Toad said, "The kitchen is stocked with cutlery, dishes, and cookware. Did you bring food?"
"We need to do that next. Is there a place in Behold where we can manage that?" Kelly asked.
She shook her head. "Just the convenience store."
"We'll just run to Dubuque, then," I said.
Toad's face hardened. "I know that Sin City is closer, but you should really go to Guttenberg. It's only half an hour away."
I guess the rivalry with Dubuque transcended centuries and town limits.
"Oh, okay," I said.
Toad went back to smiling. "The kitchen is over here."
With stainless, state-of-the-art appliances and mahogany cupboards, the kitchen did not look like it was for actual use.
"Kelly said you have a fire pit?" I asked.
"Of course!" Toad said. "You can't have s'mores without a fire pit! We'll end the tour there."
Toad led us through the rest of the lodge, explaining that this wasn't the main lodge, which held the cafeteria and art rooms. "This one is for younger Scouts who may have trouble transitioning from home to their first time at camp."
From the kitchen, we moved on to a room with twelve bunk beds. The girls squealed and began climbing them while Toad showed us a fully functioning bathroom, shower, and then the fire pit outside.
"Wow." I took it all in. "This is a fabulous setup!" Certainly better than staying in the spider house, a place I was going to check out tomorrow. I needed to get this investigation started. From what Nigel told me, there might not have been a murder after all, and then I could sell the place and go home.
Toad beamed again. "Thank you! We try. So"—she pulled a map from her pocket—"here's the lazy river. You'll find inner tubes in the shed on the little beach. The water is quite cold, I'm afraid, as it comes from a spring in the bluffs. And it's about three feet deep." She frowned for a moment. "I assume one of you has lifeguarding experience?"
We hadn't thought of that.
"Yes," I lied. "And Kelly is a former emergency room nurse, and I've had camp training."
The woman stared at us intently, and for a moment, I worried that I'd said the wrong thing.
"Wonderful!" She clapped her hands before pointing at the map. "And here's the mud pit. There's a hose attached to a stone shelter so that you can make it muddier. And there are showers on the outside of the shelter to rinse off."
Kelly studied the map. "What about the Indian burial mounds?"
Toad hesitated. "Well, be careful around them. They're over five hundred years old, and you shouldn't go there after dark."
"Because of the safety risk…" Kelly nodded.
"No, dear, because of the ghosts."
CHAPTER FIVE
"Real ghosts?" Kelly's voice dripped with doubt.
"Of course! What other kind are there?" Toad looked at us as if we were simpletons. "After all, the camp was named Camp des Morts because of the burial mounds."
"What kind of paranormal activity," I said, trying to find the words, "have you experienced here?"
"Oh!" Toad thought about this. "The usual. Apparitions, disembodied conversations, poltergeists. We get the lot."
"Isn't that dangerous?" Kelly struggled to say.
Was she afraid of ghosts? I wasn't. My philosophy was simple. If you can't shoot them, they can't hurt you. Or was that my philosophy on Russian secret agents? I couldn't remember.
"Only if they chase you off the cliff," Toad said as if she was telling us about the weather. "But that hasn't happened in, oh, I don't know, five years?" She leaned toward us. "They're better than the aliens."
"What?" That was the second person today to mention aliens.
She acted as if I hadn't said anything. "Well, I'll let you all get settled. My number is on the kitchen counter. I live in town, but the ranger is here all year."
"That's funny. I didn't see a house as we drove up," Kelly pointed out.
"He has a shack in the woods." She opened the map and pointed at a small building on one of the bluffs. "His name is Ned. He's recently experienced some hardship, so please don't bother him unless you have to."
"Do we have his number too?"
"No. Ned doesn't have a phone. You have to use the walkie-talkies in the communications lounge."
I noticed something on the map. "Is there only one way into camp?"
"Yes. You can only come and go the way you've come. The bluffs would be the only other way out." She burst out laughing. "Or should I say down?"
And with that, she went back into the lodge. She was gone before we went back inside.
"How did you find out this was the best camp in the state?" I teased. "Did you see it in Paranormal Quarterly Magazine?"
Kelly seemed defensive. "It's what I'd heard…from other people."
"What other people?" I pressed.
Kelly changed the subject. "It's late, and we have to get food."
"Are you worried about the ghosts?"
"Don't be ridiculous!" she said, but her eyes darted around nervously. "But since it isn't safe to go out at night, we'll stick to the lodge."
"Good luck with that," I said before I was mobbed by little girls.
"Are we going on a night hike?" Lauren asked. "I want to see the burial mounds at night!"
"No!" Kelly said a bit too sharply. "I mean, it's dangerous at night. Toad said it's easy to fall off one of the bluffs."
Nobody moaned or complained. It made me very suspicious. Obviously, I was going to have to stand guard at night. My troop had a history of doing whatever they wanted—damn the consequences.
"Alright!" Kelly clapped her hands together. "It's getting to be almost dinnertime, and we have groceries to get!"
"Where are we going?" Ava asked as we walked out to the van.
"What do you think?" Kelly asked me. "That convenience store in town or the unmentionable city of Dubuque?"
I knew what I wanted. "If I had my way, we'd eat every meal at Fancy Nancy's."
A cheer went up. Apparently, the girls agreed.
"We're only here a few nights." Kelly bit her lip. "The girls have so much fun
