No, there was only one way to find out. Climb up there myself. It was the dumbest possible option. And that's the only one I thought would work.
I grasped the first rung and looked up. No one looked down at me. Like the idiot I was, I began to climb. The ladder was easy to operate. About halfway up, I looked down. I shouldn't have done that. I immediately regretted my decision to forego the harness. What was I doing? I was familiar with low ropes courses. I had no idea what to do on a high one.
Well, I'd just have to be extra careful and hope that Betty wasn't watching. I'd never live down using the course without a harness, and I was setting a terrible example. But I was already committed and continued on with the climb.
I'd had some experience falling from a height. I once fell out of a tree, with branches on the way down breaking my fall little by little until I ended up in a bruised heap on the ground. It was something I did not want to repeat.
Okay. I'd just go to the top of the platform and come right down. No problem. The girls would never know. There probably wasn't anything up there anyway.
As I reached the platform, I peeked over the edge. No one was there. I looked around at the connecting elements. There seemed to be two ways to go other than down—a bridge that seemed to be made up of individual swings attached to ropes overhead, with no railing, spaced about a foot and a half apart. The other was a zipline.
Neither was a viable exit without a harness. Not to mention the fact that I didn't know the tricks to traverse the two paths. I looked down. The ladder or these dubious "bridges" were the only ways off the platform.
Had I been seeing things? Perhaps there hadn't been anyone there at all. Maybe the hat was left over from some other group who had been here at camp this summer.
Geez. Maybe the girls and their ghost hunting were getting to me. I made my way back down the pole. At the bottom, I examined the cap. It was a typical wool hat, and it was very much out of place here in late summer. Or was it the ranger's hat? He could've left it.
Which meant it could've been here already. Maybe I'd just seen a leaf falling. We hadn't really gotten too close to the ropes course because I didn't want the girls to get too excited about it. So far, the potential for ghosts and aliens held the girls' attention. But I couldn't count on that.
Something rustled in the woods next to the course, and I froze. The sounds were hard to define. I closed my eyes and listened more closely. It sounded like someone running. Right toward me.
I opened my eyes to see a dark form burst out of the trees, headed straight for me. Dodging to the left at the last minute saved me from getting tackled, but it also caused me to smack my head on the pole I'd just climbed down.
There was a tug on my hands and then nothing. I shook off the blow to my head and turned to see the shadow running away from me. I looked down. The hat was gone. And now, so was the shadow.
A couple of hours later, as we ate our pancakes, I found Betty staring at me.
"What happened this morning?" she asked as casually as if she was asking for the syrup.
I responded with the same casualness. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." She pointed a fork at me. "Something happened. I heard you get up."
The fork full of pancakes froze halfway to my face. "Did you follow me?"
The child fixed me with a look. "No. I was dreaming that I'd won ten puppies. You don't leave bed when you have a dream like that. Everyone knows that."
Ava agreed. "I was dreaming that I was running a major insurance company, and I got to ride Cookie to work every day."
The other girls congratulated her.
Ava had big dreams. My ambitious Scout, she dreamed of working in insurance for some reason.
"Nothing happened," I lied. "I couldn't sleep, and so I just sat out here until sunup."
"Right. If that's how you want to play it," Betty said sarcastically.
"Yes" was all I could think to say.
To be honest, I still couldn't wrap my head around what had happened. Why would there be some guy hanging around a Girl Scout camp in the off-season?
Okay, now my mind swarmed with all sorts of terrible possibilities. Did I need to employ security measures? Were we safe? I really should've brought a shotgun. Maybe Betty brought one. I'd have to ask quietly after breakfast.
Or was it something else? Was this someone trying to scare me off the case? One of Aunt June's suitors or Fancy Nancy?
"I was thinking we'd try to find Ned this morning," Kelly interrupted my thoughts. "The camp ranger. I mean, it was great that Toad met us and all, but the girls are interested in trying the high ropes course, so I thought we'd ask if there's a facilitator in the area."
"That's a great idea," I said a little too loudly and a little too quickly.
Six pairs of eyes stared at me.
At our old camp, the ranger always met us the first day, and if we wanted to do something, he made it happen. All Scout camp rangers must be like that, right?
"Do you think it's odd that we haven't seen him?" Kelly asked quietly as the girls began chattering about puppies and Cookie. Or was it puppies and cookies?
"He could be on vacation," I suggested. "Still, I'd feel a little safer
