The Judge and the Gypsy by Sandra Chastain Read Free Book Online Page B

wrong?”
    “Listen,” she said softly.
    “I’m listening. What am I supposed to hear?”
    “That’s what I mean. The woods are silent. Whereare the animal sounds?” There was no movement, no sound, not even the rustling of the leaves.
    “I can’t say. You’re the spiritualist, you tell me. Can’t you call up your guide and ask him to take a little look-see?”
    “I don’t have a guide,” Savannah retorted crossly. She hadn’t intended for her aura of mystery to go so far. Now even she was getting prickly feelings that made spider movements down her backbone. “We’re being watched.”
    “I think you’re right,” Rasch agreed, casting his eyes in a slow arc around the woods. “Any suggestions?”
    “Just be quiet.”
    Savannah eased her backpack from her shoulders, kneeling as it slid to the ground. “Why don’t we rest a bit, maybe have a candy bar?”
    “Candy bar? You have candy bars?”
    “Yes. In my pocket with the bread crumbs, and some other goodies.”
    “What else do you have hidden away that I don’t know about?”
    “Aha! You don’t expect me to tell you all my secrets, do you?”
    “Absolutely. And I don’t intend to wait much longer, Gypsy. You owe me some truths, remember?” Rasch started to slip his backpack from his shoulders.
    “No, don’t do that. Just move past me up the trail and wait.”
    Rasch caught the warning in her voice, and surprised himself by complying without question.
    “I think that we’ll leave this pack of vanilla wafersbehind, as a kind of peace offering for the creatures of the forest.”
    She stared off into the trees for a long moment, removed the wrapper, and laid the cookies on a flat rock. With a confident smile she walked up the trail to where Rasch was waiting.
    “I don’t suppose that our visitor sent you a telepathic message that it’s a cookie monster, did it?”
    “No, it didn’t send me any message at all.”
    “And I thought you communicated with the animals.”
    “Let’s not talk about that anymore. Animals don’t understand words, but they can pick up on our fear. How much farther to our campsite?” Savannah’s voice was almost singsong light.
    “Not far.”
    Rasch might be willing to play her mystery game, but he didn’t know who they were playing with, and if their watcher wasn’t an animal, he certainly didn’t want to divulge their campsite to whoever was listening.
    Savannah swished her skirts, shaking out imaginary wrinkles, turned around, and motioned for Rasch to lead the way. At the top of the incline she stopped, touched his shoulder, and pointed back at the rock, visible from where they were standing. The cookies were gone.
    The birds had begun to sing, and the normal sounds of the forest returned. Rasch was supposed to be protecting her. He hated to admit that his companion had sensed something that he missed. Normally he would have noticed the silence and been concerned. Today all he could think about was hismysterious Gypsy. The sound of her voice and the music of her bells were all his ears had heard.
    “You know what happens when you feed a stray animal,” Rasch growled. “They expect it.”
    “Whatever was back there is just as wary of us as you were of it.”
    “What was it?”
    Savannah made an impatient sound. “Crusader, you may be the most prolific interrogator of all time.”
    “I just like to know what I’m dealing with. And I think that you like to create mystery, Gypsy. Who, or what, was there?”
    “A bear, perhaps, or maybe some other wild animal. I’m not sure.”
    “I suppose you just got a message that it was hungry.”
    “No, I didn’t get any message at all. I just knew it was there, as you did.”
    “I didn’t know anything until you made us stop and listen. If it didn’t communicate with you, how did you know?”
    “The animals grew quiet. The woods were too still. There were little sounds that moved with us and stopped when we did. I wasn’t certain, of course, but I