Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

Some people’s got brains, some got beauty, but there ain’t too many got both. He was a good lookin’ fella. Besides that, he didn’t look all paunchy or soft and white like somebody that spends all their time with their nose in a book or lookin’ through microscopes. He just looked too fit, if you know what I mean—fine figure of a man.”

“So how did you recognize him if it was too dark to see that well?”

“Like I told the cops. I been watchin’ him go back and forth for weeks. You watch somebody a while, you get to know the way they move. I could see he was about the right height and build. When he took off across her yard, I knew it was him.”

“Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Simon suggested grimly. “Do you mind if I record your statement?”

“Naw. I ramble, though.”

“That’s fine … so you were sitting outside when you saw him arrive?”

“I said he slunk up. I didn’t hear no motor. He just sort of glided in there and tied up.”

“There isn’t an ordinance against motor boats in the crossings?”

She made a rude noise. “There’s ordinances against everything. Stupid bastards don’t seem to have nuthin’ useful to do. Most people’s too lazy to pay that any attention, though. They get ‘em a trollin’ motor and putt to their docks. He wasn’t usin’ a motor. I would’ve heard it. That means he cut it off so he could coast in an’ that means he didn’t want no attention. Anyway, he wasn’t comin’ to see me and nobody that ain’t up to somethin’ creeps up to somebody’s backdoor in the middle of the night.

“Then, he just sits there for the longest kind of time, studyin’ somethin’ he’s holdin’. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was about this big.” She made the form in the air with her hands.

“About the size of a reader, maybe?”

“Didn’t look like one. Weren’t no radio, neither. The only music I heard was comin’ from Dr. Blake’s. Whatever it was, was real interestin’ because he studied it the whole time, didn’t even look at her house—didn’t notice me when I got up and went in to call the cops. When I got back out, he was still sittin’ there. Then, all of a sudden, he drops the thing and bounds out of the boat. Took off toward her house. Then he stopped at the back corner, like he’s waitin’ for somethin’.

“I was cranin’ my neck to see what it was he was waitin’ to pounce on. Then I saw Dr. Blake cross the front yard to that little paddling boat she’d rented and bend down. When I looked back, he was creepin’ across the yard toward her.”

“Creeping?”

“Running like on his tiptoes, you know, real quiet, but movin’ fast.”

“How did you deduce that?”

“She didn’t turn around. She didn’t hear him. Liked to give me a heart attack. I hopped up and took off back in the house as fast as I could, but I cain’t move too fast.

Called the cops again. The bitch told me they was gonna charge me if I didn’t quit callin’ in false reports. I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t have no gun. I heard the boat start up before I could get back outside and then he took off with her. So I called the cops again, only I called the regular number instead of the emergency number. They said they’d send somebody out to check but nobody showed up until after the explosion.”

“You were lucky you weren’t injured,” Ian commented.

“Yeah, well I woulda been if I’d been snoopin’ from the front window. The explosion blew them out, but I’d gone out the back. I thought he was gonna turn and head back into the city and I might get the chance to get his tag number.”

Chapter Thirteen

As thrilled as Anna had been when she’d realized she was going to have a garden to putter around in while she was waiting for the trial to start, it had taken a while to get everything ready for the plants she would put in there and then … nothing, nothing for so long that she’d begun to lose the excitement that had kept her spirits high so long. The information that Simon and Ian had offered to go to Water City for supplies had buoyed her until she realized that they could be walking into trouble.

It was with more relief, then, than excitement that she headed into the atrium to greet them as soon as she heard the sub bump the docking station and then the gushing sound of water as it formed an airlock and forced the water out. She watched anxiously as Simon opened the hatch and began to relay materials up the ladder, from Ian, who apparently stood at the bottom, to Caleb and then to Joshua. After studying Simon’s face for a few moments to see if she could see any sign that they’d had trouble, she finally followed Joshua.

A trill of happiness went through her when she saw they’d brought the supplies promised and she set about immediately unloading the bags and placing the trays beneath the grow lights. Potting soil came next and she looked around for something to cut the bag open, grabbed the trowel and began filling the trays, trying not to think about the fact that she’d yet to see seed. Surely, she told herself, they wouldn’t forget that!

She was still filling trays when Simon, Ian, Caleb, and Joshua all appeared at the door. She looked past Caleb and Joshua questioningly. “Seeds?”

Simon moved inside and crouched beside her, handing her a