The Pea Soup Poisonings

by Nancy Means Wright

  “Oh-h-h,” said Alice, wringing her hands together. Her eyes were the size of coconuts.

  “Can I count on you?” Zoe grabbed Alice’s hands.

  “Yes, yes you can. You can count on me,” said Alice, sounding breathless. “But don’t let them get you.” She hugged Zoe fiercely, and raced out the back door.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Hiding in the Dust

  At the rear of the bedroom closet was a small rectangular door, leading into a dusty, cobwebby space under the eaves. The kidnappers would never think to look in here, would they? For one thing, they were too big to get through. Zoe herself had to squeeze her way in. She didn’t dare leave the tape recorder in the closet; it made a soft whirring sound. But she would leave the small door open when the couple was not in the bedroom. Miss Gertie was her back-up: the phone would ring as soon as Gertie saw the pair go out to the car, Zoe would jump in Gertie’s car, and off they’d go in pursuit.

  She crouched there for at least thirty suffocating minutes. It was already twelve-twenty. Had the gas attendant made up Cedric’s words? And yet they made sense. How else would the boy have known about an “old lady’s house?”

  She was just changing position on the grimy floor when she heard a car door slam, and the front door crack open. Then a voice: Cedric’s voice. Then Chloe’s. She couldn’t make out the words – they were still in the hall, but she could hear footsteps moving in her direction.

  “Go through those bureau drawers,” Cedric ordered.

  Chloe said, “But we already looked in those.”

  “You could have m-missed it,” Cedric said in his gravelly voice. “Do it again. Then look in the c-closet there. I’ll take the hall c-closet.”

  Zoe crouched in a ball, her ear against the little door, the recorder whirring. She heard bureau drawers open and shut, objects bang and thump. She heard Chloe mutter to herself, “It’s a waste of time.”

  Finally Chloe entered the closet. A dozen dresses and coats were hanging from a wooden rack; they would hide the little door. The floor was cluttered with boots and shoes: there were hats and sweaters, Zoe recalled, folded up on a shelf.

  Zoe’s eyes and nose were running. She was allergic to dust, all right. It was thick on the floor. Her pants and shirt were already filthy.

  “Nothing here. No key,” Chloe called back to Cedric. He answered, but Zoe couldn’t make out the words.

  Chloe sighed loudly, and then sneezed. “The old bag needs a housecleaner,” she said. “Boy, these hats must date back to the nineteen- thirties!” Zoe heard her giggle, and then back out of the closet. When the footsteps clicked out of the bedroom, Zoe pushed open the little door again and folded herself up into a long yellow robe that hung on one side of the closet. She could hear everything they said from here. And so could the tape recorder.

  The search went on in the kitchen. Pots and pans rattled, the oven door clanged.

  “What’s in that drawer?” Cedric asked.

  “Just a bunch of kitchen stuff,” Chloe said. “Look, I told you it was a waste of time. There’s no key here. The old lady must have it in her purse. I told you to look through it when we took her up to that place.”

  “And let her know what we were up to? Did I know she was gonna disappear like that? Those m-miserable k-kids...”

  “We got one of them, anyway. But he won’t talk. Says he knows nothing about a key. And I believe him, Cedric. Ced, we gotta let him go. We can’t keep him in the attic any longer. The Plumleys next door’ll hear him yell, call the cops.”

  “He knows who we are. We can’t let him go now.”

  “But he doesn’t know where we are, Ced. You had him blindfolded, right? We can let him go, take off, change our names, start a new life. Right, Ced?”

  “Wrong,” said Cedric. “I want that f-farm. It’s my right. I’m a third cousin. My great-grandfather’s name was F-fairweather.”

  “But it might not be the same branch, Cedric. It might not be this Fairweather family. You can’t prove that, Ced, can you? I mean, how?”

  “I have ways. Never mind how. Now, look through that bottom drawer. We gotta get outa here. That k-kid lives on this street. That pesky girl. I don’t want her poking around in here.” A drawer squeaked open and Zoe’s hopes rose. It might be the one. She unwound from the yellow robe. They would find the copied deed and leave. She’d have to run fast to get in Gertie’s car.

