Chapter 12
It was 7:00 in the morning in Bellwood, and Mindy and Red were still tied up in Cecil’s basement.
They squirmed while they tried to free themselves from the rope and Duct tape.
The stairs creaked while someone came down to the basement.
Mindy and Red at the end of the basement and saw Cecil while he walked down the wooden stairs with two large cups with long straws.
He walked over to Mindy and Red and set the cup on the floor. He removed a pocketknife from his pants and opened it up.
Mindy looked scared when Cecil brought the tip of the knife to her mouth. She just knew he was going to slice her throat. He took the tip of the knife and poked a hole in the duct tape covering her mouth.
She felt relieved when he picked up one of the cups and poked the straw into the hole in the duct tape. Then she looked scared thinking he was feeding her poison.
“It’s Carnation Instant Breakfast,” Cecil said the second he realized she was skittish over the drink.
He poked a hole in Red’s mouth duct tape and stuck the straw for his drink inside.
“Enjoy,” Cecil said then held the cups in place while they slurped up their breakfast.
It was now 7:30 in the morning and Jake and Sadie drove in his Corolla down Freemont Street.
He parked in front of Harvey’s Antique Bookstore.
“We have thirty minutes,” Jake told Sadie while they looked at the display window.
Then something started to bug Sadie while she looked at the window and saw an opened spot.
She opened up her door and stepped out.
Jake watched curiously while she rushed over to the display window, and then he got out.
They both looked at the display window and saw the book was gone.
“Crap. It's not here,” Jake called out concerned.
“Maybe they put it on display inside,” Sadie said while she pressed her face up against the glass to peek inside. “I don’t see it,” she added while she strained to look the store over.
Jake walked over to the door and saw the “Closed” sign was still hung in the glass door. “We’ll wait until they open and hopefully it’s inside,” Jake said while he walked back to this car.
Sadie walked back to his car where they waited on the hood.
It was 8:00 a.m. and they heard the door being unlocked.
They rushed over to the front door.
Winston Harvey, a tall and lanky 65-year-old man who was originally from London, walked back over to the counter. The bell rang when the front door opened and that surprised him since customers rarely show up the second he opens the store.
“May I be of some assistance?” Winston asked while Sadie and Jake walked up to the counter.
“We're looking for a book that was in your storefront window yesterday. The name of the book is called The Complete Guide to Witches Potions,” Sadie said.
“Ah yes. It's an old and very interesting book indeed,” Winston replied.
“Where is it? We would like to buy it,” Jake said while he looked around for the book.
“Sold,” Winston quickly replied.
“Sold?” Sadie and Jake both responded in unison.
“But we saw it in your window last night,” Jake added while he pointed at the display window.
“That’s correct. But a rare antique book collector bought it an hour ago,” Winston said then he got a huge smile. “He picked it up an hour ago. He wanted it so bad that he paid extra,” Winston added.
“But you don’t open up until eight,” Sadie snapped back at Winston.
“I’m so sorry, but he’s a preferred customer,” Winston said.
“Do you know how we can contact him? We really some information contained in that book,” Sadie said with pleading eyes.
“I'm sorry. I cannot divulge that information,” Winston said.
A telephone rang in his office in the back room.
“Excuse me. Please browse the store, I’m sure you’ll find some other book you’ll fancy,” Winston said then headed off to his office.
Sadie leaned over the counter to see if Winston was in view. He wasn’t so she quickly grabbed some receipts by the cash register and quickly looked through them. She saw the receipt for Marcus that listed his home address. She shoved it in her pants pocket and quickly set the receipts back.
“Did you steal that receipt?” Jake whispered to Sadie.
She nodded in agreement then grabbed Jake’s hand and rushed him out of the store.
Winston walked out of his office and to the counter. “Is there something else I can help you with?” Winston asked while he looked around the store for them. “I guess not,” he said while he found the store was empty of customers.
Jake started up his Corolla and pulled out into the street.
Sadie pulled the receipt out of her pocket and looked at it. “His name is Marcus Talbor and he lives at 1804 Mulberry Lane,” she said.
“Let's go talk with Mister Talbor,” Jake said while he made a right turn down another street.
Fifteen minutes later, Jake drove his car though an upper class neighborhood called Appleton Estates.
They drove through the main street and eventually found Mulberry Lane.
He slowly drove down Mulberry and found Marcus’ house, which was an English Tudor design. The front yard was lined with Leyland Cypress trees that provided the house with privacy from the street.
