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Chapter 30

“What are they going to take from here and where are they taking it, Max?” asked Dooley.

“It’s just an expression, Dooley,” I said, though I was equally curious where our humans were going to take the investigation. Then again, obviously it was no longer our concern. They would, I assumed, now organize what is commonly termed a dragnet, at which point the crooks would be caught, and hopefully Lord Hilbourne would still be in one piece.

“They could be anywhere,” said Brutus. “Probably halfway down to Florida by now, or maybe New York. They could be in the Adirondacks, holed up in a cabin in the woods or high up in the mountains. They could be there for months, undetected, until Lord Hilbourne’s family decide to pay them the millions they want for his safe return.”

“This is all very stressful,” said Harriet. “People keep getting kidnapped and ending up dead…”

We all shared a worried glance.“You don’t think Johnny and Jerry are the same ones who kidnapped and killed Bob Rector, do you?” I said.

“Could be,” Harriet allowed.

“I bet it was them,” said Brutus. “What are the odds of two kidnappings taking place within a couple of days? I’ll bet those two felt that seventy-five thousand wasn’t enough to retire on and they found themselves an even bigger target in Lord Hilbourne. A target they couldn’t pass up without taking a crack at him.”

We glanced down at the blood on the carpet.“You can take that literally,” I said. But then I shook my head. “This doesn’t sound like the Johnny and Jerry I know. They’re crooks, sure, but they’re not killers. I can see them kidnapping a person, but killing him in cold blood? I don’t think so.”

“It’s the theory of escalation in crime,” said Brutus, who seemed to have read up on the subject while I wasn’t looking. “Most crooks start off with petty theft and other small stuff, then gradually get in deeper and deeper and finally get into the heavy stuff, like extortion and even murder. I guess Johnny and Jerry have succumbed to their worst instincts and have become a menace to society. Hampton Cove’s most wanted.”

“Poor Johnny and Jerry,” said Dooley, earning him a look of rebuke from both Harriet and Brutus.

“Why do you say that?” asked Harriet. “They’re gangsters and they probably killed Bob Rector, and Lord Hilbourne, too. They killed him and now they’ll try to make us believe he’s still alive so they can collect the ransom. Same way they did with Bob.”

“I like Johnny and Jerry,” Dooley confessed. “I know I shouldn’t, but they’re goofy.”

“Goofy!” said Harriet. “Didn’t you hear what Brutus just said? They’re Hampton Cove’s most wanted criminals.”

Obviously Odelia and Chase wanted them bad, for they’d disappeared down that fire escape, presumably in hot pursuit. And since Uncle Alec had disappeared as well, that dragnet I just mentioned was probably being put in place as we speak.

“Mark my words. They’re in the Adirondacks,” said Brutus. “Hiding in one of those mountain cabins.”

“And burying Lord Hilbourne in a shallow grave,” Harriet added with a touch of morbidity.

Since there wasn’t all that much we could do there, we kinda drifted off. The two men staying in the room next door were being questioned. One was called Wim Bojanowsky and the other Suppo Bonikowski, and it turned out that they were cousins, vacationing in Hampton Cove. At least that’s what I learned from listening in on their conversation with Officer Sarah Flunk, who’d been left to do the honors.

“They stole my laptop,” said Suppo, the thin one with the face fuzz.

“And my watch,” said his cousin somberly. “It was a family heirloom. If you could please do what you can to get it back for us?” he added.

“Of course, sir,” said Officer Flunk. “What else did they take?”

“Just the watch and the laptop,” said the one named Wim.

“And our dignity,” Suppo added, as he carefully fingered the bump on his head.

“What are you doing in town if I may ask?”

“Oh, just visiting,” said Wim. “We like the Hamptons. It’s always a nice experience.”

“The hotel receptionist said there were three of you staying in this room?”

“That’s right. We arrived here with our cousin.”

“Bob Rector,” said Suppo.

Officer Flunk stopped writing in her notebook and looked up in surprise.“Bob Rector?”

“Yeah, the three of us decided to come down here together,” Wim explained.

“But…”

“Oh, the name,” said Wim. “Okay, so Bob’s mom’s sister is my mother.”

“And my dad is Wim’s mother’s brother,” said Suppo.

Officer Flunk was blinking, and so was I.“So… the three of you…”

“Decided to spend some time in your lovely little town, yeah,” said Wim.

“Always fun to spend some time together,” said Suppo. “And the beaches are amazing, of course, even this late in the season.”

“You do know what happened to your cousin, right?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah—yeah, we know,” said Wim, making a face.

“So do you think Bob was abducted by the same people who knocked us out and abducted Lord Hilbourne?” asked Suppo, as he cut a quick glance to his cousin.