Secret at Mystic Lake by Carolyn Keene

staring at me.
    â€œIt was the perfect plan,” Zoe said.
    Caitlin nodded. “The only problem,” she added, not taking her eyes off me, “was you.”
    â€œMe?” I asked.
    Caitlin nodded again. “You wouldn’t shut up. You kept asking questions. Who did this, who did that, didyou really see this, what about this.” She scowled. “You were kind of going in circles so far, true, but sooner or later you were going to figure this out.” She looked at me with what seemed like grudging admiration. “I’m an overachiever too—I know the type,” she said.
    I swallowed, not sure what to say. “Thanks?”
    Zoe nodded. “Before Cait took off, she left me a little present. A satellite phone of my very own. This allowed me to get in touch with her if anything came up. So today, when we stopped by the stream, I went into the woods and called her. I told her you were asking too many questions; something had to be done. We decided to grab you tonight.”
    Caitlin tilted her head to the side. “Unfortunately, you were a much faster runner than we thought,” she said with a sigh. “And once you got to that canoe out on the lake, we knew it was just a matter of time till you found my little hideout here.”
    I shook my head. “But wait—I heard Henry saying ‘Gotcha’ right after you screamed, Zoe,” I pointed out. “Where did that come from? And why?”
    Caitlin smirked. “Show her, Zoe,” she said, gesturing to Zoe’s pocket.
    With a smug grin, Zoe pulled out her smartphone and clicked on the music icon. Then she selected an MP3 and hit play.
    â€œGotcha, sis! April Fool’s! Ha-ha, you have to admit, that was a good one.” Henry.
    Caitlin giggled. “It’s amazing what you can get someone saying when you record their conversations with you for, like, three months. I knew it would come in handy sometime.”
    My head was still spinning. “But why?” I asked. “If you were just getting me out of the way . . .”
    â€œOur plan was to conk you over the head with a rock and drag you to the shed outside before you woke up,” Caitlin explained.
    I stared at her, waiting for some sign that she was kidding, but she gave none.
    â€œWe’d keep you here until I was ready to give myself up. But just in case you got loose, we figured it was a good idea for you to think that Henry wasbehind the whole thing. You know, in case you made it to the ranger station.”
    â€œSpeaking of which . . .” Zoe reached back for something leaning against the coffee table, then held it up. It was a huge, rusty shovel. “We should probably go ahead and introduce you to your home away from home for the next few days.” She raised the shovel menacingly.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Desperate
    â€œWHAT DO YOU MEAN?” I asked, shrinking back. What would these girls do to me? I wondered. Would they really hurt me?
    Caitlin took in a deep breath through her nose. “I’m not quite ready for the game to be over,” she said. “This is supposed to be my vacation by the lake, and as you can see, I still have a bunch of books to get through.” She gestured to the coffee table, where, indeed, about five or six romance paperbacks were piled up. “We’re borrowing this cabin without the owner’s knowledge, but we found a shed out there that has no windowsand a padlock on the door—it seems like a pretty good place to keep a nosy wannabe detective.”
    I shook my head. “Come on, guys,” I said, trying to paste on my most we’re-all-friends-here type smile. “You don’t have to lock me up! I mean, you hit the nail on the head, Caitlin—I’m a total overachiever, just like you. I could sooo use some time by the lake myself. I get what you’re doing now, really, and I wouldn’t tell anybody.”
    Caitlin glanced at