Stone Investigations (Stone Series Book 4) by Bob Blanton (open ebook txt) 📗

“No, I’ve got it.”  Matthew maneuvered the statue out of theshed and into the pickup bed.  Then he lowered it to the bed and closed hisportal.  He closed the tailgate, being careful not to slam it.  “Let’s get outof here before somebody shows up.”

“Do you think he’ll come back?”

“Probably not, but his buddy, Dalton, might.”

The two hopped into the pickup and Emily drove them back tothe road.  “Once we reach I-15, let’s head down to Del Dios.”

“You got it.  I’d rather not run into anyone from Fallbrookwhile we have the statue sitting in the back of this thing.”

◆ ◆ ◆

It was ten p.m. when Emily turned into the parking lot atPacific Coast Academy.

“Kill your lights,” Matthew suggested.  “We don’t want todraw attention to ourselves.  I’ll need you to stop when the rear wheels are ontop of one of the speedbumps.”

“Got it.”  Emily turned off the lights, then drove the pickupalong the lane that passed by the front of the school.  She stopped at the topof the speedbump just in front of the spot where the statue was supposed toreside, as Matthew had instructed.

Matthew got out and lowered the tailgate.  He opened hisportal under the statue before waving Emily forward.  As the pickup rolled offthe speedbump, the statue stayed at the previous height, giving Matthew eightinches of space to maneuver it out of the pickup.  He waved Emily forward somemore so that the statue was outside the pickup, then he pushed it toward theflagpole and its long-bare pedestal.  He slowly eased it into place.  With asatisfied smile, he patted it on the head and walked back to the pickup.

Matthew was just closing the tailgate when Emily whispered,“Somebody’s coming.”  A set of headlights turned into the parking lot addingemphasis to her point.

“Drive behind the gym.  We can take the back path to Camino Bello,”Matthew said as he opened his portal to check out who it was.

“It’s a patrol car.”

“Darn, they must be keeping an eye out for activity aroundthe school since the heist.”

“Yeah, and I don’t want to have to explain where we found thestatue.  It’s downhill, let the pickup coast until we reach the road.”

Emily gave the pickup a bit of gas, then put it into neutralso it would coast down the road.  “What about my brake lights?”

“I’ll cover them.”  Matthew opened his portal behind thepickup with the other end about ten feet in front of the pickup.  Anyonelooking would see the part of the road they were approaching instead of theback of the truck.  “They’re covered.”

Emily touched the brakes a couple of times to keep theirspeed down as they coasted down the hill.  As they approached Camino Bello,another set of headlights was approaching the lane from the left, signaling aturn into the lane.

“Pull over, I think there’s enough space on the left.”

Emily pulled the pickup to the left and slowed to a stop. She cut the engine and turned to Matthew.  “Now what?”

“I’ll use my portal to hide us.  I just hope it will work.”

“How are you going to do that?  Whoever it is, they’ll driveright by us.”

“I’ll rotate it around us.  It should work.  We’ll have tosee.”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“We could be making out.”

“Yeah right, like they won’t see right through that.”

“Hey, the sheriff’s guys don’t know us.  They might buy it.”

“Then you should slide this way.”

“No, you should slide this way, away from the steeringwheel.”

“Right.”  Emily slid over next to Matthew and he turned andput his arm around her.

“Hey, this is like at the Sackler.”  Matthew was alluding toEmily hugging him while he worked his magic at the Sackler exhibit in New Yorkwhen they’d foiled the terrorist plot to kill the Crown Prince.

“Have you got your portal up?”

“Yes.  Tell me where the lights are so I can adjust it.”

“Can’t you see them?”

“It’s hard for me to look around when I have it open.”

“Sorry, I forgot.  They’re coming now.  .. .  They’re about ten feet away, . . . atour two o’clock, . . .  our three o’clock, . . . now our five o’clock, . . .they’re behind us.”

“Good job.  Now should we see if we can roll on down thehill?”

“How do we get the truck started again.”

“I’ll push.”

“The interior light!” Emily called out as Matthew started toopen the door.

“Good call.  I’ve got it.”  Matthew used his portal to hidethe interior light as it came on.  He got out and carefully closed the door. “Is it in neutral?”

“It is now.  Push.”

Matthew pushed on the pickup’s tailgate, but it didn’t move,just rocked a bit.  “Damn.”  Matthew looked around trying to figure out what hecould use to push the pickup.  After a minute, with Emily hissing suggestions,he moved to a big oak tree.  He opened his portal against the pickup with theother end just a few feet from the tree.  Then he leaned against the portal andwalked his way up the tree until he was horizontal.  Now he could use his legsto full effect.  He pushed hard and the pickup moved, dumping him on theground.  He got up and ran to the pickup and continued to push it until itgained enough momentum.  Then he hopped in the back and waved Emily on.

The pickup rolled to the end of the lane where Emily brakedto a stop.

“What are you stopping for?” Matthew asked as he jumped outof the bed and got into the cab.

“It’s not safe to just pull out on the road.  I have to startthe truck.”

“Wait a second.”  Matthew opened his portal between thepickup and where the two sheriff’s deputies were standing by the statue.  Heopened the other end on the other side of the parking lot where the main entryto PCA was.

“Do it!”

Emily started the pickup.  Fortunately, it started rightaway.  Then she put it in gear, turned the lights on, and drove onto Camino Bello. Matthew could see the deputies running toward the parking lot.

“Turn up here,” Matthew instructed.

“Why, and what did you do?”

“Because they’re probably going to come looking this way oncethey realize there’s nothing on the other side.  I used my portal to move