Around 1, the phone rang
at the Ponca City YMCA. The staff member
on duty, Shelly, answered casually, not expecting anything important. Calls came every few minutes, and there was
no reason to expect this to be different from any other.
“Please let me speak to
Pollyanna Leffler,” said the voice on the other end. “It’s important.”
“Pollyanna Leffler?” the
woman asked. “Does she work—”
“No, she’s in one of the
camps for nine-year-olds,” said Brittany.
“I need to speak to her right away.”
Auburn watched as
Brittany impatiently held the phone to her ear.
“I had to get a hold of Allie once when she was at a camp there, and it
took FOREVER. I don’t know what takes
them so long, but—Pollyanna?”
Excitement surged within
Auburn, only to be dashed when Brittany said, “No, someone else is helping
me.” She pulled the phone away from her
ear and hissed, “See?”
“Good thing we called
early then,” Auburn said, as Brittany drummed her fingers on the counter. A minute went by, then another, then another,
Brittany’s patience ebbing as each knew one passed. Finally, she started mouthing words as if she
was speaking into the phone, pausing just long enough to give the “other
person” time to speak. Based on her
expressions, it was a pretty heated conversation. Auburn burst out laughing; pretty soon,
Brittany had to as well.
“If you think was good,”
Brittany said, “you should see what my mom looks like when the doctor puts her
on hold—Pollyanna!”
Auburn’s face grew
serious as Brittany made contact with their quarry.
“Yes, this is
Brittany. I’ve got news about Allie.” [Pause.]
“Er, yes and no. At any rate,
I’ve found out why she disappeared, and I need to tell you.” [Pause.]
“No, not over the phone. Tell you
what, I’ll pick you up when camp gets out.
When you leave, instead of getting on the bus, look for a car with
flashing lights. Got it?” [Pause.]
“Alright, see you then.”
“So she’s expecting us
now,” said Auburn, as Brittany hung up.
“Sure is,” said
Brittany. “No scene, no anything, only I
hope she doesn’t give us trouble when we ask her to hide in the hotel.”
“If she does…” said
Auburn, “we’ll have to come up with something else for tonight.”
“Let’s not think about
that right now,” said Brittany.
“Meantime, what are we going to do about the car? Whose are we going to take?”
“I had an idea about
that,” said Auburn. “You work at a gas
station! Surely, somebody will come to
fill up around the time we need to leave.
If we have someone knock them out, then we can borrow their car,
ditching it right after we get back.”
“Probably the best idea,”
agreed Brittany. “Only, what if they
come to before we get back?”
“Yeah, we don’t want
that,” said Auburn. “Call Jimmy. Have him get over here. If they start to come to, he can knock them
out again if we’re not back yet.”
“That should work,” said
Brittany.
“There’s only one
problem,” said Auburn. “You’ll have to
drive to Ponca City, which’ll leave nobody here at the gas station. We’ll have to come up with some story for
your whereabouts during that time. The
simplest idea is to have you get knocked out too when you get back; then, it’ll
just look like the same person that borrowed the car hit you. Only, I don’t know if you’ll want to do
that—”
“Honestly,” said
Brittany, “with all the stuff Richards made me do, I’d go along with anything
to get him put behind bars. I don’t
think it’ll bother me in the least.
Just—make sure my back’s turned when you do it.”
“Okay,” said Auburn. “Or, maybe we’ll have Jimmy do it. We can decide later. Meanwhile, what time does that camp get out?”
“Three,” said Brittany.
“Then let’s call Jimmy
and tell him to be here at 2:20.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The heat that day was
stifling, oppressive, miserable, and normal for that part of the country at
that part of the year. Things weren’t a
whole lot better inside, where Brittany, Auburn, and Jimmy sat waiting for a
visitor. The weak fan by the window did
very little to cool off the room, while its sound reminded everybody of the
temperature outside.
“You disabled the
security cameras, right?” Auburn asked.
“That’s was I was doing
back there, five minutes ago,” replied Brittany. “Good thing we’re alleging the Purple
Porcupine to be responsible for this.
The police won’t think twice about him being a master criminal.”
“Speaking of police,”
said Jimmy, staring out the window, “look who’s coming!”
