by Brian Quest
“Well, now I have to worry about that, and have the added worry of knowing that my daughters like to sneak around late at night. What if Thomas was nearby and thought you were an intruder? What do you think would have happened?” He was frustrated, and hoped he was handling things right.
“We didn’t think about it. We just waited until you were sleeping and the guys were at the perimeter.”
It was obvious to Andrew his girls felt bad for making him worry. He didn’t want to yell at them, but he wanted to make sure they understood how dangerous what they had done was. He took a few minutes to gather his thoughts, and during that time, Debbie and Connie went to make more coffee. Beth and Amy were so upset about everything that happened that they sat in silence, unable to speak, and barely able to look at their father.
When the two older girls returned, Anthony spoke in a calm but firm voice, “I want all four of you to look at me.” He waited until all four girls mustered the nerve to look into his eyes and then spoke again, “It is very important that you all stop this mission that you are on. We will figure out what is going on with the rocks, and James is back now. So there is no need for you to be sneaking around at night. It is dangerous, and my job is to keep you safe.” He looked at them and waited.
Thomas also spoke up, “Girls, you are gonna be the death of me! I don’t know if you realize how much we all worry about you. You’re not just Andrew’s daughters, I feel like you are my family as well. Please don’t scare us like that again.”
As if having their father upset with them wasn’t bad enough, the thought that everybody else also was upset really hit them hard. Debbie spoke for all four of them, “We’re really sorry, Dad. Sorry to all of you, really. We didn’t mean to upset you and we won’t do it again. We just wanted to help.”
“Why don’t you all go up to bed? It’s the middle of the night and I think spending some time in your rooms to think about things will help.” Andrew wasn’t making a request, and the girls knew it. So they said goodnight and headed to their rooms.
Once they were settled in and the ceiling above stopped creaking with their footsteps, Andrew turned and looked at James once again. “I’m still not convinced your story is exactly what happened. I absolutely do not like feeling like I can’t trust someone, and right now you aren’t giving me a really warm and fuzzy feeling.”
“Sir, I really don’t know what you expect me to do or say. I went fishing, it wasn’t productive where I was so I moved to another area and caught a lot of fish. It’s all in the shed now. I could show you.”
Feeling like he really needed to see that James had indeed caught a lot of fish, and knowing that he wouldn’t sleep until this situation was behind him, he put on his shoes and coat and led James out to the shed.
“See, sir, it’s all right there,” James said when Andrew unlocked the shed and slid the door open.
“How did you get it in here? It was locked.”
“I have a key.”
Andrew didn’t remember giving him a key, and decided he would have to talk to Thomas and the other guys to see if they had. He looked over the fish and then looked back at James, uncomfortable with him standing behind him where he was out of his peripheral vision. “Well, good job. After breakfast, you and Thomas can bring it over to the smoker and prepare it for storage.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go on and get some rest. See you at breakfast.”
James walked away, and Andrew locked the shed. He put it in his mind that he would be changing the lock on the sliding door once the fish was moved to the smoker. He didn’t like that James had a key and access to some of their stored supplies. He turned and walked back to the house, noticing just how frigidly cold it had grown. There were clouds in the sky, and the moon was just barely peeking through them. He wondered as he walked up the back steps when the first major storm would roll in.
Once inside, Andrew placed two more logs on the fire and made himself comfortable on the couch. Thomas sat in the recliner, and Keith and Stewart had gone to their place to get some sleep. He looked over at Thomas and said, “Can you believe those girls?” Thomas chuckled and just shook his head. “Hey, did you give James a key to the shed?”
“No, why?”
“Well, he put the totes of fish in the shed and the lock was on the door. I asked him how he got it in there and he told me he had a key.”
“No, did he tell you I did?”
“No, and I didn’t ask him either. Something is not right with him, and I don’t like it. I’ll be changing the lock tomorrow after breakfast. I need you to go with him to the smoker to prepare all the fish. I know you hate doing that, but right now you’re the only one I can trust and I need you to keep an eye on him. I’ll give you the new key after dinner, when he goes off to bed.”
“Sounds good. He did seem a little off tonight, didn’t he?” Thomas asked.
“Yeah, he did. He wouldn’t even look me straight in the eye for more than a second. He is up to something, and I intend to figure out what.”
“I’ll keep my eye on him.”
“Why don’t you head back to your cabin? I’m fine here. I will be camping out on the couch for a while to make sure the girls don’t get any more bright ideas.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll just stay right here. You have a tendency to sleep kind of heavy, so two of us definitely will be a bonus.”
“I don’t sleep heavy,” Andrew replied.
“Did you hear them sneak out of the house, right past your room?”
“Point taken,” Andrew said and they both laughed.
They sat in silence, watching the flames flicker. The wind picked up outside, and they both fell asleep to the sound of leaves rustling outside the window, though it took Andrew a little longer.
CHAPTER FIVE
ABOUT FOUR DAYS after James returned to the ranch and the girls stopped doing their spy mission, Debbie was lying in her bed, on the verge of falling asleep. It was late, and her sisters had long ago fallen asleep. Just as the first images of a dream became clearer in her mind, she was startled awake. She lay still, and listened closely. Then she heard tapping on her bedroom window. Her room was directly over the roof of the porch, as were the rooms of her sisters. While she had snuck out of her window and onto the roof, she never imagined anyone else would go up there.