  She was right. A moment later Chloe gave a triumphant cry. “Got it! We don’t need that key. It’s the deed! We’d never thought to look in here last time.”

  There was the sound of scuffling feet, the front door slamming. Zoe emerged, grinning, from the closet. She brushed herself off and a halo of dust surrounded her head. The front door opened again – had they forgotten something? Uh oh. She saw Chloe’s pocketbook lying on the hall table.

  She drew back, hid behind a door. But she couldn’t keep it back, the sneeze. It came out in a loud whoop. Kershoo... kershoo... kerCHOO-three sneezes in a row.

  She knew they’d heard. She raced through the kitchen, struggled with the back door. It was stuck! She pulled with all her weight.

  But Cedric was already on her. She felt herself held fast. Her heart turned upside down. He yelled for Chloe.

  Moments later she was wrapped in a rug, carried out to the car. Her cries came out muffled, no one would hear. Alice and Gertie would think the couple was stealing a rug, not a girl. Gertie wouldn’t follow until she saw Zoe herself. They would never find her. The kidnappers would do her in, along with Spence.

  Spence, she thought. At least she’d see Spence. At least he was alive.

  But would either of them be for long?

  Chapter Twenty

  No Way Out

  Zoe woke up the next morning in a hot cramped attic. Her head ached, her face was swollen. She felt terrible; they must have put something in the milk they gave her to drink. She peered about the room. Its two barred windows blinked off toward a grove of maple trees. If there was a house beyond, it was certainly invisible.

  But someone lived there. When she squinted, she saw a chimney poking up between the trees. Cedric had mentioned neighbors, someone called Plumley – she recalled that now. She would somehow have to attract them.

  And where was Spence? She stumbled about the space, she couldn’t stand upright without hitting her head. But she saw no one. He had been here, though. There was a banana peel on the floor, a mattress and pillow, and a chamber pot. Well, at least it had been emptied. The pillow had the indentation of a head. Spence’s head. Was this where she was to sleep? But where was Spence? What had they done with Spence, her good friend, her fellow sleuth?

  “Oh, Spence, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” she moaned, dropping down on the mattress. “I got you into this and now...”

  Her face was a waterfall. She wiped it with a sleeve.

  “Now we’re both in a heck of a mess,” said a voice. Zoe sprang up. “What? Oh, Spence, Spence!” She jumped up to hug him. For there he was, standing over her.

  Then embarrassed, she pushed him away again. “So where were you? I didn’t see you when I came in.”

  “Sleeping,” he said. “Over there. Behind that pile of boxes.” He pointed to a far corner of the attic. “I was going through some of the boxes. Thinking I might find something. He looked pleased with his detective work. “And I did find, well, some stuff.” He patted his pocket. “But then I fell asleep. I think they put something in the spaghetti sauce they fed me. It’s been hard to stay awake.”

  “Why did you eat it then? Why didn’t you throw it out?”

  “Where? On the floor? They’d notice. Force it down my throat.”

  “Has it been awful?” she asked. “Have they mistreated you?” They were both sitting on the mattress now. She hoped they’d bring one for her. There wasn’t room for two people to sleep on this one.

  “Awful,” he said. “Humungously awful. They haven’t hit me or anything, but they shove me around and talk me
an. Especially since they can’t get any information out of me. I didn’t say a word about the key. I promise I didn’t!”

  “I know you didn’t. I overheard them say that. You deserve a whole bunch of these.” She pulled the baggie of chocolate peanuts out of her pocket.

  “Thanks,” he said, stuffing a handful into his mouth. “I miss being home, you know. I miss my parents.”

  “They’re upset. Both of them. Worried about you.”

  “Yeah. Jeezum. I’m sorry I lost it when Mom got mad at me last night, when we came in late. I didn’t know, well, what was going to happen.”

  “It was two nights ago, Spence. It was last night when they got me. Rolled me up in a rug and then dumped me somewhere. It must have been downstairs or you would have seen me.”

  She was suddenly aware. “That means today’s Thursday. The next to last day. I have to solve this crime by tomorrow midnight or I won’t get that badge!”

