Walter and Theressa had checked two main roads and numerous side roads that led off them, when they came to the last possible road. "Hey, the 105," Walter pointed to a bus passing them in the opposite direction.

Theressa was still not certain whether it had been the 105 or 106 that she had taken. She looked around to see if she recognised anything, but they approached from the other way now, so it all looked a little different.

"It is around fifty-nine past," said Walter. "Which would make sense if it runs twice an hour. Does anything look familiar yet?"

"No. Wait, that house?" Theressa turned around in her seat to look back. "Yes. It was this road."

She looked ahead again for the bus stop. After a minute she saw it. "There! The bus stop."

Walter looked in the mirror and slowed down the car. "Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Now where is the side road?"

"Over there."

Walter communicated with the car following them and drove into the side road. Theressa sunk down in her seat as far as was possible, lest she should be seen. "It's that one, with the red bricks," she said, hoping Walter would not stop or slow down, because there were lights on and there was a car in the drive.

He was not as stupid as that and he drove on without pausing. When they had arrived in the small village, he stopped the car and conferred with the other police officers.

"What are they going to do?" Theressa asked Jordan, who had been assigned to keep an eye on her while the others went to the house. They had parked the car in a small square and now sat waiting until they would be radioed.

"Ask a few questions." The young man seemed to regret it that he could not be there to witness it. "They'll not be needing us for a bit. Do you mind if I went over there and bought something to eat? I haven't had anything yet."

"Not at all." When he was gone she first locked all the doors and then tried if Timmy was ready to eat yet. It was not really time for him, but later on she would perhaps have difficulties feeding him if she had to go over to the house to identify the occupants. Fortunately he seemed to understand.

Jordan returned and she opened the door for him. She smelled clearly what he was eating. "Did they call?" he asked.

"No."

"Good. Want some?" he held out his fish and chips.

"No, thanks."

"But then you'll be the only one not eating. You sure?"

"Yes, I'm very sure. Thanks."

"Is that why you took him, by the way?" Jordan asked after a few minutes.

"I didn't want him to drive everyone at home crazy, so I had to take him." Theressa studied what was visible of the village. There were not a lot of people around. Now and then a small group of people crossed the square and went into the pubs on either side of it.

When Jordan had finished his meal, he got out of the car to throw the wrappings away. A cracking voice came over the radio. Theressa could only make out half of what was being said and she certainly did not know which buttons to press to answer. She opened the door. "Jordan?"

He ran back. "What?"

"The radio."

Jordan spoke briefly through the radio. "Okay," he said to Theressa. "We've got to go there so you can see if those were the people who kidnapped you."

"What if they were?" she said anxiously.

"They'll be arrested of course."

"Won't they be dangerous?"

They drove back to the house and Theressa got out. "What do I do with Timmy?" she asked.

"Give him to me. Dogs love me," Jordan assured her. "And it's said that dogs and babies are always very honest about their preferences."

She gave him the maxi-cosi, not really daring to give him Timmy in his arms. "Theressa, could you say if these were the people who abducted you?" Walter asked as he led her inside. "They are denying it."

Theressa stepped inside and saw Agnes and Sam. "Yes, they were the ones," she said gravely.

Agnes and Sam said or denied nothing. They merely looked depressed. Walter informed them that they would be taken to the station. He gave his officers a few instructions and then he took Theressa and Timmy home.

"That was a well-spent evening," he said with satisfaction. "I don't doubt that they'll spill the beans eventually, when we make it clear that we're more interested in the brains behind it all. And then it'll only be a matter of time before we can close the case." He looked aside at Theressa who looked more relieved now. He did not want to tell her that he would have to keep an extra eye on her now. There was no telling what a madman would do if he felt threatened, and in this case they were certainly dealing with someone who was slightly mad. If he got word of the arrest, he might fear that the police would be on his doorstep within the next few days.

"What happened? You stayed away so long," Richard said anxiously when Theressa returned.

"We found the house and they were still in it."

"That's rather...stupid," Richard commented.

"Yes," Walter agreed. "We arrested them." He beckoned Richard and took him aside. "I don't want to worry Theressa unnecessarily, but there is a chance that the brains behind all this will hear of the arrest, and then come to take it out on Theressa because he fears for his safety. Like a cornered rat. We'll get those two to tell us his name sooner or later and then we'll get him, but in the meantime...Do you understand?"

Richard nodded. "What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to stay with Theressa and Timothy day and night. Don't let them out of your sight for even a second. I'll have our main suspect shadowed and I'll have someone look out for you as well just in case. We can't be too careful."

"Do you really think he'll do something?"

Walter sighed. "I don't know. That's the problem. He's unpredictable when something goes wrong. Look what happened to that Joe and Denise. I don't think he had planned those murders out from the start. Something happens and he starts killing to cover up his tracks. It surprises me that he didn't do anything about Sam and Agnes. Maybe that was an oversight on his part. They always slip up."

