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Authors: Margaret Pearce

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Chapter
Twelve

 

The week had gone as normally as they tried to make it, but it was on the Friday afternoon the dreadful thing had happened.

Katie was thoughtful, almost moody. Even though Ronnie explained that Drake hadn't been at the Horseshoe Café since his father towed him out. Katie agreed with Ronnie that they wouldn't visit Drake's house anymore, so they didn't even walk past it on their way home from school each night.

Jasmine was still in the hospital having tests, and Mrs. Purdue had a pinched face and permanently red eyes. Jasmine's brother Mike had reported that his mother spent all her time at the hospital, just sitting by Jasmine's bed and holding her hand, and his grandmother had arrived to look after them.

“Out of self-rising flour,” Mrs. Campion had muttered. “Ronnie be a good girl and race down to the supermarket and buy me some flour.”

“Get Jamie to do it,” Ronnie said irritably. She had just changed out of her school clothes and was settling in front of the heater with her new library book. “What's he supposed to have a bike for?”

“I'll do it if I can have the change,” Jamie bargained.

“You should do it for nothing,” his mother said with a sigh as she gave him money and the bike bag.

Half an hour later, Mrs. Campion was fuming. “Where is that child? I needed that flour for the cake I wanted to make.”

“Probably stopped off at the reserve to kick a football around,” Ronnie said her nose still in her book.

“It's getting dark,” Mrs. Campion worried. “I don't like him out after dark. He hasn't got a light on his bike. Ronnie, go straight around to the reserve and get him to come home immediately.”

Ronnie sighed, but put down her book and wheeled out her bike. She rode around to the reserve. It was deserted. She rode back to the shops. Jamie had come in and bought the flour and also a chocolate bar.

“But that was about an hour ago,” the attendant volunteered.

Ronnie nodded grimly and rode around to Jamie's best friend's place. Herbie Pickle was having dinner. Ronnie went in and questioned him. He said he had met Jamie at the reserve and kicked a football around for a while. They had both left the reserve together.


So where was he going then?” Ronnie demanded.

“Dunno,” Herbie said. “Just headed straight down Castle Street towards home.”

“Okay,” Ronnie said and rode off.

Ronnie rode slowly down Castle Street looking into driveways for Jamie and his bike. It was getting dark. The street lights were going on and cars were slowing to pull into driveways. There was no sign of Jamie or his bike anywhere.

As she drove past the big Demento mansion she noticed the big black car was there, but the house itself was in darkness. She reached home at the same time as her father's car pulled into their driveway.

She reported her failure to find Jamie to her mother and father.

Her father immediately rang the local hospitals. “Well he hasn't been knocked by a car,” he reported several heart stopping minutes later.

“He might have gone home with another of his mates,” Mrs. Campion fretted. “I'll ring around all the mothers.”

An hour later, she got off the phone, her face white. Jamie wasn't with any of his friends. “What if he's been kidnapped?”

Ronnie held her tongue. No one would hold Jamie for ransom, and who would be silly enough to kidnap such a brat as her little brother
?

By the next morning, Ronnie was feeling scared and guilty, and realized she was a lot fonder of her bratty little brother than she thought. If only she had obeyed her mother and
gone to the shop and bought the flour
for her mother
.
No one had seen Jamie riding his bike home the previous afternoon after he left Herbie at the oval. He had just vanished into thin air, and it was all her fault!

So she and Katie, Jeff, Will and Mike Purdue joined the searchers. They tracked through the creeks, and down by the river. They went through all the parks
,
ovals and reserves, checking individually behind and under each bush and through each backyard shed or outbuilding in the district despite the outraged protests of the house owners.

They checked behind the shops and the shopping centres. The
y
checked, all the dumpsters and rubbish places in the district
in a sick apprehension
. There was no sign of Jamie or his bike or his bike bag.

“If only I still had Billie, he would help us find him,” Jeff said mournfully, much later that afternoon after their unsuccessful day of searching.

“Odd that so many animals and now a kid has vanished,” Katie mused.

“Probably a coincidence,” Jeff said.

That was Saturday afternoon. Saturday night Mrs. Pickle rang them in hysterics. Herbie Pickle had also gone missing! So the police started to take the two disappearances seriously
…
very seriously.

 

Chapter
T
hirteen

 

“This is ridiculous,” Ronnie grumbled. “I'm not allowed to do anything or go anywhere.”

Katie had dropped in on the following Saturday afternoon to remind her about netball practice. The two small boys were still missing and the entire district was in turmoil.

“Herbie and Jamie were snatched in broad daylight,” her mother warned.

“It must have been dusk,” Ronnie corrected her.

Her mother ignored her. “You go straight to netball practice and you come straight home–just until the two boys are found.”

“We should be okay together, Mrs. Campion,” Katie said.

“If Jeff goes with you and collects you,” Mrs. Campion said.

“Huh!” Jeff protested. He looked at his mother's face. “Okay, then.”

