The Case of the Haunted House--Part Four
by HA
Shirley stared at Katrina. "How did you...?"
"You have many questions," Katrina stated to the junior detective.
"You're correct on that," Shirley answered. "For starters, who are you?"
"I am Katrina Mansfield, a distant cousin of Lucy Knight," Katrina answered robotically. "That is what who I am. Shall I tell you who you are?"
"I'm the one who's asking the questions," Shirley said, nearly losing her characteristic cool. "Who are you?"
Katrina went on without acknowledging Shirley's questioning. "You are Shirley Holmes, great-grandniece of the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, who was real, yet thanks to embellishments of his actual cases by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is perceived as a fictional literary character. Your main goal in life is to solve mysteries and become a great detective like your famous ancestor. You are responsible for solving many of this city's crimes, yet you claim no credit for your deeds. Your taste in clothes is unique and you own a number of hats. You also possess a taste in unique foods, especially peanut butter and blue cheese sandwiches."
Shirley was left speechless. How did she know all that? she wondered to herself.
"Until recently, your mother, Dr. Joanna Holmes, a virologist, was missing in Rwanda and presumed dead. You were obsessed with her disappearance for five years. Now she lives with you along with your father, Robert, a diplomat with the British embassy, and your grandmother, Peggy, whom you call affectionately 'Gran.' Peggy is very active for her age and practices tai-chi. You have a basset hound named Watson, whom you feel is lazy yet lovable."
All Shirley could do in response to this outpouring of data was stare wide-eyed at Katrina.
"Do you wish to hear more?" Katrina asked. "I can, but some of it is personal, especially your desires and fears."
"You know everything about me?" Shirley asked, hiding her anxiety.
Katrina nodded. "You are a strong girl despite your fears, Shirley."
"Why is that?" Shirley wondered.
"You're not afraid of the dark," Katrina answered.
"What?" Shirley said, puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
"While other people run away or hide in the dark, you run into the dark and shine your light on it," Katrina said.
"Huh?" Shirley said, confused.
"You solve mysteries, right?"
Shirley turned around and saw Lucy standing behind her. "Let's make this quick. I think Molly noticed me leaving and she might be coming here at any moment," Lucy said. "Well, you solve mysteries, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Shirley said, still determined to deny the fact she was a detective.
Lucy looked amused. "You know, we know everything about you, so lying isn't going to help you," she said nicely, yet firmly.
Shirley realized that she could not fool these two girls, so she decided to play along. "Okay, so I do solve mysteries like my great-granduncle Sherlock. What does that have to do with not being afraid of the dark?"
"Well, you like to solve mysteries, no matter how much danger there is," Lucy explained. "You persist in your cases until you find the solution. That's like shining a flashlight on a dark corner, don't you think?"
"Of course, the dark has other meanings," Katrina said. "I'm confident you'll figure it all out."
Shirley grasped Lucy's visual metaphor. "I understand that, but how did Katrina get into my dreams?" she asked, looking back at the silver-haired girl.
"What did your friend Bart say?" Katrina asked.
Shirley was surprised, but she answered Katrina anyway without any hesitation. "He said that either you were a ghost or a psychic."
"As you can see, Katrina's not a ghost, so that leaves one choice," Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Despite the improbability, keep in mind your own great-granduncle's words: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
Shirley recalled those words by her famous ancestor. "That still doesn't answer who you two are and how you know so much about me."
Lucy looked out the door. "That'll be for another time. Your minor Moriarty is about to enter the building." She closed the door. "Perhaps if you, Bo, and Blake come to the Harrison house rally, we can talk further."
"The Harrison house rally? The one Bart is trying to get people to attend?" Shirley asked.
"The one and the same. We'll be there with some friends. Maybe after the rally, we can talk," Lucy recommended. "We have a lot to talk about."
"Wait, I have one question," Shirley said. "Did you tamper with your father's fax to Ms. Stratmann?"
"Well, I do like to practice my computer skills now and then," Lucy revealed, grinning mischievously. "Considering what Molly really deserves for what she's done to people, making her miss an opportunity to get out of class seems minuscule."
"You know what she is?" Shirley asked.
"Yep. Certified sociopath, with nonattentive parents probably the cause," Lucy said, backing away from the door. "And don't worry, I'll make sure her 'recommendations' aren't mentioned when my dad gets the donation ready. At least, not the selfish ones."