He had assigned a police officer to keep a watch during the night and since it was rather late, they all went to bed.

"It's almost over," Theressa said optimistically. "Almost."

Richard hugged her. "Almost." He was not as optimistic as she was. Not with a loose canon out there. The man was obviously mad. He squeezed her a little tighter. "Don't worry."

"You never used to hug me," she said softly.

"Sorry."

"Will you keep on doing it when this is all over? Please?"

"I will."

"This year," Theressa said. "I don't want to go to skiing for Christmas."

Richard did not mind. "Actually, I hadn't wanted to last year."

"Why didn't you say so?"

"Because...it was decided for us. There didn't seem to be any other option possible, even. It was like 'you're coming with us on that date and that flight to that place' and because you didn't protest, I didn't either."

"Oh. Well, it never occurred to me not to go," Theressa said pensively. "I've been going with my parents all my life."

"Why does it now?"

"Because I've discovered that I can think for myself. That sounds really stupid, doesn't it? But I've had time to think and I'd never looked back on my life before. I've been letting people decide what was best for me. But when I was...in that house...I had to think. I couldn't...wait...until someone would come and tell me what to do. And I thought...about you...if you'd really want to kill me...and I realised that I didn't know what you would do, because you're not exactly the most talkative person on earth, you know - I realised that we had a problem, I mean. I watched a lot of series - don't groan, also soaps - and I looked at all the married people differently for some reason...and I kept seeing them do things together, and we hardly ever did that."

"I hate soaps," said Richard bluntly, but he smiled. "I know I don't say much, but I am no good at all this woolly blah blah."

"I promise I won't laugh at your attempts," Theressa said solemnly.

He looked at her dubiously. Was she serious? "Do you really want me to try? Okay."

She shook her head. "You'd be so bad! No, don't. It wouldn't be you. You'd get lost if you'd have to use more than ten words in a row."

"Hmmpphh."

"See? No nonsense."

"Is that good or bad?"

"Well, good! Because if you'd get lost, I'd get lost and then where would we be? I'd have to get myself kidnapped again to understand you."

"No," he said feelingly. "I could...elaborate on the 'no'...if you don't understand me." Richard's eyes twinkled.

"I think I got it, but you may always elaborate," Theressa smiled back. "But wait!" She pushed the door shut with her foot. "The door was still open. Alright, go ahead."

Walter had arrested the two quietly, and nobody would know they had been arrested unless they had heard it from the police officers involved or the two suspects themselves. The officers had been told not to reveal it, and Walter was called on his mobile phone just after he had gone to bed. "Yes?"

"It's Goodwin on duty, sir. Someone called the station and asked if we'd arrested anyone tonight."

Walter sat up straight. "What did you say?"

"Someone called the station --"

"No, no! I mean what did you answer?"

"I asked his name, sir. I didn't say anything. Like you instructed."

"Who was it?"

"An anonymous caller," said Goodwin. "A man."

"Age?"

"Middle-aged?"

"Accent?"

"Cultured."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No, he hung up when I asked his name. I traced the number and it was a public phone. I radioed one of the patrolling cars and they went and took a look, but they saw nothing."

"Thank you, Goodwin," said Walter and he hung up pensively. The two suspects needed to be questioned first thing in the morning. It was a pity they could not do it now.

Elsewhere, a man had tried to phone Agnes. She had not answered the phone. If she did not, Sam usually did, but now the phone had kept on ringing, while it was ten o'clock. They ought to be home. He told himself that it was possible that two people such as they were would find enjoyment in going to a pub, and that that was the reason they were not at home.

He tried again at eleven, but it admitted that that was probably a bit too early. He was not surprised when nobody answered.

And at a quarter past eleven he called again. This time there was still no answer, even though he let it ring for at least five minutes. Surely the nearest pub is not farther than twenty minutes? He knew exactly where the house was and though he had never checked the surroundings for pubs, he knew it was very close to a small village, where there certainly would be one, or two even. All the farmers would probably not fit into one.

It was a disconcerting thought that they were not in the place they should be in. Very disconcerting. He disliked it when things did not go the way he wanted -- when things happened out of his control. It was not so much worry that he felt -- although it made up a great deal of his feelings -- but most of it was anger. Anger that he had not been obeyed. He had told them specifically to stay home. Suddenly he became even more angry when he realised they could be arrested, or have turned themselves in. In short, turned against him.

He drove to a public phone and called the police station, but he hung up when the policeman asked his name. No doubt his call could be traced. If he himself had a number display, then the police were bound to have one.

He did not know what to do now. It was not likely that one of them would tell all, not with the hold he had over them. He would be relatively safe from that quarter. At least he would have time enough to consider what to do about them. But Theressa... He did not know how Theressa was involved in all of this. Theressa has to have blabbed, he thought angrily.

