Chapter 23: Carol's Wild Ride

“Carol!”

Trapped in a car with two gas pedals and no brakes.  Headed towards a dangerous curve at eighty miles an hour.  The last thing Carol expected was to hear her name called from the backseat.  She twisted around in surprise.  “Edward?!  How did you get here?”

“I’ll explain later!” said Edward.  “Right now, let me have the wheel, or we’ll crash!”  He pushed himself through the space between the front seats, grabbed the wheel, and turned it just in time to get around the curve.

“One down!” he said.  “I’ll steer; you handle the rest.  Can you slow down?”

“No, I can’t!” said Carol.  “The brake’s just making it go faster!  I tried both pedals!  They don’t work!”

“Don’t panic,” said Edward, turning around another curve.  “Grab the gearshift and set the car to neutral.”

Carol grabbed it and pushed a button on the side.  The stick popped out.

“Uh, Edward?” said Carol, panic in her voice.  “I don’t think—”

Edward glanced down, then shook his head.  “Oh, well.  Don’t worry!” he said, turning the wheel.  They barely made it around this curve.  Carol heard a scrape as the car’s paint came in contact with the guardrail.

“That was too close!” shrieked Carol.

“I’m doing my best!” barked Edward.  “Even Grand Prix drivers slow down for these curves!  How about the emergency brake?”

“Is that safe, at this speed?” said Carol.

“Is anything?” asked Edward.

Carol yanked it.  The lever came away in her hand without so much as a jolt.  “There’s another curve!”

This was a double curve, and Carol was pretty sure her side of the car went through the air a little bit as they passed.  “Did you—”

“Shh!” said Edward.  “Turn the ignition off!”

Carol did.  Nothing happened.

“That’s not working either!”

“Then there’s only one thing to do,” Edward calmly replied.

“What’s that?!”

“Hang on for dear life!”  Edward swerved around another curve.  “This road should get less curvy as we go on!”

Exactly the opposite was true.  Up till now, it had been bad enough.  Now, there was a stretch where the curves grew even sharper.  Warning signs appeared, encouraging drivers to slow down.  Carol and Edward would have loved to follow them; unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.

“Put the highbeams on!” shouted Edward.

“What if another car comes?” asked Carol.

“Too bad for them!” answered Edward.  “We need as much of the road as we can get!”  The car screeched around another bend.

“Do you want me to—”

“No!” said Edward.  “You just stay as calm as possible.”

Round another curve they went, and another curve, and another curve.  Then, they saw yet another curve sign.  The recommended speed was thirty miles an hour!

“That says thirty!” screamed Carol.

“Can’t do that!” said Edward, bringing the car to the right of the shoulder until he was practically scraping the guardrail.  Below, on the left, waves broke over jagged rocks that looked black in the dim light.  To the curve they came.

As gradually as possible, Edward steered around the curve.  The car moved back into its lane and into the opposite lane.  Then, it hit the guardrail on the other side!  Sparks flew into the air, there was a crunch, and the large hunk of metal fell over the side.

“We’re going over!” screamed Carol.  She looked down and saw nothing but water below.

Then, suddenly, a strip of road appeared.  “We’re around!” called Edward.

“Whew!” said Carol.  “Don’t go so close!”

“I didn’t have a choice,” said Edward, turning the wheel again.  “If we come to another curve like that…”

He didn’t finish his sentence.  Nor did Carol.  Brother and sister stared worriedly out at the gloomy, twisty road.

They reached a hill and started up.  “Maybe this will slow us down!” said Carol.  “Uh-oh, another curve sign.  What does it say?”

“You don’t want to know,” said Edward.  “Close your eyes on this one.”

“Twenty?” said Carol.  “Did that say twenty?”

The car reached the top of the hill, revealing a sharp bend to the right, followed immediately by a sharp bend to the left.  “Hang on!” said Edward.  “I’m not even going to try to make that?”

“What?” said Carol.

Bam!  The car plowed through the guardrail, flew over a cove below, and plowed through a guardrail on the other side.

“I thought this side was lower,” said Edward.  “Good thing I was right.”

“You weren’t sure?” said Carol.  “How did you learn to drive, anyway?!”

“It’s easy,” said Edward.  He looked at his sister, then back at the road.  “For some people, anyway.  What’s that ahead on the road?”

“What?!” exclaimed Carol.

Crunch!

“I think it was a hubcap,” said Edward.  “Nothing to—whoa!”

Another curve had shown up, and Edward swung the car around.  He misjudged, and sparks flew as the BMW skidded across the guardrail.  This one survived, though, and they were around.

“Don’t they ever end?” asked Carol.

“I don’t know.  I didn’t bring my GPS,” said Edward.  “Next time—”

“There’s another car coming!” screamed Carol.  “I can see it up ahead!”

“Where?  Oh, there?” said Edward.  “Uh-oh!  You’d better start praying we don’t meet them on a curve.  Place your hand on the horn and hold it there.”

BEEEEEEEP!!!!!

