"So," Bo said pacing, "You're telling me that you are talking to the accomplice of Kim's kidnapper?"
"Yes!" Shirley cried impatiently, "Last night I was talking to Cason again, and he asked about Dad's work, the money he made and then if we could meet! He expects me to answer tonight!"
"It could be two different guys!" Bo protested. Shirley sighed in exasperation.
"Bo, face it. You both know that we're NOT poor. And the names? She was talking to Jordon Carsins, I was talking to Carson Jordins, he switched them around and replaced the 'i' and the 'o'. If he uses the same alia twice it's lead the police right to them! Think, I go across town meet this guy, he waves, I wave, the next thing I know I'm being um, chloriformed and my Dad is being asked for a big amount of money!"
Suddenly it all dawned on Bo, and he asked worridely, "Shirley what are you going to do?"
Shirley looked at Bo.
"You're not gonna like this Bo, but I'm going to meet him and get kidnapped."
Bo flew up from his chair."WHAT?!"
Shirley sighed again.
"Bo I wish I had a camera- the look on your face was priceless.
And besides, you and I both know that I can handle this. I'm stressing
that, I'm Shirley! I can handle this!"
Bo tried to regain his composure but this time he couldn't.
"Shirley! A KID you can handle, but a man and a kid! This man might
not be in it for the money if you catch my drift. AND if I have to remind
you how well you handled yourself on Halloween then uh- I have to remind
you how well you handled yourself on Halloween."
Shirley looked at Bo angirly.
"Bo I was passed out! Drugged! I was hit on the head and drugged! I couldn't help that and you know it!"
"Shirley that's my point!" Bo said softening a little, "While you're under the chloriform they can do whatever they want! They might give you morphine or something like on Halloween. They could video tape you all messed-up send it to your Dad, and if you're Dad saw what they were doing to his little girl the money would be in their hands in no time flat!"
"Bo," Shirley pleaded, "Who says I have to be under the chloriform. I can hold my breath! And if they want to try something I can just pretend to wake up. I mean, it depends on how long I breathe the stuff in to tell how long I'm out for right? So if they do, I just wake up and panic! And act all scared! It's simple! You can be at the meeting place and hour before I get there and be on the lookout, then you can follow the car."
"And what if they speed away Shirley? I'm not exactly Mr. Speeding Biker of the century. What if there's some sort of diversion and I can't contact you?"Shirley smiled.
"I had this planned out- you know how they wire some people? Well, I can just duct tape my cell phone to my stomach- piece of cake!" Bo accepted this.
"Alright. But if you can't can't hold your breath to long then what
happens?" Bo asked.
"I get a little dizzy, but I haven't breathed the stuff in totally
so I'll just be dizzy." Shirley explained.
"Sometimes that can be enough." Bo said simply.
"Bo this can't happen again, so I'm going to do this now. I've already e-mailed him saying I'll meet him... I just needed to clear it with you. We're meeting tomorrow morning at 9:00. I asked Dad if I could stay home, because I felt too upset to go to school. It's on the other side of town on Red River Road. You need to be there at eight, alright?" Shirley asked softly. Bo sighed.
"Alright Shirley. I hope you know what your doing."
Shirley smiled and gave Bo a kiss, and then began to turn around, Bo
grabbed Shirley suddenly and gave her an even longer kiss.
"What was THAT for?" Shirley asked, surprised.
"Just checking how long you can hold your breath. I think you'll be
okay."
Shirley gave Bo a grateful smile and said, "Okay, we've gotta get ready
we have a lot to do."
* * *
Shirley was in a car, she just woke up, but was keeping her eyes closed. She vaguely remembered that there was no chloriform involved in the great kidnapping, and the back of her head ached. It came back clearer now- she waved to "Carson Jordins" and then the next thing she knew she was here. Shirley suddenly felt a little panicked- where was the cell phone- and why couldn't she remember what had happened? She kept her eyes closed and moved her hand slowly towards her stomach- the cell phone was still there.
"Hey Dad, I think she's coming around." A voice said.
Dad? Shirley thought, What a way to spend quality time together.
Shirley decided that it was time to open her eyes- she stole a peek
at the car clock- 10:00. She'd been out for an hour.
