Abduction!

Hank, another man Denny owes money to, calls during the game to demand his money by Monday at noon. Denny desperately hopes pretending to raise Matt will solicit enough sympathy from Winston and Celia to warrant a check. He plans to pay Hank Monday morning, leave before his next rent is due, and take Matt “back to Reno, where the gambling was good” (129). Denny has a brilliant idea: He will claim Matt needs an expensive surgery so that Winston and Celia will give him an even heftier check. Overexcited by his plan, Denny forces Matt to leave the game early.

By the time Bonnie arrives at Matt’s section, she can no longer find the boy who resembles her brother. Just as Bonnie is about to give up and rejoin Nancy, she spots Denny exiting the stadium with the black-haired boy; Bonnie now knows it’s Matt. Worried that the police would not show up in time to catch Denny before he and Matt leave the area, Bonnie stealthily follows them from the stadium. When Matt spots and calls to Bonnie in the crowd, Denny threatens them with his gun. Bonnie and Matt exit the stadium with Denny, but when Matt complains about needing to use the restroom, he’s forced to stop at a nearby restaurant hosting a murder-mystery party. Not trusting enough to leave Bonnie alone, Denny allows her to take Matt into the ladies’ restroom but warns her not to speak to anybody. Bonnie attempts to notify the women in the restroom of her and Matt’s situation, but they only believe it to be a part of the murder-mystery game they’re playing. Bonnie instead writes a message on the mirror in soap: “HELP!! DENNY THURMAN KIDNAPPED” (166). She doesn’t finish the message because women enter the restroom. She begs for help, but they think she is part of the restaurant’s murder-mystery event.

Bonnie and Matt sneak out the narrow bathroom window and attempt to hitchhike, but many cars ignore them. Finally, a few teen boys roll down their windows but are hesitant to offer the kids a ride, so Denny has enough time to catch up to the vehicle. After Denny threatens to turn the boys in to the cops for attempting to lure children into their vehicle, the teens drive off. Denny hails a cab to catch the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Bonnie attempts to notify the woman working the ticket window of her situation, but no help arrives before they’re called to board the ferry.

Back at the murder-mystery party, the hostess is notified of the message on the bathroom mirror. She doesn’t believe the claim and thinks some participants have planted “phony evidence as a way to throw the others off track and give themselves a better chance to solve the mystery first” (151). She scrubs the message off the mirror.

After learning Denny is bringing her and Matt to visit Matt’s cousins, Bonnie points out all the flaws in Denny’s plan. She offers him a deal: let them go and she’ll give him a head start to flee to a different location before she tells the police. Denny doesn’t believe her and is desperate for the money from Celia and Winston, which will pay off his gambling debts. He entertains the idea of shooting Bonnie and dumping her overboard.

Detective Morrison notifies Anita of Bonnie’s disappearance. Together, Anita, Bonnie’s grandparents, and Detective Morrison conclude that the kidnapper is someone Bonnie and Matt both recognize and that for Bonnie to have left the game against her will, violence or weapons must be involved.

Alone on the lower deck, Bonnie gives Matt the baseball she bought for him at the Mariners game. Shortly after, Denny forces Bonnie to walk to the back of the boat and climb the net blocking off the edge. She sees two men watching from above and hopes to stall long enough for them to get help before Denny shoots her and she topples overboard. Clyde and James Wallace watch Bonnie and Denny from above, but they don’t get involved because grabbing the ferry workers and giving a statement would be more trouble than it’s worth. They assume she’s a kid showing off and that Denny is watching over her safety.

As Denny pulls out his gun and clicks off the safety, Bonnie remembers playing catch with Matt and how when she yells “Zinger!” he always throws his hardest pitch. She yells “Zinger!” Matt throws as hard as he can; the baseball hits Denny in the back of the neck. He drops the gun, which Bonnie quickly throws overboard. Matt screams for help as Denny scrambles to grab Bonnie, but the ferry workers overpower Denny and get Bonnie and Matt to safety. Denny is arrested, and Bonnie and Matt return home to Anita and Pookie, where they give their statements to the police as their community celebrates their return.

Matt and Bonnie’s safe return is televised on every local channel on Saturday night. The restaurant hostess returns home and turns on the news, only to be shocked by seeing Denny in handcuffs. She feels guilty for ignoring all the signs—Denny’s anger and the message on the mirror. The women from that same restaurant’s bathroom call one another to discuss how Bonnie hadn’t been an actress as they’d thought. Eddie, the teen driver whom Bonnie and Matt had stopped after the Mariners game realizes “[he] could have saved them, but [he] drove off and left them with their kidnapper” (175). The ticket window woman from the ferry dock hears the news and is ashamed for not helping after seeing Bonnie’s warning, which she’d brushed off as a joke. Fred and Ruth Faulkner celebrate the kids’ return and adopt two elderly dogs from their local humane society. When Bonnie returns to school, she and Nancy discuss their dreams in PE class; the discussion no longer bothers Bonnie, who now sleeps soundly with Matt’s safe return. When Nancy invites Bonnie to the mall after school, Bonnie declines, looking forward to keeping Matt company until their mother returns home from work.