The Legend of Miner's Creek Read Free Page B

lightning, but Nancy remembered seeing lightning only near the mountains before the fire started. That, plus the fact that this wasn’t the first suspicious fire on the retreat, made Nancy want to investigate.
    â€œI’ll catch up,” she said to the others. “I think I lost my watch while I was digging.” As she spoke, she quickly slipped her watch off her wrist and into her pocket.
    â€œWe’ll help you look for it,” Bess offered.
    Nancy waved her friend away. “That’s okay,” she said. “I think I know exactly where it is.”
    As the others headed toward the van, Nancy began to follow the fire line, looking at the ground carefully as if searching for the watch. When she got to the end of the fire line, she circled around toward the spot where the fire had started. Pete was still back near the fire line, throwing dirt on the last embers. She hoped he wouldn’t look up. Across themeadow Charlie and the girls were almost to the van.
    Nancy was looking for anything that seemed out of place—anything that would tell her someone had been near the start of the fire. She found nothing on the ground, but then, just as she was about to give up, she spotted a flash of white caught in the thorns of a low bush. Nancy reached in carefully and pulled out a partly burned piece of paper.
    Suddenly she heard a noise behind her. Nancy turned to see Pete Sims scowling at her from beneath his wide hat brim.
    â€œWhat do you have there?” he demanded.

3
Half a Clue
    Nancy quickly tucked the paper into her pocket and pulled out her watch. “I found my watch,” she said, showing it to Pete.
    â€œThen you’d better get out of here,” the dark-haired man ordered. “Don’t you know this is a dangerous place to be? This fire could start up again any minute.”
    â€œAre you coming, too?” Nancy asked. She thought Pete seemed awfully anxious to be alone in the meadow.
    â€œSoon enough,” Pete told her shortly. “Now, go on before the van takes off without you.” He gestured in the direction of the road, where Charlie and the girls had just reached the van.
    â€œSorry. Thanks for your help.” Nancy tried to sound cheerful as she started off to join the others.
    A few rays of sun streaked through the heavy clouds overhead. Bess stood by the van with herhead hung to one side, squeezing the excess water out of her long blond hair. Her blue shorts and denim blouse were soaked to her skin. George and Rachel were already inside the van. They looked as if they had just been pushed into a swimming pool with their clothes on. Everyone was smudged with dirt and ash. They could all use warm showers, Nancy thought.
    â€œHow will Pete get back?” she asked as Charlie held open the van door for her.
    â€œDon’t worry,” Rachel volunteered. “There’s a trail that leads from the meadow back to the lodge. In fact, Pete was just coming back from there when we found him and told him about the fire.”
    â€œHe’d been in the meadow?” Nancy asked in surprise.
    Rachel nodded. “He’d been putting out a salt block to attract deer for the guests to watch.” She paused, frowning. “He seemed very surprised about the fire. He hadn’t noticed it when he was there, so it must have just started,” she said.
    It seemed to Nancy that a lot of people had “happened” to be around the fire scene. Pete had been in the meadow just before it started. Maddie Emerson had shown up just after. It was even an interesting coincidence, she thought, that the fire had started as they were driving by. Could someone have planned for them to see it? She remembered Maddie’s words: “He’d better figure out a way to stop all of these fires, or Highland Retreat is going to be ashes.”
    Could Maddie Emerson have been threatening Charlie instead of warning him?
    Nancy reached into the pocket of her