Free Gone in a Flash by Susan Rogers Cooper

end of the meal they all agreed that their respective chilies had been great, even though there might have been a bit more heat than advertised in the no-alarm chili. The salad and the plate of fruit dealt with that successfully.
    The girls were cleaning the kitchen and arguing when the front doorbell rang. E.J. and Willis went to the front of the house and all three girls looked at each other.
    ‘That’s him, I bet!’ Megan stage-whispered.
    ‘Should we go in now?’ Bess whispered back.
    ‘Maybe we should wait until they call us in,’ Alicia whispered.
    So the three dried their hands and stood in the kitchen, waiting. They could hear talk from the living room – mostly two male voices, their dad’s and another man’s – with an occasional female laugh. Then they distinctly heard their mother say, ‘I’ll just go get them.’ And in she came. ‘The police chief is here to get your statements about that white car,’ she said.
    The girls nodded and walked single file into the living room, like stair steps going up – first Bess, then Alicia, with Megan at the end.
    Willis and the man were both standing up. ‘Girls, this is police chief Barry Donaldson. Barry, my daughters, Bess, Alicia and Megan.’
    The chief was shorter than their father, maybe just six foot, with snow-white hair and skin darkened by years in the sun. He was just a little overweight, mostly in the stomach, but still wore his uniform well. He had bright blue eyes that sparkled.
    ‘Ladies,’ he said, and bowed slightly. ‘Why don’t y’all have a seat while I ask a couple of questions.’
    They all sat down on the long part of the sectional sofa, with Willis and E.J. taking up one end and the chief the other.
    Chief: ‘Now when did y’all first notice this car following you?’
    Bess: ‘I was driving and I noticed the car pulling out of our street as we left, but didn’t really pay any attention. I noticed it because there aren’t any white cars on our street.’
    Chief: ‘And when was the next time you noticed it?’
    Bess: ‘We were talking, you know? So I wasn’t really paying attention until we pulled into the shopping center. I saw the car behind us and it didn’t really mean much at the time, but I’d pulled into the wrong driveway – the theater is the second driveway not the first, and I had to go all around Kohl’s and Academy to get to the Metroplex and, when I found a parking place, I saw that car again. It was right behind us.’
    Alicia: ‘She called it to our attention, and Megan and I both looked and it looked like the two men Mrs Luna had described the day before.’
    Chief: ‘Dark hair, swarthy complexions. Is that right?’
    Alicia: ‘Yes, sir.’
    Megan: ‘Yes, sir.’
    Bess: ‘Yes, sir.’
    Chief: ‘Did any of you notice the make or model?’
    Alicia: ‘It was a white Ford Taurus. Fairly new.’
    Everyone in the room turned to look at Alicia. She turned pink and said, ‘I like cars. I notice these things!’
    The front door opened and a young patrol man burst in. ‘Chief! A white car just came up the street, saw us, and went speeding off!’
    ‘Well, follow ’em, for God’s sake!’ the chief said.
    ‘Morris went after ’em. He sent me in to tell you.’
    The chief sighed. ‘See that thing up there on your shoulder, boy?’
    ‘Yes, sir?’
    ‘What is that thing?’
    ‘It’s a radio,’ the patrolman said, his face turning red.
    ‘Now you and I are both stuck here without transportation and Morris’s driving solo after two miscreants. Is that about the situation as you see it, boy?’
    The patrolman hung his head. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said.
    Willis stood up. ‘Come on, Barry, we’ll take my truck. You can deputize it.’
    You!’ the chief said, pointing a finger at the patrolman. ‘Stay here. On the front porch. Anybody, I mean anybody, comes by this house, you radio me, you got that boy?’
    ‘Yes, sir!’
    The chief sighed. ‘Let’s do it, Pugh.’
VERA’S STORY
TUESDAY
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