Death at Devil's Bridge Read Online Free Page B

hurry. Mom’ll kill me if I’m late.”
    Donny smiled his lazy smile, but his eyes seemed to be sizing me up. “Hey, you remember when I found out about your secret cave?” he asked.
    â€œYes,” I said, puzzled. It wasn’t at all what I’d expected him to say.
    Jeff and I had discovered a cave up in the clay cliffs, and for about four years now, it had been our secret place. We kept sleeping bags, rods, reels, and lures there, and matches and driftwood for campfires. We’d had some of our best times in that cave. Something that made it even cooler was that I had discovered my father’s initials, JUD, for Jack Ulysses Daggett, carved into
the clay on the back wall. Pop told me it had been his secret place when he was a kid. Jeff’s initials and mine were carved right next to Pop’s.
    One day when Jeff and I were slipping through the narrow entrance to the cave, I looked back and saw Donny watching us. Later, he told me he wouldn’t tell anybody, and as far as I knew, he’d kept his promise.
    â€œI never told anybody your little secret, you know.”
    â€œI know, Donny,” I said, trying to smile. “Thanks.” I started to go, but Donny reached out and touched my arm, and I turned back to face him.
    â€œAnd I never will tell, Ben,” he said very slowly, emphasizing each word. “You can count on me.”
    â€œThat’s great, Donny. Thanks.”
    Donny grinned and gave me a soft punch on the shoulder. “Jeff said you were cool. How about we pick you up in the Tomahawk tomorrow night before the fireworks?”
    I was so surprised, my jaw dropped. Donny wanted me to go with him to the fireworks? I quickly closed my mouth, then managed to stammer, “Well, yeah, sure. I mean, that’d be great.”
    â€œAround eight?”
    â€œYeah, sure.”
    â€œWe’ll have us a party! ” he said, then added with a wink, “Better get going. You don’t want your mom to ground you.”
    I stood for a moment, watching Donny walk back to the garage, before I got on my bike and began racing down the hill. The beam of the Aquinnah lighthouse flashed red-white-red-white-red-white across the sky. Usually the familiar light was a comforting sign that all was well, but no matter how hard I pumped my legs, I couldn’t escape the feeling that tonight it was sending me a warning.

Five
    Barry’s car was in the driveway when I got home. I lingered outside for a minute, trying to collect my wildly spinning thoughts. Somehow, without exactly meaning to, I had promised not to tell about Donny and the Porsche. Donny had invited me to go with him to the fireworks the following night and, somehow, I had agreed that he would pick me up at eight o’clock.
    Mom would not approve of any of this, I was sure. But the opportunity to arrive at Oak Bluffs for the big Fourth of July celebration in style, in the Tomahawk, with Donny, was too good to pass up. I’d been so dumbfounded when he asked me—okay, I admitted to myself, I’d been so flattered —that I couldn’t say no. I couldn’t look at Donny and say, “My mom won’t let me.” I’d feel like a total weenie. Especially since Jeff was going.
    So I had to figure a way to get out of the house without Mom knowing I was going out with Donny. And now I had to go inside and act normal, or Mom’s radar would pick up right away that something had happened tonight.
    I took a deep breath and opened the front door. Mom called, “Ben? Is that you?”
    â€œHi,” I said, walking into the living room, where she and Barry were sitting.
    â€œHow are you, Ben?” said Barry. “I hear you made quite an interesting discovery.”
    For one panicked second I thought he knew I had discovered that Donny had sunk the Porsche. But then I realized he was talking about me being the one to find it.
    â€œYeah,” I said. “Good thing