The Road to Sampson's Quarry (A Sampson's Quarry Mystery - Book One) Read online

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  Book Three - Coming soon

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  The Road to Sampson’s Quarry

  A Sampson’s Quarry Mystery - Book One

  Sophie Tucker

  Edited by

  Sandy Chance

  Copyright © 2017 by Sophie Tucker

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Contents

  The Road to Sampson’s Quarry

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  About the Author

  Also from Lirios Publishing

  The Road to Sampson’s Quarry

  Haley and Lucas – Sampson’s Quarry - Book One

  1

  "Haley Annamaria Gardner, you are not driving that far by yourself. I forbid it."

  Haley rolled her eyes. "Oh Mother."

  "Don't you ‘Oh Mother me."

  "If you are going to use my middle name, then I'm going to ‘Oh Mother’ you."

  Her mother made a sniffling noise which Haley ignored. "Haley, I just think it's too long of a drive for a young girl like you to be taking alone."

  "I am hardly a young girl,” Haley said with a snort. “Or were you not there at my twenty-seventh birthday back in February? No, I'm pretty sure I remember you being there."

  "I know you think that you are being funny, but you are not." Her mother made another sniffling sound before saying, "I just worry. I don't want anything to happen to you."

  Haley tipped her head back and stared at the ceiling knowing what was coming next.

  "It's just that since your father's been gone, it's just the two of us. I worry about you. I don't know what I would do if I lost you too."

  Haley counted to ten while her mother made more sniffling noises. Haley was almost sure that her mother was not actually crying.

  "I know. And I get that. I miss Dad every day too." Haley blew out a long breath, trying not to get choked up. "This is just a road trip. I drove further than that while I was in college. It's not that long of a trip."

  "But you were always with Brianna,” her mother reminded her. “I do not like the idea of you being all by yourself so far away in the middle of nowhere. People disappear all of the time."

  Haley hated that her mother was worried about her but she was overreacting. "I am very safe. I always have my phone with me, fully charged, and I have a charger that plugs into my car. I will program the GPS before I leave and I'll have water and food with me. It'll be fine, Mom. I promise."

  "Well, I guess, as you said, you're not a little girl anymore and you can take care of yourself. I..," she paused. "I hope you have a good time. Please give Brianna my love and keep in touch."

  "All right, Mom. I will send you a text when I leave."

  “You really shouldn't text and drive at the same time. It isn't safe."

  Haley had to stop herself from rolling her eyes again. If she wasn't careful she was going to end up dislocating an eyeball.

  "Of course not, Mother. I will text you from the car before I leave the driveway. Is that acceptable?"

  "Yes. I suppose that's fine."

  "Goodbye, Mom." Haley shook her head and set her phone on the counter. As she started walking down the hall to her bedroom, Haley wondered why she had even called her mother in the first place. She should have just sent a text on her way out of town.

  Several stacks of folded clothes were lined up across her bed; all she needed to do was pack them into her suitcase. She wasn't sure how long she would be staying with Bri, especially now that she had much more time on her hands. The list she had made several days ago had covered every occasion she could run into, barring a blizzard, which honestly was not very likely in July. Haley reached up to the top shelf, shoving a stack of sweaters aside, when she spotted her suitcase back in the corner. It took some doing but she was finally able to hook a finger on the handle and drag the suitcase forward enough that she could pull it from the high shelf. When she stepped out of the closet, she could hear that her phone had been ringing. She tossed the suitcase to the floor and ran down the hall.

  Thinking it was her mother calling back, Haley picked up the phone. "This better be good."

  "Oh my God! Haley, did you really quit?"

  Confused that it wasn't her mother, it took Haley half a minute to realize that it was Tina from work. "Oh right, I kind of forgot about that. Yes, I did quit."

  "I call out sick for one day and everything falls apart. What happened?"

  Haley walked back to the bedroom. "Vicki called me back to the office before I left and told me that my vacation days were not approved anymore."

  "What do you mean not approved anymore? Dale approved it over a month ago."

  "Vicki said that since she was the manager now, she had canceled everybody's vacation requests. Anyone wanting time off would need to resubmit their requests.” Haley started setting her clothes into the suitcase. “She was so very happy to tell me that she had already made the schedule and that I could not have the time off.”

  “That’s crazy. You have worked there for two years; you practically run the place.” Tina groaned in frustration. “Why does she have to be such a…a…?”

  “A witch?” Haley suggested.

  Tina chuckled. “Not exactly what I was going to say but yes. She seems to enjoy being mean to people.”

  “I’m afraid it’s not going to get better any time soon.” Haley was still in a bit of denial about being jobless. She knew quitting had been the right thing to do, but it was a little scary and she felt bad for leaving her coworkers. “She had me scheduled for almost sixty hours over the next week.”