Closer and closer the other car came, and Edward tried to figure out where they would pass.  Sometimes, it looked like they’d meet on a curve.  Sometimes, it looked like they wouldn’t.  He couldn’t quite tell for sure.

“I think they’ll hit us on that curve up there!” called Carol.

“Don’t worry about that,” said Edward.

“Why?”

“There’s nothing we can do about it if that happens,” said Edward.  “Here we go!”

They went around.  It was sharp enough that they had to swerve into the opposite lane, and there was the other car, right in front of them.  HONK!!!!!! went its horn!

Carol shut her eyes.  Edward swerved back into the right lane and hoped that the other car wouldn’t try to veer out of their way.

Neither of them was sure what happened, but somehow, they missed the other car.  “Phew!” said Edward.  “That was too close for comfort!”

“This whole trip is too close for comfort!” yelled Carol, her face white with fright.  Edward glanced over at his sister.

“Pretend you’re on a roller coaster,” he said.

“I hate roller coasters!” said Carol.

“Never mind,” said Edward.  “Just—just—just try to enjoy the California starlight glinting off the ocean.”

“I’m too scared we’re going to be in it!” said Carol.

“The starlight?”

“No!  The ocean!  Look out for that curve!”

“I’ve got it,” said Edward.  “Just relax.”

“Hah!” said Carol.  “Relax?”

The car swerved around another curve, left tire tracks on another one, and destroyed another guardrail on the third (though this was on the right side of the road).  “What’s around the next curve?” asked Carol.  “I can’t see!”

“We’ll find out soon!” said Edward.  “Here we go!”

Scrrrch! went the car.  Then—

“Look!” said Carol.  “The road!”

“It’s straight!” called Edward.  “We’ve passed the curves!”

“Yes!” said Carol.  “We made it!”

“Not yet,” said Edward.  “You take over now.  Don’t move the wheel until we reach another turn, okay?”

“Oh, sure,” said Carol.  “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to try to stop this thing,” said Edward.  “Whatever you do, don’t panic.  Just keep us going straight until the hood comes up.”

“Until WHAT?!”

“The hood.  Keep us straight until the hood comes—”

“Why is the hood going to come up?!”

“We’ve got to stop this car!” said Edward.  “I’m going to crawl out and open the hood.  Once I do, keep going straight.  I’ll stop us before we hit another curve.”

“That’s dangerous!” said Carol.

“As if this isn’t?” said Edward.  “Don’t worry.”  With that, he rolled down the window.

When Edward stuck his head out, he felt the wind rushing past.  It was more powerful than anything he’d felt in his life, but not powerful enough to blow him off the car.  Carefully, he pulled himself out.

“Careful!” called Carol after him.

“Do you think I’d forget?” Edward asked.  The ground raced by below at over eighty miles per hour as he pulled himself onto the right side of the windshield.

Just below him was the hood.  Unfortunately, the end that opened was on the other side of the car.  There was no way he could open it from that end while they were in motion.  If he was to get at the engine while the car was moving, Edward would have to create his own opening.

He pulled out his wallet and tugged what appeared to be an Eckerd card.  Suddenly, a bright flame leapt out of the wallet.  It was a miniature blowtorch!

Edward went to work on the hood.  Soon, its rear-right corner was flapping up and down in the breeze, the hinges slashed by fire.  Now for the left.  Edward made sure as he moved over that his sister could still see the road.  Her tense face looked strange, viewed through a windshield.  Even if it hadn’t been tense, it probably still would’ve looked strange from that angle.

FZZZZZZ!  A few seconds, and the left side of the hood was free.  Edward grabbed the end of it and pried.  The wind sweeping over the car made it difficult, but suddenly, the hood popped into the air and fell away to the side of the car.  Edward heard it clatter in the background.

The car wasn’t stopped yet, but a grin that seemed to say “so there!” crossed Edward’s face.  He pocketed the wallet and pulled out a pocketknife.  Carol, watching from inside, didn’t know enough about cars to understand what he was doing, but she saw her brother attack the motor with an unbridled fury.  The moonlight glinted off his knife as he worked at the heart of the car.

All at once, the motor cut off!  Carol saw the speedometer drop to seventy.

Then sixty.

Then fifty.

Forty.

Thirty.

Twenty.

Ten.

Five.

Finally, the car rolled to a stop.  Edward hopped off the hood and ran around to the driver’s door.  Carol, still white-faced, was just staggering out of the car.  She sat down next to it and took several deep breaths.

“Are you alright?” asked Edward.

Carol nodded.  “Remind me never to drive again,” she said, leaning back against the Bavarian death trap.  “If you hadn’t steered me around those curves, I wouldn’t be alive right now—I’m sure of it!  Hey, how come you were in the car?”

“I was just going to ask you the same thing,” said Edward.  “I’ll go first, though.  Yesterday, I was thinking about the night someone tried to poison Mr. Hallett.  Who could have poisoned Mr. Hallett’s glass?”

