PROLOGUE

Sun shone hot on the bus windshield. After finishing up the Renaissance Faire, in
Kansas, we were on our way to Key West.
The Overseas Highway stretched out in front of us like a never-ending silver
ribbon, the Atlantic Ocean to our left and the Gulf of Mexico on our right. I was
fascinated by the difference in color of the two bodies of water that met
underneath the road.
Dad had the bus on cruise control and just had to steer. It had been a long drive
from Miami, where we’d camped the night before, and I could see he was tired.
We were all looking forward to a few months of rest in the beautiful tropics.
As always, my job was to research the places we went to visit. Key West was so
full of history and mystery that I was having a blast reading about it.
“Hey Dad,” I interrupted his driving to fill him in on an interesting fact I’d just
discovered. “Key West has a ton of unsolved mysteries. I’ll bet this is one you
never heard of.”
Shaking his head to bring himself out of the road coma he’d been in, he quickly
glanced in my direction.
“Did you find something interesting?”
“I found something you won’t believe.”
“Oh, what did you find?” Taking one hand off the wheel, he stretched. He then
did the same with the other arm.
“Back in February of 1976, a man named Bum Farto disappeared.”
Grainne popped up from where she’d been dozing on the couch.
“Bum Farto? Dere iz a man named Bum Farto? Hiz mommy and daddy must hab
hated him.” She shook her head and lay back down.
Dad burst out laughing. “Oh, come on. You’re making that up.”

“No, I’m not. I just read it online. He was under investigation by a bunch of
agencies for selling drugs out of his fire station. He disappeared without a trace.
They made a musical out of the mystery and Jimmy Buffet even sang about Bum
Farto. His desk and uniforms are on display at the Key West Firehouse Museum.”
My dad was still laughing when he asked, "So Molly are you and Grainne going to
try to solve the mystery of Bum Farto?”
“Maybe.”