Chapter Six
The next day the children excitedly got ready after breakfast to go out with Richard. He had already taken permission from Nora and David Hawkes to take the children out. Their parents hadn't objected thinking that they were going sightseeing. Granny Blair and Jenna packed them a delicious picnic hamper and they were all set to go.
"We'd need our sleuthing equipment," said Daryll, packing a backpack up with binoculars, magnifying glasses, notebooks, pencils, first aid box, gloves, some rope, measuring tape and other essentials.
"I can't wait to go,'' said Skylar, excitedly jumping up and down and looking towards the road as they all waited for Richard to arrive in his Dodge Ram 1500. After five minutes a grinning Richard arrived to pick the children up. They all climbed on to his truck and buckled in their seatbelts.
''Ready?'' asked Richard.
''Yes,'' the children chorused. Richard drove towards their destination.
''Where's the farm Richard?'' asked Jasper.
''Near Ashwoods on the western outskirts of Richmond,'' informed Richard. ''It should take us approximately 25 minutes to reach there.''
The children watched the views pass by as they drove towards their destination. "This farm belonged to a farmer called Ben McKenzie but ten years back a fire destroyed the entire place. The farmer as well as his entire family was killed in that fire. People don't want to go near the farm. They say it's haunted but I don't believe in ghosts. Do you? If you do we can always have a picnic somewhere and return home, " said Richard.
Diana looked at him with a scared expression.
"Not at all Richard. We're the Rescue Hawkes and we never back away from an investigation, " said Jasper.
"Yes, we will go to the farm, " said Daryll.
"Are you sure that ghosts aren't real?" Asked Diana.
"You stick with us, Di, you'll be safe, " said Nicholas. Diana nodded as she clutched onto Daryll's hand. Skylar too was a little scared but she didn't voice her thoughts out loud. They reached the suburbs and Richard steered the car onto a narrower trail with farmlands on either side. However after a driving a little further they saw that the farmlands had become a bushy jungle with creepers and wild grasses abounding everywhere.
"These farmlands belonged to farmer Ben McKenzie. They were destroyed ten years back," Richard informed them.
"Where's the farmhouse?" Asked Daryll.
"It's hidden amongst all these wild creepers. That's the reason why the stolen car couldn't be located so easily," Richard said, parking his car where the road ended in a dead end. To the left side they could see an old abandoned farmhouse which had seen better days. Some portions of the house was charred and one section of the roof had caved in. It really looked like a haunted house.
"Can we go back please. I'm scared," said Diana.
"Me too," said Skylar.
"Stay close. We'll be done in minutes. We won't have our picnic here," said Richard. They got down and cautiously walked to the place where the car was abandoned. Daryll took out the magnifying glasses and distributed them to Richard, Jasper and Nicholas.
There was nothing in the place apart from car tyre marks. "Shall we go into the house?" Asked Daryll.
"Richard and I will go inside. You guys stay near the car. My mobile is on vibration mode. If you notice anything strange just give me a missed call. We'll abandon and go back," said Jasper. Daryll nodded in agreement. He and Nicholas kept a lookout while Diana and Skylar sat inside the car.
Jasper and Richard kept close to one another. Jasper tripped over something and shone his torch over it. It was a piece of wood. However it was something shiny lying underneath the log of wood that caught his attention. A metal stud. The same as the one that they had found before. He picked it up and placed into his pocket. So the burglar had come inside the house when he abandoned the car. He and Richard had decided to communicate through sign language only. Richard nudged Jasper and indicated some food particles lying on the floor which a mouse was busy eating. The food looked fresh. They looked at one another. It only meant that someone was living here.
They found footprints on the dusty floor which looked very fresh. Their guess was correct after all. Someone was here. A sudden movement caught Jasper's eye. "Let's get out of here," he whispered to Richard and he nodded. They both rushed towards the main door and out of the spooky house. Daryll and Nicholas looked at them with surprise. Richard gestured them all to climb into the car. They obliged and he started the car, carefully backing out of the dead end towards the trail that they had used earlier.
He drove down the trail towards the main road. After they had driven down the main road a bit further away, Daryll asked Jasper, "What happened? Why did you two rush out?"
Jasper told everyone what they had seen inside and also showed the stud that he had found. "But why did you want to get out of there suddenly?" Asked Richard puzzled.
"I saw the man I bumped into that day at the park. He had recognized me Richard. He had a weapon, something shiny in his hand. It was a knife, I think," said Jasper and Richard simply parked the car off the road beside a little creek.
They all looked at Jasper with wide eyes. "What will we do now Jasper? He is dangerous and he knows we were looking for him," said Skylar.
"But the question is why is he staying there if he's a local?" Asked Nicholas.
"That means he isn't a local guy. Or maybe he's hiding," said Daryll.
"When we were on the lookout outside, we saw some clothes left out to dry on some bushes near the backyard," said Nicholas.
"We were about to call you when you both came out all of a sudden," said Daryll.
"Let's go home and have in case the man's following us. We can have our picnic in our backyard. We need to inform the police before he gets away," said Richard. They all agreed and climbed into the car.
Richard drove towards their home.