The thought that Theressa must have betrayed the location where she had been held filled him with anger. He paced through his house as if that would somehow tell him what to do. The phone rang. "Hello?" he answered it crossly.

"Oh hello, Nicholas. No, I haven't." Rufus switched to a polite and friendly tone. "What is wrong?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Rufus apologised. "Where is Theressa?"

"I thought she had been taken to a safe house."

Rufus was silent for a while. "I see."

Rufus hung up the phone and thought of what he had just heard. Denise had told him that Theressa had been taken to a safe house and that that was the reason why Richard had gone out to dinner with her. But if she had been at home, would she have known about Richard's date? And what would she have thought about it?

He sat thinking for another half-hour and then he suddenly jumped up. It was time to act. He went into his garage and grabbed the jerrycans he had waiting on a shelf.

"Theressa?" Noelle whispered when Theressa was feeding Timmy in the middle of the night.

Theressa gasped. "You startled me!"

"Sorry," Noelle mumbled. "I heard you go here and I was awake. I can't sleep."

"Nothing will happen," Theressa said it just as much to convince herself as to reassure her sister. "The house is being watched."

"Is it?" Noelle peered out past the curtain. "I don't see anyone."

"You're not supposed to."

"Where are they then?"

"I don't know."

"Anyone can break in," Noelle protested. "All they have to do is walk past and sneak up the garden path. There is no one to stop them. There is a car driving past and no one is checking it."

"Noelle!"

"It's slowing down. It's parking!"

Timmy protested when Theressa rose to take a look at the car herself. "It's only the neighbours," she said in relief when she saw the couple in evening dress get out of the car. "They must have had a party."

"But nobody is paying any attention to them whatsoever. They could easily have been someone else and come up the wrong garden path."

"Please stop looking out of the window, Noelle. You're making me nervous."

"How could I ever have envied you your life?" Noelle whined. "How could I have been jealous of you for moving out when it should have been me, because you are just as stupid as they are and I'm not?"

"What do you mean? I'm not stupid!"

"Oh no?"

"No. Why?"

"Ha," Noelle sneered. "You weren't smart enough to realise what you had done. You kept coming back after you were married. And you certainly didn't realise that if you had gone on imitating Mummy, you would have ended up like Aunt Sylvia."

"How can you accuse me of imitating Mummy? You are the one who is always accompanying her everywhere." Theressa was a little confused by her sister.

"Ye-e-es, but that is because I am her only remaining child. Still living at home, that is. Sometimes you have to."

"Then move out. You're eighteen," said Theressa.

"The way you did it? By getting a bloke to marry me after knowing me for only three months because I am pregnant?"

"It was not because I was pregnant," Theressa protested. "I couldn't have known that at the time."

"Oh, well. I doubt that," said Noelle. "But your method impressed me back then."

"There was no method. I wasn't even thinking about anything. Maybe you are right and I was stupid."

"Wow," said Noelle. "I'd never expected you to admit it."

"I'm going back to bed. Are you going to stay here?"

Noelle nodded. "I can't sleep."

"I can't help you."

"Can I stay with Timmy?"

"Sure. Be nice to Auntie Noelle, okay?" Theressa said to Timmy when she handed him over. She went back to bed.

Noelle took Timmy to the window and she looked out. The night seemed so quiet. There did not seem to be anybody out there, and yet Theressa had said there had to be some policemen somewhere. Noelle could not see them. The peace outside was deceptive. Denise's building had also been so deceptively quiet. She shivered when she thought of whom she must have only just missed then. That same person might be lurking outside at this very moment.

The man crept in the shadow of the hedges along the road. He had parked his car in another street to avoid being seen, in case there should be anybody about at this hour. It was not very likely, but there were always people who had nightshifts and variable working hours. In his hand, he clutched a jerrycan filled with petrol.

He was not going to be caught. He was very clever. They were coming closer and before they could come too close, he would destroy all traces of his involvement. Nobody would connect him to this crime -- he was certain of that. Not when the jerrycan was discovered to be Nicholas'. It would all seem a plot to get rid of his son-in-law.

Quietly he poured the oil at the back of the building where a fire was not likely to be discovered quickly. He then drenched a piece of cloth in the remaining oil and pushed it half through the small window over the door. It was open, and he felt really clever compared to those stupid people who had not closed it.

He lit the fire in several places and disappeared as quietly as he had come. By the time anybody found out, he would be gone.

