Chapter 3 Molly Takes a Walk

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The days and weeks passed by and Molly Grace got more used to the small town. Every day she walked home from Pennington Elementary School past all the little shops.

Every day she stopped by to see Larry and Mama Sue and get a treat. She even stopped being afraid of Lucky. When she saw him ride up in his pickup truck with the gun rack in the back window, she would smile and wave.

As he stepped out, they would exchange greetings and he would smile at her. Things were beginning to seem normal for a big city girl transplanted to a small town. Pigeon Hole was nothing like her old home town of Columbia, South Carolina. But, she was beginning to like the place.


She skipped into Suzanne’s Photography where she found Suzanne editing some photographs on her computer. Molly Grace had become quite interested in photography. She especially liked it when Suzanne (Aunt Susie) used her older film cameras and then took her into the dark room where Aunt Susie let Molly Grace use the magic paper to make images appear.

It seemed like magic when Molly Grace shined a light on a piece of paper and then put that paper in a tray with chemicals and a picture appeared just like magic. Molly Grace was having a great time growing up in this peaceful place.  Suzanne hung the photos up to dry and Molly Grace skipped on down the sidewalk on her way home.

Patsy had made every effort to cover her tracks. When they left Columbia, South Carolina she drove the back roads at first, hoping to stay out of sight just in case Robert had done something like report that Molly Grace had been kidnapped or something.

For the last several months, Patsy had been hoarding cash so that she would not have to use her credit or debit cards to purchase gas or food along the way. She knew that these would show where she had been and provide a clue as to where she was headed.

In spite of all her care and planning, Robert learned where she was. Robert told his brother where Patsy was staying and that he was going to Pigeon Hole, Texas to get his wife and little girl and bring them back to South Carolina.

He had a strange look in his eye that his brother knew all too well. His brother, Ralph, decided to call Patsy and warn her. He looked up the Tick Tock Clock Shop and placed the call.

Patsy hung up the phone in total disbelief. She had a look of horror on her face and she went downstairs to tell Marlene what she’d learned.

Marlene told Patsy that they did not have time to waste. She would have to get packed and leave town as soon as possible. Patsy did not know where she could go or what she could do. She had very little money and her car could not possibly make the trip.

Marlene told her that she would take her car to Roger Nimmons over at the truck repair shop and see what he could do to make the car road worthy. She told Patsy to find Molly Grace, then come back to the shop and keep the apartment door locked. Marlene left, and Patsy left to find Molly Grace.

Patsy walked down Main Street and stopped at all the shops. No one had seen her since she left Suzanne’s Photography. Suzanne stepped over to the Lamb Shoppe Doll Shop and told David what had happened. They locked the stores and both set out to help find Molly Grace.

Patsy became frantic. It had taken Ralph the better part of the day to find out how to get in contact with her and time was running out. Robert would surely be there soon and she had to go. But where was Molly Grace?

David Logan stepped into Iron Mike’s Pub and told Mike he was looking for Molly Grace and why. Mike made a general announcement that Molly Grace was missing and Robert was due in town very soon. Everyone in the pub went out to look for Molly Grace.

 Iron Mike called Jimmy, the police chief. Mike filled Jimmy in on all the details as he understood them, and then he hung up and went to join the search. Jimmy radioed Bucky, the only other officer on the force, and gave him the details. He told him to be on the lookout for Robert and that he should be ready for trouble.

Bucky had been a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne. He knew how to handle himself. When Bucky got out of the Army, he spent a few years with the Houston Police Department’s S.W.A.T. unit and was an expert at using almost any type of weapon available. Between Bucky and Jimmy the small town of Pigeon Hole Texas was well protected.

Jimmy felt that he and Bucky could handle anything that Robert could throw at them. Still, he called the county Sheriff’s Office to let them know the situation. Sheriff Crabwell doubled the patrol around Pigeon Hole just to be on the safe side. Never can be too sure, he said.

As the troop leader of a highly skilled Boy Scout troop and Eagle Scout, he always followed the Boy Scout Motto to “Be Prepared.”

By now all the merchants in the town, and most of the town’s people, were looking for Molly Grace. No one had seen her since she left Suzanne’s Photography. Suzanne remembered that when Molly Grace stopped by, she had taken a few photos of Molly Grace.

She called David and had him stop by the shop to upload a picture to the shop’s web site and to print out flyers to be distributed. The whole town was in an uproar as Robert slipped unnoticed into town.

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