Fear Familiar Bundle

by Caroline Burnes

  Familiar ignored him as they filed into the room and took seats around a small conference table.

  "Now what is that idiot Crush trying to say?" Bixley sat down and placed his hands on the table.

  James and Jennifer, with a few interruptions from Judy, had just finished laying out the clues for Bixley when there was a soft tap on the door. A police officer stuck his head around the door and nodded. "Mr. Bonbon asked me to turn on the radio in here. He said there was something coming on the air that might interest all of you."

  "Okay."

  The uniformed officer entered and went to a wall panel to flip a few switches. Crush's voluminous voice filled the room.

  "And here's a caller with some information."

  "It has something to do with salt." Eugene's voice was distinct and completely undisguised. "I've been mulling it over and over, and the title of each story figures in prominently with the method of kidnapping. There's a theme. All of the children display curiosity, which is what children are mostly composed of. The good ones, at least. But there is also a common theme in the abductions. This final clue is salt. We have to put everything we know together…because I believe the kidnapper wants us to find the children."

  "You think this guy wants to get caught?" Crush asked.

  "Indeed. The clues are becoming more and more obvious. Think of it, Crush. This kidnapper now has four children to feed, bathe, clothe and keep from whining. I'd say he or she is ready for them to be found. Now I'm not implying the kidnapper wants to be caught, but I think he's ready to give back the children."

  "What could Amber's abduction have to do with salt?" Crush asked.

  "I haven't gotten that far along, but I feel very strongly. Salt is one of the key issues. I'll keep working on it."

  "Thanks, Mr. Legander." Crush actually sounded sincere. "Anyone else out there got some thoughts about finding these children?"

  He fielded several calls before Jennifer got up and turned the sound down low. "I wonder what Eugene has up his sleeve?" she said. "Salt. As in 'pinch of salt.' Curiosity."

  "Who could have taken that manuscript from Eugene's house?" Bixley asked, looking at them. "I have to tell you, Eugene is still a suspect. This is all too convenient. Not to mention the fact that I could hit all of you with aiding and abetting charges. You protected Eugene and withheld evidence." He rubbed his jaw. "The trouble is, even Crush is beginning to look suspicious to me. Why didn't he report the incident when you broke into his house?"

  Judy sighed and rolled her eyes. "That kid's room is really incriminating. Besides, he got dumped by his girl. That's embarrassing. Two good reasons to keep his mouth shut."

  "Good points." Bixley got up from his seat and swiftly exited the room.

  "While he's preoccupied, let's get out of here." Jennifer looked at James.

  "My thoughts exactly," James said. "Let's make tracks."

  "I don't want to go home," Judy said. "This is building up to a climatic end and I'm not going to go home and miss it."

  "Trust me, I wouldn't dream of letting you out of my sight," Jennifer said to the girl. "If I have to tie you up and leave you in the trunk of the car, I will. But I'll know where you are every second, until this kidnapper is caught."

  "Do you always go around threatening people?" Judy asked. "Eugene said you had a forked tongue, but he didn't warn me that you get off on intimidating innocent children."

  "Innocent?" Jennifer turned to the girl, her blue eyes disbelieving. "You call yourself innocent?"

  "By the way, I've got something to get off my chest." Judy looked down at her shoes. "I was the person you saw sneaking around Eugene's house. I was casing the area. To protect Eugene."

  "You!" Jennifer felt her temper skyrocket. "I've been worried to death. I'm going to chew you up and spit you out like bad baloney!"

  "Wait!" Judy held up both hands. "I saw someone there! A small person. Like a woman. I was investigating."

  "Why didn't you say so before?" Jennifer demanded.

  "Then you would have known how often I was sneaking out of my house. You would have told my parents."

  "Let's go, ladies— and I use that term loosely." James put an end to the conversation as he nodded to Craig Bixley, who had begun to take notice of their conversation. "If we don't go now, Bixley may detain us."

  Sprinting ahead, Familiar led the way out into the night.

