Read Online Bring Home the Murder by Theresa M.; Jarvela - Free Book Online

flashlight all around. Several yards to her right stood an impressive white horse. The animal turned its head toward her, tossed it in the air and galloped off.
    â€œHow did that horse get in this pasture? There must be a gate I don’t know about or a broken fence.”
    â€œWhat horse? What are you talking about?”
    â€œYou’re telling me you didn’t see that white horse over there?” Meggie beamed the flashlight on the spot where the horse had been.
    â€œNo, I didn’t see any horse. I didn’t hear one, either.” Shirley paused. “You must have imagined it. Let’s get going.”
    â€œI didn’t imagine anything. It stood right over there, looked at me and then galloped toward that hill up ahead.” Meggie thought about Fred’s white stallion and her stomach tingled. She desperately needed Shirley’s reassurance, but her friend was adamant. She had not seen a white horse.
    Meggie dropped the subject. She raised her hands to shout for Black and Beauty then lowered them. “Did you see that?”
    â€œSee what?” Shirley whined and stepped closer to Meggie.
    Meggie pointed straight ahead. “A light flashed over there on the other side of that hill.”
    â€œNo, I didn’t see any light but I’m beginning to get the creeps.” Shirley lowered her voice and whispered. “Let’s go back home. The horses must want to spend the night in the pasture or they would’ve come back to the barn. It won’t hurt them to sleep outside, will it? I mean horses should be okay doing that.”
    â€œI’m going to check out that light.” Meggie quickened her step. “We’re not far from the base of the hill.”
    â€œListen, friend,” Shirley hurried to catch up with her. “You promised a pleasant evening after two for one, but here we are trekking across a field in the dark.”
    Meggie shushed Shirley and lowered her voice. “It’s not dark, we have our flashlights, and there’s a moon. Don’t you think it’s odd someone would be out in the middle of a pasture at night flashing a light around?”
    Shirley panted. “I think it’s odd you and I are out in the middle of a pasture at night flashing our lights around. But then I remind myself who I’m with and it all seems perfectly normal.”
    Meggie ignored Shirley’s jibe and continued on her way until she reached the base of the hill. She extended an arm in front of her friend and whispered. “Listen. Do you hear that grating sound?”
    â€œYes, I hear it,” Shirley’s voice shook. “It sounds like someone’s digging.”
    â€œI’m going to find out what’s going on. Why don’t you wait here for me?” She turned her flashlight off and handed it to Shirley. “Turn your flashlight off and don’t make a sound. I don’t want whoever it is to know we’re here.”
    Shirley began to object but Meggie held her finger to her lips and shook her head. “I won’t be long,” she whispered.
    After a short distance, the ground gradually inclined. Meggie leaned forward, put one foot in front of the other and trekked upward. Part way up the knoll she heard footsteps and a clinking noise behind her. She looked back at a dark shape clamoring up the hill after her. She might have been scared, but Shirley’s voice quelled that.
    â€œYou’re not leaving me.” Shirley took a deep breath. “If you think I’m hanging out down there by myself . . .”
    â€œCome with me but we have to be quiet.” Meggie reached for her flashlight. “Let’s go.” She crouched low, slunk up the hill for a few feet then dropped to all fours and crawled.
    Near the hilltop she flattened herself on the ground. She pushed her feet against the rocky soil and inched her way up until the top of her head was level with the hilltop. Shirley slithered in