Read Missing on Superstition Mountain for Free Online Page B

hand of doom.
    She beckoned Delilah into the kitchen. “Is twenty dollars all right?” she asked, unsnapping her billfold. “Does that sound like a good reward?”
    Twenty dollars! Henry smacked his forehead. This was unbelievable.
    Delilah nodded. “Oh, yes! That’s a lot.”
    Jack looked ready to explode. “Mom, you can’t—”
    But Mrs. Barker hushed him with another disapproving glance while she poured a glass of lemonade. “Here, Delilah, and how about a chocolate chip cookie?” She filled a plate and set it on the table.
    Henry looked at Simon and Jack in disbelief. How could their mother give twenty dollars AND chocolate chip cookies to the girl who kidnapped Josie? It was outrageous.
    Mrs. Barker continued talking to Delilah. “What grade are you going into?”
    â€œFifth,” she said, smiling at the boys smugly. She sat down at the table and took a swig of lemonade, smacking her lips.
    â€œHenry’s in the same grade!” Mrs. Barker said.
    Delilah turned to Henry. “Really? I thought you were younger than me.”
    Henry scowled at her.
    â€œMaybe you’ll be in the same class,” Mrs. Barker continued.
    â€œMaybe,” Delilah said neutrally.
    Mrs. Barker pushed the cookie plate in front of her and gave her a paper napkin. “Now, how long have you and your family lived in this area?”
    â€œWe’re new,” Delilah said. “We moved here in March.”
    â€œYou did?” Mrs. Barker exclaimed. “We just moved here too!” She turned to the boys and widened her eyes slightly, a look that appeared to mean “see, you have so much in common” or “stop the nonsense about the cat right now and make friends with this girl.”
    Henry, Simon, and Jack huddled at one end of the table, fuming.
    â€œHave you met other children in the neighborhood?” Mrs. Barker kept on talking.
    â€œSome,” Delilah said, “but lots of people are away on vacation.”
    She bit into a cookie. When Mrs. Barker turned away to refill her glass of lemonade, Delilah made a face at the boys. “Yum! These cookies are dee-licious.”
    Henry couldn’t stand it anymore. He grabbed his mother’s arm. “You can’t feed her! That’s not fair! She took Josie and tried to pretend she was hers. She called her Princess !”
    As if any normal person would name a cat Princess, Henry thought. Surely now their mother would understand.

    â€œHenry, hush,” Mrs. Barker said firmly. “You saw for yourself, Delilah brought Josie back home. You boys should thank her.”
    Henry, Jack, and Simon gaped in astonishment.
    â€œThat’s it,” Simon said. “We’re going outside.” He beckoned for Henry and Jack to follow him onto the deck before their mother could stop them.
    They ran over to the swing set, as far away from the house as possible. It was their swing set from Chicago, painstakingly reconstructed here in Arizona by their father during the first two weekends after the move. Mrs. Barker had complained that he was doing that instead of helping her unpack, but Mr. Barker pointed out that there was nothing about Uncle Hank’s house that made it seem like a place for kids, so the swing set was important.
    Henry was grateful for it—in this strange desert place, it was the one thing that reminded him of their yard back home. Simon sat on a rung of the ladder that led to the fort, and Jack lay on his stomach on the slide. Henry plopped down on a swing and twisted around several times. “Mom is crazy.”
    The other two nodded glumly.
    â€œHow come she believed her?” Jack demanded.
    â€œThat girl is a tricky one,” Henry observed.
    The sliding door squeaked open, and Mrs. Barker came out with the plate of cookies. “What on earth is the matter with you boys?” she said.
    â€œWhere is she?” Henry asked