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there,” I said, and pointed. “There’s the swimming pool and the clubhouse.”
    I moved to the telescope that rested on a large tripod near one of the windows and focused on the pool. A black sedan slid in and parked in front of the office, and the Hunk climbed out. He pulled off his sweats, tossed them into his car, then scratched his chest and yawned widely. I giggled. He had no idea he was being watched.
    Swinging the telescope in the other direction, I could see the Crouches’ home—at least the part facing the road. And not too far off someone on his knees, bent over as he pulled weeds in a small flower bed next to the Barrows’ house. In the distance, looking like my brother Trevor’s small Western action figures, rode two men on horseback. Ahead of them plodded a half dozen or so head of cattle.
    “Do you want to take a turn?” I asked Ashley, and she silently moved to the telescope.
    I noticed that she lingered on the pool area a little longer than on anyplace else and I grinned, thinking that the Hunk didn’t know how much he was being appreciated.
    “Bring your swimsuit tomorrow,” I said. “We’ll go swimming at the clubhouse pool.”
    Ashley turned and studied me. “You really want me to go swimming with you? You weren’t just saying that to please my grandmother?”
    Startled, I said, “I invited you to swim with me because I thought we’d have fun. You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”
    “I
do
want to.” Ashley’s cheeks reddened, and she looked down at her toes.
    I backed up a few steps, sank into Gabe’s heavily padded leather office chair, and leaned back, twirling from side to side. “We should come here at night,” I said, “and look at the stars, like Uncle Gabe does.”
    “Great. I’d like that,” Ashley said, suddenly animated. “I found some terrific astronomy sites on the Internet, using Gran’s computer. It’s hard to find time, though, when she’s not on it.”
    I was surprised, and asked without thinking, “What does she use her computer for? Freecell? Solitaire?”
    Ashley shook her head. “No, she likes chat rooms and instant messaging. She talks to people all over the country.”
    “How about you? Do you have computer friends too?” I asked.
    “I don’t like chat rooms,” Ashley said. “I don’t know the people in them and I don’t want to write messages to someone I don’t know.”
    “Me either,” I said. “I do a lot of instant messaging, but it’s to my best friend at home.”
    “I love to find out new things on the Internet, like at the astronomy sites,” Ashley added, “but it will be even more exciting to see the night sky through a telescope. I didn’t realize it was your uncle who had the telescope.”
    I was glad I’d brought up the idea, because for some reason it seemed important to me that I look through that telescope in the darkness. I’d taken a careful look around the office so that when I came after dark I’d know my way around. Maybe I’d discover that Gabe had seen something he wasn’t supposed to see, and that was why someone …
    But I thought about the deep, silent darkness that enveloped the ranch at night, and about the heavy-footed cattle with their curious eyes and huge faces, and I knew I’d be too scared to come to the observatory by myself.
    If Gabe had been right, and someone had wanted him to trip at the head of the stairs, and I found out who did it—
    “Are you cold?” Ashley asked me. She sounded puzzled. “You just shivered.”

AFTER LUNCH GLENDA RECEIVED A CALL FROM GABE’S doctor. The new medication was working, Gabe’s blood pressure was down, and he could check out of the hospital at any time. Since plans had changed, Millie Lee moved on to her afternoon people, as she called them, taking Ashley with her. Glenda gave Ashley a big hug and made her promise to come to our house the next morning with a swimsuit.
    As Millie Lee reminded Glenda that she was almost out of tile cleaner,