but maybe when I get back on the weekend we can meet and start our investigation."
"That sounds like a pretty good idea." Caera reflected a moment, seemingly calm until she glanced at her wristwatch. "We'd better hurry up and finish eating. We've only got a few minutes of lunch left. Are you coming with us to the library after school today, Ana?"
Ana had a mouthful of submarine sandwich and only nodded her head up and down.
"Okay. Then we'll see you in the parking lot at 3:15." Caera grabbed her empty lunch sack, waved to Claudia and Ana, and walked to her locker as the lunch bell rang.