“Joe, look at that semi,” Fenton said pointing. Across the parking lot, among the cars, was a tractor-trailer truck. A few spaces away was a heavy-duty flatbed truck with dual rear tires. On the back of the flatbed was a large winch.
“Dad,” Joe said, “I think we’ve found the thieves! This stuff could nail them red-handed.”
“What are you talking about?” Diane asked.
Joe briefly told her about the cactus rustlers, and she looked shocked. “I didn’t know anything about this,” she said, “and I’ve been here for weeks.”
“The head ranger has been keeping the investigation under wraps because of regulations,” Fenton said. “And we need to check out a few things before we can point fingers. Please don’t discuss this with anyone.”
“That’s true,” Joe said. “Dad, I’m going to park down the street. I think we can check out these trucks without being noticed from the motel. Diane, why don’t you wait in the car?”
“I’d rather come along,” she said.
Joe didn’t argue. He drove down the street and parked, and the three of them sauntered back to the parking lot.
Approaching the flatbed truck, Joe reached into his back pocket and pulled out the pad on which he’d written the tire dimensions. Then, producing a measuring tape, he knelt to check the size of the truck’s tires. “We’ve got a match,” he said.
Fenton nodded, keeping an eye on the bungalow door.
The semitrailer’s tires also matched the dimensions he and Frank had jotted down.
“I think we should take a peek inside the semi,” Fenton said.
Joe glanced toward the bungalow. “I guess it’s now or never. I hope the door doesn’t squeak.”
“Do you think we might find an organ pipe cactus?” Diane asked.
“Maybe,” Joe said. He unlatched the rear door and pulled it partly open. He made out the shape of a large organ pipe cactus lying on its side with the arms pointing toward the door. It had a wooden frame around it.
“They seem to know what they’re doing,” Fenton said.
Joe nodded and said, “I wonder how many cacti are in there.” He swung up into the dark trailer, with Fenton close behind him. They walked toward the front, slipping along the side beside the big cactus. Farther into the semi, they could see two more plants, both of them in wood frames.
“Let’s go, Joe,” Fenton said. “We can call the police from a pay phone— Wait,” he added, slipping by Joe. He pulled out a handkerchief, then reached down and used it to grab something tucked below the cactus. It was a shovel. “There’ll be fingerprints on this thing.”
Joe jumped down, but Fenton stopped to examine the shovel in the sunlight. “Well, look at this,” he said. He bent and held it out for Joe and Diane to see. Carved into the metal shank of the shovel was the name David Kidwell.
“So Grish was right,” Joe said.
They heard voices. Joe looked up at his father. Someone had slammed a bungalow door, and the voices were headed their way.
“Let’s get out of here,” Joe whispered. He grabbed Diane and ducked behind the car next to the trailer just as Slim and the man in the plaid shirt came around the back of the trailer. There hadn’t been time for Fenton to jump out. He sneaked back into the darkness.
Slim was saying, “I’ll drive this rig, and you take the flatbed. . . . Look at this. You can’t even close the door right. Did you get the shovel stowed in? You better have. I’m tired of you forgetting things.”
Oh, no, Joe thought, a lump in his throat. They’ll find Dad if they look for the shovel. He got ready to jump Slim, who had his hand on the door, if the man made a move to climb inside.
“Who made you the boss?” the man in the plaid shirt shouted angrily from the front of the flatbed. “I remembered the shovel. It’s in there by the cactus. I’m going to start this thing up now.”
“Okay, okay,” Slim said. “Don’t get all riled up. I’ll check the tires.” As his partner started up the flatbed’s engine, Slim latched the semi’s door and slammed the bolt. Joe wanted to shout something out, but all he could do was grit his teeth and pound his fists on his knees. His father was trapped inside the trailer.
13 A Father Goes Down
* * *
Goes Down Joe’s heart sank. He thought quickly. “Hang on,” he whispered to Diane. “As soon as the truck starts to move, I’ll get to the back of the trailer and unlatch the door. The driver has to back up before he can pull the rig out of the parking lot.”
