Stolen Secrets (12 page)

Chapter 43

I asked Mom to break the drive rule
for our ATVs, and to my surprise, she said Bryce and I could go out the next day. I felt like I had won a gold medal in Four-Wheeler Begging. She said we had to go during daylight hours, and I said that was fine.

Leigh came in with Randy and offered to take me out for ice cream. I’m not one to turn down free food, so I hurried outside before Leigh changed her mind.

“Are you scared to go out with that kook still on the loose?” Randy said on the way to his truck.

I shrugged.

Leigh took Randy’s arm. “Big, strong football player like you can protect us, right?”

He rolled his eyes. “But what if the big, strong football player’s not around when the guy shows up?”

“You think he’s still around?” I said.

“One of my friends said the cops chased him this direction. He could be hiding out in your barn.”

Leigh slugged him on the shoulder, then looked behind her.

Chapter 44

I couldn’t believe it
when Ashley said we could ride the ATVs after church. It had been almost a week since we had ridden them to school, the longest we had ever gone.

Ashley had her candle catalog, and we stopped at Mrs. Watson’s house first, where we park every school day. Sam had known Mrs. Watson for a long time, and she usually bought something from us.

As the woman flipped through the catalog, Ashley asked if she knew anything about the Ingram family.

“That man who hurt the girls?” Mrs. Watson said, her rocking chair going. She held the catalog to her chest and squinted out the window. “The family moved into that fortress yonder a few years ago. Can’t get in or out without going through a big old fence. Secretive bunch, I’ve heard. Don’t talk much.”

I leaned forward and put my hands on my knees. “How long have you known Sam?”

“Ever since he bought your place. I think he has a thing for me.” She winked and fluffed her white hair. “Your mother is a looker, but I think Sam prefers a little age.”

“Come on, Mrs. Watson. What do you know about him?”

Her rocker stopped. “I worried about him when he moved in with that little girl of his, all alone. I offered to cook for him. I was glad when he found your mother and you birds moved in.”

“But what about his past? What did he do before?”

“Some kind of military, I suppose,” she said. “A lot of pilots around here are former air force. Why don’t you ask
him
?”

Chapter 45

Bryce beat me
to the Ingrams’ driveway and turned off his ATV. There aren’t many houses in this part of Red Rock—if this is even part of Red Rock. From here you’re so close to the mountain that you can’t see Pikes Peak. Funny how something smaller can block out something bigger when you’re close.

We slipped off our helmets, and Bryce studied the property. The house was at the end of a long driveway that snaked up the hill to a plateau covered with pine trees. To the left stood a corral with a small barn. Huge timbers rose out of the ground and arched over the driveway. A barbed-wire fence ran along the road and directly up the hill to a closed gate. A small keypad was fixed to the middle, and another square box with a button was attached to the timber.

“You don’t think he could be hiding here, do you?” Bryce said.

“The police would have searched it.”

Bryce climbed off his ATV and placed his helmet on the seat. “Do you like this as much as I do?”

“What?”

“Snooping around. Trying to solve a mystery.”

I nodded. “Except . . .”

“What?”

“I’d rather not be part of the mystery about Sam and Dad.”

Bryce told me what he had overheard on the answering machine and what he had learned from his Internet search.

“Is that why you grilled Mrs. Watson?” I said.

He nodded. “Think about it, Ash. We don’t know anything about Sam’s parents other than the pictures he shows us. We don’t know what he did before Mom met him, other than fly famous people around. For all we know, he could be mixed up with those gold robbers or—”

“A spy for the government?” I said.

“Anything.”

“You kids get out of here!” someone shouted from the hillside. “Can’t you read?”

Chapter 46

Ashley slapped her hand
over her mouth as a guy walked toward us, carrying some kind of tool. He looked older, maybe in his 50s, with stubbly gray whiskers, and he wore a wide hat pulled down to his eyebrows.

“Sign says No Trespassing. Get out of here.”

I grabbed my helmet and slammed it on, but Ashley walked toward the fence holding out her catalog. “My name’s Ashley Timberline, and I go to the Peak Academy of Dance. We’re having a fund-raiser with these candles. I’m sure your wife would love one.”

The guy’s eyes softened, and it almost looked like he was going to smile. “No, we don’t need any candles.”

“What about your wife? Do you think I could talk to her?”

He walked toward us slowly, like from a dock onto an unsteady rowboat. “Timberline. You Sam’s kids?”

“Yes, we are. This is my brother Bryce.”

He stared at me. “What happened to you?”

I told him about the basketball game, and this time he did smile.

“You know Sam?” Ashley said.

He nodded. “Flew some friends and me to Montana once. See him every now and then around town.”

A car approached and the man reached through the fence. “Harriet’s not here right now. Let me see your candles, and you can pick this up tomorrow after school.”

Chapter 47

Mom was watching
for us as we neared our house. Bryce and I were excited about making contact with the Ingrams, but we didn’t tell Mom or Sam.

Leigh hopped into the house announcing that she was going to ace her driver’s test. Randy had told her she was as good a driver as he was, but he has more dents in his truck than I have old Beanie Babies. Still, I hoped she would pass.

When I brought up driving the ATVs after school, Mom said she and Sam wanted us to wait.

“But you let us go today,” I said.

“That’s our decision,” Mom said.

I was tempted to go on a hunger strike, but Mom made her taco casserole, which I thought cruel and unusual because I can’t pass it up. After dinner, Bryce and I went out on the back porch and ate orange Push-Ups.

“How are we gonna get back to the Ingrams’ house?” Bryce said.

“We’ll get Mom to drive us or we’ll walk,” I said.

The stars were starting to appear. I noticed a strange glow coming from the red rocks behind our house. I pointed it out to Bryce, but he didn’t see it.