“Ethan Klawpaw was smart. Jag and Kimmell attacked Klawpaw’s daughter, assaulting her and leaving her for dead. Klawpaw found out who did it, and he went after the entire family. Because at that time, nobody wanted to arrest the McFarland’s. The former sheriff had a decent heart, but he was a coward. Anyway, Ethan didn’t know that the brothers were out of town but he waited until night and then he set their house on fire with an accelerant. The place exploded like a bomb, and nobody made it out alive. When he found out that the brothers weren’t at home, it kind of drove him nuts and he shot himself. His wife moved away after that, taking their ten-year-old son with her. I never heard about them again, but I still think about them now and then.”
Bree and I stared at each other — we were both sitting in the backseat now — and I reached out and took her hand. The story was so horrible it was hard to imagine, and I couldn’t begin to imagine how hard it must have been to be Ethan’s wife. She lost her daughter, and then her husband. And had to uproot her entire life.
“If they’re that bad, we have to get Fancypants back,” I said. “I can’t leave him with monsters like that.”
“We won’t,” Bran said. “I’m going to pull up information about the warehouse to see what were getting into.”
As he searched on his phone, we entered the darkest part of the Grimwold. These were the streets that nobody walked alone, not unless they had several kills under their belt. Even then, they were betting on their lives.
Here, was the old industrial district within the town. There hadn’t been much industry, it was such a small town, but at one time there was a booming logging industry. And along with the loggers came the miners, and they had congregated in this area of Starlight Hollow.
There were several abandoned warehouses, and abandoned lumber mill, and at least three taverns that had been shut down. One had been a brothel. The entire area felt like a wasteland, but nature encroached and now ivy and vines had grown up over the buildings. Trees had sprouted up, cracking up the concrete, and the entire area had turned into a ghost town.
“Which warehouse was Josh talking about?” Bree asked.
“I believe he was talking about Western Sumac Warehouse. It belonged to one of the logging companies. It’s about five minutes ahead and to the right.” Faron hesitated, then said, “We should let Grams and May know what we’re doing. And did anybody call Daisy yet?”
“I thought you did,” I said.
“I thought Bran did,” Faron answered.
“It seems nobody did,” Bree said. “I’ll do so now.”
She punched in Daisy’s number, and we all quieted down so she could talk to the sheriff.
“I’m putting you on speaker,” Bree said when Daisy came on the line.
“Hey, Daisy, we have a good lead on the men who kidnapped Fancypants —”
Faron interrupted me. “Daisy? The McFarland brothers are back in town, and we’re headed for the Western Sumac Warehouse. You better get several units down here now. It would be nice to go in with some backup.”
There was silence on the other end of the line for just a second, then Daisy sputtered.
“The McFarland brothers? Oh hell. I’m sending units down now. Don’t go in without us — you don’t want to take on that trouble.”
“We have to,” I said. “I can’t chance them killing Fancypants if we’re onto them. And you can bet they’re listening to a police scanner. The minute you send out units, they’re going to know about it.”
“They don’t have to,” Daisy said. “Trust me, please.” She paused briefly to talk to someone near her, then returned to the phone. “I’ve just sent three units out and I’m on my way. I’m also dispatching the EMTs in case anyone’s hurt. Nothing went over the scanner, and I warned my men not to talk about it until I get there.”
As she hung up, I turned the others. “I’m not sure what to do. Daisy seems positive that she can get here in time, but what if they can’t? I need to rescue Fancypants. Surely we can creep up around the side of the warehouse and take a look through the windows? It’s dark, so they shouldn’t see us.”
Faron and Bran glanced at each other, then looked back at me.
“We have no idea what kind of security system they have,” Faron said. “Chances are they’ve been through town before and used the same building.”
“Unless they own it, there probably isn’t a security system,” I argued. It was foolish, but the impetus to run in and rescue Fancypants clouded out my reason.
Bree put a hand on my arm, shaking her head. “You need to use common sense. We aren’t armed except for whatever Faron might have in the trunk. We have no idea what kind of muscle they have inside. The MacFarland brothers won’t give a damn if we end up dead on the floor. And the only thing they care about their kidnapped victims is how much money they can get off of them.”
“Cover your phones!” Bran said. “Look — coming down the street.”
We all covered up the glare of our phones, dampening any light coming from within the car. I followed the direction in which Bran was pointing, only to see an olive green van passed by the streetlights, heading for the warehouse. I couldn’t see from where I was, but at that moment the spell that May cast on me broke. The full force of Fancypants’s fear hit me in the gut, and I bent over, holding my stomach as I tried to keep from shouting out.
“What’s wrong?” Bree asked, immediately scooting closer to me.
I tried to speak, but the force of his fear had been so hard that it knocked the wind out of me.
“Something’s wrong with Elphyra,” Bree said, reaching forward to shake Faron’s shoulder.
