The Castle on Deadman's Island by Curtis Parkinson

rounded the point, with Mrs. Ruff in the bow, arms crossed. As soon as she caught sight of them, she turned and said something to Leonard. He put the motor in idle and let the boat drift, fifty feet from the dock.
    Mrs. Ruff’s angry voice ricocheted across the water.“Miss Stone’s not here, and I told you kids yesterday that this is private property” she shouted.
    â€œThis is an emergency” Graham called back.
    Mrs. Ruff ignored him. “You had your warning. I’m going to call the police right now. You’re trespassing.” She turned to her husband. “Head back to shore, Leonard.”
    â€œGood,” Graham called. “You do that, Mrs. Ruff. And while you’re at it, you’d better let them know we found a skeleton in the castle.”
    Leonard didn’t need any more instructions when he heard that. He headed straight for the dock.
    â€œIs this some kind of joke?” Mrs. Ruff said, as the bow nudged the side.
    â€œI wish it was,” Graham said. “But it’s the truth.”
    â€œI don’t believe you,” she said, heaving her bulk onto the dock. “You’re just trying to get out of the trouble you’re in. Show me this skeleton.”
    â€œNo, you go back and call the police first,” Graham insisted. They stood eyeball to eyeball. “If you don’t, the responsibility is on your shoulders.”
    Reluctantly, Mrs. Ruff got back in the boat. “I’ll call the police all right. But if you’re making this up, you’ll be –” Her threat was drowned out by the motor as Leonard opened up the throttle and the craft roared away.

TWENTY-FOUR
_
    Sergeant Simpson, one-half of the Riverview Police Force – the larger half – eyed Daniel suspiciously. “No kidding, officer, I just happened to tug the tail of this white horse,” Daniel was saying. “And the next thing I knew, a trapdoor opened.” He reached for the tail. “Here, I’ll show you.”
    â€œWait!” the sergeant barked. “You’ll do it when I tell you to, not before.” Neil, watching from the door way, thought
he still doesn’t believe us.
    Sergeant Simpson had been like that from the moment he stepped out of the Ruffs’ boat and confronted the three boys on the dock – his attitudeinfluenced, no doubt, by Mrs. Ruff’s tale of her run-in with Graham the day before. Not helping was the fact that here were three teenage boys and, in the sergeant’s opinion, teenage boys were behind practically all of his problems in the town of Riverview.
    Walking up to the castle, the sergeant had fired a stream of questions at them. “You’d been warned by Mrs. Ruff that this was private property, so what are you doing here?”
    â€œLooking for my aunt,” Graham said. “I told Mrs. Ruff that yesterday.”
    â€œBut she told you your aunt wasn’t here. How did you get in the castle?”
    â€œBy the back door,” Graham said, boldly.
    â€œMrs. Ruff swears that all the doors were securely locked when she left,” the sergeant said.
    The boys looked at each other. “The lock on the back door isn’t much good,” Neil said. “I just touched it and it flew open.”
    The sergeant stopped. “You broke in! That’s a serious charge.”
    Mrs. Ruff smirked.
    â€œMy good man,” Graham said. Neil cringed – that wasn’t exactly the best way to address Sergeant Simpson. He saw the sergeant’s look darken, but Graham went blithely on. “We simply
had
to get inside. You see, I have reason to believe somethinghappened to my aunt while she was here. She’s disappeared and –”
    â€œYour aunt left,” Mrs. Ruff interjected. “I told you that yesterday. There wasn’t a soul in the castle when I went home last night. They’re making all this up, Sergeant. Miss Stone left on a trip. As for all this