Mystery on Cape Cod

Jeff spent a wretched night.  His black thoughts seemed to hang on the fragrant air like an ugly oil slick on the clear surface of a pool.  Would he never get a good night’s sleep?  This time it wasn’t the night noises that bothered him.  He was unaware of them.

He kept thinking about Eric, and what Cousin Lou had told them about Eric’s father.  Jeff squirmed, remembering how he and Peg had complained about their few chores.  Eric had mountains of real work to do, and all those troubles, and the whole town turned against his family, and a crying need for money.  He had enough to bear without being called a thief!  What would happen if Eric came over to Cousin Lou’s?  She’d be sure to turn him away, and give him a piece of her mind, with her sharp tongue!  What was it Mom had said?  That Cousin Lou’s mind couldn’t be changed with a bulldozer!  What could he and Peg do to straighten things out?  His thoughts raced round and round, and for what seemed like hours, he couldn’t come up with a thing.

At six o’clock the next morning, when it seemed to Jeff that he’d barely gotten to sleep, he heard a light tap on his door, and Peg stuck her head in.

“Shh!” she whispered.  “We’ve got to talk.  Are you awake enough?  You sure don’t look it!”

“No wonder!  I stayed awake most of the night.  I kept hearing Cousin Lou.”  Jeff mimicked her clipped New England twang.  “’That watch couldn’t walk off by itself!’”

“Jeff!”  Peg glared at him.  “Are you saying . . .”

“Of course not, silly.”  Jeff didn’t even let her finish.  “That’s it.  We know Eric didn’t take it.  So who else?  We’ve got to find out, or Cousin Lou’ll go right on thinking Eric’s a thief.  Sooner or later he’ll hear about it, and that’s too awful to think about!  ‘Bout midnight I slipped downstairs for a snack, and got this crazy idea.  Now I need a chance to test it.”

“Tell me!  I stayed awake for ages too.  Couldn’t think of a single thing.”  Peg bounced up and down on his bed.

Jeff shook his head.  “I’m not ready to talk about it.”

“And leave me out?  No fair!”  Peg raised her voice.

“Quiet or you’ll wake Cousin Lou!  You can help later.”

“When?” asked Peg.  “That’s what I came up about.  We told Eric we’d meet him at the Salt Pond at ten, remember?  How are we going to manage it?  Cousin Lou’d have a fit.  She doesn’t even want us to see him anymore!”

“Simple.  We do our chores, then go off on our own, the way she said we could.  No need to say anything.  This afternoon, though, I need some time to myself.  That’s where you come in.  Can you manage to get Cousin Lou off the place?”

Peg wrinkled her forehead.  “Got it!  Remember that folder about things for tourists to do on Cape Cod?  There was one on the back of every seat on the Bonanza bus.  It told about a famous Doll Museum at a town called Sandwich.  Maybe I could get her to take me.”

“Great.  You get it fixed up, and when we’re leaving, I’ll duck it.  Now go on back to your room before she gets up.  I know one thing!  Cousin Lou doesn’t lie around in bed very late!”