Chapter 22: An Important Discovery

A figure emerged from the side of the steel building.  It looked warily around, then slunk behind the smaller building in the middle of the large ones.  A moment later, another followed—then another.  Soon, Frank, Ashley, and Auburn had circled around to the front.

“No holes in this one,” said Frank.  “Guess we’ll have to break in.”

“I don’t think that’s necessary,” said Auburn, pointing to the sliding door.  “There’s no lock.”

Frank followed her gesture.  “Whoa, you’re right,” he said.  “That’s surprising.”

“Not really,” said Auburn.  “If a building’s abandoned, its owners won’t be too concerned with security.  I found that out this summer.”

“Yes, but we were hoping that my sister would be in there,” Ashley said. “If it’s unlocked—”

“Well, it is the small building,” Frank said.  “Tell you what.  You two hide behind it—I’m going in alone.  If I’m not out in five minutes, go for help!”

The girls nodded.  “Be careful!”

Frank waited until they were out of sight, then eased the door open.  Wandering inside, he stretched out his hand, feeling for the—

CRASH!

—wall, but his hand brushed against something else—something that fell over!  Turning on his light, Frank saw the broken pieces of a gas pump—one of those old-fashioned ones, like they had in the 1930s.

Odd, he thought to himself.  Those aren’t supposed to break like that!

He picked up one of the pieces and nudged it about in his hand—until, suddenly, he realized it was porcelain.  So were all the others.  One side of all the shards was painted the way a pump would be—the rest was blank.  None of the pieces corresponded to inner workings whatever.

An artistic creation, Frank realized.  Too bad I ruined it!

Even as he picked up the shard, he was keeping an eye out for danger, but no one stirred inside.  Shining the light around, Frank discovered that the pump he’d knocked over wasn’t the only one.  There were tons of others—Conoco, Sinclair, Standard—all the classic brands of the time period.  Looking them over, Frank had to nod appreciatively.  They were all quite good—

“What’s going on in there?”  Auburn and Ashley stuck their heads in.

“Get in here, quick!” Frank motioned them in.  “Nothing much—I just knocked over a statue, but if anyone’s in that other building, they’ll see you!  We’ll wait here for another five minutes!”

“This reminds me of one of those cowboy movies, where they’re searching the town for the crook,” Ashley whispered.  “Only, I should think the shooting would have started about now—”

“It might come at any time,” Auburn hissed.  “Let’s be careful!  Any sign of Brittany?”

Frank shook his head.

Though the waiting was tense, it produced the same result as before—only, this time, no cat made an appearance, and Ashley didn’t scream.  Once the time was up, Frank flicked his light off and stalked over to the door.

“I’m going to search the back of that truck,” he said.  “You two stay here—unless anyone else comes in.”

“We’ll see them from the door—” Ashley started.

“Not if there’s a secret entrance,” Frank said.  “I doubt there is, but you can never be too careful.  Watch out!”

He glanced across the lot, then ran over to the back of the truck.  Gripping the handle, he pulled it open—

Then jumped hastily out of the way!

Crash—bangity-bang—rattle, rattle!

A huge pile of rusty scrap metal cascaded out of the back of the hauler.  Someone had stuffed the truck full of anything they could find—rusty car parts, pieces of old appliances, old pipes.  It was shoved in there tightly enough to remain put—as long as someone didn’t open the back of the truck by mistake.  Frank got out of the way just in time!

The girls popped their heads out of the building, then stifled laughs.  “Guess that truck hasn’t been used in a while!” Ashley said.

Frank ducked around to the other side, and the girls didn’t see him for five minutes, at which point he came running back across the lot.  “That’s not one of the vans they’ve used,” he said.  “I didn’t notice this when we first drove by, but one of the tires on the right side is flat.  The other has plants growing on it.”

Ashley laughed.  “Greenhouse tire—now there’s a concept.  I’ll bet Stephanie would love to see that—she always thinks it’s funny when plants are growing in…” her face fell, as she remembered her sister was still missing.  “It’s looking like this might be the wrong guess, right?”

