John Grisham - The abduction

He stepped closer and asked, “Who are these guys?”

“Who are you?” Ike demanded. Plunder was in the middle of a song, so he obviously wasn’t a member of the band.

“He’s Zack,” April said. “He works for the band.”

Immediately, Ike saw the danger and came through with some fiction. He reached out with a big handshake and said, “I’m Jack Ford, my son Max, here. We used to live in Strattenburg, now we’re in Chapel Hill. Max and April started kindergarten together. Quite a band you got in there.”

Zack shook hands. He was too slow to put together his thoughts. He frowned, as if thinking caused pain, then he gave Ike and Theo a puzzled look. April said, “We’re almost finished. I’ll be just a minute.”

“Does your dad know these guys?” Zack asked.

“Oh sure,” Ike said. “Tom and I go back many years. I’d like to talk to him during the next break, if you could pass that along, Zack.”

“Okay, I guess,” Zack said, and went inside.

“Will he tell your father?” Ike asked.

“Probably,” she said.

“Then we should leave, April.”

“I don’t know.”

“Come on, April,” Theo said firmly.

“Do you trust Theo?” Ike asked.

“Of course.”

“Then you can trust Ike,” Theo said. “Let’s go.”

Theo grabbed her hand and they began walking quickly away from the Kappa Theta house, from Frat Court, and from Tom Finnemore.

April sat in the backseat with Judge and rubbed his head as Ike zigzagged his way out of Chapel Hill. Nothing was said for a few minutes, then Theo asked, “Should we call Chase?”

“Yes,” Ike said. They pulled into an all-night gas station and parked away from the pumps. “Dial him,” Ike said. Theo did so and handed the phone to Ike.

Chase answered his cell phone immediately with, “It’s about time.”

“Chase, this is Ike. We have April and we’re headed back. Where are you?”

“Hiding in my backyard. My parents are ready to kill me.”

“Go in the house and tell them the truth. I’ll call them in about ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Ike.”

Ike handed the phone to Theo and asked, “Which of your parents is more likely to answer their cell phone at this time of the night?”

“My mom.”

“Then get her on the phone.” Theo punched the number and handed it back to Ike.

Mrs. Boone answered with a nervous, “Theo. What’s the matter?”

Ike calmly said, “Marcella, this is Ike. How are you doing?”

“Ike? On Theo’s phone? Why am I suddenly worried?”

“It’s a very long story, Marcella, but no one is hurt. Everybody’s fine, and there’s a happy ending.”

“Please, Ike. What’s going on?”

“We have April.”

“You what?”

“We have April and we’re driving back to Strattenburg.”

“Where are you, Ike?”

“Chapel Hill, North Carolina.”

“Keep talking.”

“Theo found her, and we took a little road trip to get her. She’s been with her father the entire time, sort of hanging out.”

“Theo found April in Chapel Hill?” Mrs. Boone repeated slowly.

“Yep. Again, it’s a long story and we’ll fill in the details later. We’ll be home early in the morning, I’d guess between six and seven. That is, if I can stay awake all night and drive.”

“Does her mother know?”

“Not yet. I was thinking that she should call her mom, tell her what’s up.”

“Yes, Ike, and the sooner the better. We’ll check out now and drive home. We’ll be there when you get there.”

“Great, Marcella. And, I’m sure we’ll be starving.”

“Got it, Ike.”

They passed the phone back and forth again, and Ike spoke to Mr. Whipple. He explained the situation, assured him everything was fine, heaped praise on Chase for helping find April, apologized for the deception and confusion, and promised to check in later.

Ike pulled over to the pumps, filled the tank, and when he went inside to pay, Theo took Judge for a quick walk. When they were on the road again, Ike said over his shoulder, “April, do you want to call your mother?”

“I guess,” she said.

Theo handed her his cell phone. She tried her house, but there was no answer. She tried her mother’s mobile, and there was no service.

“What a surprise,” April said. “She’s not there.”

Ike had a tall cup of coffee, which he gulped down in an effort to stay awake. Just a few miles out of town, he said, “Okay, kids, here’s the deal. It’s midnight. We have a long way to go, and I’m already sleepy. Talk to me. I want chatter. If I fall asleep at the wheel, we all die. Understand? Go, Theo. You talk, then, April, it’s your turn.”

Theo turned and looked at April. “Who is Jack Leeper?”

April had Judge’s head in her lap. She answered, “A distant cousin, I think. Why? Who told you about him?”

“He’s in Strattenburg, in jail. He escaped from prison in California a week or so ago, and he showed up in town about the time you disappeared.”

“His face has been all over the newspapers,” Ike said.

“The police thought he snatched you and took off,” Theo added.

Back and forth they went, tag-teaming as they told Leeper’s story; his mug shots on the front page, his dramatic capture by the SWAT team, his vague threats about hiding April’s body, and so on. April, who was overwhelmed by the events of the past hour, seemed unable to digest the entire story. “I’ve never met him,” she mumbled softly, over and over.

Ike slurped his coffee and said, “The newspaper said you wrote him letters. You guys were pen pals. That right?”

“Yes. About a year ago we started writing,” she said. “My mother said we are distant cousins, though I could never find him in our family tree. It’s not your normal family tree. Anyway, she said he was serving a long sentence in California, and was looking for a pen pal. I wrote him, he wrote back. It was kind of fun. He seemed to be very lonely.”

Ike said, “They found your letters in his cell after he escaped. He showed up in Strattenburg, so the police assumed he came after you.”

“I can’t believe this,” she said. “My father told me he talked to my mom, and that he talked to the people at the school, and that everyone agreed that I would be gone for a week or so. No problem. I should’ve known better.”

“Your father must be a pretty good liar,” Ike said.

“He’s one of the best,” April said. “He’s never told me the truth. I don’t know why I believed him this time.”

“You were scared, April,” Theo said.

“Omigosh!” she said. “It’s midnight. The band is quitting. What will he do when he realizes I’m gone?”

“He’ll get a dose of his own medicine,” Ike said.

“Should we call him?” Theo asked.

“He doesn’t use a cell phone,” April said. “Says it makes it too easy for people to find him. I should’ve left a note or something.”

They thought about this for a few miles. Ike seemed refreshed and not at all sleepy. April’s voice was stronger and she was over the shock.

“What about that Zack creep?” Theo asked. “Could we call him?”

“I don’t know his number.”

“What’s his last name?” Ike asked.

“I don’t know that either. I tried to keep my distance from Zack.”

Another mile or two passed. Ike knocked back some coffee and said, “Here’s what’ll happen. When they can’t find you, Zack will replay the story of seeing you with us. He’ll try and remember our names-Jack and Max Ford, formerly of Strattenburg but now living in Chapel Hill-and if he can, then they’ll scramble around trying to find our phone number. When they can’t find us, they’ll assume you’re at our house. Just old friends catching up after all these years.”