Touchdown Tony Crowne and the Mystery of the Missing Cheerleader (15 page)

Uh-oh, Tony thought, Judd’s in trouble. Is he gonna run or what? Tony looked upfield searching for a Lion to block, but there was no one there, all the defenders had followed Judd toward the sideline, leaving Tony’s side of the field wide open.

Seven seconds left in the game.

Judd circled back, chased by several defenders, he looked downfield for an open receiver in the end zone. Seeing Tony standing by himself on the twelve-yard line, Judd locked eyes with him and waved to him to go deeper. Now at his own twenty-yard line and being fenced in by the Lions and the opposite sideline, Judd realized he’ll have to throw across his body and that would lessen the velocity of his pass. Waiting as long as he could before running out of room, Judd planted his foot and threw a pass with as much touch as he could muster before being clobbered by several pass rushers.

The Lions’ fans stood and cheered for their defense. The pep band stopped playing and waited in anticipation. The Bobcats’ fans rose to their feet, cheered and held on to each other as their eyes tracked the flight of the football.

Four seconds left in the game.

Tony, at the five-yard line when Judd released his pass, looked up, saw that the high arc of the football was going to carry well into the end zone and pumped his legs harder to catch up with it. Matt Bishop saw Judd wave to Tony and he sprinted from the opposite side of the end zone in hopes of intercepting the pass.

Entering the end zone, Tony kept his eyes peeled on the descending football, raising both arms in unison, with his fingers outstretched and palms up, he watched the spiraling football land on his fingertips and he closed his hands around it, brought it down to his chest—

THWACK!

Matt Bishop, running full speed, rammed into Tony at shoulder pad level, but luckily with a glancing blow. Tony spun around in mid-air from the contact and landed at the feet of the referee, clutching the football tightly to his chest. The referee bent over and eyeballed him, making sure Tony had caught and controlled the football. Satisfied that Tony did, he stood erect, blew his whistle and signaled for a touchdown.

Zero seconds left in the game.

For a split-second, all the players, all the coaches, all the fans—everyone was silent as they grasped what had taken place on the field before them. And as that moment passed, the Dersee fans roared their approval, the Bobcats celebrated in the end zone, Coach Tiny gave Coach Buck a bear hug, the pep band exuberantly played the fight song, the Bobcats’ cheerleaders screamed and shook their pom-poms up and down. In contrast, the Lions’ fans stood with their mouths open, not believing they had lost the game. The Lions’ players filed off the field with their heads down and some of them noticeably crying. Coach Chuck stood on the sideline, shaking his head back and forth as he rubbed his chin and contemplated what he could have done differently.

“Touchdown! Tony Crowne! On a twenty-yard pass from Judd Judson-n-n!” Smilin’ Bob could hardly contain himself. “Game over! The Dersee Bobcats have defeated the Lakeside Lions by a score of 22 to 21! How about that!” Smilin’ Bob reached down and flicked off the microphone, turned to Dunwoody and said, “You still owe me some food. C’mon, let’s go to Tiny’s Restaurant. I can eat and you can interview Tiny and write your story there.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Dunwoody was deep in thought. “You know, that rhymes.”

“What rhymes?”

“What you said at the end of the game.” Dunwoody’s voice trailed off at the end of his sentence.

“What are you blabbering about? Let’s go and get a table. Tiny’s place will be a madhouse.” Smilin’ Bob stood up and wrestled his plaid sport coat on.

Dunwoody’s eyes lit up. “That’s it! That’s my headline!” He jabbed the air with his hand and emphasized each word as he said, “Touchdown Tony Crowne Saves The Day.”

Chapter 25- The Split Up

“I don’t believe it! You scored three touchdowns? Wow!” A visibly proud Anthony Crowne Jr. smiled at Tony as they stood outside the front entrance of the Dersee Elementary School. “Did you hear that Mark? Three touchdowns! That’s my boy! Wow! I wish I would have seen the game. Well, at least your mother saw you—”

Tony shook his head and said, “No, Grandpa said Mom left with Detective Bouguereau after my first score and never came back. Didn’t she call you?”

“No, I haven’t talked to her since we found Ash’s pom-pom here on the school grounds. Well, isn’t that strange.” Anthony Jr. rubbed his brow and looked worried. “What could she be doing? I’m going to call her.” He walked a few steps away and pressed her number on his cell phone.

