About 40 minutes after the incident, I was peeling the second onion. My eyes were full of tear and Sally was stirring the pasta in a saucepan. ‘Well done, Nicky. Now dice them.’ Sally ordered me and I began to cut them without any caution. ‘Nicky! What are you doing! I told you to dice them, not slice them!’ Sally shouted and protruded her wooden spoon at me- a piece of pasta was dangling on it. Anyway, ‘Sally’s Special Pasta’ was made and I ate mouthful of it. ‘Water! Water!’ I shouted and drank nearly two glasses of water. ‘What did you put into it?’ I asked her. ‘I don’t know. Some chicken stock, salt, pepper I reckon? I will check.’ Sally went to the kitchen. ‘Sorry, Nicky, I confused cinnamon powder as chicken stock. And I put sugar instead of salt. I think I put coriander rather than basil. Also I put ginger instead of garlic! Sorry!’ Sally cried out in a surprised voice. I will not eat her food again…Suddenly, Mr Looney came into house. He looked exactly same as Sally including ginger hair. ‘It was a terrible day. I even haven’t had my lunch yet.’ Mr Looney seated on the sofa and found Sally’s Special Pasta. It was too late to stop him. He already put mouthful of it and we had to prepare another glass of water. ‘WATER!’ Mr Looney shouted at Sally and instructed how to cook pasta for ten minutes. Poor Sally had to clean the kitchen in a sad look. The bell of Mr Looney’s mobile phone rang when he just started spin his newspaper, using his thumb. ‘This is James Looney…Yes…What?...Now?...But I…Kidnapping!...OK…Where was it?...I will go now…OK…See you then.’ Mr Looney’s face was very serious. ‘What is it? A kidnapping?’ Sally asked. ‘Yes, I must go now, I’m afraid.’ Mr Looney was wearing his jacket again. ‘We will go with you. Nicky is a good detective.’ Sally said quickly. ‘No, you are too young. I’m not joking.’ ‘But, daddy, please. We won’t disturb you.’ Sally was begging. ‘Ok…but remember, do not disturb us.’ Mr Looney said in a serious voice.
I couldn’t believe. I arrived at a very nice and big house. ‘Hey, James, come on.’ A policeman with a plain look waved his hand. ‘Hi, John, what is going on?’ Mr Looney asked him and he explained. A five years old girl, called Fay Joyce was kidnapped at the church. Mr Joyce received a phone call from a man about an hour ago and he demanded 100 000 pounds for Fay’s security. ‘He said…said…he will kill Fay…Oh, God…if I call the police…Oh Fay…’ Mr Joyce’s eyes were full of tear. ‘He will call you again.’ A man with a sharp and cold look said coolly. ‘This is Inspector Wilson.’ Mr Looney whispered. Three policemen set some strange machine on Mr Joyce’s telephone and Inspector Wilson explained. ‘We will record the detail of conversation.’ Mr Wilson’s eyes were sparkling. ‘Then, based on the detail, we will try to find his location.’ Nearly twenty minutes past in an absolute silence. Everyone was tensed and Inspector Wilson scrabbled something on his black diary. Suddenly, Mr Joyce’s phone rang and everyone’s attention was concentrated on the phone. Mr Joyce was shivering and Mr Looney said calmly. ‘We will record it. Pick the phone when I say three. One, two, three.’ Mr Joyce picked the phone and his face was as white as a sheet of paper. ‘Hello?’ Mr Joyce said in a trembling voice. ‘How are you, dear Joyce? I expect you haven’t called the police?’ A man with squeaky voice said in an unpleasant voice. ‘Where is my daughter? Is she safe? What do you want?’ Everyone could hear the conversation due to that strange machine. ‘Ah, Joyce, calm down. She is safe. I did no harm to her. Please calm down.’ The man jeered. ‘Please, I will do whatever you want. Please, don’t kill her, please…Oh God…’ Mr Joyce was weeping and Mr Looney looked extremely angry. ‘I will allow you to talk with your lovely daughter, Joyce, to make sure she is safe.’ The squeaky voice said in a joyous tone. ‘Daddy, it’s me! It is a nice day, isn’t it?’ A bright voice of a girl was transmitted through the telephone line. ‘Fay! Are you OK? Oh Fay!’ Mr Joyce cried, and Inspector Wilson bit his lip hard. ‘Daddy, I love here! I feel like I am Alice in Wonderland! Everything is so small! I am a giant!’ Fay said quickly. Mr Joyce said nothing, but crying. Suddenly, I heard a strange sound from the phone. Two seconds later, I discovered what it was. It was the sound of a train and I could hear the same sound outside here. ‘Bring 100 000 Pounds, in two hours, then you can meet your daughter again. But if you don’t, you won’t hear her voice again. Do you see what I mean?’ The man threatened Mr Joyce and Mr Joyce’s face now became even paler with the horror. Then the phone was hung and we could hear no signal. ‘Damn! The conversation was too short! We get no information to get him.’ Mr Looney shouted. ‘Please get my daughter back! I can’t imagine her being…No!’ Mr Joyce cried out and Mr Smith tried to calm him down. ‘Still, we’ve got some information. The child mentioned ‘Alice in wonderland’ and I think it contains meaning.’ Inspector Wilson said sharply. ‘I think we should investigate theatre or cinema.’ He added quickly. Other policemen looked impressed at his quick analysis. ‘No, I don’t think so. The kidnapper is not so stupid to do so.’ I said quickly and Inspector Wilson looked vexed. ‘Oh, who are you? You are not a police, are you?’ Inspector Wilson made grimaces. ‘This is Nicky Christie, my daughter’s college friend.’ Mr Looney introduced me to Inspector Wilson. ‘You are just a kid! Excuse me, we are not kidding.’ Inspector sneered. I was very angry. I’m not a kid! ‘If that kidnapper was in a theatre or cinema, it might have been noisy, but we heard no noise from the telephone conversation.’ I said briefly. ‘We should be careful to interpret the meaning.’ I added coolly. ‘We have no time to waste. We should move now. Do you see what I mean? Don’t interrupt me.’ Inspector Wilson said angrily and commanded the policemen. ‘Find out all the theatres and cinemas which show ‘Alice in Wonderland’. Then send the forces to find them. Oh, don’t forget Miss Fay Joyce’s photograph.’ He scribbled something on his black diary and the policemen began to take action. All the policemen, except Mr Looney stayed at Mr Joyce’s home and I tried to re-listen to the conversation. Alice in Wonderland…The train…Giant... The information was too vague. Sally was complaining about the kidnapper’s cruel behaviour and Mr Looney tried to comfort Mr Joyce. Train…Alice in Wonderland…Train… ‘Now I got it!’ I hit my forehead with my palm and Sally almost fell down from the sofa. ‘What?’ Sally asked. ‘Alice in Wonderland doesn’t mean play or film. She is in a high place. You know, when children go to a high place, everything looks tiny, just like you are in Wonderland!’ I tried to explain as quickly as possible and Sally opened her mouth. ‘But, Nicky, we still can’t find kidnapper, because there are so many high rise buildings, you know.’ Sally rubbed her chin, in a curious look. ‘Sally is right. We still can’t find kidnapper. I think Inspector Wilson will find him. I should just wait.’ Mr Looney said very carefully. Yes, Sally was right. I looked at the clock and nearly 40 minutes were gone. I rewound the tape and listened to it again. I still could hear the sound of train clearly. ‘Sally! You take mathematics and physics, don’t you?’ I asked desperately. ‘Yes, why?’ Sally looked curious. ‘How do you get the distance using time and speed?’ I took a piece of paper and a pen out from my pocket. ‘Distance is the product of speed and time.’ Sally looked very proud that she knew something that I didn’t know. ‘The sound travels at the speed of 314 m per second, and I heard the sound of train two seconds later. Then the distance is 314 times 2, which is 628m. Now I got it! Sally, bring the map quickly.’ I scribbled on the paper and Sally brought a map from Mr Looney’s car. ‘There is a railway, and this is our location.’ I drew a small circle on our location. ‘Using the scale, we can estimate the distance. Kidnapper and Fay are somewhere here.’ I drew a big circle on the map. ‘We need a car. Mr Looney, could you…?’ I asked prudently and Mr Looney said no. ‘Come on, girls. Inspector Wilson will find them very soon. I take you to home. You promised not to disturb us.’ Mr Looney said softly. Suddenly Sally stood up and snatched her father’s key on the table. Then she pulled my arm and began to run. ‘Sorry dad, but we have no choice. See you later.’ I couldn’t believe her. She was actually stealing her father’s car. Mr Looney was following us and shouted loudly. Sally gave me the key and let me drive the car. ‘Well, we are in trouble, aren’t we? Shall we go now?’ Sally looked rather cheerful. I began to drive and Sally asked me. ‘When did you pass your driving test?’ ‘I failed. I have no driving license!’ I replied. I tried to accelerate and a lady from the car next to me looked quite shocked with my harsh driving. ‘What?’ Sally looked frightened. ‘Let me get out here!’ Sally yelled. A car from the corridor nearly hit Mr Looney’s car and I soon found people avoiding us. I looked at the watch quickly. We only had 50 minutes left.