“Are those the rustlers?” she whispered.
He waved off her question and waited for his chance. But instead of backing out, the semi pulled forward in a wide arc, narrowly missing the cars parked in front of the bungalows. It headed out onto the street and away. Right behind it went the flatbed.
As soon as the trucks were out of sight, Joe grabbed Diane’s hand and dashed for the car. They got in, he started the engine, and they sped through town, heading for the highway toward Organ Pipe. Once out on the highway, Joe pushed the speedometer up to the limit.
The trucks were nowhere to be seen. Joe knew they couldn’t have gotten too far ahead of him. He should have caught up with them easily. “They must have taken another route,” Joe said. He slowed down enough to make a U-turn and raced back to town.
Heading for the south end of town, Joe said, “Organ Pipe is off to the southeast, so they must have come in this direction.” He drove through the dusty residential streets, looking for a road that led out of town. His stomach tightened into a knot as he thought about the trucks, with his father inside one of them, getting farther away with every second.
“You know what we need?” Joe said to Diane. “We need Frank and a good map. There must be a back road through here that goes to the park. Where else could the trucks have gone?”
He turned the car around again and sped back to the highway. In the twenty-minute drive back to Organ Pipe, his mind raced ahead, going over clues. The two men in the trucks were obviously working with someone who knew what he and Frank were up to. But who was it? Professor Townsend was out of the picture—Diane genuinely seemed to know nothing about the case, and if the professor were involved, Diane would be, too. He wondered how Frank’s talk with Perez had gone. Almost certainly Kidwell was one of the crooks. They were using his pickup, and his shovel was in the trailer with the cacti. Since Perez had some kind of connection with Kidwell, that meant that Perez was probably involved, too.
Joe knew that he and Frank would have to work quickly to get their father out of danger. He hoped Grish would be able to suggest some kind of back route the trucks could have taken from town.
Diane interrupted his thoughts. “Joe, are we going to call the police when we reach the park? Don’t you think they could help?”
“Maybe,” Joe said. “We’ll call them from Grish’s office.”
“I got the license plate numbers of the trucks,” Diane said.
“Terrific!” Joe said. “I was so worried about my father, I didn’t think of it. Maybe the thieves won’t open the door until they’ve dug up another cactus. That could be hours from now, which buys us some time.”
“And it will be dark in less than an hour,” Diane said. “That means your father can hide in a corner of the trailer until he has a chance to get away.”
“That’s true,” Joe said. “In the meantime, we need to find them.”
They were approaching the park office and the turnoff for the campground. As they passed the office, Joe noted that Grish’s truck was parked by the building. He decided to go straight to the campground to find Frank.
As Joe pulled to a stop, tires squealing, Frank came out of the motor home. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
“They’ve got Dad,” Joe said. He and Diane got out of the car. Diane went straight to her father’s trailer while Joe explained the situation to Frank, including finding the shovel.
“We need that topo map,” Joe said, “the one Grish gave us. I lost the trucks in town a
nd I think they took an alternate route into the park.”
Frank went inside for the map, and Diane returned with her father.
“What’s going on here?” Townsend asked, his face showing genuine concern. “Diane tells me your father may have been kidnapped by a gang of thieves.”
“Not exactly kidnapped,” Joe said. “But he’s trapped inside their truck.”
Frank came out with the map, and they spread it on the picnic table. Joe gave Townsend a brief rundown of what had happened during the afternoon.
“Do you know of any way to get to the park from Ajo other than along the highway?” Joe asked Townsend.
Pointing at the map, Townsend said, “The town of Ajo is up this way. As you can see, there are no alternate routes into the park from that direction, unless the thieves have created their own road. I’ve driven and hiked all over that area.”
“Then where could they have gone?” Diane asked. “One minute they were ahead of us, then they were gone.”