Tony turned to Officer Mark London and asked, “Sir, do know where Detective Bouguereau could be?”

“I’m sorry son, I don’t. We’ve been so busy searching the school for your friend that I haven’t checked in with headquarters for a while. Hang loose for a second while I call in and get his location.” Officer London spoke into his shoulder microphone, “London, here. Do you have a current 10-20 on Bouguereau? Over.”

“Negative on Detective Bouguereau. Last known 10-20 was Dersee High School football field at 1400 hours. Over.”

“10-4, thank you.” Officer London looked up from his shoulder microphone and said, “Hmm, it’s 1630 hours now, that’s unusual for him. He normally checks in every hour on the hour and I mean right on the dot. Something’s not right. Let’s try his cell phone.” He flipped through his contact window, found Bouguereau’s number and pressed it to dial. He listened for a few moments, shook his head and said, “Went straight to voice mail… J.B, please contact me at your earliest convenience. Thanks.”

Walking back up to them, Anthony Jr. said, “This is not like your mother, Tony. She normally answers calls from me no matter what she is doing.”

Getting antsy about finding Ash, Judd nudged Tony and said, “Tell’em.”

“Tell us what, Tony?” A concerned Officer London asked. “We don’t have a lot to go on here, so anything you may provide could help us in our investigation.”

“Well…” Tony looked down at the sidewalk, jammed his hands into his front pockets and moved a pebble back and forth with his shoe. “In a nutshell, I told Detective Bouguereau I had a hunch that Tisha Brady hypnotized Ash and told her not to go to the game—”

“What?” Officer London interrupted with a scrunched up face. “You mean that pretty counselor here at the school hypnotized a student so she wouldn’t go to a pee wee football game? That borders on being ludicrous!” He took off his hat, closed his eyes tightly and ran his fingers through his hair several times.

Shifting into his defense attorney mode, Anthony Jr. stuck his hand up and said, “Now wait a minute, Mark. I admit that’s a bit far-fetched, but let’s hear Tony out. Go ahead, son.”

“Like I told Detective Bouguereau, there are several things that bothered me about Tisha Brady which if you looked at them separately they don’t mean much, but, when you add them all up, they become much more incriminating.” Tony explained as he looked at his father and at the Officer London.

“Uh-huh. Go on, we’re listening,” his father said.

“Number one: When Judd and I were in her office the other day, I noticed a framed certificate of hypnosis therapy hanging on her wall. No big deal, right? Yet, on Friday, Ash had an hour-long meeting with Tisha Brady after school, but when I asked her what they talked about, she had absolutely no idea. She never remembered anything about the meeting. That’s fishy. Number two: She also had a picture on her desk of her getting all mushy with Felicity Whittaker’s divorced father. Everybody knows Felicity won’t let her father re-marry just anyone, they have to be approved by Felicity or she’ll never forgive her father. Felicity’s big dream is to be a cheerleader and Tisha just happens to be the cheerleading coach. That’s also fishy. Number three: Judd, Ash and I ran into Felicity and her toadies, um, I mean her friends, before the cheerleader tryouts and guess what? Felicity was already wearing the official cheerleading uniform. You’re not supposed to do that until
after
you’re selected. Real fishy. Number four: Felicity is not very coordinated, she’s kind of a klutz when it comes to doing something athletic like cheerleading. Ash is heads and tails better than she is, but during the tryouts they tied and they had to be re-evaluated. Tied? How does that happen? Super fishy, especially when the head coach is dating the father of one of the candidates.”

“Stop.” Officer London, held up his hand, looked at Anthony Jr. with a knitted brow and asked, “Your kid is in the fifth grade? I can’t get mine to clean his bedroom, let alone talk in complete sentences and he’s in the eighth grade.”

Shrugging, smiling and rubbing Tony’s head, Anthony Jr. answered, “That’s my boy!”

“Okay, but this is all very circumstantial. Granted, this is fishy, as you say, but it doesn’t prove anything. Do you have any hard evidence that Tisha Brady is involved in Ash’s disappearance? Anything we can go on right now?”

