Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Vol. 100, Nos. 4 & 5. Whole Nos. 603 & 604, October 1992

It was in the reflection on the ceiling that Mitch noticed something stir in the untidy heap of bedclothes. “Someone’s there!” he told Podge. “Come on.”

He approached the bed, with Podge observing a judicious step behind him. For a worrying second or two Mitch wondered if he was in error. The bedclothes were quite still.

Then they were flung aside and a red-haired woman sat up and shouted, “What in the name of Satan...?”

The words didn’t trouble Mitch so much as the sight of her rearing up from the bed, not unlike a ship’s figurehead he had once seen in a maritime museum. She was bare-breasted and gave every appearance of being carved out of oak and painted bright pink with dabs of crimson on the points of her chest. No doubt the effect was partly due to the light from the mirrors and partly to Mitch’s immaturity. Female torsos in general had yet to persuade him that they were anything but grotesque.

Without even covering herself, the woman demanded, “Just what do you think you’re doing in here?”

“Looking for someone,” answered Podge, over Mitch’s shoulder.

Mitch found his voice. “Our friend Danny.”

She said, “Danny? You’re friends of Danny? Bloody liberty — I’ll have her guts for garters. Get out, the lot of you. Out!”

He heard the others act on the order. Before going after them, he stood his ground long enough to say, “You want to watch out. It could be you next.” Far from being grateful for the advice, the woman gave signs of rolling out of bed in pursuit. That was too much for Mitch. He fled.

Downstairs, Clive was waiting for the others. “She ain’t here,” they said in chorus, and Clive added, “We’re too late.”

“Did you look in the freezer?”

“It’s stacked to the top with peas and things from Sainsbury’s. We couldn’t move all the stuff.”

From the bedroom upstairs the woman shouted, “I’ll call the police.”

“We’ve got to get out,” said Podge. “There’s nothing we can do, Mitch.”

“Danny must be dead by now,” said Clive. “If the police come, they’ll find out.”

“That lady upstairs won’t call them,” Mitch said, trying to calm his troops. “She’s in it. She knew about Danny. Is there anywhere we haven’t looked — a cellar, or a garage?” He knew as he spoke that any gang leader worthy of the name would have said something more positive.

Morgan said, “I don’t bloody care. I’m off.”

“Me, too,” said his brother Daley. “Who’s coming?”

Not everyone was so frank. One or two muttered inaudible things before they followed Morgan out.

“Wimps!” Mitch called after them.

If the slur was heard, it was not heeded. The “gang,” all of it, including Clive, deserted. Mitch stepped out to the patio and watched his friends in flight, the seven he would have claimed as his closest mates, haring along the drive towards Almond Avenue. He knew for certain that his authority, his credibility as leader, was gone forever. They were the quitters, yet he would be blamed.

He still felt driven to find out what had happened to Danny. He was about to go around the side of the house in search of a cellar when he became conscious of something that shouldn’t be. Some part of his brain was functioning independently, trying to convey information, an observation. He stared about him uncertainly.

Then he realised what was amiss: the swimming pool was deserted. Sam Coldharbour was no longer beside it, tied to the sunlounger. The sunlounger itself was gone.

If Coldharbour was free, danger was imminent.

He heard a sound close by, and swung around. It wasn’t Sam Coldharbour standing behind him, and it wasn’t the woman from upstairs. It was Danny.

She was in shorts and a T-shirt, and was barefoot. She said solemnly, “Thanks, Mitch.”

“We thought you were dead,” he said in a whisper. His real voice wouldn’t function. “Come on, let’s run for it!”

She said in her flat, unexcited way, “There’s no need to run.”

“He’ll get us.”

“He won’t.”

“There’s a woman as well.”

“She’s my mother,” said Danny, then added, “I know what you’re thinking and you’re right. Your dad was right, too. She’s another stupid woman who got tricked by Sam Coldharbour. He told her she was adorable, and stuff like that. She moved in here four weeks ago. School had broken up and I had nowhere else to go.”

“You mean you lived here all this time?”

“Stayed here.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“I was ashamed.”

“When you didn’t come out last night, we thought you were caught. Podge saw him chasing you.”

“He did. He was in a foul temper. He grabbed my hair and pulled me inside and spanked my bum. Him! My mother thought it was a real joke. She locked me in my room for swearing at him. She sided with him.” Danny’s lips drained of blood as she pressed her mouth shut.

Mitch said, “We thought he was going to kill you and eat you.”

“That was dumb.” She gave a faint smile. “But I’m glad about what you did.”

Mitch shook his head. “We did bugger all except tie him up.”

Then Danny surprised him by catching hold of his wrist. “I want to show you something.”