Not much had changed in the Cooper household since Odette had left to follow Van. Mr. Cooper was still looking over his briefs, Quinn was making rapid progress through the Chekhov play, and Logan sat in his bedroom, listening to the latest heavy metal music through headphones.

When Quinn and Mr. Cooper heard the front door fly open, they looked over, expecting to see Odette. To their shock, they saw instead Muffy Crosswire, the daughter of the man they distrusted more than any other.

The lawyer and his seventeen-year-old daughter quickly rose to their feet and confronted the girl, who was pale and breathing heavily.

"What do you want?" asked Quinn with barely concealed disdain.

Muffy struggled to catch her breath. "O-Odette...Odette..."

"What about her?" inquired Mr. Cooper.

"She's been kidnapped!" Muffy blurted out.

Quinn swallowed. Mr. Cooper choked. Logan, Dallin, and Mrs. Cooper approached Muffy with expressions of concern.

"Is this some kind of a joke?" said Mrs. Cooper suspiciously. "If it is, it's in very bad taste."

"It's no joke!" Muffy yelled at her. "I saw a man with a beard and a scar jump out and grab her and he had a knife and I tried to call the police but my cell phone was dead so I ran all the way to the limo and I came here to tell you and Van's on his way because I didn't have time to wait for him and I've been meeting secretly with him and I confess everything!"

After uttering this run-on sentence without a single breath, Muffy looked even more pale and frantic than before. "Sit down, Muffy," Mr. Cooper urged her, although it sounded more like a command. "Logan," he said to his son, "go out and see if you can find Van. I'll get the police on the line."

As Muffy took a seat in the study and Mr. Cooper headed for the telephone, Mrs. Cooper expressed her reservations. "Why should we believe her, Mel?"

"She has nothing to gain by lying, dear." Mr. Cooper picked up the receiver and dialed 911.

Less than ten minutes later, two policewomen had arrived at the Cooper home and were grilling Muffy for her account of the kidnapping. The members of the Cooper family, with the exception of Odette and Dallin, were gathered around, their faces pallid and anxious.

"He was an aardvark man, in his twenties, I think," Muffy recounted. "He had a long black beard, and long hair, too. There was a scar on the left side of his mouth, like somebody punched him."

Dallin walked up to Muffy and handed her a pad of paper and a pencil. "Thanks, Dallin," said one of the policewomen. "Now, Muffy, see if you can draw a picture of what the kidnapper looked like."

Muffy inserted the eraser end of the pencil into her mouth and started to think. As she did so, Quinn beckoned to her father. He followed her into the study, where she spoke to him quietly. "I wouldn't trust a word she says. I'll bet you anything her father's behind this."

"Don't make any hasty judgments," Mr. Cooper admonished her.

"Yeah, Quinn," said Van, who had followed the two into the study out of curiosity. "Why don't you keep your big fat beak shut?"

"Why don't you?" Quinn glared at him angrily. "None of this would have happened if you hadn't sneaked out to see Muffy."

"That's enough," said Mr. Cooper firmly. "I don't want to hear any more blaming from either of you."

Meanwhile, Muffy ripped the top page from her pad and handed it to the policewomen, who made discouraged mumbling sounds while analyzing the crudely drawn portrait. "I'm sorry, officers," Muffy said to them. "I'm good at remembering faces, but I'm terrible at drawing them."

At that moment the doorbell rang. Quinn answered it; to her surprise, Ed and Millicent Crosswire stood at the top of the access ramp, dressed in their finest attire. The couple exchanged scowls with Quinn, who then stood aside to allow them to enter.

The Crosswires ignored the dirty looks shot at them by the Cooper family members, and walked directly toward Muffy, standing between her and the interrogating officers. Muffy swallowed nervously.

"You were seeing Van against our wishes," said Mrs. Crosswire furiously. "Not only that, but you put yourself in danger. What if the kidnapper had gone after you instead?"

"Why would he do that?" asked Muffy naively.

"Ransom," replied Mr. Crosswire, who was no less angry than his wife. "I'm one of the richest men in Elwood City."

