23 THE THIEF

The Krautheimers lent us their SUV, which seated seven people. J.J. insisted on driving and allowed Kandace and Summer to come as well. Sidney Krautheimer took the passenger seat so he could give J.J. directions. My parents and I filled out the remaining seats.

Summer and I had to wedge ourselves into the small back seat, which was barely big enough for the two of us. My parents had expressed some concern about us coming along, as we were only children, fearing that confronting the thief might be dangerous, but I was quite sure that it wouldn’t be. At least, I figured it would be considerably less hazardous than my previous day had been.

The biggest danger, as far as I was concerned, was being in the car with J.J. driving. In our haste, we had forgotten what a terrible driver he was—and now he was in a great hurry to get his necklace back. He was going way too fast on the dirt road that led from the Krautheimers’ ranch to town. It was still dark, the road was in bad shape, and there was plenty of wildlife out. We almost hit a pronghorn before we had even left the driveway.

Summer was obviously frightened by her father’s driving as well. She was clenching the armrest tightly with one hand and my own hand with the other.

“Daisy Creek took the necklace,” I said as we roared down the road.

Sidney’s response was immediate and fierce. “Daisy?” he exclaimed. “Absolutely not! Daisy is the most honorable woman I’ve ever met in my life. I once overpaid her by five dollars—and when she realized, she drove all the way back to my house to return the extra money.”

“I’m sure she’s a good person,” I said, “but all the evidence points to her.…”

“How?” Sidney demanded. “Daisy wasn’t even at the house last night! She went home with Arturo while the rest of us were having dessert.”

“No, she didn’t,” I explained. “She only tricked us into thinking that. And Arturo helped. Daisy actually went into the hidden space behind the bookshelf before you went to your room. Then Arturo left and claimed that they had gone together. But no one watched them leave, did they?”

The adults all looked from one to another, realizing this was true. “I guess not,” Kandace conceded.

“That doesn’t prove anything!” Sidney exclaimed.

He seemed so hurt by my accusation that I felt bad about pressing on with it. But I had to in order to reveal what had happened. I said, “Arturo even called Jasmine later and asked her to look for Daisy’s car keys to give the impression that he was home with her, but that was all a ruse. Daisy spent the entire night in the hidden room.”

“How did she even know about that place?” Mom asked. “None of the Krautheimers knew about it and they live here.”

“Jasmine says her parents have been working at the house for a really long time,” I replied. “So they could know things that the Krautheimers don’t.”

“Yes,” Sidney admitted. “Arturo and Daisy worked for my parents. But I still refuse to believe she did this.”

“I can’t think of any alternative,” I said sadly. “No one who was staying at the house could have gotten into the room, because the bedroom door and all the windows were locked. But Daisy didn’t have to break into the bedroom, because she was in there all along. I think her plan was to take the necklace and then slip out unnoticed in the night, but Sasquatch came along and messed everything up.”

“And that was a total coincidence?” Kandace asked, then suddenly screamed, “DEER!!!!”

A herd of whitetails was crossing the dirt road ahead of us. Most bounded away, but a few froze, staring into the headlights of the oncoming SUV.

J.J. pounded the brakes and twisted the wheel. The SUV swerved wildly and spun on the road.

Summer squeezed my hand so tightly that I thought she might break my fingers.

The SUV came to a stop sideways on the road, encased in a cloud of dust.

“Maybe you should let me drive,” Sidney told J.J.

“I’ve got it,” J.J. assured him. “It’s not my fault a bunch of stupid deer don’t have the sense to get out of the way of an oncoming car.” He threw the SUV into reverse and promptly backed into one of the Spooner Ranch fence posts.

Sidney winced. But he didn’t argue the point any further. He obviously felt ashamed about everything that had happened so far and seemed to be doing his best to keep J.J. happy.

“It wasn’t a coincidence that Sasquatch showed up,” I said as we started down the road again. “He came into the house because Daisy was there. The Krautheimers had asked her to set up bear bait to lure grizzlies while we were all here, to make the ranch seem like the perfect place for a safari lodge. I guess she’d been doing it for a couple of days?”

“Yes,” Sidney answered softly, sounding uncomfortable.

“She was baiting the bears with meat,” I continued, “and using vanilla to lure them. Then she was dumping all the garbage in the Spooners’ trash to get rid of the evidence. It all worked pretty well. Sasquatch started coming by. Only, he started to associate the smell of vanilla—and maybe humans—with easy food. And once that happened, he became a nuisance bear.

“Vanilla is a very powerful scent, and bears can smell it from a long way off. I’m guessing that Daisy got some of it on her clothes. Or maybe she just couldn’t get the smell off her hands. Which wouldn’t have mattered if she had gone right home. But she didn’t. When Arturo brought Kandace to the house, he and Daisy both saw that she was wearing the necklace and hatched their plan to take it. Daisy went into the hidden room—and Sasquatch came looking for her. Because she smelled like vanilla.”

“Which is why Sasquatch didn’t go toward the dirty plates in the kitchen!” Summer exclaimed. “And why he was sniffing around the shelves. Because he was more attracted to the smell of vanilla… COYOTE!”

