Disappearance at Hangman's Bluff Read Online Free PDF Page B

since some bad people had tried to kill Bee and me on our own plantation, so I knew I wasn’t being a weenie.
    â€œUm, there’s one thing I kind of forgot to tell you,” I said.
    Bee looked at me and wrinkled up her face like she knew it was going to be bad. “What?”
    â€œI saw one of those men on TV last night. They didn’t just steal Yemassee. They also robbed that gas company.”
    Bee’s eyes went wide. “Those guys saw us!” she exclaimed. “And now you tell me they’re also like major criminals? Are you seriously crazy?”
    â€œThis isn’t just about Yemassee,” I told her. “It’s about a man named Willie Smalls and Daddy.” And I told her about who Willie was and about Daddy’s bail hearing. “If we can find the men who did all this, it’ll help Daddy out, and he can get back to doing the kinds of things he was doing before, not getting all mixed up in this dangerous criminal stuff.”
    She looked at me, and her eyes narrowed. She huffed some air out her nose and shook her head. “I must be crazy to be your friend,” she said.
    Up ahead of us the line of live oaks seemed to stretch forever. Cows and horses grazed in the pastures on either side. We had ridden a good quarter mile off the county road before some barns came into view on our left. They were pole barns, the kind with just a roof and no walls, so I could see through to the other side. I looked hard for any sign of a white pickup truck but saw nothing other than tractors, mowers, and assorted farm equipment.
    â€œIs this far enough?” Bee asked, her voice tight with anxiety.
    That was when I heard the bark. A second later four or five big dogs came around the corner of an outbuilding and headed straight for us. Judging by their angry sounds, I didn’t think they were coming out to say hello.
    â€œI think this is plenty far,” I said as I wheeled Timmy around. I didn’t even have to kick him, because it was clear he didn’t want any more to do with those dogs than me. Even Bee’s pony, Buck, was fast on his feet for once as we started to gallop down the drive toward the township road.
    Ponies are fast, but their legs aren’t as long as horses’ legs by a long shot. For a few seconds it seemed like the dogs were going to catch us because we had to start from a dead stop and they were already running. I felt a twinge of something close to panic as I heard the barks getting closer, and I kicked Timmy hard. The barks stayed close for several more seconds, then finally they began to fade. When I felt like I could risk it, I looked back and saw that the dogs had stopped and were standing with their tongues lolling out as they watched us leave.
    Once we were back out on the township road, Bee and I reined in our ponies and let them catch their breath. “That wasn’t overly successful,” I admitted.
    Bee gave me a cool look. “I’d say your brilliant plan of trespassing onto people’s property and then claiming to be lost is almost guaranteed to get us bitten or shot.”
    I bit back my normal response. Bee could definitely be a bit of a wuss, but in this case I couldn’t argue. Anyplace we trespassed was going to have dogs, or worse, a hothead with a rifle or shotgun. I should have known that in the first place. After all, we were in South Carolina.
    â€œOkay, change of tactics,” I said. “From now on we’ll circle the fence lines and try to find a way in through the pastures. We’ll stay out of sight better and be farther away from the buildings and the dogs, but we still ought to be able to spot the truck.”
    Bee mulled over my suggestion for a few seconds then gave an uneasy shrug. “We’ll try it,” she said. “But we stay away from swamps.”
    Bee harbored an unholy fear of snakes and any other critters that like to hang out in swamps. Also a few months