Mystery at Poplar Cove Chapter one

Mystery at Poplar Cove

by Mary More

Chapter One

The Carson’s SUV pulled into the drive and stopped in front of their cabin. Twins, Alex and Penny Carson scrambled to get out of the car. Kenny and Kate Randall, also twins, were waiting anxiously to greet their friends. They had seen the car drive up, so had come running outside and were standing there with big grins on their faces. Kenny and Kate’s parents, Mr and Mrs Randall, stood on their cabin’s porch waving a welcoming hello to the Carsons as well.

This year Halloween fell on the last weekend of the season at Poplar Cove. All of the residence of the Cove gathered for the usual “end of the season” pot luck dinner the last weekend of October. Everyone was there getting their cabins ready for winter. On Saturday night they would have the pot luck, and later would gather around the camp fire for smores and scary stories. It was the last big party before they all closed up their cabins for the winter months. This year, being Halloween made it all the more special. Everywhere you looked there were Halloween decorations. There were witches, goblins, jack-o-lanterns, spider webs, and scarecrows up and down the cove.

Poplar Cove was on the Cottonwood River in Southern Minnesota, and got its name from all of the Poplar trees in the cove. There were six cabins nestled among the tall trees. The Carson’s and Randall’s cabins sat side by side in the center of the cove, separated only by a grove of Poplar trees. The Randalls lived on the right, and the Carsons on the left. The twins, were 12, best friends, and the four of them spent every minute together while they were at the cove.

Besides the Randall’s and Carson’s cabins, there were four others in the cove, six in all. There were the nice Madisons, a middle aged couple with grown children, the Bronson’s, a young couple with a cute little baby girl, Mindy. Next to them was the Jacobson's place. They're an older couple who keep to themselves most of the time.

Up on the very top of the hill on the far left, overlooking the cove, was the one cabin that was set off all by itself. You could barely see it as the trees and shrubs had been allowed to grow up around it, obscuring it from view. It gave the cabin a closed, unfriendly appearance which fit quite well with it’s owners, old Mr. Cragen and his wife. They were alone except for their scraggly old dog Bruno. Bruno would growl and bark if the kids got too near the cabin. Mr. Cragen would yell at them to get off of his property if a ball when anywhere near his place. He and Mrs. Cragen lived there year round, and the twins had heard stories that Mr. Cragen had been married once before, but his first wife left and never returned. That didn’t surprise the twins. They all thought that grouchy old Mr. Cragen would drive anyone away.

As they got out of the car, Kate and Penny hugged one another as they always did. Alex and Kenny just laughed at the girls and punched one another on the shoulder. “Gotcha”, Alex yelled as he ran off towards the river. The others followed close behind him. “Be back by dark, kids” yelled Mrs. Randall. “Stay out of the water” added Mrs. Carson. The mothers hugged too and stood there talking for a while as the men unloaded the Carson’s car.

The twins were out of breath by the time they reached their “hideout” down by the water. Kenny and Kate were both so excited they were talking at the same time. “WAIT!” shouted Alex. We can’t understand a word you’re saying. “Kate? Kenny? What’s going on?”

Kenny put his hand up to stop Kate so he could talk. “You guys aren’t going to believe all that has happened. Yesterday afternoon, Kate and I were walking up by the Cragen place. When we walked by there was no dog barking, no grouchy Mr. Cragen yelling at the dog to shut up, AND their door was WIDE OPEN.” “What?” Alex and Penny said in unison. Twins do that a lot. “Did you shut the door for them?” Asked Penny. “Well we started to do that, but when we got up to the door and looked inside, we saw BLOOD!” exclaimed Kate. “BLOOD?”, Alex and Penny asked again in unison. They all laughed at that, then Kenny went on, “Yes, blood. You can’t blame us for feeling we just had to go in and see what that was all about. We called for Mr. or Mrs. Cragen, but didn’t get any response so we went on in. There was blood all over the place. In the living room on Mr. Cragen’s recliner, in the kitchen on the floor, everywhere. We were going to go upstairs, but were too scared so we just ran out.” “Did you tell your parents or call the police?” inquired Penny, the practical one. “Well, no, there’s more,” said Kenny. “Later after we gathered our nerve again, we went back to do a little more investigating and we found this!” and Kenny pulled a folded piece of paper out of his pocket. “Look!”

The four twins huddled together as they strained to read what was in the note. In a scrawled handwriting was the message, “You have until Midnight. If you don’t pay up, you’re dead!”

The four children stood speechless, mouths agape as they looked at the note, then at one another. “I think we should go back there and see what else we can find. Maybe we can solve this mystery ourselves”. Said Kate. “Let’s go” yelled Alex as he took off up the hill in the direction of the Cragen’s house. “WAIT!” Yelled Penny. “I think we should call the police or at least tell our parents”. “We can’t!” exclaimed Kenny. “Mom and Dad have warned us to stay away from that house and if they found out we went in there, our heads will roll. I think if we can solve this case ourselves, they’ll be so proud and grateful for that, that they will forget that we disobeyed them. Besides, you know that I want to be a private investigator when I grow up and this is my FIRST BIG CASE!!” “ I know that we can solve it. So, let’s go!” and off he ran with the others close behind him.