Haunted Waters

by Jerry B. Jenkins

  The light faded over the mountains, and there was an orange glow shining through the front window. The valley looked like some golden painting you see in museums. Somehow that view made me want to talk to Mom and get the whole Hayley thing out in the open, but I turned on the TV instead.

  I clicked around until I found the horse movie. I was at the predictable part where the vet shakes his head and says it’s no use and that they’d need to put the horse down when the phone rang. With one eye on the TV I backed to the phone. “Hello?”

  Just someone breathing. I heard a car passing in the background.

  “Mom?” I said.

  Silence. Then a click—not the phone hanging up but another sound. A click. I had heard that before. Where?

  “Who is this?” I said.

  Now I was afraid. I looked out the window for Sam, but he wasn’t there. I wished I could send some piercing sound through the phone. “Is that you, Boo? How’d you get our number?”

  The line went dead. I put the phone down and slowly walked to the couch. I was standing, staring out the window, when Bryce came to the top of the stairs.

  “Who was that?”

  I flicked off the TV. “Bryce, I’m scared. They didn’t say anything. There was just a clicking sound”

  “Maybe it was a wrong number.”

  “No, they just listened to me. I think it might have been Boo.”

  “Why?”

  I told him about the e-mail and a sick look came over him, like a black cloud rolling over the Front Range.

  “Don’t tell Sam,” Bryce said. “And if it rings again, let me get it.”

  Chapter 21

  The TV show had almost made me forget about Boo, but Ashley’s telling me about his e-mail brought him back. I could see myself in a body cast, drinking buffalo burgers through a straw, and typing with one toe. The tooth fairy would have to work overtime when Boo got through with me.

  “You want to radio Sam and find out where he is?” Ashley said.

  “I don’t want him to think we’re sissies.”

  Ring.

  I jumped two feet off the floor.

  Ashley grabbed my arm, trembling. We both looked at the phone, as if that would do any good. The phone didn’t have caller ID like the one at home.

  It was almost dark. Shadows filled the room, and I turned on a light.

  The phone rang again.

  “Why don’t they leave us alone!” Ashley said.

  “Call Sam on the walkie-talkie.”

  Ashley ran for her jacket. When she pulled out the walkie-talkie, I picked up the phone and pressed the Talk button. “I d-don’t care wh-who this is or wh-what you want, b-but you’d b-b-better stop now!”

  There was a pause. “Well, if you don’t want to talk with me, I’ll hang up,” my mother said.

  “Mom!” I shouted.

  Relief came over Ashley’s face.

  “What’s going on up there?” Mom said.

  “We just had a prank call.”

  “Where’s Sam?”

  After I told her, Ashley took the phone into the other room. She yelped, so I went to see what was wrong. Ashley put a hand over the phone. “Leigh backed The Creep’s car into a post and bent his fender.”

  “She’s had her first accident,” I said. “How romantic.”

  Ashley went back to her conversation.

  I wished Sam would return, but I didn’t want to call him on the walkie-talkie. I don’t care how scared you are—there are just some things guys don’t do.

  Then I had an idea. I pushed the Transmit button. “Sam, it’s Bryce. Mom’s on the phone if you want to talk to her.”

  I waited, then heard a click. “Gotcha.” Sam sounded out of breath. “We’ll be there in a couple minutes. Out.”

  Chapter 22

  Dylan’s eyes drooped so I knew he was ready for bed. I carried him upstairs to the loft, put him on the chaise, and covered him up. He started to get up, so I sang his favorite songs—“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star,” “Hush, Little Baby,” and “The Wabash Cannonball,” which he calls “the train song.”

  When I got back downstairs, Sam was making popcorn and Bryce had found some board games. The three of us decided on Sorry. Bryce and I ganged up on Sam, and he made a big deal about being sent back to his circle. As we played and drank sodas, Bryce and I had a burping contest, and Sam gave us points for the loudest and longest. Mom wouldn’t have appreciated that as much as we did, and to be honest it was kind of gross, but it felt good to laugh. It was something our real dad would have done with us.

