Haunted Waters by Jerry B. Jenkins, Chris Fabry Read Free Book Online Page A

of celery, Sam took a deep breath. “You two ready?”
    Bryce’s plate wasn’t even half empty, but we looked at each other and said, “Okay” at the same time.
    We weren’t in the SUV three minutes before Dylan fell asleep. “Nap management,” my mom calls it.
    Early in the afternoon we got back to the cabin, and I was ready for a nap myself.
    The chain was down on the driveway and Sam stopped. “Thought I put that back before we left.”
    “Maybe it fell,” Bryce said.
    Sam handed the keys to Bryce, who went to unlock the cabin. Getting Dylan from the Land Cruiser to his bed without waking him is tricky and almost never works unless it’s a straight shot from the SUV to the sheets.
    “Sam!” Bryce yelled from the front door. “You’d better come see this!”
    Dylan woke up and Sam stared at Bryce.
    “Sorry, but somebody broke in.”

Chapter 30

    It looked like a tornado had hit the cabin. The kitchen table was on its side, food all over the floor. Cushions had been taken from the chairs and the large couch near the fireplace.
    “Don’t touch anything,” Sam said as he carried Dylan inside.
    I stepped over the debris, went to Ashley’s bedroom, and found the mattresses off the bunk beds. It was the same in my room and upstairs. Downstairs, things were even worse. The computer cabinet lay on the floor, the computer gone.
    Ashley took Dylan upstairs to keep him away from the broken glass.
    Sam pulled out his cell phone and dialed the local police. I could tell by the way he spoke that he wasn’t happy with the people on the other end.
    He hung up and dialed another number. “Jack, it’s Sam . . . yeah, we made it fine, but we just got back from a little adventure and the place has been ransacked. More mess than real damage, though there’s a window downstairs that’ll need some work. The computer is gone. . . . No, we had it locked.”
    Sam paused and frowned. He told the owner of the cabin that he had contacted the police.
    “Is the guy mad at us?” I said after he hung up.
    “I don’t think so. Upset, I guess. I would be too. He may know someone over at the police station who can come out and take a look.”
    “Who would do this?” I said.
    Sam pursed his lips. “If it was a thief, he would have taken more than just the computer. Everything else is still here. Whoever it was was searching for something in particular.”
    By the time the police got to the cabin a couple of hours later, I was going crazy trying to keep Dylan from going outside and messing up the footprints, but we also didn’t want him to get hurt inside. The pinball machine kept him busy. I was glad the robber hadn’t trashed it.
    Ashley came downstairs to watch Dylan when the deputy arrived. He was skinny and sort of young, with a patchy mustache. Ashley said it was the same deputy they saw at Gold Town. He took notes but didn’t seem to want to be here, like he was playing in a minor-league baseball game when he could have been in the majors.
    “Any news on the gold?” I said.
    The deputy glanced at me, then went on writing.
    Sam raised an eyebrow and frowned. He seemed to be saying, “This guy isn’t as interested in our problem as we’d like him to be, but it’s not your fault.”
    The deputy finally looked up. “Anything to add, Sport?”
    There may be some 13-year-olds who like to be called Sport, but I’m not one of them. People use nicknames with kids because they can’t remember their names or don’t care to know them. Plus, we used to have a neighbor whose dog was named Sport.
    I told the deputy about Boo Heckler, what he had said about our ATVs, and about the e-mail.
    Sam looked troubled so I gave him a smirk that I hoped he would read as, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you—I wanted to handle it myself, but now it’s just too big.”
    “Think he could have followed you up here?” the deputy said.
    “Somebody would have had to drive him. The guy we saw out the window last night was smoking, and