Terry stood up. “All right,” she said. “Please don’t kill me for saying this, but . . . it’s starting to look like this really might be the work of extraterrestrial creatures.”
The second Terry said this, a thought came to Frank. “You’re right,” Frank said. “The vanishings are starting to look like alien abductions to everyone—-Sykes, Joe, Sergeant Bunt, you, even myself. Maybe they look a little too much like alien abductions.”
“I don’t understand,” Terry said.
Frank closed his eyes to concentrate. In his mind he saw all sorts of pieces that needed to be fitted together. Out the window he heard the cry of a hoot owl. It sounded as if the owl were saying, “Who, who, who?”
“Maybe,” Frank told Terry, “these vanishings look like the work of aliens because that’s what someone wants us to think. Not to prove aliens exist but for another reason.”
“What do you mean?” Terry asked.
“Let’s say the other night some person or persons killed or kidnapped Clay Robinson,” Frank said. “Then let’s say that if that party got nervous they would be found out. Maybe they saw clues being picked up. So they needed a way to throw everyone off the trail.”
“Okay,” Terry said, “I’m following you.”
“In the meantime,” Frank continued, “there’s all this speculation about UFOs and ETs because of the mysterious orange glow. The guilty party sees a way to use this to his advantage. They kidnap Sykes and then Joe, two people unrelated to each other and unrelated to Robinson, to make it look as if aliens are just randomly abducting people.”
“Could the guilty party count on the cops believing aliens are responsible?” Terry wondered.
“That is what the police believe!” Frank exclaimed. “You’re starting to believe it, too, and I’m an inch away from believing it myself!”
“Good point,” Terry said. “These vanishings might really be a brilliant way of covering tracks. So if your theory is right, that takes us back to our original suspects.”
Frank nodded. “The two biker girls and Jagowitz. I’m not so sure it’s Sykes anymore, unless he wants us to believe he’s missing.”
“Personally, I don’t think Max Jagowitz would be mixed up in this,” Terry said. “Bev and Myra I’m not so sure about. Remember, we have a good suspicion that they tampered with that raft. And if they did that to get revenge on Robinson, who knows what else they might have done?”
Frank stood up from the bed, his brown eyes focused with determination. “Settling a score with Robinson is one thing. But hitting me over the head and kidnapping my brother is something else. Come on, let’s go see if we can find the infamous Bev and Myra. I’ve been wanting to talk to them anyway.”
Frank left a note for Joe in his cabin, in the hope that Joe would show up. Then Frank and Terry jumped into Terry’s car.
Ten minutes later they pulled up in front of the bright red house on Route 47, Bev and Myra were in the front yard, tending to their bikes even though it was ten-thirty. Bev was pumping air into her tires, and Myra was oiling a chain.
Frank and Terry got out of the car. “Well, if it isn’t our old friend Terry,” Bev said sarcastically.
Myra sneered at Terry and Frank. “You’ve got no right to be on our property.”
Frank had not yet had the pleasure of meeting the short blond Bev and the tall dark Myra face-to-face. Now that he had, he liked them even less than before. He found them to be downright mean and capable of just about anything.
Frank stayed at the edge of the yard, while Terry walked up to the women. “You’ve got no right to steal things,” she said.
Myra gave a dismissive wave. “You can’t prove a thing, so why don’t you just leave?”
Terry wasn’t backing down one inch. “Maybe I can’t prove you stole anything,” she said. “But maybe I’ve got some proof that you tampered with one of the Silver Crest rafts. And because that tampering caused an injury to one of our guests, the police are considering it a felony offense.”
Frank saw that Terry’s strategy was working. Bev and Myra exchanged a quick look, both of them showing a hint of nervousness.
“What’s your proof?” Bev asked.
“That’s for me and the cops to know,” Terry said.
“She’s bluffing,” Myra told Bev.
Terry headed for her car. “Come on, Frank. I feel a sudden urge to visit the police.”
“Okay, just wait a second,” Bev called out. “If we tell you the truth about everything, once and for all, will you lay off about the raft? We sure didn’t mean to hurt anybody.”
