Revenge of Superstition Mountain by Elise Broach

Author:Elise Broach
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781627792387
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR)

CHAPTER 16

UNDERSTANDING SARA

THEY RODE PAST THE MAIN ENTRANCE to the cemetery and steered into the small paved parking lot by the caretaker’s cottage. There were no cars outside, and the house looked quiet and empty.

“What if Sara’s not here either?” Delilah asked.

But before Henry could answer her, the front door swung open and Sara appeared, her long brown hair hanging on either side of her pale face, nearly hiding it. Her eyes darted over them furtively, then looked away.

“You’ve been here before,” she said.

“Hi, Sara,” Simon said, and Henry could tell he was trying to sound normal. “Yeah, we met you a few weeks ago. We wondered if you could help us look something up. We think our uncle may have purchased a grave plot here.”

“He is in a better place,” Sara murmured.

“Oh, brother,” Jack whispered to Henry. “Here we go again.”

“Do you have somewhere you keep the records of who owns which plot?” Henry asked her.

Sara looked at him and nodded, motioning them inside.

“Everything is as it should be,” she said, as she led them into a small office area.

“Here? In the file cabinet?” Simon asked, tapping on the front of a metal drawer.

Sara nodded, taking a piece of paper from a stack on the desk and handing it to Henry. “It is not for us to know. We are not given answers, only questions.”

Henry saw that the paper was a photocopied map of the cemetery, with each plot clearly delineated and numbered.

“Well, we were kind of hoping for answers,” Simon told her, but Henry noticed that his voice was gentle. He seemed to be trying not to scare her. “Can we look through the files?”

Sara opened the drawer to the file cabinet and turned to him expectantly.

“Alphabetical!” Simon exclaimed. “Great. This shouldn’t be too hard.”

“Great!” Sara echoed, clapping her hands.

Delilah was watching Sara, her expression thoughtful. “Is your father coming home soon?” she asked.

“Yes, yes,” Sara murmured, distractedly tugging at strands of her long hair. “He will come with the others.”

Simon looked at her sharply. “The others? Who’s with him?”

“The policeman and the librarian,” Sara said. “No one is ever really gone.”

Yikes! Henry thought. They didn’t have much time.

He studied the cemetery map. By orienting it correctly, he could see where the old section of graves was, where they had found the tombstone of Julia Elena Thomas. “We can also look things up by plot,” he told Simon, holding the map aloft. “We should see who purchased that Julia Thomas grave, and when.”

“Good idea.” Simon was thumbing quickly through the manila folders that bulged from the file drawer. “Here are the C’s. Hang on.…”

Henry felt a tingling beneath his skin, a combination of excitement and foreboding. What if it was there? What if Uncle Hank had purchased a cemetery plot even though he planned to be cremated? Did it mean he had left something for the boys here in the cemetery?

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