Chapter 4

"Do you think we should give these to the police?"

Taylor's softly spoken question was met with silence. The three brothers were sitting in their hotel room, on Zac's bed, staring at the results of their afternoon's adventure. They had managed to decipher six of the eight landmarks on the crude map. At each of the six locations they had found identical velvet pouches, and each of the pouches had contained an expensive-looking piece of jewelry. Taylor had to constantly remind himself that the pieces were not real.

They had seen the girl again twice. Each time she had appeared, they had been about to give up on finding anything at the site they were searching. The boys had come to the conclusion that, for whatever reason, the girl wanted them to collect the pieces of jewelry for her.

Isaac cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the younger boys. "I don't think we have any reason to involve the police...yet. We have no evidence that a crime was committed. For all we know, this could just be a game some crazy girl is playing. The police would probably laugh us out of the station."

"Then what are we going to do?" Zac asked.

Isaac chewed his lip for a minute as he thought it over. "We finish the game."

Taylor looked at his older brother in surprise. "Finish?"

"Sure," Isaac nodded. "It's obvious that this girl wants us to gather all of this jewelry for some reason, even if it is a game. I'm thinking that maybe when we get the last two pieces, we'll get an explanation."

"So, what you're saying," Zac said, "is that if we what to know what's going on, we have to finish the puzzle."

"You catch on quick, Einstein." Isaac ruffled the boy's hair as he answered. "Of course, it may not be that easy, but right now, I don't know what else we can do."

Taylor glanced down at his watch. "I think our adventures are over for today. Mr. Hodges will be here in a bit."

"And tomorrow morning we have those two television interviews," Isaac reminded his brothers.

"But our afternoon is free," Taylor pointed out.

"That gives us until then to figure our these last two landmarks." Isaac gathered the treasures on the bed and stood. "Now, what are we going to do with these?"

All three boys surveyed the room, looking for a safe hiding place. Zac's face lit up suddenly, and he snapped his fingers. "Wait! I know!" He dashed over to his duffel bag of snacks and began rummaging through it. After a short minute, he pulled out a half-empty bag of pretzels.

"Pretzels?" Taylor asked in confusion. "What do pretzels have to do with anything?"

Zac frowned at his brothers. He turned the bag upside down over the dresser and dumped the remaining pretzels out. "We can hide the jewelry in here," he explained patiently. "Then we can put the pretzels back on top. That way, if anybody does look, they'll only see pretzels." He smiled triumphantly, obviously pleased with himself for thinking of the idea.

"Why would anybody be looking for them in the first place?" Isaac asked. "No one even knows we have them."

"You never know," Zac pointed out. "There could be spies all around us."

Even Taylor had to laugh at the serious look on his brother's face. "Get real, kid. This is real life, not some Harrison Ford movie."

"You never know," Zac repeated. He held out the now-empty bag, waiting.

Isaac and Taylor exchanged a look. Finally, Isaac shrugged and dropped the treasures into the bag. "Let's humor the kid."

Zac took the bag back to the dresser and started dropping pretzels in on top of the jewelry. He popped every third one in his mouth.

"If you don't stop eating them," Taylor said with a smile, "you won't have enough to cover the jewelry."

Once the pretzels were all back where they had come from, Zac peered down into the bag and, satisfied with the results, rolled the top down. "Now, no one would suspect a thing."

"Unless they pick it up," Isaac said. Amusement colored his tone. "It's a little heavy for pretzels, don't you think?"

Zac hefted the bag in his hand and frowned. "Well, maybe no one will pick it up. I mean, it's just a bag of pretzels. Why would they?"

Taylor and Isaac shared another laugh over their brother's conspiratorial nature, then Isaac glanced at his watch. "Mr. Hodges will be here any minute. We'd better get dressed."

* * * * *

Mr. Hodges followed the boys as far as the elevator. "Are you sure you don't need anything else tonight?"

Isaac answered for all three of them. "We're fine, Mr. Hodges. We're just going to go to bed. It's been a long day."

The older man nodded his understanding. "All right, boys, but if you need anything, anything at all, don't hesitate to call. I'll be here at nine in the morning to pick you up. Good-night."

The Hanson brothers climbed wearily into the waiting elevator car and headed for their room. The elevator stopped on their floor and Taylor glance down the hall as the doors slid slowly open. For the briefest instant, he thought he saw the girl again. He opened his mouth to say something to his brothers, but before he could speak, he realized the hallway was empty. There was no way she could have been there. It must have been his imagination. He was exhausted, and his mind had been going over the mystery of the girl and the jewelry all evening. The combination of the two must have sparked his imagination. Besides, neither Isaac nor Zac had noticed anything. He stepped out of the elevator and followed his brothers to their suite of rooms.

He almost bumped into Isaac's back as the older brother stopped suddenly at the door. "What's wrong, Ike?"

"I could have sworn I locked this door when we left."

The door was standing slightly ajar. Isaac pushed it open and peered into the darkness beyond. After a minute, he stepped inside and reached for the light switch. All three brothers looked around the room as light flooded it. Everything seemed okay.

"Check your rooms," Isaac ordered calmly. "See if anything looks out of place."

The younger brothers did as told, while Isaac checked his own room. They met back in the main room in minutes.

"Everything seems okay," Zac said.

"Yeah," Taylor agreed slowly. "But it feels wrong. I can't put my finger on it. Nothing was missing, that I can tell, but...I could be wrong..."

"Things seemed moved," Isaac finished for him.

"Yeah," Taylor said in surprise. "How did you know?"

"It felt that way in my room, too. Are you sure nothing's missing?"

Taylor shook his head. "No, just moved."

"What about you?" Isaac asked, turning to Zac.

"I didn't notice," the youngest brother replied. Suddenly, Zac's eyes widened. "The jewelry!" He turned and ran for his room. The other brothers followed closely.

Zac grabbed the pretzel bag from the dresser where he had left it and dumped it out. All three brothers breathed a sigh of relief at the sight of the velvet pouches tumbling onto the dresser.

"Do you think someone was in here?" Taylor asked.

Isaac looked at both brothers for a minute before answering. "It was probably just a maid."

Taylor nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Why would someone break in here and not take anything?"

"Unless they were looking for these," Zac said, holding up the pouches.

This time, no one laughed at Zac's wild speculations.

"No one knows we have them," Isaac said, though he didn't sound as sure as he had earlier. "How could they?"

"Maybe we should call the police," Taylor suggested.

"And tell them what? That we think just maybe some things in our room were moved? I don't think they would find that amusing. Besides, I'm sure it was just the maid." He turned toward the door. "I'll make sure the door is locked securely. Let's just get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day." He drew the chain lock into place and double checked the other locks. "Maybe if we're lucky, this mystery will be solved tomorrow, and we can forget it."

* * * * *

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