One of the Blackwell
Police cars had just rolled up to a pump outside. Its motor shut off, and the door opened,
revealing Officer Porter, busy polishing off a Big Mac from…some popular fast
food restaurant whose name escapes me at the moment. Licking his fingers, the officer climbed out
of the car and prepared to fill ‘er up with 87.
Auburn stared out in
surprise at the police car. She turned
to look at Brittany, only to find her friend gazing back at her.
“You think…” Brittany asked.
“It would be perfect!”
said Auburn. “Better yet, we can go as
fast as we want on the way back to town, with the siren. No one’s going to suspect a police car!”
“Officer Porter always
stops in to get something to drink,” said Brittany. “Plus, he’s not the brightest officer in
town. If something like this was going
to happen—”
“Jimmy!” bossed
Auburn. “Go hide over by the door. If Porter comes in, slip outside and wait for
him to come out. Then—actually, what are
you going to bop him with?”
Instead of answering,
Jimmy held up an object. Auburn nodded
at it. “That should work.”
“This is going to be
hilarious!” said Brittany. “It’ll really
throw the police a curveball. They’ll
never figure out you’re the porcupine!”
“Then, when we get done,”
said Auburn, “we should try to leave it at Richards’s house—”
“Uh-uh,” said
Brittany. “He might spot me.”
“Oh, right,” said
Auburn. “Well, at the very least,
we’ll—”
“Shh! He’s coming!” observed Brittany. “Hide!”
Winking, Auburn dove
under the counter, just as the door tinkled open. Officer Porter walked in, whistling his
Arkansas song. He winked at Brittany as
he wandered to the refrigerator, to grab his usual Cherry-Lime Pepsi.
Brittany smiled back,
thinking how different Porter was from Richards. Porter wasn’t the sharpest tool in the box,
but when he smiled at you, it was sincere.
He wasn’t sizing you up, or laughing over the knowledge that he controlled
you. He was just happy to see someone he
knew, someone who’d be a friend. A
twinge of regret gripped Brittany as she thought over what was about to happen
to him—
But
that’ll all be explained later, she thought, as the
officer wandered over.
“Good afternoon,” he
said, putting the bottle on the counter.
“Hi,” said Brittany,
scanning it. “This’ll be all?”
“Yep,” said the
officer. “I’m in a hurry—got a BIG case
I’m working on.”
“The Porcupine one?”
Brittany asked, trying to look hopeful.
“You said it,” smiled
Porter. “You wouldn’t believe how close
we’re getting.”
No,
YOU wouldn’t believe it, smiled Auburn, inches away under
the counter.
“I hope you find him
soon,” said Brittany, handing him his drink.
“I really want Allie back.”
“Don’t worry, miss. With me on duty, you have nothing to worry
about!” He took his Coke—Pepsi, I’m
sorry—and walked back to the door, still whistling his tune. He looked back and gave a wave as he stepped
out.
A moment later, he was
coming back through the door, headfirst, dragged by Jimmy. “Got him!” Jimmy said triumphantly. “That bottle of mouthwash did the trick—”
“It’s motor oil, not
mouthwash!” retorted Brittany. “There’s
a difference!”
“Engine-Clean,
Listerine—sounds practically the same,” said Jimmy.
“I’m so glad you’re not
my dentist,” said Brittany, checking her watch.
“Ready, Auburn?”
The cabinet door flew open. “All set!”
“Hold down the fort,
Jimmy! I’m going to drive a police car!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“You know, this actually
handles really nicely,” said Brittany.
“Not too much of an adjustment from the other car. If we have trouble, I can even radio for
backup.”
“Well, don’t do that,”
said Auburn. “Remember, they think
Porter’s still driving.”
“I know,” said
Brittany. She laughed. “If only Richards could see me right
now. He’d have a fit.”
“Especially knowing that
you’re helping me pull off a caper in
Ponca City,” said Auburn. “The Purple
Porcupine—America’s most daring crook without a driver’s license!”
“Not really,” said
Brittany. “Remember, John Wilkes Booth
didn’t have one.”
“Like he’d actually need
it for anything?” Auburn retorted. “You
need to get your history right.”
“We’re coming up on the
town,” said Brittany, changing the subject.
“Should I use the siren?”
