Chapter 11: The Purple Porcupine Strikes Again!

“No phone calls yet, Mrs. Redford?”

“None!”  Valerie’s mom sat on a couch in her living room, tissues from a now-mostly-empty-Kleenex box scattered at her feet.  Next to her on the table sat a telephone, caller ID just waiting for a ransom call that would never come.  Down the hall, crime scene tape bordered Valerie’s door, and three police officers were going over the room with a fine-toothed comb.

There was a knock at the door.  “Stay here, Mrs. Redford—I’ll get it.”  The officer in the living room went to the door, opening it up only to see an all-too-familiar face.  “Good morning, chief.”

“Bah.”  The chief stepped inside, wiping his feet stiffly on the mat in front of the door.  “Which way’s the girl’s room?”

“Right down that hallway,” said the officer.  “Evans, Porter, and Lauderdale are in there right now.”

Chief Morris had been a cop in Wichita for twenty years.  When Blackwell started looking for a chief, he’d been thrilled to come take the new assignment.  A nice, quiet town meant Morris could draw a great salary for just sitting around his office, making sure all his officers were doing their work.  Things had been peaceful, alright, until a few months ago.  Now, Morris was beginning to realize just how much he missed the luxuries of sleeping in, napping at work, taking two hours to eat lunch, etc., etc.

“Porter,” he said, opening the door.  “What you got so far?”

“Plenty,” said Porter.  “It’s kidnapping, that’s for sure.  Someone ransacked this room.  The toys are all out of the toy chest, clothes are scattered everywhere, and the sheets have been yanked off the bed.  It looks like someone was looking for something…”

“Porter.”  The chief’s face was unsmiling.  “Are you sure the girl wasn’t just messy?”

“Checked with her mother already,” Porter beamed back.  “Valerie Redford cleaned her room every Monday.  When did she disappear?  Sometime Monday night/Tuesday morning.  No, someone’s gone through the room.”

Porter shrugged, surveying the room.  “Any signs of forced entry?”

“The screen was off the window,” said Porter, “so the girl must have left that way.  There weren’t any marks on the window, but Mrs. Redford says they never lock them.  All the kidnapper had to do was remove the screen.”

“If there was a kidnapper,” said Chief Morris.  “Personally, all the information you’ve uncovered so far, Porter, seems to point more towards a runaway then an actual…what’s that?”

“That?” Porter tried to follow the chief’s gaze.  “That’s the bed.”

The chief looked disdainfully at Porter, then wandered over to the bed.  Putting on gloves, he picked up a small piece of paper from the end of the bed.  Nothing was written on this piece of paper, but there was a sticker on it.  A purple porcupine sticker.

“Lauderdale!” yelled the chief.  “Find out if Valerie Redford owned any purple porcupine stickers.”

“Any what?!”

“Purple porcupine stickers.  Don’t ask questions; just do as you’re told!”  The chief forgot that he’d just told Lauderdale to ask questions, so interested was he in the sticker.

He could already guess what the answer was going to be before Lauderdale came back to the room.

“Mrs. Redford doesn’t remember any—”

“Of course she doesn’t,” said the chief.  “Porter.  Was that sticker on the bed when you came in here?”

“Yes, it was,” said Porter.  “I assumed she was just doing a craft project—”

“Not on your life,” said the chief.  “No stickers, glue, scissors, pencils—if she did one and cleaned everything up, this wouldn’t have been the only object lying on her bed.  No, this reminds me of a case I worked in Wichita once.  We had this crook who’d always leave a pinecone after him.  To this man, crime was an art.  The pinecone was his trademark, his artist’s signature on his job.  That’s what this is.”

The chief held the paper up to the light, staring grimly at the little purple rodent smiling back at him.  “The Purple Porcupine’s arrived in Blackwell,” he said, “and until we catch him, we’ll have a crime spree on our hands.”

As if they didn’t already.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jack Richards sat sullenly in his office, in the middle of the worst mood he’d been in since the club had started.  His lunch, Chinese from a delivery place, lay untouched on his desk before him.  All his attention was focused on the list in his desk drawer; more specifically, one of the names on page 3.

He looked up impatiently as Hardaway wandered in carelessly.

“Hey, boss, I got to hand it to you,” Hardaway told Richards.  “I heard the news from at lunch.  That was a real slick job you pulled last night—”

“I WASN’T RESPONSIBLE FOR THAT KIDNAPPING!!!!” Richards bellowed.

“Calm down, calm down, it’s nothing to get excited about,” said Hardaway.  “I wouldn’t have minded helping you, but if you didn’t want—”

“Listen, you dolt!” said Richards.  “I got up this morning and put on the police radio, and what are they talking about?  Nothing about our neat little art project on the back of City Hall last night.  Nooooo…they’re wondering what’s happened to my insurance policy on Jimmy Redford.  And so am I!”

“You mean—”

“I don’t have the faintest idea where that girl is!  Someone else took her.  The big question is, did they grab her for ransom, or do they want to split up my club?”

