Mick's Buried Treasure

Michele Jakubowski

Description

A local legend of buried treasure is too tasty for Somerville's sleuths to resist. Astrid, Rowan, Quinn and Jace set off to solve the mystery. What they discover is sweeter than they could have imagined.

Informations

• Publié par: Capstone Global Library
• Date de parution: 08 septembre 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781782025146
• Langue: English

Extrait

Table of Contents Cover Title Page Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Chapter Seventeen About the Author Glossary Examine the Evidence Further Deductions Copyright Back Cover

Landmarks Cover Table of Contents Start of Content
List of Pages cover 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 21 22 23 24 25 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 133 134 135 136 137 138 140 141 142 143 144 2 back cover


CHAPTER ONE
The Vega kids were beginning to wonder if autumn would ever make its way to Somerville. It was almost the end of September, and the hot summer temperatures were sticking around. Most people were happy about the unseasonably warm weather, but not Rowan and Astrid Vega.
“It has got to be thirty degrees in that school!” complained 11-year-old Astrid as she sat down at the counter in Mick’s Diner, the restaurant owned by her parents, Amelia and Jason Vega.
Her older brother, 12-year-old Rowan, tossed his rucksack on an open seat and sat down as well. “No kidding,” he said. “They say the school is air conditioned, but the only breeze I’ve ever felt is from the hand dryer in the toilets.”
Astrid and Rowan were typical siblings. They got along well one minute and were at each other’s throats the next. They spent a lot of time together, though, helping out at the restaurant or hanging out with their best friends, Quinn and Jace.
Neither Astrid nor Rowan had been happy about going back to school. Their eventful summer had brought Jace and his older sister, Evie, to town after their secret agent parents found themselves in trouble. The town still thought Evie and Jace were mother and son, but the Vegas, Quinn and her parents, and Police Chief Inspector Osgood knew the truth. The Vegas had even hired Evie to work in their restaurant.
Jace had become fast friends with Rowan, Astrid and Quinn. The foursome had spent the rest of the summer looking for adventure and solving mysteries. Now that school had started, they’d had little time for much else besides homework.
Astrid and Rowan sat glumly at the counter staring at their books. It wasn’t long before Jace and Quinn joined them.
The four of them must have looked pretty pathetic. When Mr Vega saw them sitting there, he asked, “What’s going on here? Is the Frowny Face Convention in town?” He shaped his mouth into an exaggerated frown and added, “Can I join your frown fest?”
Astrid tried to contain the smile that crossed her face. “Not funny, Dad!”
Mrs Vega made her way over and asked, “How was your day, kids? Anything exciting happen at school?”
“About the most exciting thing that happened was when Tyler Shepherd split his trousers in maths class and had to go home early,” Rowan snorted.
Then he looked up as if he’d just had a great idea. “Hey, Mum, do you have any of my old trousers from last year?”
Mrs Vega smiled and shook her head. “Nice try.”
“How about you girls, anything exciting as split trousers happen to you today?” Mr Vega asked Astrid and Quinn.
“I wish,” Astrid replied. “All we got was a huge assignment for school.”
“Oh yeah? What’s it about?” asked Mrs Vega.
“Thanks to that letter, and everyone’s sudden interest in our town’s history, we now have to write a report about our family and how we came to live in Somerville,” Astrid said.
Over the summer, a letter of historic importance written by former President Abraham Lincoln had been found in the Somerville Museum. After much debate about selling the letter, the residents were persuaded by Miss Coco, the town’s oldest living resident, to keep the letter and display it with pride. The situation had sparked curiosity about anything to do with Somerville’s past and made the museum a popular place.
“That sounds interesting!” Mrs Vega said.
“I’m glad you think so, because I have to interview you and Dad to get information,” Astrid replied.
“I can tell you this,” Mr Vega said. “When we rolled into Somerville, we didn’t plan on being here any longer than the time it took to fill up our petrol tank.”
“Really?” asked Quinn. “What made you stay?”
With a big smile, Mrs Vega said, “A man named Mick.”


CHAPTER TWO
“It all started during one of the worst blizzards in New York’s history,” Mr Vega began as he leaned back on the counter, settling in to tell his story. “Forty centimetres had already come down, and the storm wasn’t even halfway over! The roads were a mess and many of them were shut down completely. My parents almost didn’t make it to the hospital - ”
“Oh no, Dad! Not again!” Rowan interrupted. “It’s bad enough that we have to listen to that story every year on your birthday!”
Jace and Quinn looked confused, so Astrid had to fill them in.
“Long story short: My dad was born in the middle of a blizzard, and my grandma almost didn’t make it to the hospital,” Astrid said in a monotone voice. “Fascinating stuff.”
“It’s a great story!” Mr Vega protested. “Wait until you hear the part about our car spinning out on the motorway!”
Mrs Vega smiled as she gently patted her husband on the shoulder. “Why don’t we skip ahead about twenty years to the part they asked to hear about?”
Mr Vega crossed his arms and shrugged. “Okay, fine, but then they are going to miss the good part, about me hitting a grand slam in Little League when I was only nine years old, and when I got the lead role in my high school’s production of Fiddler on the Roof .”
“I think they’ll survive,” Mrs Vega told her husband before turning towards the foursome.
“The story of how we ended up in Somerville began the summer we graduated from university,” she told them. “We got married in June and decided to relocate to San Francisco, where some of our friends were moving. Even though we had never been any farther west than Chicago, we were excited about starting our new lives in a new city. We packed up everything we owned and hit the road in your dad’s old pickup truck. That thing was so ancient. It’s a miracle we made it out of New York!”
“That old truck was the best!” Mr Vega said. “Besides, if we didn’t need to stop for petrol and to check the oil every hundred kilometres, we might have driven right past Somerville!”
“That’s true.” Mrs Vega nodded. “And if Earl at the petrol station hadn’t suggested we get a bite to eat at the restaurant, we never would have met Mick.”
“Mick was such a character!” Mr Vega told them. “We sat right here and listened to his stories as we ate an amazing meal. Before we knew it, several hours had passed, and it was dark out.