  Finally, Sam said he had to go to bed. “But there’s one thing I have to say before I go.”

  “What?” Bryce said.

  Sam stood, spread his arms dramatically, then opened his mouth and won the contest. It was the deepest, longest burp in the history of burpdom. It sounded like a minute-long growl of a wounded lion.

  Bryce and I looked at each other, dazzled, then laughed till I thought I’d never breathe again.

  “No fair!” I said. “You were holding that all this time!”

  At the top of the stairs, Sam turned. Bryce and I held up two signs that said 10 and he smiled. “Get some sleep. I have some fun stuff planned for tomorrow.”

  Chapter 23

  My sides still hurt from laughing when Ashley and I went downstairs to watch more TV before going to bed. We found a classic movie channel showing The African Queen. Our real dad had shown it to us when we were little, and it brought back memories of snuggling with him and closing our eyes when Humphrey Bogart came out of the water with leeches all over his body.

  “Remember watching this with Dad?” Ashley said.

  I nodded. “I feel kind of bad for having such a good time with Sam. It’s almost like we’re betraying Dad.”

  “I was thinking the same thing.” Ashley sat up and looked out the window. The room was dark, and the television reflected in the window.

  “What is it?”

  “Someone’s out there,” she whispered.

  “You’re trying to scare me—”

  “No, seriously. I thought I saw somebody.”

  I turned the TV off. The lower floor was only slightly underground, so we could easily see outside. Sam had left the outside light on, and it was snowing softly. A couple of inches had fallen already. The light shone a few feet from the house, but the rest was pitch-black.

  “If somebody’s out there,” I said, “they could go right over the side of the cliff.”

  “There!” Ashley pointed out the side window. “See that orange glow?”

  I couldn’t see anything.

  “Now I know what I heard on the phone!” she said. “Remember I said I heard a clicking sound during the phone call?”

  “Yeah?”

  “It was a cigarette lighter. You know, the big metal kind Uncle Terry used?”

  Uncle Terry had lived back in Indiana and was a chain smoker. He had died the year before we moved to Colorado. Every time we visited, we had to sit outside so we could breathe. He was a wonderful uncle, always inviting us to the farm to pick pumpkins or corn or whatever was in season, but hugging him was like embracing an ashtray. I remembered his big cigarette lighter with a dragon on the front of it. The smell of it fascinated me. He said it was butane, whatever that is.

  I saw a glow near some trees at the side of the house. It grew orange, then died, then grew orange again.

  Whoever was out there was smoking, and whoever it was had his eyes on us.

  Chapter 24

  Gavin Winkler peered inside the cabin. He had watched the twins play their games and laugh with their father. He tried to remember doing the same thing with his dad when he was a kid, but he couldn’t come up with a single memory. His father had gone to prison when Gavin was 10, and they hadn’t seen each other since. The scene inside the cabin turned his stomach.

  He wished they’d get to bed. He had work to do. Get in, get that camera and its memory stick, and get out.

&
nbsp; Gavin took another puff of his cigarette as the kids moved to the basement. When the TV flicked on, Gavin cursed. He was tempted to go in while they were downstairs, but he couldn’t be sure the father would be asleep yet. He’d found a security system on the cabin and easily disarmed it. He’d be in and out in a couple of minutes.

  If they would just get out of the way.

  Chapter 25

  Bryce and I raced upstairs and woke Sam, trying not to disturb Dylan.

  Sam bolted out of bed in his pajamas and rushed downstairs. I was going to show him where I thought the prowler was, but he immediately threw his coat on, slipped on his shoes, grabbed a flashlight, and headed outside.

  “What if he gets jumped?” Bryce said.

  I peeked out the window. Sam traipsed through the brush and trees, where we had seen the glowing cigarette, his flashlight casting a wide beam. I held my breath.