Sure enough, a coyote was racing across the road in front of us. J.J. slammed the brakes once again, and we skidded to a stop so abruptly that everyone was flung forward against their seat belts.

The coyote scampered away into the night.

J.J. immediately hit the gas, throwing all of us backward into our seats.

“J.J., please be more careful,” Kandace pleaded.

“I’m trying to get your necklace back,” J.J. told her sharply.

“That necklace won’t do me a bit of good if I’m dead,” Kandace replied.

“Anyhow,” I went on, “I’m guessing that Daisy was in the process of stealing the necklace when Sasquatch showed up. She ducked back into the hidden room right before Kandace and Summer woke up, but then she was stuck there while Sasquatch came in, looking for her. Obviously, we ran the bear off before he could find her, and once everyone had fled the room, Daisy saw her chance to escape. She went out the window, the same way that Summer had, and slipped away into the night. Those were her shoe prints Evan found outside the window.”

“Then she had Arturo come and pick her up,” Summer concluded. “And went home and changed. After which, they came back together in the morning to make it look like they had been together all night.”

“Right,” I agreed. “If they hadn’t shown up in the morning, it might have seemed suspicious. But as it was, they were the only people who had seen the necklace who we didn’t suspect. Because it looked as though neither one of them had been at the house to take it.”

“Only, they didn’t count on Teddy Fitzroy being on the case,” Dad said proudly.

“Well,” I said modestly, “this is all just a guess.”

“Exactly!” Sidney exclaimed. “There’s still no hard proof that Daisy stole that necklace.” He looked to J.J. with desperation. “She risked her life to save you in the mine yesterday. She worked her fingers to the bone. And if Chief Hogan hadn’t forced her out, she would have stayed right there, digging rocks out until you were free. That woman is a saint, not a thief.…”

“I don’t think she took the necklace for the money,” I said. “There’s something else you all ought to know.…” I trailed off as we arrived at the junction of the road that bordered the northern end of the ranch.

It was so early that no one was even heading into Yellowstone yet. There were no cars or RVs heading east along the road.

And yet, there was an RV heading west. It struck me as odd that someone would have left the park so early in the morning. I couldn’t tell for sure, since it was dark out, but the RV appeared to be the one I had seen leaving the park the previous morning, heading down this exact same road. It was about as large as a recreational vehicle could get, the size of a bus, with a blue stripe down the side.

The left-hand blinker was flashing, indicating the RV was about to turn onto the dirt road we were on. The dirt road that only ran to the Krautheimers’ ranch, the backcountry trailhead—and the Spooner Ranch.

“Stop that RV!” I exclaimed.

“Now?” J.J. asked. “We need to get to the Creeks before they take off with my necklace!”

“It’s an emergency!” I yelled. “Stop it!”

J.J. ran through the stop sign and slammed on the brakes, coming to a halt right in the middle of the intersection.

That should have prevented the RV from going any farther. A vehicle that big wouldn’t be easy to back up, and nearly impossible to make a U-turn with, so with our SUV blocking its path, I figured it would be stuck.

But whoever was driving it didn’t stop. Instead, they bore down on the SUV, intending to bulldoze us out of their way.

“Jumping Jiminy!” J.J. exclaimed, realizing we were about to be hit. He punched the gas and we sped out of the way of the oncoming RV.…

Although we weren’t quite fast enough. The RV caught the rear of the SUV with a crunch of metal, throwing us into a spin. The side airbags deployed instantly. We whirled through a half circle and slid off the road backward. There was a loud crack as the rear axle snapped and then the back of the SUV sagged.

The RV didn’t fare much better. It lost control as well, skidded off the road, and crashed into a tree.

“Is everyone all right?” Dad asked.

We all responded that we were, and then my parents and Sidney sprang from the SUV and ran toward the RV.

Summer and I clambered out of the rear seat and exited the SUV with the McCrackens.

The driver of the RV leaped out and fled into the night. I had expected it to be Ike or Taffy Spooner, but I could tell, even in the night, that it wasn’t. The driver was too big and stocky.

It was Jericho.

As I had seen at the rodeo, for a man his size, he was surprisingly fast and agile. He slipped through the barbed-wire fence of the Spooner Ranch and ran away.

In his haste to flee, Jericho had left the keys in the RV with the engine running.

J.J. considered the ruined SUV, then ran toward the RV. “Follow me!” he yelled to us. “We’re taking that RV!”

“But it’s not ours!” Kandace protested.

“And also—” I began.

“That idiot nearly killed us!” J.J. exclaimed, cutting me off. “So he forfeits his right to his RV! We can’t wait around. We need to get to the Creeks ASAP!”

“But there’s something you should know—” I said.

“Tell me on the way! Everyone else, hop in!”

“All right,” Sidney agreed, “but this time, I’m driving.” He started for the driver’s seat, but J.J. raced past him and sprang into it.

“The way you drive, the Creeks will be halfway to Canada by the time we get there,” J.J. said.

Everyone else climbed into the RV through the side door. I followed them, still trying to get their attention. “Before we start driving, there’s something you all should know—”

There was a yelp of surprise from Kandace. “There’s a buffalo in this RV!” she screamed.

“I thought that might be the case,” I said.