Previous chapters of the Vista Falls story:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40

How should the story continue? Voting is open on the current chapter!

Last time, the group talked about kindness with Mr. Barrymore, however, Mr. Dinello’s words didn’t seem to make much of a difference. Mr. Barrymore stormed off alone, presumably in search of Mina. Several of the teens wanted to warn Mina that Mr. Barrymore was likely looking for her. However, Mr. Dinello was concerned about leaving the spot where he’d promised Chief Colbert that they’d stay. What did they do? Here’s what you decided.

Chapter 24
Tired Ire

Mr. Dinello scratched his head. “I did tell Sam we’d stay right here.”

“We can leave a note.” Ward suggested.

“Or one of us could go in there and tell Chief Colbert what we’re doing.” Rick said.

“Hey, if I can’t go in there and be a part of the investigation, no one is going in there.” Vera pouted. “Remember, I was supposed to be the lead investigator on this case.”

“Well, right now, I’m the person in charge.” Mr. Dinello smiled.

“Fine, then.” Vera stamped her foot. “What are we going to do?”

“Vera, I’m sorry.” Mr. Dinello said gently. “I don’t mean to take over from you.”

“That’s okay.” Vera calmed down a little bit. “I get a little excited sometimes.”

“We know.” Lucy rolled her eyes.

“Funny.” Vera smirked. “But, seriously, what should we do?”

“I think we should go with what we know.” Mr. Dinello smiled.

“What do you mean?” TJ asked.

“Think about it.” Mr. Dinello grinned.

“We know the phone number for Mina’s friend.” Kate suggested.

“We could call her friend back and ask if he’d give us Mina’s phone number.” Delia continued. “Then, we could call her and tell her about Mr. Barrymore.”

“And we could mention that there’s a job opening at dad’s store.” Lucy added.

“That way, we could still make sure Mina’s in good shape without having to leave here and break our promise to Chief Colbert.” Rick spoke next.

“Exactly.” Mr. Dinello nodded.

“Mr. Dinello, will you call Mina’s friend?” Vera asked.

“I’ll do it right now.” Mr. Dinello said, taking his cell phone from his pocket.

He looked at his cell phone. “The signal is weak right here; let me go off by the lamppost where I was before. The signal was stronger.”

“Okay.” Lucy nodded.

“You all wait right here. Okay?” Mr. Dinello raised his eyebrows.

“We promise.” Vera smiled.

“And, we promise we’ll keep an eye on Vera.” Ward joked.

“Thanks.” Mr. Dinello laughed, walking off to make his phone call.

At that very moment, a very angry woman stormed out of the old courthouse. She rushed past the teens, muttering to herself.

“That was Bonnie Whiteside, the museum curator.” Ward said.

“She sure looked upset.” Kate shivered.

“I wonder what’s going on in there.” Vera sighed.

“We’ll have to wait for Chief Colbert.” Ward reminded Vera.

“I know. I know.” Vera grumbled.

Lucy yawned.

“You tired?” Kate asked.

“I am.” Lucy nodded. “It’s pretty late.”

“I’m surprised that mom and dad let us stay out this late, actually.” Vera grinned.

“It’s only because we’re with Chief Colbert, Mr. Dinello and Officer Littlepoole.” Lucy yawned again.

“Come on, get some pep!” Vera shouted. “This is no time to be so tired.”

“We’re all tired, Vera.” Kate stretched. “It’s been a really long day.”

“I’m exhausted, too.” Delia nodded.

“You guys?” Vera pointed to where Rick, TJ and Ward were standing. “You’re not so tired. Are you?”

“Boys get tired, too, Vera.” Ward nodded.

“Yes, they do.” Mr. Dinello added as he returned to the group. “In fact, this old boy is tired himself.”

Vera ignored all the talk of fatigue. “What did Mina’s friend say? Did he give you her phone number?”

“Yes, he did.” Mr. Dinello nodded. “But, he said she’s probably gone to bed by now. I don’t think we should risk waking her up.”

“Better that we wake her up than Mr. Barrymore does.” Vera argued.

“I don’t think Mr. Barrymore’s going to do anything tonight.” Mr. Dinello shook his head. “Let’s let Mina sleep.”

“We should all be asleep.” Lucy said wearily.

“What if the Woman in Gray shows up again?” Vera demanded. “There’s no time for sleep.”

“Vera, we have to take care of ourselves. As much as we want to figure out what’s going on here, we still have a responsibility to take care of ourselves, too. Part of that means getting enough sleep.” Mr. Dinello smiled.

“I know that!” Vera growled.

“I suggest that when Sam and Jenny come out of there, we all go to our homes and get some sleep. Tomorrow’s Saturday. There’s no school. We can start our investigation again tomorrow.” Mr. Dinello said.

“Yeah, in the daylight. We’d be able to see more clues.” TJ nodded.

“But, the so-called ‘ghost’ doesn’t come out during the day.” Vera said. “How will we catch her?”

“We can catch her by figuring out who she is.” Mr. Dinello said rationally.

“I’m not going home.” Vera stamped her foot again.

“You may not have a choice.” Lucy giggled. “As we said, mom and dad have been pretty generous to let us stay out this long. I don’t think they’ll want us to stay out much later”

“I’m not going.” Vera shook her head.

“If we all go home, you go home.” Mr. Dinello raised an eyebrow. “And that’s that.”

“Is it?” Vera muttered to herself. “Is it?”

What happens when Chief Colbert and Officer Littlepoole come out of the courthouse?

Voting results for how the story continues:

Go to next chapter!