Frightened, she slipped out of bed and onto the floor on the side farthest from the window. Her heart was pounding so hard she couldn’t hear anything but the fast thumping in her ears. She shook as she slowly crawled to the door of her bedroom. She glanced over her shoulder, over at the window across the room, and didn’t see anything. She looked back toward the hallway and heard the tapping again. She quickly rounded the corner and sat up against the wall. Her breathing was as fast as her heartbeat and she knew she had to get control of herself. She took a few deep breaths and crawled to Connie’s room at the end of the hall.
Connie slept with her door closed, and as Debbie opened it slowly, it creaked. She cringed, hoping that whoever was out on the roof of the porch didn’t hear it. Once the door was open enough for her to slip through, Debbie crawled in her sister’s room and over to her bed.
“Connie,” Debbie whispered as she gently shook her sister.
“What’s going on?” Connie asked, groggy and rubbing her eyes.
“Shhh. There’s someone on the roof of the porch. They’re outside my bedroom window and they’re tapping on it.”
Whispering, Connie asked, “Who is it?”
“I don’t know. Come with me.”
“Where?” Connie asked, knowing that her crazy sister wanted her to go back to her room with her.
“To my room. I don’t want to go in there alone.”
“No way!” Connie whispered firmly.
“Come on!” Debbie said, and then stopped her sister when she reached for the candle she always used when moving around the house at night. “No light. They’ll see us.”
Not feeling good ab
out what was happening, Connie joined her sister and they tip-toed out of her room and into the hall. They were good at sneaking, so they were able to move swiftly without making a sound. When they reached the bedroom, both Connie and Debbie peeked around the corner through the open doorway. There, standing at the window was a dark shadow of a figure. It was obvious the person was inside the bedroom and that startled both girls. They quickly moved back down the hallway, but instead of going into Connie’s room, they rounded the corner and went to their father’s room.
The door was open, and when they looked inside, he wasn’t there. “Do you think they saw us?” Connie whispered.
“I sure hope not. Where the heck is Dad?”
“I don’t know, but we really need to find him, or go tell Thomas.”
“We can’t, Dad said no more going out at night,” Debbie said.
“Well, we need to get someone who can help us. It’s so close, we can get there and back in no time.”
Debbie was surprised that it was Connie trying to convince her instead of it being the other way around. She stood there, thinking hard about the situation. Just as they were about to make a decision, they heard tapping on their father’s window. They let out a slight shriek and ran back down the hall, around the corner and down to Debbie’s room. With the person now at the other end of the house, they went closer to the window but couldn’t see anything. Not sure if she was doing the right thing, Debbie lit her candle and that was when they saw the set of muddy footprints at the foot of the bed.
“Oh, my gosh!” Debbie whispered in horror. “Were they standing there watching me sleep?”
“It looks like it. Come on, let’s go down and find Dad and Thomas.”
The girls slipped down the stairs, careful not to step on the one stair that had a tendency to creak, and figured they would see either their father or Thomas sitting on the couch as usual. Nobody was there. They looked at each other, still terrified, and Debbie ran to the closet to grab the shotgun.
“We can’t leave the house, Connie. Beth and Amy are still up there. We shouldn’t have left them up there alone.” Just as she finished her statement, there was a tap on the window directly behind her. She jumped and spun around, raising the shotgun toward the window. All she could see by the light of the fire was her own reflection in the empty window. She was hesitant, but reached forward and pulled the curtains closed. She then hurried across the room to be near her sister.
Both Connie and Debbie were nearly frozen in fear. They didn’t know which way to go or what to do. They stood there, Debbie clutching the shotgun and Connie clutching her sister’s arm. It wasn’t long before they heard more tapping, only this time it was in more than one place. The window next to them had tapping, they could hear tapping in the kitchen, and they could hear tapping coming from upstairs.
Debbie looked over at Connie and saw the tear rolling down her cheek. “It’s okay, Con. We’ll be okay. Daddy won’t let anything happen to us. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.” Even though her words were meant to be reassuring, nothing could soothe her sister. Debbie held the gun with one arm and held Connie’s hand with the other. She slowly led Connie back up the stairs, and they silently hurried to Beth’s room.
Beth was sleeping soundly, as if nothing was going on. Debbie wondered if the person on the roof had even tried tapping on the window in that room. She looked at Connie and said, “You stay here with Beth, I’m gonna go get Amy.”
“Please don’t leave me.”
The fear in her sister’s voice made Debbie feel so bad. “I have to go get Amy, and then I will be right back. I promise.” Debbie let go of her sister’s hand and moved toward the door. Once out in the hallway, she could hear the tapping again and knew right where it was coming from, which made her next move that much more difficult. The sound was coming from Amy’s room, almost as if the person outside knew where she was going.
