Free 4 Hemmed In by Marjorie Sorrell Rockwell Page B

“Charlie Aitkens said it was a guy whose girlfriend has a teenage son who’s into Lord of the Rings . How many people in Caruthers Corners could that be?”
    “ Hmm,” Maddy considered the question. “Mildred Gertner’s son Stuart is into Lord of the Rings . She says he’s read the book more than a hundred times. Thinks he’s a Hobbit or something.”
    “His ears are big and he’s barely five feet tall,” Lizzie pointed out.
    “Hobbits aren’t real,” snapped Cookie. A woman used to dealing in hard facts, she wasn’t attuned to fantasy worlds populated by wizards and dwarfs and fire-demons.
    “No … but that’s not the point. The boy’s a devotee.”
    “ Mildred can’t be the thief’s girlfriend,” said Bootsie. “She and Frank have been married since high school. No boyfriend in the picture.”
    “ Mildred isn’t the woman Charlie was talking about,” agreed Maddy. “But her son may know other boys who are hooked on those Tolkien books. I think Jim should question him to see if any of his friends have a single mother with a shifty boyfriend.”
    “ Ahem ,” Beau cleared his throat. “That’s not a bad idea, Jim.”
    The big moon-faced policeman nodded. “I’ll put one of my deputies on it first thing in the morning. Got nothing to lose. We don’t have any other leads.”
    Edgar sipped his coffee. He wasn’t as fussy about his joe as his wife. Caffeine was caffeine to him. “At least we have a plan of action. Ben goes down in the well tomorrow morning. And Jim starts hunting for Hobbits.”
    “That about sums it up,” said Beau Madison, finishing off his coffee in one gulp. He liked the taste of chicory.
    ≈ ≈ ≈
    Aggie got up to go to the bathroom. It was just down the hall. As she passed her cousin N’yen’s room, she heard sobbing.
    Tapping on the door , she whispered, “Can I come in?”
    “Y-yes,” came a tiny quavering voice.
    “What’s the matter?”
    The boy sat up in bed. Aggie could see his silhouette from the moonlight coming through the bedroom window. “I’m worried about my daddy and mommy,” he said. “I don’t want them to die.”
    “They’re not going to die,” the girl reassured him. “They just got banged up a little. That’s what my daddy told me, and he never lies. After all, he’s a lawyer.”
    “Honest?”
    “Honest Injun. Don’t worry so much.”
    “I’m afraid of being alone again, like after my first mommy and daddy died. They were in a car accident too.”
    “You won’t ever be alone. You’ve got a family now. Forever.”
    “Really?”
    “Yes, you’ve got me and grammy and grampy and my daddy and mommy and Uncle Freddie and Aunt Amanda and all your new cousins.” She paused. “Besides, your own daddy and mommy will be getting out of the hospital real soon.”
    “Promise?”
    “You know you can always trust me, your very favorite cousin.”
    ≈ ≈ ≈
    That same night Jasper Beanie heard a noise outside the caretaker’s cottage. Could it be those prankish high-school boys again? They liked to initiate members into the Seniors Scalawag Society by sending unwary boys into the cemetery to retrieve a bone. Some of the crypts were in need of repair, access to skeletons being easier than the town commissioners would care to admit. Principal Dorrety had banned such initiations, but they still went on behind his back.
    As Jasper could attest.
    Proper procedure was for the caretaker to phone the police and report any trespassers … but after his week of confinement with the Indiana State Police he wasn’t eager to see more lawmen. So he pulled on his trousers and hobbled out the backdoor, flashlight in hand.
    “Yo, you boys! Get the heck outta the cemetery. It’s closed to the public this time of night.”
    However, the voce that replied didn’t belong to a student at Madison High School. “Hello, Mr. Beanie. Perhaps you could help us? We’re looking for a tombstone with a piece broken off.”
    “There’s lotsa tombstones