Read November Lake: Teenage Detective (The November Lake Mysteries) Book 1 for Free Online Page B

about,” the man said through
gritted teeth as he fought the pain.
    I was
starting to wonder if we should give the guy some first aid. If he
bled to death and we had done nothing to save him, then what sort
of police officers were we?
    “ You drove us off the road, then took the keys to our car,”
Kale came again. He didn’t seem to share the same concerns I
did.
    “ I never drove you off the road,” the injured man groaned. “I
was just trying to get past you. You were driving so
slow.”
    Kale
glanced at me, then back down at the bleeding man. “Why the
rush?”
    “ My sister is in danger,” he said, sounding out of breath. “She
has been kidnapped, and if I don’t get to her, she will
die.”
    “ Kidnapped?” I breathed. Was this guy for real?
    “ Sarah is being held against her will in a farmhouse just on
the other side of this field,” the man panted, pressing his hand
flat against the wound in his side. “You’ve got to help
me.”
    “ Car keys?” Kale said, holding out his hand again.
    “ I haven’t got your keys,” the man winced, looking up out of
the fog at us.
    “ Who else would have taken them?” I asked.
    “ Morris Cook,” the man said.
    “ And who is Morris Cook?” Kale asked, raising an
eyebrow.
    “ The man who is going to murder my sister if I don’t save her,”
he said. “Please help me.”
    I
pointed my torch into the fog. Just ahead I could see what looked
like the outline of a small building. It sat in the fog like a
shadow. Still not knowing if we should believe this stranger, how
could we not help him? We were police officers after all, albeit
probationers and still at training school. Bending at the knees, I
slipped one arm around the injured man. I looked back at
Kale.
    “ I don’t like this one little bit,” Kale said.
    “ Neither do I,” I told him. “But what are we meant to
do?”
    Drawing
a deep breath, Kale crouched down, slipped his arm around the
shoulders of the stranger, and together we hoisted him to his feet.
He cried out in pain as we led him to the small building hidden in
the fog.
    As we
drew closer to it, I could see that the building was in fact a
small barn. Supporting the stranger between us, I pulled open the
door. The hinges made a grinding noise that sent shivers down my
spine. I cast the torchlight inside and could see that the ground
was scattered with hay. There were several bales in one corner, and
some old oily tractor parts in another. We led the man inside,
settling him down against the bales of hay. I looked out in the fog
just for any sign that we might have been followed by this Morris
Cook, the stranger who had been mentioned. Not being able to see
any more than just a few feet in front of me, I slowly closed the
barn door.
    “ Do you want me to take a look at that cut?” Kale asked the
man.
    “ No,” he breathed deeply. “It’s painful, but not too
deep.”
    “ Look, we both know a bit about first aid,” Kale started.
“We’re both…”
    I
reached out and placed my hand on Kale’s arm. Without saying a
word, I looked into his eyes and shook my head. Something told me
not to tell this guy just yet that we were both cops. He had
mentioned that his sister was being held captive close by. He might
clam up if he knew we were police officers, fearing that we might
scare this Morris Cook into taking some rash action and hurting his
sister.
    As if
reading my mind, Kale stopped mid-sentence. He looked down again at
the man. “What’s your name?”
    “ Clive,” he said.
    “ Last name?” I asked.
    “ You don’t need to know that,” he said, pulling himself up into
a seated position against the hay. I was glad now that we hadn’t
revealed what we were to him. He probably thought we were just a
couple of harmless kids on our way home after a night
out.
    “ We need to know something about you if we’re going to help
you,” Kale said. “Or perhaps we should call the police?” Kale took
his phone from his pocket.
    “