“Grandpa told me he was watching Detective Bouguereau interview Miss Brady. When he was done with her he interviewed Felicity and the other cheerleaders as well as Felicity’s friends. Then Dad called Mom about the pom-pom here at the school and she went chasing after him. Grandpa said he saw them talking outside the gate and then all of a sudden he pointed at something and Mom took off through the parking lot. Grandpa said he saw Miss Brady walk out of the gate at about the same time and he said it looked as though Detective Bouguereau was following her.”

“Hmm, sounds like Bouguereau had a good reason to follow her.”

Judd held up his hand like he was in school. “Excuse me, officer sir, excuse me!”

Officer London glanced at Judd and asked, “You’re new here in town aren’t you? What grade are you in? Eighth or ninth?”

Anthony Jr. and Tony exchanged a knowing look at each other and Anthony Jr. said, “Would you believe Judd is in the fifth grade? He was very instrumental in defeating the Lions today. He’s a very smart and gifted athlete for his age.”

Officer London’s eyebrows shot up in surprise, “Holy moly! They sure do grow’em big wherever you came from! What do you need, Judd?”

“I don’t mean to be rude or anythin’, officer sir, but we’re wastin’ a whole chunk of time. We gotta find Ash now! We gotta do somethin’ quick!” Judd looked down at Curly and rubbed his head. “I bet Curly could find Ash. He’d sniff her out fast!”

“Dad! That’s it! Curly can find Ash! I know he can! Ash and I used to play hide and seek with Curly all the time. We’d play in the park and Ash would hide in the weirdest places and Curly would find her every time!”

“Now, wait a minute, son. I don’t know. It’s one thing to follow an official K-9 dog, but it’s quite another to follow an unproven dog. A dog that I don’t personally know will do the job,” Officer London pointed out in his deep, gravelly voice. He rubbed his chin and added, “A park is fairly small compared to a whole town. Her scent was fresh in the park, but now, she’s been gone most of the day. I just don’t want to stake our efforts solely on your dog.”

“Mark, I have a suggestion,” Anthony Jr. Said. “Why don’t we split up? Let the boys use Curly to possibly track Ash down and, in the meantime, we can visit Tisha Brady’s residence and have a talk with her. What do you think?”

Resting his hands on his utility belt, Officer London cleared his throat and replied, “That’s a darn good suggestion. Let me call in to dispatch and find out her address.” He turned away and spoke into his shoulder microphone.

Bending down and putting his hands on Tony and Judd’s shoulders, Anthony Jr. lectured, “Now remember, this isn’t a game. This isn’t hide and seek in the park. This is real life. If Ash is in trouble or is actually kidnapped, the people who did it are usually nasty and downright evil. They may look friendly and sound normal, but do not trust them. If you find Ash, I want you to call me before you do anything. Do you understand?” They both nodded yes. “Tony, do you have your emergency phone with you?”

Tony rummaged through his pockets, brought out a cheap, no-frills cell phone his parents had recently bought him and showed it to his father. “Yeah, Dad, charged up and everything.”

“Good. Judd, what about you? Do you have a cell phone?”

Judd looked away and said, “Naw, my dad won’t let me have one, Mr. Crowne. He said with all the roughhousing I do, I’d just break it. Heck, I don’t even know how to use one.”

Anthony Jr. smiled at Judd and said, “Your father is very wise, Judd. At your age you don’t really need a cell phone. Tony’s phone is only for emergencies. No texting, no internet, just a phone with limited minutes on it.”

Returning to the group and writing in his notepad, Officer London looked up and announced, “Okay, dispatch gave me her address, but they didn’t have a phone number listed for her. She lives on the other side of town, so we better get a move on.”

Jogging toward the patrol car with Officer London, Anthony Jr. turned back to Tony and Judd, waved and shouted, “Good luck! Go get’em Curly!”

Waving back to Tony’s father, Judd looked at Tony and said, “You know what? Your Dad’s pretty cool! Plus he gets to ride in a cop car! I betcha he’s as excited as all get out!”

“Yeah, I know. He’s the best.”

Chapter 26- The Confession

“Dear Ash, it’s not time to swim yet. Come down from the ladder and go inside,” Tisha commanded. “I bought some food for you to eat. You are hungry. Go warm it up in the microwave, it’s cold by now.”