I spun around and saw nothing. Maybe Jackson was right about Ben pulling people’s legs. The bush next to me suddenly raised a branch, like it was waving, and I nearly jumped out of my skin.
“Hi, Wendy,” it said. It had eyes!
“Werling,” Ben said. “Anything to report?”
I recognized the voice. It was Ben’s nerdy school friend, and though my heart was going a million miles an hour, I took a deep breath and tried to be cool. “Jeez, Werling. You join a bush league or something?”
He laughed and pulled back a camouflage hood. A shaggy suit of leaves and twigs covered him. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Who’s scared?” I lied.
He looked unconvinced, but didn’t argue. “I think my Ghillie suit improvements are acceptable,” he said to Ben.
“I’d say so,” Ben replied and smiled at me.
Werling was an inch taller than Ben, who was an inch taller than I was at five-seven. The last time I saw Werling, he came over to visit Ben dressed in slacks and a white shirt, the pocket of which was crammed with a supply of pens, an old cell phone, and little screwdrivers. He was built like a stick with ragged brown hair. I had answered the door. I’d hardly said, “Hi,” before he launched into a robotics lecture. It fixed my opinion of him as a complete dork. The leaf suit sure didn’t change that.
“We’ve been watching since the news came out,” Werling informed us. “Only the police and DNR have gone near the scene. I doubt that whoever did this is going to return.”
Ben considered this while I considered everything that had happened so far. “Ben, what’s going on? First there’s something creeping in the woods, then we meet that strange Irish guy—”
Werling quickly looked around and interrupted with, “Cathal’s here?”
“We met him at the meadow bridge,” Ben said.
“And!” I continued over their conversation. “And, I find out you are buds with the park police—”
“Department of Natural Resources park rangers,” Ben corrected.
“And only Officer Ally is friendly,” Werling added. “Jackson’s a jerk.”
I waved my hands. “Enough! Let me finish. Now I find Werling likes to dress up like some bizarre bush. That doesn’t surprise me so much. But put it all together and this is some kind of total weirdness. What is all this? Explain what we’re doing here and what you know about these clams.”
Ben drew a deep breath and gave it some thought, then shook his head. “No. I don’t think so. There’s no time.” He turned to Werling and said, “Eddy will be furious. And I wouldn’t blame her.”
“Eddy? Who’s Eddy?” I asked.
“She’s the chief creek naiad,” Werling said. “Don’t call her Eddy to her face. Say, Your Ladyship.”
When I still looked confused, Werling added, “A naiad is a water spirit.”
That’s it! They thought I was gullible and stupid. I was not going to let them have another laugh on me. “Okay, Ben. I give up. I’m not saying another word until you explain all this.”
“Excellent. I couldn’t have asked for more.” He ignored me and turned to Werling. “I have to do research. Keep watch downstream. I’ll check in . . .” he looked at his wristwatch, “at fourteen hundred.”
I was boiling mad but they were both clueless about it.
“Right.” Werling pulled his cowl back up, and, right before my eyes, he disappeared into the bushes. “It was very nice meeting you, Wendy. I mean, I’m really glad we met. I hope we can meet again. Soon.”
“Stuff it,” I snapped. “Make like a tree and leaf.”
He laughed. “Whoa. Good one. Okay. I’m leafing now.”
His movement was all that marked him as he disappeared into the leaves. I’d swear his bush was skipping. I lost sight of him. Ben had already marched back up the trail and stopped at a distance. “Wendy. Come on. I’m taking you back home.” He hiked back up the way we had come.
“Ben, you have some explaining to do.”
He took out a notebook and started writing.
“Don’t ignore me! What’s this all about?”
“To quote you, ‘I’m not saying another word.’ You’re quite talkative for someone not saying another word.”
“Fine. Be a jerk.”
He kept walking like he didn’t hear me.
If he wanted to keep his little secrets, okay. I could figure things out for myself. I’m not stupid. I’d put together what I knew and try to make sense of it. Number one was the thing about the clams. Someone or something killed them, maybe looking for pearls. Two was the Irish guy, Cathal. I should put him at number one. He was absolutely beautiful, but I had a hard time remembering what made him so fantastic. In a way, it was creepy. I was so ready to . . . to what? My memory of the whole scene with him was foggy, like it happened last year, not an hour ago. If Ben hadn’t pulled me away, I don’t know what would have happened.
Okay, and number three was Werling. People don’t run around Minnehaha Park dressed like potted plants. But Ben knew about Werly’s camouflage and understood he was watching the DNR guys. In fact, Ben seemed in charge, ordering Werling around. None of this creepy stuff surprised him. And that demanded an explanation, in my booklet.