John Grisham - The abduction

Theo lowered his window as they eased by in heavy traffic. Loud music filled the air as several bands played from the houses. People were shoulder-to-shoulder, on the porches, on the lawns, sitting on cars, hanging out, dancing, laughing, moving in packs from house to house, yelling at each other. It was a wild scene, and Theo had never seen anything like it. There was an occasional fight or drug bust at Stratten College, but nothing like this. It was exciting at first, but then Theo thought about April. She was somewhere in the midst of this huge carnival, and she did not belong here. She was shy and quiet and preferred to be alone with her drawings and paintings.

Ike turned onto another street, then another. “We’ll have to park somewhere and hike in.” Cars were parked everywhere, most illegally. They found a spot on a dark narrow street, far away from the noise. “Stay here, Judge,” Theo said, and Judge watched them walk away.

“What’s the game plan, Ike?” Theo asked. They were walking quickly along a dark and uneven sidewalk.

“Watch your step,” Ike said. “We don’t have a game plan. Let’s find the house, find the band, and I’ll think of something.” They followed the noise and were soon entering Frat Court from the back side, away from the street. They moved into the crowd, and if they looked a bit odd, no one seemed to notice-a sixty-two-year-old man with long, gray hair pulled into a ponytail, red socks, sandals, a brown plaid sweater that was at least thirty years old, and a thirteen-year-old kid wide-eyed in amazement.

The Kappa Theta house was a large, white stone structure with some Greek columns and a sweeping porch. Ike and Theo made their way through a thick crowd, up the steps, and around the porch. Ike wanted to scope out the place, check out the entrances and exits, and try to determine where the band was playing. The music was loud, the laughter and yelling even louder. Theo had never seen so many cans of beer in his young life. Girls were dancing on the porch as their dates watched them and smoked cigarettes. Ike asked one of the girls, “Where’s the band?”

“In the basement,” she said.

They inched their way back to the front steps and looked around. The front door was being guarded by a large young man in a suit who seemed to have the authority to decide who got inside.

“Let’s go,” Ike said. Theo followed him as they moved toward the front door with a group of students. They almost made it. The guard, or bouncer, or whatever he was, threw out his arm and grabbed Ike by the forearm. “Excuse me!” he said rudely. “You got a pass?”

Ike angrily yanked his arm away and looked as though he might slug the guy. “I don’t need a pass, kid,” he hissed. “I’m the manager of the band. This is my son. Don’t touch me again.”

The other students moved back a few steps and for a moment things were quieter.

“Sorry, sir,” the guard said, and Ike and Theo marched inside. Ike was moving quickly, as though he knew the house well and had business there. They walked through a large foyer, then a parlor of some sort, both rooms crowded with students. In another open space, a mob of male students was yelling at a football game on a huge screen, two kegs of beer close by. The music was booming from below, and they soon found a large stairway that gave way to the party room. The dance floor was in the center, packed with students engaged in all manner of frenzied jerking and shuffling, and to the left was Plunder, pounding and screeching at full volume. Ike and Theo drifted down in a throng of people, and by the time they left the stairs, Theo felt like his ears were bleeding from the music.

They tried to hide in a corner. The room was dark, with colored strobe lights flickering across the mass of bodies. Ike leaned down and yelled into Theo’s ear. “Let’s be quick. I’ll stay here. You try and get behind the band and have a look. Hurry.”

Theo ducked low and wiggled around bodies. He got bumped, shoved, almost stepped on, but he kept moving along the wall on the far left side. The band finished a song, everybody cheered, and for a moment the dancing stopped. He moved faster, still low, his eyes darting in all directions. Suddenly, the lead singer screamed, then began howling. The drummer attacked and a guitarist lurched in with some thunderous chords. The next song was even louder. Theo passed a set of large speakers, came within five feet of the keyboardist, and then saw April, sitting on a metal box behind the drummer. She had the only safe place in the entire room. He practically crawled around the edge of the small platform and touched her knee before she saw him.

April was too shocked to move, then both hands flew up to her mouth. “Theo!” she said, but he could barely hear her. “Let’s go!” he demanded.

“What are you doing here?” she yelled.

“I’m here to take you home.”

At 10:30, Chase was hiding beside a dry cleaners, watching from across the street as people were leaving Robilio’s Italian Bistro. He saw Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd, then Mr. and Mrs. Coley, then his parents. He watched them drive away, and then wondered what to do next. His phone would ring in a few minutes, and his mother would have a dozen questions. The sick dog routine was about to come to an end.

Theo and April inched along the wall, sidestepping weary dancers taking a break from the action, and moved quickly through the semidarkness to a door that opened onto a stairway. There was no chance her father would see them, because he was lost in Plunder’s intense version of the Rolling Stones’ “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” “Where are we going?” Theo yelled at April.

“This leads outside,” she yelled back.

“Wait! I gotta get Ike.”

“Who?”

Theo darted through the crowd, found Ike where he’d left him, and the three made a quick exit down the stairs and onto a small patio behind the Kappa Theta house. The music could still be heard and the walls seemed to vibrate, but things were much quieter outside.

“Ike, this is April,” Theo said. “April, this is Ike, my uncle.”

“My pleasure,” Ike said. April was still too confused to respond. They were alone, in the dark, beside a broken picnic table. Other patio furniture was strewn about. Windows on the back side of the house were broken.

Theo said, “Ike drove me down here to get you.”

“But why?” she asked.

“What do you mean, ‘Why’?” Theo shot back.

Ike understood her confusion. He took a step forward and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “April, back home no one knows where you are. No one knows if you’re dead or alive. Four days ago you vanished without a trace. No one-including your mother, the police, your friends-has heard a word from you.”

April began shaking her head in disbelief.

Ike continued: “I suspect your father has been lying to you. He’s probably told you that he’s talked to your mother and everything is okay back home, right?”

April nodded slightly.

“He’s lying, April. Your mother is worried sick. The entire town has been searching for you. It’s time to go home, now.”

“But we were going home in just a few days,” she said.

“According to your father?” Ike said, patting her shoulder. “There’s a good chance he will face criminal charges for your abduction. April, look at me.” Ike placed a finger under her chin and slowly lifted it so that she had no choice but to look at him. “It’s time to go home. Let’s get in the car and leave. Now.”

The door opened and a man appeared. With biker boots, tattoos, and greasy hair, he was obviously not a student. “What are you doing, April?” he demanded.

“Just taking a break,” she said.