Answers and Graham Quartet - Part 19

Good Morning Friday Fiction Fans!
This has been a rather interesting week as far as weather is concerned. Last Friday and Saturday the snow was melting. Then it began to snow Saturday night and we had several inches when we woke up Sunday morning and it was still snowing and blowing with a wind chill in the -20ºs! Church was cancelled since many people come from quite a distance and most were from where the storm was worse. The next few days were quite a bit below zero with negative degrees at night or with the windchill. Then yesterday it began to grow warmer and last night it remained above freezing! The snow is nearly all gone now and there's a chance of rain today.

My week has been busy in other regards too. A friend and her three kiddos came over on Monday afternoon for a while, I worked really hard on TCR-2 and this morning I was able to order my proof copy! Yipee! I'll let you know as soon as it becomes available for purchase. And, if you haven't gotten your copy of Triple Creek Ranch Book 1 — Unbroken, then be sure you visit Light of Faith, Amazon or my Store to purchase your own copy. If you want it signed, then get it from Light of Faith and request it signed.

Other writing? Well, you all should be happy to know that I worked on TCR Book 3 and now have 3 parts of it written. :) (You'll be able to read a sneak preview of it at the end of book 2.) I also finished "The Graham Quartet and the Mysterious Strangers." Yes, it's the same story you've been reading. However, since the story is so long and the lonely cabin is only in part of it, I thought it needed a different name. There are 33 parts to this story, so it will last a while. :)

But now, the answers to last weeks questions:
Question Two: How many new books did I read in 2013?
Answer: 91
Noah and Joseph were only 4 off with their guesses of 87.

Question One: How many books do we have?
Answer: Well, we counted them last night, but something wasn't right. I knew there was a mistake when we totaled numbers before supper, so after supper I did some recounting. That was better, but something was terribly wrong! How could it be? Oh, the distress and agony, the feeling that it just can't be right, the bewilderment. Over the past year we've gotten rid of books and gotten new ones like always. But something went wrong. It must have. How could it be otherwise when the total was reached? I was ready to call on Miss Priscilla de Silvosa and her dog Piccadilly to solve the case, or perhaps the Graham Quartet would work, but somehow, somewhere, there was an answer to this terrible dilemma. Last year our total was 6004 and this year it was . . .

5,966!

Yes! Our numbers went down instead of rising! Mom told me she had been weeding quite a bit, but to be down 48 books was quite a shock, let me tell you! But, lest you think everything was terrible, my books went up from 834 to 877 and our books on audio (which we don't count in our books) went up from 125 to 166. So there are still plenty of books for you to borrow if you're ever over this way.
And by the way, Audrey was the closest with 6,200. She was only 234 off. :)

But now you can read the next part of:

