8

The house lights were out.

He felt his heart lurch when he saw the total darkness of the house, and he began cursing himself for leaving Penny alone with a sixteen-year old jazz fiend. He thumbed open the glove compartment, seized a flashlight, and ran out of the car to the kitchen door.

“Penny!” he shouted.

He slammed into the house and turned on the kitchen light, and then he went into the living room.

Thelonious Ford was unconscious on the floor.

He did not stop beside her. He ran instantly to Penny’s bedroom and snapped on the light. The bed covers were thrown back. The bed was empty.

“Penny,” he called, and then he heard footsteps behind him, and he whirled, bringing up the flashlight, ready to use it as a club.

“My God!” Enid said. “What—”

He pushed past her and went into the other bedroom. He ran upstairs, checking each room, checking the bathroom, even checking the closets. The house was empty. And then, the phone downstairs began ringing, the two signals that indicated his number on the party line. He went down the steps at a gallop and then into the pantry. He pulled the phone off its cradle.

“Hello,” he said.

“She’s gone, Blake,” the voice said.

“Who is this? What have you—?”

“Shut up!”

Zach closed his mouth. He was squeezing the receiver tightly, as if trying to drain it of information.

“Shut up and listen,” the voice said. “Your daughter’s all right. She’ll continue to be all right until tomorrow afternoon. There’s a ferry leaving Vineyard Haven at 1:45 P.M., Blake. Have you got that? 1:45 P.M.”

“I’ve got it.”

“Good. You’d better be on that ferry. When you get off at Woods Hole, drive straight to Providence. You should be there by five o’clock, even if the traffic is heavy.”

“Yes, but my daughter—”

“I said shut up!”

He was trembling, but he closed his mouth and waited. The man on the other end was silent for a moment.

“You ready to listen, Blake?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a restaurant in Providence called The Blue Viking. Your daughter will be waiting there for you at five o’clock. When you pick her up, go straight back to New York. Forget Martha’s Vineyard, and don’t ever come back. Have you got that, Blake?”

“The Blue Viking at five o’clock. Penny will be there.”

“You’ve got it.”

“How do I know she’s all right now? Let me talk to her.”

“Forget it, Blake. Just take me word for it. She’s all right. Get on that 1:45 ferry tomorrow and drive like hell. And don’t come back. Someone’ll be watching at Vineyard Haven to make sure you board the boat. If he doesn’t see you, your daughter—”

“I’ll be on the boat,” Zach said.

“Good. One last thing. Don’t tell the police. Either now or later. If we hear even a hint that there’s been a kidnaping—”

“I won’t tell the police,” he said quickly.

“Have you got it all?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Have a nice trip home,” the man said, and he hung up.

Zach signaled for the operator immediately.

“Yes, sir?”

“Operator, can you trace that call I was just speaking … that party I was just speaking to? Can you trace the call?”

“I’m sorry, sir. We are unable to do that.”

“This is important!”

“I’m sorry, sir, but we’re unable to—”

“Oh, never mind!” He slammed down the phone. Enid was waiting in the pantry doorway.

“What is it?” he said.

“Someone’s kidnaped my daughter.”

“What? For God’s sake, Zach, call the police!”

“I can’t. No.” He thought for a moment. “They must be somewhere near. That phone call came right after we turned on the house lights. Thy must be able to see the house from wherever they are. One of the houses on the hill, maybe.”

“Or a boat,” Enid said.

“How could they have phoned from a boat?”

“They wouldn’t have to. They could have signaled ashore as soon as they saw the lights go on. Someone anywhere along the coast could have made the call.”

He stared at her suspiciously. “You seem to know a hell of a lot about it,” he said.

“I’m only—”

“Are you in this, Enid?”

“In what? Do you mean—?”

“Everything.”

“I’m not in anything,” she said flatly.

“I hope you’re not, Enid. But it was you who invited me to a party, you who suggested I leave Penny with a baby-sitter. If you’re—”

“What do you take me for, Zach?”

