The Ghost of the Lantern Lady by Carolyn Keene

Author:Carolyn Keene
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

9

Disaster at Windbreak

Nancy held her breath as the footfalls moved closer. Then the dark floor of the woods was broken by the beam of a large flashlight. The light swung around until it caught Nancy, Bess, and George in its beam.

“What are you doing here?” a voice boomed at them.

Nancy couldn’t see who it was because the light was in her eyes. But she recognized the voice, and her heart sank. It was Jake Parrish.

“Hi, Mr. Parrish,” she said, stepping from behind the tree. “It’s Nancy Drew.”

“I repeat—what are you doing?” He looked at George. “I recognize you from the village,” he said. “I saw you earlier in the blacksmith’s shop, right?”

“Yes, sir, that’s right,” George answered.

“And who’s this?” he asked, waving the beam of light at Bess.

“I’m Bess, sir. I’m one of the villagers working at Windbreak.”

“All right,” Parrish said. “Now, which one of you is going to tell me what’s going on?”

Nancy thought fast. She was afraid that if she told the truth, they might lose their jobs. If she was no longer working there, her investigation into the strange events at Persimmon Woods would be over.

“I’ve lost a sweatshirt,” she told him. “I thought I might have left it up here. Some of us did some exploring on this side of the river during a break in our training session last weekend. I talked Bess and George into hiking up here with me to see if we could find it.”

“This is an odd time of day to be doing that, don’t you think?” he said, his eyes narrowing as he studied her face.

Nancy took a deep breath. She wasn’t sure Parrish believed her. “Well, yes,” she answered, “but we’re so busy during the day, I couldn’t find time. Besides, it would have been so much harder in our costumes.”

“Don’t you know how dangerous these woods are?” Parrish said. “Especially at night. There are coyotes—and snakes. Dropoffs and tree roots are hidden under the leaves. Not to mention some of the crazy unexplained things that have been happening around here. You could have been hurt.”

“You’re right, of course,” Nancy said. “This is not a good time to be prowling around in the woods. It’s late and we really should be going home. Come on, girls.”

She turned quickly and started down the hill, followed by George and Bess. She hoped Parrish would just let them go. But then she heard his voice saying loudly, “Wait a minute!”

She turned back and smiled, saying, “Mr. Parrish, I’m really sorry. We shouldn’t have come up here so late.” Then she looked him squarely in the eye and added, “We would have come up here earlier, but George was late locking up the blacksmith’s shop.”

She knew she had made her point when she saw his eyebrow tilt upward. It was if she had sent him a coded message. You asked me to forget the scene between you and Leo Meier, she was hinting. I’m asking you to forget that you found us up here after hours.

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