Joe and Carolyn were soon parked in the woods near their uncle’s house. Carolyn had convinced Joe that he was the only person they could turn to. The butler answered the door.

“Come in, your uncle has been expecting you.” He led them down the long hall and into their uncle’s study. He was sitting behind a large desk, talking to a man who sat across from him. They seemed to be in a deep conversation. So deep, he didn’t hear them enter.

“Then do it!” Their uncle yelled, pounding his fist on the desk causing Carolyn to jump. He then spotted his brother’s children.

“Carolyn, Joe!” Anger turning into a sudden smile. He came over putting an arm around each one. ”I heard about your parents. I’m so sorry. Such a tragedy. I loved my brother dearly.” He sighed, “Well, come, come, sit down.” The man sitting down, got up and moved away, his eyes staring intently at the two young people.

“Bill, this is my nephew, Joe, and my Niece, Carolyn.” He nodded his head and proceeded out the door. Carolyn got chills down her back as he passed, but ignored them and turned to her uncle.

“We can’t stay for long. We just need your help. We have to find out who killed out parents and why.” She filled her uncle in on all the clues they had so far, which were not too many.

“Do you know of anyone, a client, an employer who would have a motive for killing them?” Carolyn asked him.

“No, everyone loved your parents.” He thought, then his brow wrinkled and his eyes opened wide, “Wait, there was someone in high school that your father knew. I know it may sound ridiculous, but it’s a start.” He took a deep breath, “ He and your father were competing for the same girl, your mother. When your father won her over, he told your father, ‘I’ll get you for this’. He threatened your father for many years after that too. It really isn’t much, but...”

“No, we won’t shoot down any clues yet. Do you happen know his name?” Joe asked.

“I think it was Richard Burkley, but I’m not sure. He was a mean fellow, the bully of the school.”

***

“So, what do you make of it?” Joe asked his sister. It had been two hours since they had left their uncle’s house. They were driving around in circles, when Carolyn suddenly had an idea.

“Stop the car!” She yelled, causing Joe to quickly pull over to the side of the road.

“Didn’t dad keep all of his important papers at the summer house?” her eyes were wide.

“Yeah, so.”

“Joe, remember, his study? Wasn’t there an old yearbook in the bookshelf? Remember, I was looking at it?”

“That’s another place that they’ll look. No, it’s too dangerous.”

“Joe, they don’t know about the old logging road, besides they probably wouldn’t think we’d be so stupid to go to such an obvious place.”

***

Sure enough they could see the police did not suspect this place, at least not for now. They waited until dark, and made their way into the house. The study was filled with books, so they began their search. A half hour later, Joe found the old yearbook. “Carolyn! I found it!” They sat down on the love seat and flipped through the pages.

"Look at dad. He was so handsome.” Carolyn exclaimed.

“Come on, we have to look for, who did he say? Burkley?” They went to the B section and began their search.

“Banson....Burnside, no Burkley. Strange.”

“Well, Uncle Henry wasn’t too sure of the name.”

“So, now that brings us back to step one, who did it and why?”

***

“I want those kids caught, and I want it done now!!” Lieutenant Johnson yelled. He looked at the cluster of officers standing around him.

“We have no idea what they’re up to. For all we know, they could be planning another murder as we speak! Now, we start....” he pointed to a map.

“Sir!” one of the officers interrupted him. Johnson turned around annoyed.

“Look I don’t have time for this! What is it!”

“They were seen entering their uncle’s house.”

He smiled, “Wonderful! Who reported seeing them?”

“Their uncle.”

***

They probed around some more in the study, and found a few vital papers that they thought might help them. As Carolyn closed the desk drawer, she looked up and spotted headlights coming through the woods.

“Joe! It’s the police. Get out of here!” She yelled, “We can take the documents with us. Here, shove them in dad’s briefcase!”

As they shoved the papers in the case, Joe said, ”What about the car? They’ll be sure to see it, and come looking for us.”

“You’re right.” Carolyn thought hard. They were getting closer.

“Forget the car, we have to go! Run!” She pushed him out the back door and started to run. Joe carried the briefcase. It hampered his running, but he kept silent. They needed those papers.

***

“Sir! Look, it’s the car!” The police cars came to a sudden halt.

“They’ve abandoned it! They must have gone into the woods. Get the K-9 unit down here, and make it quick!!” The lieutenant yelled.

“Search the car, they might have left something behind.”

