Book 2-Alex Bishop in Follow That Mystery

Alex Bishop in Follow That Mystery

     After clearing away the dishes he and Anna grabbed their fishing poles, ice chest and blanket and headed out the door and down to the lake.  Alex thought it was just as pretty a view from the lake side as from the deck above.  It was a large lake.  Alex couldn't see the whole of it because it jogged around bends on all sides.  A massive woods bordered the shore across from where Alex and Anna stood.

     "I love it here!"  Alex said with a peaceful smile.  "I always have too,"  Anna said softly as she carefully bated her hook with a wiggling worm.  Alex was already wading into the clear blue green waters when Anna called to him.  "Hey!  I'm sorry I freaked out earlier....you know, at the railing."  Alex turned to her.  "Oh, that's okay.  Forget it," he said casting out again.

     "Do you remember asking me if I wanted to talk.... after?" she asked.  "Yeah,"  Alex said, without turning around.  "Can I trust you?"  Anna said, as though embarrassed she had to ask that.  This time Alex did turn to her and said, "Of course you can.  Always," he promised.  Anna slowly began walking toward him and when she reached him, she smiled.

     "We always seem to have our important discussions in the water."  Alex grinned crookedly at her in answer.  Suddenly Anna became serious again and gazed into his hazel blue eyes.  She just stared at him teetering on the edge of speech.  Then, as if she couldn't help it the words came spilling out of her mouth.

     "I used to have an older sister," Anna told him.  Alex's eyes widened.  "She was seven years older than me,"  Anna took a deep breath and turned to look across the lake.  Alex just stood perfectly still, watching her as Anna began again.  "She came up with her boyfriend Dave and some friends of theirs five years ago.  It was the summer before her senior year."

     Alex listened intently as Anna spoke.  She told the story slowly and softly, her eyes tearing as if every word was causing her pain.  "Their last night here they had a party.  There was music blaring, drinking, maybe even drugs, I don't know."  Anna paused to wipe a tear away and then went on.

     Around midnight her boyfriend Dave said he heard a scream, everyone was in bed he had thought as he told the police later.  Anyway, Dave said he jumped out of bed and ran out in to the living room...."  Anna gulped and sniffed as if she couldn't go on.  Alex wanted to comfort her but he thought if he stopped her in her story, she'd never be able to finish it and he knew somehow that she had to.

     So he just continued to stand still and watch her.  Looking out at the lake and the woods beyond she composed herself and continued with her tale.  "Dave said that all he found in the living room were my sister's friends rousing from sleep. He said they evidently had heard the scream too.  Dave told the police my sister should have been in a sleeping bag beside her two friends, but she was not."

     "He saw his best friend Aaron come down the hallway just as he, Dave rushed out to the deck.  All the other kids followed him."  Anna was sobbing now as she spoke.  "Everybody looked over the railing and saw my sister Sandra's body two hundred feet down on the rocks at the water's edge."  Alex immediately dropped his pole and enfolded Anna in his arms, while she cried as though her heart was breaking.

     In later years when Alex recalled this memory he couldn't remember how long they had stood holding each other on the lake shore, but he knew he would never forget the days that followed.

     Finally Anna stopped crying, dried her tears and composed herself.  Alex picked up the blanket they had brought with them and laid it out on the sand.  Anna slumped on to it totally exhausted and Alex sat down beside her and held her hand.  She sniffed and then gave him a smile.  "I'm really a fun date aren't I?"  Alex gave her a small smile back and then became serious again.