Mystery of the 19th Hole (Taylor Kelsey, Mystery 1) (7 page)

             
The man’s phone conversation was just wrapping up, and Taylor had kept count of whatever it was he was writing.  Suddenly, the fast-moving semi hit a bump in the road and caused everyone to bounce.  The whole thing creaked, shook, and jarred them like a ride at the circus.  In response, the elephant roared and slammed into the walls again and the whole truck started swaying side to side.

             
Taylor didn’t know what to be more scared of—the elephant causing them to crash, or not crashing and the men disposing of them in the short future.

             
Either way, it wasn’t looking good.

             
Taylor continued tugging at the ropes.  If she got loose, she could get Susan’s cell phone out of her pocket if Susan had remembered to keep it with her.  Unlikely.

             
“Up here,” one of the men said.  “Turn up here.  We can kill ‘em in the woods.”

             
The truck slowed and turned onto a dirt road, and now they were bouncing up and down relentlessly.  Taylor heard a ball rolling about on the dashboard.  Something she’d noticed earlier but hadn’t paid any mind.  It sounded like a golf ball.  “Roll up your dang window,” said one of the three.  The crank window could be heard slowly making its way up.  When it finally did, the wind ceased and everything seemed much calmer despite the old cab’s creaking.

             
The truck stopped.

             
The driver sniffed several times and tapped on the steering wheel impatiently.  Taylor could imagine all the dust the semi must have kicked up, which was now probably blowing past the windows.  The driver finally pushed open his door.

             
Then, with an ominous squeaking noise, one of the backseat doors opened and Taylor and Susan were brutally pulled from the vehicle and thrown onto the hard dirt floor.  Next, they were grabbed by the collars and dragged from the dirt road to softer dirt and finally to a leaf bed, which meant they were in the woods.

             
Though Taylor was about to be killed, she couldn’t help but thinking how dirty her skirt must have been getting.  A few long minutes passed until the men let go of the girls.  Their heads came to rest on the leaf bed, but they quickly squirmed up to their knees.

             
“Are you sure about this?” asked the driver.

             
“Yeah, they probably saw our faces back at the circus.”

             
Taylor and Susan spoke rapidly under their gags, pleading, but it just registered as unintelligible muffled noises.  They quieted in frozen fear when the sound of a gun being cocked reached their ears.

             
Then…

             
The girls heard a string of strange noises.  Sticks cracking.  Running.  Shuffling.  Some kind of skirmish.  Wrestling.  Metal, like a gun.

             
Taylor bit down in fear.

             
The gun shot!  And shot, and shot, and shot!

             
It wasn’t long after until they heard the semi start up and speed away.

             
Someone pulled their blindfolds and gags off, and Taylor and Susan were relieved to see it was Jason.  He had somehow scared the bad guys away.

             
“Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!” exclaimed Taylor.  “I thought we were dead.” 

             
Susan was kissing Jason’s feet.  Literally.  “Thank you, thank you, thank you, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks, thanks…”  And on and on.

             
“Hey, it’s no problem.”

             
“How did you do it?” asked Taylor.

             
“Well, I tackled the guy with the gun.  Then I shot the gun a few times at the men.  I aimed for their legs just in case I missed and actually hit them.  I was trying not to hit them, and, well, I have bad aim.”  Then he laughed.  “You on the other hand have great aim.”

             
Taylor laughed, understanding he must have seen her throw the dart.  Changing the subject, he said, “Who were those guys?”

             
“We don’t know,” said Susan, finally gathering herself.  “We saw them stealing an elephant, tried to stop them, and here we are.”

             
“Oh.  Yeah, I heard you guys screaming, ran behind the tent, and saw the truck driving away.  Naturally, I followed.  Oh, and here’s your phone.”  He gave Taylor her cell phone.  “C’mon, let’s report this to the police.”

             
They followed him back to his car, and Taylor nudged Susan, whispering, “And you said he was dumb.”

             
As if on cue, Jason said, “I’m going to leave the gun here, though.  My mom doesn’t let me have guns.  Besides, I got to go back to the circus before I get fired.  Your car is there, right, Taylor?”

             
“Right,” she said, rolling her eyes.

             
Susan nudged her.  “Told ya.”

             
After saying their good-byes to Jason, as he had to get back to the dartboard booth, they climbed into Taylor’s car.  “That was crazy,” was all Taylor could think to say.

             
“That was too much for me.  I’m out,” said Susan harshly.

             
“No, you’re not.  This thing is bigger than we thought.  Imagine if the bad guys are never caught and one day two unsuspecting people just like us end up in the same situation, but instead get killed!  Would you want that on your conscience?”

             
“What I don’t know can’t hurt me?  And besides, don’t you think that’s a little far-fetched.”

             
Taylor started her car.  “Maybe.  But there is reward money, remember.”

             
“That’s a salient point.  So, where next?”

             
“Well, Jason’s not going to talk because, well, he is dumb.  Conceded.  And even if he does talk, no one’s going to believe him.  Moreover, we need to tell someone about the elephant, but I don’t think we should tell anyone our story of being captured and nearly killed.”

             
“Not even our parents?”