“Not necessarily,” said Frank.  “Remember, there are tire tracks all over this lot.  Just because that trailer hasn’t been used in years doesn’t mean they don’t park others here.  Perhaps they’ve got their operations confined to one building—that one,” he said, gesturing at the white structure.  “And if anybody was here, I’m sure they would’ve come out by now, with all the noise we’ve made.”

“I don’t know,” said Auburn.  “Those other buildings didn’t have anything incriminating in them.  Maybe they’re waiting to see if we search that one.”

“Could be,” said Frank.  “Only, they don’t know about Zach.  If they’re watching us, I think they’d have tried to apprehend us by now.  They’ve had time to see there’s only three of us.”

“Maybe,” said Auburn.  “Now for the last building.  Do we all go?”

“Yes, we’ll all go,” said Frank.  “Sliding door at the back.  Come on.”

This door also had no lock on it, but the metal was rusty.  Frank and Auburn had a tough time budging it, but they had it open after a lot of squeaks in ten seconds.  Stepping in, the group glanced around.

“Seems even darker in here than it did in the other two,” Frank commented.  “A lot more stuff in here, though.  Maybe this is where we’ll find—”

“Hold it right there, kids!”

“Huh?!”  Frank, Auburn, and Ashley gasped simultaneously as an unknown voice spoke to them out of the darkness.  Glancing to their right, they saw the black silhouette of a man, facing them.  That alone would’ve been bad enough, but the shotgun barrel he had trained on them made the picture even worse.

One blast could kill the three of them.

Chapter 21: The Search

They had no plan—by design.  Frank knew that whatever they did depended upon the layout of the building, as well as who was around.  If the crooks weren’t there, the job would be a cinch.  If they were there, the job would not be a cinch.  All four of the structures looked uninhabited, but Frank knew full well how deceiving appearances could be.

Fortunately, he and Auburn had no trouble coming up with a plan.  Zach drove to a gas station, where Frank got out, called Nancy, and told her what was going on.  Then, the four in the car went to work.

At precisely one o’clock, a red Bel Air pulled into the Subway parking lot.  Zach wandered in, smiled at the lad at the counter, and quickly ordered a simple Black Forest Ham sub—wheat bread, white American cheese, pickles and onions—no lettuce—Dijon mustard.  There was no line, and the clerk set about to make it for him.  As he waited, Zach glanced around at all the empty seats.

“By the way, I’m supposed to be meeting someone,” he told the clerk.  “You wouldn’t know if Olga Kratz has been in by any chance, would you?”

The clerk gazed back at him blankly.  “Olga Kratz?  Who’s she?”

Zach had no idea—Frank had come up with the name a short time before.  “Well, she’s very tall—six-foot-four.  Long, reddish hair—freckles covering her face—and a laugh that sounds like a horse whinny.  You probably would have noticed if she’d come in.”

The clerk shook his head.  “Can’t say I’ve seen anyone like that.”

“That’s good,” said Zach.  “We were supposed to meet at 12:30—I’m running behind.  ‘Course, sometimes she’s an hour late.  I wonder what’s keeping her.”

He paid for his lunch, then took up a seat at the east end of the building.  From there, he had a clear vantage point of Rudolph’s.  Bob’s Salvage wasn’t quite as easy to make out, but if anybody ran out onto Stewart Drive, they’d be right in his line of vision.  Taking a bite of sub, Zach stared out the window and waited.

Ten minutes after he walked in, the other three made their move.

“Alright, gang!”  Frank and the girls were hiding in the trees on the north side of Tennessee Avenue, across from the long steel building with the broken Rudolph’s sign.  (Weather-beaten and worn, the half of the sign with “dolph’s” on it was still visible.)  Frank pointed to a hole in the left side where rust had eaten away the metal.

“Through there!” he said.  “I’ll go first.  No lights, and don’t make a sound once you get inside.  We’ll wait five minutes to see if anyone’s around.”

“How are you going to know when five minutes are up?” Ashley asked.

Frank pointed to his watch.  “It glows in the dark.  Don’t worry, I’ll cover it.”

Auburn smiled.  “Glad mine didn’t.  I needed to stay inconspicuous when I was the Purple Porcupine.”

