Ransom by Lois Duncan

Author:Lois Duncan
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9781453263396
Publisher: Open Road
Published: 2012-07-26T04:08:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

THE BODY OF PETER Godfrey, the driver of the missing school bus, was found late Friday afternoon by two little boys who were chasing the family cow. It took awhile for the police to piece together the complete story, for the boys were Mexican and in the excitement of the moment their grasp of the English language deserted them. Their father, to whom they had reported the discovery, was even more agitated, and the result was that it took most of an hour for them to convey the simple fact that a man, with most of his face blown away, was lying in the bushes just west of their farm.

Later that evening an engaged couple, searching for a romantic parking area along the bank of the Rio Grande, discovered and reported the deserted school bus.

Both stories appeared in the Saturday morning paper, along with a photograph of Mr. Godfrey, taken eight years before as a gift for his wife on their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. A quote from Mrs. Godfrey said, “It is terrible, terrible. I can’t believe it. I can’t imagine why anyone would do such a thing. Peter didn’t have an enemy in this world.”

Interviews with some of the high school students who had ridden the bus on Thursday afternoon had belatedly brought to light the fact that Mr. Godfrey had not been the driver on this occasion.

“There was a substitute,” a sophomore girl was reported as saying. “He was young and kind of cute-looking with red hair and broad shoulders. My girl friend and I kept talking about what a doll he was.”

A freshman boy contributed the fact that the new driver had not known the route well, and that he himself had been dropped off on the far side of his regular stop and had been forced to walk back half a block.

“After that,” another boy reported, “Bruce Kirtland sat up front with the driver and told him where the stops were.”

When the sheriff’s officer attempted to follow this track to an ultimate conclusion, Steve Kirtland told them, “I’m sorry, Bruce isn’t here right now. I don’t know how I can put you in touch with him. Both he and his brother Glenn have taken off on a weekend camping trip.”

His hand was shaking when he replaced the receiver on the hook and turned to his wife. “I shouldn’t have lied. I should have told them.”

“No!” Mrs. Kirtland shook her head violently. “No, Steve. You did the right thing! If word ever gets out that we told the police, we’ll never get the boys back again! People who will do something like this won’t stop at anything!”

“Murder! Somehow I never thought … I guess I didn’t want to let myself think …”

“The only safe thing to do,” Mrs. Kirtland said, “is to give them the money just as soon as possible. We have the full amount. We have to get it to them.”

“It’s not going to work that way,” Steve Kirtland said wearily. “They, whoever they

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