Carolina Isle (Edenton 2)

Both of the twins nodded, then watched in silence as Gideon strapped on an old backpack and slung his rifle over his shoulder. He put a box and a half of cartridges in the bottom of his pack. “No fighting, no hitting, don’

t get into anything that will hurt you, and stay as far away from the girls as possible.”

“But you said—” Beatrice began.

“I know, I said to go to Effie, but I’m afraid you’ll tell her too much.”

“We don’t tell,” Bertie said.

“That’s true, but this secret is bigger than the others.” Gideon looked out the window. “I’m glad you don’t know where we’re going.”

“Top of the mountain to the hot springs,” Bertie said proudly.

Gideon groaned. “Too smart is what you are. Now stay here and color. I should be back before dark. I just want to make sure those city slickers don’t get killed.”

“Our ticket out,” Bertie said, making Gideon laugh.

“Okay, that’s all the TV you get. Now give me a hug and let me go. I’m going to have to doubletime it to get there before they do.”

“Why do you have to get there first?” Beatrice asked.

“There are some things that I need to—”

“To win!” Bertie said.

“That’s right. It’s a race and I need to win. Now hugs,” Gideon said.

Gideon was only a quarter mile up the trail when the twins decided to follow him. They’d had a lifetime of hiding to escape the notice of the Nezbit family, so they were good at being quiet. Gideon never heard so much as a footstep.

Chapter Sixteen

“WHY WERE YOU SMILING?” R.J. ASKED as soon as they were on the well-worn trail toward the center of the island.

“I was thinking about Ariel. She put herself in a position to hear all the gossip of the town.”

R.J. gave her a sharp look.

“Didn’t think of that, did you?”

“No, but that was smart of her,” he said, smiling. “Maybe she is your cousin after all.”

“Okay,” Sara said, halting on the trail. “That does it. First you kiss me and now you’ve given me more than one compliment. Either the world is ending or you think you’re going to die soon.”

Reaching back, he took her hand. “I want you on my side at the hearing on Monday. As for the kiss, a pretty girl and—”

“Spare me,” she said, starting to walk again and dropping his hand. She was just one of many women. It was the big complaint of all the women who came weeping to her, saying that R.J. had broken it off with them.

As they walked, she looked at the back of him and wondered what the truth was. “Do you have a plan about all this?”

“None whatever. What about you?”

“None,” she said cheerfully. “Are you sure Nezbit was dead? He wasn’t planted in the bathtub and pretending to be dead, was he?”

“Very sure. His body was disgustingly cold.”

“Do you think—?” she began but stopped when R.J. halted. She stopped beside him.

“Don’t look back, but someone is following us,” he said quickly. “And I think someone is ahead of us too. I think it’s just possible there are a parade of people around us. See those rocks up there?” he asked. “Think you could walk along the edge of them?”