Carefully, the three moved out of the shrubs, then ran across the road, flattening themselves against the building.  There, they checked to make sure no one was watching, then one by one shoved themselves through the hole.  It was tough going, and Auburn had to catch a chunk of metal knocked off by Frank on his way through, but they made it!

Once inside, they followed his command, remaining absolutely still as they listened for a sign of life.

No one spoke, nor could the kids detect any movement.  However, the room was not silent.  Very little separated them from the highway, and the rumble of tractor trailers and oil rigs penetrated through the cracks in the wall.  So too did the gusty Oklahoma wind, which was really sweeping down the plain on this particular day.  A clapping sound from above arrested Frank’s attention, until he realized it was a loose flap of steel moving in the breeze.

Tensely, the three waited for the five minutes to pass.

When no shadows loomed up out of the darkness, when no voices suddenly called out “Gotcha!”, when no bullets whizzed through the air, the three decided they were probably in the clear.  Frank was just about to put on his light when—

“Aaah!  Get it off me!”

That was Ashley!   Both Frank and Auburn switched on their flashlights, twisting them towards their friend.  They saw she’d just been attacked by—

“Meow!”  A fat, gray-and-white striped tabby cat stopped rubbing against the girl’s legs to stare disdainfully at the lights.  “Meow!” it said, angrily.  With a little hiss, it threw itself through the hole in the wall and sauntered outside, looking for a more quiet place to rest.

Ashley breathed slower.  “Sorry!” she said.  “When that thing touched my legs, I thought—”

“No worries.”  Frank’s voice echoed eerily as he swung the flashlight beam around, getting a look at the place.  “I don’t think we’re missing anything here.  This room is empty!”

“Not even a tire track on the floor,” said Auburn, moving her beam around.  “Oil stains, but they’re not fresh.  Look at the dust all over this place.  No one’s been in here recently.”

“Disappointing,” agreed Frank, “but we’ve still got the other buildings to check—douse your lights!” he suddenly exclaimed.  “If someone’s in one of those other buildings, they might have heard the scream!”

Chapter 20: Discovery in Chickasha

The red and white Chevy Bel Air was waiting on Ponca Avenue when the quartet returned from the Dale house.  Frank ran over to the driver’s window to tell Zach they’d be ready in a second.  Then, he and his friends ran into the house, ready to make some final preparations.

“Walkie-talkies,” said Frank.  “Where did I put those walkie-talkies?”

“I think mom left them in a pile in the basement,” said Nancy.

“What’d she put them down there for?” Frank exclaimed.  “I always keep them in my closet.”

“Yes, well, I guess she thought you’d see them when you went to play with your trains.  Anything I can get?”

“Yes, bring every flashlight you can find,” Frank said, charging down to the basement.

“Um, four?” Nancy called after her brother.

“Every one!” yelled Frank.  “The batteries might be dead on some.”

Nancy shrugged.  “Okay.  I think I can come up with about six.”

“Anything we can do?” Ashley asked.  Her friend shook her head.

“By the time I could tell you where everything is, I’d have found it.  Be back in a flash.”

She was, too, but not before Frank had returned with the walkie-talkies.  Susan met him at the head of the stairs.

“Going somewhere?” she asked.  Without waiting for an answer, “Can I come too?”

Frank shook his head.  “I wish you could, Susan, but there’s only so much room in Zach’s car.  You and Louis will have to stay behind.”

Predictably, Susan wasn’t very happy about that, but she understood.  “Are you sure I can’t ride in the trunk?”

“If we rescue Stephanie and Brittany,” Nancy said, coming back, “then one of them might have to ride in the trunk.  His car only seats six.”  She glanced around at the group.  “Ready?”

“All set,” said Frank.  Auburn and Ashley nodded.

“Onward, then,” said Frank.  “We’re off to Chickasha!”

The drive got off to an aggravating start.  There were several ways to get to Route 9, but they all involved stoplights—lots and lots of stoplights.  When the five finally got through town, they faced another obstacle, as they had to get on the Interstate.  This shouldn’t have been so bad, except there was a lot of construction on I-35 south of Norman, and visibility was very poor at the exit.

“I hope no one’s coming!” said Zach.  “Any accident, and I could be looking at a five-digit repair bill.”

