“Why do you think she focused so much on the Lila incident?” I asked. “Was she involved somehow? Did she have an ax to grind?”
Deborah looked at me blankly. “Well, you’re the amateur detective, Nancy,” she said. “But from my perspective? She just wanted to convince people the camp is haunted. Because then people would get scared, and eventually, the camp would fail.”
I frowned, thinking that over. It made sense, of course. And that explained why Bella told us the story right away and wanted to hold a séance the night the CITs arrived. She was setting up the story that an angry ghost lived at the camp.
Deborah suddenly stood. “Let me get Miles. The eleven-year-olds are at the lake now. Sandy and Susie can keep an eye on them while Miles brings Bella back here. We’re going to have to work something out for tonight. Maybe Sam can take over as lead counselor.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Wait—you’re bringing Bella here? Now?”
“Of course.” Deborah looked at me like she couldn’t believe I wasn’t following this. “She can’t stay here, Nancy. Not when she might be putting campers in danger.” She paused. “The only good news is . . . I guess the campout tonight can go on.”
“Excuse me?” Bella sputtered about half an hour later.
We stood in Deborah’s office. Miles said that Bella had not been pleased to be escorted back to camp in front of all her campers. She’d seemed even less pleased to find me waiting for her in Deborah’s office. And when Deborah began explaining why she’d been brought there, I thought her eyes might roll right out of her head.
“Where’s your proof?” she asked now, crossing her arms over her chest in a defensive posture. “Why on earth would I try to sabotage this camp? I came here when I was a kid! I love it here!”
I briefly explained what I’d already told Deborah. With every word that came out of my mouth, her eyes looked harder and angrier.
“And I found these in your bunk,” I said finally, gesturing to the book of matches and the wig that now sat on Deborah’s desk.
Bella let out a rueful laugh. She looked so angry and tense, I was ready for her to explode.
“Do you know why I have matches?” she asked. “And why I smelled like smoke last night? God, Nancy Drew, what kind of detective are you?’
I stared at her. “Because you . . . started the fire?” I asked, thinking it was pretty obvious.
“Nooooo!” Bella lifted her finger into the air and waved it in my face. “I’ve been burning sage to purify our cabin and keep the angry spirits out.” She turned to Deborah, her expression changing from furious to hopeful. “That’s what I was doing last night, when the fire must have been lit! I know it’s not really allowed, so I try to do it when no one else is there. I went back to the cabin as soon as I finished dinner and burned some sage. That’s why my clothes smelled like smoke later. But I didn’t see anything, I swear.”
Deborah looked unconvinced. “That doesn’t explain the wig, Bella. Or the sneakers.”
Bella sighed. “The wig. I brought the wig for the same reason I brought the sparkly dress. I was going to get all dressed up for the end-of-camp party,” she said.
Deborah raised her eyebrows. “End-of-camp party?”
“Don’t you remember?” Bella asked. “The kids at Camp Larksong always talked about this big costume party the counselors had after the kids left at the end of the week. I figured, since it was a Camp Larksong tradition, we’d be doing the same at Camp Cedarbark.”
Deborah closed her eyes. “I remember,” she said. “But the end-of-camp dance was called off the last year of Camp Larksong because . . . well, because. I didn’t plan to keep the tradition going here. I’m not sure why you would just assume we’d be having the dance.”
“I told you,” Bella said. “Because I thought Camp Cedarbark would be the same as Camp Larksong. And I wanted to be prepared.”
“Why silver?” I asked, not bothering to try to hide my skepticism. “You just happened to bring a silver wig and not, say, pink or blue or any color not worn by a fake ghost in the lake?”
Bella looked at me like she was almost afraid. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said. “I wore that wig for my Halloween costume two years ago. I thought it looked really cute on me. That’s all.”
“What about the sneakers?” I pressed.
Bella looked at me with disdain. “You mean the same Converse sneakers every other teenager in America wears? Yeah, that’s some real incriminating evidence there.”