Day 2

Third Person P.O.V.

It was the second day of the mystery of Icicle Creek Lodge. The Cluefinders were still sleeping until the alarm went off at 7:00, which woke up Leo, Tigress, and Donnie in their rooms. Once they woke up, Donnie called Leo on the T-phone.

"Hey Leo, it's me. How you holding up?"

"Better than what happened to us yesterday."

"Same here."

"Let's meet in the lobby to discuss progress on the case, once everyone's up and about."

"Understood."

Once he hung up, Leo woke up Po.

"Hey Po, wake up. Time for breakfast."

"(yawns) (smacks lips) What's this about breakfast?"

"Time for breakfast."

"Oh, good. Glad i'm not late."

"It's only 7 in the morning."

As they were about to head to the bathroom, they heard footsteps.

**Pounding on door down the hall**

"Shh!"

"What?" Po whispered. "I didn't even-"

"Listen."

Po leaned on the door.

GC: "What do you want?"

OR: "You messed with my rifle, didn't you?!"

"That's Guadalupe's voice."

"Ollie's too. Let's listen."

"Excuse me?"

"This fax just came for you. It's from the wacko left-wing wildlife gang that paid you to screw up my rifle so I'd miss that wolf!"

"How dare you talk to me like that! I'm leaving this place, right now!"

"Good! You just got yourself an escort off the premises!"

**Door slams shut, then footsteps**

"You hear that?"

"Yeah, wonder if Donnie and Tigress did too."

As soon as Leo and Po stepped out their room, they saw Donnie and Tigress leave theirs.

"You heard that right?"

"Loud and clear."

"What was that about, Ollie accusing Guadalupe of sabotaging his rifle?"

"When we got here, yesterday i talked to Ollie and he told me about how his rifle was messed up so none of the shots he fired hit the wolf." Leo spoke

"If that fax is real, then Guadalupe messed with his rifle to protect the wolf. But why would she do that?" Donnie wondered

"Ollie said she was part of a wildlife group, think we should ask her?"

"Only if we could Po. She left the lodge and i don't think she left a number for us."

"We'll figure something out."

After that brief discussion, they each got themselves freshened up in the restroom and dressed in their winter gear that they wear in the lodge.

"I'll handle the laundry this time." Leo volunteered and went to the cabinet behind the front desk and grabbed the laundry bag. He then went room to room gathering everyone's laundry and dumped the bag down the laundry chute. As for Po, he went into the kitchen to start making breakfast for everyone in the lodge. Everyone could order French Toast, an Omelette, and/or Canadian Bacon.

Once he got everyone's food ready...

"Breakfast is ready, guys."

"I'll tell the others."

Donnie told Bill and Lou, Leo told Ollie and Yanni. As they were eating...

"Hey Tigress, mmm, do you still have that note i gave you last night?"

"I do, but i haven't been able to decode it yet. I've never seen writing like that before back in the city."

"True."

"Well, i don't know about you guys but i have a playdate with Freddie. She left a letter that said if i beat her in a snowball fight, she'll tell me how she stays out in the cold for so long."

Leo got up after finishing his breakfast and went to put on his snow gear. He then came to the front door and looked at the Hypothermia meter.

"Orange, what else is new?"

He stepped outside and made his way to Freddie's snow fort.

"Halt! The battle for the kingdom of the Snow Princess begins!"

Leo engaged Ollie in another one of her snowball fights and once he won 10 hits...

"You win! Bombs away!"

She then popped out and tossed something Leo's way. He saw it and caught it easily. It was a blue bag and on the front it said 'Toasty Pack'

"Whenever you're really cold, just squeeze the Toasty Pack and you'll get a burst of heat. It only works when you're already cold, and you can only use one Toasty Pack at a time."

"Thanks."

Leo went back inside and took off his snow gear. Right away, he noticed a note on the bench.

"Huh? What's this?"

He pulled it off the bench and began to read it.

'Dear Leo and Donnie,

Because of that Neanderthal of a handyman, I've been forced to return home. Please call me. When it comes to the white wolf, there is much for us to talk about.

Lupe.