The Graham Quartet - Part 19

    “Elsa! Don’t stop!” Selena almost screamed. “Drive! To the cabin!”
    Quickly Matt gripped his younger sister’s shoulders and demanded, “Why do we have to go there?”
    “It was him.”
    “Aaron Burr?”
    Selena nodded.
    “You saw him?” Tim nearly climbed over the back of the seat.
    “Sit down, Tim. We’ll talk about it once we get there,” Matt ordered.
    The silence in the car was intense. Elsa, Matt and Tim were longing to know where Selena had seen the man Guy was looking for, what he was doing and who was with him. Tim especially had a dozen questions on the tip of his tongue, but his brother’s warning look kept them from spilling out. Matt could tell that Selena needed time to compose herself before they arrived at the cabin.
    “Should I drive right up to the cabin?” Elsa wondered as they neared the hiding place of the injured FBI agent.
    “Sure,” Matt said. “If you parked anywhere else it would look suspicious.”
    No sooner had the engine been shut off, than the four siblings climbed quickly from the car and hurried to the door. There Matt gave the SOS knock.
    Almost at once the door was opened and Guy, holding his handgun, motioned them all inside and quickly shut the door. “What’s going on?” he demanded before anyone even had time to remove their coats.
    “Selena saw Aaron Burr!” Tim blurted out before anyone else could say a word.
    Instantly Guy turned to Selena. “Was he in town?”
    She nodded.
    For a moment Guy remained where he was, thinking. Then he nodded towards the fireplace. “Matt, Tim, get a fire going. Girls, get your coats off and take seats. I’ll be right back.”
    In less than five minutes a fire was burning brightly, the boys had their coats off and Guy returned to the room and drew a chair opposite Selena. He held a brown folder in his hands.
    “Now,” he began, “tell me what happened. When did you see him? What was he doing? Was he talking to anyone?”
    “Yes, he was talking to me!” Selena’s words were like an electric current through the room and everyone gasped.
    “Talking to you?” Guy leaned forward. “Why was he talking to you?”
    Taking a deep breath, for she was still rather shaken by the sudden events which had just taken place, Selena told the whole story.
    Guy didn’t interrupt her, but listened until she had finished, his eyes never once leaving her face. “And you are sure it is this man?” And he pulled the picture of the man they called “Aaron Burr” from the file and held it out.
    Selena looked at it and nodded.
    Then followed a long hour and a half of questioning. Guy wanted to know everything about the man Selena could tell him. What was he wearing, which direction did he go? Who worked in the shop he had come from? Did he have an accent when he talked? Did he seem in a hurry? And dozens of other questions, not just about the stranger. Guy also began questioning the others about what they had seen in town that morning, who they had talked to, and even who were in the booths or near enough in the cafe to hear Mr. Stone talking to them.
    Finally Guy fell silent. His brows were drawn together in a slight frown and now and then he tapped his finger on the folder in his lap. At last he spoke. His words were quiet and deliberate, as though he were reciting a memorized speech. “I think things are about to move. You four have done your country a great service. Now it’s my turn. My leg is well enough and it’s time I really got to work.”
    “You mean you’re done with us?” Matt asked.
    Guy looked up and sighed. “I don’t know. You four have gotten more information in one week, and been able to find several missing pieces that we’ve been looking for, than I’ve done in a month. I don’t want to use you any more because things could get really ugly really quickly, but . . .” He hesitated and looked uncomfortable.
    “We’ll be careful,” Elsa promised softly.
    “All right, but we have to find another way to communicate with each other because I may not be here at the cabin all the time now. Any ideas?”
    “We could use the treehouse mailbox,” Tim suggested eagerly.
    “Great idea, Tim.” Matt turned to Guy. “Unless you think it’s too close to the house.”
    “Whose house?”
    “Ours. Did you notice a tree fort back behind the barn?”
    Guy nodded.
    “Well, just in front of it is a tree that is partially hollow. It has a hole in it and if you reach inside you’ll find a metal bucket with a lid. That’s our mailbox. All we’d have to do is write our note, put it in and you could do the same.”
    “Hmm,” the agent mused. “The idea isn’t bad, but . . . let’s have two places just in case I can’t get out to the woods. Some place in town.”
    “The post office?”
    “I can’t be seen in town.”
    Everyone sat in silence, trying to come up with a place that would work in town. The fire died down and Matt added a few more logs and coaxed it into a cheery blaze once more.
    “If your car were there, I could slip something in through a slightly open window,” Guy mused.
    “But Dad might need the car like he did Thursday,” Matt objected, feeling discouraged.
    “But he could use that when we do have the car,” Selena spoke for the first time in a quarter of an hour. “If the car is not there, he could leave a note in the old hollow tree just outside of town.”
    “Selena, that’s the perfect place!” Guy exclaimed. “I noticed that tree several times before I was hurt and even checked out the holes. There is one that faces south that is just the size for a tin can. We can leave messages there.”
    There wasn’t much more talk, for Guy rose and said quietly, “I have work to do. Here’s a code I created this morning.” He pulled a paper from the file he held in his hand.

Any thoughts on this story?

Will you be back next Friday?