  * * *

  "COME IN, DARLINGS." Eugene met them at the door with a silver tray of crystal glasses filled with port. "I knew you'd need a little fortifying liquid as soon as I heard the car stop." He gave James and Jennifer each a glass and waved them into a seat. He handed Judy a glass of chocolate milk and steered her toward the couch. Familiar gave one long look at the kitchen but sat down.

  "I've been listening to the radio, and no one has any more ideas about where the children might be."

  "If we could only put together what the numeral ninety-eight, kidnapped children, books, and salt have in common." Jennifer held her glass in one hand and rested her chin on the other. She gave Judy a glare. "And don't forget the small person who's been snooping around Eugene's house."

  "I think it was a woman." Judy had recovered her poise. "About Anna Green's size."

  James sat forward. "Anna could have kidnapped her own daughter, or had her taken. It wouldn't be the first time someone did such a thing."

  "To what purpose? There's no motive that I can see. Sympathy? For a vote? Is she going to keep her daughter hostage until the elections?" Eugene was puzzled.

  Jennifer's brow was furrowed. "I don't know. But whoever was in Crush Bonbon's house the night we were there was small. A young person or a woman." She shook her head. "It's just that we've wrongly accused Crush, and now we're turning to Anna. I'm not certain she's the criminal behind all of this."

  "Perhaps we aren't considering all of the clues," James said. His eyes narrowed. "Ninety-eight is the consistent clue, the one that recurs again and again, even when the kidnapper had to change the page number."

  "That's right," Jennifer said. She almost spilled her port when Familiar leapt from the sofa and dashed to the dining room table. With one large black paw he smashed the saltshaker into the wall. The little china chicken splintered into a thousand pieces.

  "Familiar!" Jennifer stood and simply stared. She'd never seen the cat misbehave in such a fashion.

  James rose, as did Eugene and Judy.

  "Oh, my God." Jennifer looked at Familiar. "The saltshaker."

  "It wasn't expensive," Eugene said, trying to soothe her.

  "No! Salt! Ninety-eight. James was right about the highway." Jennifer was talking at such a speed that she had to force herself to slow down. "Remember the old salt domes on Highway 98? They've been abandoned for years, but it would be the perfect place to hide children."

  James pulled the car keys from his pocket. "Let's go."

  "Shouldn't we notify the authorities?" Judy asked. She took one look at their faces. "Forget I said that. Bixley would bungle the entire operation. You're right, let's go. And I'm going if I have to hitchhike!"

  * * *

  THE HALF-MOON shone through tall pines that ringed the edge of what had once been a working salt mine on the backside of nowhere in the Alabama piney woods. It was just shy of midnight, and James and Jennifer had begun to circle around the back of the entrance to the dark mine shaft. Eugene and a very unhappy Judy had agreed to stand watch and signal if anyone approached.

  "Listen." James put his hand on Jennifer's shoulder and pulled her against him. The sinister call of an owl hooted through the night.

  "Someone's here."

  "Maybe we can catch the kidnapper red-handed and put an end to this once and for all," James said. "I've been worried that the children didn't see their abductor and might still believe Eugene was behind this."

  "Shush." Jennifer ducked lower behind a leafy huckleberry bush as someone approached the mouth of the shaft. The person was small, slender, and carried a large sta
ck of McDonald's bags.

  "We've hit pay dirt," Jennifer said. "Now, let's nail the cretin."

  With James behind her, they started slowly forward just as the figure disappeared into the cave. There was the sound of keys jiggling, rusty hinges complaining, and finally a loud burst of voices.

  "They sound okay." James felt a heavy burden lift from his shoulders.

  "They sound hungry and glad to see whoever that is." Jennifer was perplexed. The children's greeting wasn't one of hostages to a captor. It was more of children to a benefactor. Something was still screwy about the entire scene.

  Moving as swiftly as possible across the opening to the shaft, they stopped at the heavy door. James inched it open and was surprised to hear animated chatter. The smell of hamburgers wafted on the air toward him.

  "When are we going home?" Mimi Frost's voice sounded plaintive yet composed.

  "Yeah, my mother's going to kill me," Tommy added.

  "Soon, children. Very soon now. Eugene said the experiment is almost over." The voice was soft and motherly.