"She is the least of your worries now," Katrina said. "There is another threat to deal with, and it is even more dangerous than Molly's manipulations. Unlike her, it deserves no pity."
"What? Who?" Shirley asked, but she had a good idea what Katrina was referring to.
"You know," Katrina answered.
Shirley was about to tell Katrina what she thought in order to get a confirmation when Molly entered the bathroom. "Lucy, your parents told me to tell you that it's time to go."
"Well, got to go. We'll see you later, Shirley," Lucy said, flashing the amateur sleuth a smile as she left the bathroom.
As she started for the door, Katrina looked at Molly. "You are weak," she told the blonde sociopath.
Molly glared at Katrina. "What are you talking about?"
Katrina stood before the door. "You are weak," she repeated without looking at Molly's face.
"Why would you say a thing like that?" Molly demanded angrily.
"Because you're afraid of the dark," Katrina answered calmly.
Katrina exited the bathroom, leaving Molly confused and Shirley with more questions.
* * * * *
"They know about you?" Blake asked Shirley, astonished.
Shirley and her two sleuthing partners were in the Holmes family's attic, which served as Shirley's crime laboratory. After calling Bo and Blake over, she had explained to them what happened to her in the girls' bathroom. After she had returned to them at their lunch table, she did not bring up the subject. Instead, she thought about what happened.
"It appears so," Shirley said. "They know about me and my mysteries."
"But how?" Bo asked.
"I'm still trying to figure that out," Shirley answered.
"Well, one thing's for sure," Bo said, walking around the room and stopping by the portrait of Sherlock Holmes. "We definitely need to find out who Lucy and Katrina are. Especially Katrina. That girl gives me the creeps."
"We do know that they're connected with the Knight Foundation," Blake noted.
"So what do we know about the Knight Foundation?" Bo asked.
"They manufacture a lot of products, especially hi-tech stuff," Shirley said. "Like medical equipment, medicine, and fertilizer."
"I've got some info on Nathan and Regan Knight," Blake said, taking out some papers from his pants pocket. He read some items to his friends. "Nathan was born in Vancouver, but was raised in Redington, and Regan was born in Chicago. Both came from well-to-do families. As kids, they met in Denver while Nathan was on a skiing trip. Regan nursed him after he broke his leg, and they started writing each other letters and making visits. They finally married in New York City. Nathan believes that people should help each other, either by contributing money to charitable causes or by giving time to charitable organizations. Regan believes strongly in improving education around the world so that children will actually learn and enjoy themselves at the same time. In their spare time, they like to play golf and tennis. Both are members of various civic organizations. Besides Lucy, they have a college-aged daughter named Brooke. Nathan has a younger brother, Nick, who is an ex-cop and works with the Knight Foundation Scholarship as a tutor."
"Nice work, Blake," Shirley said with admiration.
"Yeah. How'd you learn all that?" Bo asked. "Did you hack your way into their personal computer or something?"
"Actually, no," Blake said, shaking his head and smiling. "I went to the company's official web site and printed out their profiles." He handed the papers to Shirley and Bo. "I also printed out more stuff and had some copies made."
Shirley skimmed through the papers. "Nothing bad about them here, but it did come from its official web site. According to all this, the Knight Foundation was started about ten years ago and started off by manufacturing operation software for computers."
"I also learned a few things about the Knight Foundation Scholarship program," Blake told the others. "For starters, it's primarily a Canada-based education program, but branches in the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, Russia, and Australia are being tried out right now. They've been successful so far, so there are plans to expand the program even further. Among the possible candidates are Ireland, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, and Israel."
Shirley spotted something. "The Knight Foundation Scholarship program is relatively new, with it being started about four years ago while its branches were started about a year later. Interesting."
"Here's something on that security chief of Mr. Knight's. Seems she used to be in the Canadian military. That explains a lot." Bo noticed the company logo, a white knight chess piece facing left inside a black circle. "The company logo is appropriate."
Blake studied the logo. "Definitely symbolic."
"How so?" Bo asked.
"The knight piece is white, symbolizing good. It is facing left, and 'left' is usually associated with 'liberal' and 'change,'" Blake interpreted. "The black circle symbolizes a world shrouded in darkness which the company shines its light upon."
