Alexis and the Lake Tahoe Tumult - Erica Rodgers [7]
He got up and stormed off, taking his tray to the other side of the dining room.
Alexis turned around and saw tears in Bailey’s eyes.
“It’s okay, small fry,” Alexis said. “Some people can’t help but spread their bad moods.”
“I really didn’t mean to hit him, Lexi,” said Bailey. “I was thinking about the camera, and I didn’t realize he was sitting so close to our table.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Alexis. “Let’s eat. We have a bus to catch, remember?”
After breakfast Alexis and Bailey waited outside the hotel for the bus that would take them across town. They were supposed to get off at a little convenience store and ice cream parlor that was near the reserve. Then Lisa, Karen and Jake’s daughter, would meet them and drive them the rest of the way. She was home for spring break, too—only she was taking a break from college.
On the bus ride over, Alexis and Bailey went through their recording equipment. They had a digital video camera and enough disks to record hours upon hours of footage. Alexis had also borrowed an external microphone from her drama teacher at school. It would help them pick up voices and sounds from farther away. This could really come in handy when they recorded animals from a distance.
When the girls got to their stop, Lisa was already waiting for them on the porch of the store.
“You must be the documentary girls,” she said. She shook their hands. She was wearing thick skiing mittens. A hat that matched her mittens covered most of her long, brown French braid.
“That’s us!” said Alexis. “This is Bailey, and I’m Alexis.”
“It’s good to meet you,” said Lisa. She led them to a red jeep that was still running in the nearby parking lot. It was toasty when the girls climbed in. “So my parents told me about the kitties escaping yesterday and your help in getting them back in the cage. I hear you two think these things aren’t just accidents, that something fishy is going on up at the reserve?”
Alexis was nervous. Would Lisa laugh at them? Did she think it was silly that two girls wanted to investigate what was going on at her parents’ place? She was in college, after all. She was probably really smart.
“Yep!” Bailey answered before Alexis could get the right words together in her mind. “Something very fishy is going on up there. I mean, animals just don’t unlock their cages by themselves, do they?”
“No,” Lisa said, pulling away from the store parking lot onto the main road. “I guess they don’t.”
“And your parents have run this reserve for years without problems, right?” Alexis asked. “So if they haven’t changed the way they do things, then there is no logical reason for things to be falling apart.”
Alexis couldn’t quite bring herself to look at Lisa. She was sure the girl was about to laugh at them.
“I couldn’t agree with you more,” said Lisa.
“Really?” cried Alexis.
“Of course. I’ve been telling my mom for a while that something’s not quite right. I hope you two can help. I would love to, but I’ve been away at school. And even if I were here, I wouldn’t know where to start an investigation!”
“Well you’re in luck!” said Bailey. “That’s what we do!”
“My mom and dad told me about your success with solving mysteries,” Lisa said as she turned the car around a corner. “I went on the Internet last night and read about how you solved the problems at that dinosaur park. I hear you’ve helped with other adventures, too.”
“Yes, a bunch of them!” Bailey exclaimed. “We helped find a missing millionaire. Lexi helped rescue some sea lions. Our Camp Club Girls group of sleuths also solved a problem with sabotage in Wisconsin, a plot to harm the president in Maryland, a mystery with horses, and bad stuff going on at the London Bridge in Arizona. We even found lost jewels in Amarillo, at the Cadillac Ranch!”
“Hey, I’ve been there,” Lisa said.
“All six of us Camp Club Girls always work together to figure out the mysteries,” Bailey said.
Lisa drove up the driveway to the reserve, but she passed the small cabin where the girls had met Jake and Karen the day before. Instead,