Noelle was walking around the room with Timmy when she heard the neighbours' dog bark. Anything was bound to alert her now and she peered outside, but at the front of the house there was nothing to be seen. Still, there had to be something that had caused the dog to bark. She put Timmy down and wanted to go downstairs to investigate, but dared not, so she paused on the landing. After standing there for a few minutes and not hearing anything, she went down. Coming into the kitchen, she saw a strange glow outside and it also smelled of petrol inside. Noelle opened the back door, kicking a rag aside, and saw the small fires. They did not seem to be doing any direct harm, so she had enough time to fill a bucket with water to extinguish them.

The sound of the tap alerted more people and Walter and Richard joined her downstairs. They looked alarmed when they saw the extinguished fires. "Where are your men?" Richard asked immediately. "I thought they were supposed to watch this house? How could they let him get this close?"

"Don't worry," said Walter reassuringly. "They have their orders." Which meant that the arsonist ought to be caught by now.

"He could have come in."

"They would have stopped him before he got very far."

"But setting my house on fire was not serious enough to stop him?" Richard asked incredulously.

Walter looked worried. "Alright, something might have gone wrong."

Walter contacted his men, but received no response from one of them who had been stationed behind the house. When some others were sent out to investigate, they discovered him semi-conscious with a severe headache. He had been knocked over the head with something. An ambulance was called and the officer was taken to hospital to be examined.

"He got away," Richard stated.

"But we know who he is," said Walter. "We'll go and question our friend Mr. Terence and see what kind of alibi he has. When Patterson is recovered enough to be able to talk clearly, he might even be able to tell us something about who attacked him."

"Meanwhile we are left here, exposed to the madman?"

"No, I think it's best that you all come to the station. We can't take any risks," Walter decided.

They were not all pleased to be lifted from their beds at that hour, but when the situation was explained to them, everybody agreed that they would prefer to be out of the house. Quickly some necessities were packed and they were driven off by the police officers. Quietly and unobtrusively, because Walter preferred not to draw any more people to the house. Despite the hour, a considerable nosy crowd had gathered near the alley behind the house when the ambulance had come. If the inhabitants were seen being taken away by the police, all sorts of wrong conclusions would be drawn. When the ambulance had driven off, the onlookers slowly dispersed and went back to whatever they had been doing.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Walter commented. "It's as if some people have a sixth sense for sensation. I wish any of them had been up when our arsonist arrived." He beckoned an officer. "At a decent hour, do a house-to-house inquiry and ask them what they've seen. You can start with those who have their lights on right now."

Walter called three officers to go with him to Rufus Terence's house. They approached with caution, not knowing what to expect. The doorbell was not immediately answered. After a few minutes, a sleepy-looking Rufus appeared. "Yes?" he demanded aggressively. "You had better have a very good reason to disturb my sleep and in full force, at that."

Walter nodded. "May we come in? It is rather grave news."

The man narrowed his eyes. Walter could see he was trying to guess what the news was. Besides wonder, there was also a tiny flicker of pride and satisfaction in his eyes. He opened the door wide and let them in.

"I know you were a close friend of the family," Walter began. "I regret having to tell you that a tragic thing has happened --"

"Yes, what?" Rufus exclaimed, shifting forwards. "What happened to them?"

"How would you know whom I'm speaking of?" Walter asked sharply.

"I don't," he recovered himself.

"Who did you think I was speaking of?"

"I have no idea."

"The house of the Yateses burnt to the ground," Walter lied, closely studying his opponent's face. "I am afraid to say -- Mrs. Yates did not survive the disaster. The rest of the family were unharmed." This was a gamble. He was anxious for Rufus' reaction.

"Mrs. Yates?" Rufus cried. "Dead? And Mr. Yates? It can't be true!"

"Mr. Yates is alive and well."

"You're lying. Why isn't he dead?"

"Because he managed to get himself into safety after he had seen you light the fire," Walter said boldly. "I'd like for you to tell me exactly where you've been and what you've done since yesterday evening."

"Why? I have nothing to do with it. I didn't light any fires."

"You were seen."

"No, I wasn't."

"The policeman you hit over the head managed to give us a very good description of his attacker, and there is no doubt that it was you."

"That can't be!" Rufus cried wildly, forgetting himself and his carefully rehearsed story. "He wasn't even looking at me!"

"Ahh..." said Walter and rubbed his hands. "Now we're getting somewhere."

After Rufus' resistance had been broken, which took another two hours, he confessed to the crimes. His obsession for Theressa had taken on insane proportions and Walter did not doubt that he would be shut away for a very long time, either in prison or a mental ward.

The Stantons were shocked. They claimed not to have had any idea, and fortunately they were not so stupid as to keep defending their friend. However, most people doubted whether they fully realised what had happened. Someone would probably have to sit down with them and explain it all very clearly, especially the pace at which things had been concluded, and also that their youngest daughter wanted to join the police force. Those things combined would perhaps give them a shock they would not recover from.

It took some time before they were used to feeling safe, but the happy little family was never troubled by any problem of this calibre again and they were grateful for it.

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