Fear Familiar Bundle (174 page)

"I think we should go home," she said after a long, breathless kiss.

"Before we're arrested," James added, his own voice slightly rough.

"Alone," she said, brushing her lips once again across his jaw. "Just the two of us."

"Meow!"

James and Jennifer turned to look at the sidewalk where Familiar sat, obviously taking in every nuance of their kiss.

"Maybe not alone," Jennifer added darkly. "I never in a million years thought a cat would be spying on us."

Familiar went to her leg and swatted it with great force but no claws.

"You were spying!" Jennifer insisted.

Once again the paw batted her leg.

"I don't think he's denying the charge." James pondered the cat. He knelt beside Familiar. "Spying."

"Meow!" Familiar started down the sidewalk.

"I have a terrible feeling," James said as the cat disappeared into the shadow of a tallow tree.

"Me, too."

"He's headed toward Judy Luno's house, isn't he?"

"Yes." Jennifer sighed as she found her keys in her pocket. "And I'll bet you the little minx isn't at home as she promised. She's gone spying on Crush Bonbon. And we're going to have to figure out a plan to get her out of there."

"Before it's too late," James added.

While James was keeping an eye on Jennifer, I should have been the jailer for that little hellcat Judy. As I sat on the sofa and watched the expressions on her face, I could see that she wasn't satisfied with simply reading a few books. That girl wants action, and this time she's going to provoke it.

I have to get to the Luno home before Miss Spitfire and Clark Kent. I can get in her bedroom and check things out. If she's there, there's no point in getting the entire household in a panic. If she's not there, we certainly don't want to scare the grits out of her parents. Maybe we can retrieve her before it all goes to hell in a hand basket. You know, even in times like this I love the phrases these Southerners use. Hell in a hand basket. Now that would be a toasty little means of conveyance.

Ah, the Luno house looms. I have to get Jennifer's attention and let her know that I'm going in alone on this. Humans are too big, too noisy, and too blind in the dark. This is a job for a cat.

"L
ET HIM GO
," James grasped Jennifer's hand and held it tightly as he moved her into the dense shadows of an old oak tree. "Familiar can check on her without waking the entire house. If she's there— "

"I should have hog-tied that little imp and toted her home myself. I'll bet her parents are addicted to Valium. How do they keep from going crazy?"

"My best guess is that they don't know the half of what their daughter gets into. Judy is not only smart, she has developed quite a few covert skills. Pity the government if she does decide to become a journalist."

Jennifer couldn't deny the chuckle that came with his observation. "God, I hope she's okay," she whispered, her fingers catching his and holding tightly. Without James the waiting would be unendurable. Just the fact that he was there, beside her, giving support, made her want to touch him. She shifted closer to him so that she could feel the solidness of his body against hers. How had she grown to love this man so quickly? It was a question without an answer. Truth was, she didn't want to question her feelings. They were right, and she accepted them.

In the darkness James caressed her waist with one strong hand. "Maybe she's home, safe and sound." But James knew better. Though he was determined to put up a cool front for Jennifer's sake, he was silently kicking himself for not walking the young girl home and turning her in to her parents with a strong warning. But would it have done any good?

"He's back." Jennifer nodded to the cat.

"She's not home." James bent down to stroke Familiar. "She would be with him if she was in her room."

"Now what?" Jennifer knew already. They had to go back to Crush Bonbon's house. That's where they would find Judy Luno— if she wasn't already kidnapped.

H
OT AND JITTERY
with worry, James, Jennifer and Familiar had spent the next half hour covertly working their way to the open window of Crush Bonbon's sitting room. Peering over the sill, James and Jennifer suppressed a gasp of surprise as Familiar crouched, ready to rush to the young girl's aid. Judy Luno sat comfortably on a hassock, a tall glass in one hand.

"No, thank you, Mr. Bonbon." Judy covered the top of her glass with her hand as he held up a pitcher. "One chocolate milk was plenty. I just had dinner not long before I came here."