Fortunately, the Interstate was clear this time of afternoon, and they survived.  After that, it was just a couple miles down to the Newcastle exit, where Route 9 became its own thoroughfare again.  Once they exited, they found themselves on a nice, pleasant drive through the country.  Scattered estates, mowed fields, and rolling hills combined for a nice, relaxing trip.

“Look!” said Nancy, as they went up a ramp for Route 62.  “You can see the Devon Tower from here!”

“Wait, really?”  Frank turned to his right, just in time to get a glimpse of Oklahoma City’s tallest building…way off in the distance.

“That’s at least twenty miles away!” he exclaimed, staring at the shiny blue building.  “Amazing!”

On the way to Chickasha, they passed a Subway in Blanchard.  It was right off Highway 62, so they couldn’t help seeing it.  Naturally, Frank suggested they take a look, but a quick search of the area proved disappointing.  Though the store was right downtown, none of the buildings nearby was large enough to hide a bunch of cars.  No car lots were in the immediate vicinity, and the vacant lots were empty.

“Doesn’t surprise me,” said Frank, as they drove on.  “That truck was taking I-44 to wherever it was going, and the Interstate doesn’t go through Blanchard, anyway.  I get the feeling that Chickasha holds the key to the puzzle.”

“What’ll we do if we find the base?” Auburn asked.  “Tell the police?”

“Not right away,” observed Frank.  “If Brittany and Stephanie are still trapped there when the police arrive, they’ll be in a very dangerous situation.  We’ve got to get them out safely first.  Then, we’ll find the police.”

“That’ll be dangerous,” Nancy observed.  “What if we get caught trying to find them?  Then what?”

“She’s got a point there,” agreed Zach.  “Those thugs will know their way around their headquarters better than any of you.  Offense always has the disadvantage.”

“You’re right,” said Frank.  “Maybe we ought to leave someone elsewhere, to call for help in case anything happens.”

“Nancy volunteered,” noted Auburn.  “Maybe she should.”  Auburn had a double motive for suggesting the Anderson girl—she wanted to make sure that she herself was in on the action.

Nancy nodded.  “Fine with me,” she said.  “Only, where do I wait?”

“Somewhere public,” Auburn suggested.  “A place with a lot of people around so if the gang somehow figures out you’re with us, they’ll have a tough time catching you—”

“The library!” exclaimed Frank.  “It’ll be open, of course.  That should be safe enough.”

“Where is it?” Nancy asked.  “I don’t think I’ve ever been before—”

“A couple blocks west of the highway, just south of the downtown,” Zach told the group.  “Car show,” he explained, as to how he knew the location.

“I see,” said Auburn.  “Did you have a car to show in it?”

“As a matter of fact, I…hey!”  It took Zach a minute to realize Auburn was joking.  After all, they were passengers in his Bel Air.

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

From Blanchard to Chickasha was only another eighteen miles.  The destination they sought was at the intersection of two railroads—currently the Union Pacific and the Stillwater Central.  A massive grain elevator stood downtown, and Union Pacific still maintained a railyard near where Chickasha’s Rock Island buildings had once stood.

“I didn’t think about it on the way here,” Nancy commented, “but we’re almost directly south of El Reno.  Brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

“Sure does,” said Frank.  “Don’t go getting yourself kidnapped, this time!”

“You’re forgetting, dear brother—I escaped.”  Stepping out of the car, Nancy waved goodbye to the rest.  “See you.”

The others waved, and the car drove away.  Little did its occupants realize it was the last time they’d see Nancy for a while.

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

“Alright,” said Frank.  “Our first Subway ought to be coming up—”

“There!” said Auburn, pointing out the window.  “I see the sign on the right.”

“Looks new,” said Frank, eyeing the building, which had been shoved into the strip between the fork for Highway 277 and Stewart Drive.  “The lot’s way too small to hide stolen cars on, though.”

“Yes, but look at that building across the street.”  Ashley pointed at a large, industrial-type building south of the intersection.  “They could fit a lot of cars in there!”

“Sure could,” Frank agreed.  “Only, that’s Ace Hardware.”

