Читать книгу The Casaday Girls, Book 1: Super Kids - Michael Inc. Markey - Страница 4

Dashing back the several meandering lanes to their house on Lakeside Drive, the girls nearly broke down the door to the two-story home as they searched frantically for their mother, Victoria. Peanut, the family beagle, scrambled off the sofa in their family room, to greet them with a round of high-pitched yelps.

“Mom? Mom! Where are you?” Alexa called, once they were inside.

“Up here, in your bedroom. What’s up?”

“Call the police, Mom. There’s a man down at the lake. He needs help,” Rachael shouted as she climbed the stairs, two steps at a time.

“Slow down, Rachael.” Mrs. Casaday met her at the top of the stairs, folded towels in her arms. “Now, what’s all this about a man at the lake?”

“He’s hurt, he needs our help. We better call for an ambulance too.” Alexa puffed as she followed a few steps behind her sister.

“He’s hurt? Did he fall, or something?”

“Fall? Huh-uh. Somebody--” Alexa paused for breath. “We don’t know exactly what somebody did. They hurt him, though, like maybe they stabbed him in the neck. Both of us saw the teeny tiny puncture marks. Then we saw two humongous guys--or something--run into the trees. We need the police to find them, too.”

“Wait one minute, you two. What were you doing at the lake?” Their mother paused and shook her head. “I thought your father and I warned you about going off the paved street without a parent. At this time of the night, how could you--”

“Sorry, Mom. But when we heard the call for help, well, Rache and I had to go and see what was wrong.”

“Girls, you can never tell what might be lurking there. I suppose that’s obvious, though, from what you are telling me.” Mrs. Casaday dropped the towels in a basket on the hallway floor and led the girls downstairs. She dialed nine-one-one. “Hello? I’m calling from Dunbar Lakes to report an incident down at the big lake. My daughters found an injured man there a few moments--yes, that’s the lake with all the park and playground facilities. I live at Eight Lakeside Drive. You’re sending a police officer? That would be great. We’ll wait at the front door for you.”

Within five minutes a policeman pulled into their driveway, screeched to a halt, and stepped out from his cruiser. “Officer David Mulligan, from the Voorhees Police Department. I understand you found an injured man?” Mulligan flashed his credentials as he spoke.

His right eye twitched annoyingly, something Rachael observed and mentioned to her sister later.

Mrs. Casaday told the girls to hold Peanut while she filled him in on the details. Officer Mulligan pulled out a pad and made some notes. “Okay, so you suspect that two unknown assailants committed a crime, perhaps an assault against an elderly gentleman in the woods by the lake.”

“Yes, that’s right,” Alexa replied.

“Let’s take a drive over there to investigate. Mrs. Casaday, if you would kindly secure your home, the three of you can follow my cruiser to the alleged crime scene.”

“Not alleged. It really happened,” Rachael said under her breath so the officer could not hear.

“Come on, girls, let’s get the car.” Vickie Casaday grabbed her handbag and keys.

“You better call for an emergency truck, like an ambulance or something. The man can’t walk on his own, from the way he looked to us,” Alexa said.

“Let’s find the victim first. Then we’ll decide on what we need, ladies.” Mulligan got into his car and headed for Stamford Lake. Mrs. Casaday put Peanut in the family room, locked up the house, and the three of them jumped into their Honda SUV.

In five minutes they arrived at the lake and parked in the nearby lot designated for neighbors who used the play facility. The entire area was silent and dark, even more eerie than their first visit. The fog grew more dense by the moment. Officer Mulligan pulled out a huge flashlight to light their way as they examined the park around them.

“I first yelled to him back there,” Alexa pointed. “When he called to us, we followed his voice to--”

Both sisters paused at the spot where they found him. Yes, they remembered exactly where it was. “We moved off to the left. Over here. He was lying . . .”

Alexa stopped talking and looked around her.

“Remember, Rachael? We went a few steps off to the left, and . . .”

She looked. Rachael looked.

“Where is he?” Alexa said.

“What the--” Rachael said, dumbfounded.

Officer Mulligan stood next to the girls. “Okay, just keep calm and try it again. We’ll retrace your steps. Let me grab some additional lighting, maybe a few flares. It’s awfully hard to see anything in this darned fog.”

