Read Online The Case of the Vanishing Boy by Alexander Key - Free Book Online

courtyard beside the sturdy bulk of Angus, who was driving her to Glendale in Hecuba’s station wagon. Only her white cane and dark glasses gave indication of her blindness, and again he wondered by what magic she could make out the world, and how strange it must appear to her.
    It was when the station wagon was gone that a sudden, deeper uneasiness came over him. Hecuba had been worried about the lack of guards, but having the extra guards didn’t really matter. What mattered was something else, something they’d overlooked. What could it be?
    He tried to shake off the feeling, but it clung to him and grew worse with the evening. In the library, while they were waiting for Ginny’s return, he caught Heron Rhodes studying him with some concern. Heron told him, “Don’t let Big Doc get you down, son. We’ll settle with him soon. My word on it.”
    He shook his head. “It—it’s not what you think,” he managed to say. “I mean, well, I—I have an awful feeling that we’ve missed something. It’s kind of like a chess move that could get you checkmated.”
    Heron’s eyes sharpened on him. “Evidently you know how to play chess. Hm. Now think, son. What sort of move would it be?”
    â€œSort of a round-the-corner move, like you’d do with a knight. It—it has to do with Ginny.”
    Hecuba gasped. “Ginny? Oh, my heavens! Otis, call your sister—see if she—”
    â€œAw, she’s okay,” Otis said with mild disgust. “I been talking with her right along. She’s just left, an’ she’s going over now to get in the car.” He glanced at Jan, and said aloofly, “If you’re so smart, see if you can beat me at a game of chess.” Without waiting for a reply he trotted over to a gaming table beyond the piano and took a box of chessmen from a drawer.
    Otis was about to dump them on the table when his small body stiffened and his owlish eyes became great marbles of fear.
    â€œNo!” he gasped. “No! No!”
    The chessmen dropped from his nerveless hands and spilled upon the carpet. Suddenly he ran to Hecuba and clasped her tightly, sobbing, “They’ve got her! Men in the car! I can’t hear her, Aunt Heck—they’ve got her!”
    Heron Rhodes shook his head once, then sprang to his feet and snatched up the phone on the desk. His finger spun the dial once. “Operator!” he barked. “Quick—this is an emergency! Get me the Glendale police!”

7
    HOSTAGE
    The tall clock in the library struck a deep and somehow doomful note, then slowly it struck another, and another, and another.… Jan counted the strikes without realizing what he was doing. Ten o’clock. Four hours had passed since Ginny had been kidnapped.
    He chewed on his lip and looked again over at Otis, who was huddled miserably in the recesses of one of the big leather chairs. Heron Rhodes, grimly pacing the floor in front of him, stopped and looked also, silently asking the question they had been asking for hours. The small boy shook his head.
    Heron muttered, “We won’t hear from her till the drug wears off. They must have given her as big a dose as they gave Angus. The stupid fools! Half would have been more than enough!”
    The Glendale police had found the Rhodes’ station wagon on the edge of town, with Angus, drugged and suffering from a blow on the head, lying on the floor behind the driver’s seat. Angus, Jan had been told, had no idea what had happened. The farm manager had gained consciousness hardly an hour ago, and was able to say only that someone had called to him by name from a passing car, and when he turned to see who had spoken he was suddenly struck from behind.
    All this seemed rather odd to Jan. How could Big Doc have known about Angus, or that Angus would drive Ginny to Glendale on Tuesday? Unless, of course, Big Doc had become familiar with the