“It looks like Ace Hardware,” responded Auburn, “but appearances can be deceiving.  Why don’t you let me check it out?”

Frank thought about it.  “No harm in that,” he said.  “The open sign’s on—they’re permitting company.  If you don’t come out, we’ll go in and get you.”

He took the first available U-turn, then drove back up the street and turned into the hardware lot.  A Ford F-150, load of bricks in the back, was just leaving.  On the other side of the lot, two welders were talking to each other about all the jobs they had coming up next week.

“Seems innocent enough,” Ashley said.’

“It would, if they use part of the building as a hardware store and part of it to store cars.”  Auburn shoved open the right-side door and hopped out.  “Be back in a moment.”

Frank would have volunteered to go in himself, but he knew that wasn’t a good idea.  Auburn would be just a normal girl, if anyone from the gang happened to see her.  Frank was a suspected witness—witness to an attempted murder.  If he could testify, he’d bring the shooter many years in jail, and someone was determined not to let that happen.  He waited in the car, praying that Auburn would be alright.

The minutes dragged on.  Five—ten—fifteen—Zach started getting worried.

“If she’s not out in another minute,” he said, “I think we should—”

“Here she comes, now!” Frank exclaimed.  “What did you find?” he asked the girl, as she got back in the car.

“Inventory covers pretty much the whole building, and the part at the back’s just used for storage—I snuck in and checked,” Auburn reported.  “Mr. Brandt, the owner of the hardware store, is a very nice man—gave me a lollipop.  We chatted for seven minutes—I highly doubt he’s related to the car gang.  However, I did pick up one important bit of information.”

“What was that?” Frank asked.

Auburn pointed up Seward Street.  “Rudolph’s Auto Shop and the buildings next to it have been empty for years.  A developer was going to buy them and build a fast food restaurant there, but the owner absolutely refused to sell.”

“Really?” said Frank.  “Which ones are those?”

“The three just past the car wash, on the east side of the street,” Auburn pointed.  “They were both run by the same guy, but Brandt says they’ve been out of business for twenty years.”

“Hmm,” Frank studied the buildings.  “Right next to Subway—a lot of space—this bears investigation.”  He nodded to Zach.  “Drive slowly up the street, like you’re looking for something.”

Zach nodded.  Putting the car in gear, he followed Frank’s instructions.  They passed a car wash that was still in business—then, a long, rectangular white building with boarded-up windows.  The short side faced the street, and the opposite long side had two beat-up garage doors on it—plus a third sliding door that was big enough to get a car through.  A gravel lot stood between this building and another, larger steel building—also dilapidated-looking, also with a sliding door big enough to permit cars through.  It was this building that had once borne the “Rudolph’s” sign, though “—dolph’s” was now all that was legible.  Between these two buildings, and at the back of the lot, stood a third building, smaller than the other two, but with a sliding door big enough for a car to go through.  The lot itself was empty, except for one small thing.  Actually, it wasn’t very small.

“A moving van!” Auburn exclaimed.  “Atlas Van Lines!”

“Atlas, my foot!” said Frank.  “Probably a car hauler.  Also, check out the tire tracks in that parking lot.  A lot of vehicles have driven around it lately.”

“That salvage shop across the street looks abandoned, too,” Ashley said, gesturing at a long steel building behind a barbed-wire fence on the left.  The fence enclosed a lot which was empty—empty except for a couple rust-bucket automobiles that looked like they hadn’t been driven in over ten years—though appearances could be deceiving.

“Fellers, I think we’ve found the place!” Frank declared.

Chapter 19: Officer Hanson Remembers

Zach radioed Frank a minute later to let the Andersons know he’d pulled up to the curb.  The boys came out with their new friend, whom they quickly introduced.  Minutes later, the police showed up.  Auburn hid in the car while the police were around, and by the time Zach and company left, no one else had spotted her.

“Whew, that was close,” said Auburn.  “Thanks for helping me—I really appreciate it!”

“No problem!” said Nancy.  “Frank told me about what you did in Blackwell.  It’s an honor to meet you at last.”

“You find out anything else about the case?”  Dick asked.

“Oh, a few things,” said Auburn.  “For instance, Hill’s not actually in charge of the gang.”

