Chapter Fifteen

~ Trouble ~

 

We walked up to the back door. I peered through the window in the door and was surprised to see Miss Julie, Sam and Mom all standing in a huddle in the middle of the living room. I was even more surprised to see that their hands were tied in front of them. Standing near them and talking to each other were Chickie, Angel and a man I guessed must be Earl. I grabbed Addie’s arm, pulling her off the porch and all the way to the barn.

“What’s going on?” she said.

“Shhh! Don’t be too loud! The storm is over and our voices could carry! Chickie, Angel and Earl are in there and they have Mom, Sam and Miss Julie tied up. They must be robbing Miss Julie!”

“What are we going to do?” Addie’s voice shook.

“We have to call for help,” I said, taking out my phone and dialing 9-1-1. Nothing. My phone was dead. “It’s dead as a hammer. Addie, do you have yours?”

Addie took out her phone and dialed 9-1-1. No signal. She walked all over the barn, trying to get bars on her phone.

“Stupid phone!” she said. “Stupid cell towers! I’ll have to go to the road. Once you’re on the main road, you can usually get a signal.”

“Okay. I’ll go see if I can distract them somehow. They won’t be expecting me. Hey, what are you doing?” Addie was pulling down the halter I had just put up.

“I’ve got to ride out to the road. It will take too long to walk and someone could be hurt...or worse, by then.” She went into Nickel’s stall, haltered him and led him out into the main area of the barn without hesitating.

“Addie, are you sure you want to do this?”

“I have to, Piper, and I have to do it fast!” She swallowed. I knew my friend. She didn’t want to think about the riding involved, she just wanted to start doing it.

“At least let me do this.” I grabbed a saddle that we had thought would fit Nickel and threw it over his back, cinching it tight. “You be a good boy just a little longer,” I said to the horse, hugging his neck, “and I’ll give you a lifetime of apples and carrots.”

Addie swung up onto Nickel’s back, turned his head with the halter rope, took a deep breath and walked purposefully out into the light drizzle. I grabbed a plastic carry-all with a horse brush, currycomb and hoof pick in it, and headed toward the house.

Addie started up the long driveway, Nickel stepping out quickly. He had a lot of energy left after just plodding three miles in a thunderstorm. What a horse we had! I turned to go to the house and throw my horse grooming tools at the windows to distract the criminals.

As I neared the house, the back door opened and Chickie came running out. “Hey!” he yelled, looking at Addie on Nickel. “One of those girls is out here! I’ll get her. Get back here, girl!” He started running across the yard toward Addie. He would go directly in front of me, trying to grab Addie. I couldn’t let him grab her, or make Nickel spook and throw Addie, so I jumped. I jumped a long way and I jumped hard, landing on Chickie’s back. As we fell to the ground, I started hitting him on the head with the heavy plastic box.

About then, someone grabbed me from behind and pinned my arms behind my back. This man was skanky and dirty with greasy hair. A match for Chickie. It had to be Earl.

“Hey, let go! He was trying to hurt my friend!” I said, trying for innocence and indignation. I struggled against him. Chickie picked himself up off the ground and wiped mud and blood off his face. “I’ll take her inside,” he said. “The other kid is long gone, so we better get goin’ ourselves and get outa here.”

“Yes, you should get out of here,” I retorted, trying to seem braver than I felt.

“Shut up and get inside,” said Earl. He shoved me in the door, through to the living room, where he dumped me into the fat armchair that was Miss Julie’s reading place. I got a strong whiff of armpits from him, as well as cigarette smoke.

“Look what I found,” he said. “She was throwing stuff at the windows.”

“Well, well, it’s the smart aleck brat,” said a female voice, and Angel appeared in front of me, holding a large knife. “You have to interfere in everything, don’t you?”

“Piper,” my mother said in a shaky voice, “do what they say. They don’t want to hurt us, they just want to take some things.”

“You shut up, too! I told you not to talk,” said Angel.

“Sweetie, we really should leave,” Chickie said to her. “There are too many people here and we thought there would only be one little old lady in the house. Would have been easy pickin’s, but it’s not worth it. The other kid probably went for help.”

“Sweetie, we should leave,” Angel mimicked him in a nasty voice. “Do you hear yourself? Where are your guts? You need to put gags in all their mouths before I get super ticked. We just need to hurry a little.”

I looked over at Sam, Mom, and Miss Julie, trying to tell them with my eyes that help would be coming. Sam was bruised and had a bloody lip. He must have put up a fight. Mom looked fierce. Her temper would help her out if she didn’t make them angry. Miss Julie was paler than usual and I hoped she wasn’t going to pass out as Chickie put kitchen towels in their mouths and tied the towels behind their heads.