Luckily, the door to Amy’s room was open, so she slipped inside, went directly to Amy’s bedside and roused her sister from sleep. “Come on. I need you to come with me and I need you to not say a word,” Debbie whispered. Amy got up and went with her sister, not knowing what was going on, but asleep enough not to really care too much. When they got to Beth’s room, they went in and closed the door, locking it behind them.
“What’s going on?” Amy asked.
“Did you not hear a noise in your room?” Debbie asked.
“No. I was sleeping. You stopped my dream and it was a good one. I was outside on the porch having sweet tea with Mom and we were watching Daddy be silly on the riding mower.”
“I’m sorry I woke you, but something is going on and I need you in here with me.”
Debbie told Beth and Amy what was happening, and once they looked at each other, both girls instantly began crying. Not wanting whoever was out there to know where they were, Debbie hushed her sisters and hugged them tight. It seemed that they sat that way forever, and slowly the tapping sound lessened. Their father still had not returned to the house, and knowing they were all alone, they all decided to stay in that room together.
Debbie sat in the chair in the corner of the room, shotgun on her lap, and waited. From that spot, she could see the window and the door, and also could watch over her sisters. Glad that Beth had a queen-sized bed, Connie lay between Amy and Beth and soon the younger girls were asleep, clutching her arms. Connie lay awake waiting, much like Debbie. Just before the sun rose, both older sisters drifted off to sleep.
When the sun came up, it broke through the slit in the curtain, resting a ray of light on Connie’s face. She opened her eyes and tried to get out of bed without waking her little sisters. Once she had her feet on the floor, she went over and woke up Debbie, trying so hard to be quiet. Together, shotgun in tow, they made their way down the stairs and found their father on the couch and Thomas in the chair. Relieved to have made it through the night and even more relieved to find their father okay, they moved into the kitchen and started preparing breakfast. They were still a bit nervous and shaken, but feeling a whole lot better than they had the night before.
The smells of breakfast had the people in the house stirring in a short time, and when the food was done cooking, Debbie reluctantly went to the back door and rang the bell, letting Keith, Stewart and James know that breakfast was ready. Soon, the table was full and abuzz with talk of what everyone would be doing for the day. Debbie just waited for the right moment to tell them what had happened the night before.
CHAPTER SIX
JUST AS THE guys were getting ready to head out after breakfast Debbie spoke, “Dad, wait. There’s something I need to tell you.”
Andrew was well aware that whenever one of his daughters said that, it wasn’t going to be a fun discussion. He braced himself for whatever she was about to say, “Guys, go ahead without me, I’ll be out in a minute.”
“No, Dad, they all need to hear it.”
“Oh, okay. Well, what is it then?”
“Where were you last night? Nobody was here.”
Andrew could tell by Debbie’s voice that it was serious. “We heard some noises out by the barn, so Thomas and I ran out there.”
“But you were gone so long.”
“What is going on? What happened?”
“I heard a noise. Someone was tapping on my window. I went to get Connie and when we came back there were muddy footprints by my bed.”
“Why didn’t you yell for me?” Andrew asked, concern growing in his voice.
“Someone was there. If I yelled, then they would know I was awake and on to them. We were in Connie’s room and we heard it again. The tapping was in your room, too.”
“It was a bit breezy last night, maybe it was the big tree? You know, the branches hitting the window?”
“No, Dad, it wasn’t. We heard it downstairs, too. It was like there was more than one person. Heck, there could have been six people for all I knew. Besides, a tree branch on a window won’t make muddy footprints on my bedroom flo
or. We hid in Beth’s room and waited until we heard you come in, but you never did.”
There were times when Andrew felt bad, and then there were times when he felt completely horrible…This was one of those horrible times. “I am so sorry, girls. We heard banging out by the barn and the horses were going a bit nuts, so we went out there to check it out and figured we would look around. By the time we came back, it was just before dawn.” He looked at all of his girls and realized just how scared they were. “Thomas, we can’t let this happen again.”
“I can’t believe someone used the porch roof to get into the girls’ room. I thought only Debbie used it to sneak out.” Debbie’s head snapped to look at Thomas. “That’s right. I see you up there at night, watching the stars and writing in your journal. I figure since you really have no place you can go to get away, it was okay to let you keep doing it.”
“I didn’t know you went out there,” Andrew said.
“Yeah, I do. It’s quiet and the view at night is great. The stars are amazing at night now that there aren’t any artificial light sources.”
“Well, I’m not too sure you should be going out there anymore. It obviously isn’t safe. We also are going to have to nail your windows shut and board them up.”
“But, Dad, then no light will get in!”
Connie finally spoke out. “Yeah, Dad. We can’t live in the dark during the day, too!”
“Well, we have to figure out something out. I can’t have you in your rooms if someone can get in!”
“Daddy, why are you yelling at us?” Amy asked, tears welling up in her eyes. “We didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know, Princess. I’m sorry. I’m just upset that someone came into our house and I wasn’t there to protect you.
Beth replied, “Yeah, but Debbie and Connie took real good care of us, Dad. They never left our sides, and they had the shotgun. Debbie sat in the chair all night and kept watch, and Connie stayed right with me and Amy in the bed. We weren’t scared at all!”