“Yeah. Maybe we didn’t go far enough the first time,” Alexa said.

Mulligan set up the lights and flares from his trunk. By this time a few porch lights dotted the surrounding area, from various homes facing the parking lot. The girls stepped through the pines more carefully and they combed the wooded area again. And again. No one was lying in the brush, and they found no scarf left behind either.

“Rachael, where is this guy?”

“How should I know? We saw him here just an hour ago. No way he could get up and walk away on his own. Not the way he looked and talked.”

“Did you happen to get the man’s name or address?” Officer Mulligan asked.

“No,” Alexa mumbled. “We thought he’d be here, so why--”

“How about his features? Can you tell me what he looked like? Tall, short, fat, skinny, light or dark complexion?”

“We couldn’t tell, he was lying on the ground,” said Rachael. “He was old, with grey and white hair and dark eyes, I think. The man wore this heavy black coat, and he had two nasty bleeding marks on his neck. It was dark, so--”

“Marks on his neck,” the officer repeated as he made notes and shook his head, that eye twitching again. “Anything else?”

After years working as a cop, does your body start to do funny things? Rachael asked herself as she observed the eye movement.

“Nothing that I remember,” said Alexa. Come on, Rache, let’s keep looking.”

After another few minutes of this exercise Mulligan took them aside. “Look, girls, I’m not saying your story isn’t true, but you gotta admit, we’re not finding anyone injured here in the woods. It doesn’t look like we have a crime. I’m going to ask you this next question because I know it’s getting close to Halloween, and I’ve got to know. Kids make stuff up, to be cool and create extra work for us guys who patrol your neighborhood and keep it safe. I’m hoping this isn’t one of those times, girls, so give it to me straight. Did you really see an injured gentleman tonight, or not?”

Rachael and Alexa looked at each other.

“We found a man hurt, with little stab wounds in his neck. He needed help. That’s all we can tell you,” said Alexa.

“That’s your story?”

Both girls nodded.

“You’re sticking to it?”

“It’s the truth, so we must,” Alexa replied.

Officer Mulligan sighed. “Okay. If that’s the way it was, that’s how I’ll put it in the report. But if this is a prank, please don’t pull anything like this again. These stories can get you kids in big trouble with the authorities. Got it?”

“Okay,” Alexa said.

“We’re telling you--”

Alexa cut Rachael off. For one thing, Officer Mulligan’s eye twitched again and, even in the dark, they could see his face redden--no doubt from anger. “Come on, Rache. If nobody will believe us, let’s just go home and forget it.”

“You just can’t--”

“I said forget it!” Alexa pulled at Rachael’s arm. “Get in the car. Nobody’s listening.”

“All right, all right. Don’t touch me.”

Officer Mulligan had a few words with Mrs. Casaday next, and then pulled away from the so-called crime scene.

Mrs. Casaday drove the girls home. She was silent, which the girls took to mean they were in trouble. At least their dog Peanut was glad to see them when they stepped back inside. It seemed like no matter how long they were away, Peanut always treated the family as if they had been gone a month.

“Mom?” Alexa said.

“Girls, I don’t want to discuss this any more tonight, because I might say something I’ll regret later. I do know one thing. It’s good your father wasn’t home. You’d be in even bigger trouble.”

“You don’t understand. We did find--”

“Please, just go get your showers. We’ll have a snack, the warm-ups from our pot roast dinner. It’s no doubt dried up by now, so it will probably taste terrible. After that you’d better get to bed. I think we’ve had enough excitement for one evening.”

“What will you tell Dad?” Rachael asked.

“I don’t know, Rachael. He will NOT be pleased by all this.”

“Please don’t tell him. Let me explain to--”

“Not another word, missy. That goes for you too, Alexa. Just get moving. I’ve got some thinking to do.”

After dinner, the girls met in Rachael’s room to brood as they sat on her bed. Both wore pajamas, conceding to their mother’s wishes to be ready for sleeping..

“You try to do the right thing and help somebody out and it just gets you in trouble. How can we fix this?” Alexa asked.