"Do your parents often allow you to go gallivanting around the streets at night?" Crush sat back in his chair and sipped his own glass of chocolate milk. As he spoke, he helped himself to a chocolate pinwheel off a plate on the coffee table. "This nocturnal behavior must be some influence from that Eugene Legander." He pointed to a glass jar of silver-wrapped chocolate candy. "Help yourself."

Judy shook her head. "My parents understand that I'm in training for the future." She gave him a bold grin. "I'm going to be an ace reporter."

"And you're here to get the scoop on me?" For a moment, displeasure creased the talk show host's features. "Don't you think that's a little presumptuous, especially since I caught you red-handed trying to sneak in my dining room window? I could call the juvenile authorities, and you'd spend an adventurous evening at juvy hall."

"Why don't you show me around your house?" Judy got up and went to an end table beside the sofa. "In particular, where did you get this copy of Eugene's manuscript for
A Pinch of Curiosity
? It's a very valuable manuscript, you know. And it was stolen from his house."

"You're a bold little thing, aren't you?" Crush rose. "There is one room I want to show you. One in particular."

Outside the house, Jennifer grabbed James's arm and squeezed. "He drugged her milk, and now he's going to take her into that horrible children's bedroom. Oh, God, James, we have to stop this."

James was coiled as tightly as a steel spring. Crush was standing right beside Judy. If they tried to get in the window, he'd have too much time to grab her and possibly hurt her.

"Wait until he leaves the room with her. We'll sneak in and then I'll clobber him from behind. Not very gallant, but we can't risk Judy."

Jennifer transferred her death grip to the windowsill, ready at the first moment to boost herself into the room with a little help from James. It was torture to watch the small, dark-haired girl leave the room chatting so determinedly with the big man. "I'm sure you have some interesting rooms," Judy said as she turned the corner. Crush loomed behind her, his shadow a sinister black shape shifting uneasily down the hallway.

Jennifer was right on Familiar's heels as soon as the room was empty. James boosted her from behind, then leapt up after her.

Moving as swiftly as they could without making noise, they hurried to the bedroom that contained the bizarre collection of toys.

Jennifer's mouth was dry and her ears roaring with blood. She should have reported Crush. She should have done a million things differently. Now another child was at risk, and they would have to confront Crush. Once forced into a corner, he might or might not tell them where the other children were being held.

"Step right inside here." Crush pushed open the bedroom door, a tiny smile on his face as he gave Judy a courtly bow.

"Hold it, Bonbon!" James stepped out of the darkness and smashed into the talk show host's face with a strong right followed by an upper punch to the jaw with his left. For a big man, Crush sank to the floor like a balloon slowly deflated of air.

Once seated, he looked up at James with surprise and then anger. "You, sir, have just initiated a lawsuit that is going to leave you without a job, without money, and without any hopes for a future!"

"You're going to prison, Bonbon. We know you were trying to abduct this girl." Jennifer pulled Judy into her arms. "I'm going to strangle you when I get you outside," she whispered to the girl. "You'll wish Crush had you prisoner." Judy didn't bother to reply; she just rolled her eyes in complete disgust.

It had taken a few seconds for James's accusations to sink in, but Crush had finally caught the gist. "
I
was going to abduct her? You're in the wrong house. It's Eugene you have to worry about."

"Give it up, Crush." James hit the light switch on the wall. "Look at this room. You're some kind of sicko child abductor, and we've got the evidence to prove it."

Crush looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. "There's nothing here but toys."

"And you stole this manuscript!" Judy pulled a page from inside her blouse. "I lifted this from the stack beside his chair, and he never even knew I took it!" She proudly gave it to Jennifer.

As her fingers closed over the page, Jennifer knew it was wrong. It was a page from Eugene's missing manuscript, but it wasn't right. She held it a moment, then her fingers slid over the page. There were none of the indentations caused by the keys of his typewriter. "It's a photocopy."

James, Crush and Judy looked at her as if she had lost her mind. "So?" Crush was the first to speak. "I got that in the mail from an admirer. Someone sent it to me with a warning that another child would be abducted. I had intended to spend the evening trying to figure out the clue, but I was interrupted by a young burglar."

