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    The Secret in Phantom Forest
    The Secret in Phantom Forest
    The Secret in Phantom Forest
    Ebook116 pages1 hour

    The Secret in Phantom Forest

    By TJ Perkins

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    About this ebook

    Kelly reluctantly follows Kim on a camping trip into the mountains that line their small Colorado town of Creston. Eerie lights have been sighted there late at night and reports of people disappearing, along with rumors of a phantom lurking about, have police baffled. Kelly is completely intimidated but Kim is skeptical, "It's all just a bunch of talk to keep kids out of the woods," She says. However, she quickly changes her mind as, one by one, girls from their group begin to disappear. When Kelly falls prey, Kim gets on the case. She meets with Detective Eddie Bancroft, who has been on the trail of counterfeiters for months, his investigations bringing him to the very same forest. Kim and Eddie team up to not only find their missing comrade, but to see if maybe there is more to their respective cases than meets the eye.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTJ Perkins
    Release dateMar 15, 2015
    ISBN9781311489852
    The Secret in Phantom Forest
    Author

    TJ Perkins

    TJ Perkins is a gifted and well-respected author in the mystery/suspense, Fantasy & New Age genres. A former member of the Maryland Writer’s Association and Sisters In Crime, her short stories for young readers have appeared in the Ohio State 6th Grade Proficiency Test Preparation Book, Kid’s Highway Magazine, and Webzine ‘New Works Review,’ just to name a few. She’s placed five times in the CNW/FFWA chapter book competition. Her short story of light horror for tweens, The Midnight Watch, was published Oct 2007 by Demon Minds Magazine, as well as innumerable short stories in many anthologies.Finished works of her young reader’s chapter books are entitled: The Fire and the Falcon (which won two chapter book awards), Wound Too Tight, Mystery of the Attic, and On Forbidden Ground. Published books in the Kim & Kelly Mystery Series include: Fantasies Are Murder, The Secret in Phantom Forest, Trade Secret, Image in the Tapestry (which won a chapter book award) and In the Grand Scheme of Things (all with GumShoe Press 2006). The Shadow Legacy series was published by Silver Leaf Books and picture book Four Little Withes was published by Schiffer Books and won the 2016 COVR Visionary Art Award.You can find TJ at many Cons on the East Coast as well as FarieCon and the MD Renaissance Festival.

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      Book preview

      The Secret in Phantom Forest - TJ Perkins

      The Secret in Phantom Forest

      The Secret

      In Phantom Forest

      A Kim & Kelly Mystery

      By TJ Perkins

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Mystery of the Attic

      TJ Perkins

      Copyright TJ Perkins 2006

      Published by GumShoe Press at Smashwords

      ISBN 0-9777538-1-6

      (previously ISBN 1-59457-621-1)

      GumShoe Press

      www.authorsden.com/tjperkins

      More Mysteries by TJ Perkins

      FANTASIES ARE MURDER

      TRADE SECRET

      IMAGE IN THE TAPESTRY

      WOUND TOO TIGHT

      MYSTERY OF THE ATTIC

      ON FORBIDDEN GROUND

      A dark shadow moved just in time for me to get a good look at it in the light. It was a tall, slim figure with no distinctive features – like the silhouette of a man; all black, like the night.

      Table of Contents

      Chapter 1 The Camping Trip

      Chapter 2 A Secret Discovery

      Chapter 3 The Phantom Strikes

      Chapter 4 The Search Party gets Foiled

      Chapter 5 Fires on the Mountain

      Chapter 6 Enemy Among Us

      Chapter 7 The Mysterious Well

      Chapter 8 The Sound of Crying

      Chapter 9 Kim Meets the Phantom

      Chapter 10 A Hidden Entrance

      Chapter 11 Inside The Cave

      Chapter 12 Captured

      Chapter 13 A Narrow Escape

      Chapter 14 Busting up the Business

      Chapter 15 An Explosive Decision

      Chapter 16 Pursued

      Chapter 17 Cliff Hanger

      Chapter 18 Sorting out the Evidence

      Chapter 1

      The Camping Trip

      My backpack hit the ground with a thud as I stretched and took in a deep breath of the warm mountain air.

      Isn’t this great? Back to nature. Earth, sky and trees, I said to my friend Kelly as she stood there with a disgusted look on her face.