"Okay," Bo said, fighting the urge to say that was the most farfetched thing that he ever heard.
Shirley nodded. "That's a good interpretation, but here's another, albeit negative, one. The knight is facing left or behind it, but progress is perceived by some as looking forward, or to the right. Also, 'sinister' is Latin for 'left.'"
"Hmmmm...two possible meanings to this logo," Blake said. "Personally, I'm hoping my interpretation is correct."
"Considering Mr. Knight's character, the first interpretation is more likely the correct one, but only further analysis of the company will confirm it," Shirley concluded.
"You know, it could just be what it is, a horse in a black circle," Bo said. "Maybe whoever came up with this logo didn't mean for it to have any meaning."
"You could be right, Bo," Shirley said. "Right now, it's a minute point compared to other things on my mind."
"Such as?" Bo wondered.
"Such as the intentions of Lucy Knight and her cousin," Shirley answered. "They have an interest in me, and I want to know why."
"Maybe they're aliens," Bo said jokingly, who got stares from Shirley and Blake. "What?"
"Considering what's been happening to me, any explanation will work," Shirley admitted.
"Hold on. We are not becoming Bart," Bo said, waving his hands in the air.
"I did call him before you guys came," Shirley revealed.
"Why?" Blake asked.
"For two reasons," Shirley said. "The first reason was to find out about if there was such a thing as psychics being able to project their image in dreams and manipulate them."
"And Bart said 'yes'?" Bo guessed.
"He said that there is some documentation of psychic activity including that. He also mentioned telepathy, pyrokinetic ability, and ESP again," Shirley said.
"So what was the second reason why you called Bart?" Blake asked.
"To tell him that we are going to the haunted house rally tomorrow," Shirley replied.
"What? Excuse me?" Bo said, surprised. "You volunteered us to picket an old house with ghost fanatics?"
"I believe they prefer to be called 'supernatural researchers,'" Blake said with a grin.
"Whatever." Bo stared at Shirley. "Why are we going?"
"Lucy sort of invited us there," Shirley answered. "It's our opportunity to get some answers from her."
"Well, we definitely need some answers," Bo said.
"At this point, I think we have some," Shirley said.
"Explain," Blake said.
"The dreams I've been having thanks to Katrina may have some answers," Shirley explained. "What she told me helped me put together some of the pieces."
"And?" Bo said curiously.
"We know that Katrina is a real person, for starters. We also know that the golden snake represents the ENIGMA organization."
"Okay," Bo said. "So?"
"So I keep encountering that snake before or after my little walk through the darkness," Shirley said. "Katrina keeps asking me if I know what I've gotten myself into."
"So what does it mean?" Blake asked.
"I think I've got it," Bo declared. "It means Shirley's in big trouble with ENIGMA."
"Exactly," Shirley said. "Katrina's been trying to warn me about ENIGMA. It is a shadowy organization with a lot of power."
"Actually, I think that dummy we encountered last time kinda hinted at that," Bo pointed out. "You know, the whole 'I'll deal with you later' warning."
"They haven't come to Redington for a while," Blake noted. "Maybe they've given up or just forgot about Shirley."
"I don't think so," Shirley said. "Katrina seemed serious. In my dreams, she keeps telling me I'm not afraid of the dark. Today, she told me I'm strong because of that."
"Well, you don't let anything stand in the way when you're on a case," Blake said. "I don't think a criminal organization like ENIGMA is an exception to that."
"Got to agree on that one," Bo said. "You just don't know when to accept the word 'no' into your vocabulary, even when your life's at stake."
Shirley started to pace around the room. "But why warn me about them? Why not warn someone who's officially affiliated with law enforcement?" She thought for a moment. "From what Katrina's been telling me, I think there's something more to ENIGMA."
"While we're on the subject, what about the guy with the question mark for a face who keeps hanging out with her in your dreams?" Bo said. "What's the deal with him?"
"Shirley!" Gran's voice from below interrupted Shirley before she could answer Bo. "Can you come down for a moment, dear?"
"You guys wait here. I'll be right back." Shirley came down from the attic and found Gran holding a small box wrapped in brown packing paper. "This came for you a while ago, Shirley," Gran said, handing the package to Shirley. "A nice young man in a uniform delivered it a minute ago."