“Now, Sugar-pie, don’t talk like that,” Chickie said. “We decided before we came here what we wanted to do. But all these people make it impossible. We should go.”

“Hold on, bro,” said Earl. “I’m kind of agreein’ with my Angel there. We’re here already, so let’s look for jewelry and silver and stuff. Make it worth our while. We can be gone fast where no one will find us, but let’s get some sparklies to justify our time. A rich old lady like this must have collected a lot of bling over the years.”

“Wait! What do you mean, your Angel? She’s my Angel, if she’s anyone’s,”said Chickie. “Tell, him, Sweetie.”

“I’m nobody’s Angel, but my own,” said Angel. “You two can’t manage to find two dollars between you. Both of y’all are loser dopers. And you!” She looked straight at me with crazy, hate-filled eyes.

“I had a chance with that handsome doctor you call Daddy, but no! You had to poison him against me!”

“No, I didn’t ever...” I began.

“Shut up, brat! Earl, will you gag this child? I have to think.” She paced the living room hardwood floor, looking out the window every now and then. Willie Nelson came mewing into the room and Angel delivered a swift kick to his side. The kitten sailed behind the sofa where I couldn’t see it. Tears of pity leaked from my eyes. What kind of maniac would kick a kitten?

“Stupid cat,” she said. “That cat was supposed to soften up the doc so he’d like me.”

Earl put an old dish rag in my mouth and tied it behind my head. I moved it around in my mouth, tasting grease.

“Earl, you go upstairs and search for watches and good jewelry. You know the kind of thing I like. Then come down and find some fancy silverware.” Angel was good at giving orders to the men and I realized that she was the leader of this pack. The crazy brains behind their scrawny brawn.

“Okay, darlin’, I’m on my way.”

“Chickie, do you think you can manage to take these three people to the basement and tie them up down there so they can’t get away? I’ll bring the brat, but I want to mess her up a little first for causing us problems.”

“Yeah, sure, Sweetie. But maybe you should take the adults, since their hands are tied. The rope is down there and I can bring a little girl downstairs easy.” Angel looked at him, looked at me, and nodded.

“I guess it does make sense for me to take the bigger ones. Let’s go, people!” She poked Sam in the side with her big knife. He glared at her, then looked at me helplessly.

“Head for the basement, pretty boy!” she said. Sam led the way, with Miss Julie and then my mom close behind, glaring at Angel.

“Let’s go, girlie,” said Chickie. “Too bad about this. I was hoping you would give my horse a good home. But once Angel gets something in her head, well, it’s best to do what she says. At least you won’t be up here with her and her knife. She don’t like you.”

As we started to walk toward the basement door, I bumped into a lamp, knocking it hard so it went crashing into a table.

“Hey, stupid, what’s going on up there?” Angel called from the basement.

“Just a little mishap, sweetness,” Chickie called back, picking up the lamp. “Don’t be dumb, kid. Just do what you’re told.”

He directed me to the basement door and down the stairs. The others were tied to various poles around the basement. We were met by Angel, who handed him some rope. Chickie tied my hands together, and then tied me to a pole. Angel stood in front of me, staring and playing with the large knife she held. “Any phones?” she asked Chickie.

“Uh, I don’t think so,” he said.

“Didn’t look, did you, dummy?” She patted me on the butt and the front of my jeans, checking for phones. When she found nothing, she straightened and checked her watch. “We’d better hurry it up,” she said.

“Hey, Angel!” Earl called from upstairs. “I found a bunch of watches, jewelry and stuff. We better get goin’. We’ve been here way too long!”

“You are really lucky, brat,” Angel said. “I won’t have time to do what I wanted. But I will have time to start a little fire.” She snickered and trotted up the stairs, Chickie following and arguing.

With Angel, Chickie, and Earl upstairs, we were all left tied and gagged in the basement. We looked at each other, but there was no way I could tell them that Addie had gone for help. My mom was beginning to look scared, Sam looked ferocious, and Miss Julie sagged against a pole, breathing heavily. We heard a lot of clomping back and forth upstairs, and all of us kept looking up and wondering who was going where and with what. I was pretty sure they were cleaning out the whole house and there would be nothing left. I didn’t care as long as they left us alone.

That was when I smelled the smoke. I closed my eyes and tried not to panic. Were we going to die down here in a housefire before help arrived?