Angel Falls (Angel Falls Series, #1), Babette Jongh [books for 6 year olds to read themselves .TXT] 📗

book aside and opened the door. Angela stood there, twisting her hands, a worried frown on her face. “Are the boys over at your house?”

I stood back so she could come inside. “They’re not in the back yard?”

“No. And they’ve left the back gate open. Is Lizzie with you?”

“She was outside with the boys. I told Jake not to go anywhere without telling me.”

“They’ve probably just gone for a walk.” Angela sounded hopeful but not convinced. Neither was I, and fear billowed like smoke from my stomach to my throat. It wasn’t the first time Ray had pulled a stunt like this. But knowing Jake’s rebellious state of mind, I knew the blame couldn’t be laid entirely at Ray’s door. These days, Jake was an accident waiting to happen, and I didn’t want it to happen on my watch.

“I’ll go look for them.” Rain was imminent, so I took my hoodie off the hall tree and put it on. “You stay by the phone.” I grabbed purse, car keys, and courage—surely the boys were okay, just temporarily AWOL—then gave my cordless handset to Angela. “Here. In case Jake calls. I’ve got my cell. Call if you hear anything.”

“Okay.” Angela took my phone and went back to her duplex. I drove slowly along the streets with my windows down, calling out. “Jake... Ray... Lizzie...” I figured they’d all be together, but there was a slight chance the boys had left without the dog, and she had gotten out later through the open gate.

When the streetlights came on, panic shoved fear and irritation aside. The sky had darkened, and I realized I wouldn’t be able to see them even if I drove right past. I came back home feeling as if a hard-edged brick was lodged sideways in my stomach.

Angela met me on the porch. “Any sign?”

“No. Ben is going to kill me.”

“Come on inside. I was just about to make some hot tea.”

I followed her in and slumped into a kitchen chair. I picked up my cordless phone from her table. “God, I hate to call Ben and tell him I’ve lost his son.”

Angela patted my hand. “Don’t call just yet. Ben wouldn’t be able to do anything but worry anyway.”

“I can’t believe Jake would just take off without telling me.”

“Boys do this sort of thing every now and then. I can tell you from experience, it’s not time to worry yet. They’ll probably come walking in that door five minutes after it starts raining.”

But I couldn’t stand waiting around, doing nothing. “I should go back out.”

“Drink your tea.” Angela put a mug in front of me. “If they’re not back by the time you’re finished, we’ll go together.”

We sat in silence for a moment. Angela cleared her throat and looked up at me, in a kind of sideways, under-the-lashes, I-know-something-you-don’t look.

“What?” I said, welcoming the distraction from my worry over the boys. At least Lizzie was with them, I thought. Hoped.

“A certain good-looking, dark-haired man sat on our porch for an hour yesterday evening, waiting for you to come home.”

“He did?” My heart thumped a little faster for a few beats, a stone skipping over water.

“I sat with him for a bit. We had a nice talk.”

“Oh?”

“Why you’d want to avoid such a perfect specimen of the male species is beyond me.”

I bristled. “You don’t know the whole story.”

“Neither does he, apparently.”

I looked down and pretended great interest in the handle of my tea mug. “What did he say?”

“He figures you’re mad at him but can’t imagine why.”

I snorted. “I’ll bet.” I took a sip of tea and looked out at the darkening sky. “What else did he say?”

“Just that you’d know where to find him when you were ready.”

I shoved my cell phone into my front pocket and stood. “I’m going out again.”

Angela took a little pink flashlight from her junk drawer. “I’ll come, too.”

I plucked the flashlight from her hand. “Stay here in case they come back. If they do, tan their backsides, then call me.”

This time, I walked down the sidewalk instead of taking my car. “Jake!” I called out, then paused to listen. Silence. “Ray!” Silence, again. “Lizzie!” I walked down one block, then another, then another. All along the way, I debated whether to call Ben or keep looking.

Then I heard it, a faint sound in the distance. “Yip!”

I started running. “Lizzie!”

“Yip!” The sweet, high-pitched sound came from half a block away, outside the old vacant high school.

I slowed to a walk, pulled the cell phone out of my pocket, and called Angela. “I hear Lizzie barking.”

“Are the boys with her? Are they okay?”

“I don’t know.” The low cloud cover made evening twilight seem like true darkness, but I could see Lizzie’s white coat shining in the gloom. “I see Lizzie.” She was tied to a big oak tree with a length of light-colored rope. She was still barking—her front feet lifted off the ground with each yip. “The boys left her tied to a tree, but I don’t see them.”

“Where are you?”

“The old high school.” I knelt down and untied the rope attached to Lizzie’s collar. She swarmed over me, all happy licks and gratitude. I struggled to keep the phone anchored between shoulder and ear.

“I’m gonna kill Ray when he gets home.” Angela’s voice shook with fear or rage or a combination of the two. “I’ve told him not to go in there.”

Were the boys poking around one of the scary bathrooms? Or in the basement I’d be afraid to go into, even in broad daylight? “You think they went inside?”

“Kids dare each other to go in there all the time. Ray knows better, but I doubt it would stop him now that he has a partner in crime.”

“How do they get in?”

“Most likely, through a broken window.”

“That doesn’t narrow it down much.”

Lizzie bolted from me. I ran after her, following to a shadowed corner of the building where two walls met. Lizzie sat beneath a small, chest-high window. It wasn’t broken, but