The End of the Mystery
You aren’t sure what to do with Stephano and Alex, as Karl is clearly the thief. He was seen at your cabin, he has a full set of camp keys, he’s been obsessed with mushrooms, the envelope from the mycological society was almost certainly addressed to him, he did not want you near the boathouse, and he canceled waterfront activities in the middle of the morning to go in search of the Mushtaches.
Therefore, you are surprised when Alex pulls your book from their bag.
“I found this under Stephano’s bed,” they say, “and guessed it was left by the person who took Stephano’s Mushtache collection.”
“I see. So these must be Stephano’s,” you say. You lift the trunk you found hidden in the boathouse onto the desk.
“My books!” Stephano exclaims. He hops up and opens the trunk. “Oh, good. They’re all here,” he says as he examines the contents of the trunk. “Where did you find them?”
“I’m not sure that I should share that information. But I have good reason to believe that Karl is the one who took them.”
Alex nods. “They were in the boathouse, weren’t they? In the secret compartment?”
You glance at your newly returned Camp iRead: The Secrets in the Woods.
“Ah yes, so you’ve read it?” you ask.
“Not much,” they admit. “Just a few passages, really.”
You consider for a moment. “Well, I don’t think we need to worry about Karl anymore. The Mushtache’s spores have effectively wiped his memory of the past 2 to 3 days. He’ll snap out of this,” you say, motioning to Karl’s blank face, “in a couple hours, with no idea what he’s done. We’ll just have to keep a close eye on him from now on.” You turn to Karl.
“Karl, go to your bunk. Take a nap.” Karl rises without responding and leaves the office.
You thank Stephano and Alex, and ensure they understand the importance of discretion regarding the Mushtaches.
And then you can finally get back to the regular work of running the summer camp.