The Ghost of Castle Isle

Chapter Seven

  Hannah entered the library and poured herself another glass of wine.

  "She is waiting," she said.

  "Good. But I have to make a call first. If Mary Carlson thinks she can take this castle from me, she's wrong. No one will take this castle from me!"

  He dialed the phone number and waited for an answer.

  "Hello?" Kacey answered when she saw Brittany's name on her phone.

  "Is this Kacey Carlson?" he asked.

  "Yes, who is this?"

  "This is Garth Simms. I hear you have found your great uncle's will with the deed to the castle. Is this true?"

  "Why are you asking me about that?" Kacey asked him.

  "Because I intend to have them. Bring the papers to Hannah at the Crystal Cauldron tomorrow morning at ten o'clock. I have your friend Brittany Cooper here, and she's not leaving until I get word that you have turned those documents over to Hannah. When you do, I'll release Brittany. And don't involve the police. If you don't follow my instructions, Brittany will suffer the consequences!"

  The phone line became silent.

  Kacey stood stunned by what she heard. Her heart began pounding and she turned to her friends, who were all seated around the dinner table, talking and laughing. Suddenly, they stopped talking, and Emma asked, "Kacey! You look like you've seen a ghost! What's wrong?"

  "That was Garth Simms. He knows about Aunt Mary's deed, and he said that we must take the papers to Hannah by tomorrow morning. He's keeping Brittany as a hostage. He said that if we call the police, he'll make her suffer!"

  "What?" they cried.

  "I'm going to call my dad," Kacey said, dialing his number.

  The others waited while her father answered and Kacey told him of their dilemma.

  "Kacey, you must call the police immediately and report this!" her father said sternly. "Let them handle it. It could become dangerous, and I don't want you or anyone else to get hurt."

  Kacey agreed with her father's advice and promised to do what he said.

  When she told the others what her father said, they looked worried.

  "But what about Brittany?" Emma asked, "Garth said he'd make her suffer if the police were involved!"

  Kacey nodded, "I know. But this is too dangerous for us to handle. We'll have to take our chances."

  "She's right," Ava agreed, "The police know how to best handle this. We should leave it to them."

  Emma's face brightened, "Wait! I have an idea! Why can't we just make photocopies of the documents and give Garth the copies? He'll release Brittany, and we'll still have the real ones!"

  Aunt Mary shook her head and replied, "The real documents have a special seal on them. They have been signed by a notary, and stamped. Let me show you."

  She retrieved the documents from the library safe and showed them that the real documents had an embossed seal stamped into each paper, with raised letters that felt bumpy. A signature was on the seal.

  Aunt Mary said, "Garth probably knows that a real stamp is embossed, and he would be able to tell that the copies are fakes."

  Everyone agreed that it would be impossible to make a copy look real without an embossed stamp. With no other alternative, Kacey picked up her phone and dialed 9-1-1. She reported the situation to the operator, who promised to send police officers to Aunt Mary's house right away.

  The Marbleton police arrived five minutes later. Two officers asked them several questions, and the girls answered them truthfully. The officers took notes and then promised to look into the situation right away.

  "Will you call us as soon as Brittany is safe?" Kacey asked.

  "Yes. What's your number?" one of the men asked.

  He wrote it down and promised to call her back as soon as possible.

  "What do we do now?" asked Joshua, after the officers left.

  Kacey paced the floor as she said, "I guess we just have to wait for the police to rescue Brittany."

  She sat down at the table and everyone was silent. As a knot began to grow in her stomach, Kacey said, "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't feel much like going out tonight."

  Emma agreed, "Neither do I. Besides, the wind is really picking up, and the forecast is for a thunderstorm tonight."

  Ava suggested, "Why don't we just stay in? We can watch TV, or play some games to pass the time."

  Everyone agreed that staying home would be fine. Dave had brought some DVDs to watch and they chose a comedy that would hopefully raise their spirits and keep their minds off Brittany and Garth.

  Later that evening, Emma and Dave were eating popcorn while watching the DVD. Ava asked her, "How can you think about food at a time like this?"

  Emma sighed, "Well, if starving myself would help to save Brittany, I'd do it. But it won't. Besides, when I get nervous, I need to eat."

  Ava snuggled next to Rick, glad that he had come. Kacey and Joshua sat holding hands, while Dave and Emma ate popcorn. Because she was tired, Aunt Mary said goodnight to everyone and went upstairs to bed.

  Kacey kept looking at her watch. Over two hours had gone by since the police left. Joshua noticed her actions and said, "Don't worry. I'm sure everything will be okay."

  She smiled bravely. "You're right. I should let it go and give it to God."

  Joshua nodded, "Yup. He's the only one who can help her now."

  When the two police officers told Chief Baker about the hostage report, the Chief became angry.

  "Dang it all! Every Halloween we get pranksters! It's probably just a big hoax."

  One of the officers replied, "They seemed pretty sincere to me, Chief. Mary Carlson seemed pretty worried. She wouldn't go around pulling pranks like this."

  The Chief knew Mary from long ago. Her husband, Charles, had been one of Chief Baker's fishing buddies.

  "Well, maybe you're right. I suppose we'd better check it out. Pull the car up front and call Charlie Lang. Tell him we need to use his cruiser to get over to the island. I'll see if I can get somebody over there to answer the phone."

  The Chief looked up the phone number of Garth Simms from the County Clerk's website where he could access old court records. He knew that Simms had taken the castle from Mary Carlson, and the records of the court case were available online.