  “And she’s going to want one of us to cover it.”

  “Yeah, sorry.” Haley paused in front of her dresser, grimacing at her reflection in the mirror. Her dark blonde hair was about two months past needing a haircut…not that she had to do anything more than to pull it into a ponytail or use a headband to control her wavy hair.

  “Nope,” Tina said. “I think you had the right idea. I hear Special Snaps is hiring.”

  Before Haley could answer, the doorbell rang.” I’ve got to go. There’s someone at my door.”

  “Well, good luck,” said Tina. “You can use me as a reference if you want. Have fun on your vacation.”

  “Okay. Thanks. Talk to you later.”

  Haley ended the call and opened the door. She stood there in shock for a moment before blurting out, “Lucas? What are you doing here?”

  "Don't you know better than to open your front door without checking to see who's there first?" Lucas asked, his brows furrowed in consternation.

/>   "I...," She began to argue but then just stammered. "What?"

  He pointed at the fisheye security viewer on her front door. "You're supposed to use that you know."

  "I know." She shook her head in annoyance before facing him again. "Lucas, what are you doing here?"

  "I heard you were going to visit Bri,” he replied as though it explained everything.

  “What does that have to do with anything?” She just wanted to find out what he wanted and send him on his way.

  “I figured I would tag along."

  It wasn't until Haley saw the duffel bag on the ground that she noticed the backpack on his back. "You're what? Oh! No, no way."

  "Oh, come on, Haley. Why not?”

  Why not? He had to be crazy. She saw him several times a year, he was Bri’s brother after all, but she hadn’t spent any time alone with him since he had broken her heart four years ago.

  Lucas continued talking. “If you're driving up to Sampson's Quarry, you might as well let me tag along."

  Not wanting to have the conversation on her front doorstep, she stepped inside, walking away from the door knowing he would follow her inside. She walked as far as the kitchen and leaned against the counter. "How did you even know I was going to visit Bri?"

  He grinned at her and shrugged. "Bri, of course."

  Haley scowled back; she refused to be swayed by his grin. That grin had gotten her into trouble before. "Bri? You talked to her?"

  He looked away but seemed to try to cover it up by swinging the backpack from his shoulder.

  Haley knew then that he must have found it online. Haley was fairly sure that Bri would not have told Lucas, or at the least, she would not have suggested that he tag along for the trip to Sampson’s Quarry. She had never told Bri what had happened, but it hadn’t taken much for Bri to figure out that there was some tension between Haley and Lucas. Last week, Bri had posted a picture of Haley and Bri from last summer adding the message, “One more week!”

  When Lucas still hadn’t answered, Haley said, “When you talked to her, Bri must have talked your ear off about her new boss. Boy.” She added a sigh and slow shake of her head.

  Haley tried not to smile as Lucas tried to work out how he should answer. After a bit, he finally replied, “Yeah, that guy is a piece of work.”

  Haley pushed away from the counter making a buzzer sound. “Wrong answer! Want to try again?”

  Lucas looked sheepish and shook his head.

  “Bri’s boss is a woman and has been there since Nixon was in office.” She opened the front door ready to throw him out. “Either tell me the truth or get out.”

  “Aw, come on, Haley.” Lucas came over, shutting the door before saying, “Cut me some slack.”

  “Cut you some slack? You show up here, invite yourself along, tell me a pack of lies in the process, and you want me to cut you some slack.” A snort escaped before she could stop it. “Yeah, not happening.”

  “Okay, you’re right. I didn’t talk to Bri, I saw on one of her social media accounts that you were visiting her.” He held up a hand when she opened her mouth to reply. “I have been trying to get ahold of her but she never answers her phone.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t want to talk to you,” Haley retorted. Although she had no idea why Bri wouldn’t want to talk to her brother, and if she were honest, Haley had experienced the same issues trying to get ahold of her best friend.

  “Look, I just want a chance to see her and talk to her. I came back to town a couple of months ago and found out that she had moved away.”

  Haley wanted to point out that it wasn’t Bri’s fault that Lucas had left their hometown to travel the world, only to come back a few times a year. Had he expected them all to stay right where he had left them? Instead, she stayed silent, figuring she would get the truth out of him if he kept talking.

  “When Mom said she had moved, I thought Los Angeles or Chicago, not Sampson’s Quarry. No one really seems to know why.”

  It was irritating beyond belief that everything that he was saying was exactly what Haley had been thinking. The same exact reasons that Haley had planned this trip over a month ago. She had hoped that an entire week together would mean some real answers from Bri, not just the answers that seem practiced and led to a change in subject.