  “You have to walk the beam, too,” Spence reminded her.

  “Oh I can do that anytime. I’ve been practicing in between.”

  “In between what?”

  “In between looking for the kidnappers. And trying to find you. And hiding Miss Thelma. And dealing with the police.” She told the whole story, whispering, of course, in case someone was eavesdropping beyond the attic door.

  “It was my fault,” said Spence.

  “What was your fault?”

  “Getting caught. Going across the street with the pillow for Miss Thelma and letting myself be ambushed. I never saw them, honest.”

  “Of course not. You didn’t know they were hiding there. But you did me a real favor, Spence.”

  “I did? What was that?”

  “You led me to the kidnappers’ hideout. Now we know where they are. And I’ve got enough evidence to convict them. Well, almost. We can’t prove they killed Alice’s granny, but we’ve got a motive. Oh, gosh.” She sighed deeply.

  “What? What is it?”

  “It’s Miss Thelma. She’ll be the next one, oh, I know it. She’s the heir to that farm.”

  She told Spence about the deed, and he whistled softly. “And Cedric is a relative, at least he said so. If Thelma dies, he can claim it. Oh Spence, we have to get out of here. Now.”

  “But how do we do that?”

  “Your tape recorder.”

  “Huh?”

  “I took it. Out of your room. I had it turned on when I was hiding.”

  “Hey!” said Spence. “Good thinking.”

  “But I left it in the back of the closet. I was in a hurry to get out of Thelma’s house.”

  “Jeezum.”

  “But if somebody does find it, they’ll know we’re next to the Plumleys – wherever they live.”

  “It’ll be in the phone book. Maybe.”

  “Alice knows I took the recorder. She might go looking. She’ll know by now I’m gone. She was watching the house.”

  “But they wrapped you in a rug, you said. How could she see you go out?”

  Zoe sank her chin in her hands. Then lifted it again. “But Miss Gertie will worry. She was all ready to follow the kidnappers’ car. She’ll have seen it leave. Maybe since she didn’t see me, she’ll figure I was in that rug.”

  “I don’t know,” said Spence. “A rug’s not a place she’d expect to see you.” He didn’t sound too encouraging. “Anyway, she still won’t know we’re here. In this house.”

  “You’re right. We’ll have to find a way out of here ourselves.”

  Spence sat up, thought a minute. His chin dropped in his hands.

  “The woman, Chloe,” he said finally. “I don’t think she likes it that I’m here. We could bribe her.”

  “With what? What have we got to offer?”

  “Well, if she’s caught, she’ll go to jail, right? If she lets us out they might go easy on her.”

  “Uh huh. But Cedric. When he finds out she’s let us go – I mean, she’s afraid of him. I could tell by the way her voice got all shaky when she stood up to him.”

  “We could try anyway,” said Spence, flipping over on his stomach.

  “So what was in those papers you found? Anything incriminating?”

  Spence sat up straight as if he’d just remembered something important. He pulled a letter out of his pocket and handed it to Zoe.

  She read it and frowned. “A female tiger? A lion? What would they want with animals like that? What would anyone want except a zoo? I mean, these are old animals.”

  “That’s what I asked myself. Sounds crazy to me.”

  Zoe remembered something her parents had been listening to on the evening news. Something about wild animals. What was it? She couldn’t seem to think straight. Her mind was frazzled; a tin drum was beating in her head.

  “Maybe they’re starting their own zoo on that farm,” Spence said. “Maybe – ”

  “Shush,” Zoe interrupted. She could hear footsteps on the attic stairs. “One of them is coming.”

  “I hope they’re going to feed us.”

  “At eleven o’clock in the morning?” said Zoe, looking at her watch. “They’ll have something else in mind.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like setting a boa constrictor loose in the attic. Like…” She felt a sneeze coming on, and stuck a finger under her nose. She’d have to do something about her allergies if she was going to be a detective.

  She sneezed, twice. “Ker-CHOO! Ker-CHOO.”

  “Gezuntite,” said Spence. “Let’s hope it’s Chloe. I’ll start the sweet talk.”