After netball, Will turned up to escort Katie back. The four of them returned together and stopped off at Jasmine's place.
Mike came out to greet them. Behind him was a
little old lady dressed in black. Her beady eyes stared at Ronnie and Jeff.

“This is our grandmother, Mrs. Kotsos,” Mike introduced.

She's come down to stay until Jasmine gets better.”

“Hello, Mrs. Kotsos,” Ronnie said politely. “How's Jasmine going?”

She remembered that Jasmine's grandmother was Greek and she was called Mrs. Kotsos because no one could pronounce the rest of her name.


She won't get better,” the old lady said in her heavy accent.

She and her cats are under a curse.”

Mike looked embarrassed. “Now come on, Grandma. Nobody believes that old junk these days.”

“There is evil in this district. I smelled it as soon as I arrived,” the old lady continued.

“We have to go, or Mum will get worried,” Jeff apologised.

Mike followed them out as far as the front gate.

She is so weird,” he apologised. “The house stinks of garlic, and she prowls around sprinkling everything with holy water and mumbling prayers.”

“Does she believe in vampires?” Ronnie asked.

“And ghosts and monsters and not being out after dark,” Mike said. “With Mum at the hospital all the time and our weird Greek grandmother, life is getting pretty hard to cope with.”


She probably got bitten by something, and it will show up in the blood tests sooner or later,” Will said as he and Katie reached their front gate.

“Yeah,” Ronnie agreed.

She and her brother Jeff rode in silence until they reached their own front yard.

“Do you believe in vampires?” she asked Jeff.

“Come on,” Jeff said impatiently.

“Well, what if there are such things as vampires?”

“No one from a bad fairy tale has kidnapped Jamie and Herbie,” Jeff replied. “It is someone nasty, real and scumbag and I hope they get prison for life.”

Ronnie shivered. She wasn't sure whether she felt better or worse about everything. Of course Jeff didn't believe in weird things like vampires. He was much too sensible. The fact remained, that the two boys were still missing
.

 

Chapter
Fourteen

 

“I don't believe it,” Ronnie shouted.

She had come home from school on the following Friday. Nothing had changed during the dreadful week. Jasmine was still in the hospital having more tests done, and not recognising anyone. Despite all the searching and the media publicity the two boys were still missing.

The police had just left. Her mother was crying. Her father stood beside her scowling and patting her shoulder. Her brother Jeff stood with them looking totally bewildered.

“The police are scaling down their search,” Mrs. Campion repeated through her sobs. “They are saying that the boys could have run away, and will turn up when they get bored or hungry enough.”

“They kept asking if there had been any problems in the family and was Jamie unhappy,” Mr. Campion explained.

“Jamie wouldn't go anywhere without his favourite football,” Ronnie said. “He and Herbie have been kidnapped.”

“The police said they have traced every lead they could and nothing has turned up,” Mr. Campion reminded them grimly.

“If Herbie and Jamie got as far as the railway station, they would have had to catch a bus to get there. No one spotted them getting on a bus, or even down at the railway station,” Ronnie argued.

“What do you reckon?” Ronnie asked Katie when she phoned her later that night from her bedroom.

One of the up things that had happened was that she and Katie had their mobile phones returned and cashed up by their parents with instructions not to go anywhere without them. So she and Katie were still able to keep in touch.

“Of course they haven't run away,” Katie agreed.

Someone's kidnapped them.”


So where are they?” Ronnie said. “Do you think they are still in the district?”

“If they were stolen from this district they could be anywhere,” Katie said.

“Or it could be a crime of opportunity. Someone saw the boys alone and just snatched them,” Ronnie said.

“A day apart!” Katie pointed out. “The kidnapper is either a local or someone who drives regularly through the district.”

“On Friday night and Saturday nights,” Ronnie mused.

Someone must've seen something.”

“No one's around that hour of night,” Katie said.

“Mike Purdue is,” Ronnie said. She sat up straight in bed as she remembered and her voice rose in excitement. “Mike Purdue got that part time job as soon as he got his licence. He's out Fridays and Saturdays delivering stuff.”

“Always around dinner time,” Katie said.

“If you don't get off that phone and shut up, I'm going to take it off you,” Jeff's voice warned from his bedroom.


See you tomorrow,” Ronnie whispered, and clicked off her phone.

Why hadn't they remembered about Mike always being around delivering meals over the weekend?
She settled down to sleeping feeling a lot more positive about everything. Surely they would find some clue to the disappearances of the two small boys if they asked the right questions.

 

Chapter
Fifteen

 

The next morning, Katie turned up with Will in attendance. For a change, Will had taken Ronnie's theory about Mike perhaps seeing something seriously.

“Don't you girls go too far,” Mrs. Campion warned the next morning.

“I'll stay with them, Mrs. Campion,” Will promised.


Really, Mum!” Ronnie said. “We're just going around to Jasmine's place.”

Mike was getting into his car as they rode into the driveway. “Just leaving,” he said. “And there's no change with Jasmine.”