“Uh-uh,” said
Auburn. “We’ll be early, even at this
pace. Using the siren will just draw
unnecessary attention—we don’t want to be detected until Pollyanna’s safely at
the gas station.”
“Got it,” said Brittany,
pulling to a stop at the light. “Ever
been to Ponca City before?”
“No, I haven’t,” said
Auburn, gazing curiously out the window.
“When we moved here from Kansas City, we just took I-35 all the
way. It was dark, and I don’t know
anything about the surrounding towns.”
“Well, Ponca City’s where
you go if you need something Blackwell doesn’t have,” said Brittany. “YMCA, Lowe’s, a movie theater that’s still
in business—you name it. Of course,
there’s some things you’ve just got to go all the way to Wichita or OKC for,
but Ponca City’s got most of what you need.
They’ve got a lot of attractions, too.
There’s a mansion built by E.W. Marland, an oil baron, that’s available
for tours now—you wouldn’t believe the size of that place! He had another house too, not quite as large,
but also available for tours. Their old
theater’s still used by performing arts groups, not by criminal organizations,
like ours…they’ve got a couple interesting statues, art museums. My favorite thing’s personally the
rodeo. They’re holding it in about a
month, and I’m always eager to go see it.
My dad used to ride in those—”
“Did he really?” said
Auburn.
“Yes—he had to give it up
about ten years ago when he busted his leg in a fall. We had some financial difficulty, so we had
to sell the ranch and move into town.
Horses were just too expensive to take care of. Allie doesn’t remember much about those days,
but I’ll never forget having to feed the horses every morning. I still remember most of the names—Goldie,
Saddle Sore, Little Jeff—oh, there’s my museum!”
“The Conoco Museum?” said
Auburn, glancing out the window.
“Yep. Don’t tell anyone, but Conoco was sort of
responsible in driving that guy that built the mansion into bankruptcy—it’s a
long, messed-up story. The museum’s got
some cool exhibits, though. There’s a
reenactment of a doodlebug site, which means—oh, no!”
“What?” asked Auburn.
An expression of fear had
suddenly passed over Brittany’s face.
“Those men that just walked out the front door,” said Brittany. “One of them’s the chief of police. Blackwell’s
chief of police.”
“He is? Which one?” Auburn asked, but they were too
far past the museum for her to still see them.
“The one in the middle,
if you noticed,” said Brittany.
“Hopefully, they didn’t see us.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Now, that was a museum,”
Cedric Valentine declared. “I could have
stayed there for two hours.”
“You did, actually,”
Chief Morris commented wryly. “It’s
three in the afternoon, and we still haven’t had lunch.”
“Let’s make it an early
dinner, then,” said Valentine. “Got any
suggestions, Lauderdale?”
Officer Lauderdale
beamed. He ate here all the time; of
course he had suggestions! “Braum’s is
probably the best place,” he said, “but McDonald’s is also good. Burger King’s better if you’re in a hurry,
and the KFC does a good job. There was a
Long John Silver’s, but I’m not sure if—”
“Lauderdale!” Chief Morris glared at his assistant. “I don’t think Mr. Valentine’s interested in
fast food.”
“On the contrary,” said
Valentine, “I’m interested in anything that might help solve a mystery. In fact, I once spent an entire year visiting
different restaurants, seeing which would provide a meal that would leave me
best able to focus on solving crimes. At
the end of the year, I discovered that the higher the price, the higher my
cognitive ability to solve—”
“Chief!” spoke up
Lauderdale, nudging his boss. “Isn’t
that one of our police cars?”
“Why, so it is!” the
chief said. “Porter’s, I think!”
“Oh, I say, it is a
Blackwell car, isn’t it?” said Valentine.
“Hmm, very mysterious. Chief, I
have a theory about why you can’t find the Purple Porcupine—”
“Oh no, Valentine, you
don’t understand—”
“No, you don’t
understand. Think about it. What better cover would anyone have than one
of your police officers? If he found a
clue, he could hide it or fail to report it, without anyone seeming
suspicious. He’d never have to worry
about incriminating himself. It would be
the perfect coverup—”
“Valentine, please!” The chief put a hand on the detective’s
shoulder and looked him square in the eye.
