Free Red Hot Deadly Peppers by Paige Shelton

okay,” Susan said weakly as Nick fell to his knees next to her.
    “He said Harry was here,” I told Nera and then, turning to Nick, asked, “What boys are you talking about?”
    “Brad and Cole. They’ve lost their minds,” Nick said as he reached for his wife’s hand. “I think they were responsible for Graham’s death. They were ranting and raving about some sort of experiments? I don’t know. Harry had stopped by—we were chatting when the boys came in. Harry talked to the boys so we couldn’t hear, and then they started freaking out. We didn’t know what they were talking about. We didn’t understand why Harry was here either. Then the boys wanted us to help them, but we couldn’t understand what they wanted. They said they’d been over at your place, Nera, and if we’d just go with them they’d explain what they needed. We refused.” He looked at Susan. “I’m so sorry we refused. They were just so . . . out of control. They hit Harry and then Susan. They restrained me in the bedroom, and then I heard them talking to Harry. Then they left out the back door. I think they were going back to your place—they just left a few minutes before you got here. What experiments were you doing over there—and did they have something to do with peppers?”
    “Cole and Brad?” Nera said as though that was the only part she’d heard.
    “Yes, what’s going on?”
    “We’ve got to get back to my place, Becca. We’ve got to help Harry before they hurt him, too. The police are on their way. Nick, Susan, will you two be all right?”
    They were both confused and in shock, but they’d be okay. Nick’s legs had recovered enough that he was able to walk back to the bedroom and bring out two shotguns.
    “If the boys come back, I will kill them if I have to,” he said. “You take one, too, just in case.”
    Nera didn’t want to, but she took the gun. I just swallowed hard, but I didn’t blame Nick. I really, really hoped the police got to the boys before we or he did, though.
    Nera carried the gun like she knew what she was doing. I followed her back to the truck.

Chapter Ten
    Nera pulled the truck out to the road but then veered back toward the side. She braked hard, moved the gearshift to Park, and then rolled down the window. She threaded herself up and out the window.
    “What’s up?” I said.
    “Hang on,” she said.
    A moment later she was back in the truck and said, “It looks like some of the wire between the properties has been bent. Believe it or not, traveling from the Riggers’ to my place is easier than going in the opposite direction. Their house is closer to the property lines, and from their side it doesn’t seem like such a walk. My house is on the far side of my property, but the garage and the shed seem a lot closer. It’s an optical illusion, really, but I get why the boys thought they could just walk over easily.”
    “How did this happen? How did those kids get involved?” I asked.
    Nera thought a moment. “They’ve been spending a lot of time over at the Riggers’. They must have seen Graham at my place. Maybe they talked to him at the trading post, too. Graham wasn’t as good at keeping secrets as Jimmy was. For a long time I was the only person Jimmy talked to about what he was doing. Graham lived with him but didn’t care at all. He just thought his dad was messing around with plants in his greenhouse.”
    “But why would the kids care about the plants? They’re too young to care about those sorts of things, aren’t they?”
    “The way Graham was—he could have been telling them that he was onto something that would make him millions of dollars. He might not have been all that far off.”
    “Just by making a pepper hotter?” I said as we pulled into Nera’s driveway.
    “It’s for medicinal purposes. Like I said, Becca, it’s big business.”
    Nera put the truck into Park and switched off the engine. We both sat still for a long few seconds. Now that we