Penny wasn’t surprised, but she was disappointed. She’d been looking forward to the fair week. That night at home she overheard Susan on the phone with Jenny, saying Penny might be safer back in San Francisco at the group home until they caught the kidnapper. A few months earlier this would have been welcome, but now it made her feel like shouting and crying simultaneously. That night another kid went missing; a boy Penny remembered very vaguely from the magic show in the park. This time there was a bit of good news to balance out the bad. Sheriff Price had a suspect in custody, and expected to find the missing kids soon. The gossip was unspecific, and Penny went through the day in a daze of confused anticipation, wanting to believe they had managed to catch The Birdman, but not quite able to. She just could not imagine some small‐town sheriff, elected more because of family influence than any flair for crime fighting according to Susan, stopping such an exotic and frightening foe.
