Download a sample - David C Cook

C H A P T E R O N E
Ethan Willis picked up a battered pry bar and wedged it under a loose
attic floorboard. The nails gave way with a chorus of rusty squeals. He
leaned back, and a shaft of light from the gable’s eyebrow window lit the
exposed rafters of the space.
Joel Brenner dug at the wood with the point of a long-bladed screwdriver.
“Will we need extra bracing?”
“No,” Ethan replied, “it’s good wood. Look—these look like threeby-tens.
Everything was built better back then. They’ll hold.”
“Everything was built better—except for all the stuff that already fell
apart.”
Ethan smiled. His assistant did not always share his passion for old
buildings. “Well … of course.”
He slipped the hammer from his worn leather tool belt and, with a few
practiced strokes, banged the floorboard back into place. The carpentry work
dated back more than a hundred years. Ethan admired the old-fashioned, traditional
craftsmanship. What was built right still stands, he thought.
Joel walked over to the small window and peered down. “Uh-oh. She’s
here.”
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