Seeds of Time by K. C. Dyer Read Free Book Online Page B

Consider yourselves warned.” He turned to his friends. “Start the boat, Lastman,” he snarled. The other two scrambled over to the outboard, and the engine roared into life.
    As the boat pulled away, Brodie turned to look at Kate.
    â€œHow did you do that?” he asked, admiringly.

    Kate smiled. “Tae kwon do. Third degree black belt.”
    Darrell and Brodie stared. “I thought you always had your nose glued to a computer screen,” marvelled Darrell.
    â€œA girl’s got to do something when she’s away from school,” grinned Kate.
    â€œWow.” Brodie shook his head and looked admiringly at Kate and Darrell. “One thing about this place; it’s never boring!”
    That night, Darrell was back in her bed, and Lily and Kate were in their accustomed positions, snoring and computing, respectively. She pulled out her notebook and began writing down questions about Conrad and his friends.
    Who is Conrad Kennedy?
    Why does he feel that he can get away with poaching?
    How come he acts like he owns the beach?
    Why do he and his friends react so violently when someone steps on the beach?
    What are they hiding?
    She thought back to earlier in the day when she had made her report to a frowning Arthur Gill. When Darrell had mentioned that Brodie had asked Conrad’s name, a light went on behind Mr. Gill’seyes. “Did you say Conrad Kennedy?” he asked, slowly. “I know that boy.” He dropped his chin to his chest and thought for a moment, and then looked back up at Darrell. “His father owns some land on the small island you can see out in the fjord to the south of the school’s property. I believe his family are fishers.”
    Darrell snorted. “That may be so, but does he have the right to be running crab traps just off the beach line here? I asked him if he had a license, and he didn’t. And yet he didn’t seem worried about it at all. He acted like he owned the place.”
    Arthur Gill looked serious. “Well if he
is
crabbing along this stretch of coast without a license, he’s going to have a bit of a problem.” He made a few notes and promised to inform Professor Tooth of both incidents. Darrell left the office feeling somewhat relieved to have finally been able to tell the story to an adult who took her seriously.
    Tapping her pencil against her notebook in bed, Darrell realized that she had nothing really solid to go on with Conrad Kennedy. She decided that she needed to come up with a plan to catch him poaching crabs red-handed. It was time for a little more observation in her trusty arbutus tree.

    For the next few days, Darrell spent much of her free time sitting in the arbutus and watching the beach, occasionally making notes or sketching in her book. Invariably, Delaney was curled up nearby.
    She noticed that Kate and Brodie seemed to have decided to keep their distance for a while. One sunny afternoon while perched in her tree, Darrell saw them sitting together on a log in the garden, watching Lily training in the water while they ate their lunch. Their voices carried on the salty air, and Darrell pretended she couldn’t hear their conversation.
    â€œThat girl is quite a swimmer,” remarked Brodie admiringly as Lily stroked by, her brown arms glistening in the sun.
    Kate rolled her eyes. “You should hear her talk! If that were an Olympic event, she’d win gold for sure.” She took a bite of her sandwich. “Come to think of it, she’d do pretty well in the snoring Olympics as well.”
    â€œShe probably needs her sleep, after all these hard workouts,” Brodie said, sensibly. He shaded his eyes and looked up toward the arbutus tree. Darrell bent her head to her notebook.
    â€œWhy is she still in that tree?” asked Kate.
    â€œI don’t know.” He looked back down at Lily, not meeting Kate’s eyes. “I feel kind of sorry for her,” he admitted.

    Kate