6 Maple Leaf Hunter by Maddie Cochere Read Free Book Online

back toward the parking lot. Maybe we’ll see him along the way, or maybe he went to wait by the RV for some reason.”
    It seemed the only option at the moment. We made a gloomy group as we started the long walk back.
    Because of its size, Nate had parked the RV at the rear of the lot. When it came into view, we saw Alex talking with the man from the Hurricane Deck. Both were smiling, and the man clapped Alex on the back before walking away.
    It only took a few moments before he saw us walking toward him, and he flashed a broad smile.
    Mick wasn’t having any of his smile. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Why didn’t you stay by the bench? Do you know how worried we were? We thought something happened to you.”
    Alex’s smile vanished. I put my hand on Mick’s arm. I knew he didn’t mean to sound so harsh.
    “I’m sorry,” Alex said. “I thought I’d be back before you guys.”
    Mick wasn’t able to contain his frustration. “It’s been nearly two hours since we last saw you.” He stopped and took a breath before saying, “I’m glad you’re ok, but you have no idea what you just put us through.”
    Alex looked truly contrite. “Guys, I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess I lost track of time.”
    “Who was that?” I asked. I didn’t like that a complete stranger had taken an interest in him.
    He reached around and picked up a gym bag from the ground behind him. It was noticeably heavy. “His name is Bob, and he’s a rock collector, too. When you guys left, he sat down with me. We talked some more about the geology here. He said his dad used to take him panhandling for gold downriver when he was a kid.”
    Nate laughed and asked, “Did he give you a bag of gold?”
    Nate had no idea how much his question filled my stomach with a sick feeling. I half expected to look in the bag and find the stolen gold bars from the mall exhibit.
    Alex grinned and said, “No. He lives here. He said his wife wants to kill him for having rocks all over the house, so he said he’d give me some. I waited here while he went to get them.” He unzipped the bag and pulled out a dark gray rock. “There are some local specimens in here, but look at this meteorite.” He poked around in the bag some more. “There’s jasper from Wyoming and lava rock from Hawaii.”
    Mick’s frustration appeared to melt away, and all three of the guys expressed interest in the rocks.
    I looked in the bag and dug through it until I was satisfied it held only rocks. There were no side pockets or zippers. I didn’t really think I would find the gold bars, but I was still disturbed by the stranger.
    “Ok,” Mick said to capture everyone’s attention. “Let’s get on board and get out of here.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Darby, drop us at the Mariott, and then here’s the address for the campground on Lundy’s Lane.” He handed the slip of paper to him. “The space is already reserved. I have a car waiting for us at the hotel, and we’ll pick you guys up at seven to go grab some dinner. How does that sound?”
    Everyone was agreeable.
    We crossed the bridge into Canada.
     
     
    ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
     
     
    My mouth hung open in disbelief, and my heart raced.
    I ducked back into the interior of the building. Did I really just see one of the construction workers from the mall? Here in Canada? I peeked around the corner and saw Alex watch the man for a moment as he walked away from him. He then resumed taking pictures with his camera.
    I rushed up to him and asked, “Did that man talk to you?”
    “He wanted the time,” he said. “Why? Do you know him?”
    “No,” I said. “I don’t know him, but was that all he wanted?”
    “Yeah,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “He asked if I was getting some good pictures. He said he got great ones from the view in his hotel room.” He paused for a moment. “He asked where I was staying.”
    Alarm bells went off in my mind. I didn’t mean for my tone to