Epilogue -
Monday morning was bright and sunny. Ross drove his 1984 Volkswagen
Diesel back from his 8:00 Advanced Physiology final exam feeling confident that
he had aced it. He may not have gotten every answer correct, but he was certain
that he would get the highest grade in the class. As he turned the corner onto
his street, he saw a police car in his driveway.
Rather than turn and run, which would look awfully suspicious, he
decided to engage the police like some clever murderer on an old "Columbo"
episode. He was actually surprised that it took them this long to figure out
that he might be a person worth talking to. He was, after all, Susan's
heartbroken ex-boyfriend.
As Ross came through the door from the garage, he went straight into the
living room where he found Scott and two patrolmen.
"Is something wrong?" Ross asked.
"It's Susan." Scott replied.
"We'll handle this, if you don't mind." Said the first patrolman. "Are
you Ross Johnson?"
"Yes." Ross said nodding. "What's wrong with Susan?"
"Where were you last Friday night?" said the patrolman, continuing his
line of questioning.
"I was here studying for my finals. Scott was with me all night." Ross
explained.
"Anyone else know that you were studying on Friday?" the patrolman
pressed.
"Yeah, actually, Susan knew I was studying. I turned her down for a
date." Ross said. "I actuallly really wanted to go, but Professor Fox gives
notoriously hard exams. Now. What's happened to Susan?"
"She and two of her friends have been missing since Friday evening."
The second patrolman answered.
"I knew it was a bad move for her to go to the party alone." Ross said
looking down and shaking his head.
Ross and Scott talked with the policemen for about fifteen minutes when
the patrolmen finally ran out of questions. As they saw the policemen out and
closed the front door, Ross wondered what the girls were doing just then.
They were each strapped spread eagle to their respective cots in the
basement. The cool, moist basement air wafting across their nakedness. Each
girl was gagged and blindfolded, and wearing headphones that provided their
favorite music. None of the women made a sound because they didn't realize that
help was just a few feet above them.
"I can't believe that they haven't found Jennie's truck yet." Scott
offered in disbelief. "You swapped it for your VW Friday night after we
unloaded the girls."
"Maybe they have found it, but didn't want to divulge that information
for fear that it would compromise the investigation." Ross reasoned.
"No matter." Scott said. "We're out of here before the day is out."
"Yeah." Ross agreed. "And it won't even attract suspicion since we
gave our landlord notice months ago. After all, almost everyone leaves campus
for the summer."
Charles clambered up from the basement.
"They're still in happy seclusion listening to their music." Charles
reported. "Are you certain that we aren't going to have any problems at your
folks' lake house?" he asked Ross.
"I'm certain. They are going off to Europe for a month, and they
insisted that I stay there." Ross replied. "They expect me to relax after my
grueling semester, and to do some maintenance work on the place."
Scott chimed in: "Well, I'm sure that the three of us can get more done
than they imagined... and at night, we have our entertainment."
With that, the three men began packing boxes. Ross had reserved the
truck for noon, and they could be packed and on the road by three. The only
question was how to pack the women, but there were so many good alternatives
that they weren't worried.