A face bent down over her she blinked, Cason Jordins, or whatever his
name was, was actually kind of cute-- for an accomplice. But Shirley couldn't
think about that, she had to put her acting skills to a test, and begin
to panic [although the last thing she was feeling was panicked!] and began
to scream, and wave her arms wildly. Carson pinned them down and Shirley
figured that he might be at least sixteen.
"Hey, hey, hey, hey!" Carson said smoothly, "You're not supposed to
get hurt if that's what you think. But if you scream, you COULD be right."
Shirley shut up. She stared at the ceiling until her eyes started to
water, and pretended to cry. Was this how she was supposed to act?
"Don't cry either." Carson was exasperated, as if he had been through this many times before.
"Why?" Shirley squeaked out. Suddenly, the voice from the driver'sseat spoke up.
"Does there have to be a motive? Do I HAVE to have a reason for killing
you? We ALL go a little mad sometimes."
Shirley recognized the quote, and stole a glance at the face in the
mirror, a ski mask.
"'Psycho.'" Shirley said, "Quoted from 'Scream' in '96." The eyes behind the mask looked surprised.
"Are you a horror movie buff?" He asked, interested.
"No- but I know someone who knows enough about them. You're motive?
You have to have one- you're talking about having no motive whatsoever.
That's from 'Nightwatch'. I SAW that one. So you must have a motive? What
is it? It can't just be all for a ransom."
The voice behind the ski mask chuckled.
"You're right you know that. I'll give you you're motive and then you can shut-up. I like horror movies. Love them in fact- and through all this time in the movies, someone's been held captive for a reason. They don't think of themselves as kidnapped- just being in the same room with a killer, right? Well, wouldn't being genuinley kidnapped, be genuinly frightening?"
"What's the point?" Shirley shot back, "You're not experiencing my fear,
you're witnessing it. I thought the whole point of horror was to be scared,
not see scared."
"I said to shut-up." The man said.
"Give it up, Dad." Carson said.
"What?" The man said, surprised.
"So far you've told everyone you're just a horror freak- it's not true! I'm SICK of doing this! Why do we need ransom? Why can't we just leave now?" Carson asked.
"Don't be a fool boy!" The man shot back.
"I'm not a fool! You're the fool! You're kidnapping these kids for money and we're lucky we're not caught! I just want to leave now! You're CRAZY if you don't go!!!" Carson faced turned red with an unexpected rage and fear. The car stopped, The man turned around and gave Carson are hard blow to his face. Carson slumped to the floor, unconcious.
"I'm not crazy." The man said flatly, and started up the car again.
* * *
Carson and Shirley were thrown into a dark room, it was small. Carson
groaned, coming around.
"Are you okay?" Shirley asked. Carson sat up, his eyes brimming with
tears.
"My own FATHER just hit me- what do you think?"
"I'm sorry." Shirley said quietly and turned away. "What are you doing here?"
Carson's face was white."I think my father just disowned me." Shirley
snorted.
"That's highly impropable."
"No it's not." Carson whispered.
Shirley felt he was on the verge of a confession and asked, "Why not?
Why are you doing this?"
Carson slumped against the wall and rubbed his head sadly.
"Dad's not well. He's- he's sick. Not psyichally but-" Carson couldn't
push out the words and gave a tiny sob.
"Mom looked after him- and then Mom got Cancer. When she- when she died Dad wasn't there anymore."
Shirley looked at Carson sympathetically, despite all he'd done so far.
"He's still not "all there." But I was younger and I couldn't pay the
bills and we lost our home... Dad was- we became homeless and we lived
in a car. And then through this community access program, I started talking
to people- You. The other one. And Dad found out... and he...he got this
idea....and then we were kidnapping people and it all exploded after that.
The one girl escaped and he started getting in this rage and hitting me
and he's- sick." Carson finally stopped.
"What's you're real name?" Shirley asked after awhile.
"Carson Evans." Carson replied. They were silent again.
"Well- all things come to those who wait. You're Dad will have a nice comfy home in a nice dank, dark, barred room- and you'll have a home in a juvenile detention centre. Doesn't get much better from there, huh?" Shirley asked, feeling angry.
"Hey shut-up." Carson shot back.
"I'm sorry," Shirley said bitterly, "But you're not the one on the bad end of a sick thing."
* * *
-End of Part 3-