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Chicago, January 1938

I REMAINED invisible during the ride to the ransom drop, with no idea where ere beyond the few verbal cues passed to iver and client, Mrs Vivian Gladwell, didn&039;t knoas floating next to her in the rear seat of her Cadillac Her daughter had been kidnapped teeks ago, and the poor wo to deal with a supernatural gue just ahead," she told Escott, using the speaking tube that served the driver&039;s co

"And then what?" His voice was thin through the tube, my bodiless state muffled the sound almost too much to hear hiht-hand side"

"Very well"

We&039;d been on afrom phone box to phone box Each ti, then get fresh instructions fro, so Escott faithfully followed instructions, just in case

The big car eased to a halt, skidding a little on icy slush,impatiently I hoped this wouldn&039;t be another water-haul Not waiting for Escott to come open the door, Vivian slid across the seat toward htlessly to the suitcase she pulled along It was full of cash hter&039;s life

The bridge didn&039;t seem to be over water, a complication we could do without

I have a probleave a sainst so Just as well I couldn&039;t see how far the drop would be I hate heights

Wrapped around the case, I gave an internal wince for as to co plunge, truly awful I couldn&039;t forceon It didn&039;t matter that in this state I&039;d suffer no hurt from the fall; instinct took over I whipped away a crucial second early and

Oddly, there wasn&039;t a lot of impact noise from the case when it hit Just a soft thuround and tried to figure out where the cash had gone It would have been nice to be visible, enabling me to see, but too much of a risk The kidnapper had brains behind his efforts I had to respect that

From what seemed like the far distance cae above me Escott would return Vivian to the Gladwell estate, and there they&039;d have a long, grihter&039;s pickup location

Hopefully, it would co

I hovered close, wondering if I dared move off, find a secluded spot to hide, and s

"Hurry!" called a ent Not close, but too close

So the case I shifted to wrap around hi This was fa on to people in such ahard with his burden I stuck with him as he ran, stopped, turned, and sat We were in a car A door slaunned, and aent

It seemed safe to flow clear and explore the confines of the vehicle I reached out ould beorientation

The buoyant freedo on for this long was turning it into too

The front seat held two men, the back was empty but cluttered with unidentifiable stuff I bumbled my way behind the seat, down to the floorboards, and cautiously went solid amid a debris of cast-off clothes, musty blankets, and empty beer bottles Drained and dizzy, I ached to stretch It had been a while since I&039;d spent so extended a period in a formless state If either of the twoto chance it for the reassuring relief of having , the men were too distracted with jubilation to bother

They&039;d just picked up the ransoer side was doing a rough count Eavesdropping, or in this case backseat-dropping, I&039;d learned his name was Ralph; the driver was Vinzer

Mine is Jack Fle I should mention that I&039;m a va what I want, but vanishing&039;s one of the best aspects of the condition No turning into , but absolute invisibility, ht spots

It made me the ace up the sleeve for the kidnap victiarlic, I&039;uys

"Anyone following?" asked Ralph

"No"

"Then let&039;s go back"

"Dugan said to be sure I&039;onna be sure"

A thirdheads until we irl they&039;d taken aith him

Turns werelaere observed; then Vinzer slowed and stopped,"There he is"

A as rolled down I felt a wash of icy air

"Is it all there?" a man called to them

Vinzer repeated the question to Ralph

"Gier than that to count the cash, during which I re heart or need to breathe

These cloere in for a truckload of trouble I could afford to wait before running theray sky was visible through a griht ere still ithin the city, though, just not in an area with high buildings to give me a landmark

"Yeah," said Ralph "It&039;s all here, Dugan, sht then," said the third party "Lead on, and I&039;ll watch your backs"

The ent up, and Vinzer shifted gears We rolled forward, apparently on a more direct course to our destination There were fewer turns, and I saw the rise and fall of telephone wires and passing streetlights No way to tell where ere heading

"Watch our backs," Vinzerus so we don&039;t run off with the dough"

"I&039;d do the saan trusted us to meet up with hih it would be to do anything else"

"What d&039;ya mean?"

"He didn&039;t come out and say it, but he let me know"

Ralph persisted with the same question

Vinzer snorted "He told ot a description of us and the plate numbers of the car"

"So?"

"It was how he said it Like he&039;d phone it all in if we didn&039;t show"

"Well, we did show, so now it don&039;t matter"

"He don&039;t trust us, so I don&039;t trust hiht fro extra careful I&039;d do the same if I was him"

"If you was him, you wouldn&039;t need the money"

"He said he was broke"

"Yeah He said You ever once live in a place like he&039;s got? I don&039;t buy his story"

"Don&039;t matter to me This job worked out That&039;s what ain but subsided

The steady undulation of phone wires threatened to make me carsick, so I looked away I&039;d materialized down in the foot well, which was unpadded, with a blackjack in one coat pocket and a 38 revolver in another Both see toward each other as each bu bones I settled in as best I could for the duration and hoped hts of Dugan He sounded to be the possible brains behind their operation and apparently lived soh to impress Vinzer Maybe it was too nice and needed a lot of expensive upkeep, so he chose kidnapping over bank robbery to acquire so used to be al rich quick All you had to do alk off with someone&039;s kid for a day or so, trade the tot for a box of spending ht up The A admiration for such criminals, almost like for Robin Hood It was a lark, an adventure, and no one was ever really hurt Until the Lindbergh case showed everyone up The fun had gone out of the game Noas as deadly as it had always been, maybe more so Harsh federal penalties had raised the ante for the cri the victi the victis even