213-555-3264'

"This is great! Now we can talk to her."

"Talk to who?"

Leo looked up and saw Tigress standing at the front desk with Donnie and Po.

"Guadalupe. I just got inside, and she left us a note with her number on it. We can call her and talk to her."

"That's great."

"Po!"

"On it."

He picked up the phone and dialed the number Leo gave him. He then put it on speaker so everyone could hear.

"This is Lupe. Leave a message and perhaps we'll talk later."

"Sounds like she's not there."

"So what now?"

"Let's call the other guests and see what info they have." Leo suggested

"Right. Let's call Carl Jenkins."

**Phone Rings**

Just when Carl answered the phone, there were noises in the background.

"Hello?"

"Hello. Is this Mr. Jenkins?"

"Yeah, this is Carl. Nuts. Missed him."

"My name's Donnie. I heard you had an accident at Icicle Creek Lodge and was wondering if you could tell me about it."

"Not much to tell. I - Ha! Take that, Captain Keen! I went there to do a little ice fishing, and I slipped going down some stairs and fractured my tibia in 2 places. Can't work, can't go out; all I can do is sit around and play this stupid video game. Oh no, you don't!"

"I heard the stairs were a little icy."

"They were covered in ice. I was lucky I didn't fracture my skull. Yes! Yes! Hey, look, I'm about four laser strikes away from ruling the Gargoolian Galaxy, I gotta go, okay? You got any more questions, check with the people at the Lodge. Gotcha!"

**Call is Disconnected**

"Yeesh, that guy is just like Mikey, focused on the game like his life depends on it."

"What about the uh... which was the name of that family you said Leo? The family that got food poisoning?"

"The Faringdale family. We should contact them too."

"Right."

They dialed the number for the Faringdale family.

**Phone Rings**

**Busy Signal**

**Call is Disconnected**

"What about the Southwaites? Think they'll talk to us?"

"It's worth finding out." Tigress said. She then dialed the number she saw yesterday on the computer.

**Phone Rings**

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

"I've got it sweetheart."

"Hi, is this Brenda and Derek Southwaite?"

"Yes it is."

"Is this a solicitation?"

"Honey, you're so suspicious."

"Only because you can be too nice for your own good, darling."

"I'm not selling anything. I just want to ask you about your recent stay at Icicle Creek Lodge."

"You mean 'Gas-icle Leak Lodge?"

Po stifled a laugh, but the couple didn't hear it.

"Very clever, sweetie. Gas was leaking from so many places while we were there it's a wonder the place didn't blow sky high"

"I heard something about your almost being overcome by fumes in the spa?"

"Well, we had just gone ice-skating, so we decided to warm up in the sauna. So we were sitting in there, and everything was fine until both of us started feeling a little woozy."

"We started feeling a lot woozy."

"And the next thing we knew that Russian skier came in -"

"Actually I think he was Slovakian."

"The point is, he told us he smelled gas and thought we should get out. So we did."

"Barely. By that point the fumes were making both of us ill, if you know what I mean."

"That poor skier. By the time he helped us get out of there, he was almost as green as we were."

"Awful experience."

"Horrible. It was our first honeymoon."

"At least the owner had the decency to give us a full refund."

**Car Horn**

"Oops. The shuttle's here sweetheart. We're off to Aspen, kind of a second first honeymoon."

"Long story short - if you're thinking about going to Icicle Creek Lodge? Don't."

"Well, I appreciate the advice. Have a good time."

"Oh, we will. Bye!"

"Bye."

**Call is Disconnected.**

"Well, one thing's for sure: the wife really is too nice." Tigress said

"At least they were more helpful than gamer dude." Po argued.

"The husband may have been direct, but he wasn't afraid to sugarcoat anything."

"Point is, we have obtained more intel on the sauna incident. So what's our next move?"

"Let's try calling Guadalupe again, see if she's there."

They dialed her number again and waited.

**Phone Rings**

"This is Lupe. Leave a message and perhaps we'll talk later."

"Still not there."

"(sigh) Let's give it some time and we'll call her again."

The Cluefinders then left the desk and went to the lobby to discuss their next move.

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review.