Stolen Secrets Page 6

  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.

  Chapter 48

  “Come straight home on the bus,” Mom said the next morning.

  Ashley bristled.

  “But Ash has more houses to take her catalog to,” I said. “And we left one at this lady’s place. I bet she’ll buy a whole page.”

  Mom sighed. “Sam and I agree it’s not a good idea for you guys to be out alone. Dylan has a doctor’s appointment later or I’d take you.”

  “Can we walk?” Ashley said.

  Mom shook her head. “It’ll have to wait until I get home.”

  “But, Mom—,” Ashley started.

  “Bus!” Dylan shouted.

  At school I saw Cammy and Tracy talking to a group. When Cammy saw us she whispered something. Ashley walked past without a word.

  Back home that afternoon I looked for the Ingrams’ phone number on the Internet and in the phone book. No luck. Then I went into the database of The Gazette from Colorado Springs and searched for any story with Danny Ingram in it. I came up empty.

  By the time Mom got back, she had to get dinner started. She said we could go candle selling later, but after a few phone calls and word that Sam would be late, it was almost dark. Ashley brooded like a wounded animal, but it didn’t do any good.

  Tuesday afternoon Mom drove us into town. We didn’t want her to know we had gone as far as the Ingram house, but there was no denying it. “If I’d have known you were coming this far,” she said, “I’d never have agreed.”

  She waited in the car while Ashley and I walked to the gate. The catalog was sticking out of the newspaper box. Ashley opened it quickly and looked at the order form. It was partially filled out with their name and phone number, but nothing was checked to order.

  I pushed the Intercom button, but there was no answer.

  A police cruiser drove by, kicking up dust.

  Chapter 49

  After pestering Sam and Mom for another whole day, Bryce and I got them to let us ride our ATVs to school Thursday morning. I heard the beep of Bryce’s digital watch, and we had our cereal and were out the door before Mom could ask why we were leaving so early.

  We rode as fast as we dared and cut across the grassland between us and the dirt road that leads to the Ingrams’. The rock formation loomed behind us like a red ghost. Bryce kept checking his watch.

  When we rounded the corner and came near the Ingrams’ driveway, the gate stood wide open. We stopped and took off our helmets. “What do you think?” I said.

  “It’ll take us 10 minutes to get to Mrs. Watson’s and another five to make it into school. We have only about 10 minutes to spare.”

  “Good, let’s go.”

  Bryce shrugged and followed me up the driveway. A black-and-brown dog with only three legs met us. The thing didn’t bark. It just wagged its tail and hopped close enough to sniff us.

  We parked by the garage and waited. When no one came out, I walked the gravel path around to the front door and knocked.

  “Mom will be ticked if she finds out,” Bryce said.

  Before I could answer, the door opened and an older woman stared at us. She had puffy eyes and shiny skin and looked like one of those people you see in ads for retirement homes—the people with a golf club in one hand and a glass of tea in the other—except she wasn’t smiling. “How did you get in?”

  “The gate was open,” I said.

  She ran a hand through her hair. “Walter is meeting with a reporter. He must have forgotten to close it.”

  I explained who we were and pulled the catalog out of my backpack. “I don’t know if your husband showed you this.”

  She looked at Bryce, then back at me. “Shouldn’t you be in school?”

  “That’s where we’re headed. We only have a minute. May we come in?”

  The house was full of furniture, yet it looked empty. An old wedding picture hung on the living-room wall. Another picture showed a young man with a football on his knee and a helmet under his arm. “Who’s that?”

  “That’s our Danny,” she said, sighing. “I suppose you’ve heard about him.”

  We walked to the kitchen, and I pulled out a chair. Bryce stood in the hall looking at his watch.

  “The police haven’t found him yet?” I said.

  She took the catalog and flipped through the pages. “I wish they would. I’m scared of what might happen if they don’t. Danny has done some bad things, but he’d never hurt anyone.”

  Were these people blind, or could that be true?

  Chapter 50

  The big clock in the hallway ticked like a time bomb, and I knew we’d be in trouble if we were late. The school would call home and we’d have to explain. I was about to signal to Ashley that we had to go when Mrs. Ingram closed the catalog.

  “You don’t have to buy anything,” Ashley said. “We know how hard this must be.”

  “The police think we’re hiding Danny, but I haven’t seen him in two weeks.”

  “Why did he leave?” Ashley said.

  “We tried to get him to come back, but he wouldn’t. I don’t think he could forgive himself.”

  “For what?”

  “There was an accident.”

  “Ashley, we should go,” I said.

  She looked at me like I had just taken another leg off the dog. “What accident? Around here?”

