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Opal did as she was told and dropped the bag. She then stood there for a moment, caught in the car’s high beams.

“Where is Marilyn?” she yelled. “You promised to let her go if I paid you the money!”

“Step back!” said the kidnapper. “Back to your car. Now!”

“Not without Marilyn!” said Opal bravely.

The kidnapper pushed Marilyn and she stumbled into the beam of light.

“Marilyn!” Opal cried.

“I’m all right!” said Marilyn.

“Start walking,” the kidnapper growled, and Marilyn started walking. When she and the kidnapper had reached the bag, he said, “Open the bag. Do it!”

Marilyn opened the bag and the kidnapper peered inside.

“We should attack,” said Prunella. “Jump them and dig our claws in.”

“And risk Marilyn getting hurt?” I said. “No way. We have to wait until she’s safe.”

The kidnapper appeared satisfied with the contents of the bag, for they now picked it up and started back for the car.

Marilyn, who just stood there for a moment, finally realized she was free and started running in the direction of her friend.

Suddenly a shot rang out, and Opal uttered a blood-curdling scream.

“He shot her!” Brutus said.

“She shot her!” Harriet cried.

“Attack!” Dooley yelled, and without delay ran in the direction of the kidnapper.

We all followed suit, but unfortunately by the time we reached the car, the dastardly devil had already stepped inside and slammed the door.

We watched helplessly as the car’s tires spun, kicking up a cloud of dust and dirt, and soon the car was hurtling away at a high rate of speed.

“Opal!” said Prunella, and once again we were on the move, racing for Prunella’s human this time. When we reached her we saw it was bad. She was covered in blood, lying on the ground, with Marilyn hovering over her, screaming her head off.

Chapter 32

By the time Odelia reached Opal and Marilyn, the kidnapper was long gone, with the bag of money.

“Call an ambulance,” said Tex as he knelt down next to the fallen talk show host. After a quick examination, which Odelia’s dad carried out with practiced ease, he nodded. “It’s just a flesh wound,” he said, much to Odelia’s relief. “The bullet hit her shoulder and went straight through. He was probably aiming for her heart, but missed.”

“Oh, thank God,” said Marilyn.

Opal opened her eyes and groaned.“Not again,” were the first words out of her mouth. She looked up at Tex, and asked, “Am I going to live, doc?”

“Yes, Opal,” he said with a reassuring smile. “You’re going to be just fine. Though you will be sore for a while, and the wound needs to be cleaned and dressed.”

“Oh, darling,” said Harlan as he practically pounced on his girlfriend and took her into his arms.

She winced.“Careful, darling.”

Harlan hugged her close, not caring that her blood got onto his clothes, and Tex got up again. In the distance, the sound of an ambulance could already be heard.

Odelia’s cats came walking up.

“How is she?” asked Prunella anxiously.

“She’ll live,” said Max, who’d overheard Dad’s words.

“Oh, man,” said Prunella. “Why did I have to pick a human who keeps almost dying on me! It’s so stressful!”

Harriet, Brutus and Dooley laughed at this, but Max looked serious.

“We couldn’t see his face,” he said.

“Her face, you mean,” said Harriet.

“I thought it was a man’s voice,” said Brutus.

“And I thought it sounded like a woman,” said Harriet.

“Did you recognize him or her?” asked Odelia anxiously.

But Max shook his head.“No, I’m sorry. They were wearing a mask.”

“The car was a dark blue town car,” said Brutus, “though it could have been dark brown, dark green or dark red, and it could have been a sedan, I’m not entirely sure.”

“So did they catch him?” asked Gran, who came hurrying up, panting heavily.

“No, they didn’t. He managed to get away before they got close,” said Odelia.

“Oh, darn it,” said Gran. “I’ll bet it was that Suzy woman though. She had homicidal maniac written all over her face.”

“This vacation is really turning into a Hollywood movie,” said Marge, who stood hugging herself. It was chilly out there, and she hadn’t brought a coat. Chase, always the gentleman, must have noticed, too, for he took off his jacket and draped it around Marge’s shoulders.

“Thanks, honey,” said Marge gratefully.

“So the kidnapper got away?” asked Uncle Alec.

“Yeah, got away clean,” said Chase.

“Took the money?”

“Took the money and fired off a shot—which hit Opal in the shoulder.”

“Man, if this were Hampton Cove we’d be organizing a manhunt now.”

Odelia walked up to Opal.“Are you still sure about not involving the police?”

“No police,” Opal croaked. “The important thing is we have Marilyn back.”

“He tried to kill you!” said Marilyn. “You have to go to the police, Opal.”

“No police!” Opal insisted with a grimace of pain. “If the media finds out it’s going to be a feeding frenzy.” She turned to her friend. “Did you get a good look at the guy?”

“I’m not even sure it was a guy,” said Marilyn. “Could have been a woman. He or she never took off their mask.”

“How did it happen?” asked Chase. “How did they get you?”