Haunted Waters (8 page)

Chapter 24

Gavin Winkler peered inside the cabin.
He had watched the twins play their games and laugh with their father. He tried to remember doing the same thing with his dad when he was a kid, but he couldn’t come up with a single memory. His father had gone to prison when Gavin was 10, and they hadn’t seen each other since. The scene inside the cabin turned his stomach.

He wished they’d get to bed. He had work to do. Get in, get that camera and its memory stick, and get out.

Gavin took another puff of his cigarette as the kids moved to the basement. When the TV flicked on, Gavin cursed. He was tempted to go in while they were downstairs, but he couldn’t be sure the father would be asleep yet. He’d found a security system on the cabin and easily disarmed it. He’d be in and out in a couple of minutes.

If they would just get out of the way.

Chapter 25

Bryce and I raced upstairs and woke Sam,
trying not to disturb Dylan.

Sam bolted out of bed in his pajamas and rushed downstairs. I was going to show him where I thought the prowler was, but he immediately threw his coat on, slipped on his shoes, grabbed a flashlight, and headed outside.

“What if he gets jumped?” Bryce said.

I peeked out the window. Sam traipsed through the brush and trees, where we had seen the glowing cigarette, his flashlight casting a wide beam. I held my breath.

He stopped and bent over, then continued around the house. Bryce and I followed him from window to window. Bryce grabbed the phone, obviously ready to dial 911. I wondered if they even had that service out here in the woods and how long it would take the police to come.

When Sam made it all the way around the house, he sprinted down the long driveway. All we could see was the flashlight beam bouncing off trees and rocks and snow.

Bryce gave me a look. “You think he saw something?”

I shrugged, but I knew one thing: we were alone. Whoever was out there could have been hoping that Sam would go outside.

“Is the downstairs door locked?” Bryce said.

“You were the last one in—”

“No way, you were!”

We argued, then crept downstairs. As we passed the spooky picture of the woman dressed in red, it took all the nerve I had to check the lock. Then we rushed back upstairs, and I tripped over something and banged my knee. The pinball machine went wild, beeping and buzzing and lighting the darkness.

Something banged above us. Bryce helped me up.

“Sam?” I yelled.

“It’s me,” he called. “Everything’s okay.”

He dusted the snow from his pants and kicked off his shoes. “You two playing pinball while I was gone?” He smiled.

I held my knee. “Why did you run down the driveway?”

“Thought I heard a car, but I couldn’t find any tracks.” Sam showed us a cigarette butt. “But I did find this at the side of the house near a window. Still fresh.”

Chapter 26

The cigarette proved we were right.
Ashley and I knew someone had been watching the cabin. But why?

Sam carried Dylan to Ashley’s room, the one with the bunk beds, while Ashley and I turned on every light in the house. The three of us slept in the bunk room, while Sam slept just outside on the couch he pulled near the door. I had a hard time getting to sleep, listening to the wind whistle through the trees. Twice I thought I saw something outside our window and Sam came in. It was just snow.

The next morning a good 8 to 10 inches of new snow lay on the ground. Any footprints or tire tracks had been covered.

Sam called the sheriff, but someone put him on hold. Finally, a deputy took the information.

After a few minutes, Sam hung up, and I could tell he was ticked. “They said they wouldn’t be able to get to it today,” he said. “Something’s going on over there.”

Dylan came out of the bedroom carrying his blanket, rubbing his eyes, and yawning. “How did I get down here?”

Dylan could sleep through anything. Mom said Ashley and I had been the same way when we were his age, but I couldn’t believe it.

“They don’t have time for a prowler?” Ashley said. “Whoever it was could have . . .” She glanced at Dylan and stopped.

“What’s a prowler?” he said.

Sam poured a cup of coffee and started the stove. “Okay, it’s time for fun. We have fresh snow out there, and we’re taking advantage of it. There’s a great slope at a resort not far from here. We’ll rent some skis or snowboards for you two, and we’ll use the tubes.”

Dylan’s face lit up. “Can I go?” He was used to being left behind.

Sam flashed a smile and nodded.

Chapter 27

I don’t like lots of greasy food,
but the bacon and sausage Sam made that morning went so well with the eggs and pancakes that I had to stop myself before I got sick. Bryce pushed his plate back too, his mouth full of pancakes and syrup. Sam found plastic bags, and we saved the rest for the next morning.

