Cross-Check by Phil Lollar

Author:Phil Lollar
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUVENILE FICTION / Readers / Chapter Books, JUVENILE FICTION / Religious / Christian / Action & Adventure
Publisher: Focus on the Family
Published: 2019-03-18T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

“Here we are!” Maxwell announced.

He opened the front doors of Blackgaard’s Castle, made way for Connie to enter ahead of him, followed her in, and then closed the doors behind them.

Connie frowned. “This is where you work?” she asked skeptically. “It’s an empty building. Didn’t it used to be a computer store?”

“Along with other small businesses,” Maxwell replied, nodding. “My boss bought it all, gutted it, and is rebuilding it from the foundation up! See? You’re getting in on the ground floor of a brand-new operation!”

“Where are all the workers?”

Maxwell shrugged. “I dunno—lunch, probably.”

Connie licked her lips nervously. “Uh, I don’t know about this.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, this is a great opportunity!” He patted her arm. “Listen, you just stay here, and let me go get the boss. He’ll explain everything to you.” He bounded across the room and disappeared behind a door marked “Private.”

Connie watched him go and muttered, “This is weird.” She took a few tentative steps into the spacious room, scrutinizing it cautiously.

The place wasn’t really empty but a work in progress. Wires hung from the ceiling and draped the walls. Stacks of lumber, pallets of drywall, huge spools of electrical wire, and other building supplies sat in random places around the space. Enormous upright, misshapen boxes, covered with tied-down tarpaulins, were also scattered around the room. In the dim and shadowy light, the boxes seemed like captured ogres or trolls who a moment before had been strolling around the room and then squatted and turned to stone a split second before she and Maxwell entered. Only when she saw “Zappazoids” written across the bottom of one box did she realize they were arcade video games.

Despite them and the building materials, the space was still empty enough that voices and footsteps echoed off the barren walls. Connie shivered and was just getting ready to leave when the “Private” door opened and Maxwell reappeared, followed by a tall, angular, handsome man with jet-black hair that was streaked with white at the temples and a neatly clipped Vandyke on his chin, wearing an immaculate three-piece suit. A large, fluffy, gray cat also darted out the door and disappeared behind the huge boxes.

Maxwell and the man strode across the room to her, and the closer they got, the taller the man seemed and the more unnerved Connie felt. Maxwell was all smiles. “Here he is, Connie,” he said. “Boss, I want you to meet Connie Kendall. Connie, this is my boss.”

The man stepped forward and extended his hand. “How do you do, Miss Kendall?” his rich baritone intoned. “My name is Blackgaard.”

Connie took his hand, gave it a quick shake, and dropped it. “Hello, Mr. Blackgaard,” she replied.

“That’s Doctor Blackgaard, Connie,” Maxwell cut in.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Are you into medicine?”

Blackgaard shook his head. “No, I’m a PhD.”

Maxwell jumped in again. “He’s an expert on kids.”

Connie’s eyebrows rose. “Really?”

“I know something about them,” Blackgaard responded with a smile. “So, Miss Kendall, Richard tells me you’re looking for employment?”

“Well . . . maybe.

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