Chapter Eight
Excerpt from Ch 7:
While Carl was in his room reading the telegram and thinking, Fen, Leah and Nick were driving into town.
"Pretty quiet." Nick looked around. "I thought you said Bear and his family lived outside town, though."
"On the other side," Fen pointed towards the other side of town. "I could have taken another route only there were problems on one of the roads along the way." He threw a glance towards the end of town. "Their land is three miles from the end of town."
After stopping at the telegraph office, which was the last building before leaving town, and sending a telegram to the Barkleys, Fen drove the wagon out to the Douglas' farm. When they arrived, Carl was just coming out of the barn while they could see Mrs. Douglas through the kitchen window. The young boy ran towards the gentleman who had just climbed down from the wagon-though he didn't actually embrace him until Leah had been helped down from the wagon.
"I knew you'd come." Carl said as he hugged his friend and then stepped backwards, shocking them as he lowered his voice even more than he had already; he confessed his mother did not know he had sent for Fen. "She'll tell you everything is fine, and Father's business trip is simply taking longer than he hoped. Only, I…" Carl stopped speaking when the front door started to open. His eyes begged Fen and the others not to tell his mother that Carl had sent for them.
"Fen Miller! Leah!" The red-headed, rather thin, Anna Douglas beamed from ear to ear. "What a pleasant surprise! I didn't expect to see you anywhere near Modesto." Glancing at Nick in the back of the wagon, her eyebrows furrowed a little. "Mr. Barkley?"
Nick grinned. "Yes, it's me only forgive me for not standing." He explained about his mishap-though he left off saying exactly where he was when the accident happened, a fact Fen and Leah quickly caught onto.
"We know we didn't wire ahead and let you now we were coming only," Fen hesitated and then asked if it was okay if they stayed with the Douglas family. "I'll pay you what I would the boarding house for your trouble."
Since it was no secret how Fen Miller felt about boarding houses, Anna thought nothing of the request. "If you help out with keeping food in the house, you can stay as long as you want-no extra charge for the beds." She turned around and went back inside, leaving the front door open so her unexpected guests could enter without having to reopen the door.
"Let's help Mr. Barkley inside, and then," Fen kept his voice low and his eyes on Carl, "we'll have to find some time alone, so you can tell us what is going on."
"Yes, Uncle Fen." Carl didn't say anything else only the mixture of fear and gratitude that was in his eyes kept Fen's, Leah's and Nick's curiosity at a high level.
Once inside Fen and Leah helped Nick to the living room couch that set off to the left of the front door. Afterwards Leah walked through a rectangle entranceway that led into the kitchen. Soon she was visiting Anna and helping the woman fix supper. However, the moment Anna had to step outside, Carl-who had had been standing in the entrance way that led to the bedrooms-started talking-and talking fast.
"Father's a part time uncover detective. He left here to investigate some counterfeiting and illegal land dealings; that is, to look into the allegations." Carl wasn't surprised by the shocked looks that leapt onto Fen and Nick's faces; he also heard Leah gasp from the kitchen.
Fen, recovering from the shock of hearing his former neighbor did undercover work, pushed Carl to explain why he'd sent the telegram if nothing was going on with him and his mother. "Your dad's a grown man and not around here. What did we need to get down here so fast for?"
"I only sent that telegram because of what I accidentally overheard the day I sent it." Carl took a deep breath and began to tell them what had happened only to have the door open; it was his mother returning. He quickly shut up and, again, sent a silent message begging them not to question him in front of his mother. As curious as they were, the Millers and Nick said nothing. A few moments later, they were all sitting around the Douglas's dining room table eating and visiting.
"Food tastes great." Nick smiled at Mrs. Douglas. "My compliments to the cook."
The compliment made the woman smile though she was quick to give a portion of the credit to Leah. "She did as much of the fixing as I did, even gave me a few pointers when it comes to the seasoning. By the way, thanks for that." Mrs. Douglas looked at Leah. "I can honestly say this dish has never tasted so good before. I'm going to enjoy surprising my husband with it when he returns."
Nick looked at Leah in surprise; then again, he didn't know why. It's not like there was much available when they'd been at the abandoned building. "My compliments to both the cooks then." He smiled even wider, allowing his dimples to show even more.
Leah couldn't hide how flattered she was by Nick's words, though she simply thanked him and starting eating.
The conversation was kept light until the food was eaten and Fen, along with Carl and Nick were sitting on the porch. It didn't pass either man that Carl had checked to see that every window was shut tight before he'd joined them.
"Okay, tell us what is going on that is so important…and why you don't want your mother hearing what you have to say." Fen spoke in a low, but firm, tone of voice. Nick's eyes were loudly demanding to be told the same thing.
