The Strange Message in the Parchment Read Online Free PDF

house or the frightening noise of the birds, the girls did not know. Several men rushed out, yelling. Finally the birds flew off.
    One man walked up to Nancy and Junie and asked in an unpleasant, demanding voice, “What are you doing here? Don’t you know this is private property?”
    Junie explained that her family was a neighbor to Mr. Rocco and they had come to see him on an important matter. “Please take us to him.”
    “You can’t visit him now,” the man replied. “He’s in conference. How did you get into the grounds?”
    Neither girl answered. They were staring at their interrogator and at the other men who by now had arrived at the scene. All of them looked tough and unfriendly. Rocco’s pals resembled underworld characters, Junie and Nancy thought.
    “Who owns those birds?” Nancy asked. “Mr. Rocco?”
    In a surly voice one of the group replied, “What makes you think anybody owns them? In any case, it’s none of your business. What right do you have to ask questions? Now get out of here before you cause any more trouble.”
    Junie asked him, “Will you please unlock the gate?”
    The man squinted at the girls and said, “No, I won’t, and neither will anybody else. We’ve had enough guff from you smart alecks. You got in here; now get out. But don’t try any funny stuff, because I’ll be watching you!”
    With no choice Nancy and Junie hurried down the lane. The man who had ordered them out followed at a distance. He made no move to open the gate, so once more the girls were forced to climb the fence.
    Junie then drove toward Triple Creek, but took a road traversing the neighboring village. “Let’s stop at the general store and get some ice cream,” she said. “All that exercise has made me hungry. Besides, when I get mad I get hot, and something cool will taste good.”
    The girls went into the store, which included a few tables where customers could eat sandwiches, cookies, and ice cream.
    Nancy and Junie sat down. Presently a woman came to wait on them, and after serving heaping saucers of vanilla ice cream topped with whipped cream and pecans, she stopped to talk to them. Junie introduced her as Mrs. Potter, and said she managed the store for a friend. She then told the woman of the girls’ recent experience.
    “You know Mr. Rocco, don’t you?” Junie said. “What can you tell us about him?”
    The woman stiffened. “Nothing good,” she replied. “Besides, he has some men working for him that I don’t like. They were in here one day, talking to me. I couldn’t agree with a thing they said. I never want to see them again and I hope from now on they’ll all shop in another store.”
    “Could you tell us why you don’t like him?” Junie asked.
    “No, I’d rather not. It was something concerning my work, and I don’t care to discuss it. Sorry.”
    The girls respected the woman’s wishes and said no more. As soon as they had finished their ice cream, they left the store.
    After they were in the car and on the way home, Nancy asked Junie if Mrs. Potter was always so abrupt.
    “Oh, no,” Junie replied. “She’s a very nice person and usually full of fun. I can’t understand why she acted the way she did.”
    Nancy was silent for a few minutes, then said, “It’s my guess she has been intimidated, perhaps by the same men and in the same way that Eezy was!”

CHAPTER VI
    “No Speak English!”
     
     
     
    LATER, when Nancy thought Mr. Rocco would be free, she called his home. Another man answered and said he would get the owner. Several minutes passed but no one returned to the phone.
    “Maybe he had to go a long way to find Mr. Rocco,” Nancy reasoned.
    A few minutes later, she thought, “It wouldn’t surprise me if Mr. Rocco didn’t want to talk to me after I climbed his fence!” She could not understand, however, why her call had not been disconnected. Over and over she said into the phone, “Hello? Hello? Hello!”
    Finally she heard Mr. Rocco, who was not