He drove down the brick driveway and parked by the garage behind a silver Mercedes Benz CLS63 coupe.
“Looks like he's home,” Jake said while he turned off his car.
They got out of the car and walked to the front door.
Jake used the brass knocker and knocked.
A few seconds passed and the front door opened. Marcus Talbor, a 63-year-old stuffy bald man with a huge belly and beady eyes opened the door. “How may I help you?” he asked.
“Hello sir. We were at Harvey's Antique Bookstore looking for a book called The Complete Guide to Witches Potions. Mister Harvey told us you purchased that book. We were wondering if we could make a copy of one of the potions?” Jake asked in one of the nicest polite tones he could muster up.
Marcus looked upset with her request. “I'm sorry young lady. But that is not possible,” he said.
“It’s a matter of life and death,” Sadie said with sad puppy dog eyes.
“That’s too bad,” Marcus said and could care less about the two outside his house. He slammed the door shut in their faces.
Sadie and Jake stood there for a few seconds.
Sadie got pissed, and kicked the door.
They walked back to the car and got inside.
Jake started his car and backed down the driveway.
They drove down Mulberry Lane.
“What the hell are we going to do now?” Jake asked concerned.
Sadie pondered their dilemma for a few seconds. Then her eyes lit up when she had an idea. “I guess we'll have to come back late tonight,” she told him with a smirk.
“You heard him. He won’t let us copy that part of the book,” he said while he turned off Mulberry Lane and headed down the main street of the fancy neighborhood.
“He won’t know we made a copy,”
Jake looked a little confused. “I’m not following you,” he said. Then it dawned on him and he frowned. “I don’t think that’s a good idea,” he added.
“Trust me,” she replied then leaned over and kissed his cheek. He was sold!
Jake was a little nervous about coming back here tonight but he would be with Sadie and he loved spending time with her.
The rest of the day was quiet for everybody.
Mindy and Red remained tied up in Cecil’s basement and thoughts of only having a few more days to live kept on crossing their minds.
Then at lunchtime, Jake and Sadie finally caught up with Bobby and Stefon at Sam’s Sports Bar.
“Where the hell can Red and Mindy be?” Jake asked everybody in their booth. “I checked their dorm rooms and nothing. Nobody has seen them since yesterday morning,” he added and looked worried.
“Maybe they’re in class?” Stefon asked.
“No, my guts telling me that something is wrong,” replied Jake.
Bobby’s eyes welled up at the thought of the possibility that Mindy could be hurt somewhere.
“So, any luck on that potion you were searching for?” Stefon asked Sadie.
“We hit a snag. That bookstore owner sold the book, but we know who has it and we’ll get a copy of the recipe tonight,” answered Sadie.
“How?” Stefon asked curiously.
“You really don’t want to know,” Jake replied.
“We also learned that if we don’t get that potion to you by tomorrow night, you’ll remain gay for the rest of your life,” Sadie told Bobby.
“Plus we have the state championship game tomorrow night,” added Jake.
Bobby didn’t know how to take the news, since part of him wanted to remain gay and the other part wanted to return straight.
Mitch sat at a nearby booth and he heard all of their discussions, so he rushed out of Sam’s.
Everybody spent the rest of the in classes.
Coach Kennedy spent the rest of his day in his office. He searched the Internet in search of a new coaching job because he knew that if the Panthers lost the game, he would in high probability be fired.
The day passed and it was now 2:00 a.m. and Bellwood was quiet as the vast majority of the folks were in bed sound asleep.
Jake parked his Corolla along the street by the Cypress trees in Marcus’ front yard.
Sadie and Jake quietly opened up the car doors and quietly closed their doors. They were dressed in black pants, black shirt with black wool caps and leather gloves. Their faces were painted with military camouflage paint, and Sadie also had a crow bar in her hand.
They cautiously snuck down the driveway.
Cecil drove his Caddy down Mulberry Lane with his headlights off, and Ernie sat in the passenger seat.
“Perfect,” Ernie said.
Cecil pulled into another driveway and turned around and headed toward the main street into the neighborhood.
Sadie and Jake cautiously snuck down the side yard and headed to the backyard.
They snuck to the rear of Marcus’ house.
“How are we going to break inside?” Jake whispered to her. I’ve never done this before,” he added.
“Don’t worry. I had an older brother who was a thief,” she replied while she scanned the sliding glass door.
“A thief?” Jake replied a little worried.
