Chapter 45

Bryce beat me to the Ingrams’ driveway and turned off his ATV. There aren’t many houses in this part of Red Rock—if this is even part of Red Rock. From here you’re so close to the mountain that you can’t see Pikes Peak. Funny how something smaller can block out something bigger when you’re close.

We slipped off our helmets, and Bryce studied the property. The house was at the end of a long driveway that snaked up the hill to a plateau covered with pine trees. To the left stood a corral with a small barn. Huge timbers rose out of the ground and arched over the driveway. A barbed-wire fence ran along the road and directly up the hill to a closed gate. A small keypad was fixed to the middle, and another square box with a button was attached to the timber.

“You don’t think he could be hiding here, do you?” Bryce said.

“The police would have searched it.”

Bryce climbed off his ATV and placed his helmet on the seat. “Do you like this as much as I do?”

“What?”

“Snooping around. Trying to solve a mystery.”

I nodded. “Except . . .”

“What?”

“I’d rather not be part of the mystery about Sam and Dad.”

Bryce told me what he had overheard on the answering machine and what he had learned from his Internet search.

“Is that why you grilled Mrs. Watson?” I said.

He nodded. “Think about it, Ash. We don’t know anything about Sam’s parents other than the pictures he shows us. We don’t know what he did before Mom met him, other than fly famous people around. For all we know, he could be mixed up with those gold robbers or—”

“A spy for the government?” I said.

“Anything.”

“You kids get out of here!” someone shouted from the hillside. “Can’t you read?”