The Case of the Sin City Sister Read Online Free

hammer?” Carlos asked, remembering that they had pulled off only two of the top boards so they could peek inside. They had tried to pull off the others but were unsuccessful. That was the other reason they had decided to come back. They knew they could cross over the old boards, but neither one of the brothers wanted to be the one pushed up and over without knowing what was on the other side. It would be easier, they decided, to go in together, and to do that, more of the boards needed to be pulled away.
    “I got it,” Joseph answered, reaching inside the small toolbox he kept attached to the back of his four-wheeler.
    “You brought Dad’s good one?” Carlos asked, sounding both impressed and a little nervous at what his brother had done.
    “We’ll get it back before he needs it,” Joseph replied. “Here,” he said and threw him the flashlight while he walked over and started pulling nails out of the boards.
    “What kind of mine is this, anyway?” Carlos asked, turning on the flashlight and beaming light in between the boards.
    “Silver, I think,” Joseph responded. “Up front they were mining for placer gold, but back here I think it was silver.”
    “It could be turquoise,” Carlos noted. “We studied that in history last year. There were a lot of people digging for turquoise in the early 1900s. Cerrillos was almost picked as the capital of New Mexico.”

    Joseph yanked out another nail and pulled at a board from the center of the opening. “I know, Professor. We’re in the same grade. I take State History too.” He turned back to his brother. “Are you going to just give history lessons or are you going to help?”
    Carlos turned off the flashlight and stuck it into his back pocket. He walked over next to his brother and yanked at a loose board until it came free. He threw it off to the side. “You want to get that last one?” he asked, pointing to the board near their feet.
    “We can just jump over that one,” Joseph said. He dropped the hammer at his side and took a step inside. “Man, it must be twenty degrees cooler in here,” he commented.
    Carlos paused and then walked in behind him, turned on the flashlight, and began to throw light inside the old mine. He shivered. His brother was right—it was very cold inside. He was glad he had worn a long-sleeved shirt.
    “Here, let me see that.” Joseph reached over for the flashlight.
    Carlos handed it to him.
    “Look, it goes way back,” Joseph noted, pointing the light in front of where they stood. “You ready?”
    Carlos shrugged. “How do we know there’s no rattlers back there?”
    Joseph grinned. “Guess we don’t until we hear them.”
    “Or get bit by one.”
    “We’ll just go a little ways,” Joseph said, trying to persuade his brother. “That’s why we came back, right?” He turned to Carlos and shined the light in his eyes.
    Carlos turned away. “Geez, Joe, you trying to blind me?”
    His brother laughed and started toward the back of the mine.“Looks like it gets a little smaller,” he commented, pointing to the opening. He knew his brother was claustrophobic. “You can wait out there if you want,” he added, prodding him.
    Carlos followed. “I’m not scared, if that’s what you think.”
    “Okay then, why don’t you go ahead?” Joseph stopped and waited.
    Carlos paused. “No, you go first. That way if the snake or cat jumps out, you’ll be lunch and I’ll have time to get out.”
    The two brothers walked in a few steps farther.
    “Just looks like the others,” Carlos said as he followed close behind his brother. “I think it would be boring being a miner. Never seeing the sunshine, breathing in all this dust and dirt.”
    “Yeah, but if you found the gold or the silver or whatever thing you were looking for, well, then you would be set for life,” Joseph noted. “You could be a millionaire.”
    “I don’t think that really happened to most of those guys. A lot of them were on the payroll for the