The family in this case was a edbusiness Mrs Vivian Glad-well, short, a little wide in figure, in her young forties, had been content to host bridge parties for her friends and attend church and charity events Her only offspring was Sarah She was physically sixteen years old Mentally, she would never progresschild Vivian doted on her

Teeks ago, Sarah took her French poodle for a walk on the estate grounds, where she always stayed inside the wall and gates The dog had coe was tied to its collar like a Christ In block letters it said Sarah would die if the police were brought in; the place was under watch

My partner, Charles W Escott, a detective for all his protest at being a private agent, had worked for Vivian on soo He was evidently still fresh in her mind when she phoned with barely suppressed hysteria

He told her to bring in the cops She refused and begged for his help He reluctantly involved himself He instructed her to send her chauffeur to his house with a spare unifor route

I&039;d just woken up for the night, e from my hidden sanctuary in the base trades in the living roo over a while, then explained why

Escott&039;s iain unnoticed entry to the Gladwell house, but the flaw in the plan juray uniforh boots, I took the chauffeur aside for a little chat A short bout of forced hypnosis eased ht be in on the crime It wouldn&039;t be the first time a servant had been turned by a bribe Escott tipped his peaked hat in salute to ri I&039; for help Until now, the only kidnapping case he&039;d ever dealt with had to do with a purloined pooch he once stole back for a client

"No problehtclub to tell him not to expect me any time soon, and we loaded into the Gladwell Cadillac I invisibly sled myself into the house, was introduced to Vivian, and made it my business to hypnotize all the rest of the staff on the sly They were in the clear, which was too bad A solid lead would have finished things right away

For the next teeks, Escott re brief reports to me and the chauffeur just after sunset The kidnapper called the Gladwell house several tiht Vivian&039;s conversations were short and heartbreaking, pleading for her daughter&039;s return and to speak with her; the s against involving the law

The man eventually lowered his ransorand after Vivian swore she couldn&039;t re notice, which was true Twice she&039;d gone out to hand it over False alared the apparently cruel ploy was to see how obedient she would be, and he assured her none of it was unusual

"I do not think we&039;re dealing with a professional," he confided to me in private

"How&039;s that?" I asked

"A s a person confined against their will is a difficult and consu task Delay increases the risk of discovery This fellow makes me think he saw a film about the topic and took it as a pattern to follow Aerous I don&039;t hold much hope for Sarah"

It was rare for Escott to be pessimistic, but he was too well aware of the seriousness of this job, and the pressure ate steadily at hiht, and from the hollow cast of his eyes, I was sure he wasn&039;t sleeping If Sarah came to harm or had already been killed, he would carry it the rest of his life

But today the last post brought instructions Escott phonedinto the house

In a plain envelope was a blurred, inexpertly shot photo of Sarah Gladwell staring in wide-eyed confusion at the caround consisted of churned snow and the white clapboard side of a building, with no other clue to her location A block-printed card stated calling the police would get her throat cut To bring hoe red smear It could have been ink, but I&039;d instantly picked up bloodsmell No matter whether the blood came from Sarah or not, the effect on heramount of restraint so far, but she didn&039;t have much control left Tears strea down coet her back, ht

No way of setting the odds for that, but they were bad Unless the kidnapper wore a mask, the unblindfolded Sarah would have seen hiirl with her limited mental state posed no threat Otherwise, he would kill her Hethe picture, but there was no point saying that aloud to herafter dark Soon after I arrived, the hissing voice was on the line with directions and more threats Escott put on his chauffeur&039;s cap

The first time we&039;d made a run, he&039;d told Vivian that my job was to trail the kidnapper froh my sudden inexplicable appearances in her home with all the doors and s bolted convinced her ofaround unobserved This still wasn&039;t enough for her to risk Sarah&039;s life Escott and I had exchanged a look From that point forward, I&039;d pretend to stay behind but would vanish into the car, and off we&039;d all roll

And this time, finally, it turned out to be the end of the line, one way or another

"Wish it was closer in," said Ralph, sounding impatient "I wanna cut free and leave Is he still there?"

"Yeah," said Vinzer "Right with us"

"You don&039;t like him, do you?"

"That crap don&039;tthe job Job&039;s done Knohat I&039;onna do with my share?"

"You only talk about it fifty ti to Miaet one of those fancy places on the beach, buy a joint with soirls, and have them do all the work Have fun with &039;em any time I want"

"Miami&039;s too expensive Go to Havana"

"But they got horse races, dog races, everything-an&039; they talk American"

"Once you hit the tracks, you&039;ll be broke in an hour"

"Not if I win Everyone knohen you lay down the bigtwo-dollar s for me"

"Same horses run at two bucks as for twenty-five Gs Same horses lose"