Orchid Thief

Chapter One: Island Intrigue You're totally hopeless, Nancy. We've been in Florida for less than an hour, and you've already gotten us lost!" My friend Bess Marvin was the one doing the talking. And she was right about me being hopeless. When my mind is on a mystery, I'm useless behind the wheel. I get so busy trying to figure things out that I forget about practical details like keeping track of directions. So I guess it's no surprise that I always end up getting lost on some back road I've never seen before. Like right now, for instance. Now that Bess had shaken me from my thoughts, I realized I must have turned off Route 1. That's the main road our friend Delia Duke had told us to take from Miami down to Key Largo, the first in a chain of tropical islands that curve out from the southern tip of Florida. After spending the morning on a plane from Chicago -- the closest big city to our hometown of River Heights -- I couldn't wait to get there. But now it looked like the drive might take a little longer than we'd expected -- okay, maybe a lot longer. I didn't see any of the things I'd noticed along Route 1 before -- malls or fast-food joints or housing developments, or even any traffic lights. There was just a narrow, cracked road that stretched in an endless straight line ahead of us. Next to the road, the ground sloped down to mangrove swamps on both sides that spread out as far as the eye could see. The baking-hot sun sent heat waves shimmering up from the asphalt and glared off the murky water surrounding the mangrove roots. Except for a couple of trucks in the hazy distance -- and maybe some alligators -- we were totally alone. "Uh-oh," I said, biting my lip. "Guess I made a wrong turn, huh?" "You think?" Bess's cousin George Fayne said sarcastically from the backseat of our rental car. As she leaned forward, a hot, humid wind whipped over the windshield and sent her short hair flying around her face. "Not to mention that it's about a zillion degrees out. I never should have let you talk us into renting this convertible, Bess. Shouldn't we at least put up the top and turn on the air conditioning?" "And give up a second of soaking up this glorious tropical sun?" Bess slid her sunglasses to the top of her head and shot her cousin a horrified glance. "Not a chance! This salty air feels great, and if we can smell the ocean, we can't betoolost, can we?" "Oh, brother," said George, flopping back against her seat. I had to laugh. Even though Bess and George are cousins, they're polar opposites in the looks and personality departments. Bess is petite with long blond hair. A total dreamer, she can find the silver lining in any cloud. George is way more down-to-earth. She loves sports and keeps her dark hair short. But somehow she and Bess always manage to work out their differences -- which is good for me, since I've been best friends with both of them practically since the three of us learned to walk. "This is a record, even for you, Nancy," George went on, staring out at the tangled mangrove swamp. "You don't usually get car-challenged untilafteryou start working a mystery." Ouch. I guess she had a point. Delia hadn't said for sure that we'd find any mystery in Key Largo. But she'd definitely hinted at it. "You have to admit, hearing from Delia out of the blue was kind of strange," I said. "Even though she grew up down the street from Dad and me, we've hardly seen her since she left River Heights to go to college here in Florida. That was, what, four or five years ago? And when she called, she did say she might need our help with something." "So naturally you decided to start obsessing about it before we even find out what the problem is," Bess teased. "Don't forget, she also said there might not be anything to worry about at all. Which means we're in for a week of fun in the sun while we catch up on alKeene, Carolyn is the author of 'Orchid Thief ', published 2006 under ISBN 9781416909804 and ISBN 141690980X.