      No, Kim, it’s not, She snapped back, throwing her backpack to the ground in anger and sat down right on top. The woods are yucky, dirty, smelly...I don’t know how I ever let you talk me into this. She pulled out a container of moist wipes and began scrubbing mud off her hands, elbows and the side of her leg. I could be in a nice, clean home right now, or even at the movies; but instead, I’m playing Daniel Boone with you and a stupid camping group. Besides, you know the stories about these woods. I think something awful is going to happen.

      Oh, come on, nothing’s going to happen. Anyway, you wouldn’t have gotten dirty if you’d just learn to pick up your feet. I tried to warn you about those rocks near the stream.

      Yeah, right...and how do you know so much about hiking anyway Kim? Aren’t you a city girl? Kelly said with a slight attitude.

      Sure am. But you have to understand, this is something I’ve always wanted to do and when I get interested in something I do a lot of research and learn as much about it as possible, I said ignoring her snippy tone.

      Kelly rolled her eyes at me and continued to clean herself. Camping was a new experience for me and I thought it was a great idea when our moms suggested that we go on a weeklong trip organized by our school. They only took twelve eighth grade girls or boys at a time; boys one week, girls the next, never co-ed. Although Kelly was in the seventh grade the majority of her classes were honors classes; and since she excelled in science the school put her in with the eight-graders – which was way cool because it made her able to come with us on this trip. We were up in the forest-covered mountains only a few miles away from Creston, which wasn’t too bad, and it gave us a chance to miss life’s little luxuries.

      I took advantage of the silence between Kelly and I to look around. We had just climbed up a fairly steep slope that led from a very wide stream. Half way up the slope the ground leveled off, making it an ideal place to camp. In fact, the entire wooded area was a great place to go camping; there were a ton of nature trails and, since it was September, the weather was perfect.

      The mountain we climbed was one of many that made a picturesque backdrop behind our hometown of Creston, teeming with pine trees, red wood trees, and a whole list of others as well. Some of them had started shedding their foliage, which became obvious as the rest of our camping group trudged up to join us; their feet crunching on the fallen leaves.

      I sat on the ground and looked up into the treetops. The sunlight spilled through the canopy as a lazy breeze rustled the branches. Several blue jays flew by, stopping briefly on one branch and then another, only to continue on their way. I closed my eyes and sucked in another deep breath of the clean mountain air.

      Wow, I whispered to Kelly, This is great. All I need now is incense and chimes.

      Well, I hate to spoil your tranquility, but the three counselors have arrived with the rest of the group. It looks as if they’re ready to bark commands, Kelly shot out sarcastically.

      All right ladies, Mr. Thomas called, aiming to get everyone’s attention. He rubbed his palms together and gave us a big cheesy smile. We’ll stay in this area for the week. You all know how to set up your tents. If you need any help just ask Mr. Smith, Ms. Scott or myself. It doesn’t matter where you set up your tent, just pick a spot and go to it.

      With a chorus of moans and groans, our group of twelve girls began the tedious task of setting up camp. I wasn’t too upset about it. I had been waiting for this moment for weeks. Once the tent was up and Kelly and I had our stuff settled, there would be time to stroll around, swim in the stream or just go exploring.

      Come on, Kelly, help me, I urged.

      Oh, I can’t, she whined, striking a damsel-in-distress pose. Just send for the car and leave me.

      With a giggle, I pushed her off her backpack and lifted it up. Just at that moment something very green released its suction from the bottom of the pack and gently fluttered to the ground.

      Hey, what’s that? I asked, pointing to the object.

      Probably something slimy and crawling. Kelly scrunched up her face and shuddered. It was clear how much she disliked bugs, or anything dealing with the outside.

      No, you big goof, look... I stepped forward and moved some leaves out of the way to reveal a very green, very new twenty-dollar bill. Kelly’s eyes bugged as soon as she saw it.

      I claim it, she whispered to me, darting her eyes around to make sure no one noticed us.

      Oh, no you don’t. It probably belongs to one of the counselors, I scolded quietly.

      How? We were up here first. How could anyone drop a brand new twenty just in time for me to lay my pack on it? She argued.

      She had a point and my explanation didn’t seem logical. But who were we to say another person didn’t walk this way an hour ago and dropped it by accident?

      "Okay. That makes sense. However, until we know let’s just keep it in my

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