“You don’t know Porter. His
reason for being here is—oh, how should I put it? Let’s just say that there are some casinos in
town, and—”
“Ah, I see it at once,”
Valentine smiled at his friend. “You
sent Porter here to do some investigating for you.”
“No,” said the
chief. “Porter has a strange belief
he’ll get lucky one of these days. He’s
here to gamble, pure and simple.
Besides, this is Ponca City. The
Purple Porcupine only strikes in Blackwell.”
Chief Morris patted the detective’s arm.
“You’ve got to realize when you’re too suspicious. Now, how about lunch?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“There it is,” said
Brittany, pulling up in the fire lane on front.
She switched on the lights for the siren. “I had no idea when I told Pollyanna to look
for flashing lights just how flashing they would be…”
Auburn laughed. “Good point,” she said. “At least, thanks to this car, we can park
anywhere.”
“Hopefully, Pollyanna
comes out soon,” said Brittany, “because I really don’t want anyone asking questions—oh,
look, there she comes!”
“Which one?” Auburn
asked, as a sea of children poured out of the building.
“The blond-haired one
with the pigtails—see, coming this way?
Get ready, because we’ve got some explaining to do.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the “Closed” Conoco
store, Officer Porter was beginning to regain consciousness. His eyelids fluttered, and his right arm
flopped around a bit as his senses returned to him. He grunted, then started to open his eyes—
Just as Jimmy gave him
another whack! with the motor oil
bottle.
“Sorry, sir,” he
said. “Once this all gets cleared up,
I’ll apologize when you can actually hear me.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Am I really getting
kidnapped?”
Auburn smiled at the girl
in the backseat, relieved that someone else was taking this adventure
well. “No, Pollyanna, you’re not. If you really were, you’d be held against
your will. Here, you’re welcome to leave
at any time. It’s just that your parents
won’t understand why you left, and they’ll assume you were kidnapped.” Auburn paused. “I hope that made sense.”
Pollyanna shrugged. “I was getting tired of that stupid camp,
anyway,” she said. “All they did was
play Dodgeball, Dodgeball, and more Dodgeball!”
Brittany laughed. “I take it you didn’t win?”
“Win? I was lucky to not be the second person
hit!” Pollyanna glared sulkily at the
car floor. “If I ever become President,
I’m going to ban Dodgeball. From
everywhere. And Tag. Don’t get me started on Tag! I hate the game—”
“Well, once we get you to
the hotel, Pollyanna, you won’t have to play any of those games if you don’t
want to.” Auburn smiled. “I never liked Tag either. It’s not much fun getting chased.”
“You’re not kidding,”
said Brittany. “Glad nobody’s following
us. We should be there in six minutes—or
maybe not,” she said, scowling out the windshield.
Auburn followed her gaze;
it didn’t take long to see what was wrong.
Northern Oklahoma had a lot of oil wells, ranches, and farms. Believe it or not, the farms had tractors—quite
a few, to be precise. Well, one of them
was driving down the road now, going exactly forty miles below the speed limit.
“No passing allowed,”
said Brittany. “Well, we’re in a police
car. I think I’m going to put this siren
to good use!” She switched the lights
and sound on, then swerved into the left lane—
Right
into the path of an oncoming oil truck!
(See, I told you
northern Oklahoma had a lot of farms, ranches, and oil wells!)
Brittany got back
into the right lane just in time to avoid being hit. She let out a deep breath and continued at
twenty-five miles per hour. “Sorry,” she
finally told Auburn, when her pulse went down.
“Don’t worry,”
said Auburn. “Actually, I’m relieved
that you did that?”
“What!” said Brittany. “Are you crazy?”
“No, but I thought
you were at the train station the
other day,” said Auburn. “Thanks for
proving me wrong.”
“Oh, that…” said
Brittany. “You’re welcome.” She slowed down the car. “This time, I’ll give myself plenty of room
to look ahead before I try something like that again.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So there we were, just
the two of us. Valdez sized me up, his
giant muscles looking as though they’d burst out of his skin any moment. Me, I put all my efforts into throwing my
right hook, knowing that the bullet in my left arm would keep me from—”
Chief Morris held up his
hand. “I want to hear the rest of this,
Valentine, but my cellphone’s ringing.
Hello?”
“Chief? Evans speaking. Where in the world is Porter?”