A few minutes later, one of the officers reported, “Nothing Sir, it’s empty.”

***

“Joe, what do we do now?! Now they know where we are.” Carolyn was out of breath.

“We have to keep going!”

“I can’t, I can’t run any more.” Her heart pounded inside her chest.

“I can’t either, but we can’t stop now!” He shifted the case to his other hand, and they ran on.

They soon stopped and slumped down on the ground, both of them breathing heavily, sweat pouring down their faces.

“I can’t go any further!” She said between breaths.

“We’re pretty far away by now, let’s check out those documents before they catch up with us.”

It was dark, so Carolyn took out the small flashlight attached to the car keys, and began searching the documents.

“What’s that one?” Joe asked. Some extra heavy white sheets of paper seemed to stand out from the rest.

“I think it’s dad’s will.” She scanned them, “Look...if we die, Uncle Henry will inherit everything. Including dad’s business.”

“We’re still alive...where does that lead us.”

“It’s a start...”

“Look, if Uncle Henry wanted us dead, he would have killed us that same night, no?”

“Right, but...”

They heard a noise in the distance. She quickly shut off the light, and stuffed the papers back in the case.

“Let’s get out of here!” Joe whispered. As they were about to run, they were suddenly face to face with the barrel of a gun.

“Well, well, well....look who it is.” an icy voice sent chills down Carolyn’s spine as she opened her flashlight, the man’s face becoming more visible as he came closer. It was Billy, the man that had been there when they had gone to their uncle’s house. Frightened, the key and flashlight fell from her shaking hands. A few minutes went by before her eyes began to adjust to the darkness. The full moon cast an eerie glow over the woods and Billy’s face.

“So, you thought you could run forever.” he smiled wickedly.

“We know who murdered our parents.” Carolyn challenged.

“So do I, but you can never prove it!” he cocked his gun.

“Just watch us!”

“You mean watch you die?” Out of the bushes stepped their uncle.

“Uncle Henry!” Joe looked surprised.

“Don’t look so surprised Joe.”

“I should have known it was you!” It suddenly hit her. All the times her uncle complained about owning only half the business. All the times he spoke about what he would do if he owned it himself. Immediately all the pieces came together. “You always wanted my father’s business, you were never satisfied with half of it!” Carolyn glared at him.

“Hey, who would be!” He said with a sly grin on his face. Then it hit Joe, like a blow in the face.

“You were never satisfied with half of anything. You always wanted to take control.” He yelled. His face was a mixture of confusion, hurt, frustration, and anger. He remembered all the times he had challenged his father’s opinion.

“I inherited that from my grandfather. He always wanted to take control of everything. I was like that as a child too.”

“Shall I kill them now, or later?” The man interrupted.

“Kill them now, I have no use for them anymore. Oh, wait, hand me that briefcase.” He looked at Joe. Joe heaved the case as hard as he could at the man with the gun, knocking him over by the force.

“Run, Carolyn!!” She turned around, but was grabbed by her uncle before she could move a foot.

“You won’t get away this time!”

“Joe!” Her mouth was covered just then. Her uncle picked up the gun and placed it on the back of her head.

“You kids were always in the way. If it wasn’t for you, I would have your father’s business and everything else that he owned right now!”

“Carolyn! Uncle Henry, don’t do it!” Joe stood before them, looking into his sisters terrified eyes.

“You were always in the way, but you won’t be any more!” He cocked the gun.

“NO!!” Joe screamed.

“Put the gun down, we’ve got you covered!” Sanders yelled.

“No, It’s my turn to have everything!” He yelled, pushing the gun harder into Carolyn’s head.

“Put the gun down!”

His hand began to shake.

“You won’t get me this time!” He began to run the other way, but was caught in the arms of an officer. He suddenly turned around and pointed the gun at Joe. He pulled the trigger. The bullet hit Joe in the chest. He fell back, clutching his chest in agony. “Joe!! No!”

Carolyn woke up suddenly. Her face was sweaty and her back was drenched. The room was illuminated by the glare of the T.V. She saw a movement next to her. Frightened, she jumped up but saw it was just Joe. She realized they had fallen asleep on the couch. She went to turn the T.V. off, heading upstairs to her parent’s bedroom to check things out. On her way up she breathed a sigh of relief, silently thanking God it was just another bad dream, yet her heart still pounded inside her chest. She opened the door slowly to their bedroom. They were sound asleep. She smiled, than noticed a slight shadow in the window.