Haunted Waters (10 page)

Chapter 32

“Do you hear that?”
Sam said.

Ashley was off by herself, and I was helping Sam clean up the living room and kitchen.

“I don’t hear anything,” I said.

“Exactly,” Sam said. “What do you think Dylan’s up to?”

“Dylan!”
I whispered.

We bolted downstairs. Sam had duct taped a piece of cardboard over the broken window, but still it was about 10 degrees colder down there than upstairs.

I was about to yell for Dylan when Sam put a hand on my shoulder and pointed toward the pinball machine. Dylan had both hands atop it, his head (which is about two times too big for his body) resting against one flipper button. As he breathed, the flippers clicked, but there was no ball to hit. His little eyelids were shut, but his mouth was open just enough for his tongue to stick through. His shirtsleeve had a drool stain the size of a quarter.

How he stood there without his knees giving way, I’ll never know.

Sam ran for his cell phone and snapped a picture. This was a sure winner for one of those funny kid contests. I went upstairs to get Ashley, but she was on a bed with an arm over her face. Her journal was nearby, so I left her alone and crept back downstairs.

“What should we do with him?” Sam said. I could tell he wasn’t just saying it. He really wanted my opinion.

“I don’t think he’s ever gone to sleep standing up before,” I said. “Mom always says we should leave him wherever he rolls to a stop.”

Sam smiled and grabbed a pillow from the couch. “In case he slides down, this’ll break his fall.”

Chapter 33

I wiped my eyes so Bryce and Sam wouldn’t notice
I had been crying. They were at the kitchen table, a yellow legal pad in front of Bryce.

Sam said they were trying to figure things out. “I wonder if we should head back home.”

I agreed with him, but I didn’t want to be a chicken.

“Here’s what we have so far,” Bryce said, sliding the pad over to me.

I read the list silently.

1. Prowler seen last night outside the house.

2. Suspicious car at the ski resort. Could be watching us.

3. Cabin ransacked while we were gone—what are they looking for?

4. Boo Heckler made threats.

Sam plugged his laptop into the high-speed modem. The robbers had missed it in his suitcase. “Do you know Boo’s father’s name?”

Bryce shook his head. “Why?”

“I want to see if he’s at home.”

“I think it’s Darryl,” I said, remembering the e-mail message. I looked at Bryce. “I don’t know if calling him is a good idea.”

“The cabin’s phone doesn’t come up on caller ID,” Sam said.

He pulled up all the Hecklers in Red Rock. “It’d probably be better if one of you asked for him. If I call and ask if he’s home, they’ll probably ask who it is.”

“I’ll do it,” I said.

“No, let me,” Bryce said.

Chapter 34

I dialed the number slowly,
then hit the End button. “What if Boo answers?”

“Say you got a wrong number,” Ashley said.

“Just hand it to me,” Sam said.

I thought Boo should have some kind of special toll-free number like 1-800-SCARY. My hands started sweating, and I worried about stuttering. My family thinks my stuttering doesn’t bother me, but it does. A lot.

The line was busy. I wiped my hands on my pants.

“Should we put the stolen gold on the clue list?” Ashley said.

Sam nodded. “It’s a long shot, but it could be related.”

I added it and wrote that the person outside the house was a smoker. We also wrote down the description of the car I saw at the ski resort.

“Try it again,” Ashley said.

This time it rang. Before I could hang up, a girl answered, probably one of Boo’s sisters.

“Uh . . . yeah . . . is A-a-aron there?”

“Hang on.” She screamed his name without covering the phone, and I handed it to Sam.

“Hello, Aaron,” he said in his deep voice. “How are you?” Sam grinned at me. “Well, I’m part of a group of concerned parents at the school.”

Sam paused and held the phone away from his ear. Because the handset was turned up, Ashley and I both heard Boo.

“I didn’t do anything,” Boo said. “Who are you, anyway?”

“As I said, just a concerned parent. And I’m calling for a very important reason.”

“What’s that?”

I held a hand over my mouth. Ashley turned red.

“Have you been home all weekend?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Well,” Sam said, trying to hold his own laughter, “we’re making sure all of our top students are getting enough rest this weekend so they’ll be ready for the CATs on Monday. Are you planning any trips or sleepovers?”

“Not that I know of,” Boo said, his voice a little calmer. “I’m on the list of top students?”

As far as I knew, Boo had never made the honor roll.

“Well, actually, any person who doesn’t take the test gets a zero, so we really need everyone there,” Sam said, then put his hand over the mouthpiece so Boo wouldn’t hear his chuckles.

“Tell whoever wants to know that I’ll be there,” Boo said. “I have to be there anyway.”

“Oh?” Sam said.

“Yeah, got a score to settle.”

A shiver ran down my spine. This wasn’t funny anymore.

“You know, Aaron, I’ve heard you’ve made it a little difficult on a couple of students at school. If I were you, I’d concentrate on my studies and cut out the extracurricular activities. You get my drift?”

Boo paused. “Extra what?”

“The fighting and bullying.”

“Hey, who is this?”

“Just a friendly reminder,” Sam said. “Good luck on the CATs Monday.”

Chapter 35

I burst out laughing,
but I could tell Bryce was upset.

“If Boo is telling the truth about being home, he wasn’t the one outside,” Bryce said.

Sam paced. “What happened back in Gold Town? Did you two buy anything or pick up anything?”

“You mean like a souvenir?” I said.

“Anything.”

“The only thing we came out of there with that we didn’t walk in with was the miner’s hat you bought Dylan,” Bryce said. “Unless you bought something, Ash.”

I closed my eyes and tried to remember. “We walked in, got in line—Dylan put on the hat, you took the picture, the guy erased the photos, and then they asked us to leave.”

“Wait,” Bryce said. He put a hand in his pocket. “When I dropped the camera, the memory stick flew out. A kid handed it to me.” He frowned, then snapped his fingers. “I know where it is. I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?” Sam said.

“The stick is in the back of the SUV—”

“But what good will that do?” I said.

“Pictures. Maybe this has something to do with the pictures. The guy at Gold Town erased the camera but not the stick.”