             
Taylor sniffled.  “I’m afraid we can’t.  They’ll make us stop investigating.”

             
“Yeah, because they’re so mean, and they won’t want us to get murdered,” Susan said sarcastically.  “Is that why we can’t tell them?  Are you crazy, Taylor?”

             
“You’re right, Sue.  They are good parents.  Generally.  But that’s just the point.  They
will
make us stop, and we can’t stop now.  Everyone will think we chickened out.”

             
“But they’ll understand if we tell them what just happened.”

             
“We’re not going to tell them, Sue.  I’m committed.  Are you?”

             
Susan sounded reluctant, but really, other than nearly being killed, was having fun, “Okay.  I’m in.  But we need to be more careful from now on.”

             
“Okay, I’m going to put Lieutenant Arterman’s number into my phone right now, just in case something like this happens again.”

             
“If something like this happens again, I’m
out
and never coming back
in
.”

             
After putting Jeff’s number into her phone, Taylor drove out of the parking lot.

             
“So, we’re going to the police now?” asked Susan.

             
“Yeah.  That’s what I said.”

             
“Well, I can never tell with you.  How are we going to explain our condition?  We’re all muddy and dirty.  And our hair is all messed up.  And we have lines on our cheeks from being gagged.”

             
Taylor laughed.  “I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

             
“And don’t let our disheveled appearance disturb you, we’re actually quite proper when it comes down to it,” Susan told the receptionist at the police department.  She had reverted to her English accent because the lieutenant and captain thought she was English.

             
“I’m afraid,” answered the receptionist, “that I can’t let you see the captain.  He’s very busy and only lets people see him who have appointments.”

             
“Why is it always appointments with you guys?  In every movie, the good guy can’t get to the person they need to get to because they ‘need an appointment,’” exclaimed Susan.  “Aren’t you getting tired of going with the grain?”  Susan leaned in and spoke as if she was offering words of encouragement.  “Go against the grain.”

             
Taylor didn’t think it could get any worse until Susan started singing.  “Turn that smile upside down, close your eyes and blink them open…  Say bye when you answer the phone, and hi when you put it down.  Ladies, don’t let men oppress you, use their bathroom!”

             
“10-3, 10-3, 10-3,” shouted Taylor.  “Stop.  The first three lines were interesting, but that last one is bad advice.”

             
“I agree.”

             
“Don’t do that last one,” Taylor said to Susan.  To the receptionist, “The last one was bad advice.”

             
Susan agreed again.  The receptionist nodded calmly, only to break out a scream: “Security.”

             
Taylor and Susan didn’t waste time; they both jumped over the receptionist’s desk, scattering papers everywhere, and ran to the stairs.  It happened so fast no one knew what to do.  And the girls didn’t stop running until they were in the captain’s office on the second floor.

             
Slamming the door behind her, Susan spoke surprisingly calmly, still in her English accent, “Hello, Chum, sorry we don’t have an appointment, but we must report a missing elephant.”

             
Captain Tony Hamell scratched his head.  “You’re those two girls who told the lieutenant that those two cases were connected, aren’t you?”

             
“Maybe,” they chorused.  “What is it to you?” asked Susan in mock suspicion.

             
“How did you get past the front desk?  And why are you so dirty?  And you smell like smoke?”

             
Taylor whispered to Susan, “Were one of the men in the truck smoking?”

             
Susan shrugged, then repeated to the captain, “Some guys just stole an elephant from the circus.”

             
The captain chortled from the gut.  “That’s funny.  That is funny.”  He laughed some more, but the girls’ serious stares stemmed his chuckling.  “You guys aren’t serious?”  They both nodded.  “Girls, people don’t steal elephants!  That’s insane.  Coming in here to tell me that just insults my intelligence.”

             
At that moment, the lieutenant stepped into the office.  “Sir, we just got a call from the circus.  Get this: someone stole one of their elephants.  Isn’t that nuts?”  Then Jeff noticed the girls.  “Oh, hi, guys.”

             
Susan eyed the captain and raised an accusing finger.  “Insults whose intelligence?”

The next day Taylor and Susan, as they did every week, went to church with their families.  Though the sleuths were often times immature and obnoxious, they did love God.  Even so, they had many things to work out in their lives. 

             
Taylor was thinking these things as she sat in one of the many pews that ran to the back of the small church.  Susan was sitting beside her.  The worship part of the service had just ended, and the pastor was beginning his sermon.  However, when the pastor started preaching about “obeying and honoring your parents,” Taylor dozed off… 
Why would a pastor preach to adults about obeying their parents?
  Looking around, Taylor counted only five youth—and that was counting her and Susan.

             
“It’s the first commandment with a promise attached,” the pastor was saying.  “If you honor your father and mother, you’ll have a good and long life…”

             
Taylor kind of heard that promise part, but was mostly wrapped in thoughts about the case.  She couldn’t think about honoring and obeying her parents at a time like this.  After all, she’d almost been killed and hadn’t told them.  She’d stirred a ruckus in the police department, though the captain let them get away with it, and they had been, in general, disobeying rules left and right.

             
She’d give the sermon some thought after she solved the case and got the reward money in hand.  Next matter: Chad.  The pastor’s son.