“I thought so,” said Dick.  “That thing he said about the boss—”

“I’ve heard them talk about him before,” Auburn said.  “Never seen him, though.  Apparently, he spends all his time at the base, along with a bunch of other thugs.  They alter the cars there—paint them different colors, switch the upholstery—sometimes even rebrand them.  Then, they send them off to the different dealerships.”

“We found Stephanie’s car at that one,” Frank said.

“I guess they don’t take anything older than twenty years,” Nancy commented.  Auburn quickly nodded.

“Too rare.  More recent models blend in better.  Plus, there’s always a demand for their parts.  Apparently, there’s a couple used parts stores that don’t do legitimate business.”

“That’s not surprising,” said Frank.  “You know, I get the impression that the Subway we’re looking for isn’t in Oklahoma City at all.  Remember what Hill said?  The Oklahoma City Police will have trouble finding it?”

“Them specifically,” noted Dick.  “Well, they would have trouble if it’s outside their jurisdiction.”

“Exactly,” said Frank, “so it’s probably not in Oklahoma City.”

“Where do you suppose it is, then?” Nancy asked.  “Norman, Moore?”

Frank shook his head.  “Too close.  Probably somewhere further out of town.  I think we can rule out the north, though,” he observed.  “If those men were storing the cars in Guthrie or Perry, they wouldn’t have needed to come all the way to Oklahoma City from Blackwell.”

“Probably means it’s not east or west of Blackwell,” Auburn added.  “Otherwise, why would they have gone straight south?”

“Which would imply that it’s somewhere southeast or southwest—or due south—of Oklahoma City.  Which reminds me, that moving van was headed towards Chickasha and Lawton.  Maybe the Subway was located along I-44 somewhere.”

“Which one, though?” Zach asked.  “There are a lot of towns in between those places, as well.  Searching all the Subways would take a while.”

“There are only so many Subways in each town, though,” noted Frank.  “Let’s keep that in mind for tomorrow.  I’ll give you a call around nine.”

“There’s something else I don’t get,” Nancy said.  “How do those stolen library books fit in?”

“What library books—oh, Stephanie’s?  I almost forgot about them.”  Frank thought a second.  “They don’t seem to have anything to do with the case.”

“I don’t think we can rule them out, though” Nancy said.  “Stephanie wasn’t kidnapped at home—the crooks had no need to visit her house.  They wouldn’t have done so unless they had a specific reason.  There must be a clue in one of them.”

“What could that be, though?” Frank asked.  “One’s about an inventor—the other’s about vehicles.  It’s not like they have the location of the Subway written in them.”

Nancy shrugged.  “I don’t know,” she said, “but I think we’ll need to find out if we’re going to solve this case.”

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

It took a little convincing, but Frank managed to get his father to accept the house arrest idea—as far as Auburn was concerned.  She wasn’t allowed to leave unless one of the Andersons was with her.  That, however, meant any of the Andersons—Susan included.  For that evening, Auburn roomed with Nancy, who had a spare bed set up in her room specifically for visitors.  The girls talked late into the night before finally drifting off to sleep.  Nancy was still sleeping early the next morning when the phone rang.

“You think it’s for her?” Frank asked Auburn, as he got up from the breakfast table.

“I can go get her, if it is,” Auburn offered.

Frank shook his head.  “No, I’ve got a response picked out.  Nancy?  Oh, I’m sorry, but she can’t come to the phone right now.  She was trying to fix a cut on her lip with superglue, and now her mouth won’t open.  If you’ll call back next week…”

Auburn laughed as Frank picked up the phone.  “Anderson residence.  Frank speaking!”

“Hi, Frank!”

“Dad!  You got to work fast!”

“I must have missed every single red light—except that one for Berry, but I was turning right, anyway.  Just thought you’d like to know that Detwiler, the guy who’s supposed to own that house you went to, isn’t mixed up with the gang at all.  He’s got a good alibi.”

“How good?” Frank asked.

“He’s been dead for five years.”

Frank nodded.  “That’ll hold up in court.  How did Hill get there, then?”