“What do you mean?” Hardaway asked.

“The police say the kidnapper left a trademark.  Someone called the Purple Porcupine or something like that.  It’s like they wanted someone to know who was responsible.  Who else besides me and Valerie’s family would care what happened to that girl?”

“I see,” said Hardaway.  “You think—”

“We’ve got to watch Jimmy carefully,” said Richards.  “Keep him in the dark about what really happened.  And if this Purple Porcupine tries to get him to sabotage our club, we may find it necessary to terminate him.”

“So that’s the pitch,” said Hardaway.  “Won’t be any harder for me than the sister would’ve been.  You can count on my full cooperation.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about, Hardaway.  It’s that Purple Porcupine.  I wonder just what scheme he’s got up his sleeve…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

True to her word, Auburn dropped by the Larkin Hotel around 4:00 in the afternoon, just to see how Valerie was getting along.  She was in great spirits, having loads of fun with the toys.  Auburn also saw that one of the Oreo packages was already half-empty.  Smiling, she showed Valerie how to use the microwave, leaving her young ward with a nourishing meal of chicken tenders, mashed potatoes, and green beans before leaving for the night.

When midnight rolled around, however, the window of the little house on 8^th Street popped open again, as Auburn slipped out for her second mission.

The first success had her feeling confident.  She knew she’d have to watch out for the police, but she also knew that the police were still focused on the Redford “kidnapping.”  They had no idea that Valerie’s disappearance was only the first in what would be a spree.

Carefully, Auburn slipped through the darkened streets.  She knew full well that if she was caught before reaching the McPherson residence, the police would just send her home, without suspecting that this might be the person they were looking for.  The thought brought a smile to Auburn’s face.

She’d considered bringing Valerie along to help convince Allie, but she’d decided against it.  Too dangerous.  If anyone saw Valerie out, Auburn’s scheme could be ruined before it had a chance to really get going.  She’d have to hope Allie would be as easy as Valerie had been.

The McPherson residence was a little bigger, a blue house with four tapered posts holding up the roof over the porch on front.  There was a second story, but it was a little one, and Auburn knew from Richards’s list that Allie’s room would also be in the back, only on the other side of the house.

She couldn’t help but think, as she slunk through the backyard to the residence, that her friend Brittany lay somewhere inside, sleeping.  If Brittany only knew what was about to happen—well, if she knew the full story, she’d thank Auburn for getting her out of trouble.  If she only knew that her sister was about to disappear, with no explanation except a porcupine sticker—

A scream shattered the stillness of the night!

Auburn stopped in terror.  She hadn’t even tapped on the window yet!

The scream came again, even more shrill this time!

Auburn looked up, at the large tree frowning over her head.  Two big eyes blinked down at her.  A screech owl.

“Shh!” Auburn hissed, as if the screech owl could understand what she was saying.  “Go away, you stupid bird.”

Picking up a rock (a small one—she didn’t want to hurt the thing!) she flung it at the tree.  It missed the bird, but it scared the owl into flight, and the noisy avian drifted off to another tree where it could sit undisturbed.  Auburn watched it go and let out a deep breath.

Then, she continued over to the window.  The McPhersons, she saw, had recently installed new window screens, making this one harder to pry off.  It wasn’t impossible, though, particularly with the aid of Auburn’s pocketknife.  Once she had it, she tapped on the window, wondering just what the result would be.

This time, there was no need for her to tap, the blinds went up instantly…revealing Allie McPherson.  She stared inquisitively at the figure outside and wasted no time opening the window.  “Who are you?” she asked.

“My name’s Auburn Reynolds.  I’m a friend of your sister’s.”

“Oh.  Well, she’s sleeping right now, but if you come back tomorrow—”

“No, I’m here to see you,” Auburn said.  “You see, I know where Valerie is.”

“You do?!” said Allie.  “Come on in, but don’t try to kidnap me, or I’ll scream!”

Auburn couldn’t help laughing (softly).  “Fair enough,” she said, “but keep your voice down.  What I’ve got to say is just between you and me.”

Quickly, she told Allie about Richards, and the club, and how Valerie’s name had been on the list.  “If she’d stuck around,” Auburn said, “Jimmy would be forced to keep committing crimes.”  Then, she told Allie that she too was on the list.  Allie’s face turned white, and Auburn could see tears emerging at the corners of her eyes.

“I know it’s awful,” Auburn said.  “That’s why Valerie went into hiding.  So her brother wouldn’t have to keep doing what Richards told him.  Brittany doesn’t want to take his orders either, but she’s afraid for you.  So long as you stay here, she doesn’t feel like there’s anything she can do about it.”

And sure enough, when Auburn told her that Valerie was safe, and that she could go hide out at the same place, Allie was only too happy to go.

Before they left, of course, Auburn dropped another purple porcupine sticker in the same place as the one she’d put down the day before.