CHAPTER TWELVE

“Did you see that?” Jimmy asked, trotting down the path past the sign.

Kevin trotted right along with him. “Are you kidding? Of course I saw it. That guy Wally was digging a hole right by that forked tree.”

“But why?” Jimmy questioned. “It doesn’t make any sense. Why would the guy be digging a hole in the middle of the woods while it’s raining?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin said, huffing and puffing as he continued to trot back down the path.

I don’t know, he thought to himself. But I’m going to find out…

It was just another few minutes before they got back to the big gravel courtway in front of the lodge. Kevin and Jimmy stopped for a few moments at the front steps, leaning over with their hands on their knees, to catch their breath.

“What are we going to do now?” Jimmy asked. “Should we tell your Aunt Carolyn that we saw Wally digging that hole?”

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “Maybe we should wait awhile on that.”

“Why?”

“Because what would we say?” Kevin posed. “We’d sound stupid. Let’s wait awhile, give ourselves some more time to find out what’s going on.”

Jimmy paused as he was shaking the rainwater off his kite. “Yeah,” he agreed. “Now that you mention it, maybe that’s a better idea.”

“Let’s stow our kites and get back inside,” Kevin said, happy that his friend agreed with him. He didn’t want to say the rest, the strange, eerie feeling that Wally wasn’t just digging a hole.

The hole that Wally was digging, after all, looked pretty big, and wide.

And maybe it was oblong shaped, though Kevin couldn’t be quite sure.

But there was one thing he was sure of—

It looked like Wally was digging a grave, Kevin thought again.

The idea made a shiver crawl up his back, and he shuddered a moment, standing there at the base of the big stone steps.

“Hi, boys,” Aunt Carolyn greeted when they entered the dark foyer.

“Hi, Aunt Carolyn,” Kevin returned. He kept his fingers crossed that she wouldn’t realize they’d been out to the bluffs during the storm.

“You boys are drenched!” she exclaimed, noticing their wet clothes. “Where have you been?”

“Oh, we were just walking around outside, and it started raining,” Kevin said. One thing Kevin didn’t like to do was lie, but what he’d said wasn’t really a lie, was it? After all, they had been walking around outside, and it had started raining. So it wasn’t really a lie at all.

And where had Aunt Carolyn been anyway, for all the time that had passed after their fathers had left the lodge to go on their fishing hike?

All of a sudden, it seemed to Kevin that there were several really strange things going on around here.

“Well, it’s too bad about the rain,” Aunt Carolyn said. “But it does seem to rain a lot around here this time of year. You could have gone out to the bluffs for some kite-flying.”

Kevin didn’t say anything.

“But I think,” Aunt Carolyn went on, “it might be a good idea for the two of you to go back up to your room and get changed into some dry clothes. Dinner will be ready in less than an hour.”

“Okay, Aunt Carolyn.”

“And tell your sister, too.”

Kevin nodded, then he and Jimmy headed up the wide, winding stairs to their room.

“I still want to know what that Wally guy was doing digging holes in the woods,” Jimmy said.

“Yeah,” Kevin agreed. “Right in front of that forked tree, and while it was still raining!” What could he possibly have been digging for? What could be so important that he’d be digging holes in the rain?

They changed into dry jeans and flannel shirts, then combed out their wet hair. By then, the storm had started up again; Kevin could hear the thunder slowly rumbling outside, and then heavy rain began to patter against the roof. It wasn’t the thunder or the rain that bothered Kevin the most—it was the lightning, and the way it would crack and boom in the sky without any notice.

Kevin knocked on his sister’s closed bedroom door. “Hey, Becky!”

“Yes, Kevvie?” she asked from the other side.

I HATE it when she calls me that! “Dinner will be ready soon.”

“I’ll be down in a little while,” her snide voice replied. “I still need a little more time to get ready.”

“Get ready?” Kevin questioned. “What do you mean?”

“Just mind your own business, you little twerp!”

Kevin and Jimmy headed for the stairs. “What does she have to get ready for?” Jimmy asked.

But Kevin thought he already knew. “I’ll bet she’s in there putting on her best clothes, in case that Wally guy comes back around.”

“Jeeze, girls are weird.”

“Tell me about it,” Kevin said. “You ought to have one for a sister.”