“As near as we can figure, he’s been living there off and on since Detwiler’s death.  There were a bunch of legal complications with his will, and the place would’ve been abandoned if it weren’t for Hill.  Now, we know why his hideouts were so hard to find.”

“I see,” said Frank.  “Any sign of him, or any clues on who the big boss is?”

“Negative.” Mr. Anderson said.  “Let me know if you all find out before I do.”

“We will,” said Frank, “as soon as we get a chance.  Love you, bye!”

Hanging up, he quickly explained to Auburn what the alibi was.  She nodded.  “Those crooks are pretty tough, that’s for sure.  What’s our next move?”

Frank glanced towards the door.  “Well, I wanted to go by Ashley’s house this morning and update her on our progress.  She didn’t answer the phone earlier when I tried to call.  However, Nancy will probably want to go along, and she’s still in bed…”

“Any idea when she’s getting up?” Auburn asked, wondering why a grin was coming over Frank’s face.

“Sure,” Frank said.  “Soon.  Real soon.”  He wandered over to the kitchen sink, opened the cabinet underneath, and pulled out—

Auburn’s eyes widened.  “You’re going to use a Super Soaker?”

“Sure,” Frank said, speaking over the rush of water as he loaded the gun.  “I’ve done it before.”

“Does she like it when you do that?”

Frank shut off the water.  “She’ll like getting to see her friend, and that’ll make up for any inconvenience she might experience.  Be back in a flash.”

He raced from the room, weapon dripping.

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

“For goodness’ sake, Nancy!  Say something!  You’ve been quiet this whole walk!”

As they wandered up the Dales’ street, Nancy gave her brother a wry grin.  “Huh?  Oh, sorry.  I guess I was too busy thinking of how to get back at you for your little performance this morning.”

“At least your brother only shoots you with a water gun,” Auburn said.  “Now, mine…”

Nancy stared at her new friend in horror.  “What does he shoot you with?”

“Nothing.”  Auburn laughed.  “I’m an only child.”

“Well, the girl you’re about to meet has siblings,” Frank told her.  “Two brothers and four sisters.  There are seven kids, altogether.”

Auburn smiled wistfully.  “Sounds nice,” she said.  “Even one sibling would be great.  It gets lonely at home, all by yourself—”

Nancy interrupted, pointing at the house.  “What’s that police car doing in the driveway?”

“Police car—” Frank’s eyes widened as he saw the squad car.  Quickly, he broke into a run, followed by Nancy and Auburn.  The three charged up in a run to the front door, just as it opened and—

“Officer Hanson!” Nancy exclaimed.  “What’s going on?”

Hanson (who’d just been leaving) jumped.  “Oh, it’s you all,” he said.  “Don’t worry, nothing happened here.  I just had some information for the Dales.”

“Oh?” Frank’s curiosity was at its peak.  “What was it?”

Ashley appeared beside the officer at the door, her face glowing with excitement.  “He saw Stephanie!”

“Really?” exclaimed Nancy.  “When?”

“Well, just before she disappeared, I guess,” said Hanson.  “It’s nothing too dramatic—in fact, I’d forgotten about it, until today.  At 7:30 five nights ago, I was watching for speeders on Classen when I saw a maroon Mercury Grand Marquis run a red light—”

“Maroon Mercury Grand Marquis!” Frank exclaimed.  “Stephanie’s car!”

“She was driving.”  Hanson shifted nervously to his other foot.  “She seemed a little upset about something, but I figured that was because she’d run a red light.  She seemed like a nice kid, so I let her off with a warning. She thanked me, got back on the highway, and took the exit ramp for Route 9—”

“Route 9?” said Frank.  “Tecumseh or Chickasha?”

“Well, let me think,” said the officer.  “It was the second one headed south—Chickasha.  I’m sure of it.  That’s the last I saw of her.  When I remembered this morning, I figured I ought to let the Dales know.”

“Thanks for telling us too,” Nancy said.

Officer Hanson nodded at the group, then wandered back to his car.  As he got in, Nancy glanced at Frank.  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“A Subway in Chickasha!” Frank said.  “Call Zach—tell him to meet us at our house.  You can come too, if you’d like, Ashley.  We’re going to visit every Subway in Chickasha…until we find the right one.”