Chapter 18: Plan B

Things happened fast after that.  Once reason took ahold of her again, Auburn began backing through the tree as fast as she could.  The man, meanwhile, gave a scream of his own, so shocked was he to be run into from behind.  He failed to hold on to the branch and, with a rustle of leaves, fell plunging into the Lefflers’ yard.

Auburn didn’t stick around to see what happened.  She clambered down at top speed, jumping the final four feet to the ground.  She didn’t run back to the road, either.  Instead, she plunged through the neighbor’s yard until she ran into an alley.  Not stopping there, she plunged through the yards across the street until she found an east-west road, Bel Air Avenue.

Down the little side street she plunged, not caring about secrecy any more.  Just concerned with getting away from the man in the tree as fast as possible.

Back on Kori Avenue, lights came on—in the Leffler house as well as in the others.  Mrs. Suthgart, who lived just across the street, cracked her blinds open in time to see a strange man climbing over the fence from the Leffler’s backyard.

Her eyes grew as big as saucers, and she raced for the phone.

“Hello, Police?  Police?  There’s a prowler across the street.  I think he’s the Purple Porcupine!”

The wind whipped at Auburn’s face as she ran, faster, faster.  She’d lost track of which way she was going.  All she could think of was getting away from that house, and fast—

As she ran into some trees, she tripped over something and went sprawling.  Quickly, she picked herself up, intending to resume her sprint—

Until she realized what she’d tripped over.  A wooden bar, a little more than five feet long and less than a foot wide.  To be specific, an old railroad tie—

The abandoned railbed!

Auburn glanced up at the moon.  Straight in front of her.  It had been west when she started out, she was sure of that.  That meant that to get home, she had to go right—Auburn began running up the track.

“Pollyanna!  Pollyanna!  Are you OK!”  Mrs. Leffler yanked open her daughter’s door.  Inside, Pollyanna was just sitting up in bed, rubbing her eyes and wondering why her mother was rushing in to give her a hug.

Her father was focused on more important matters.

Bang!  Bang!

“Durn it!  Missed!” he yelled, lowering his rifle.  He ran to the phone and dialed the police.  “Hello, this is Lester Leffler.  We’ve just had a prowler in the yard.  He’s a tall man, slim, dressed in black.  I couldn’t tell much else, but I think he was up to something…”

Tall man, slim, dressed in black.  There were a lot of folks that could fit that description.  In fact, one of them was named Hardaway.

Auburn heard the sirens, as cruiser after cruiser began racing towards the house.  Least they won’t see me back here, she thought, then stopped herself just before reaching an abandoned crossing.  A cruiser zipped by, close enough to catch her easily in the spotlight—if it had had the spotlight on, which it fortunately didn’t.  Auburn looked both ways before continuing.

Two more calls came in from the police—one, the fanciful story of a neighborhood busybody that hadn’t seen anything but felt obligated to supply some sort of story (“Eight men, all armed, descending upon the Suthgart residence)—the other, another witness that had spotted Hardaway.  “He drove off in a blue sedan.  Couldn’t get the license number, but I think it was a Honda.”

Acura, actually, but we can’t all be car experts.

On Auburn ran, her breath coming in short gasps.  She didn’t slow her pace until she stumbled into the old railyard.  A horn sent her scurrying to the edge of it, just in time to avoid being spotted by a late-night freight.  Bending over, she huffed as she caught her breath.

Escaped that one, she thought, but I didn’t get the girl.  Oh, what are we going to do?

Unless something happened before tomorrow evening, Brittany, Jimmy, and Penny would be in trouble.

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

“It was a brilliant success, Chief!  Our greatest triumph yet!”

Officer Lauderdale paced around Chief Morris’s office, trying to convince himself (and all parties present) that last night had been some sort of major victory.

“Another kidnapping attempt, and we averted it.  Not only that, but we got a description of the suspect—”

“A description that could fit twenty percent of males in this town!” Chief Morris sullenly fumed.  “Worse, we let that mastermind slip through our fingers.”

“Someone spotted his car—”

“That’s not any help either,” the chief surmised.  “I checked with vehicle registration, and there’s at least twenty cars in Blackwell that could fit that description.  It could be Ronald Coleman, it could be Vince Gray, it could be Joseph Briggs, it could be Ryan—no, Lauderdale, that’s not much of a clue either.  The one I’m counting on is that scream.”