"But it's a photocopy," Jennifer repeated. "Not the original manuscript that was stolen. Whoever took the manuscript from Eugene's has the original." She looked around the room again. The stuffed animals filled the bed and lined the walls. The bookshelf was there, filled with the finest stories of childhood. Everything was just as she remembered it, but now it didn't seem so wrong.

"What is all of this, Crush?" She swept her hand around the room.

"I had this room built for my fiancée's daughter." Crush slowly got to his feet. "This is none of your business, but I'm going to tell you." He glared at James. "It's going to give me great pleasure telling you, because you've created some warped fantasy in your mind about me and this room. Once I tell you the truth, you're going to be really sorry about coming here tonight. All of you."

He took a breath. "When Arlene Mason agreed to marry me, I wanted her child to feel loved and welcomed when she moved here." He looked away as he shrugged. "Things didn't work out and the marriage was called off. By then, the room was decorated and filled with toys."

Jennifer wanted to ask why the marriage was called off, but she couldn't. Her gaze wandered around the room, taking in each toy that had been bought with the idea of pleasing a little girl, of making her feel welcome in a strange home. Damn Crush Bonbon to Hades. He was making her feel sorry for him, and he wasn't even trying.

"Meow!"

Familiar saved her from embarrassing herself with a few tears when he swatted her leg and demanded her attention. As soon as she looked, he hurried back to the den.

"How did that cat get in here?" Crush asked, following James, who followed Jennifer, who was right on the heels of the cat.

"Look." Jennifer pointed to the small end table where Familiar swatted the stack of manuscript pages to the floor.

"Stop that beast." Crush started forward, but Judy grabbed his hand.

"Hold on. He's showing us something."

"Right. And next he'll sing 'The Star Spangled Banner."'

Judy went to the manuscript and began to pick it up.

Remembering Familiar's last stunt with the manuscript pages, Jennifer bent down. "I'll bet a page is missing."

"Yeah, the one little Miss Sticky Fingers had tucked in her blouse." Crush was standing in the doorway with a glare focused on the entire lot of them.

"No, the kidnapper always leaves a page of one of Eugene's books." Jennifer spoke without thinking. She felt James's gaze on her and looked up to see the warning in his eyes. But it was too late. Crush had heard the tidbit of fact and was ready to run with it.

"Has that been reported to the police? I know they found something when Mimi was kidnapped. But the other children, as well? It wasn't in any of the evidence reports, and Bixley never mentioned it to me." He stepped into the room. "Ah-a. You've been hiding evidence, haven't you? Things that would incriminate Eugene!"

It was too late to distract Crush now. He had a competitive gleam in his eyes as he silently dared Jennifer to lie.

She met his gaze with her own glance of sheer blue willpower. "Let's check the pages and see." She sat on the floor beside Judy, and James sat down beside them and took a third of the pages.

Crush eased himself down into an overstuffed chair and gently began to rub his jaw, which had begun to swell. "After a visit to my dentist, I'm going to see a lawyer." But he made no effort to put them out of his house.

"Look!" Jennifer held up a bundle of pages. "It's page ninety-eight, the exact page that's been written— " She stopped.

James watched Crush during the entire exchange. "You really don't know where the children are, do you?" He took a manuscript page from Jennifer's hand and held it a moment, as if deciding whether to give it to Crush or not.

"Of course, I don't know. You think
I
actually kidnapped those children? For what purpose?" He looked at James, then at Jennifer, and finally at Judy.

"Because you hate Eugene," Judy said simply. "You're jealous of him."

"Of Eugene?" Crush was incensed. "Jealous of what?"

"His success," Jennifer said quietly. "Of the fact that the children love him."

"And we don't like you." Judy was matter-of-fact. "You're always saying mean things about everyone. You try to start trouble. You don't think anyone else has a right to have a say about anything. And when they try, you make them look stupid. Eugene makes everyone feel good. Especially kids."

When Judy stopped speaking, there was a long silence. Jennifer peeked at Crush and saw the redness of his face. James was staring at the manuscript page. Familiar was licking his back leg, oblivious to the entire scene.