“You were out delivering the other Friday and Saturday nights when the two boys went missing,” Ronnie said. “Did you see anything?”

“Police already asked me,” Mike explained. “Didn't see the boys or anything unusual happening on either of those nights.”


So that's that,” Katie said with a sigh.

“Gotta get moving,” Mike apologised.

Seem busier than usual with the deliveries.”

“Take-away food is so unhealthy,” Katie said.

“It gives me the money to support my car,” Mike said.

“Extra busy?” Will asked suddenly. “Who's doing all the ordering?”

Mike fastened his seatbelt and put the key into the ignition. The three friends moved their bikes to the side of the driveway. “Usual mob. The houses with all the students, some of the motels, and that mob in Castle Street,”

“The Dementos?” Ronnie asked.

“Great ones for their take-away chicken and chips, pizzas and lots of gooey cream cakes and slices.” Mike turned the key into the ignition and his car roared into life.

“Only three of them living there,” Katie said.

“Yeah, but they get enough take
-
away for ten people night after night,” Mike yelled as he backed out of the driveway.

See you.”

Ronnie noticed Mrs. Kotsos standing at the end of the driveway. She must have been listening to their conversation. She held a laundry basket piled high with washing.

“Hi, Mrs. Kotsos.” Ronnie said. “Need a hand to put out the washing? Any change to Jasmine?”

“I'm still able to hang out washing without help, and nothing's changed, but she's safe enough in hospital,” Mrs. Kotsos said in her heavy accent. “Not fattened up for slaughter like the others.”

“What others? What slaughter?
Got any proof?” Will asked rudely.

Mrs. Kotsos stared at Will. “I just know what I know.” She turned and walked down to the clothes line and started hanging clothes on it.


Very weird grandmother, that one,” Will whispered as they turned and rode away.


Superstitious,” Katie agreed. “Believe she came from the very back blocks of somewhere in Greece.

The three of them rode back down the road towards Ronnie's place. Ronnie was quiet. So the Dementos bought too much take-away food for three people. What did they do with all the stuff they didn't eat?


Suppose they entertain Drake's friends all the time,” Katie said. Her mind must have been moving along the same lines as Ronnie's.

Remember one of the twins saying how much food there was for supper.”

“What if they are feeding captives?” Ronnie whispered.

“Nothing wrong with your imagination,” Will jeered. “Just why would they want to kidnap two little kids?”

“And all the animals that have gone missing,” Katie reminded him. “Big animals, like Jenny's Great Dane, and Jeff and Ronnie's Billie, and our Rex.”

“They've all just strayed for some reason,” Will said irritably. “You both have the weirdest minds. You don't want to take any notice of an ignorant old lady.” They reached the front of Ronnie's house. “Jeff's turn to take you to netball this afternoon.”

He and Katie rode off. Ronnie wheeled her bike along the path around to her back yard. She didn't think that Katie's idea was weird. In fact it made a sort of nasty logic. The only thing that didn't make any sense at all was a reason.

She almost opened her mouth to ask her mother if she believed in cannibals or vampires, but noticing her mother's pinched face and red rimmed eyes, decided to keep her mouth shut.

Suppose, just suppose, there were captive people and animals in that big house?
No one would hear anything, as it was set back from the street with all that garden around it. Then again, no captives could be left where any search party could find them, if the police decided to search.

“Mum!”

“Yes, dear.”

“When was that big old mansion in Castle Street built?”

“Long time ago.”

“How long?”

“Before my time. I heard someone had made a lot of money out of some invention and lorded it over all the neighbours with their new house. The new owners must have spent a lot of money doing those renovations.” Mrs. Campion looked more sharply at Ronnie. “Why are you interested?”


School project,” Ronnie fibbed. “Who would know about its background?”

“Old Granny Sullivan might.”

“But she's in the Sunset Glory Rest Home,” Ronnie grumbled.

“Mind as sharp as a tack even if she's ninety,” her mother said. “Her Dad was a builde
r
, and I have an idea that he worked on that place at one stage.”


Really! Could I go and visit?”

“If Jeff is prepared to take you.”

At netball that afternoon Katie agreed with Ronnie that it would be helpful to discover if the big mansion had secret rooms or cellars, just in case they were hiding captives.

There was a minor problem. Jeff was highly indignant as being asked to escort them to the Sunset Glory Home on their way back home.

“If we run late getting home, Mum'll freak out,” he protested. “Can't you do it some other time?”

“We only want to spend five minutes talking to Granny Sullivan,” Ronnie coaxed. “We can still be back before dark.”

“And it's not really out of our way,” Katie said. “Just a straight level road to the nursing home.”

“I'll be glad when all this nonsense of escorting you two is well over,” Jeff grouched. “All right, but don't push your luck.”

Katie and Ronnie exchanged glances. Maybe they were wasting time asking Granny Sullivan about the old mansion, or then again, maybe not.

BOOK: Invitation to a Stranger
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