  He stopped and bent over, then continued around the house. Bryce and I followed him from window to window. Bryce grabbed the phone, obviously ready to dial 911. I wondered if they even had that service out here in the woods and how long it would take the police to come.

  When Sam made it all the way around the house, he sprinted down the long driveway. All we could see was the flashlight beam bouncing off trees and rocks and snow.

  Bryce gave me a look. “You think he saw something?”

  I shrugged, but I knew one thing: we were alone. Whoever was out there could have been hoping that Sam would go outside.

  “Is the downstairs door locked?” Bryce said.

  “You were the last one in—”

  “No way, you were!”

  We argued, then crept downstairs. As we passed the spooky picture of the woman dressed in red, it took all the nerve I had to check the lock. Then we rushed back upstairs, and I tripped over something and banged my knee. The pinball machine went wild, beeping and buzzing and lighting the darkness.

  Something banged above us. Bryce helped me up.

  “Sam?” I yelled.

  “It’s me,” he called. “Everything’s okay.”

  He dusted the snow from his pants and kicked off his shoes. “You two playing pinball while I was gone?” He smiled.

  I held my knee. “Why did you run down the driveway?”

  “Thought I heard a car, but I couldn’t find any tracks.” Sam showed us a cigarette butt. “But I did find this at the side of the house near a window. Still fresh.”

  Chapter 26

  The cigarette proved we were right. Ashley and I knew someone had been watching the cabin. But why?

  Sam carried Dylan to Ashley’s room, the one with the bunk beds, while Ashley and I turned on every light in the house. The three of us slept in the bunk room, while Sam slept just outside on the couch he pulled near the door. I had a hard time getting to sleep, listening to the wind whistle through the trees. Twice I thought I saw something outside our window and Sam came in. It was just snow.

  The next morning a good 8 to 10 inches of new snow lay on the ground. Any footprints or tire tracks had been covered.

  Sam called the sheriff, but someone put him on hold. Finally, a deputy took the information.

  After a few minutes, Sam hung up, and I could tell he was ticked. “They said they wouldn’t be able to get to it today,” he said. “Something’s going on over there.”

  Dylan came out of the bedroom carrying his blanket, rubbing his eyes, and yawning. “How did I get down here?”

  Dylan could sleep through anything. Mom said Ashley and I had been the same way when we were his age, but I couldn’t believe it.

  “They don’t have time for a prowler?” Ashley said. “Whoever it was could have . . .” She glanced at Dylan and stopped.

  “What’s a prowler?” he said.

  Sam poured a cup of coffee and started the stove. “Okay, it’s time for fun. We have fresh snow out there, and we’re taking advantage of it. There’s a great slope at a resort not far from here. We’ll rent some skis or snowboards for you two, and we’ll use the tubes.”

  Dylan’s face lit up. “Can I go?” He was used to being left behind.

  Sam flashed a smile and nodded.

  Chapter 27

  I don’t like lots of greasy food, but the bacon and sausage Sam made that morning went so well with the eggs and pancakes that I had to stop myself before I got sick. Bryce pushed his plate back too, his mouth full of pancakes and syrup. Sam found plastic bags, and we saved the rest for the next morning.

  Bryce and I helped Dylan get dressed in several layers of clothes. Just when we got his boots and gloves on he said he had to go to the bathroom. Sometimes life’s like that.

  Sam handed us our walkie-talkies, but after the night before, I didn’t want to go off on our own. I wanted to stay near Sam.

  He wanted to hear the news, so he found a crackly radio station playing country music. Bryce gave me a look like he was going to die. We both hated country music back in Illinois, but I had to admit that some of the singers were starting to grow on me now.

  The music ended and a man with a voice like a frog told the song titles. He identified himself as Tiny Woods and said he’d be on the air until noon. “And if you haven’t heard, the big news this morning is the robbery last night at Gold Town. We have the sheriff on the line now.”