  The phone rang three times before a man's voice answered.

  "Hello?"

  "Is this Garth Simms?" the Chief asked.

  "Yes. Who is this?"

  "I'm Chief Baker of the Marbleton Police. Sorry to bother you, but we had a report that.... that a girl is missing. A girl named Brittany Cooper. Do you know her?"

  There was a long pause before Garth answered.

  "Yes, I know who she is."

  "Well, it seems she's gone missing and a few of her friends think she might be on Castle Isle. Have you seen her?"

  "No, Chief Baker, I haven't," Garth replied.

  "Would you mind if I came with a couple of officers to search around the place? She might be hiding somewhere."

  "Of course, please do. I'll make sure the portcullis is up and the guard dogs are in their kennel."

  "I appreciate that. We should be there in about half an hour, depending on the weather."

  "No problem," Garth said encouragingly.

  "Thank you," the Chief said politely, and hung up.

  The wind whipped the waves into a fury, as the police cruiser bounced up and down upon them. Although the officers were showered by the sea spray, they were protected by heavy rain gear.

  The officers tied up their boat on the dock and followed the steps up to the castle. When they knocked on the heavy oak door, Garth opened it.

  "Come inside. Let me take your coats," he smiled.

  After the men shed their wet rain slickers, Garth hung them on pegs in the hallway. He led them into the castle.

  "You're free to look wherever you like. Since you called, I've searched everywhere but haven't found her. The dogs would have found her if she were outside. Do you know why Brittany's friends thought she
would be here?"

  The Chief didn't want to make accusations without proof, so he said, "Not really. But it's my duty to check it out, anyway."

  "Well, you're welcome to look around, even without a search warrant," Garth said, reminding them of his generosity and kindness.

  The Chief mumbled his thanks and told his men to split up. They searched the main floor, and the two floors above where the library and the bedrooms were located. Hannah greeted them in the library and offered them some wine, but they politely declined.

  They searched quickly, poking into closets and opening doors. The castle was a maze of hallways and doorways, and the Chief wondered if they were seeing every room there was. He remembered hearing that the castle had hidden rooms, but without a search warrant, he didn't have legal access to every room in the castle.

  After a half hour of searching, Chief Baker called his officers together and told them they were done looking.

  "Sorry to interrupt your evening, Mr. Simms," the Chief said.

  "That's perfectly all right. I hope you find Brittany."

  "So do I. Thank you."

  After the officers left, Garth and Hannah walked through several hallways that twisted and turned, and then came to a paneled room. Behind one of the wooden panels was a hidden doorway that led to the tallest tower of the castle. They climbed the winding, narrow stairs leading up to the top of the tower and unlocked the door.

  Inside the circular, bare, stone room, Brittany was sitting on the floor with her hands tied and a gag stuffed in her mouth.

  "They're gone," Garth announced, "Lucky for you that they couldn't find you," Garth said, looking down on her, "Your friends have disobeyed me by calling the police. Now you'll have to pay!" He pulled the gag out of her mouth and she began to plead.

  "Please! Please don't hurt me! It's not my fault!"

  Garth became angry. "You brought them here! You knew they were related to Mary Carlson! You betrayed me! But don't worry. I wouldn't harm this pretty face," he said, taking her chin in her hand, "You're much more valuable to me the way you are. I know plenty of people who will pay me very well for you. They will sell you, of course, to someone in another part of the world. You'll never see your friends again! And if you want to stay alive, you'll have to learn to do what you're told!"

  He shoved her back against the wall and she bumped her head painfully against the stone. She began to cry, sobbing and begging him to let her go. He turned away and Hannah followed, locking the door behind her.

  The comedy movie had ended and the popcorn was gone. Joshua peeked outside the window and watched the trees battling the wind. Sprinkles of rain dashed against the window.

  "Lousy weather," he commented.

  "Let's play a game or something," Emma suggested.

  "Okay, what should we play?" Ava asked.

  "What about Charades? We can play guys against girls."

  Dave frowned, "That's no fun! You girls always win at word games! Let's play something with a little action!"

  Just then, Kacey's phone rang and she picked it up.

  "Officer Benson here. I just wanted to let you know that we searched the castle and there was no sign of Brittany."

  "What about Garth Simms? Did he say anything?" Kacey asked.

  "Only that he hasn't seen Brittany. He was very cooperative."

  'And lying,' Kacey thought, but didn't say it. She said, "Thanks for checking. If you find Brittany, please let me know."

  "Will do," Officer Benson replied.

  When Kacey gave the news to the others, they were outraged.

  "Now what?" Joshua demanded, "If we hand over the documents, Aunt Mary will never get her castle back, and if we don't, Brittany might be harmed."

  "We still have some time," Ava pointed out.

  "Yeah," Kacey agreed, "We don't have to bring Hannah the documents until ten a.m. So let's try to think of something."

  They looked at one another, waiting for someone to speak.

  Then Kacey's phone rang again. When she answered, she heard Garth' voice.

  "You have made a very big mistake by calling the police. If you don't turn over those documents now, I'll see to it that no one will ever see or hear from Brittany again! Bring them to me in one hour! And come alone!"

  "But how can I get there without a boat?"

  "I keep a boat in the harbor tied at the end of the main pier. It's called The Phantom. You can spot it easily because it's entirely black. The keys are kept under the driver's seat inside a pouch. When you approach the island, I'll raise the portcullis. You'd better get going. Time is running out."