“Alright girls, this is the place.” Frankie said, pointing. The dark skinned teenager brought the battered old minivan to a halt. Through the thick cypress and willow trees, thick with spanish moss, they could just make out the old abandoned mansion. Its white columned portico was painted red in the light of the setting sun, broken windows loomed like open black maws. Opening the doors, the four members of the Miller High Girls Detective Club piled out onto the overgrown road leading up to the house.

“Yuck!” Savannah exclaimed with disgust as the gorgeous blonde cheerleader strayed off the gravel trail and found her foot sinking into muck. “Who’d build a mansion in a place like this?”

“According to the town archives, this whole area was drained back in the late 19th century to grow cotton.” The group’s resident researcher and cute nerd Ginger replied, adjusting her glasses. “All of it was owned by the Mortimer Family, who built this mansion at the center of their property, but they lost everything in the stock market crash of ‘29 and the area was abandoned. With no one maintaining it, it sank back into swampland.”

“Like, did we have to come here at night?” The fourth member, a tall, thin brunette named Cindy asked nervously. “This place gives me the creeps!”

“You can’t expect swamp monsters to come out during the day, can you?” Frankie replied, switching on her flashlight. A couple days ago, a few of their classmates had told everyone they had seen, and been chased off by, some sort of green slimy monsters when they’d been hanging out at this old abandoned mansion. Most figured it was more likely they two had just gotten a bad batch of weed or something and been seeing things, but it was enough of an excuse for the Girls Detectives Club to sneak out on a Friday night and poke around the place.

“What was that!?!” Cindy asked, looking over her shoulder, shivering. They were in the grand hall, looking at the ruined staircase and cobwebbed chandeliers.

“Don’t start that…” Savannah said in a tone of annoyance.

No, really!” Cindy insisted. “Listen!” The four girls paused, listening intently. The others were about to berate their friend for getting them wound up for nothing when they heard it now, a heavy squelching thud, like a heavy good, caked in muck, tramping on creaky floorboards towards them, step by step…

Frankie turned the flashlight in the direction of the sound. The trembling circle of light slowly panned up a musty hall until it showed a pair of huge feet, caked in wet mud, then a pair of trunk-like legs, covered by slimy green vegetation, then an ungainly torso and arms, clawed hands outstretched towards them, then a hideous, misshapen head, a wide fanged may open, hellish red eyes glaring at the girls in the dark corridor.

“Swamp monster!” The four said, as it gave an inhuman scream and lumbered ungainly towards them. The four turned and fled towards the front doors.

“Wait!” Ginger said as she stumbled over a piece of battered furniture, her glasses flying off and skittering across the floor. Frantically, she scrabbled for them in the gloom, but before she could find them and continue fleeing, the monster was upon her…

***

“Whose stupid idea was it, to run around in a heavy rubber costume…in the middle of a God-Damn-Swamp!” The ‘swamp monster’ grumbled, reaching up to pull off a thick rubber mask. Underneath was the sweaty face of a man with dark hair and gray eyes.

“The same one who thought it’d be a good idea to set up a grow operation in one, Bob.” A second man said, glancing at the third.

“I wasn’t hearing any better ideas from you, Hank!” The third man, Darron, replied, defensively. “And how was I supposed to know anyone would believe those stoners we ran off?”

“Well, what do we do now?” Bob asked, struggling out of the heavy rubber waders which had been painted and glued with vegetation and muck to form the base of their swamp monster costume.

The three crooks looked to the other side of the room where the four members of the Girls Detective Agency sat in the row with their backs to the wall. The girls had their hands and feet tied with rope and bands of cloth covering their eyes and mouths, the latter sealing in a couple socks which muffled their frightened murmurs.

The crooks hadn’t had much of a choice in capturing the girls. Their plan had, originally, been to scare them off, the same as the other teens, but they hadn’t counted on the nerdy girl to trip and lose her glasses. Unfortunately, the ‘swamp monster’ was nearly as blind with the rubber mask on as she had been without her glasses and Bob had practically tripped over her before realizing she was there. In the tumble, he’d lost his mask, giving the game away. He’d grabbed little Miss Nerd and dragged her into the other room where Hank and Darron had helped tie her up and gag her.

The teen’s friends, meanwhile, had discovered she was missing and decided to come back and look for her. When Bob had tried to run them off a second time, they’d blundered into the greenhouse behind the mansion where the trio had their growing operation and the shack beside it where the finished product was waiting to be shipped out. The men had no choice. They couldn’t let the girls go, with what they’d seen and knew. That just left the question of what to do with them now.

“I think we ought to just take them deeper into the swamp and leave ‘em.” Hank suggested, grimly. “Ain’t nobody going to find them, ‘cept the gators!” This drew frantic sobs and moans from the three teens.

“Now hold on, there…” Darron cut in, raising a hand. “I don’t think we need to kill ‘em…” This quieted the teens down, somewhat, though quiet whimpers still came from their corner from time to time. “I think I’ve got an idea…”

“What’s that?” Bob asked, hanging the costume up on a peg. “We can’t keep ‘em around here forever.”

“Well, I was thinkin’...” Darron continued. “We were planning on taking out this next shipment in a day or two anyway, might as well take these snoops with us.”

“And do what with ‘em?” Hank asked, crossing his arms.

“Last time, I was talking with Big Charlie…” Darron said, “He told me he knew a guy, met him in the clink, who does a good business buyin’ and sellin’ girls…mostly to brothels and the like. Offered him $500 for his girlfriend.” He shrugged. “Don’t know if he took him up on the offer or not…”

“Shit!” Bob whistled. “Think he’d offer the same for these four?” He gestured to the teens who’d begun to struggle and grunt with renewed vigor. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t going anywhere at the moment.

“Why not?” Darron replied. He grinned. “And even if he doesn’t, bringing ‘em should make the trip a lot more fun!”