  She shook her head. “Before we moved. It was early one morning when Danny was still in college. He had gotten a summer job at a golf course near our home. He saw a dog by the road.”

  “The one outside?”

  She nodded. “Danny felt sorry for the poor thing. He was going to give it something to eat at the clubhouse and bring it home that night. But something happened. It was awful.”

  I looked at my watch again, but there was no way I was leaving now.

  “Rex, the dog, got up on the front seat and got sick. Danny tried to move him onto the floor, but he wouldn’t budge. Then it happened. Danny hit something on the side of the road. He thought it was an animal, but when he stopped and walked back, he found a man in the weeds.”

  “Oh no
,” Ashley said.

  “We knew him and his family. He was a great father. Three little children. Danny ran to the nearest house and called an ambulance, but the man died on the way to the hospital.”

  “How awful.”

  “Danny felt terrible. The police talked about charges, but everybody knew it was an accident. Everybody but Danny. He dropped out of school and never went back to the golf course. Fell in with a bad crowd and started drinking. We moved here to make a fresh start, but Danny just couldn’t get over it. He left the house about a year ago and started living on the street. Every now and then we’d hear he was back in Red Rock, and we’d try to get him to come home.”

  “Mr. Crumpus says nice things about him,” Ashley said.

  “Bob Crumpus is one of the bright spots in our lives. I’ve always thought the Lord could change my son, but I don’t think he hears my prayers anymore.”

  Ashley put a hand on the woman’s arm. “Where do you think Danny might have gone? Bryce and I would like to help.”

  She stared at Ashley with red eyes. “I’d love to have Danny back, but even if you did find him, it’s too late. Our son is gone for good.”

  Chapter 51

  We made it inside the school doors just as the first bell rang. I could see the relief on Bryce’s face as we hurried to our lockers.

  I thought about Danny the rest of the day. He must have felt so guilty. I remembered seeing him at the Toot Toot Café and thinking he was just a bum. I was ashamed I had judged him without knowing anything about him.

  At lunch I took my tray across the cafeteria and sat near some of the eighth graders. Cammy and Tracy had their usual crowd of giggling girls. I caught only bits of the conversation.

  “. . . won’t mess with us anymore . . .”

  “. . . lucky we took care of him when we did . . .”

  “. . . everybody knew he was dangerous . . .”

  “. . . catch him and bring him back here for the trial . . .”

  “. . . hope he stays gone for good.”

  Cammy looked at me, and I focused on my lunch. She kept staring until I looked up. “Hey, Timberline, what do you think they should do with the guy who attacked us?”

  The other girls were suddenly quiet.

  “Get his side of the story, for starters,” I said.

  “We know what happened,” Cammy said. “We were there.”

  I nodded. “I guess you’re right.”

  “So answer the question.”

  “Justice,” I said.

  I didn’t look back, but from their silence, I assumed Cammy and Tracy weren’t happy.

  Chapter 52

  Sam drove me to basketball practice. I still had bruises around my eyes.

  Coach Baldwin worked on fundamentals. That meant we ran a lot, passed a lot, and didn’t shoot much. The tournament was coming, and he wanted us in shape. We had beaten every team we faced except for Coronado, so we felt good about our chances.

  “It’s tough to beat a team three times in the same year,” Coach said. “I’ve got some strategy for that big guy.”

  “Use Bryce’s head for defense,” Duncan Swift said.

  Everybody laughed, including me, but it hurt. Duncan’s the kind of guy who competes at everything. Sports, math, even bathroom visits. After a Super-Mega Slushie, I once timed myself and told Duncan I had gone for 58 seconds. The next day he said he had gone a minute and 20 seconds after drinking 16 lemonades. I didn’t believe him, but I vowed never to tell him anything concerning bodily functions again. I figured I might need a transplant if we kept it up.

  As we got dressed, Riley Coleman, our biggest player, started talking about how cute Cammy and Tracy are.

  “I hear Cammy’s dad is mean as a snake,” Duncan said.

  “Mean isn’t the word for it,” Riley said. “And it’s her stepdad. You know how they can be.”

  I shivered. Sam was our stepdad, and though he had never been mean to us, I had my questions.

  “My sister says Cammy’s mom is no better,” Carlos said. “She yelled at my mom at the library.”

  “Tracy’s mom’s a yeller too,” Riley said. “I saw her chew Tracy out in the Blockbuster parking lot. She threw a DVD at her.”

  I had to tell Ashley. As I walked outside I found Sam sitting on a rock. He was on the phone, facing the Front Range.

  “. . . I think I owe them that much, don’t you?” Sam said forcefully. “Tim, I disagree. You’ve never been in my situation. How could you possibly know . . . ?”

