It was the light again, the same light Ronnie had seen last night from his bedroom window. Now that it was closer, he could make out more of the detail.
At first glance it seemed like some strange, unearthly cloud resting motionless over the top of the building. But Ronnie was quick to discover that what he really saw was the light striking the undersurface of the thick canopy of foliage that overhung the roof, setting the leaves aglow.
Ronnie moved closer to his friend and whispered, “Sure looks spooky, doesn’t it? First off it does, anyway.”
“Yea,” Bill answered, “sure does. Somebody must be behind the building, pointing a flashlight up into the trees.”
Ronnie shook his head. “Whoever’s doing it is inside the building, poking around in the chimney. Otherwise you’d see the light in a circle.”
“Maybe you’re right. Let’s slip over and take a peek through the crack in the shutter.”
“I’m with you, boy!” Ronnie answered. “Let’s go!”
Chapter 7
Ronnie shivered. The shiver started at his shoulder blades, traveled down his spine, and made his flesh stand out in goose pimples. Just a few feet ahead, almost in the thick blackness that lay between the bushes along the path, he could make out Bill’s light-colored shirt. And at the end of the path lay the padlocked building with its strange halo of light still shimmering in the foliage over the roof.
As they drew closer, Ronnie could see that the light did come from the chimney as he had suspected. “Somebody poking a flashlight around in the chimney flues, all right!” he thought. But why? Was it just a trick to scare Bill and him away for some unknown reason, or was this intruder searching for something?