Frank could see a faint smile on Terry’s lips. “Yes,” Frank told Bev and Myra. “If we buy the truth you sell us.”
Myra picked up a rag and began wiping the grease off her hands. “Robinson wanted all the storage areas at Silver Crest cleaned and organized. It wasn’t in our contract to do that, but he said he would pay us extra for it. He told us to do a little bit of the work whenever we had a chance and to keep track of our hours. It was a big job, but over the course of a week, we did it and we did it well.”
“But when we gave Robinson our hours,” Bev added, “he said it couldn’t have taken that long. He thought we were lying, so he paid us only half of what we were owed. We complained that he wasn’t being fair, but he refused to budge.”
“So,” Myra continued, “later that night, we went to his office, figuring we would talk to him some more. He wasn’t there, but the office was open and so was the safe. We didn’t take any of the money in there, but we did swipe something.”
“Only one thing?” Terry said.
“Yes,” Myra said. “This.”
She lifted a gold chain that was around her neck. Frank and Terry moved in for a closer look at the necklace Myra held out to them.
Several gems were set into a piece of gold shaped like a crescent moon. The gems shone with a pearly luster.
“We took it to a jeweler to have it appraised,” Myra said. “The gems are moonstones, which aren’t all that valuable. And this is the only thing Bev and I have ever stolen in our entire lives. Cross my heart and hope to die.”
“Clay Robinson told me there were several things stolen from his safe,” Terry said.
“Then he was lying,” Bev said. “He lied to us about our payment, too.”
Frank studied the two women. They were confessed thieves, and their stunt on the pass that morning had nearly killed him and Joe. But Frank got the feeling they were telling the truth at that moment.
“Did you kidnap my brother?” he blurted out.
“No,” Myra said, tossing her rag to the ground.
“Did you kidnap anyone?” Frank said.
“No,” Bev said. “We don’t kidnap people.”
“Where were you at nine o’clock tonight?” Frank asked.
Bev rolled her eyes. “We were at the Canyon Cafe having dinner. I had pork chops, Myra had stew. Can we go now, Daddy? And will you two stick to your word and keep your mouths shut about those rafts?”
“Yes,” Frank said, “but if we find you’re lying, we’ll be back.”
“We look forward to it,” Myra said with a sneer.
Frank and Terry returned to the car. Frank watched Bev and Myra put on their helmets and mount their bikes. He saw Myra tuck the necklace back into her shirt. Suddenly he remembered something.
Myra said the necklace was made of moonstones. And yesterday Alastair Sykes had mentioned something about stolen moonstones.
Bev and Myra began pedaling down the road. “Hey, wait,” Frank called out the window. “I have to ask you something else!”
“Sorry,” Bev called over her shoulder. “We’re meeting some people at midnight. Gotta go!”
Bev and Myra picked up speed. Frank kept his eyes on the red reflectors on the backs of their mountain bikes. “Follow them,” he told Terry.
“You got it,” Terry said. She shifted gears and drove after the two women.
Just as Terry was about
to catch up with Bev and Myra, the bikers veered off the road and pedaled through a field peppered with rocks. “Sorry,” Terry said, putting on the brakes. “My car won’t make it up there.”
Frank watched the bikers bounce over the rocks. Then he saw someone else riding down the road on a bicycle. The darkness made it difficult to determine who it was.
The new biker looked over at Bev and Myra. Then the biker veered onto the field and pedaled madly after the two fleeing women.
“Who’s that?” Terry asked.
Frank noticed that the new biker didn’t have a lot of style, but whoever it was made up for it with determination. The biker was catching up with Bev and Myra. Then Frank caught a glimpse of blond hair and realized who the biker was.
“It’s Joe!” Frank cried out. “He’s back from Pluto or wherever he was!”
13 Missing Time
* * *
“Are you sure it’s Joe?” Terry asked with disbelief.
“I’d know my crazy brother anywhere,” Frank said happily. He leaned out the car window and yelled, “Hey, Joe, what are you doing?”
Joe called over his shoulder, “Right now I’m catching these bikers for you! Be back in a sec!”
