ANNIE: The Case of the Delinquent Daughter

1.

It had been six months since Annie-and Sandy had been adopted by Oliver Warbucks and his new Wife Grace Farrell Warbucks. Annie was sure that these last months had been the happiest in her life. Lately Annie's new Parents had been hinting at another surprise for her.

It was this, surprise that Annie was wondering about as she sat in the Duesenberg riding home from school. Annie was lost in her own thoughts when the Asp spoke to her.

"Miss Annie," he said gently, a hint of amusement in his voice, "We're home."

Annie shook herself out of her thoughts and smiled up at the Asp. She grabbed her books and climbed out of the car.

"Thank you, Mr. Asp," she said, he smiled genuinely at her. "By the way, you wouldn't happen to know what the surprise Mom and Daddy Warbucks have for me would you?"

The Asp Grinned,

"That would be telling." He chuckled, "But don't worry you won't have too much longer to wait."

Annie grinned back, "Okay I get it," she said. She turned and hurried inside the house. After letting her parents know that she was home, she went to the kitchen and had the snack Mrs. Pugh had made for her. After she did her homework, she settled down in the living room to listen to her favorite Radio program. It was a Detective show. Just as she was getting into the story, she heard the telephone in the hall ring. A second later she heard her mother answer it.

"What?!" she heard Grace exclaim, "Is she alright?!" Annie forgot about her program and rushed out into the hall.

"Yes…Yes, of course we'll be right over!" she said before she hung up.

"Mom," said Annie as her Daddy appeared at the top of the stairs, "What's going on?"

"Somebody threw a rock through the orphanage window and struck Molly!" said a pale Grace

"Is she alright?!" Cried Annie wavering between shock and anger.

"Yes, the doctor says she'll be alright, thank goodness," replied Grace.

"Thank goodness indeed," said Oliver Warbucks. He turned to Drake and told him to have the car brought around. A few minutes later the Warbucks family was headed to the orphanage. Annie Rushed to Molly's side when they got there. Molly was Laying on her bed with a bandage on her forehead.

"Hey Molly," said Annie as she, her dad and her mom sat down on the edge of the bed.

"Hey Annie," she said quietly, "My head hurts." Annie smiled

"I'm sure it does," she said, "the doctor says you'll be okay though."

Before Molly could reply. The glass of the bedroom window shattered, and another rock missed Annie by a fraction of an inch! It bounced off the wall and thudded to the floor. Grace through herself forward on instinct to shield Molly as Oliver shot forward to protect Annie. Annie assured him she was fine and bolted to the window. She saw a back of a dark clothed figure running toward the corner!

Before Oliver could summon Punjab or the Asp, Annie dove out the broken window and gave chase. The figure turned and ran into an alley two buildings down the street. The figure was fast, but Annie was faster. She threw a flying tackle and knocked the figure against the wall. It was at this point that the figure's hat fell off and Annie realized from the sight of the long dark hair that fell down around her shoulders that it was a girl she was chasing. The girl shoved Annie off of her as hard as she could and jumped to her feet. Annie hit the ground rolled and jumped back to her feet. The girl struck a fighting stance and swung at her. Annie ducked and caught her with an upper cut and then peppered her gut with a chain of rapid punches that knocked her backwards into a trash can.

The girl looked surprised.

"Where did you learn to use your fists like that?" she gasped

"I'm full of surprises." Annie retorted, "now, why did you hurt Molly?!"

"I wasn't trying to seriously hurt her, I was trying to get to your dad and he's been seen here over the last couple of days checking on that girl!" she snapped, "so I figured this was a good way to draw him out! he's the only one I want to hurt!"

"Why," said Annie, "what did we ever do to you?!"

"What do you care," she snapped, "what would a rich girl like you know about the rest of us living down here on the streets or in the shanties with nothing but the clothes on your back and maybe a mom or dad -if you're lucky!"

Annie snorted and glared at the girl.

"That shows how much you know!" she retorted, "That orphanage that you just vandalized, well that was my home for a little over ten years. It's better now, but when I was there it was run by a half-drunk tyrant named Agatha Hannigan. She used us as free labor in a dress making business then kept all the profits for herself. I've only been Annie Warbucks for a little over five months. You wondered where I learned to fight, there's your answer. When you live in an orphanage you learn to take care of yourself!"

The girl looked a little stunned.

"Now," said Annie grabbing the girl's wrist so she couldn't run away, "I'll ask you one more time, why did you try to hurt my dad?!"

"Because," snapped the girl recovering her voice, "Your dad put my dad in jail!"

This time it was Annie that was taken back.

"Maybe you'd better start at the beginning." She said calming down.

The girl took a breath and began her story.

"My dad worked at Warbucks' Labs." She said, "One day about 6 months ago Dad didn't come home from work. My mom and I found out that he had been arrested and charged with stealing papers from Director Warren's office."

The girl paused to wipe her glistening eyes.

"My dad is not a thief!" she insisted, "My mother and I said we would go over Warren's head and plead our case to Mr. Warbucks himself, but they said that it was Warbucks himself who had my dad arrested!"

"I have heard absolutely nothing about anything like this," said Annie, "and believe me, I would have. What is your name?"

"It's Jennifer Wilcox," she said, "I go by Jen most of the time."

"Well, Jen," said Annie letting go of the girl's wrist, "I'm going to talk to Daddy Warbucks about this and find out what he knows about the whole thing."

Jen looked flabbergasted.

"You're going to help me," she gasped, "after what I did?"

"Fortunately for you, I'm not one to hold grudges." Said Annie, "Now you'd better get out of here before the police show up as I'm sure my mother or father has already called them!"

"Okay but how will I know if you've found out anything?!" said Jen

"We'll meet back here in a few hours after everything dies down," said Annie, "if you think you can find your way back to this alley."

"No problem." Said the girl, "and…thanks."

Annie nodded and watched as the girl took off and disappeared out the other side of the alley.

Annie stood there and counted to ten slowly just to make sure the girl had a decent head start. Then she turned around and walked back to the orphanage.

Her parents were surprised when she arrived alone.

"He got away, huh," said Warbucks

"Actually," said Annie, "He was a she, and no, she didn't get away. I let her go."

"What?!" exclaimed Grace, "You let her go?! After what she did?!"

"Yes," said Annie, "After we talked, you see Molly getting hurt was an accident, she was actually angry with you Daddy Warbucks, and this was her attempt to get to you, because you've been seen here several times over the last few days."

"Why would she want to get to me?" asked Oliver bewildered

"Her name is Jennifer Wilcox. Apparently, her dad, was one of your employees at Warbucks labs," said Annie, "That is, until he was apparently arrested and jailed for stealing papers from a Mr. Warren's office. Which, according to Warren was done on your orders."

"I see," said Mr. Warbucks. He turned to his wife

"Grace, have you heard anything about this? I haven't."

Grace shook her head.

"Not a word!" she replied

"Me either," said Annie, "and you know I answer the phone and take messages sometimes too. That's one thing that makes me believe her story, because, usually, if something that serious happens at one of your businesses you're the first to know about it!"

"You said one thing," said Daddy Warbucks, "Was there something else?"

"Just that when she was telling me her story, I had ahold of her wrist and her heartbeat never changed. Also, she never broke eye contact, and that's not the body language of someone who is lying."

To be continued…Please Review I like to hear from my readers!