The Trap Read Online Free

you’d miss your friends back home.”
    “It’s okay,” I said. “We can keep in touch by e-mail. My best friend and I are on each other’s buddy lists, so we can instant-message each other as often as we’re both online.”
    “I know kids love the Internet,” Millie Lee said as she nodded. “But sometimes it’s better to have people on hand you can look at and talk to. While you’re here, you and Ashley can get together. I’ll bring her to work with me tomorrow.”
    After the luncheon, when we returned to Glenda’s house, I told her about Millie Lee’s granddaughter. “Would you mind if I invited her over?” I asked.
    “I’d love to have the two of you make friends,” Glenda said. “I’ve met Ashley Kemp, and she’s a dear girl.” Glenda gave me a quick glance, then said, “Just between you and me, Ashley doesn’t know who her father is, more’s the pity. And every now and then her mother takes off for a couple of months, so Ashley moves in with her grandmother. She comes to work with Millie Lee, and I try to make her feel welcome because I’m not sure Millie Lee knows how to.”
    “What is Ashley like?” I asked.
    “I just told you. I—”
    “No, Aunt Glenda. I mean is she tall or short? Does she like to swim? Does she read a lot? Does she jog?”
    “Oh, goodness,” Glenda said. “I know she’s probably an inch or two shorter than you, but then you come from the tall side of the family. And she has red hair—real red, not out of the bottle like her grandmother. And freckles. She’s pretty, but she’s a little too thin, if you ask me, although I know you girls always thinkyou can’t be thin enough. As for what she likes to do, you’ll have to find out for yourself.”
    “Tomorrow,” I said.
    “That’s right. Tomorrow morning.”
    Glenda unfastened the beautiful string of baroque pearls she was wearing and pulled off her pearl ear clips. “I’m going to take a little nap,” she said. “You can find something to occupy you for an hour or so, can’t you?”
    I nodded. “I’ve brought my laptop. If it’s all right with you, I’ll connect it.”
    “Of course,” Glenda said. “If you’d rather, you can use mine. I keep it on a side table in Gabe’s office.” She looked apologetic as she added, “It’s a few years old and I’ve never updated the modem so it’s not very fast.”
    “Thanks,” I said, “but I’m used to mine.”
    She smiled. “I know you’ll want to e-mail your parents and let them know you arrived here safely.”
    “Oh, yes. I guess,” I said. I couldn’t help feeling a little guilty. “I was thinking about my best friend,” I said. “We instant-message each other.” Before Glenda could say anything I added, “I’ll write to Mom, too.”
    Glenda just smiled and said, “You can set your laptop up on Gabe’s desk in his study. He won’t be using the study for a good long while, so you can just keep it there, if you like.” She paused at the doorway. “Later this afternoon we’ll go back to the hospital to visit Gabe and then stop for something to eat at a restaurant near the hospital. You do like Italian food, don’t you?”
    I told her I did. As she shut the door to her bedroom, I quietly left the living room through the frontdoor and walked around the side of the house to re-examine the steps to Uncle Gabe’s observatory room. Even with all the distractions the day had brought, I’d kept thinking about those nail holes. Were they real? Or had I imagined them? If they were real, I’d have to tell Uncle Gabe about them.
    They were real, all right. I sat on the top step, trying to think things through. What should I do?
    I didn’t want to tell Glenda. It would only frighten her, and I had no proof of what I suspected—that something had been tied between those nails to trip Gabe. I certainly didn’t want to tell Mom or Dad about it. It would be like yelling for help, expecting them to drop whatever they were doing and come