Chapter 38

 

Donna and her companion drove up to their trailer just as Anderson was about to reach the wooded area. Donna sensed something was wrong even before she entered. She immediately went to the laundry area. She cringed when she saw the broken vent pipe, part of it still firmly secured in its cement base, the other half lying on the laundry room’s terrazzo floor. Polish had just entered the room. “Jesus!” he said, “he got away.”

“You idiot! I put you in charge of finding a way to secure him so there was no way he could get out.”

“Well, damn it!” he said. “You agreed that he wouldn’t be able to get free! Anyway, he’s still chained up, so he couldn’t have gone far; we should be able to spot him easily.” 

“Oh, yeah?” Donna said, “He could have flagged down a passing car; he could have gone anywhere—to a neighbor’s house, or who knows where? For all we know, the cops could be on their way right now. And wouldn’t it be great fun if they pulled up while we were outside with our flashlights looking for him. What would we say? ‘Uh, officer, have you seen our kidnap victim, he was in the trailer a short time ago and we seemed to have lost him, would you please help us?’ 

“You dumb-ass, we have to get out of here. I’ll make sure there’s no paperwork in the drawers, and you go wipe the prints off everything. But make it fast. You take your car and head back in the direction of Sarasota. I’ll head east toward Arcadia and then southwest on route 17. But first, there’s something I have to do.” 

After checking all the trailer’s drawers, Donna went into the bathroom. When she came back into the living room, she had transformed into a gray-haired wrinkled woman of 80. 

“Damn, you’re good!” he said.

She picked up her additional wigs and said, “I’ll call you tomorrow. You better get out of here soon.” 

“No sweat, I’m almost on my way.”