“I wonder if they could simply have gone to a different place in town,” Frank said.
Joe thought about it and nodded. “That may be,” he said. “But where? Professor, can you think of any place they would have gone?”
“I have no idea,” Townsend said with a shrug. “Maybe they stopped for gas.”
“Gas! That’s it.” Joe said. “Is there a gas station that isn’t on the main route into town?”
“There are a couple,” Townsend said. “You could easily have missed them.”
“Then they could have gotten gas,” Frank said, “and either returned to the motel or headed for the park.”
“So they could be anywhere,” Joe said.
“We should notify the police,” Townsend said firmly. “And I suggest we do it immediately. These men are obviously dangerous.”
Frank realized that he and Joe were going to have to move fast. Townsend could slow them down. “Professor,” he said, “I think calling the police would be a good job for you. They’ll take you seriously once they find out who you are. Why don’t you go up to the office and ask Grish to call for you.”
Joe caught on immediately. “Yes, Professor,” he said, “the police will respond faster if the call comes from you.”
“I’ll help you replace that fuel filter right now, Professor,” Frank said.
Townsend nodded. “Diane, coming along?”
She looked first at Joe, then at Frank. “No,” she said. “I’ll go with Frank and Joe.”
“We’ll catch up with you at the office, Professor,” Joe said. “We have to let Grish know what’s happening.”
“All right, then, I’ll see you all at the office,” Townsend said, starting for his truck with Frank.
After Frank had fixed Townsend’s truck and returned to the campsite, Joe said, “Frank, what did you find out about Perez? It’s pretty obvious that Kidwell is involved.”
Frank grinned. “You won’t believe what I learned about Perez,” he said. “First of all, he really is an artist—his trailer is full of paintings—and he’s staying out here because it’s cheap.”
“And second?” Joe asked.
“I don’t think he’s one of the cactus thieves,” Frank said. “I got him to talk about his involvement with Kidwell. It turns out that he has known Kidwell for a while. When he realized we considered Kidwell a suspect, Perez told him about it. They decided to try to get Grish off Kidwell’s back by pointing the evidence toward Professor Townsend.”
At that, Diane let out a gasp. “Why?” she asked.
“Because you and your father have been here long enough to look like suspects,” Frank said. “Perez is the one who planted that piece of organ pipe cactus under your truck. And get this: Perez also built that little trail marker near where your truck was parked. He was surprised that we took it seriously enough to spend a night up in the mountains.”
“But he didn’t cut the fuel line?” Joe asked. “And he didn’t sabotage the climbing rope? What about Kidwell’s truck and tools? The thieves are driving his truck, and we found his shovel in the trailer with the stolen cacti. I think if Kidwell’s involved, so is Perez.”
All of a sudden Perez stepped out from behind the motor home. “Pardon me for eavesdropping again, guys,” he said. “I heard you talking about me as I came up, so I stopped to listen. The answer to whether David Kidwell is one of the cactus thieves is no. I’m sure he’s not. I think he’s being framed.”
“Who’s framing him?” Frank asked.
“I’m not sure,” Perez said.
“Wait. Could it be Grish?” Frank said. “He’s the one who suggested Kidwell might be a suspect.”
“Grish? That’s impossible,” Joe said. “He’s investigating this case. And he’s a friend of Dad’s. . . .” Joe paused while he thought about Frank’s suggestion. “We did see him in his office talking to that cowboy Slim,” he admitted.
“Grish could have sent the men in the yellow van to cut our fuel line,” Frank said. Joe nodded. “He knew where we’d be. Now that I think of it, he even handled our climbing ropes before we used them last night.”
“Yeah, and he always wanted to be at the center of everything,” Joe said. “He wanted to know about any clue we found. Plus he was really serious about keeping this case under wraps.”
“Oh, my gosh!” Diane exclaimed. “If Grish is involved, my father may be talking to him right now!”