  I stopped and tried to listen, but Sam noticed me and lowered his voice. He clicked his phone shut. “How’d practice go?”

  “Who was that?” I said.

  Sam hesitated. “Just business.”

  Chapter 53

  Mom asked me to get some sweet corn from the freezer in the barn. Now that I knew we had.

  But I was wrong. It was gone. And so was everything else.

  I walked slowly back inside, staring at the red rocks behind our house. Sam had warned us not to climb them without the right gear, that the holes in the rocks made perfect places for animals. Bryce and I had driven around them, and we’d climbed a few feet, but we’d never really explored the rocks.

  I opened the kitchen freezer and pulled out a dwindling bag of peas. “Mom, we must have used the corn already.”

  “You hate peas,” she said.

  She was right. “All I am saying is give peas a chance,” I said.

  She shook her head.

  During dinner I asked if Bryce and I could take a quick ride out to the red rocks.

  Sam looked at the setting sun. The days were getting longer and warmer. “For a few minutes,” he said. “But be back by dark.”

  Chapter 54

  I had no idea what Ashley was up to, but I wasn’t about to pass up a ride on the ATVs. About halfway to the rocks, she slowed and motioned for me to stop. “Something’s going on out here. There’s more stuff gone from the freezer, and remember the weird glow the other night?”

  “Where?” Bryce said.

  “Near the praying hands.”

  There’s a formation of rocks that looks like two hands touching, with a V-shaped hole underneath. To me it looks more like two porcupines rubbing noses.

  We had to slow when we reached a rocky area near the base of the formation. Small red stones dotted the landscape. If you run over one of them going fast you can flip.

  Ashley veered right, stopped, and got off the Ashleymobile. I pulled close as she held up a piece of melted plastic. She pointed at a white swan near the top of the bag. “Our corn.”

  “Could have blown out of the trash,” I said.

  “Yeah, but how did it melt?” She stuffed the bag in her pocket.

  We continued up to a plateau where we parked. The red rocks blocked our view of the house now, and the setting sun shone through the opening of the praying hands.

  “Somebody’s up in that big cave below the hands,” Ashley said. “If there was a fire in there, it would glow up through the hands and we’d see it, don’t you think?”

  We jogged up the path to get a better view. The rocks are about as long as two football fields, and around the base are scrub oaks and wildflowers. We climbed, hopping from one rock to another.

  Suddenly something screamed above us.

  Ashley turned, white-faced. “Mountain lion!”

  Chapter 55

  As we flew down toward our vehicles, I kept waiting for the wildcat to jump on our backs and drag one of us away. On the local news I’d seen stories about mountain lions attacking dogs in backyards. Kids had been picked off while walking ahead of their parents on remote trails.

  People tell mountain lion tales all the time. At a retreat near Colorado Springs a few years ago women were outside, sipping tea, watching a flock of bighorn sheep graze on the hillside. Suddenly, one of the women screamed as a mountain lion jumped one of the sheep and tore it apart. Blood everywhere. The women ran inside while the mountain lion had
his own tea and cookies.

  Mom and I hate that story, but Bryce tells it as often as he can, and he always exaggerates the bloody part.

  Mountain lion attacks usually happen in the summer, and since it was still spring, Bryce and I should have been safe, but we weren’t taking any chances.

  We jumped on our ATVs and raced away, careful of rocks and ruts. Halfway home I stopped.

  Bryce pulled up beside me. “Scary, huh?”

  I nodded, trying to catch my breath. “I’d hate to have to go home and tell them a cougar ate you.”

  Bryce pointed to his face. “I look like a bruised banana. He would have taken one look at you and pounced.” He looked back. “What are we going to do about our helmets?”

  I hadn’t even noticed we’d left them. “We can go back tomorrow,” I said. “Those things don’t feed early in the day.”

  “They feed when they’re hungry,” Bryce said.

  Chapter 56

  That night I stayed up late looking for the glow Ashley talked about. I saw nothing but starry skies and heard only the occasional cry of baby coyotes. I dreamed of a monster wildcat attacking us with teeth as big as my hand. Ashley and I were running toward the house when the cat veered off and went for Dylan.

  That’s all I can remember, but when I woke up I had to go to Dylan’s room and make sure he was okay. He sleeps with his mouth open, so it sounds like Thomas the Tank Engine pulling into the station.

  After breakfast the next morning, Ashley occupied Mom and I stole outside to the barn. I pushed the ATV outside to the back so it wouldn’t make too much noise. Just before I turned the key, I heard someone behind me.

  “See anything last night?” Sam said, a coffee cup in his hands.

  “Not really,” I said. We didn’t see anything. We simply heard a cougar scream.

  “Going back for your helmets?” Sam said.