Josh scratched his knee, then his neck, then his left elbow.

“Guess I’d better buy some calamine lotion,” he said.

“We’re almost at the supermarket,” Dink said. He glanced over his shoulder.

“What’re you looking at?” Ruth Rose asked.

Dink shrugged. “Nothing, I guess. I just keep thinking about that creepy guy in the boat.”

“Do you think he recognized us?” Josh asked. “I mean, if we couldn’t see his face, maybe he couldn’t see ours.”

“I hope you’re right,” Dink said. “If the guy in the boat was the counterfeiter, he could be anyone, even someone we know!”

“Oh, great, Dinkus,” Josh said. “Now I’m going to have nightmares!”

The kids walked into the supermarket and headed for the pharmacy. Mrs. Hernandez looked up and smiled.

“Hi, kids, what do you need?” she asked.

Josh scratched his knee. “Do you have any calamine lotion?” he asked.

Mrs. Hernandez came out from behind her counter. She gave Josh a once-over.

“That’s poison ivy, all right,” she said. She took a pink bottle from a shelf and handed it to Josh. “That’s my last bottle. Ron Pinkowski came in yesterday and bought up my other three.”

Josh paid Mrs. Hernandez and thanked her. Then the kids left the store. They sat on a bench while Josh dabbed calamine lotion on his itchy spots.

“I wonder why Mr. P needs this stuff,” Ruth Rose said. “Didn’t he tell us he stays away from poison ivy?”

“He wasn’t scratching when we saw him yesterday,” Dink said.

Suddenly, Josh jumped to his feet. “Oh, my gosh! It’s him!”

Dink looked around. “Who’s him?”

“Mr. Pinkowski!” Josh said. “He bought the calamine lotion because he’s got poison ivy. And he’s got poison ivy because he was on Squaw Island hiding his counterfeit money!”

Dink shook his head. “If Mr. P has poison ivy, he could’ve gotten it anywhere.”

“Maybe he’s hiding a printing press in one of his empty fish tanks!” Josh said.

“Josh, what are you talking about?” Ruth Rose asked.

“It’s perfect!” Josh said. “He sells bait to fool people, but he’s really getting rich making phony money!”

“That’s crazy,” Dink said. “Just because Mr. P bought calamine lotion doesn’t mean he’s a counterfeiter.”

Josh screwed the bottle cap on and shoved the lotion into a pocket. “I’m not crazy!” he said. “He’s tall, so he’s probably got big feet, right?”

Ruth Rose opened her mouth, but Josh cut her off.

“And he lives right on the river,” Josh went on. “He’s got boats! He knows Squaw Island is the perfect place to stash money. It has to be him!”

Dink looked at Ruth Rose. “What do you think?” he asked her.

“It could have been Mr. Pinkowski in the boat,” Ruth Rose said. “But he’s our friend. I can’t believe he’s a counterfeiter!”

“I can’t either,” Dink said.

“Well, I can!” Josh said. He scratched his stomach. “Let’s go back to the bait shop and see if he has poison ivy.”

“But how will we know?” Ruth Rose asked.

Josh grinned. “He bought three bottles of calamine lotion,” he reminded her. “He’ll be pink!”

Dink laughed. “Okay, let’s go back to the bait shop,” he said. “You look for poison ivy. I want to see if Mr. P’s feet are as big as those footprints!”