“Simple. We have to figure out what happened at the lake tonight. We both know that there was an injured man lying there, and then he disappeared. Where did he go? How did he slip away?”

“We have to go back and solve it for ourselves.”

“Oh no, we’re not. You won’t catch me at the lake in the dark again. Even though nothing scares me--”

“Not at night. We’ll go back there tomorrow during the day,” Alexa said as her eyes wandered about the room.

“Yeah, in daylight we can look for clues, and make it a real investigation.” Then Rachael noticed various small objects stirring and spinning. “Will you stop playing around with my stuff? I see my things moving. What is it with you?”

“Just nervous, I guess. It helps me relax.” Alexa returned to the problem at hand. “Rachael, that still doesn’t explain where the injured man went, and how he got there.”

“Who cares? What I want to know is how we are going to get out of trouble. Dad will be furious when he finds out what happened. We’ll be grounded forever. Maybe even a month.” Rachael looked out her window toward the lake. “You know what makes it even worse? The man said we were the ones in danger. What’s that all about?”

“Yeah, and what did he mean about some magic portal, and a key?”

“That part sounds exciting. Mysterious.” Rachael smiled. “You know I love adventures, and anything that involves supernatural events, and secret kingdoms. Perhaps if we could throw in a few wizards and fearsome creatures to make it even more exciting--”

Alexa ignored her sister’s comments. “I guess this portal is some kind of passageway to this man, like a path to life itself. Yeah, and maybe he can’t get through it without a key. You know what that means?”

Together the girls said, “Death.”

“For the man, anyway,” said Alexa.

Peanut started barking. She stood at the door, doing her constant beagle yelp, as if she heard, or sensed, something outside. At first their mother called to Peanut, but their “guard dog” paid no attention. She simply would not stop.

“You think we should let her out?” Rachael asked Alexa.

“No, after everything that went on tonight, maybe there really is someone out there, looking for us.”

“Then what should we do, so she stops barking?”

“I can fix that.” Alexa crawled off the bed and tiptoed down the steps. Rachael watched from the top of the stairway.

“Peanut, puppy. What’s wrong?” Alexa asked, gazing into Peanut’s big beagle eyes as she stroked her back.

Their dog stopped barking and met Alexa’s gaze. “Outside. I want to go outside, Alexa,” she answered in an interior voice only she and Alexa understood.

“Why, Peanut?”

“There’s someone in the neighborhood. They want to harm you and Rachael. I want to chase them.”

“Come on, Peanut. Maybe it’s just another dog or a cat trying to annoy you.”

“You’re in danger. Wicked people are out there waiting for you. I can make them stay away from the house.”

Alexa reached out and caressed Peanut’s soft furry cheek. “Thank you, but it’s okay. We’re safe inside tonight.”

She stretched out on the throw rug by the door, and Alexa rubbed her belly. “No more barking, puppy.”

Peanut settled down, but still guarded the front door from her spot on the rug. Alexa returned to the second floor and the girls went back to Rachael’s room.

“Works every time.”

Rachael shook her head. “I swear, what you do inside that poor dog’s head is scary. She’ll never be quite right.”

“You know I wouldn’t do a thing that would hurt Peanut. Sometimes we need to be thinking on the same wave length. Girl to girl, you know,” she said.

“Show me how you do that someday.”

“Yeah, and then you’ll want me to show you how I move objects around, too. I don’t think so, Rachael. Get your own powers if you want new ones.”

“Meanie!” Rachael said. “By the way, how are we getting to the lake tomorrow?”

“We’ll tell everybody we’re doing our daily run after school. Then we’ll go past the lake, sneak into the trees and see what we can find. If we go plenty early, it will still be daylight,” Alexa said.

“It’s Friday. I don’t have Girl Scouts tomorrow, so it’ll be a good day for it. We’ll be prepared this time, in case someone wants to interfere, right?”

“Wait a minute. Interfere? You really think someone wants to stop us?”

“Doesn’t matter what I think. I’m just ready to give them a good fight.” Rachael flexed her muscles as if to do battle.

Alexa’s eyes suddenly grew very big. “At this moment I’d say villains are the least of our worries. I just heard Dad’s car pull into the garage.”

Both girls’ bedrooms went pitch black.