“The man’s?”

“No, the girl’s.  Pollyanna was just waking up when her mother came into the room—she didn’t see anybody.  So who screamed?  No one else in the radius of the house had a girl.”

“That is odd,” said Lauderdale, chewing on his cap.  “You’re sure it—”

“Don’t chew on your cap, Lauderdale!”

“Sorry, sir,” said Lauderdale, yanking his hat nervously out of his mouth.  “It was definitely a girl?”

“At least six people heard it,” said Morris, “and they all think it had to be, but we can’t find anyone to spot it.  I hate to say this, but this case has me stumped.”

“Which is why I’m here!”

The chief and Lauderdale looked up in surprise, in time to see a very well-dressed individual at their door.  A ceiling light glinted off the man’s shiny dress shoes, which complemented his black suit nicely.  His face had dimples in both cheeks that set off a cheery, mischievous, but confident expression.  In his hands, the man toyed with an umbrella, not necessary since it was a sunny day.

“Oh, excuse me, I haven’t told you my name.  I’m Cedric Valentine!”

“Oh, Mr. Valentine!” the chief said, rising.  “I’m so glad you’ve come!”

“Made it as quickly as I could.”  Actually, four days had passed since the chief made the phone call, but Valentine never allowed the truth to get in the way of a good story.  “You’re in trouble, from what I gather.”

“If you’ve heard the news this morning, we stopped a potential kidnapping from happening—”

“But you didn’t find the perpetrator.  Gentlemen, you made the correct move by hiring me.  There’s not a criminal in the entire U.S. that’s too big for me.  I’ll have this man behind bars in no time.  Oh, may I?” Valentine asked, motioning to the chief’s chair.  Without waiting for an answer, he took a seat.

“I’ve looked over your file on the Purple Porcupine—good information, but you haven’t followed your clues to their logical conclusions.  This man’s an egotist.  That’s been evident from the very first crime he pulled.  The kidnapping of Valerie Redford could have passed for a runaway, if it hadn’t been for that sticker.  Our man wants respect.  No doubt, that sign on your movie theater—to counteract a rumor that was spreading around.”

The chief opened his mouth, but a look from Valentine caused him to shut it again.

“May I—please?  Thank you very much.”  Valentine looked down at his notes and continued.  “Secondly, this person is well-set financially.  More than likely, he is very rich.  At any rate, money is not the motive.  No ransom demands have been made from any of the kidnapped children, if I am not mistaken?”  The chief nodded.  “So, we have here a bandit that doesn’t need to worry about money, for one reason or another.”

“Which brings us to my third point.  I believe that the person we’re looking for is a total maniac.  Perhaps even a serial killer.  It’s been over a week since the Redford girl disappeared, and no trace of her has been found since?   More than likely she’s dead.  In fact, more than likely, all these others are dead.  The reason they were kidnapped, most likely, is that the Purple Porcupine had some very elaborate way in which he wished to carry out his plan—”

“Well, for goodness’ sake, man, don’t go blabbing that all over town,” said Chief Morris.  “Can you imagine what’ll happen to me if everyone starts fearing their children are dead?”

“Calm yourself, chief.  The public doesn’t need to know that until we have proof.  We just need to recognize this simple fact right now, in order to catch the perpetrator.  From these three conclusions, I think we have plenty to go off right away in starting our search for this menace.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” asked the chief.  “What do we do now?”

“Nothing.”

“Huh?”

“Gentlemen, our suspect only works at night.  Therefore, we must wait until night in order to nab him.  Meanwhile, I suggest heading over to Ponca City.  The Conoco Museum intrigues me greatly…if, of course, you gentlemen don’t mind.”

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

As soon as her parents left for work, Auburn slipped out.  By 8:30, she was at the gas station.  She struggled to come up for something to tell Brittany.

“Uh, about last night—”

“I heard,” said Brittany.  “That description on the radio this morning—did you hear it?”

“Why, no!” said Auburn.  “I only know about it because I was there.”

“It’s vague, but it fits Hardaway to a T!”

