Page 60 of Waylaid in Whittier

Moving at a steady pace, the trio continued making their way toward the stairs.

Thunk.A dull thunk echoed off in the distance. The hair on Millie’s arms stood straight up. She got the distinct feeling they were being watched.

Suddenly, from out of the shadows, a hulking figure lunged at them.

Millie froze in her tracks, screaming at the top of her lungs as the shadowy figure came at her.

Chapter 23

Millie, frantically trying to get away from the figure lunging at them from the shadows, collided with Annette, nearly knocking both of them to the ground.

“Gotcha!” Brody burst out laughing.

“You jerk.” Danielle slugged him in the arm. “You scared us half to death.”

Sharky emerged from behind a post, snorting loudly. “I wish we could’ve seen the looks on your faces.”

“Very funny.” Millie turned to Annette. “I didn’t mean to crash into you.”

“I’m fine. We should’ve known these clowns would pull some stunt.”

Brody sobered. “I’m sorry if you got hurt.”

“The only thing hurt is my bruised ego.” Millie straightened her jacket. “I’m not much of an intrepid sleuth if my friends can scare the daylights out of me, now am I?”

“Friends who were intentionally trying to frighten you.” Danielle wagged her finger at them. “You know what they say about paybacks.”

Millie changed the subject. “Did you find anything, any sort of clue?”

“Nope. Nada. Zip.” Sharky shoved his hands in his pockets. “What about you guys?”

“Same here. If Morley hid gold mining clues on his property, he hid them well,” Millie said. “Although in our defense, it’stricky conducting a thorough search when you’re working by twilight.”

“This was a big fat nothing burger.” Sharky sighed. “We’re not any closer to getting my babe exonerated.”

“Which could be viewed as a good thing, seeing how you weren’t keen on her surprising you in the first place,” Annette pointed out.

“I’ve gotten over my initial reluctance and was actually looking forward to spending time with her. Which reminds me, she should be on the ship by now. Reef offered to escort her through security and show her to my cabin.”

As soon as they were back in the truck and on their way, Sharky called the night supervisor, his friend Reef, who worked in the same department.

He put the call on speaker and let Reef know.

“Hey, everybody. Did you find anything?”

“Nope. Not a clue,” Millie said. “It looks like Elvira might be on her own in figuring a way out of this mess.”

“Speaking of Elvira, she’s here,” Reef said. “Or at least she was.”

“Did she bring a lot with her? Cuz I don’t have a lot of room in my cabin to store extra items.”

“Not too much. She had a big suitcase, a backpack crammed full of stuff, and a smaller bag. Maybe it’s normal behavior for her, but to me, she was acting kinda squirrely.”

“Acting squirrely,” Sharky repeated.

“Secretive. I tried to help her with her bags. She nearly went ballistic. She didn’t want me touching them.”

“She can be sort of…protective with her belongings,” Sharky said. “Do you know where she is now?”

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