“If you’re mixed up in this—”

“You can’t be serious!”

He stared at her and then sighed heavily. “Forgive me, I’m—” He shook his head. “Let’s take a look at the sitter.”

Thelo Ford was gaining consciousness when they went back into the living room. She sat up, saw Zach, and was ready to scream until he laid a comforting hand on her arm.

“What happened, Thelo?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Someone knocked at the door, and I asked who it was. I wouldn’t open the door until I knew who it was. ‘It’s me. Mr. Blake,’ he said. So I opened it. And then somebody hit me, and that’s all I remember. Was it a burglar? Is Penny all right?”

“Penny’s fine,” he lied, and Enid looked at him curiously. “Come on, I’d better take you home.”

He dropped Thelo off first, and then he took Enid back to the party.

“I’m sorry,” he said to her. “I shouldn’t have snapped at you.”

“What are you going to do, Zach?”

“Follow their instructions.”

“Won’t you call the police?”

“I can’t. They’d—” He shook his head. “I can’t.”

“What are their instructions?”

“They want me off the island by 1:45 tomorrow. They’ll be watching. I’ll have to … Enid, I don’t feel like talking. I’m sorry, but I can’t seem to think straight. I want to get home. God, if they touch her—”

“She’ll be all right. Don’t worry.” She squeezed his hand. “She’ll be all right.” She got out of the car and closed the door gently. “If you need help, Zach, anything, anything at all, call me. Just call,” she said, and she started for the house. He sat watching her for a moment, and then turned his eyes from the house. He could see out over the water, could see the cruising lights of countless surface craft. Had one of those boats signaled ashore to someone waiting to make a call? Was Penny out on the water now, in one of those boats? He folded his arms on the steering wheel and then put his head down. He was suddenly very confused and very tired. He wanted his wife back, and he wanted his daughter back, and a wave of self-recrimination washed over him when he thought of Penny in the hands of strangers. If he had left well enough alone, if he had stayed in New York and thrown away Evelyn Cloud’s letter, if he had only allowed dead ashes to settle, Penny would be safe now.

He started the car. Wearily, he drove through Menemsha.

The Massachusetts State Police were waiting for him back at the Fielding house.

He got out of the Plymouth, and a voice reached for him in the darkness.

“Mr. Blake?” A flashlight came up onto his face.

“Yes,” he said, shielding his eyes.

“Just stay right where you are. We’ll come to you.”

He waited. The flashlight stayed on his face. He could hear the troopers’ boots crunching in the packed sand. They stopped alongside him, the light still in his eyes.

“Can’t you lower that flash?” he said.

“Sure.” The light came down, spilling a cold glow onto the sand at their feet. “Mr. Blake, you’ll have to come along with us.”

“What for?” Zach asked.

“The lieutenant wants to talk to you.”

“What about?”

“About a dead woman.”

His eyes were getting accustomed to the darkness. He studied the trooper’s solemn face and then said, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“A woman named Evelyn Cloud,” the trooper said.

“I never heard of her.”

“No? Mr. Blake, there’s an old Indian at Gay Head. He sells souvenirs. He said a man and a little girl were asking about Evelyn Cloud this afternoon. He told them how to find her. He also sold the man a tomahawk, Mr. Blake.” The trooper paused. “Evelyn Cloud was killed with a tomahawk, Mr. Blake. Want to come along with us now?”

“I bought that tomahawk for my daughter,” Zach said.

“Where’s your daughter now, Mr. Blake?”

“She’s been …” He stopped, suddenly remembering the warning voice on the telephone. Don’t tell the police. “She’s … she’s been sent home,” he said. “I sent her home. To her grandmother.”

“And I suppose she took that tomahawk with her, huh?”

“No, she lost it on the beach this aft …” He let the sentence trail. It sounded ridiculous, it sounded absurd, it sounded like the flimsiest snap fabrication.

“That’s very interesting, Mr. Blake,” the trooper said drily. “You can explain it all to the lieutenant. Come on now.”

He shrugged wearily, and followed them to their car.