"Why do you find Van so interesting?" Mrs. Crosswire asked her daughter. "What's wrong with the children at Uppity Downs? They're smarter and more cultured than he is."

"They're a bunch of snobs," Muffy answered. "And Van is a nice boy. He doesn't take after his father."

Mr. Crosswire pointed at Muffy menacingly. "I don't want to hear any more. When we get home, I am going to give you the...the...the longest lecture of your entire life."

"Hurt me, Dad," Muffy mumbled incredulously.

"Excuse me, sir, madam," said one of the policewomen to the Crosswires, "but we're conducting a criminal investigation. Could you please not stand between us and our witness?"

"Yes, of course," said Mrs. Crosswire as she and her husband stepped out of the way so that the officers could resume their questioning of Muffy.

"We'll cooperate in any way that we can," said Mr. Crosswire to the officers.

Mr. Cooper confronted him with an expression of unbelieving surprise. "I don't see how it would profit you to help us," he said gruffly.

The lawyer's cynical remark caused anger to well up in Ed Crosswire's heart. He struggled to restrain himself. Turning his face away from Mr. Cooper, he muttered, "My daughter's involved."

----

The abduction of Odette Cooper sent a wave of terror through the quiet neighborhood. By the next morning, extra-tall missing child posters showcasing Odette's face and long neck appeared on nearly every telephone pole in the city.

"If he chose to, God could surround us with his power, protecting us from any harm that might come to us," preached Reverend Fulsome to the gathered throng of parishioners. "But for reasons we do not and cannot understand, he chooses not to. It is not for us to question why..."

"Yada yada yada," mumbled Quinn Cooper under her breath. Her mother cast her an offended glance.

Several pews behind them sat the Read family. D.W., wearing her finest dress, sat restlessly, wishing that the meeting would end or that an angel would appear. Next to her sat Arthur and Sue Ellen, who were holding hands; Arthur looked as if he was struggling to keep a reverent face in spite of the fire ants crawling around in his underwear.

Finally the congregation sang the closing hymn and began to file out of the chapel. D.W. greeted the Tibble boys, who were in attendance with their grandmother.

"That was really boring," said Tommy. "I yawned through the whole thing."

"I yawned more than you did," said Timmy.

Mrs. Read dragged D.W. along by the hand as they strolled down the sidewalk toward their house. Sue Ellen continued to walk alongside Arthur, gripping his hand affectionately.

Arthur could do little more than stammer and ask glib questions like, "What did you think of the sermon, Sue Ellen?"

"It was okay, I guess," she replied. "At least he didn't try to blame the family for what happened, like some religions I've seen."

In the meantime, the Coopers were herding their children into the family van. Quinn and Logan helped Van into his seat, then folded his wheelchair and loaded it into the back of the vehicle.

As Mr. Cooper drove the van along the street, the rest of his family sat silently, entertaining tender thoughts about the girl who should have been with them, but whose fate was unknown.

Then Mrs. Cooper turned to Quinn and broke the silence. "What did you find objectionable about the sermon, Quinn?" she asked bluntly.

Quinn didn't answer, but only lowered her beak slightly.

"You were being very irreverent," her mother added.

Finally Quinn began to spill her feelings. "Mom, I don't think the reverend has any idea what he's talking about."

Mrs. Cooper scowled at her.

"It's just like when Van was crippled," Quinn went on. "All he could talk about was how God lets things like that happen for some mysterious reason that we can't understand. Well, maybe I want to understand. And maybe the reverend is just making excuses because he doesn't have the answers."

"Reverend Fulsome is a wise man," said Mr. Cooper without turning his head. "Just because he can't explain the mysteries of God in legalese doesn't mean he's ignorant about them."

"It just doesn't seem fair to me," said Quinn, her voice starting to break. "We've been good Christians all these years, and what has it gotten us? Van's crippled, and now Odette's missing. While people like the Crosswires have everything they need, and then some."

"Life's not fair," said Mr. Cooper flippantly. "You expect too much, Quinn."

As he gripped the steering wheel he could hear Quinn sniffling and whimpering. His own heart ached for his lost daughter, but he pushed the feeling aside.

(To be continued...)