The Riddles of Hillgate by Kane Zoey & Kane Claire

Author:Kane, Zoey & Kane, Claire [Kane, Zoey & Kane, Claire]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Cozy Mystery
Published: 2011-10-14T04:00:00+00:00

FIFTEEN

Both mother and daughter opened the front door to the relentless rain. Their nightgowns whipped in multiple directions with the confused wind.

They could still see the dark figure, heading further and further from Hillgate, and away from the paved path, sloshing through the wet wilderness. Pretty soon they were going uphill. Zo’s lungs worked extra hard, breathing in the wet rain. The women occasionally stumbled over the riotous earth, but it didn’t slow them down. The moon was casting a continuous light on the figure.

The silhouette suddenly stopped and turned around, as if it knew it was being followed. It had a slight hunch and was carrying something.

“Get down.” Claire fell to the ground and pulled on her mother’s waist. She obeyed instantly.

They lay in the cold mud, watching him. Thunder clapped and lighting zigzagged, illuminating the gray sky. In that moment, they caught a glimpse of the shadow’s face, which had a hollow deathly appearance, like a skeleton ghost.

“Maybe this was a bad idea,” Claire confessed, as she shivered. Claire’s pretty brown hair was matted to her face as streams of water poured down her pale face in the moonlight.

“I can barely see, but I think he could be holding a shovel.”

The figure walked around a radius of ten feet, pushing at the ground with his feet. Claire and Zo slithered along the mud like snakes after their prey. “Let’s head for that tree stump, over there,” Claire said. Reaching that tree stump would make them much closer, and it would be a better hiding place.

“After we find out what he is doing out here, then we will decide what we will do,” Claire whispered. “So, for now just be patient, Mom. No running at him!”

They reached the stump. They noticed what he was carrying was a shovel. He found the spot in the earth he was looking for and proceeded to dig. With every strike, Claire and Zo heard the grunt and suction of the shovel loosening a load of mud. He slung the mounds of mud, one after the other, as fast as he could, behind him.

“I say,” Zo whispered, “we confront him. We know where the treasure is. Right there, where he is digging.”

“Mother, patience is a virtue. Just hold back a little longer.”

They watched and waited, peeking from behind the crooked old stump, as the heap of mud grew higher and higher. Claire guesstimated the heap was about three feet tall by three feet wide.

Zo’s right knee set onto a twig, causing it to crack. The sound echoed above the rain, across the night sky. Zo and Claire clenched their jaws and tightly shut their eyes in fear. The grunting of the shovel stopped. Claire slowly peeked back around the stump and saw the shadowed face. The gaunt hollows of the eyes searched for the source of the sound. Zo could hear her breathing. It was loud and was sure to give them away, she thought. But it didn’t; the rain was louder, and the man continued his digging up of the earth.

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