“Oh, him,” said the
chief. “Evans, what does Porter spend
all his spare time doing?”
“No, he’s not at a
casino,” said Evans. “He left to get gas
around 2:15. Told me he’d be back in
about twenty minutes, and that he’d help me put those doors back on the jail. Remember, the mayor’s coming by tomorrow to
perform that inspection—”
“By golly, you’re right!”
exclaimed the chief. “I had forgotten
that. Porter may be a gambler, but he
wouldn’t skip something like that!” The
chief bit his lip. “Where was he going?”
“Not sure,” said Evans,
“but I’d assume the Conoco.”
“Go check!” ordered the
chief. “I’ll be back as quick as I
can!” Hanging up, he stared across at
his detective, drooling over the menu.
“We’ve got to go,
Valentine. You were right. That car wasn’t supposed to be here, after
all.”
“Oh.” Valentine looked
disappointed. “Can’t we—”
“Come on!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The police car idled up
to the gas station. It was locked, tight
as a drum, and no one appeared to be around.
A closed sign hung in the window, faded.
Yet that didn’t stop the car door from opening and the driver from
getting out.
“Good thing I never took
this key off my ring,” said Brittany.
“Alright, Pollyanna, the next few hours might be kind of boring. We’re going to get you to the hotel, but we
can’t drop you off there now, in case we were followed. I hope you don’t mind waiting—”
“Don’t worry,” said
Pollyanna. “That camp’s exhausting. I was planning to take a nap anyway.”
“Well, there is a cot in
there,” admitted Brittany, as she opened the door. “Allie and I come here sometimes and use the
place as a playhouse…”
Auburn and Brittany saw
that Pollyanna was safely established in the station. Then, Brittany locked the building up, and
the girls drove off. “We’ll ditch it on
the other side of the train tracks from the Dollar General,” said
Brittany. “That way, it’s just a quick
sprint back to the Conoco, but we’re not so close to make the police associate
us…”
“Perfect,” said
Auburn. “I hope Jimmy hasn’t had any
trouble.”
“I do too,” said
Brittany, “because if we get caught driving this car…”
Both girls breathed a
little more easily as they left the car in a large, mostly-empty parking
lot. They scampered across the train
tracks, then slunk through the underbrush behind the Dollar General. “We’ll slip in the backdoor,” said
Brittany. “I’ve got a key…”
“You mean you’ll slip
in,” said Auburn. “I’d better be running
along. Remember, everyone thinks I’m an
invalid—”
“Oh, that’s right,” said
Brittany. “Well, good luck!”
“You too,” said Auburn.
Brittany watched her
friend run off, then she darted the final few yards to the gas station. Wisely, she crept through the backdoor as
quietly as possible, not wanting to tip anyone off in case the police were
waiting—
Not a sound came from
inside the place.
Brittany crept out of the
storage room and glanced around the store.
There wasn’t a figure in sight, not even Porter, who still lay
somewhere. Cautiously, she took a step—
Then
sagged unconscious to the ground as a powerful blow caught her over the head!
Jimmy Redford had been
watching from the window. “Well, you
asked for it,” he said. “Literally, I
mean. If I were you, I’d rather have a surprise.” He glanced up, then bolted into the back
room, seeing a police car pulling up to the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Porter still lay in the
store unconscious. So did Brittany. Chief Morris and the rest had no idea what
had happened to them.
Until they found the
car. It took them less than fifteen
minutes to turn it up. Brittany had worn
gloves when she drove, and there wasn’t a trace of who’d been in it, except a
little sticker featuring a spiky rodent in an unusual shade for its breed.
About an hour later, the
call came from Mrs. Leffler that Pollyanna hadn’t returned from Ponca
City. Chief Morris pounded his desk as
he guessed the reason why.
Four masked bandits
showed up at the courthouse at midnight.
They marched to the door, then stared expectantly at the tallest one,
who’d driven. She reached into her
pocket and started fumbling around for the keys.
“Uh-oh,” she said. “I think I left Richards’s key at home. We can’t get in.”
“Oops,” said another one,
whose voice sounded like Jimmy’s. “I
guess we’ll just have to give up. What
do you all say?”
The other two bandits
nodded their assent. Underneath his
mask, Billy smiled, relieved that his sister was now in a safe place.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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