Bryce and I helped Dylan get dressed in several layers of clothes. Just when we got his boots and gloves on he said he had to go to the bathroom. Sometimes life’s like that.

Sam handed us our walkie-talkies, but after the night before, I didn’t want to go off on our own. I wanted to stay near Sam.

He wanted to hear the news, so he found a crackly radio station playing country music. Bryce gave me a look like he was going to die. We both hated country music back in Illinois, but I had to admit that some of the singers were starting to grow on me now.

The music ended and a man with a voice like a frog told the song titles. He identified himself as Tiny Woods and said he’d be on the air until noon. “And if you haven’t heard, the big news this morning is the robbery last night at Gold Town. We have the sheriff on the line now.”

I glanced at Sam with my mouth open.

He just shook his head.

“What do you think they took?” Bryce said from the backseat.

The radio squealed until Tiny flipped a switch. “Sounds like somebody struck it rich last night, Sheriff.”

“That’s right, Tiny,” the sheriff said in a cooing voice that let us know he knew the man well. “At about six o’clock last night, as they were shutting down for the evening, the owner of the gold nugget noticed something strange. It was a lot lighter than the original.”

Sam pulled to the side of the road and turned up the radio.

“Bathroom,” Dylan said.

Sam put up a hand. “In a minute. I want to hear this.”

“So someone replaced the real one with a fake?” Tiny said.

“It appears so, Tiny.”

“I imagine you’re pretty busy with this,” Tiny said.

“We have all our people on it, and we’re going to catch the person who’s responsible.”

“Any leads?”

“No. We don’t even know when the switch took place. But there’s a reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest.”

“You mean we were looking at fake gold?” Bryce said.

Sam stroked his chin. “Let’s head over to Gold Town. Dylan can use the restroom, and we’ll tell them we were there.”

Chapter 28

I was glad to see police cars
when we pulled into Gold Town. I took Dylan to the outside toilet near the building while Ashley went with Sam to the front.

Through a vent in the back, I glimpsed someone walking through the brush behind the bathroom. I wondered if it might be an officer hunting for clues.

When Dylan said, “Done!” I helped him wash his hands, and we walked outside. Behind the bathroom I saw the kid who had handed me the camera’s memory stick the day before. I guessed he was the shop owner’s son. They looked a little alike. I was wearing the same pants as the day before, so I patted my pocket and felt the memory stick.

I was about to say something to him when I noticed Ashley and Sam heading toward the SUV. I could tell by the way Sam walked that he was mad.

“What happened?” I said as I snapped the belt around Dylan’s car seat.

“They wouldn’t even talk to us,” Ashley said. “Sam said we were here yesterday, but the deputy just took our number and told us to go.”

“You’d think they’d want all the info they could get,” I said.

“Guess it doesn’t work that way out here,” Sam said.

When we arrived at the ski resort, Ashley said she wanted to go tubing with Sam and Dylan, which made me think she was still scared. I have to admit that I was too, so I decided to join them. I didn’t want the memory stick to get smashed while I was tubing, so I pulled it out of my pocket and stuck it in the slot behind Ashley’s seat.

Dylan was allowed up the hill only with Sam. Sam held him tightly on his lap, and when they took off Dylan squealed. I had never heard such a shrill sound.

Ashley and I followed in a tube train, with me holding her feet. It’s weird for it to be sunny and dry one day and snowing the next, but that’s how it is in Colorado. The snow swished into my face, and I had to close my eyes. By the time I made it to the bottom, I was covered and loving every minute.

“Again!” Dylan screamed. “Again!”

The next time I went by myself and was surprised at how fast the tube went. Ashley and I had a contest to see how far we could slide. The run ended in a steep snowbank, but if you veered left you could go all the way to the tree line.

The third time down I made it past the snowbank and kept going until I stopped near the winding road. I stood and waved at Ashley so she could see how far I’d gone.

A green car slowed to my left. The driver looked straight at me. Something about the man made my skin crawl. I was sure I’d seen him before. But where?

I hurried back up the hill, searching for Sam and Ashley. When I glanced over my shoulder, the car was speeding away from the resort.