Chapter 6

Chapter 6 Inside the house, Officer Fallon examined the piece of glass. "If this came out of the boy's kaleidoscope, how'd it get to your front steps?" he asked.

"The top unscrews," Dink explained. "Sammi likes to take the glass out." Josh and Ruth Rose stood silently in Dink's kitchen. Pal lay at Josh's feet, snoozing. Dink was sitting at the table with his mom and Officer Fallon. Officer Keene had left to organize a search. Officer Fallon sighed. He left the piece of glass on the table and stood up. "Green Lawn isn't that big," he said. "We'll find the boy. I'll make sure every possible way out of town is checked. Try not to worry, okay?" Dink's mother grabbed her car keys. "I'm going to drive around and look for him," she said. "Can we come, too?" Dink asked. His mother shook her head. "You can help by staying by the phone," she said. She looked at Officer Fallon. "Do you think the kidnappers would telephone here?" Officer Fallon nodded. "They might try to make contact. But kidnappers usually wait a few days before calling. They like to get the family worried so they'll hand over more ransom money." Dink watched his mother and Officer Fallon leave. He heard the front door lock click into

position. "Look at this," Dink said. He showed Josh and Ruth Rose the damaged back door. "Boy, this is creepy!" Josh said. "Poor Sammi," Ruth Rose said. "He must be so scared!" "Let's go check out his room," Dink said. "Maybe we'll find some more clues." The kids hurried toward the stairs. Pal followed them into Sammi's room, his long ears brushing the floor. Sammi's sheet and blanket were tangled, half off the bed. Dink walked over to the bureau. There was the kaleidoscope box and two small mounds of colored glass. Each mound was a different color.

"This is the kaleidoscope," Dink said, removing it from the box. "See, he took all the glass out." Josh touched the jewels that decorated the kaleidoscope. "Are these real?" he asked. "Sammi said they were," Dink answered. Ruth Rose was examining the pieces of glass. "Where are the yellow pieces?" she asked. "What do you mean?" Dink asked. "The piece we found is yellow," she said. "But all I see here is red and blue. No yellow." "That's weird," Dink said. "Let's look around." The kids began to search Sammi's room for the yellow glass. Pal waddled around, sniffing everything. Dink checked in the bathroom while Josh went through the clothes in the closet. Ruth Rose got down on her hands and knees and looked under the bed. "Well, if there's yellow glass in this room, I don't know where it is," Josh said. He stepped away from the closet. "WATCH OUT!" Ruth Rose yelled, stopping Josh in his tracks. She snatched something from the carpet where Josh was about to step. It was another piece of

yellow glass. Just then, the phone rang. Dink ran down the stairs and grabbed the phone on its third ring. "Hello?" Dink listened for a minute, then yelled up the stairs, "Hey, guys, it's Officer Fallon. He wants to know if Sammi's pajamas and slippers are in his room. Can you look?" He waited. Ruth Rose came to the top of the stairs. "No pj's or slippers," she said. Dink spoke into the phone. "We can't find them." After a minute, Dink hung up the phone. He climbed the stairs to Sammi's room. "What's up with the slippers?" Josh asked. "Ron Pinkowski found a gold tassel near the river by his bait shop," Dink said. "Sammi's slippers had gold tassels on them." "But what—" "And one of Mr. Pinkowski's boats is missing," Dink interrupted. He stared at his two friends. "Officer Fallon thinks the kidnappers took Sammi away in a boat!"