Free The Fossil Hunter of Sydney Mines by Jo Ann Yhard

outlines.
    There it was!
    She clenched one hand tightly around a clump of grass and stretched the other toward her pack. Her fingertips brushed the strap, but she couldn’t quite grab it. Her other hand slipped on the grass.
    She wasn’t going to make it!
    Dad, help me! she screamed in her head.
    A pair of hands grabbed her. “Come on, Grace! Climb!” her rescuer yelled, pulling her upward.
    She reached up to grab his arms, and used all her strength to climb up. Suddenly she was on solid ground again. Gasping, she lay against the rail. Her rescuer was stretched out beside her, his ragged breathing matching her own.
    At that moment the moon reappeared and Grace turned to her knight in shining armour. “Dad?” She stopped. “ Jeeter ? What are you doing here?”
    â€œWho were you expecting?” Jeeter grumbled. “You’re welcome, by the way. You know, for saving your life.”
    â€œI was fine,” she muttered, feeling her face flush.
    â€œUh-huh.” Jeeter stood up and tugged Grace to her feet.
    She brushed the dirt off her clothes, fingering a tear in her jeans. “How did you know I was here?”
    â€œI wanted to tell you something. By the time I came back around the corner, I saw you biking away. So I followed you.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œWherever you were going in the dark, I wasn’t going to let you go by yourself.” He peered down at her. “What are you doing here?”
    â€œI just felt like I had to come here. Finding my dad’s bag today…I don’t know, I needed to see the spot…where it happened.” Grace brushed a tear from her eye. “Anyways, thanks…for pulling me up.”
    â€œNo sweat. You can save me some day,” Jeeter replied. “Ready to go?”
    She nodded.
    The grabbed their bikes and turned back toward town.
    â€œAre you sure you’re okay?” Jeeter asked as they slowly pedalled home. “It sounded like you called me ‘Dad’ back there. I thought you must be sleepwalking or something!”
    Grace told him about seeing the man with the Dalhousie hat in Stuckless’s truck.
    â€œYou think it was your dad’s hat?” Jeeter asked.
    â€œI don’t know.” Grace stopped her bike and sat back on the seat. “Dad was wearing it that day.” She rubbed her temples. “I’ve never seen anyone else wearing one.”
    â€œBut how would the guy with Stuckless get it? Could the other guy have been Stanley? Do they know each other?”
    â€œKnow each other? Well, the other guy did look familiar…. Oh, I don’t know!” Frustrated, she gazed down the hill behind her at Shore Road. “Nothing makes sense anymore!”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œWhen I was sitting on the guardrail I remembered something. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. Everything was crazy, I guess.”
    â€œWhat was it?”
    â€œDad would never have willingly driven on Shore Road. He always said it wasn’t safe, because of the erosion.” She pointed to the droops in the pavement. “He was convinced it would all fall into the Atlantic one day. He called it a death trap. Whenever we drove to North Sydney, we always went a different way. I never really thought about it, until now.”
    Jeeter frowned. “So why would he go on Shore Road that day? And then he just happened to have a car accident? That is weird!”
    â€œMaybe he knew it would happen someday, a feeling. That could be why he never trusted the road…. Geez, now I really sound crazy!” she sighed, closing her eyes.
    â€œIt’s been hard on you.”
    â€œIt’s just that my head hasn’t stopped spinning since that mystery guy put the note in my locker. It won’t turn off. Who was he? Why didn’t he tell me to my face? If he knows it wasn’t an accident, why didn’t he go to the police?”
    â€œMaybe