Joe pumped his pedals hard, and soon he was alongside Bev and Myra. He reached over and grabbed a bar on Bev’s bike, forcing her to stop. Then he jumped off his own bike, pulled Bev off hers, and held her in a headlock.
“Yup, that’s Joe, all right,” Terry said with a smile.
Frank and Terry jumped out of the car and ran to where Joe was holding Bev, Myra pulled furiously at Joe’s arm. In spite of the fact that Joe was wrestling with two wild women, Frank could see that he was just fine.
“What’s the idea, you big lug,” Myra yelled at Joe.
“You could have injured me!” Bev screamed at Joe.
“That sounds funny coming from you,” Joe shouted back. “You and your friend try to cause accidents everywhere you go!”
Terry yanked Myra away from Joe. “Where have you been?” Frank asked his brother.
“I have no idea,” Joe said, keeping Bev’s head firmly under his arm.
“Could you give me a few more details?” Frank demanded.
“You’re not going to believe this,” Joe said, “but here goes. About an hour ago I woke up in a cow pasture several miles from here. And Clay Robinson was sitting on the ground beside me. Both of us were okay, but neither of us can remember what happened. We walked to Silver Crest and then called the police. I got the note about where you guys were and hiked on over. When I saw you chasing these two darling young ladies, I figured they needed to be stopped.”
“Let go of my friend!” Myra yelled as Terry continued holding her back.
“Was Alastair Sykes also in that cow pasture?” Frank said.
“No,” Joe replied. “I called his place but there was no answer. I left a message on his answering machine for him to call us as soon as he returned.”
“Where is Mr. Robinson now?” Terry asked.
“At Silver Crest,” Joe said.
“Can you let go of me now?” Bev shouted.
“Tell me something first,” Frank told Bev and Myra. “Did you say those were moonstones in that necklace?”
“That’s what the jeweler told us,” Myra said.
“And you say you stole them from Robinson’s safe?” Frank asked.
“That’s right,” Bev said angrily. “Now tell your brother to let go of my head!”
“Let her go,” Frank told Joe.
Joe released Bev, who quickly backed away. “Oh, thank you so much,” Bev said in her most sarcastic tone.
“Your brother is cute,” Myra told Frank. “Maybe we should have kidnapped him after all. And you’re not so bad yourself. See you guys later.”
On that note, Bev and Myra mounted their mountain bikes and pedaled off.
“They’re so charming,” Terry said as she headed back to her car.
After Joe loaded his bike into the car, Terry drove back to Silver Crest. There Terry and the Hardys found Clay Robinson eating a ham sandwich in the empty mess hall. Stella was sleeping at his feet, obviously happy to have her master back.
Robinson seemed healthy and in good spirits, but Frank was amazed to hear that the man had absolutely no recollection of where he had been the past two days.
“I had just gotten some gas and I was driving along that road to see my lawyer, Wilkins,” Robinson said with a puzzled expression. “It was dark and there wasn’t a soul around. Then, out of nowhere, a big bright light was shining right at me. Next thing I knew, I felt myself blacking out.”
“Exactly what happened to us!” Joe said excitedly. Even though he could not remember anything, Joe was thrilled by even the remote possibility he might have been on an alien spacecraft a few hours earlier.
Frank looked from Robinson to Joe. “And neither of you remembers anything between the time you blacked out and the time you awoke in the pasture. Come on. You must remember something. A word, a voice, a glimpse of a face.”
“Nothing,” Robinson said. “Not a thing.”
“That’s how it was with the woman on that tape,” Joe pointed out. “She couldn’t remember seeing the alien until she was hypnotized. It’s like the aliens practice some kind of mind control that wipes out your memory. Sykes said this phenomenon was called ‘missing time.’ ”
“Missing time,” Frank said. “Well, a shot of some kind of drug could do the same thing.”
Robinson rubbed his beard. “I find it hard to believe I spent the last two days on an alien spacecraft, but I’ll be bamboozled if I can think of any other explanation for this.”