  "I'm ready to go home now," Mimi insisted. "It wasn't fair of Eugene to take us without asking. Mama's going to be terribly upset." Mimi's voice filled with emotion. "And Daddy, too."

  "Yes, it was wrong of Eugene to trick you like he did." Martha Whipple's voice was unmistakable. "I've left clues for your parents to find you, but you have to promise not to tell anyone I brought you food. Right?"

  The children gave a chorus of agreement. "It's Eugene's fault. He started the experiment," Bobby said. "That was a nasty trick."

  Jennifer put her hand on James. Her heart was beating a rapid tattoo, but her thoughts were clear. Of all of the people in Mobile, she'd never suspected Martha Whipple. The librarian. Eugene's old friend. Now she knew everything but why.

  "On three, we'll rush in and I'll take Martha while you get the children out and safe." James tapped her shoulder. "One, two, three!"

  Together they pushed opened the heavy old door that had sealed the shaft from curious children for decades. Jennifer saw the children, all sitting at a plastic table. Martha Whipple stood over them, a revolver tucked discreetly in one hand. It was the sight of the gun more than anything that put speed to her feet as she launched herself across the table. Her body knocked burgers, colas and children to the floor in one grand, dramatic sweep as James tackled the librarian and sent her sprawling.

  The gun flew out of her hand and Familiar, waiting at the doorway, fielded it neatly, pushing it out of the reach of Martha Whipple and the children.

  Twenty seconds later, Eugene and Judy burst into the room and hurried to help Jennifer comfort the children, who were too stunned to do anything except look at the ruination of their meal and the strange sight of Martha Whipple being held tightly by James.

  For a brief moment Martha struggled, then gave up as she glared at Jennifer. "You stupid interfering witch. Ever since you came to town you've ruined my plans."

  "Martha?" Eugene stepped toward her, then stopped at the venomous look she gave him.

  "I hate you," she snarled. "Everything you write is wonderful. The children love you, and the critics rave over each stupid word. You had everything I ever wanted, but you couldn't even throw me a scrap."

  "Martha, what are you talking about?" Eugene picked up several pages of manuscript that had scattered across the floor of the mine. Understanding dawned on his face.

  Martha sneered. "That's right. My stories. Remember when I showed them to you?" She struggled, but James held her. "You said I was the perfect librarian, but that I was no writer. You said my stories were interesting. That word that means nothing." As she talked, she slowly sank back against James until he was supporting her. "You took away my dreams, my hopes." She started to cry.

  "Martha, I said you needed to write more."

  "You ruined everything!" Martha lunged toward the writer, foiled only by the strong grip James had on her.

  Aware that the children were watching with the beginnings of genuine fear, Jennifer signaled to James to move Martha Whipple away from the children. "We're going home," she said, kneeling to their level.

  "Eugene." Bobby Fornaro stepped forward and addressed the writer. "You're going to be in big trouble for kidnapping all of us. Are we going to be in your next book?"

  "Without a doubt," Eugene said, gathering them into his arms.

  "And I'm going to be the detective," Judy said. She looked at Eugene. "Right?"

  "Right. Now, it's time to go home. I think some parents are going to be very happy to see you."

  "Is my mother mad?" Amber Green came out from behind a chair. "She has a terrible temper."

  "I think even Anna will be sufficiently relieved to see you not to be angry," Eugene said. "Now, we'll have to pack in the car like sardines, but we can manage."

  "Miss Whipple has a van," Tommy offered. "She blindfolded us and told us all about the experiment for one of your books."

  "But she wouldn't take us back home," Mimi said, her voice becoming choked again. "I was getting scared. And this place is boring, being locked inside all day and night."

  "Well, we're going home now," Jennifer said as she ruffled Mimi's bangs. As they started toward the door, Familiar in the lead, Jennifer turned to Martha Whipple. The woman was obviously off her rocker, a woman consumed with petty jealousies and meanness. But there was one thing that didn't make any sense. "I can see why you hated Eugene, but why Crush Bonbon? He was Eugene's rival, his enemy. And you tried to implicate him in the kidnappings. Why?"