“Anybody, I guess,” said Carol.

“Uh-uh,” said Edward.  “Think about it.  How were the glasses filled?”

“I forget,” said Carol.

“A servant came around with a pitcher, remember?”

“Oh, that’s right,” said Carol.  “Sorry, I’m still thinking about our ride.”

“Did the servant use the same pitcher for all the glasses?”

“Did he?” asked Carol.

“Yes,” said Edward.  “I remember thinking to myself that it had to be pretty large to hold enough water for everyone.  Now, get this.  Everyone was served from the same pitcher.  If the water was poisoned, then everyone would’ve received a poisoned glass.”

Carol gasped.  “That’s right!” she said.  “But wait!  Maybe everybody did!  Drew broke all the glasses with his—”

“They weren’t all poisoned,” said Edward, flatly.  “Bourdon drank all of his, remember?”

“Right,” said Carol.  A puzzled look came over her face.  “Then how could—”

“—someone have specifically poisoned Mr. Hallett’s glass?” asked Edward.  “I figured that out yesterday.  Drew and Mrs. Hallett were on either side of him.  Neither of them would have done it—”

“Of course,” said Carol.

“—which means the glass was poisoned before the water was ever poured,” said Edward.  “See where this is going?”

“I think so,” said Carol, “but that still doesn’t explain how the poisoner knew which glass was Mr. Hallett’s.”

“That’s the key to this whole thing,” said Edward.  “The poisoner was in the room well before anyone else entered.  So long before, in fact, that the room wasn’t entirely set up yet.  Someone changed the flowers before dinner started—”

“Schlegel!” exclaimed Carol.  “He thought there were different flowers in the vase!”

“Exactly!” said Edward.  “I figured it out late yesterday afternoon, but I didn’t have a chance to tell anyone.”

“I overheard him say there was something hidden in the glovebox yesterday afternoon,” said Carol, “but I didn’t have a chance to tell anyone either!”

“So that’s what happened,” said Edward.  “Well, once I figured out it was him, I searched his room.  Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything.  Then, I decided to search his car, but I decided to wait until the middle of the night so no one would notice.  I’d just opened the door and climbed in when I heard somebody coming, so I hid in the backseat.  You can imagine my surprise when it was you.”

“So that’s why you were there,” said Carol.  “Oh, I’m so glad you were!”  She quickly told her story of how she’d caught on to Schlegel.

“But there’s another thing I don’t understand,” she said.  “How did Schlegel know I was listening?”

“Good question,” said Edward.  “He didn’t see you?”

“No,” said Carol.  “I’d just gone to the kitchen to get a glass of lemonade.  I wasn’t even scheduled to be in that area.”

“Interesting,” said Edward.  “The way the car acted, I’d say this was a trap.  How could he trap you, though, if—say, wait a minute.”

“What?” said Carol.

“Let’s have a look at those plans you went after,” said Edward.  He ran around to the passenger door, yanked open the glovebox, and yanked out the papers.

“Well?” said Carol.

“Old newspapers—all of them,” said Edward.  “These weren’t the real plans at all.  This whole business was a trap.”

“For who, though?” asked Carol.

“Probably just the—were either of our ‘parents’ around when he made the call?”

“I think Mr. Hallett was nearby—”

“That’s it, then!  Schlegel wasn’t trying to trap us!  He was trying to trap Mr. Hallett!”  Edward laughed.  “Won’t he be surprised tomorrow morning when our ‘dad’ is still around?!”

“That doesn’t help us, though,” said Carol.  “We’ve got to get back to Malibu and tell Drew and Renee what happened!”

“You’re right,” said Edward.  “Who knows how far away we are by now.  Do you have your compact?”

“Let me see,” said Carol, sticking her hand in her pocket.  She frowned.  “No.  I must have left it in my room.”

“Phooey!” said Edward.  “And I left my wallet behind.  No one told me we were going for a late-night spin.  We’ll have to figure out how to get back ourselves.”

“Where are we, anyway?” asked Carol.  She and her brother looked around.  The moon shone bright over trees, grass, the road, and—

“Over to our right!” said Edward. “Look!  A railroad siding!”

“With some freight cars parked on it!” said Carol.  “Let’s go take a look.”

“Hopefully it’s a train pulled over, waiting for another one to pass,” said Edward, as the two spies walked over.

Sure enough, when they reached the side of the tracks, they saw light coming from an engine way down the siding.  “It’s facing south,” said Edward.  “Hear that?  That’s another train coming.”

“I don’t hear a horn,” said Carol.

“They only honk at crossings,” said Edward.  “Quick, let’s duck in this boxcar before this one heads out.”

“How long do you think it’ll take to get back?” asked Carol.

“A while,” said Edward.  “This won’t go eighty, and I don’t know if it’s headed to Malibu.  Hopefully, we can make it back sometime this morning.  Once Schlegel finds out we’re gone, he might become suspicious of Drew and Renee.  We’ve got to get back there as soon as possible!”