Anyway, Sally and I arrived at the destination I parked the car. Sally with pale face ran out of the car quickly and began to vomit. ‘You should have told me you haven’t passed driving test.’ Sally was almost crying. ‘You didn’t ask me, did you? Anyway, try to find tall buildings, where we can hear the sound of train.’ I looked around anxiously. We had 45 minutes left. There were nearly 11 tall buildings. We had to run. We ran to the top floors of each building, but we found no one in there. When we tried the eighth building, Sally began to complain. ‘Well, we can use a lift, can’t we?’ Sally was breathing hard. ‘Please Sally, we should be serious. We only have 13 minutes. We should find the kidnapper, or Fay will…’ I could not finish the sentence. When we arrived at the top floor, I heard a girl’s voice. I tried to keep Sally quiet, but it was too late. Silly Sally already opened the door with a huge ‘bang’ sound and shouted loudly. ‘Hey, Mr Kidnapper, you are surrounded. Freeze!’ The kidnapper with mousy appearance looked embarrassed with appearance of Sally, but he was recovered very soon. ‘Who are you?’ He squeaked. ‘Let the child go, right now!’ I yelled furiously. Suddenly, the kidnapper snatched Fay’s hand. He took a jack knife out from his pocket and threatened us. ‘Stay away. If you move, I will use this knife, you silly girls.’ He chuckled and Fay began to cry. The tension lasted for few minutes and suddenly Sally took the map out of her pocket. ‘What are you doing?’ The kidnapper shook his body slight with a surprise. ‘I love spinning everything.’ Sally began to spin the map and the kidnapper looked dull. She continued for 30 seconds and searched her pocket. Suddenly, I could see something shining was thrown from Sally’s hand and it hit the kidnapper’s hand. ‘Ouch! You stupid girl!’ The kidnapper dropped his jack knife and tried to pick it up again. Then I ran and kicked the kidnapper, using Taekwondo. The kidnapper fell down and I tied his hand up using Mr Looney’s stolen handcuff- it was not me who stole it. It was Sally- and he could not resist any more. I phoned Mr Looney and told him what happened. 7 minutes later, about twelve policemen came in and took the kidnapper out. Mr Joyce hugged his daughter half crying and half laughing. Inspector Wilson, on the corner of the floor scribbled on his black diary, with an uncomfortable look. I grinned at him when he looked at my face, but he turned his face quickly. Sally was trying to fix something. ‘It was a brand new mobile phone. I should have thrown something cheaper.’ The screen of her Samsung mobile phone was cracked and she looked depressed. Mr Smith tried to cheer Sally-‘Well, it might be still working.’ Mr Looney was working towards us and I could see his red face. ‘Stealing the car, driving without license, ignoring speed limit and parking on the bus stop! There was great traffic congestion and we had to sort everything out. Do you know what you have done? Do you want to go to the prison?’ Mr Looney yelled angrily and Sally hid behind me. I could see Inspector Wilson’s slight grinning. ‘But you did a great job. Miss Fay Joyce is safe and no one got hurt. I was so worried. I am glad all of you are safe.’ Mr Looney smiled warmly and Sally was now relieved. ‘Dad, do we still have to go to prison?’ Sally asked in a shaking voice. ‘Well, I will sort everything out. Well done. You did an excellent job.’ Mr Looney said cheerfully, and Sally’s smile got stronger. Only Inspector Wilson looked disappointed and he began to scribble on his black diary again. I could see sunset on my way to home and suddenly wondered. Would that librarian allow me to find out the murderer of ‘The cottage of blood’?