  Martha Whipple's glasses had slipped down her nose and the blue eyes that gazed back at Jennifer were slightly crazed. "It was for my daughter. He asked Arlene to marry him, but I fixed that. He wanted my only child, and her daughter. But I told her he was running around behind her back. I put a stop to that marriage. But Arlene moved away from me, anyway." Her burst of anger faded and she slumped against James once again.

  "Come along, children." Wanting to spare them any more trauma, Eugene led them out into the night. "Now, where is the van? Jennifer will drive us and Familiar, and we'll leave James to help Martha. She's unhappy right now, but things will get better soon. Remember in the story where Kevin is tempted by the Gypsy…?"

  Jennifer watched as the children obediently followed him to the van. Whatever trauma they'd suffered was momentarily lost in the joy of one of Eugene's stories. They would be okay.

  James's touch was as comforting and expected as the sweet kiss of the night, and Jennifer turned into his arms. Martha Whipple's arms had been bound with a length of jump rope and she was safely tucked into the car, waiting for James to drive her to the police station.

  "Are you okay?" James whispered into her ear.

  "I'm better than okay." She lifted her face and brushed a kiss across his lips. "Should I say 'my hero' now, or wait until later?"

  "Even in moments of glory you are still sarcastic." His tone was slightly chastising.

  "I can't afford to let you think you're as terrific as I think you are."

  "No, we wouldn't want to say anything kind at all." He laughed as he pulled her hard against him. "But I can make you beg for mercy."

  "You can make me beg for a lot of things, most of them a lot more pleasurable than mercy." She kissed him, her body yielding against him, her desire for him instant and hot. "Let's continue this discussion at my place as soon as we deliver Ms. Whipple and the children."

  "That's Mrs. Whipple, and it will have to wait until I file this story." James sighed. "If I'm going to make you a star in print and save Eugene's reputation, I have to hurry to the paper and get to work."

  "Slave over that hot keyboard, and then— " she kissed him again "— we'll lock the doors, bolt the windows and take the telephone off the hook."

  "For about five days," he said, returning her kiss.

  "Hey!" Jennifer looked down her leg into the golden eyes of Familiar. He popped her shin again with his sheathed claws.

  "I think it's time to
drive," James said, sighing. "That cat knows how to ruin a romantic moment."

  "Until later." Jennifer blew him as kiss as she ran through the pines to catch up with Eugene and the children. Familiar was a streak of black at her side.

  * * *

  EUGENE'S LATEST BOOK has skyrocketed to the New York Times' bestseller list. Imagine that. Nothing like a little controversy to set things in motion in the book world. And believe me, this entire kidnapping episode has raised the roof around here.

  To the credit of all the voters, Anna Green's behavior has led to a coalition against book burning, which has destroyed her political future. Chief Bixley is under scrutiny for his nocturnal investigations, and James has been promoted to the ace reporter slot.

  The best news of all is that Jennifer has been permanently assigned to Mobile to look out for Eugene. They realize it's a full-time job down here, and she's the woman for it.

  I think sharing the same geographic space, or at least the same coast, is vital to a new marriage. And along with a job promotion, Jennifer is sporting an engagement ring.

  Poor Martha Whipple. She's undergoing extensive psychiatric evaluation. As a Trained Observer, I can diagnose her condition— driven completely mad by jealousy. Imagine, she had checked out all of those books on writing and put them on Crush Bonbon's library card. She wanted to write. She wanted the glory. And when Eugene had looked at some of her manuscripts and said they weren't polished enough to be published, she lost it! The irony is that she never even tried to rewrite them and send them in. She just plotted and schemed how to ruin Eugene.

  Ah, humans. They see what they want and then they screw it all up by doing something stupid. But they are interesting. That is their redeeming quality. They're endlessly interesting. And some of them, like Miss Spitfire, are enough to make a cat's heart go pitter-pat.

  Now I'm settled in with Eugene. AnnaLoulou and I have developed a friendship that puts no strain on my vows to Clotilde. And Eleanor's on her way to retrieve me— and hold a bridal shower for Jennifer. Then it's home to Washington for a few weeks. There's no telling what can happen in Washington. A cat with a love of adventure knows no bounds.