  “Okay. I get that you want to see her and that you are worried about her too.”

  “Too?” He asked, jumping on that one word. “I’m not the only one that thinks this is weird.”

  “No, I meant you want to see her too.” She looked up at him and saw the look of real concern on his face. Letting out a groan of exasperation she added, “Yes, fine. I have been trying to find out what’s been going on with her ever since she moved. I think you going with me is a bad idea though. She will talk to me much more freely if it’s just the two of us.”

  “I get that,” he said nodding slowly. “What if she brushes it off? You know Bri, she’ll say, ‘Haley, you are being a worry wart. No one else is worried about this.’”

  Haley wanted to scream, torn between her worry over her best friend and wanting Lucas anywhere but stuck in a car with her for ten hours.

  Lucas must have seen that she was starting to crack because he suddenly said, “I’ll pay for the gas and your food and drinks too.”

  Now that Haley was officially unemployed, she could not exactly dismiss opportunities to save money just to spare her annoyance. Cursing her own sense of responsibility, she let out an exasperated sigh. “Fine. Come along. Stay here. Whatever.”

  She started to walk away but stopped to turn back. Pointing a finger at him she said, “If you tag along, as you put it, don’t give me any crap. This is my first vacation in nearly two years, don’t ruin it.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain,” he said striking a dandy salute.

  Haley swore under her breath and left the room to retrieve her luggage.

  2

  An hour and a half later, Haley was relieved to have left the city behind them. Driving, for the most part, did not bother her, but driving through downtown in the middle of rush hour would never be something she enjoyed. It felt good to be on the highway. The landscape had begun to change, sparse trees and bushes giving way to pine trees as they traveled toward the mountains. Traffic had thinned out and Haley settled into driving the highway for the next few hours.

  It had been a long week. She was more than ready to start her vacation and to leave the stress of her job situation and her mother’s meddling behind. While she was still not happy that Lucas had invited himself along, she was thankful that he had kept mostly to himself, only offering the occasional comment when Haley needed assistance with the GPS.

  “Hey, look, we could stop for food and gas,” Lucas said, pointing to the signs that started to dot the side of the road.

  “I filled up the car before we left,” she said, peering at the gas gauge. “It’s not even down to half a tank yet.”

  “Food then,” he said.

  “No.” Haley had no intention of stopping. They had just barely gotten on the road and she was already way behind her intended timetable. The quick phone call to her mother had been more involved than she had expected, and although the call from Tina had been quick, it had still eaten up her time. The appearance of Lucas at her front door had thrown everything off. “We can stop later.”

  “How much later?”

  Haley shrugged as she checked her mirrors and changed lanes. “The car will need gas in a couple of hours.”

  “A couple of hours?”

  “Yeah, why?” Haley looked over at Lucas.

  “I’ve gotta be honest with you. I’m starving.” He stared longingly at a McDonald’s billboard on the side of the road. “I skipped breakfast.”

  Haley pointed a thumb over her shoulder. “Oh, no problem. There are granola bars and a couple of bags of jerky in my backpack. Water bottles are in the cooler bag.”

  “Thank you, but I couldn’t do that.”

  “It’s no probl
em. There’s plenty for both of us; I always bring extra and I can pick up more when we do stop.”

  “No, seriously.” Lucas grimaced and shook his head. “I couldn’t eat that.”

  “What? Why not?”

  “I need real food. A cheeseburger, fries, onion rings, and a large drink.” He snapped his fingers and added, “Oh, and a chocolate shake.”

  “I thought you said you missed breakfast, not the last three meals,” Haley replied.

  “I eat a lot of food. I’m a growing boy.”

  Haley shot him a look. At six feet, two inches, he was more than fully grown and far from a boy. Not that she had been paying attention, but his T-shirt was just tight enough to outline nearly every muscle in his upper body. Finally, she managed to say, “You seriously can’t wait a couple of hours to eat?”

  “I really can’t,” he told her shaking his head regretfully. “I can be really cranky and annoying when I’m hungry.”

  “You mean more so than normal?” she quipped.

  A sudden memory of hiking with him and Bri during college popped into her head. She remembered what a complete pain in the backside Lucas had been when he discovered that Bri had accidentally left the food cooler at their parents’ house. He had complained nonstop until they had returned to the car and stopped at the closest fast food place. Bri had been so annoyed with him that she wanted to teach him a lesson. After he had gone into the restaurant, Bri had driven away. Parking at a nearby store, she thought that when Lucas came out he would panic, assuming that they had left him behind. Of course, the worst part was that when Lucas did finally emerge from the restaurant with two bags of food, he had merely shrugged before sitting down at one of the outdoor tables beginning to unpack the food.