Chapter 2

"What's the matter, Robert?" Katherine asked her husband who was sitting thoughtfully in his wheelchair after the call had ended.

"I have no idea. It seems that Ed and Eve have gone hiking today. They left Danny in Suzanne's care. Now they are late, and Danny is panicking."

She stepped behind him and started massaging his neck. The strength of his shoulders kept amazing her. "Can't you just ask Suzanne for an explanation?"

"I will. But I'll give them another ten minutes."

Ironside dialed the Browns' number. Suzanne answered the phone.

"Are your mother and Ed back?"

"No, they're not – but how'd you know? Don't tell me that Danny..."

"Yes, Danny called me. He sounded worried."

"Danny never sounds anything. Yes, they are late. But where's the problem?
Some colleagues had bought a voucher for a night in a nice hotel for them as a wedding present. And as Ed never takes a holiday there were bets out all over the department whether or not he would take the time off to go there before the summer ended. So – since the climatologic beginning of fall is today - yesterday was the last chance, and because everybody made such a fuss about it he used it. They are adults and newlyweds, but since Danny lives with them they never had an evening off together. Don't you think they deserve one once in a while?"

She sounded rather aggressive, in spite of seemingly defending her mother and stepfather. Suzanne Dwyer was a very spirited young lady.

"Will you stay with Danny overnight?"

"Of course I will, unless they come back soon! I'll have to. My mother would kill me if I left that precious child alone, and what's worse, Ed Brown would be standing there helplessly with that sad look in his brown eyes! He may be a good policeman, but in his private life he's such a..." Obviously she bit back something like 'wimp'.

That girl had to be terribly jealous of her mother's new husband or of her adopted brother or of both.

"Suzanne – what do you think your mother would say if she heard you?"

Suzanne was now shouting into the phone in a mocking voice, "She would say, 'Honey, I don't love you one bit less than before. There's enough love for both you and Danny'."

"And, would she be wrong? Do they treat you shabbily?"

"Of course not! They can't do anything wrong. They just let this impossible kid walk into my life and suddenly I have a little brother. He destroys every chance of a normal family life, he smashes things I like and he has to be handled with kid gloves, but they are always patient. They are always right. It sucks to always be the one who is wrong! Without this little pain in the neck – in MY neck - I'd move to Hawaii or to the moon right away!"

"Now that's enough! You are twenty-three years old. Start functioning again. Have you tried Ed's car phone?"

"No, I haven't. But if they are in a restaurant they would not hear it anyway."

Danny was right. Avoiding the word 'right' Ironside insisted, "In that case they would have called. Try it and call me back!"

Ironside was convinced that there would not be such an easy solution, but it had to be checked out.

Meanwhile he was already thinking about how to go on.

"Katherine, please pack a small overnight bag for me, just the necessary for a night or two. Then book a seat for me on the last flight from San Francisco to Denver, will you? I suppose I will be needed there."

Katherine knew better than to question his actions. His flair for smelling trouble was unmatched.

When Suzanne called back she had calmed down. She was now the reasonable person he knew. "They're not answering."

"I'm coming. Katherine will phone you as soon as she knows the time of my arrival at Denver International. It will be late – please pick me up. And Suzanne - take Danny with you."

Ed followed a lane which branched off the road, and finally he saw the lights of a house in the dark. He knocked at the door.

He was greeted by a rifle. "Put your hands on your head where I can see them, mister. Then step into the light, nice and slowly."

Well, you couldn't expect to be welcomed with open arms in such a lonely house at nighttime. In the gas light of the hallway the face of the resident looked very upset. The man was about sixty, stocky, and anything but friendly... and he was staring at Ed as if he had two heads.

"Sir, I'm sorry to disturb..."

"Shut up!" Threateningly he pointed towards a stairs. "Down there!"

"Please, let me explain..."

"Shut up!"

Ed complied. He could understand that a hermit was afraid of a nightly visitor, and he had to admit that he didn't exactly inspire confidence the way he looked right now. He would even have understood to be chased off. But this was over the top. What was the matter with this man?

"Turn around! Try any stunt and I'll shoot you. I'm a hunter, I won't miss."

With the rifle still pointed at him Ed had no choice. The man seemed to know what he was doing. He forced him into a cellar and then – where did he take them?! – he put some handcuffs around Ed's wrists behind his back. With a bang the cellar door slammed shut, then a key was turned.

It wasn't entirely dark in the cellar since some moonlight penetrated through a light well. It was a normal storage cellar with a shelf on one side. Ed recognized stocks of food, wine, cleaning agents and a few flowerpots.

Through the ceiling Ed heard the hermit's voice. He concentrated on listening to what he was saying. "I tell you, the guy looks like a bum, but he's the cop who brought McManus down! I've seen his picture in the newspaper... No, of course not the one in the wheelchair; the other one. He's the new Chief now. No idea how he found me... Damn, I know that I have to kill him!"