Chapter61 Political Hostage

Once Cindy regains the ability to move, she heads back to the house. When she reaches the porch, Jean-Louise Wadell is missing. "This is just great!" Cindy starts worrying about how Beth may react after finding out that her daughter's doll's now missing as well. She asks the sheriff and professor to help her search for the missing Jean-Louise Wadell. When they hear Deputy Hopkins pull in, they go to meet him By the time they reach the front, the deputy is getting the ‘item' that he picked up out of the back of his patrol car; and, ‘it's' not very happy. "God damn it, Hopkins; where the hell are we? This is kidnapping; you do realize that, don't you? Your ass is going to be mine when this is over, Hopkins!" A handcuffed and blindfolded Mayor Cromwell is enraged. "Hopkins; when Faulkner hears about this, he's going to…" The sheriff finishes, "Laugh his Texan ass off! Well, I'll be damned, Mike, you son of a loaded gun; you went and done it! I have to give you this; you got some Mexican bandito cajoles on you." The mayor spins around, trying to face the direction of the sheriff's voice. "Lloyd; is that you? You better do something about this, Lloyd; or, so help me, you'll be sharing a prison cell with this bottom-feeding cretin! This has gone too far! I'm pressing charges, Lloyd! Do you hear me?" "I reckon I hear you, Al; you're sure loud enough." "Well; what are you going to do about this, Lloyd?!" "Nothing." "Nothing? What do you mean nothing? Damn it, Lloyd; as Mayor of Beaver Ridge, I'm ordering you to do something!" "Alrighty then, Al, since you put it like that; I'll do something." "Damn right you will!" "Yup. I'll just sit over yonder and watch the deputy tear you a new one. How's that for doing something, Al?" "You're both dead men! Do you hear me; dead men I tell you!" "Now calm down there, Al." The deputy pats him on the back. "We just want to talk with you; that's all. Sorry I had to spoil your little weekly romance get away. Oh, by the way; does Mrs. Cromwell know where you go Wednesdays? I'm guessing not. Hell, between you and Chas, that wife of yours winds up downing more valium than you gulp down antacids." "You're dead, Hopkins!" "Speaking of being dead;" the deputy rips the blindfold from the mayor's eyes and spins him around, "take a look-see and see where we are now; fat boy!" As soon as the mayor sees that house, a look of horror overcomes his face; while the coloring leaves it. He starts trembling. He sweats. He wets himself. "Well I'll be…check this out, Lloyd; Al's done gone and pissed himself! What do you suppose that means?" "I reckon either something out here scares him, or he's been drinking too much lemonade. Which is it, Al?" The mayor starts crying. "Please; just get me out of here. I'll forget this ever happened. Just get me out of here! Please!" The deputy grabs the mayor by his shirt collar and pulls him towards him. "Sorry, Al, but, I'm afraid we can't do that. You see; you know something about what's going on at this place…maybe not everything…but, something. We need to know what it is, Al." "I don't know anything! Please, Lloyd; get me out of here." The mayor's whimpering as he pleads to the sheriff. "Not until you tell us what we want to know…Mayor." The deputy kids with the sheriff, "Hey, Lloyd; do you know what's worse than seeing a grown man cry?" "No, Mike; what's that?" "Seeing an over-grown man cry.…Pull yourself together; fat boy!" The mayor continues to whine; sniffling while talking, "I'm sorry for coming down on you guys like I did. It'll never happen again; I swear! Please; can I go now?" Sheriff Faulkner walks over to the frightened mayor, puts his arm over his shoulder, and pulls him around back, as he explains, "We have a bit of a situation here, Al." He points over to show the mayor the collapsed barn. "You see what used to be a barn over yonder there, Al?" The mayor nervously nods. "Well, Al; this is the second time that same barn collapsed. This time, Ms. Cindy over there…and, Ms. Annabeth…were in there when it happened." The mayor looks at Cindy and stutters, "S-S-Sorry to hear th-that? Y-Y-You okay?" The sheriff answers, "Ms. Cindy's fine, Al. A few bumps, bruises, and scrapes…but, being Mike's niece; she's a scrappy little one. The problem is with Ms. Annabeth; the Lazinski's little girl." "Wh-Wh-What hap-hap-pened to her?" "Well, Al; that we don't know yet….We can't seem to find her?" "C-c-can't f-f-fi-ind her?" The deputy mocks the seemingly speech impaired mayor, "N-N-No! W-w-we c-c-can't f-f-fi-ind her." The sheriff tightens his hold on the mayor; putting him in a one armed headlock, as he whispers in his ear, "Al, unless you help us find this little girl; ain't no one gonna find your sorry ass either! The Steinman's; what are they hiding, Al? What is it with this place? Well?" "Nothing! I-I-I don't know!" The mayor yells out. "Well," the deputy observes, "looks like fat boy got the power of coherent speech back again. Now; is that a good thing, or a bad thing?" "Give us something, Al; anything. We know they're hiding something. If not this place; what about their kids…Chelsea, Charles and Tommy? What about them? What's the secret behind them? Come on, Al." The sheriff draws his revolver and puts it up to the mayor's temple. "You've got to five, Al…and, I'm already on three!" "Alright, alright; I'll tell you one thing! But, only one; then, you're on your own! Christ…they'll kill me if they find out I told you this…" "And, I'll kill you if you don't. Tell us, Al." The sheriff pulls back the hammer on his revolver. "Okay…okay…I'll tell you, Lloyd; just give me a second!" He takes in a deep breath. "Okay; here it is…God help me…Chelsea never killed Tommy." Cindy asks, "Then; why did she kill herself?" "She didn't kill herself." "Then, she did live to be a woman." The mayor shakes his head. "No; she died when she was seven." The deputy asks, "How?" The mayor's quiet. The deputy runs up and yells in his ear, "How, fat boy…how'd she die?" "Tommy! Tommy killed her! He smashed her head in with a hammer! Now, let me go! Get me out of this God forsaken place!"