* * *
We all showed up early but Mike was the first, who told me he was concerned about John, even if he didn’t admit it.
G-ma was cooking breakfast. She had set a plate on the table for each of us. We helped ourselves to the mound of crisp bacon, fried eggs, and buttery hash browns stacked on three different plates. When our stomachs were full the sheriff guided us into the parlor. Grandma followed.
“Did the inspector find anything out about John?”
“No. Nothing at all, but we didn’t expect any solid answers. It was just a warning blanketed by an inquiry. Tad explained they were hosting a dog show, by invitation only and apologized for the noise. He also said he knew nothing about the kid, but he’d have his boys keep a lookout for him in case he wandered onto the property.
Mike wrung his hands. “Did Hawkins look for him?”
“Tad invited him in to look around, but the inspector didn’t find anything suspicious. Remember it’s twenty acres, a boy would be easy to hide.”
“So, here’s what we know.” He scratched his head. “We believe John was caught when he opened the cages and let the dogs escape. They ran around the property howling and barking. Tad or his men locked John up somewhere on the property, but we don’t know how long he’ll be there. John’s seen too much, so they may have already moved him to a more secure location on the grounds. Things could get . . . worse.”
We looked at each other. Mike gulped. “Worse?”
Carson nodded for Parker to continue, “When they caught John, Wilkie made a phone call to someone. I don’t know who it was, but I could tell he was the boss. Tad laid the story out to him and after that just responded, ‘yes sir, no sir,’ on the rest of the call.”
The sheriff sipped his coffee. “Since we don’t know who he called, we have to keep this information to ourselves. Just the people in this room.”
* * *
The boys seemed like lost souls after leaving Grandma’s. Frank went to the junkyard to check on some car parts. Mike tagged along with him. I told them I was going to walk to the station in case they heard some news about John.
Frank high fived me. “We’ll drive over after I pick up door locks.”
I scratched my head. “Door locks? What for?”
“Gotta protect my investment.” Frank pulled the car door open. “Sometimes I drive through a bad area of town.”
“The junkyard is the bad area.”
“Exactly.” Frank said with authority.
I heard Frank and Mike pull away as I made my way down the road.
* * *
I arrived at the sheriff’s office about noon and spent a few hours helping Carson file some paperwork and listening to the police scanner. The sheriff got a call late in the afternoon on his walkie-talkie from one of his deputies. A half-naked boy in boots was walking down the dirt road. The deputy said the boy had a crazy long story about his escapades. He said his name was John.
Carson laughed, “Bring him to the station and stop by Grandma’s to pick some britches and a shirt for the kid.”
Frank and Mike walked in the front door. I could hear Frank’s jalopy spit and sputter as it died.
Sheriff Carson told us to pick a seat in the interview room so we could all hear first hand about John’s escape when he showed up with the deputy.
Carson brought John into the room where we were all waiting.
Mike taunted John, “You’re late.”
“I’ve been busy, you know – investigating.”
“Nice clothes, detective. They look a bit big.” I said
“G-ma gave them to me. They were ole’ man Parker’s.”
I patted John on the shoulder. “Great! Dead guy boots and now dead guy pants and a dead guy shirt.”
Mike raised his hands in celebration. “Trifecta.”
Carson jumped in the conversation. “Enough. Let John tell his story. Go ahead start. Tell us what happened, but skip the bonehead part when you jumped on the trailer, then the bonehead stunt when you released the dogs and of course the biggest bonehead move when you were caught.”
John frowned then adjusted his chair. “First they locked me in the basement, but later moved me to the cave. They were worried I’d be too easy to find in the house.” John crossed his legs. “Tad had iron bars and a gate installed in one of the cave chambers. He and his guys locked me behind the bars. It’s where the cages for the fighting dogs were kept. Remember, there was an underground pond in the cavern too. I couldn’t see another way out.”
“Tad slammed the gate and locked it, then said. ‘That should hold you until I decide what to do with you.”’
“I told him, somebody would come lookin for me. Then I grabbed the bars and shouted. ‘What’re you gonna do then?”’
“Tad mumbled as turned he turned to walk away. ‘You’ll be the first to know.’ Then he waved at one of his guys to stand guard at the main entrance of the cave.”
“As soon as they left I started to search around the cavern to see if there was
any way to escape. It was so dark I had to search by touch, but gave up after a time. It was hopeless; at least that’s what I thought.”
“Late in the afternoon I started searching again, thinking maybe I had missed something. When I got closer to the pond I noticed a small ray of light coming from deep in the water” John sipped his soda. ” I was puzzled. I wondered if there could be a passageway to the outside through the pond. It was risky, but I had to give it a shot. I would need to swim toward the light and see if it led to a way out.”
“After I stripped down to my skivvies, I slid into the cold water and dove toward the light. But, it turned out to be harder than I expected. It took three tries to find the light source. The light bounced off the quartz rocks lying near a small crevice. The opening was small, but big enough for me to squeeze through. I returned to the cave surface once more to get my boots. I picked up a dog leash that was lying by an empty cage. I pulled it through loops on my boots and tied them around my neck. Then I made my final dive, but this time went through the opening to an outside pond. Once I broke the water surface, I heaved and gasped for air, then threw my boots onto the bank.”
“I sat on the shore until I caught my breath then pulled my boots on and walked through the tall grass toward the sound of a car tire on the gravel road. I was still on the property, but the area around the fence wasn’t well maintained. I spotted a hole in the fence and crawled through to the outside world. That’s when the deputy found me.”
“Did you hear the inspector at Wilkies’ house when he came looking for you?” Frank asked.
“I heard somebody, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying or even recognize a voice. I was able to understand a few words, but that’s it.”
The sheriff picked up a pen and paper. “So tell us exactly what you heard.”
“It really wasn’t much, but I heard the words – a problem.” John elaborated. “There was more, but I couldn’t make it out.”
The sheriff stood up and opened the door. “You boys should head home but come back tomorrow after breakfast.” Pointing at me he said, “Kevin, can you hold back a minute, I’d like to talk with you.”
“Okay, will it be long? ‘Cuz Mike and are going over to the Five and Dime to look at some tape recorders.”
“No, not long. I just need a few minutes to explain something. Mike can wait out front.”
I stayed seated while my buddies left. I had told the sheriff about the trespassers at my house a few days ago, and that’s what he wanted to talk about. He told me there would send a couple of deputies over for the next few nights because he expected the intruders to return. They were looking for the missing twenty grand and for some reason they believed I may have it.
Rumors have their own life and the ones circulated about the missing cash landed on me as the most likely kid to have it. A trap was set to see who was following the money. The divers took the bait and showed up at my a few days later. Detectives were waiting and picked them up for trespassing. They were taken to the station for questioning.
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