The Hidden Valley Mystery Read Online Free

grabbed a pop and sandwich each. Gunnar held out the platter to Mike. Tuan squatted again beside him.
    Freddy sat back on the rail and swallowed a chunk of bread. “Dead Man’s Cliff? Where’s that?”
    “I bet I know,” Tuan piped in. “That’s the cliff not far from my apartment, at the end of the street. I’ve climbed down there many times.”
    “Yeah, sure,” Freddy glugged back some pop, “when you’re not glued to your computer.”
    Tuan giggled and continued, “The first summer my family came to Canada, my brother and I scooped a hide out in that cliff. We used to crawl inside and look at comic books—to learn English.”
    “Yeah,” Freddy chuckled, “important words like ‘wham’ and ‘bang’. That’s all you knew your first day at school.”
    Mike sat up. He stared at Tuan. “You dug holes in that cliff?” He couldn’t imagine anyone playing there by choice, not after his nasty fall.
    “Oh, you know Tuan,” Freddy stuffed another sandwich into his mouth, “he’s so light and fast, he could crawl across a ceiling and not fall.”
    “I had to go somewhere,” Tuan giggled. “With seven people crowded in one apartment, it’s too noisy for me to read. I still go there sometimes.”
    Gunnar swallowed a crust. “Only now you read books about computer programming, not Batman comics,” he added. He propped his back against the door and crossed one long foot over the other.
    “So, Mike, you want to come see my hide out?” Tuan asked, mischief dancing in his eyes. “Maybe you could add another patch to your knees.”
    Mike groaned and flopped back on the chair.
    Gunnar uncrossed his legs and slid down onto the floor to sit beside Tuan. “Tuan, when you and your brother played on that cliff, did you ever see a mansion below?” Gunnar asked.
    Tuan nodded. “There is another small valley north of the golf course. Once, late in the autumn, when the branches were bare, I did see a big house.”
    Gunnar continued. “Did you notice anything strange going on there?”
    Tuan thought. He shook his head. “In summer the leaves are too thick to see much. After school starts, and the weather turns cold, my hide-out is the school library instead.”
    Freddy thumped his feet to the porch. “Who cares about some big old house?” He beckoned the others closer. “I think we should take Mike to the show at the Cinetron.” He glanced around. His voice dropped to a whisper. “I overheard Maria say she and Elise are going this afternoon.”
    “Oh, Mike,” Tuan shook his finger, “you didn’t tell us you had a girlfriend.”
    “I don’t!” Mike snorted. “It’s Freddy who’s crazy about girls, not me. Elise is just somebody in my Math class.”
    “And Maria?” Gunnar kicked Freddy’s leg. “Is she in your Math class too?”
    “Shut up, you guys.” Freddy bent toward the platter by Gunnar’s shoe. He snatched the last sandwich. “Do you want to go to the show or not?”
    Gunnar laughed. “You didn’t even tell us what’s playing.”
    “ Revenge of the Bat People ,” Freddy answered.
    “It sounds good to me,” said Tuan.
    “Me too,” Gunnar agreed.
    Mike eased himself off the chair. He stretched. “O.K., guys, it’s settled. Let’s go.”
    CHAPTER 6 – The Van
    In the Cinetron lobby, the boys said good bye to Elise and Maria. With the rest of the movie crowd, they jostled through the glass doors onto the sidewalk. Outside, the air still felt warm, although cars were pulling into the plaza’s exit lane. Food Basics and Shopper's Drug Mart had closed.
    “Oh, man, that ending was gross,” Mike chortled.
    Freddy gave him a friendly shove in the back. “What do you mean? I loved how the mountain blew up at the end.”
    Up the sidewalk, Tuan darted ahead of them. He twirled around, his giant green T shirt flaring like a skirt. He tilted his head to one side and clasped both hands. In a high pitched voice he squealed, “Oh, help me, Freddy dear. Your Maria is so