Summer Rider Read Free Page B

turned to Lisa and saw that her plate was still half full. “Are you almost finished? We don’t want to be late for our next class.”
    Lisa nodded. Her stomach was still too clenched up to eat, but she didn’t want her friends to know that. They would only worry about her, and she was fine. She just had a lot to do. “I’m ready when you are,” she said. “I think they put something new in the tuna salad. I didn’t really like it.”
    Just then Stevie grabbed Carole’s arm. “Check it out,”she whispered. “Barry is leaving already. What do you think that means?”
    Carole rolled her eyes. “It probably means he didn’t like the tuna salad either,” she said. “Anyway, he’s not really leaving. See? He’s just standing by the door.”
    It was true. Barry had paused by the doorway and was slowly scanning the room. He didn’t seem to be looking for anything or anyone in particular. It was more as if he was just making sure everything was in order.
    “Very mysterious,” Stevie commented.
    Carole sighed. “Come on,” she said, standing up. “Let’s go.”
    The girls said good-bye to Phil and Todd and headed for the door. As they passed Barry, Stevie paused. She was dying to find out if her blackmail theory was correct. In books and movies, detectives were always getting people to confess with well-timed, probing questions. Maybe she could do the same thing to get Barry to reveal his troubles.
    Ignoring Carole’s disapproving look, Stevie walked over to Barry. “Hi,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Looking for anything in particular? A little extra money to pay off some debts, for instance?”
    Even Stevie couldn’t have predicted Barry’s reaction. “Wh-What?” he stammered. “I mean, uh, no! Not at all—nothing’s wrong. Why don’t you leave me alone?”
    Before the surprised girls could say a word, Barry whirled and raced out the door.

F OR A MOMENT nobody moved. Stevie recovered first. “Come on,” she said. Obviously her comment had touched a nerve—she had to find out more. “We’ve got to follow him.” Without waiting for an answer, she took off after Barry.
    “Oh no,” Carole said. “We have to stop her before she does something stupid.” She ran out of the mess hall after Stevie.
    Lisa followed. She hadn’t paid much attention to Stevie’s ramblings about Barry and the men in the suits, but now even she had to admit that something strange seemed to be going on. Unlike Stevie, however, she wasn’t sure they should be getting involved in it—at least not until they knew what it was.
    Outside, they found Stevie looking around frantically.“He must have really been moving,” she said. “There’s no sign of him. Which way do you think he went?”
    “I don’t know,” Carole said. “Maybe we should just give up and—”
    “There!” Stevie interrupted. She pointed at a clump of bushes at the edge of the woods. Several branches were waving gently back and forth, even though there wasn’t a hint of a breeze. “He must have gone in there.”
    “But there’s no trail or anything,” Lisa pointed out.
    Stevie didn’t bother to reply. She just pushed her way into the underbrush. Her friends sighed, exchanged resigned glances, and followed.
    Carole and Lisa caught up to Stevie a few yards into the woods. She was peering at the ground. “It looks like there’s a rough trail here, one a deer or something might use,” she said without looking up. “Barry must have known it was here. He’s been spending every summer here for so long that he probably knows these woods like the back of his hand. But we’ll catch him.” She plowed forward, and Carole and Lisa had to duck quickly to avoid being slapped by branches.
    “Are you sure this is a good idea?” Carole asked, looking around nervously for poison ivy. Before lunch, she had exchanged her riding boots for sneakers with no socks, and her bare ankles felt vulnerable. “If Barry is trying this hard to get away