Free Mystery Rider by Miralee Ferrell Page A

were shaking as she placed the sack of cookies on a little bench by the door. Tori slipped the envelope containing their letter beneath it.
    They turned to go but stopped short as a high-pitched wail, coming from the backyard, tore through the air.

Chapter Nine
    Kate grabbed Tori’s hand and dragged her from the porch and along the path to the gate, determined to get to their bikes and ride as hard as they could to her house. Colt straddled his bike and waved for them to hurry. They got to the gate, and Kate opened it and rushed through, not closing it behind her. She skidded to a stop by her bike and grabbed it from the ground, righting it and throwing her leg over the bar.
    â€œCome on, Tori.” Kate glanced over her shoulder. Where was she?
    Colt let out an exasperated grunt. “Tori! What are you doing?”
    Kate caught a glimpse of her friend slipping around the corner of the house toward the backyard. “No way! She can’t go back there! That lady might really be crazy and hurt her.” She dumped her bike on the ground at the same time Colt jumped off his, and they bolted in the direction Tori had taken.
    Kate’s long legs kept her within a stride of Colt as he rounded the corner. They practically ran into Tori, who crouched a couple of yards ahead. She was hunkered down behind a bush, her gaze on something they couldn’t see.
    Kate scooted to a stop next to her friend, then dropped to her knees. “Are you nuts?” She whispered the words through gritted teeth. “Why’d you come here after you heard that awful cry?”
    Tori simply pointed but didn’t say a word.
    Kate and Colt looked, and Kate’s mouth dropped open.
    The old woman stood over a freshly dug grave, her body quivering and her arms full of something the size of a child, wrapped in an old blanket. She slowly knelt and placed the bundle in the hole. Then another unearthly wail rent the air.
    Colt gripped Kate’s shoulder with one hand and Tori’s with the other and hissed in their ears, “Let’s get out of here. Do you see that grave marker? It has a name on it!”
    Kate’s body froze as she looked where he pointed. A white cross was driven into the ground at the far end of the hole, and she could clearly see one word: Sam.
    As the three of them edged backward, the old woman stood with the help of a shovel that was sunk in the ground beside her. Then she grasped the handle, pulled the shovel out, and tossed a shovelful of dirt into the hole. She lifted her fist to the air and shook it at the heavens, then let loose another long cry.
    Even Tori’s body started to quiver as she retreated from her position behind the bush and made her way around the corner of the house. “Wow.”
    â€œNo kidding.” Colt dusted off the knees of his jeans. “That was creepy. I kept thinking of what Melissa said about somebody disappearing years ago, and the ol’ lady burying them here.”
    Kate picked up her bike and straddled it. “The bundle she put in the grave was about the size of my little brother.” She shivered and rubbed her hands together. “Totally creepy, if you ask me. We’d better get out of here.”
    â€œRight.” Colt pushed his bike a few yards up the driveway, then swung aboard, with Tori following.
    â€œHey!” A quavering voice rang out from behind them.
    All three of them stopped. Kate was afraid to look back, but she did. The old lady stood there, shaking her fist in the air. “I told you kids not to come here again, and if you know what’s good for you, you’ll leave me in peace. I can’t take any more, do you hear me?”
    Tori gasped and stood on her pedals, then shot ahead of Kate and Colt. Kate didn’t hesitate. She followed as close as she could, happy to hear the crunch of Colt’s tires on the gravel behind her but unable to shut out the ongoing rant of the old lady, who stood next to the