When Johnny got back to his house, there was a car parked in his driveway. As he got closer he realized that it wasn’t any old car, it looked like a delivery truck from some company. There was no writing on it however, and he couldn’t quite remember where he had seen it before. Because this truck was in his driveway, there was no space for him to pull in, so he parked on the side of the road, and went inside.
As Johnny walked in the house, he was immediately greeted by three people, all in suits, with smiles plastered on their faces.
“Hello sir, we are here doing a routine check up to make sure all the building codes are up to date in the houses on this street,” said the woman in the front. She was pretty tall, and looked really familiar, but just like the truck outside, Johnny couldn’t quite remember where he had seen her before. One of the men standing behind her said,
“I hope you don’t mind that we came in and started checking on some things while you were gone, Mr…?”
“ Humshire, Johnny Humshire is the name sir”
“Mr. Humshire! So good to meet you” the third woman said, sounding like a grindstone. She gave Johnny the feeling that she treated everyone around her like she was superior. This was because of the way that she stood there, looking down her nose at him.
“I would say it was nice to meet you too,” said Johnny, “but given the circumstances, and the fact that you let yourself in while I was away, I’m not so sure.”
They all stood there for a minute with a look on their faces like he had just smacked each one of them on the face. Then, almost as if on cue, there was a knock on the door.
All the heads in the room turned in unison to look at the door. After a minute, Johnny walked over and opened the door. Standing on the other side was his brother, Harold, who he had not seen in 20 years. Dumfounded, Johnny just stood there for a minute staring at the person on the other side of the door.
“Did I come at a bad time?” asked his brother.
“No…No come in,” said Johnny snapping out of his trance, “I am just astonished that you have come to see me, given how we left off last time…”
As Harold stepped over the premises he said, “That was so long ago, I can hardly remember what happened.” He laughed a little, which made Johnny think back to the good times when they were young and nothing really mattered.
“Interesting choice in house guests,” said Herold.
Johnny replied with: “They weren’t invited, but decided to show up uninvited,” and gave the three people still standing in the same spot in his living room a death glare.
They all replied in unison, “Sorry for bothering you, but it seems you’re busy; we will come back later.” Just as suddenly as they had arrived they were gone.
Turning to his brother, Johnny said: “There is so much I have to tell you; you missed a lot, especially recently.”
“Oh, I know about the kidnapping from the newspaper, that’s why I came. I think I have some leads that might help us find out who the culprit is.”
Eager to hear what he had to say Johnny told him to take a seat, and went to the kitchen to get some water for them both. They sat and talked for a long time; Johnny filled Herold in on all the details, and Herold told Johnny about all the possible leads he had come up with. They decided to check out 3 of them, because they were the most the ones with the most evidence behind them.
They left the house and headed for downtown to check out the shoe store because Herold had said that there was some suspicion around what happened there after hours.
When they arrived, as Johnny was getting out of Harold’s car, he noticed something in the back seat that he had missed when he first got in. He realized it wasn’t a coincidence, and that the way his brother was acting, saying that he actually likes Johnny now after all that time, had been a distraction.
“You go on, I’ll be in in a minute.” Johnny said to Herold, but as soon as Herold turned his back to go in, Johnny jumped back in the car and sped off to his new destination.
When Johnny finally pulled up to “The Cuttin’ Captain,” the rival hairdressers to “Snip n Snap.” He walked in casually but knew his suspicions were right when as soon as he walked in: everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him like lifeless robots. Not wasting any more time, he bolted for the back room before anyone could do anything.
As he burst through the door, he saw his hairdresser, Stacy, tied up in the corner. He grabbed a broom and blocked the door he had just come through, and then ran over to her. He pulled out his pocket knife and started on the ropes, all the while the banging on the door, and the wall, was getting louder and louder, as if they were going to break them both down. When he cut though the final rope, Stacy gave him a kiss, and then they ran as fast as they could out the back door, jumped in the car and sped off.
They went straight to the police station and told the police everything. That night, Stacy had 5 officers stationed outside her house.
By the end of the week, “The Cutin Captain” was closed for good, and anyone who was involved with them, including Herold, was put in jail for a minimum of 35 years.
Almost 5 years later, Johnny and Stacy are happily married with 2 kids of their own, living in the suburbs outside of the same old town, working at their same old jobs, living a normal life, free of kidnappings.