The three of us—and Jack—peered cautiously out of the barn door, scanning the surrounding woods for any lurking bad guys. Bob slipped out and held the door for Kay and me. He closed the door quietly and headed off at a quick pace with Kay and Jack right behind him. I brought up the rear. He must have spent some time in these woods, because he went straight to a path that let us proceed without being mauled by the surrounding vegetation. He moved swiftly and silently. No barbed wire got in the way.
Of course they both walked faster than me, getting further and further ahead. I felt my tension grow with each step. Why hadn't I insisted we call the police when we found the gray Mercedes? I should have just ignored being called ‘lady’ in a sarcastic tone. Captain Johnson’s annoying professional opinion shouldn’t have stopped me, nor Kay’s desire to outmaneuver an ex-boyfriend.
What if the woman who had kidnapped Bob was still there? Or the guy who’d searched my car—or both? And what if they were armed and saw us and started shooting? What if he hadn’t just been searching the car but had planted a bomb? Or they had filled the house with poison gas and when we went in we were all killed? What if they really were space aliens and all this was taking place on another planet where they had whisked us in our sleep so they could observe how humans react under pressure?
“What if you stop making up stupid scenarios and catch up with Kay and Bob,” I muttered out loud.
Kay was nearly out of sight. I picked up my pace until I was nearly trotting, which is no more comfortable on foot than on the back of a horse. I didn’t see the large stick in the path in front of me, and my foot came down squarely on it. It rolled, throwing me off balance. I lurched and walked into an enormous spider web stretched between two bushes. Fortunately it was untenanted, but its sticky tendrils clung to my face. I shuddered as I batted it off, making involuntary ugh noises.
By the time I caught up, the others were at the edge of the woods overlooking Bob’s house. Kay crouched behind some bushes, and Bob lurked behind a big tree a few feet away. I knelt beside Kay, hoping the shrubbery was big enough to provide cover for us both. “What’s going on?” I hissed.
“We’re waiting to see if the coast is clear,” Kay whispered back.
“Well, we can’t see that from down here,” I said, and pushed myself back to my feet. I hunched over so I could see through the screen of branches but not be seen from the house. I hoped. The underbrush rustled, and Jack came snuffling towards me. “Jack, down,” I hissed sternly. He looked surprised but dropped to his belly.
From here I could see the back and one side of Bob’s house. Beyond that my car still sat between the house and the garage. The only sounds were the breeze making its way through the underbrush, a couple of blue jays squabbling over something, and a rushing sound I thought was the nearby river, but might have been traffic on the road. Under other circumstances it would have been wonderfully peaceful, but I was so tense the scene seemed like a horror movie, just before something jumps out and devours some of the characters.
Kay scrambled to her feet and looked back and forth between Bob and the house. I decided the place was deserted and straightened up to ease the kink in my back. A single loud bang had Jack on his feet and surprised a loud squeak out of one of us. Me, I think. My first mental image was of large shotguns, before I remembered that Bob’s screen door made exactly that sound when it slammed shut. A hurrying form appeared from the front of the house, her back to us. The woman in red. Though she was now dressed in jeans and a red plaid shirt. She went straight to my car., She peered through the driver’s side window, shading her eyes with one hand. Then she opened the door and slid in behind the wheel. I heard the engine start. The blonde pulled the car door shut, backed around until she was headed for the road, gunned the engine, and drove away.
“My car! She’s stolen my car!” I yelped, heedless of being overheard.
“Louisa, did you leave your keys in the car?” Bob asked.
I grimaced and gave a nod. “I thought I'd only be in your house for a few minutes.”
Beside me Kay scrabbled in her purse. She pulled out her tiny phone and dialed. “Police? Oh, Kerry Sue, it's you. This is Kay. Yeah, I'm okay, but…No, I didn’t call for Ed. No, I need to report a stolen car…Of course I'm not kidding… No, it's not my car, it belongs to my…Yes, but…Listen, this car is being stolen right now, I mean this very minute. I'm watching it being driven…If you put out a call right now someone could—”
She listened to the chirps that were Kerry Sue, sighed, folded the phone and looked at us. “Well, it’s business as usual down at the cop shop. That was Kerry Sue Maddock, undoubtedly the stupidest person in town, so naturally they gave her the job of dispatcher. She said they’re kind of busy right now and told me to call back in ten minutes.”