"Thanks, Gran," Shirley said. She opened the secret bookcase and darted up the stairs back to the attic.
"Well, what did she want?" Bo asked.
Shirley showed her friends the package. "What do you see?"
"A small box wrapped in brown paper with your address written on it," Bo said.
Blake looked at the corner of the box. "No postage."
"Exactly," Shirley said, starting to unwrap the box. "It was sent locally via a privately-owned delivery service."
"Shirley, should we be opening it?" Bo asked, concerned. "What if it's a bomb?"
Shirley held the box to her ear. "I don't hear a timer or any ticking. Besides, if it were a bomb, it would've exploded with all the shaking I'm doing to it and we'd all be dead."
"What a comforting thought," Bo said wryly.
Shirley went to her table and removed the wrapping paper, revealing a little white box. Bo and Blake watched as Shirley removed the lid and revealed something tiny and metallic.
"What the...?" Blake said as Shirley removed the object from the box.
Shirley held the object to her face, then showed it to the others. "It's a toy dragon," she said, looking it over. The toy dragon had a snake-like body with four long-clawed feet and a long-snouted head with sharp teeth, horns, and hair.
"It's a Chinese dragon," Blake observed after getting a closer look.
"Indeed," Shirley said, examining it. "There's a switch on the back," she said, and she pressed the back.
The dragon immediately roared, its eyes flashing red, and one of its front claws slashed the young detective's hand. "Ow!" Shirley cried out, dropping the toy dragon to the table.
Bo was immediately at his best friend's side. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern, checking Shirley's hand.
"I'm fine," Shirley assured him. "It was just a minor scratch."
Bo looked at the cut the claw had caused. "We should clean it right now," he told her. He started to look around the attic for something to clean and dress the cut with.
Blake shushed them. "Uh, guys, the dragon's making a sound."
Everyone was silent as the dragon on the table spoke. "The exchange of something old for something new in Hades despite the end of A.N.," it said in an electronic voice. "The exchange of something old for something new in Hades despite the end of A.N."
All three looked at each other as the dragon repeated itself.
"ENIGMA," Shirley said, sounding very serious.
END OF PART FOUR
by HA
Shirley stared at Katrina. "How did you...?"
"You have many questions," Katrina stated to the junior detective.
"You're correct on that," Shirley answered. "For starters, who are you?"
"I am Katrina Mansfield, a distant cousin of Lucy Knight," Katrina answered robotically. "That is what who I am. Shall I tell you who you are?"
"I'm the one who's asking the questions," Shirley said, nearly losing her characteristic cool. "Who are you?"
Katrina went on without acknowledging Shirley's questioning. "You are Shirley Holmes, great-grandniece of the famous detective, Sherlock Holmes, who was real, yet thanks to embellishments of his actual cases by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is perceived as a fictional literary character. Your main goal in life is to solve mysteries and become a great detective like your famous ancestor. You are responsible for solving many of this city's crimes, yet you claim no credit for your deeds. Your taste in clothes is unique and you own a number of hats. You also possess a taste in unique foods, especially peanut butter and blue cheese sandwiches."
Shirley was left speechless. How did she know all that? she wondered to herself.
"Until recently, your mother, Dr. Joanna Holmes, a virologist, was missing in Rwanda and presumed dead. You were obsessed with her disappearance for five years. Now she lives with you along with your father, Robert, a diplomat with the British embassy, and your grandmother, Peggy, whom you call affectionately 'Gran.' Peggy is very active for her age and practices tai-chi. You have a basset hound named Watson, whom you feel is lazy yet lovable."
All Shirley could do in response to this outpouring of data was stare wide-eyed at Katrina.
"Do you wish to hear more?" Katrina asked. "I can, but some of it is personal, especially your desires and fears."
"You know everything about me?" Shirley asked, hiding her anxiety.
Katrina nodded. "You are a strong girl despite your fears, Shirley."
"Why is that?" Shirley wondered.
"You're not afraid of the dark," Katrina answered.
"What?" Shirley said, puzzled. "What do you mean by that?"
"While other people run away or hide in the dark, you run into the dark and shine your light on it," Katrina said.
"Huh?" Shirley said, confused.
"You solve mysteries, right?"
Shirley turned around and saw Lucy standing behind her. "Let's make this quick. I think Molly noticed me leaving and she might be coming here at any moment," Lucy said. "Well, you solve mysteries, don't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," Shirley said, still determined to deny the fact she was a detective.