“ETs or not,” Terry told Frank, “this shoots your theory about someone getting rid of Mr. Robinson, then kidnapping Sykes and Joe to make it look like alien abductions.”
“I guess it does,” Frank agreed. “But there’s a variation on that theme. Maybe the guilty party wanted to get rid of Alastair Sykes, not Mr. Robinson, And they made it look like an alien abduction by temporarily kidnapping Joe and Robinson. Taking Robinson first would have been a great way to throw everyone off the trail.”
“Well, that’s an interesting theory,” Robinson said, looking at Frank with renewed interest. “You boys are a regular pair of detectives, aren’t you?”
“Oh, not really,” Frank said with a faint smile.
“Do you know of anyone who might be out to get Alastair Sykes?” Terry asked Robinson.
“The folks from the mental institution might be interested,” Robinson said. “But aside from that, I can’t think of anyone.”
“Who around here would know some details about him?” Joe asked. “His personal life, his financial situation, anything? Is Wilkins also his lawyer?”
“I don’t think so,” Robinson said, pushing his empty plate away. “But that reminds me, I still have to sign those papers for Wilkins. He needs my Signature so he can file them by Monday. You know, I’d better get right on that.”
“It’s past eleven, are you sure it can’t wait?” Terry asked.
“No, Wilkins is a night owl. I want them tonight,” Robinson said.
“Do you want me to go get them?” Terry asked. “I’ll be glad to.”
“No, I’ll go,” Robinson added, getting up from the table. “You three stay here and see if you can solve this thing. But don’t knock yourselves out, either. You’re all in Moondance Pass to have fun. Besides, we do have a police force that’s supposed to handle these matters.”
Stella sprang to her feet to follow her master. Robinson scratched the dog’s head fondly. “No, Stella, you stay put, honey.”
“Here,” Frank said, handing Robinson the keys to the Jeep. “You’ll need these. We used your Jeep a bit.”
“Okey-dokey,” Robinson said with a friendly smile. “See you folks.”
Joe petted Stella to keep the dog from leaving. Frank watched Robinson walk out of the mess hall. Frank found it funny that a man who had just disa
ppeared into thin air for two days was concerned about legal papers. As Frank sorted through his thoughts, he once again heard a hoot owl crying out.
“Joe,” Frank said. “Remember how Sykes made some comment about his house being burglarized once?”
“Yes, I do,” Joe replied. “He said that was why he had all the sophisticated security equipment.”
“And then he made another comment about some stolen moonstones,” Frank said. “When I asked him about it, he said it was nothing. But we both wondered if there might be something to it.
“Aha!” Terry exclaimed. “That’s why you were so interested in the fact that Myra’s necklace was made of moonstones.”
“Do you remember exactly what Sykes said about the moonstones?” Frank asked Joe.
Joe scratched his head, thinking back to the conversation with Sykes. “Let me see. Oh, yeah, he was talking about Clay Robinson. We asked Sykes why Robinson would have been abducted by aliens. He said, maybe because Robinson was driving along a deserted road or because he had red hair or because he stole some moonstones twenty years ago.”
Outside Frank heard the sound of the Jeep starting up. Slowly but surely the pieces were now coming together in Frank’s mind.
“That’s also what I remember him saying,” Frank said.
“But what does it mean?” Joe asked eagerly.
“I’ll get there in a second,” Frank said. “Terry, did Mr. Robinson mention jewelry among the items he believed were stolen from his safe?”
“Yes, he did,” Terry said without hesitation. “He just didn’t say what kind of jewelry.”
“And, by any chance,” Frank said, “do you know if Sykes knew of this theft?”
Terry wrinkled her brow, trying to remember something. “Yes, now that you mention it. One afternoon less than a week ago, Sykes came by while I was cleaning the grounds with some of the others. He said he was considering tightening the security at his house. He asked if there had been any thefts at Silver Crest, and I told him a little about the incident with Robinson’s safe.”
“Is there a connection to our case?” Joe asked Frank.
The hoot owl stopped its cry, leaving the night suddenly silent.
The Rocky Road to Revenge Page 8