  I glanced at Sam with my mouth open.

  He just shook his head.

  “What do you think they took?” Bryce said from the backseat.

  The radio squealed until Tiny flipped a switch. “Sounds like somebody struck it rich last night, Sheriff.”

  “That’s right, Tiny,” the sheriff said in a cooing voice that let us know he knew the man well. “At about six o’clock last night, as they were shutting down for the evening, the owner of the gold nugget noticed something strange. It was a lot lighter than the original.”

  Sam pulled to the side of the road and turned up the radio.

  “Bathroom,” Dylan said.

  Sam put up a hand. “In a minute. I want to hear this.”

  “So someone replaced the real one with a fake?” Tiny said.

  “It appears so, Tiny.”

  “I imagine you’re pretty busy with this,” Tiny said.

  “We have all our people on it, and we’re going to catch the person who’s responsible.”

  “Any leads?”

  “No. We don’t even know when the switch took place. But there’s a reward for anyone with information that leads to an arrest.”

  “You mean we were looking at fake gold?” Bryce said.

  Sam stroked his chin. “Let’s head over to Gold Town. Dylan can use the restroom, and we’ll tell them we were there.”

  Chapter 28

  I was glad to see police cars when we pulled into Gold Town. I took Dylan to the outside toilet near the building while Ashley went with Sam to the front.

  Through a vent in the back, I glimpsed someone walking through the brush behind the bathroom. I wondered if it might be an officer hunting for clues.

  When Dylan said, “Done!” I helped him wash his hands, and we walked outside. Behind the bathroom I saw the kid who had handed me the camera’s memory stick the day before. I guessed he was the shop owner’s son. They looked a little alike. I was wearing the same pants as the day before, so I patted my pocket and felt the memory stick.

  I was about to say something to him when I noticed Ashley and Sam heading toward the SUV. I could tell by the way Sam walked that he was mad.

  “What happened?” I said as I snapped the belt around Dylan’s car seat.

  “They wouldn’t even talk to us,” Ashley said. “Sam said we were here yesterday, but the deputy just took our number and told us to go.”

  “You’d think they’d want all the info they could get,” I said.

  “Guess it doesn’t work that way out here,” Sam said.

  When we arrived at the ski resort, Ashley said she wanted to go tubing with Sam and Dylan, which made me think she was still scared
. I have to admit that I was too, so I decided to join them. I didn’t want the memory stick to get smashed while I was tubing, so I pulled it out of my pocket and stuck it in the slot behind Ashley’s seat.

  Dylan was allowed up the hill only with Sam. Sam held him tightly on his lap, and when they took off Dylan squealed. I had never heard such a shrill sound.

  Ashley and I followed in a tube train, with me holding her feet. It’s weird for it to be sunny and dry one day and snowing the next, but that’s how it is in Colorado. The snow swished into my face, and I had to close my eyes. By the time I made it to the bottom, I was covered and loving every minute.

  “Again!” Dylan screamed. “Again!”

  The next time I went by myself and was surprised at how fast the tube went. Ashley and I had a contest to see how far we could slide. The run ended in a steep snowbank, but if you veered left you could go all the way to the tree line.

  The third time down I made it past the snowbank and kept going until I stopped near the winding road. I stood and waved at Ashley so she could see how far I’d gone.

  A green car slowed to my left. The driver looked straight at me. Something about the man made my skin crawl. I was sure I’d seen him before. But where?

  I hurried back up the hill, searching for Sam and Ashley. When I glanced over my shoulder, the car was speeding away from the resort.

  Chapter 29

  Bryce’s story about the driver of the green car made me nervous again. I kept looking for people behind trees, waiting to jump out at me. The only thing that kept me from running back to our Land Cruiser was Dylan’s squeals of delight. Sam let me have a turn with Dylan, and as we raced down the mountain, he stuck out his arms as if he were flying. It almost felt like we were.