Lucy looked amused. "You know, we know everything about you, so lying isn't going to help you," she said nicely, yet firmly.
Shirley realized that she could not fool these two girls, so she decided to play along. "Okay, so I do solve mysteries like my great-granduncle Sherlock. What does that have to do with not being afraid of the dark?"
"Well, you like to solve mysteries, no matter how much danger there is," Lucy explained. "You persist in your cases until you find the solution. That's like shining a flashlight on a dark corner, don't you think?"
"Of course, the dark has other meanings," Katrina said. "I'm confident you'll figure it all out."
Shirley grasped Lucy's visual metaphor. "I understand that, but how did Katrina get into my dreams?" she asked, looking back at the silver-haired girl.
"What did your friend Bart say?" Katrina asked.
Shirley was surprised, but she answered Katrina anyway without any hesitation. "He said that either you were a ghost or a psychic."
"As you can see, Katrina's not a ghost, so that leaves one choice," Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest. "Despite the improbability, keep in mind your own great-granduncle's words: 'When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.'"
Shirley recalled those words by her famous ancestor. "That still doesn't answer who you two are and how you know so much about me."
Lucy looked out the door. "That'll be for another time. Your minor Moriarty is about to enter the building." She closed the door. "Perhaps if you, Bo, and Blake come to the Harrison house rally, we can talk further."
"The Harrison house rally? The one Bart is trying to get people to attend?" Shirley asked.
"The one and the same. We'll be there with some friends. Maybe after the rally, we can talk," Lucy recommended. "We have a lot to talk about."
"Wait, I have one question," Shirley said. "Did you tamper with your father's fax to Ms. Stratmann?"
"Well, I do like to practice my computer skills now and then," Lucy revealed, grinning mischievously. "Considering what Molly really deserves for what she's done to people, making her miss an opportunity to get out of class seems minuscule."
"You know what she is?" Shirley asked.
"Yep. Certified sociopath, with nonattentive parents probably the cause," Lucy said, backing away from the door. "And don't worry, I'll make sure her 'recommendations' aren't mentioned when my dad gets the donation ready. At least, not the selfish ones."
"She is the least of your worries now," Katrina said. "There is another threat to deal with, and it is even more dangerous than Molly's manipulations. Unlike her, it deserves no pity."
"What? Who?" Shirley asked, but she had a good idea what Katrina was referring to.
"You know," Katrina answered.
Shirley was about to tell Katrina what she thought in order to get a confirmation when Molly entered the bathroom. "Lucy, your parents told me to tell you that it's time to go."
"Well, got to go. We'll see you later, Shirley," Lucy said, flashing the amateur sleuth a smile as she left the bathroom.
As she started for the door, Katrina looked at Molly. "You are weak," she told the blonde sociopath.
Molly glared at Katrina. "What are you talking about?"
Katrina stood before the door. "You are weak," she repeated without looking at Molly's face.
"Why would you say a thing like that?" Molly demanded angrily.
"Because you're afraid of the dark," Katrina answered calmly.
Katrina exited the bathroom, leaving Molly confused and Shirley with more questions.
* * * * *
"They know about you?" Blake asked Shirley, astonished.
Shirley and her two sleuthing partners were in the Holmes family's attic, which served as Shirley's crime laboratory. After calling Bo and Blake over, she had explained to them what happened to her in the girls' bathroom. After she had returned to them at their lunch table, she did not bring up the subject. Instead, she thought about what happened.
"It appears so," Shirley said. "They know about me and my mysteries."
"But how?" Bo asked.
"I'm still trying to figure that out," Shirley answered.
"Well, one thing's for sure," Bo said, walking around the room and stopping by the portrait of Sherlock Holmes. "We definitely need to find out who Lucy and Katrina are. Especially Katrina. That girl gives me the creeps."
"We do know that they're connected with the Knight Foundation," Blake noted.
"So what do we know about the Knight Foundation?" Bo asked.
"They manufacture a lot of products, especially hi-tech stuff," Shirley said. "Like medical equipment, medicine, and fertilizer."