“She’s right,” Joe said. “We’d better get over to the office quick!”
Frank and Joe jumped in the front seat of the car as Diane and Perez scrambled into the back. Joe spun the tires in the gravel as he sped away toward the office.
“I hope Dad’s all right,” Diane said. “Sometimes he can get too indignant for his own good.”
“And if Grish is involved,” Frank said grimly, “he may be dangerous. He tried to hurt us several times.”
As they pulled into the office parking lot, they saw Grish, who appeared to be running from the direction of the pay phone. He didn’t look up as they arrived but dashed to his official vehicle and drove off, leaving a cloud of dust.
“I don’t like this,” Joe said.
“Me either,” Diane agreed, with an edge to her voice. “Where’s my father?”
Diane jumped out of the car before Joe had even put it in park, and ran in the direction of the pay phone, around the corner of the building. Just as Joe turned the ignition off, he heard her scream.
Frank and Joe bolted out of the car and around the building. There they found Diane, bent over her father. He lay facedown under the pay phone, the back of his head bathed in blood.
14 The Body by the Road
* * *
“Don’t move him,” Diane said as they came up behind her. She was feeling her father’s neck for a pulse. After a moment she said, “It’s weak, but at least he’s alive.”
“Grish must have hit him,” Frank said.
“He probably overheard the professor talking on the phone,” Joe said.
“Could be,” Frank said. “But one thing’s for sure—Dad’s in trouble. We have to figure out where Grish went, and fast.”
Diane looked up. “We’d better call the police right now,” she said. Then she added, “I can do that while you guys go after Grish.”
“Right,” Joe said. He touched her shoulder and said, “Good luck.”
Frank grabbed Perez’s arm. “Perez,” he said, “I want you to stay here with Diane. Grish might come back.”
Perez looked at the professor and then said, “Okay, but you guys will need some help.”
“Don’t worry, we can handle it,” Joe said.
“Make sure you tell the cops exactly what’s going on,” Frank said to Diane. “Maybe they can get hold of somebody at the state agriculture department. Definitely make it clear, though, that these thieves are dangerous. We’ve got the CB walkie-talkie in the car. If we can, we’ll keep you posted.”
Joe was already revving the engine impatiently
when Frank jumped into the car.
“So where are we going, anyway?” Frank said as they sped away.
“I don’t know,” Joe said. “Grish probably has too much of a head start for us to catch up with him. But it’s almost dark. Maybe we can spot his lights off to the side if he takes an alternate road.”
Frank said, “Maybe he’ll head back to town. Didn’t you say there were a couple of vehicles left at the motel?”
Joe nodded. “That’s true,” he said. “The yellow van was still there when we left, and so was Kidwell’s pickup truck. It’s a long shot, but maybe we should head for the motel if we don’t spot Grish along the way.”
“It’s possible the thieves were supposed to get together back at the motel,” Frank said. “If they were smart, they’d be miles from here by now.”
“Yeah,” Joe said, “but don’t forget that the two guys in the trucks don’t know we’re on their trail. They probably think they’re only pulling off one more job tonight, as the boss told them.”
“Grish, the boss,” Frank said. “Who’d have thought it? He seemed so dedicated to preserving the desert. I wonder what pushed him into doing this.”
“Maybe it was money,” Joe said. “He told us those big cacti are worth a lot.”
“I have a feeling it’s more than money,” Frank said. “He’s willing to hurt somebody.”
“I don’t care how angry he is,” Joe said. “If he hurts Dad, he’ll have more trouble on his hands than he knows what to do with.”
Frank nodded. “That’s the truth,” he said quietly. “If he’s smart, he’ll just keep on going and forget about tonight’s job.”
“Yeah,” Joe said. “But I have a feeling he’s not that smart.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Frank said.
Joe pushed the car to its limit as they rode in silence, trying not to think about what could happen to their father if they didn’t find him soon.
The Desert Thieves Page 9