“Don’t worry, he’s now on the straight and narrow path,” Sadie responded while she studied the frame of the sliding glass door.
She removed a small container of mace. “If he discovers us, run like hell after I spray him,” she said.
She used the crow bar and pried the sliding glass door open and dropped the crow bar at the base of the door.
She stepped inside the kitchen with her container of mace ready to fire.
Jake stepped inside kitchen behind her.
“Good, there's no alarm system,” she whispered to Jake.
“You think about an alarm system now?” he whispered back.
She winked at him the walked through the kitchen, and he followed.
They soon entered the living room where they saw a bookcase full of books.
They walked up to the bookcase and scanned all the shelves and books with a small flashlight. Their search of the books came up empty handed.
“Where to now?” Jake whispered in Sadie’s ear.
She thought for a few seconds, then she had this strong gut feeling and pointed upstairs.
They walked out of the living room.
They walked down the hallway and headed toward the stairs.
Meanwhile, Ernie and Cecil drove out of the Appleton Estates and headed down the main road.
Ernie opened up his cell phone and made a call. “I would like to report a robbery at 1804 Mulberry Lane. I saw two burglars head into the backyard of my neighbors house,” he said then disconnected the call.
“That should stop them,” Cecil said then he and Ernie bumped fists to congratulate each other.
They drove away and headed back to Cecil’s home.
Back inside Marcus’ house, Sadie and Ernie quietly walked down the upstairs hallway.
They entered a room on the left and saw a computer at a desk. They walked up to the computer and saw some books. They turned on their flashlights, and illuminated the books, and it wasn’t there.
They quietly walked out of the room.
They quietly walked down the hallway and came upon another bedroom. They peeked inside with the flashlight and scanned the room. Then she saw Marcus sleeping on his back in his bed. She saw the potion book on the bed next to his side while he snored.
She gave Jake a “Thumbs Up” sign and turned off her flashlight. She quietly entered Marcus’ bedroom, and Jake quietly followed.
They approached Marcus’ bed, and stopped. Jake cautiously leaned over and grabbed the corner of the book.
Marcus rolled over on his side, his arm flew over, and his hand landed on Jake's left cheek. Jake froze in fear. Then Marcus’ hand slid down Jake’s cheek and rubbed off some of the paint from his face. Marcus’ hand plopped on the book.
Jake slowly slid the book out from under Marcus’ hand.
Marcus rubbed his cheek with his hand and rubbed Jake’s face paint onto his cheek.
Jake cringed when he saw this but knew it was too late.
Jake and Sadie quietly tiptoed out of the bedroom.
They quietly walked down the hallway.
They quietly walked down the stairs.
They quietly walked down the hallway and headed into the kitchen.
Jake set the book on the kitchen counter and removed a digital camera from his pocket.
Sadie illuminated the book with her flashlight while Jake turned the pages.
“Here it is,” she said and pointed to the page that had the Regain recipe then illuminated the page.
Jake snapped a picture of the page. He zoomed in and snapped another picture. He checked he viewfinder and smiled at Sadie, as a sign he captured the information.
Jake closed the book and shoved the camera into his pants pocket.
They rushed over to the sliding glass door and went back outside.
Jake closed the sliding glass door while Sadie picked up the crow bar.
They rushed through the side yard.
They rushed down through the front yard.
They rushed to Jake’s car and opened the doors. Then they saw some flashing lights way off down the street.
“Cops,” Sadie said while she scanned the area for a place to hide. “Don’t turn on the lights and hide in that driveway over there,” she said.
They quickly got inside and Jake started up his car.
He drove down the street and pulled into the driveway she pointed at and waited.
Then after a few minutes, Sadie got out of the car and looked down the street at Marcus’ house. She saw a cop car that pulled into the driveway.
She got back into the car.
“Head down the street and don’t turn on the lights,” she said while she quietly closed her door.
Jake slowly backed down the driveway and onto Mulberry Lane.
He slowly drove down Mulberry Lane and they drove by Marcus’ home where they saw two police officers cautiously checked out the front yard for any burglars.
An hour later, the Bellwood police officers left Marcus’ home with a belief that the call was a false alarm. Marcus went through his house with the officers and nothing was found missing. Of course his book was in the kitchen, but Marcus thought he might have left it there on the counter.
Later that night, Sadie and Jake returned safe to her dorm room and this time, she offered to let him sleep in bed with him. He remained the perfect gentleman while her body was next to him in her bed. But there was also part of her that was itching to make love to Jake.