"I've got some info on Nathan and Regan Knight," Blake said, taking out some papers from his pants pocket. He read some items to his friends. "Nathan was born in Vancouver, but was raised in Redington, and Regan was born in Chicago. Both came from well-to-do families. As kids, they met in Denver while Nathan was on a skiing trip. Regan nursed him after he broke his leg, and they started writing each other letters and making visits. They finally married in New York City. Nathan believes that people should help each other, either by contributing money to charitable causes or by giving time to charitable organizations. Regan believes strongly in improving education around the world so that children will actually learn and enjoy themselves at the same time. In their spare time, they like to play golf and tennis. Both are members of various civic organizations. Besides Lucy, they have a college-aged daughter named Brooke. Nathan has a younger brother, Nick, who is an ex-cop and works with the Knight Foundation Scholarship as a tutor."
"Nice work, Blake," Shirley said with admiration.
"Yeah. How'd you learn all that?" Bo asked. "Did you hack your way into their personal computer or something?"
"Actually, no," Blake said, shaking his head and smiling. "I went to the company's official web site and printed out their profiles." He handed the papers to Shirley and Bo. "I also printed out more stuff and had some copies made."
Shirley skimmed through the papers. "Nothing bad about them here, but it did come from its official web site. According to all this, the Knight Foundation was started about ten years ago and started off by manufacturing operation software for computers."
"I also learned a few things about the Knight Foundation Scholarship program," Blake told the others. "For starters, it's primarily a Canada-based education program, but branches in the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, Russia, and Australia are being tried out right now. They've been successful so far, so there are plans to expand the program even further. Among the possible candidates are Ireland, Turkey, the Philippines, Egypt, and Israel."
Shirley spotted something. "The Knight Foundation Scholarship program is relatively new, with it being started about four years ago while its branches were started about a year later. Interesting."
"Here's something on that security chief of Mr. Knight's. Seems she used to be in the Canadian military. That explains a lot." Bo noticed the company logo, a white knight chess piece facing left inside a black circle. "The company logo is appropriate."
Blake studied the logo. "Definitely symbolic."
"How so?" Bo asked.
"The knight piece is white, symbolizing good. It is facing left, and 'left' is usually associated with 'liberal' and 'change,'" Blake interpreted. "The black circle symbolizes a world shrouded in darkness which the company shines its light upon."
"Okay," Bo said, fighting the urge to say that was the most farfetched thing that he ever heard.
Shirley nodded. "That's a good interpretation, but here's another, albeit negative, one. The knight is facing left or behind it, but progress is perceived by some as looking forward, or to the right. Also, 'sinister' is Latin for 'left.'"
"Hmmmm...two possible meanings to this logo," Blake said. "Personally, I'm hoping my interpretation is correct."
"Considering Mr. Knight's character, the first interpretation is more likely the correct one, but only further analysis of the company will confirm it," Shirley concluded.
"You know, it could just be what it is, a horse in a black circle," Bo said. "Maybe whoever came up with this logo didn't mean for it to have any meaning."
"You could be right, Bo," Shirley said. "Right now, it's a minute point compared to other things on my mind."
"Such as?" Bo wondered.
"Such as the intentions of Lucy Knight and her cousin," Shirley answered. "They have an interest in me, and I want to know why."
"Maybe they're aliens," Bo said jokingly, who got stares from Shirley and Blake. "What?"
"Considering what's been happening to me, any explanation will work," Shirley admitted.
"Hold on. We are not becoming Bart," Bo said, waving his hands in the air.
"I did call him before you guys came," Shirley revealed.
"Why?" Blake asked.
"For two reasons," Shirley said. "The first reason was to find out about if there was such a thing as psychics being able to project their image in dreams and manipulate them."
"And Bart said 'yes'?" Bo guessed.
"He said that there is some documentation of psychic activity including that. He also mentioned telepathy, pyrokinetic ability, and ESP again," Shirley said.
"So what was the second reason why you called Bart?" Blake asked.
"To tell him that we are going to the haunted house rally tomorrow," Shirley replied.
"What? Excuse me?" Bo said, surprised. "You volunteered us to picket an old house with ghost fanatics?"
"I believe they prefer to be called 'supernatural researchers,'" Blake said with a grin.
"Whatever." Bo stared at Shirley. "Why are we going?"
"Lucy sort of invited us there," Shirley answered. "It's our opportunity to get some answers from her."
"Well, we definitely need some answers," Bo said.