  The attic door opened. It wasn’t Chloe. Out of her watery eyes Zoe saw a large black shoe.

  And beside it, a dangling rope.

  Chapter Twenty-one

  A Reckless Ride

  “Hold out your h-hands,” said Cedric in his gravelly, stuttery voice.

  “What for?” said Zoe bravely, although she could tell what Cedric was planning to do by the way he held out the rope.

  “We’re not going anywhere,” said Spence. “Why do you have to tie our hands?”

  “I ask the q-questions around here, not you,” said Cedric. He bound first Zoe’s, and then Spence’s hands, at the wrist.

  “Ow, too tight,” Zoe complained, but Cedric only glared down at her from his great height.

  “Be thankful I didn’t t-tie ’em behind your back,” he growled. “Now down those steps. And not a word out of you.”

  Zoe stumbled on the top step and Cedric grasped her shirt collar. “W-watch where you’re going.”

  She moved on down the rickety attic steps, and wondered if she could walk the barn beam with her hands tied. It would be interesting to try, she thought. She stumbled again, banging her hip bone against the wall. She did need her hands for balance, after all.

  “Her hands look blue. The rope’s too tight,” said Chloe, who was waiting in the kitchen where they were herded. She was dressed for traveling. She carried a red purse that matched her red alligator shoes. Zoe looked at her gratefully, and held out her hands.

  But nasty Cedric shook his head. “Get in the car. And if you make a sound, you’ll be s-sorry.”

  It wasn’t the two-tone blue car. It was a white car with a green Vermont license plate that read CCQ258. Zoe said the numbers three times to herself so that she’d remember them. Cedric shoved her and Spence into the back seat. Chloe got in beside them to keep guard.

  The car started up with a growl and a puff of exhaust. Chloe made them keep their heads down so they couldn’t see what direction they were moving in. When Zoe turned her head she could only gaze into Spence’s wide blue eyes. He was scared, she could see that. And so was she; she had to admit it. Her palms were sweating, her throat dry. They were moving out of town. She could sense it, there was less traffic here. It was as if they were traveling to the far ends of the earth, away from everything they loved: parents, pets, friends, the apple orchard.

  She even missed Kelby. Kelby, with all his teasing, bulldozing ways. She wou
ld give anything just to see old Kelby! And her parents – how upset they must be. How worried, not knowing how she was, where she was. The thought of no one knowing where she was made her feel even more alone and scared.

  But there was Tiny Alice. And Miss Gertie. They had seen the white car. They would have gotten its license number, wouldn’t they? And someone might find that tape recorder? Her hopes rose again.

  And then fell. Who would know where they were now? Where they were going?

  The car raced on. They were definitely out in the country. She hadn’t heard another car pass by for at least fifteen minutes.

  Then Spence spoke up. “I have to pee,” he said. “I need to get out.”

  “Hold it,” said Cedric from the front seat.

  “I can’t,” said Spence. His anguished face told Zoe that he really couldn’t.

  “Dumb kids,” Cedric muttered, and skidded to a stop at a wooded area. “Make it q-quick then.”

  “I have to go, too,” Zoe told Chloe.

  “When the boy comes back.” Cedric got out and followed Spence toward the bushes.

  When the pair came back, Chloe rebelled. “I can’t move another step,” she said. “Where’s the girl going to go anyway with those hands tied?”

  “Go with her,” Cedric ordered.

  “You don’t have to come,” Zoe told Chloe as they started down a little path. “You don’t want to ruin your pretty red shoes.”

  Chloe looked down at her shiny new shoes. “Then be quick about it and get back here.” Breathing hard, Chloe leaned against an oak tree. There were tiny beads of perspiration on her brow.

  Zoe moved out of sight, but she called back to assure Chloe that she was still there. “It’s going to take a while with my hands tied,” she said.

  She noticed that the path continued past the clump of bushes, and then forked. A path meant that someone had made it – it must lead somewhere. Someone might live at the end of it. She moved quietly on down the path, trying not to step on twigs or stones that would scatter. She didn’t want to leave Spence, but it might be the only way she could find help for both of them.