“Hardaway!” said Auburn.  “Then last night—”

“—was a trap,” finished Brittany.  “Richards is going to have us go through with the plan, no matter the consequences.  Unless we can make Pollyanna Leffler disappear before tonight, I’m stuck again.”

“That might not be possible,” worried Auburn.  “Richards must have the Leffler residence staked out.  He knows my next move has to be there.  If only we could get a hold of Pollyanna some other way…”

She drummed her fingers on the counter, while Brittany silently counted out a stack of twenties.  Suddenly, Auburn’s face lit up.

“School!” she said.  “If we could get her on the way home—”

“It’s summer, silly,” said Brittany, stuffing the Jacksons back into the register and moving on to the Hamilton’s.  “They don’t have school in the summer.”

“Oh, right,” said Auburn.  “I’d forgotten.”

“Pollyanna is in a camp, though.”

“She is?” asked Auburn.

“Yes, a day camp, I think they run ‘till three.  In fact, I think they drop off the kids in a bus—they do!  I saw it!  I drove Allie over there once, just as the bus was dropping Pollyanna off.”

“Well, what do you know?” said Auburn.  “If we could get to the camp just as it was letting out—how well do you know Pollyanna, Brittany?”

“Oh, about as well as I know my sister’s other friends,” said Brittany.  “We don’t keep in touch, unless we see each other—”

“But if Pollyanna saw you,” said Auburn, “she wouldn’t be worried.  Would she recognize your voice?”

“She might,” said Brittany.  “Probably would.  I’ve seen her quite a bit with Allie.”

“Then we might have something,” said Auburn.  “Richards’s men are sure to have the house watched, but they might not have the camp watched.  If we pick up Pollyanna before she gets on the bus, we can spirit her away.  You have a car, Brittany.  Do you think you could help me kidnap her?”

“I’d be glad to,” said Brittany.  “Anything, to keep from having to pull that job tonight—but this’ll be in broad daylight, Auburn!  People will see us!”

“Yeah, they probably will,” said Auburn, “and they’ll get a description of the car.  Unsuspicious as you are, it won’t be hard for them to figure out who owns it—unless you can use another car.”

“How’ll I do that, though?” Brittany asked.  “I’ve only got one, and if I borrow my parents’, the police’ll just trace the car to us—”

“And we’ve only got a few hours,” said Auburn.  “I’d let you use my folks’ car, but then I’d be in trouble.  We need a car that doesn’t belong to either of us…one that won’t lead back to us…”

“Someone else’s car,” said Brittany.  “It’ll have to belong to someone else, but who?”

“Good question,” said Auburn.  “Mmm, we might have to acquire one slightly illegally.”

“How do you propose to do that?” Brittany asked.

“Knock someone out,” said Auburn.  “Borrow their car.  When we get Pollyanna safely dropped off, then abandon it.”

“Not bad,” said Brittany.  “We might be able to pull it off, but whose car are we going to get?”

“I don’t know,” said Auburn, “but I suggest you give Jimmy a call.”  She told Brittany her plan, adding, “We’ll figure out who’s once it gets closer to three o’clock.  Meanwhile—do you know which camp this is?”

“It’s at the YMCA in Ponca City,” said Brittany.  “Probably about twenty minutes away.”

“Twenty minutes,” said Auburn, “but they won’t necessarily be expecting us to head back to Blackwell.  Especially if I don’t leave my mark this time—it’s worth a try, but we’ll need an hour at least.”

“Here’s another problem,” said Brittany.  “Where do we hide Pollyanna?  If we drive straight to the hotel, people see the car, and they find out it was stolen, that might blow our cover.”

“I hadn’t thought of that—” started Auburn, but Brittany cut her off.

“I’ve actually got a better idea,” she said.  “My father used to own a gas station—a Sinclair, in downtown Blackwell.  I worked there for him until it shut down, two years ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that—”

“It’s water under the bridge,” said Brittany.  “Dad was losing money, and he decided to quit while he was ahead.  He still owns the building, though.  We had it all paid off, so he decided not to sell it.  It’s just sitting there, vacant.  We could easily dump Pollyanna there until it becomes safe to move her somewhere else.  That way, the police wouldn’t get tipped off to the hotel location—”

“It’s a deal, then!” said Auburn.  “If only we can get a car—then, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”