"At this point, I think we have some," Shirley said.
"Explain," Blake said.
"The dreams I've been having thanks to Katrina may have some answers," Shirley explained. "What she told me helped me put together some of the pieces."
"And?" Bo said curiously.
"We know that Katrina is a real person, for starters. We also know that the golden snake represents the ENIGMA organization."
"Okay," Bo said. "So?"
"So I keep encountering that snake before or after my little walk through the darkness," Shirley said. "Katrina keeps asking me if I know what I've gotten myself into."
"So what does it mean?" Blake asked.
"I think I've got it," Bo declared. "It means Shirley's in big trouble with ENIGMA."
"Exactly," Shirley said. "Katrina's been trying to warn me about ENIGMA. It is a shadowy organization with a lot of power."
"Actually, I think that dummy we encountered last time kinda hinted at that," Bo pointed out. "You know, the whole 'I'll deal with you later' warning."
"They haven't come to Redington for a while," Blake noted. "Maybe they've given up or just forgot about Shirley."
"I don't think so," Shirley said. "Katrina seemed serious. In my dreams, she keeps telling me I'm not afraid of the dark. Today, she told me I'm strong because of that."
"Well, you don't let anything stand in the way when you're on a case," Blake said. "I don't think a criminal organization like ENIGMA is an exception to that."
"Got to agree on that one," Bo said. "You just don't know when to accept the word 'no' into your vocabulary, even when your life's at stake."
Shirley started to pace around the room. "But why warn me about them? Why not warn someone who's officially affiliated with law enforcement?" She thought for a moment. "From what Katrina's been telling me, I think there's something more to ENIGMA."
"While we're on the subject, what about the guy with the question mark for a face who keeps hanging out with her in your dreams?" Bo said. "What's the deal with him?"
"Shirley!" Gran's voice from below interrupted Shirley before she could answer Bo. "Can you come down for a moment, dear?"
"You guys wait here. I'll be right back." Shirley came down from the attic and found Gran holding a small box wrapped in brown packing paper. "This came for you a while ago, Shirley," Gran said, handing the package to Shirley. "A nice young man in a uniform delivered it a minute ago."
"Thanks, Gran," Shirley said. She opened the secret bookcase and darted up the stairs back to the attic.
"Well, what did she want?" Bo asked.
Shirley showed her friends the package. "What do you see?"
"A small box wrapped in brown paper with your address written on it," Bo said.
Blake looked at the corner of the box. "No postage."
"Exactly," Shirley said, starting to unwrap the box. "It was sent locally via a privately-owned delivery service."
"Shirley, should we be opening it?" Bo asked, concerned. "What if it's a bomb?"
Shirley held the box to her ear. "I don't hear a timer or any ticking. Besides, if it were a bomb, it would've exploded with all the shaking I'm doing to it and we'd all be dead."
"What a comforting thought," Bo said wryly.
Shirley went to her table and removed the wrapping paper, revealing a little white box. Bo and Blake watched as Shirley removed the lid and revealed something tiny and metallic.
"What the...?" Blake said as Shirley removed the object from the box.
Shirley held the object to her face, then showed it to the others. "It's a toy dragon," she said, looking it over. The toy dragon had a snake-like body with four long-clawed feet and a long-snouted head with sharp teeth, horns, and hair.
"It's a Chinese dragon," Blake observed after getting a closer look.
"Indeed," Shirley said, examining it. "There's a switch on the back," she said, and she pressed the back.
The dragon immediately roared, its eyes flashing red, and one of its front claws slashed the young detective's hand. "Ow!" Shirley cried out, dropping the toy dragon to the table.
Bo was immediately at his best friend's side. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern, checking Shirley's hand.
"I'm fine," Shirley assured him. "It was just a minor scratch."
Bo looked at the cut the claw had caused. "We should clean it right now," he told her. He started to look around the attic for something to clean and dress the cut with.
Blake shushed them. "Uh, guys, the dragon's making a sound."
Everyone was silent as the dragon on the table spoke. "The exchange of something old for something new in Hades despite the end of A.N.," it said in an electronic voice. "The exchange of something old for something new in Hades despite the end of A.N."
All three looked at each other as the dragon repeated itself.
"ENIGMA," Shirley said, sounding very serious.
END OF PART FOUR
